Evelyn sighed. “There is no catch. After what happened with Michael and considering the circumstances your cousin found herself in before I was called, I think it’s best for me to stick closer to you.”
The woman was insane if she thought for one second that he was going to allow this. “How the hell are you going to be my new intern? With no one from HR or even Cali knowing who you are?”
Evelyn crossed farther into his office and took a seat in one of the chairs across from his desk.
That was a bad sign. That meant she wasn’t planning to leave anytime soon.
“Luckily for me, you’re a forgetful man.” He narrowed his eyes, but she continued before he could ask what the hell she meant. “You agreed to be the prize in an essay contest for NYU’s business school. The dean of the department will pick the winner—me—who will work hand in hand with the CEO of DevX Tech. Normally Cali would be informed of things like this, but you agreed to it offhandedly over drinks, so it makes sense that it slipped your mind to tell her or HR.”
“Things don’t slip my mind,” he bit out.
“That’s funny, because it sure seems to slip your mind to call me back all the time.”
He shot her an unapologetic smile. He didn’t need to explain himself to her. He didn’t like her and she didn’t like him. This wasn’t some stupid after-school special were they needed to talk about it. “Oh, trust me, Ms. Price, it’s not my forgetfulness that keeps me from calling you back.”
Evelyn pursed her thick, full lips, and Luke couldn’t help but be transported to that dark area of his mind that lately seemed occupied solely by fantasies of Evelyn in every position he could think to take her in. Sometimes in sultry black lingerie and garter belts, sometimes in an innocent white bra and panty set, and sometimes her in just naked glory. Her legs open in invitation, her nipples hard with arousal, and her lips screaming his name as he made her come.
“Just tell me what I have to do.” He forced himself away from his fantasies of her.
Evelyn’s expression softened and Luke had a feeling she had no idea the thoughts just racing through his mind. “I really do want to make this as easy on you as possible. I’m going to need to be close by. I can work with an agency laptop or you can give me a company one, but I can’t have IT checking on my Internet usage. If you get a call from any of your contacts at Thirteen Stars or they set up a meeting, try to get me in that room with you.”
“And they won’t realize who you are? They seem to have bottomless resources and a healthy paranoia.”
“No one does a fake ID quite like the US government. My name for your purposes is Evelyn Peterson.”
He frowned. “Isn’t that a little too close?”
“Honestly, my real name is common enough that I probably could’ve used it. But I’d rather have something close than have you refer to me by the wrong name at some point.” He glared at her and she added, “Or for me to not respond to my fake name.”
“I don’t understand. What good is it going to do for you to sit around for hours and hours of the day when they barely ever contact me?”
“Perhaps I’d feel more confident if we have better communication between the two of us.”
“Yeah, that would imply communicating at all and I don’t think either of us wants more of that.”
She nodded in agreement. “At least we can both be sure about our goals. And unfortunately, I think the quickest way to stop Thirteen Stars is to work together.” She pushed herself out of her chair. “I’m off for the rest of the day, but do you think you can have everything ready for me to start here tomorrow?”
Instinctively he stood as well and then cursed himself. She was forcing herself farther and farther into his life. He didn’t need to be on high manners with her. “Everything should be ready. I mean, it’s not like you’re going to be doing a lot of work.”
“I won’t be sitting around twiddling my thumbs all day. I have some agency paperwork I can catch up on, but I will be open to doing reasonable assignments from you for the purposes of keeping the cover up.”
His mouth curled in a wicked grin. Oh, he could have fun with this.
“Reasonable being the key word, Luke.”
“Oh, trust me,” he said. “I’ll be reasonable.”
CHAPTER TWO
“You’re an intern?”
Evelyn faced down Cali’s skepticism with the calm cool of someone who knew exactly how ridiculous she sounded and didn’t give a damn. “Yep! Winner of the DevX Tech essay contest. You knew I was coming, right?”