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He offered a low hum. “Not even if I asked really nicely?”
Oh my, damn, the man was upping the flirting game. My wanton desire was screaming ‘hell yes’, even as my common sense threw up red flag after red flag. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to say no…or to disconnect the call. “I…”
“Tell me about this secret admirer, Leah.” He so rarely said my name that it sounded both foreign and delectable in a low tone that immediately made me think of the purr of a jungle cat and was one hundred percent just as dangerous. “I like knowing what my competition is up to.”
Competition? Oh shit, shit, shit,shit. This wasn’t just harmless flirting. Brendan Lanza was a man on a mission. Time to shut it down. This was going way too far, and I was enjoying it way too much. “Someone has sent me mystery gifts two days in a row. I have no idea who it is, but it is most definitelynotcompetition. You’re my coworker and the son of the CEO of the company.”
“Can’t both things be true? Just in case you have any doubt as to exactly what I’m saying, let me spell it out for you, Leah. I like you. I’ve wanted you since the first day I started working with you because your ass is a work of art in those body-hugging skirts you wear.” He finished the word on a half sigh, half groan that nearly stole every molecule of oxygen from my lungs. “But watching how quickly that brilliant brain of yours works and how you solve problems in the most creative ways imaginable has become an even stronger aphrodisiac than just your luscious curves.”
I struggled to breathe as his statement played on a loop in my brain. “It-It has?” It was a feeble question, and I would’ve hated myself for the weakness in my voice except I was rapidly turning into a puddle of goo with every syllable he spoke.
“You’re damn right it has. So, unless you tell me right now that you can’t stand me, that you find me more hideous than Quasimodo and more intolerable than an arrogant NFL quarterback with more Super Bowl rings than brain cells, your secret admirer is without a doubt my competition.”
A whimper threatened to escape my mouth, but I swallowed it down. “Gourmet tea last night,” I couldn’t help myself from confessing after his somehow both sweet and salacious proclamation. “I-I haven’t opened the one for today yet.”
“Open it.” Normally I would have bristled at the matter-of-fact statement that sounded an awful lot like a command, but my fingers began to pull on the ribbon as soon as he spoke without my brain actually participating in the movement.
A fraction of whatever spell he’d woven over me was broken as I burst into laughter at the contents inside the box. “It’s a candle,” I managed to finally get out between fits of giggles.
Another hum trickled across the line from Brendan, and my body was responding again in the most inconvenient of ways. “I never really thought of a candle as funny, but you do have a great laugh, Chief.” His honey-smooth voice didn’t hold an ounce of envy, but did carry a healthy serving of temptation.
Oh damn, he somehow managed to make the stupid nickname he’d given me sound seductive. The man was dangerous as hell. “It isn’t. Well, not exactly, but the label says, ‘Oh look. It’s my last nerve and it’s on fire.’”
“Good to know you like candles. Whenever I beat out this other guy for your attention, I’ll make sure to send a truckload.”
I rolled my eyes, set the package back on the table and moved to my living room and the much more comfortable sofa, pulling the blanket from the back of the couch over my legs. “There is no other guy. I have no idea who the hell this is. For all I know it’s a serial killer plotting to make me his next victim.” I bit my lower lip. “What’s gotten into you tonight, Brendan? You’re so…different.”
“Am I really all that different, Leah?” He let out a deep sigh, and in my mind’s eye I pictured him reclining on a plush bed looking out at his purported skyline view. “Haven’t you paid any attention to the way I look at you? Although I have to admit to being a little jealous that I never made you laugh like this mystery man has.”
Jealous. Shit. He said ‘jealous’. Oh holy hell, this couldn’t be happening. I had to be dreaming. “Is that why you gave me boring, generic socks in the Christmas exchange?” Maybe a little dig would send this conversation back to the friendly sarcastic exchange we normally enjoyed.
Although I hoped it definitely wouldn’t.
“They were incredibly boring, but I am pretty certain if I’d showed up with a lingerie box it wouldn’t have really been Secret Santa appropriate.”
My breathing shallowed and the apex of my thighs throbbed, begging me to offer relief. I couldn’t even begin to formulate a response, and that damn bastard knew it by the low chuckle he offered.
“It’s getting late, Chief. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow?”
I mumbled some sort of agreement and disconnected the call. For several long moments after, I stared at my phone in a mixture of disbelief, confusion and overwhelming need.
Chapter Six
Brendan
The two beers I’d had at dinner with my father had definitely loosened my tongue and made my feelings for Leah very obvious, but I also most certainly wasn’t drunk. I remembered not only every word I’d said but everything Leah had said as well—every gasp and sigh, every minute inflection in her voice that clearly reflected her surprise…and also her interest.
I’d made a point to be in the office at an obscene hour to make sure I was at my desk and ready to greet her when she arrived. And it was well worth it when she stumbled slightly as she entered our joined space and crimson nearly immediately stained her cheeks when our gazes met.
“Good morning.” Even though she was only a few feet from me, I barely heard her practically whispered salutation.
My own response died on my tongue when she took her coat off and hung it on the tree in the back corner behind her desk. In the months we’d worked together I’d seen her in pantsuits, skirts and even a couple of cocktail dresses for work events, but I’d never seen this particular outfit. It managed to take away my breath and turn my mouth into the Sahara.
There was nothing unprofessional about the gray plaid double-breasted blazer dress, but the way the waist pulled in to highlight the luscious curves that teased me in my dreams so many nights. And the bottom of it seemed to hit higher on her thigh, exposing more of the creamy length. Unlike every other day since the weather had turned colder, she’d exchanged her thicker tights for charcoal stockings.
Oh hell, they had a damn seam going all the way up the back of her leg and begging me to follow.
Leah took her seat across from me and the light scent of her perfume tickled my nose. The woman was going to assault my every sense all damn day. Maybe it was my penance for the possibly ill-advised phone call the previous evening.
