Tempting the Corporate Spy(10)

Okay, now he wasn’t even sure what he just said, but he did realize he was probably looking at her in a way that said there were some boundaries he wouldn’t mind crossing.

She looked confused, but hey, she could join the club.

“I don’t mean this how it sounds, but has coming on to your consulting clients been part of your approach, wherever the hell it was that you worked?”

“Only with the gay guys.”

She reddened. “Oh, God, I’m an idiot. I didn’t realize—”

“I’m kidding,” he said, annoyed she had believed he was gay so readily. “I’m not gay.”

“Oh,” she responded, avoiding eye contact still.

“But I wasn’t coming on to you.” He abandoned the pseudo-consulting speak, not sure whether he was lying though.

“No, I mean normally you wouldn’t. I’m just wondering if you think you have to or something.” She shifted from one foot to another, batting her long hair out of her eyes. It was incredibly cute. And hot.

He had a sudden vision of being made to “service” her, pulling her jeans down and pressing his lips to the cotton of her panties, his palms grasping the plump cheeks of her ass, moving lower still…

“Of course not,” he got out in a rasp.

“Good, because I think that being pressured into doing that, in a business context, would be just as wrong when it’s a man and a woman”—she gestured between them—“as it is when it’s a woman and a man.”

Maybe it was the fantasy of being her consultant/love slave, but he was having trouble following her train of thought. Like, she wasn’t actually suggesting he’d object to pulling her underwear aside and tasting her warm, wet…

“Jon?”

She was watching him tentatively.

“Mmm?”

“You looked lost in thought.”

Lost in something all right.

“Have I touched a nerve here? Did something like that happen at your last job?”

He laughed. He couldn’t help it, but sobered immediately at her wounded expression. “Ah, no. Not at all. It’s nice of you to, ah…”

Come up with that incredibly kooky idea instead of seeing that I’m turned on by you?

“…be concerned and everything, but I just gave you a neck rub. I didn’t offer to go down on you or anything.”

Okay, she was beet red now.

“I’m sorry. That was too blunt. I’m out of line.”

“No, of course not.”

Yeah. Really. If she only knew why he was there for real, she would be so agreeing with him. Not to mention trying to throw his ass in jail.

“I went for the neck rub because I was trying to get on a more relaxed footing and, as I said, massage is becoming a well-accepted workplace benefit. You seem kind of tense, so I thought you could benefit from it. And, though they never tried to jump my bones, the women lawyers I worked with would never turn down a neck rub.” That was certainly a safe claim since every woman he’d ever met was a sucker for neck rubs.

She dug her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. I’ve been working too hard, I guess, and I’m used to having a sweet little old lady as my only company. Having a guy—you, I guess—is kind of odd. So I think neck rubs are a little more than I’m comfortable with.” She smiled. “Even though it was wonderful.”

“Sure. No problem. I’ll just sit out here and, ah, observe and work on my numbers. Answer the phone.”

“Great.”

“Which by the way didn’t ring at all so far today.”

“Well, if it does, take a message. And then hold onto the messages until you have a bunch of them before you give them to me.”

“Interesting.”

“Just put them in that desk drawer there when you leave so I don’t see them. What were you locking in the drawer by the way?”

Her guileless question caught him off guard. He was surprised she had noticed. What he was locking up was a sophisticated router he’d designed himself. For when he was able to find the program he was looking for.

But he was generally pretty good at lying on his feet. “My Kindle. I thought I’d leave it here for the time being. So I’d have it every day.”

“Why were you locking it up?”

“I was going down to the restroom. You never know.”

“Oh, you don’t really have to be so careful. I’ve never had anything stolen. I mean, we do lock up at night. But you’re not going to leave it here then, are you? You probably read at night.”

“No, I have other things to do.” He glanced down at her very delectable chest without intending to and looked quickly away, his attention landing on the clock on the wall. “Two o’clock already. I guess it’s a little late for lunch, but we could order some if you want.”