Nadia’s thickly mascaraed lashes lowered as she quickly looked down his form, then she suddenly turned. “Follow me.” She didn’t wait for him to answer.
He glanced about the office as he walked. Low-level partitions, computers everywhere, a couple of big screens on the wall—one playing the E! network, the other on a cooking show where they were doing something unspeakable to a chicken carcass.
Nadia paused in her tracks and nodded to the glossy head just visible above a partition in the corner. “You need me to introduce you?”
“Thanks, but I can take it from here.”
He walked on toward Abbi, taking in what he could before she noticed him. Focused on the computer screen, she typed quickly. Busy work for a Saturday. Her desk was laden with piles of paper and general junk. A couple of feet away he stopped and read the title on the piece of paper on top of the nearest pile.
Five Ways to Get a Guy’s Attention.
Hmmm. He took another step closer, craning his head to read something from the next pile. Aural Sex—Talking Dirty to Amp Up Your Sex Life.
A couple of rubber items sent his eyebrows skyward and made him give thanks for the denim again. What was with all the “catch your man” and sex tip stuff? ’Cause while those kinds of articles were always in a woman’s glossy, did the IT queen need to read them for work? Or was her research personal?
Suddenly she turned, a startled expression in her eyes. “Joe?”
He did like his name on her lips. He also liked the way her blue eyes widened as she looked at him.
“Hey, Abigail,” he replied, watching her closely to read her reaction to him. “What’s with all the man-eating info?”
The color in her cheeks deepened, but her chin lifted. “I’m building an app for the magazine.”
“An app?” Amusement washed through him. This really was all for work?
Somehow, given her pole-dancing banter from this morning, he didn’t quite think so. He sure as hell didn’t want to think it was only for her boss. He wanted her to be as hungry as he’d suspected earlier. Specifically, he wanted her to be hungry for him.
“A value-added extra, you know,” she said primly.
“On being a man-eater?”
“I wouldn’t say a man-eater but…”
“This is all just for your job?” He lifted his eyebrows.
Please don’t let it just be for work.
That telltale color deepened in her cheeks and she didn’t speak.
Thanks be.
The once-shy Abbi Hayes wanted more from her sex life.
He could be a temporary fix. Help her over whatever sexual slump she was in. Hell, it was kind of a civil duty, because no one as beautiful as Abigail should ever doubt herself. And he had a feeling some moron had made her feel that way.
Yep. She needed him.
He just had to get her to say yes.
He smiled at her, preparing to set the game in motion. “Your colleague said you’re the IT queen.”
…
Abbi nodded jerkily, stunned he was here—she’d caught sight of his reflection in her computer screen and thought she was dreaming. “I’m the IT systems manager for the magazine, yes.” She wished her legs had the strength to let her stand, because looking all the way up at Joe Fuller was making her neck ache. But they’d lost all power the second she saw him standing there. “The app is my pet project.”
“It’s really important to you?” His smile had that wicked edge that she didn’t quite trust, but that made her melt in private places. “Helping women understand how to attract a guy?”
And how to keep him happy. Yes.
But she wasn’t about to tell Joe Fuller she’d been accused of being boring in bed. “There’s a market for it. I think it’ll have multiple benefits.”
“Multiple.” He echoed softly and nudged one of her towering research piles with his finger. “This is real duty for the cause.”
“I like to do a good job.” She glared at him defiantly, refusing to be bewitched into brainlessness again. “I like to be the best in everything I do.”
Well, that was the plan going forward. She hadn’t known she was bad at it until Scott had been so scathing the night they’d broken up. She’d tried to please him, had thought he was happy, but apparently not.
“Of course.” He nodded. “You always did. But do you really have to be so au fait with the app content?” he asked. “Aren’t you just supposed to create the digital framework and information delivery system?”
Her eyes widened at his ease with the techno-patter. But she shouldn’t be surprised he knew the lingo. He was a smart man. “Of course I’m interested in the content,” she said, drumming up a quick defense. “I want what’s best for our customers.” She offered a bright smile. “I want it to be accurate, exciting, and entertaining. We’re not just competing against other women’s magazines for customer attention, but all forms of female entertainment—TV, books, blogs, movies, music—”