When she still didn’t say a word, he forced himself to make an offer he didn’t want to make. “I know another CEO who needs a personal assistant of your skill.”
“Are you firing me?” Sparks in those clear eyes, her hands fisting by her sides as if in readiness for battle.
“No, damn it.” It came out a snarl, his attempt at good behavior dying a quick death now that she was his Ms. Baird again, tough and with a fiery spirit. “I’m telling you that if my interest makes you uncomfortable, you can move into another comparable position.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That also removes the flirting with a subordinate issue for you.”
“You’re the best damn personal assistant I’ve ever had.” His voice rose. “I have every intention of stealing you away from Saxon & Archer when I complete this contract.”
That made her lips part in a quiet gasp before she folded her arms. “Doesn’t change what I said.”
“Of course it wouldn’t make anything easier,” he growled, infuriated by her stubborn refusal to see what he was trying to tell her. “The hours I work, when exactly do you think I’d have time to seduce you if you weren’t working with me? I like you exactly where you are.”
Glaring at him—though her cheeks remained that hot pink that made him want to throw her over his shoulder and carry her off to the nearest bed to see how she tasted—she said, “I like my job.”
It was the first time a personal assistant had said that about working with him. Most complained he was a bad-tempered slave driver. He wondered what Charlotte would think if he told her she was the only one who’d ever had the guts to push back, to tell him he couldn’t have all her weekends and nights. Probably not believe him, she saw herself as so meek.
“Good,” he said and then asked what he needed to know. “Are you going to sue me for sexual harassment if I keep flirting with you?” He had plans to go well beyond flirtation, but this was hurdle number one. And it wasn’t a lawsuit he was worried about—it was whether his pursuit would scare Charlotte.
“Why are you flirting with me?”
The befuddled look in her eyes was adorable.
“Fishing for compliments?”
Her cheeks flushed hotter. Pushing up her spectacles and setting those soft pink lips in a prim line that just made him want to mess her up, she said, “Men like you don’t go for women like me.”
“How many men like me do you know?” he asked with a lingering look at her mouth. God but he wanted to kiss Charlotte, wanted to feast on her. Every part of her.
BREASTS SWELLING AGAINST HER bra and skin tight under the molten silver of Gabriel’s gaze, Charlotte fought the urge to wet her lips. “You know what I mean.” Her voice came out all breathy, her lungs struggling again for a far different reason than earlier.
“Do I?” He leaned in close enough that the hot kiss of his breath brushed her earlobe as he murmured. “I happen to find this particular small, smart, sexy package very, very attractive.”
Small, smart, sexy.
Charlotte had been described with two of those words before. The unexpected addition made her head spin in disbelief. Except what did Gabriel have to gain from lying to her, from pretending he found her sexually enticing? He’d just had a demonstration of how screwed up she was—clearly not a fun conquest.
It wasn’t as if he needed to hunt for notches on his bedpost. As displayed by Tiffany, women hunted him down. “Doesn’t your girlfriend mind you flirting with other women?” she asked sharply before she forgot he was taken—as he clearly had.
“She’s not mine yet.” The last word was drawled out.
Wanting to slap herself for continuing to find the arrogant T-Rex attractive, she said, “I’ll show you how to make the pasta sauce.” Soon as that was done, she could go home and bake out her rage as she told Molly that T-Rex wasn’t only a carnivore, he was a man who didn’t value commitment when it came to a personal relationship.
Charlotte couldn’t be with someone like that, even if he wasn’t just messing with her for his own amusement.
Gabriel didn’t get out of the doorway. “Not before you answer my question.”
“No,” she said through gritted teeth. “I won’t sue you.” She’d also not take anything he said or did seriously. A man who made a move on one woman, whom he’d asked to help him learn how to cook something to impress another woman, wasn’t her idea of Prince Charming.
When his eyes glinted, lips curving in a slow and very male smile, she knew he intended to take full advantage of her acquiescence. “Come into my parlor, Ms. Baird.”