Talking Dirty with the CEO(17)
Marisa rolled her eyes. “And I’m gone. Catch you later, St. John.”
As Marisa left, Ben turned his attention back to Christie. “I read your dating piece.”
A thousand butterflies started doing the macarena in her tummy. She tried to act nonchalant. “So it was okay?”
“Actually, Chris, it was better than okay. It was great. I’m impressed.”
Christie swallowed and the butterflies scattered. “Oh. Oh, that’s…that’s awesome, Ben.”
“Yes. Awesome was just what I thought.” Ben’s mild-mannered reporter abruptly morphed into shark editor. “Which means you’ll be up for the launch of Ashton Tech’s E-Slate next week.”
She froze, terrified and thrilled in equal measure. “You sure you want me to cover it?”
Ben leaned against the desk. “Of course.” His brows rose skyward. “Are you sure you want to do it?”
“Oh, yes! I mean…uh…sure.”
He laughed. “Good. I’m going to give you the interview, too.”
Interview? What interview? “I thought it was just the launch you wanted me to go to?”
The shark grinned. “The mysterious Mr. Ashton will be there and we’ve been granted an audience with the man himself.”
Holy crap. The trepidation turned around and settled into outright fear. “But I thought he never gave interviews?”
“He doesn’t. He’s only doing a handful. Total Tech is one of the lucky recipients.”
Christie swallowed. This was a big deal. The biggest. Joseph Ashton was the largest fish in the technology pond. He never did media stuff. Never.
No wonder Ben looked like the cat who’d not only gotten the cream but swallowed the whole freaking dairy. This interview was a huge coup for the magazine.
“Yeah,” Ben said, clearly seeing every one of Christie’s thought processes. “It’s a big deal. Think you can handle it?”
This was her chance. Her moment. Her opportunity to leave reviewing the latest online war game and stupid dating website for dust, and get her teeth stuck into some real tech journalism.
This was thrilling. Exciting.
And it scared the crap out of her.
“Yes,” she said before she could change her mind. “I can. I promise you I can.”
“Good. You’re a great writer, Chris. I’d like to see you nail this one.”
She grinned. Grinned till her face ached. “And I will. You can count on me, Ben.”
…
Joseph angled the screen of his laptop away from Jude’s view. She scowled at him from across the wide expanse of his desk. “Hey, I thought you were going to take me to lunch?”
“In a sec. Just have to check something.”
His sister let out a breath and flopped on the low, squishy couch that dominated his office. “Five minutes,” she warned, knowing full well his tendency to get distracted. “Then I’m gone.”
Joseph wasn’t listening. Telling himself he was only checking on some details for the E-Slate launch, he glanced down at the laptop. But of course he couldn’t help his attention sliding toward the chat window that was also, coincidentally, open.
The empty chat window.
Right. So Naughtygirl25 wasn’t online. Just as she hadn’t been online for the past three days. That was okay. More than okay. He hadn’t created his own profile just so he could check to see if she’d visited the chat room where he’d first met her. That would be ridiculous. Not to mention desperate.
But if she had been then she would have had some major explaining to do.
Since that night three days ago, she’d steadily taken over his thoughts like a species of fast-growing, beautiful vine. The incident in his bathroom haunted him and he couldn’t stop thinking about it. About the incredible chemistry that had ignited between them. About the way she’d lit up when he’d touched her, blazing with passion and heat and sensuality. About how he’d been like a sex-starved teenage boy, taking her without any niceties at all. Thank God there’d been a condom in the top drawer because even if there hadn’t been, he wasn’t at all sure he would have stopped.
Terrible behavior. He’d never acted like that before. Why had he responded to her so intensely? Why should the best sex of his life be with a woman whom—to be totally honest here—wasn’t his type in the slightest.
Perhaps it had been due to her response to him. So abandoned. Giving herself up to him with a hunger that had nearly stopped his heart. He’d loved that.
Except for the end when she’d rushed from the room and from his apartment as if the hounds of hell were on her tail. He’d tried to go after her, but dazed after the intensity of the orgasm that had ripped him apart, it had taken him a couple of moments to haul his jeans up and get himself moving. By then it was too late. He’d even gone down to the street to see where she’d gotten to but she’d vanished.