Sweet Surrender (Sugar Rush #3)(9)

Not that Tyler Stone knew anything about quarrying or power tools. If he'd gone to work for her father a decade ago, there'd have been no chance of him ending up spoiled or lazy-Edward Darling would have shown him exactly how to engage in hard, physical work.



       
         
       
        

Tyler looked up. His gaze met hers with a force that felt like metal striking stone. Creating sparks.

The doors slid open before Kate even realized the elevator had come to a stop. She pulled herself out of the haze that had descended over her and stepped toward the door. Miles Norwood stood in the corridor, holding a green smoothie with a pink straw.

Kate forced a weak smile. "Miles. I see you went to the Gumdrop Bistro after all."

"I was feeling a bit peckish," he replied with a bland smile.

Behind her, Tyler muttered something that sounded vaguely like "more like a bit prickish." She shot him a frown, but he was back to scrolling on his phone.

Miles entered the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor. Kate's pulse sped up with both anxiety and frustration-she wanted to make another attempt to ask him out, but no way would she try again with Tyler here. She could practically hear him snorting with laughter.

Miles closed his lips around the smoothie straw. What would it feel like to have him kiss her? She hadn't been kissed in a very long time, and certainly not by someone as perfect as Miles Norwood.

"Have a nice day." He nodded a farewell and exited on the first floor.

Kate let out her breath. The doors closed behind him and the elevator continued its descent.

"Really?" Tyler asked dryly. "That stick in the mud gets you hot?"

She glowered at him, deciding to ignore the hot comment. "For your information, Miles is polite, brilliant, and dedicated to his work. You could take lessons from him."

"You could take lessons from me." He shot her a lopsided grin as the doors opened at the basement level.

"Lessons in what?" Too late, she thought she shouldn't have asked.

"In how to get a guy interested in you. Because you're failing miserably with Old Stick in the Mud. Not that he'd know a come-on if it kicked him in the balls."

"He had a girlfriend," Kate informed him. "They broke up recently."

"Ah, so that's why you're moving in. Was the girlfriend as prissy as he is?"

Ignoring the silly question, Kate headed down the basement corridor.

"I'll give you a tip." Tyler followed her. "You need to wear better clothes. No way should you be hiding that killer body under Grandma's suits."

Killer body? Seriously?

"And you have to show off those incredible legs of yours," he continued.

Kate's heart skipped a beat. He'd been looking at her legs? He'd noticed them?

How amaz … er, unprofessional.

"I know I'm not a fashion plate, but my clothes are perfectly suitable for work," she replied tartly, stopping at the closed library door. "Besides, how do you know what kind of body I have?" 

"I've felt it." The deep tone of his voice indicated his approval.

A shiver tripped down her spine. She'd felt his body, too. His rock-solid, very male body whose muscles probably rippled and flexed with every movement …

She squashed that line of thought and turned the door handle. Locked. Behind her, Tyler moved closer-so close that she could feel the heat radiating off him.

"Not to mention," he remarked, his breath stirring the tendrils of hair at her nape, "you really need to let a guy see those curves. He'll imagine doing all sorts of good and dirty things to you."

Kate slanted him a narrow look, even though her skin warmed at the sexy, rumbling sound of his promise. Had he imagined that about her?

"I do not want anyone to imagine those kinds of things at work," she said.

"What about after hours?" He lifted an eyebrow.

She pulled in a breath and chose not to answer that question. His voice was getting her all hot and bothered, and he wasn't even the one she was interested in. Obviously her rather neglected libido was finally standing at attention. Her nipples definitely were. Thank heavens her suit jacket was buttoned over her breasts because Tyler was definitely the kind of man who would notice perky nips.

She slipped to the side to let him unlock the door. He didn't move. Instead his gaze roamed over her-not a quick assessment, but a slow, rolling look as if he were stripping her down and imagining her naked.

A glow flickered to life in Kate's belly, unfurling outward into her veins. If a man had ever looked at her like that before-and she couldn't recall one ever doing so-then she certainly hadn't responded like this.