Since I Fell For You(15)

“What if I’ve got a date?”

He didn’t so much as blink at her pointed question. “I won’t leave you alone with anyone I haven’t thoroughly checked out.”

“So you’re saying that if no guy checks out well enough for you, I have to be a nun?”

Finally, she thought she saw a chink in his armor. “Like I said, if your dates check out, I won’t stand in your way.”

It was entirely beside the point that she had no dates set up, nor was she looking for anyone to sleep with. What bugged her was if Roman thought he could control her in this way. In any way at all.

Momentarily forgetting her plan to seduce him into misbehaving and quitting, she said, “If I’m going to sleep with someone, that means I have already checked him out.” She held up a hand before he could argue with her. “I’ll let you stay in the apartment next door and stand in my office all day. I’ll even let you go on a run with me. But what I do with my body in the privacy of my own bedroom is my decision. Period.”

With that, she strapped her phone to her armband and headed out the door. Now she really needed a hit of fresh air to her brain, if only to cool off her temper and get back on plan.

Jeannie hadn’t reacted to Suzanne’s dress and heels that morning, but the sports bra and spandex without an oversized T-shirt to cover it all up had her assistant cocking her head in question before she could stop herself. Suzanne shot her a look that said, I’ll explain everything later. Fortunately, they’d been working together for so long that they could have entire conversations without saying a word.

By the time Suzanne and Roman had left the building, crossed the street, and entered the park, she was beyond ready to spring off the starting block. She usually let herself warm up a little bit, but because she was desperate to try to outrun both her irritation and her unacceptable attraction to the man who seemed determined to keep her a prisoner in the name of safety, she all but sprinted down the paved pathway.

Roman had no trouble keeping up with her, and she was impressed despite herself. Her brothers were all in great shape, but she could run rings around them. As far as she could tell, Roman was barely even breaking a sweat. Not that she was going to let herself sneak too many looks at him out of the corner of her eye, of course. Right now, she had to be totally focused on getting her brain—and body—back on track.

It took a few minutes of running full speed for her mind to clear. But relief was short-lived. Because once she could think straight again, she finally remembered that she was supposed to be doing whatever she could to entice Roman into overstepping the boundaries of professionalism.

If her brothers hadn’t been such meddling, overbearing men who thought it was okay to sic a bodyguard on her, she wouldn’t even be in this situation. One day, she hoped Harry and Alec met women who would knock them down a peg. Mostly just Alec, since Harry was a sweetheart most of the time. Alec, on the other hand, needed his heart served to him on a platter by someone who drove him positively nuts. If she’d known the right woman, Suzanne would have gleefully introduced them already. Unfortunately, she didn’t know a single woman capable of wrapping Alec around her finger.

Speaking of which, Suzanne needed to get back to her plan, ASAP. Which meant being sweet to Roman instead of sour. It was time to buck up and get the job done. Time, she sensed, was of the essence with Roman. Because if she let him stick around too long, she was very much afraid it wouldn’t be attraction that would do her in, but the fact that she’d enjoyed talking with him this morning in the taxi.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked in what she hoped was a sultry tone. Granted, it was hard to sound sultry when she was running this fast.

She could have sworn he almost stumbled on the path before he said, “No.”

“Mmm.” She made sure to draw the sound out in a husky tone she’d never used before. “It must be hard to go out on your own dates when you’re with clients nearly twenty-four seven.” She turned her gaze to him and let it linger longer than it should. “Somehow I can’t imagine you living as a monk, though, do you?”

His expression didn’t change, apart from a muscle that began to jump in his jaw. “Most clients aren’t interested in my personal life.”

“Sure they are,” she responded. “They’re just too afraid of that forbidding expression you wear all the time to ask. But I’ve been around enough men my whole life to see right through it. Icy exteriors always melt.” The muscle was jumping even faster in his jaw as she forced herself totally outside of her comfort zone. “Besides, if we’re going to be with each other practically every second of the day and night, don’t you think we should get to know each other?”