‘Don’t waste your time with the charm offensive. I can hardly stick being this close to you in a lift!’ Kathy hissed back at him at the speed of a bullet. ‘You complained about me and I’ve been sacked. I’m only here to tell you what I think of your despicable behaviour—’
The lift doors glided open again on an underground car park. ‘I lodged no complaint.’
‘Someone did. But I didn’t damage your chess set and I always completed my work targets—’
‘It is possible that the enquiries made about you by my security advisors may have been construed as a complaint,’ Sergio conceded, striding out of the lift. ‘Given the temporary nature of your contract, your employer may have decided that dispensing with your services was the wisest option.’
Hurrying along by his side, Kathy didn’t know whether to believe that interpretation or not. ‘If that’s the case, then you should play fair and sort it out for me.’
But Sergio had a different take on the situation. He was not disappointed by the news that she would no longer be cleaning the Torrenco building. He thought that was definitely a development to be welcomed. If she was about to figure in his life in any guise she could not be engaged in such lowly work. ‘I’ll fix you up with something more appropriate—’
‘I don’t want you fixing me up with anything!’ Kathy was incredulous at that cool response. ‘I’m not asking for favours either, only fair treatment.’
‘We’ll discuss it in the limo,’ Sergio intoned smoothly.
Disconcerted by that proposal, Kathy finally dragged her attention from Sergio for long enough to notice her immediate surroundings. A uniformed chauffeur was holding wide the passenger door of a huge gleaming limousine, while several men with the build of professional bodyguards hovered in a protective circle. Extreme discomfiture assailed her; she felt out of her depth. Even so, she also recognised that getting into the car with him was the price of continuing the dialogue. She climbed in and tried hard not to gawp at the opulent leather interior and the sleek built-in bank of business and entertainment equipment.
‘Naturally you’re annoyed. It is most regrettable that you should have suffered unjust treatment,’ Sergio intoned.
The dark, deep timbre of his voice sent a sinuous little frisson snaking down Kathy’s spine. But it also crossed her mind that he was clever enough to know exactly what to say and how to say it on any given occasion. Distrust slivered through her and she stiffened like a cat stroked the wrong way. ‘I’m glad that you recognise that it was unfair.’
‘You don’t need to worry,’ Sergio countered with supreme assurance. ‘I’ll ensure that you get another job. ‘
‘Easier said than done. I’ve only got a good reference as a waitress.’ Kathy was already planning to take on extra shifts at the café to make ends meet. But the cracking pace of waiting tables for longer hours would exhaust her and her studies would suffer, so that option would only be useful in the short term.
‘Would you prefer to work in the catering trade?’
‘No.’ Kathy closed her hands together in a taut movement. Even though it was his fault that she was in a tight corner she had a lot of pride and found it very hard to ask anyone for help. But if he had the influence he seemed to think he had, there was a chance that just for once a piece of bad luck could be turned into something more positive. ‘I would love an office job,’ she confided in a rush. ‘It doesn’t matter how junior it is. Even a temporary position would do, because it would give me some experience. I’ve got good IT skills…and a rather empty CV.’
‘It’s not a problem. I own a chain of employment agencies. I’ll organise it today.’
‘I’m not asking for any special favours,’ she said defensively.
‘I’m not offering any.’ Sergio closed a confident hand over hers, unfurling her taut white fingers to tug her closer.
Her green eyes were wary. ‘Look, I’m not here for the seduction routine.’
‘Your pulse says otherwise, bella mia,’ Sergio traded huskily, his thumb and forefinger encircling her fragile wrist while he challenged her with smouldering dark golden eyes.
That single look was so hot that Kathy felt as though she were burning inside her skin. A lightning strike of desire slivered through her, stinging her nipples into straining needle points, creating a knot of tension in her pelvis. In a sudden compulsive movement that had nothing to do with thought she leant forward and found his shapely sensual mouth for herself. A split second later she could not believe that she had made the first move, but she could no more have resisted that primitive prompting than she could have stopped breathing.