I glared at her, but tried my best to ignore her comment. “You can follow me, Mr. Re–”
“Preston, please. Call me Preston.”
“All right. This way, Preston. Derrek’s office is down the hall.” I made my way back to the office, trying not to think about the fact that Preston was behind me, in my house, and that we were essentially alone together. And I definitely tried not to think about the way he smelled.
I entered the office and stood in front of the desk as I watched him do his P.I. thing. He looked around the room and I had no idea what it was he thought he’d find, but he was intent. He walked to stand behind Derrek’s desk and opened up the first drawer on the right side, then frowned. Next, he bent a little lower, opened the drawer beneath it, and then frowned again.
“The drawers are empty,” he said with confusion.
“Oh. Yes. I might have thrown some things away,” I said, trying not to sound as embarrassed as I was.
“You might have thrown some things away?” His voice had a smile to it, but he was busy opening and closing empty drawers.
“The night we followed Derrek and saw him with his other family, I came home and needed to relieve some stress.”
“So you threw away some papers?” His question came with a chuckle.
His words made my spine straighten. He was laughing at me.
“First, I threw them all over the room, then I threw them in the garbage.”
He was trying to keep the smirk from his face, I could tell. “So you came home, emptied his drawers in a fit of rage, scattering his documents all over the room, and then you cleaned up your mess?”
He was definitely laughing at me.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“What are you getting at?” I sneered.
He came from behind the desk and walked toward me. For just a moment, his eyes were on mine, but then they moved to the wall behind me where Derrek had his diplomas displayed. He passed me, but left no room between us, his arm brushing my shoulder, but then I felt him turn sharply so he was just behind me, pressed up against me slightly. I stiffened when I felt his front graze my back. I lost the ability to breathe when I felt his breath against my ear as he spoke.
“I’m just saying,” he practically growled. “There are better, more gratifying ways to release your aggression.” I felt him move away, but the absence of him made no difference to the storm that was now brewing inside my traitorous body. I was stunned silent, my heartbeat pulsing through me, pumping blood to areas suddenly awakened by his breath on my skin. For the second time in just as many days, I found myself pressing my thighs together, trying to stave off the physical reaction I was having to Preston. My breath shuddered out of me, not quietly, and I winced, thinking he had heard and could tell I was affected by him. Although, it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out I was aroused; my entire body seemed to be quivering.
I tried to be angry at him, tried to be appalled that he, the supposed professional in our arrangement, would be hitting on me, a married woman. But even though the notion was there, the intention to find his actions repulsive, I couldn’t move past my acute arousal.
“I think,” I managed to say, although I sounded completely unsure of my words and not at all as forceful as I imagined I would in my mind, “I think you need to leave.”
“Why’s that?” His voice was still behind me, but I turned to see him inspecting the certificates on the wall.
“What if Derrek returns? How will I explain a strange man in his office? In his home?”
He turned back around, but didn’t look at me. He moved again, heading to the big chair behind the desk and sat down, powering on the computer. “You obviously have no faith in me and my ability to do my job. Why in the world did you even hire me?”
“Your company was just the first one I came to,” I answered honestly. He nodded but didn’t speak immediately. He pressed some buttons on the computer then spoke again.
“You hired me to investigate your husband and his extracurricular activities. He is currently in Bend. Whether he’s there for business or pleasure, I’m not sure.”
“Then shouldn’t you be there trying to investigate that?”
His eyes snapped to me and his voice was smooth but dark. “Would you like to pay me six hundred dollars, each way, to follow your philandering husband on a ski weekend?” He paused and watched me. I tried not to give away that no, I did not want to pay him twelve hundred dollars to drive to Bend, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
Instead, I turned and left the room, throwing over my shoulder, “Let me know if you need anything else.” I continued back into the kitchen, where I found Sam leaning her hip against the counter, one hand to her mouth, unconsciously biting her nails.