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“Oh, you caught that.” She patted his arm. “Good for you, but she’s still practicing.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. “Practicing what?”
“Julie’s luring unsuspecting men with her eyes. I taught her that this morning.”
Eric glanced down at the older woman with surprise. “You did?”
“Of course,” Martha said with an exaggerated flutter of her eyelashes before she strutted away. “It’s how I met my husband.”
Eric stared coldly at Julie. She was practicing on him again. Did she think he was made of steel? That he wouldn’t take what she was pretending to offer? This woman needed to understand that there were consequences to her actions.
He marched over to her cubicle. Julie showed no concern or trepidation. Instead, she looked at him from under her lashes and a slow, triumphant smile tugged at her lips. As if her eye technique worked.
Which it did. Damn it.
Julie flipped her hair back. “What can I do for you, Eric?” she asked softly.
He curled his hands on the edge of her cubicle wall. “You do not want to practice on me.”
“Why?” She leaned back in her chair. “Are you in danger of taking up my offer?”
“Stop that.” He dug his fingers into the edge.
Her eyes seemed to grow impossibly big. “Stop what?”
“Siren Julie. I know all about the alias.”
She tilted her head. “And you don’t like it?”
“No.” He liked her soft femininity, but he didn’t like her practicing her flirting techniques on him.
“I’m just trying to prove that I can be smart and sexy,” she said as a blush stained her cheeks. “Two qualities you seem to think I’m lacking.”
If she knew how sexy he thought she was, there would be no stopping her. “I also mentioned cautious. Why don’t you work on that first?”
“Caution is overrated. Anyway, I like it wild,” she said shyly.
She’d said something similar yesterday right before she kissed him. “This is your last warning, Julie. Stop practicing your seduction techniques on me. In fact, don’t practice it on any guy in this office.”
Julie’s mouth fell open and her coy attitude disappeared. “Do you really think I would use these techniques on Max? Or Perry?”
“Please.” He held up his hand to stop her. “I could do without that visual.”
She slowly rose from her seat. “Eric, you have nothing to worry about. The only man I’m practicing on is you.”
Eric wanted to roll his eyes at that statement. “Sure you are.”
“I promise.”
“And how did I get to be the lucky one?”
“Simple.” She leaned over her desk and gripped the cubicle wall, her hands next to his. “You’re the safest one to try on.”
He pulled his hands away as if he’d been burned. “Are you kidding me?” He was a beast compared to the men in Julie’s life. He would break her heart no matter how careful he would be.
“You said so yourself,” Julie said. “There’s no way anything can happen between us. First of all, you don’t trust my motivations.”
“That’s true.”
Her gaze slid away. “You’ve also made it very clear that I couldn’t possibly compete with the trained seductresses of your past.”
“And yet you wind up on my desk half-naked.”
“Which I didn’t mind at all,” she said matter-of-factly, “but I know it’s due to lack of sleep and your slow recovery.”
“Now you’re making excuses for me?” He leaned in, doing his best to ignore her delicious scent, and waited until she looked back at him. “Have you considered that I am not a nice guy? That I’m actually the kind of man your mother warned you about?”
Julie’s eyelashes flickered as if the thought hadn’t occurred to her. “Not possible. You would never take advantage of a good girl like me.”
He stared into her eyes. Was she playing him? Or was she really that innocent?
She winked.
He wanted to growl. Give her a taste of the dark sexual need swirling inside him. Instead, he pushed away from the cubicle wall and strode off. “Don’t test your luck with me or you will find out just what kind of man I really am.”
Her husky laugh followed him. “I’m looking forward to it.”
5
