Cosmo Red-Hot Reads Box Set: CakeFearlessNaked SushiEverything You Need to Know

by Lauren Dane

  Her smile dimmed a little, since the only wild sex she wanted was with Luke. Then she reminded herself to focus. This was a major career boon.

  Looked as though the Girlz Guide had done it again. Her lucky shoes, and pushing herself to try something crazy like seducing her fantasy guy, had been just what she’d needed to rock her life.

  “What do I have to do to get that promotion?” she asked. Not because she doubted herself. Nope, her confidence was bouncing off the moon right now. But Pete knew what it took to make a good impression. “Any advice?”

  “Speak up. Don’t hesitate to jump in and lead. This is big shit, and it’s on a crazy-tight deadline. If the team pulls off this project, it’ll open a dozen new doors. The leader wants the best, but they have to be fast and reliable. You’ve got a good rep for thinking outside the box. Use that.”

  She had a rep for thinking outside the box? Gia bit her lip to keep from giggling. Maybe she wasn’t quite so average after all.

  Gia’s giddy staring was interrupted by Pete’s harrumph. She frowned. He waved the folder again with an impatient look. As soon as she took it, he tilted his head toward the door.

  “Go. You only have thirteen minutes now.”

  She practically skipped out of the room.

  Talk about a rocking distraction to keep her mind off of Luke.

  She was halfway down the hall, heading toward her cubby, when she opened the file to read the team details.

  What she saw stopped her so fast her gorgeous shoes squeaked in protest against the linoleum.

  “Noooo,” she moaned.

  Her vision went black. But that was okay, because it gave a nice backdrop to the white dots dancing in front of her eyes.

  Deep breath, she told herself. Just breathe, dammit.

  It took a few more reminders to get her lungs to work. And a handful of breaths to erase the dancing dots.

  Her vision clear, she looked again.

  Holy hell.

  What was she going to do?

  She couldn’t run. Not from work.

  Especially not now.

  She’d just gotten a promotion, dammit.

  Her gaze landed on her feet, the red leather glinting back at her like a wink.

  She moaned again.

  With a frantic look at the clock at the end of the hall, she headed for the elevators, grabbing her cell from her pocket and dialing as she went.

  “Caryn,” she said as soon as the other woman answered. “You have to meet me on the fourth floor, east elevator. Now. Right this second. And bring your shoes.”

  “My what?”

  “Shoes. The ones you’re wearing, sneakers out of your gym bag I don’t care. Shoes.” Gia punched the down button over and over, but the lights didn’t blink any faster.

  “You want my shoes? And what am I supposed to wear?”

  Since Gia could tell from Caryn’s voice that she was walking, a little of the panic that’d gripped her belly started to ease.

  “You get to wear my Giuseppe Zanottis.”

  She could hear her friend’s sharp intake of breath over the phone. In stereo, Gia heard two elevator dings. The one in front of her and, she assumed, Caryn’s.

  “You’re letting me wear your sacred shoes? Why? Did you kill someone in them and need to throw the cops off the track?”

  “Worse,” Gia exclaimed, collapsing against the elevator wall and opening the file again. “I got a promotion. I have to report to the new team in, like, five minutes.”

  “And you can’t be wearing the best shoes in the world?”

  “Nope. Because my new boss is Luke Monroe.”

  Luke paced outside the workroom, wondering for the tenth time that hour if he’d made the right decision.

  What was he thinking, getting back into the tech side of things? He was a public relations guy. He was the explanations guy. He sold the product. He didn’t make it.

  At least, he hadn’t in years.

  His tech skills, never as strong as his talking skills, were rusty. If he’d wanted to get back into programming, he should have applied to be on a team. Not to lead it.

  But no. He’d wanted a challenge. A chance to prove himself. To show that he could step off of easy street and still hold his own.

  What the hell had he been thinking?

  He had to clench his fingers into a fist to keep from smacking himself in the forehead.

  “Luke?” A pretty brunette stuck her head around the door, looking around until she spotted him. “The team is all here.”

  It went without saying that they were waiting. Time wasn’t only money when it came to creating these programs; it was make-or-break. Jobs like this one were on spec. Which meant that if another company came up with the program first or pitched it better, they’d get the contract. And all the work Tri-Solutions put in would be wasted.

  But hey, no pressure.

  Luke took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and pasted on a confident smile.

