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It wasn’t that long ago that he’d coaxed her into a wild night of uninhibited passion and recklessness. Considering the uptight accountant he’d come to know, that was no small feat. Knowing he’d done it once, however, Jonah was confident he could do it again. Before he was done with Emma, she’d be putty in his hands, all too eager to confess her identity and fall into his arms for good.
Until then, the torture would be sweet.
* * *
Emma couldn’t shake the sensation of being watched. It had been that way since the night before at the gym. Every time she felt the urge to pull her gaze away from her computer screen, she expected to see Jonah loitering in her doorway with his smug, cat-that-ate-the-canary grin. But he wasn’t there. In fact, she hadn’t seen or heard from him since the coffee shop encounter the day before.
She knew better than to let her guard down, however. She’d made that mistake last night and couldn’t do it again.
More importantly, Emma needed to focus on the books. Something wasn’t adding up right and unless she could shut down every part of her brain but the one that dealt with numbers, she’d never be able to determine if this was a real issue or one caused by her own distraction.
The third time she tried running through it and got the same result, she sat back in her chair with a groan. She’d obviously made a mistake a few pages back. A huge chunk of money was missing. “Damn it,” she cursed, pushing the unruly strand of hair from her face for the twentieth time today. She needed to buy a barrette.
“What’s the matter, Miss Dempsey?”
Startled, Emma sat bolt upright in her seat and clutched her hand to her chest. As she looked over this time, Jonah was loitering in her doorway when she’d least expected him.
“Nothing,” she insisted. Even if she had found something of concern in the financials, she wouldn’t mention it to anyone until she was absolutely certain. You didn’t pull the fire alarm until you saw the flames. Right now, this was just a little smoke. No one was stupid enough to do something that obvious. Smart people took money in small chunks. There had to be an explanation.
She took a deep breath to steady herself and looked back up at Jonah. There was something different about the way he carried himself today. Emma couldn’t quite put her finger on it, exactly, but something had changed. Perhaps it was the sly twist of his full lips and the knowing twinkle in his eye. She had no idea what would have pleased him so greatly this afternoon, so she chose to ignore it and the deep-down pangs of desire it caused inside of her.
“Well, I just got off the phone with your boss.”
At the mention of her supervisor, the desire immediately melted away like an ice cube dropped into boiling water. “You spoke with Tim? Is there a problem?”
Jonah shook his head. “No, not at all. He was just calling to see if you had settled in okay.”
Emma held her breath as she listened to his response. Tim never just called to see if an employee was settled in. He didn’t care that much. Knowing him, Tim was calling to see if Emma had fallen for Jonah’s charms yet. “And what did you tell him?”
Jonah pursed his lips for a second, drawing out her torture with obvious pleasure. “I told him that you were the most polite and professional worker in the building, myself included. Why? What did you think I would say?”
Emma shrugged. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Hopefully nothing related to the supply closet.”
At that, he chuckled and gripped the door frame of her office, flashing his tattoo at her. “I didn’t build a successful company by being a fool, Emma. And despite what you seem to think, I’m not out to put your job in jeopardy.”
She expelled a sigh of relief that was premature.
“It did occur to me,” he continued, “that your boss seemed like a bit of a hard-ass. I get why you’re so concerned about appearances. And that’s why I’m offering you a compromise.”
Emma tried not to frown. There was nothing to compromise over.
“You don’t want to be seen with me because it’s inappropriate. I get that. But I am going to take you to dinner one way or another. So I can either find a way to blackmail you into having dinner with me here in town, or you can accept my offer of having dinner with me out of town, where no one will find out.”
Blackmail? Emma leaped up from her chair. “I don’t know what the hell you’re playing at, Jonah, but there’s nothing to blackmail me with.”
He didn’t seem fazed by her sudden bravado. “So you say. And maybe that’s true. But there’s nothing stopping me from telling Tim some fabricated misdeed. He’ll believe me over you, don’t you think?”
Emma’s jaw dropped. “You wouldn’t. Why would you even consider such a thing?”
Jonah crossed his arms over his chest, wrinkling the fabric of his flannel shirt. “Because I get what I want, Emma. And I want you to have dinner with me. If I thought for one second that you weren’t sincerely interested, I would let it drop. But you can’t fool me with your tight hair buns and your formal demeanor. The woman that was in the supply closet with me wants to have dinner. And who am I to deny her?”
“You don’t know anything about me, in or out of a closet, Jonah.”
“Don’t I?”
His blue eyes challenged her, and that made her instantly nervous. She self-consciously reached for the collar of her blouse and pulled it tighter to ensure she hadn’t given away her identity.
“I certainly don’t want to take it this far, which is why I’m offering you an alternative that will make everyone happy. Tomorrow night, meet me at the Wall Street Heliport at six sharp. From there, I will whisk you away to a location where we won’t run into anyone we know. We can have a nice, private dinner without you needing to worry about your job. You can just relax for once and enjoy your time with me.”
