Rock Kiss 02 Rock Hard(24)

Tapping in the code, he watched her download his e-mail, frown, then lean forward to access his computer. He didn’t like anyone in his personal space that he hadn’t invited in, but he liked Charlotte there just fine. Leaning back in his chair, he enjoyed the shape of her ass as she worked.

The skirt was tight enough at least to stretch nicely over the curve of her butt.

The urge to stroke his hand over those luscious curves was seriously tempting, but he wasn’t stupid. After all these weeks of very careful strategy to get her to stop seeing him as her boss and start seeing him as a man, no way would he give Charlotte any excuse to pull away. Not only did he have no intention of losing the best damn PA he’d ever had, how the hell was he supposed to get her permanently into his bed if he didn’t have access to her twenty-four seven?

No, he’d wait. And he’d do his stroking in private, after he had her bent naked in front of him, that pretty butt tilted up for his pleasure and hers. He wanted to hear Charlotte moan his name and then ask him to do dirty things to her, her prim little spectacles fogging up with heat.

“There!” Getting up, that stupid skirt sliding over the heart-shaped beauty of her ass to hover around her calves—what woman-hating designer had created that abomination?—she grabbed his tablet and tap-tapped once more. “All the files at your fingertips.”

Gabriel took the tablet, swiped through. “It’ll do,” he said, though he was seriously impressed at how she’d put everything together in a way that made it effortless for him to access what he needed.

He saw her hands curl into fists, but once again, she restrained her violent impulses. A pity. He’d have liked the excuse to tumble her into his lap when she took a swing at his jaw, that sweet ass coming down over his thighs.

Putting down the tablet on that pleasurable thought, he picked up the digital recorder he’d been using before she came in with the rose stems. “I want you to personally type this up.” He didn’t trust the pool of typists who handled most of the general data input, not with a document that needed to say exactly what he wanted it to say without him having to go over it ten times to make sure they hadn’t misplaced a comma or inserted a word.

“Of course.” Her eyes flicked to her watch after she checked the length of the recording. “Did you need it tonight?”

“Why, hot date with Ebenezer?”

Red cheeks again, her chest rising as she took a deep breath. “My personal life,” she said after she exhaled, “is none of the company’s business.”

No, but Gabriel was going to make it his damn business. He’d been trying to put the kibosh on her dating thing with Ernest ever since she became his PA—but though he hadn’t managed to cut that off, the man clearly wasn’t taking care of her. If he had been, she wouldn’t feel the need to wear calf-length skirts with white shirts that buttoned up to her neck or shift dresses two sizes too large. The clothes might be professional and absolutely unobjectionable from a business standpoint, but they totally overwhelmed her petite frame.

In point of fact, Gabriel was dead certain Ernest hadn’t made any kind of a move. Charlotte just didn’t act like a woman who was taken—and every time Gabriel called her late at night to check on something, she was at home. That meant Ernest was a dimwit, because what kind of man wouldn’t make a move on Charlotte if he had her?

Yeah, well, the dimwit’s luck was about to run out.

“Yes,” he said aloud, “I need it tonight.” It wasn’t a lie, not this time. “This agreement could significantly cut our transport costs, but we’re on a strict timetable.”

A quick nod. “I’ll start on it right away.”




CHARLOTTE SAT DOWN AT her desk, a desk no one in the company had ever expected her to possess, least of all Charlotte herself.

Just like she’d never have predicted she’d one day just grab her boss’s tablet and force him to move into the twenty-first century, but he’d been pushing and pushing and pushing until she couldn’t take it anymore. Using the headphones she preferred over earbuds, she connected the sleek black recorder he liked to use, and his deep voice filled her ears.

It still made her stomach flip, even after close to three months in his proximity.

Blowing out a quiet breath, she began to type, focused on getting the details exactly right. It was why she had this office, this position, despite her shortcomings… despite the fear that lived inside her even after all the other strides she’d made, a sinuous, mocking beast that still woke her some nights in a cold sweat.