  Time to prove himself.

  “Hi, everyone,” he said as he walked into the room. “Ready to rock this project?”

  An hour later he’d given up on rocking anything.

  After he’d gone over the project specs—building a configurable storefront, tracking system and database for an online retailer who operated in multiple countries—they’d got down to details. Four of the five people on the team had talked circles around him. A few seemed to be trying to prove something, a couple others trying to show him up.

  The last one was quiet, taking copious notes in the back of the room. Gia Renyard. He squinted, trying to see her over the heads of the other people in the room. She was scrunched so low in her chair she was practically bent in half. Still, something about her was familiar. He didn’t know her, beyond her qualifications for the project. He squinted at her hand flying across the notepad—it was pretty much all of her he could see except a pair of scruffy tennis shoes. Couldn’t fault her enthusiasm, even if she didn’t seem to have anything to add to the discussion.

  Unlike some others he could name.

  “Look,” he said, interrupting two scruffy-looking geeks who seemed as if they were about to challenge each other to a light saber duel. “This isn’t a debate. If we just think outside the box a little, we can make this a multi-platform application. Tablets and computers, all linked to the cloud. Which means this wouldn’t be the only client we could sell it to.”

  “We have to figure out how to build it first,” one of the geeks shot back. “You’re saying you want it clean, but you also want flashy. And now you’re talking multi-platform customization. You’re asking for a lot that doesn’t easily fit together.”

  And the argument started again. Hadn’t these guys ever heard of kissing the boss’s ass and pretending you could rock the job? Luke shoved his hand through his hair, wondering if he could kiss Kettlemens’ ass and still get that other job.

  “They can fit together if we work backward. Start by outlining exactly what all the end product has to do, then break it down until we see each element and how to bring them together into a whole.”

  Luke shot a grateful look to the back of the room but didn’t figure Gia saw it, since she was still scrunched in half. Brow furrowed, he tried to place her voice. Nothing clicked, though. Granted, every time he closed his eyes, another woman’s voice filled his head. A low, husky tone that made even the mundane a total turn-on.

  Forcing himself to focus, Luke shifted to the side, trying to see Gia and figure out where he knew her from. All he got was the side sweep of her hair as it curved along her jaw. He’d probably seen her around the building, but he still couldn’t tell if he actually knew her. Frustrating since he was usually spot-on with remembering people. He’d pull her aside when they were done here and ask her where they’d met. Just as soon as he wound up this little fun-fest.

  “Gia has a great point,” he said over the arguing voices. He strode over to the opposite side of the room, trying not to make it obvious he
was positioning himself for a better view of his new favorite team member. “Instead of each person taking a separate element of the development, we’ll all work together through each stage.”

  He shot another grateful look at Gia, but she’d shifted again so her shoulder was angled toward him, and he could only see the side of her head. Her hand flew over the page, though, as if she planned to write up the entire project code before they ended the meeting.

  Suddenly a lot more interested in talking to her than proving he could handle taking the lead on this job, Luke decided to wind things up. He glanced at his watch, then leaned his butt against the desk behind him and gave the room the first relaxed smile he’d worn all day. “So here’s the plan. Gia’s given us a framework. I want ten ideas from everyone on how to work within that framework in my inbox by morning. I don’t care how crazy they seem, how out-there they are. Get me the ideas. Tomorrow morning we’ll meet back here and brainstorm through them.”

  “Brainstorm?” Geek Two asked.

  “It’s when two or more people exchange ideas revolving around a specific question, using the feedback to expand or dismiss the ideas and find a workable solution.”

  Luke barely restrained himself from laughing at the sarcastic mutter from the back of the room. He had a feeling this Gia was going to be his greatest team asset.

  He spent the next ten minutes going over a few more questions and fielding requests for assignments before he reiterated the deadline. His impatience tightened with every passing minute, though. He wanted these people gone. He needed to talk to Gia.

  Only to feel her out on a few of her project ideas, he told himself. Which was complete bullshit.

  The truth was, she was the first woman who’d sparked any interest in him since he’d returned from Vegas. He was just as desperate to prove his heart was still loose and fancy-free as he was to commit her to creating a development outline.

  Crazy, given that he’d only see her shoulder and the top of her head.

  “We’ll assign jobs after the session tomorrow. You want to polish your rep on this project, you bring your A game to the brainstorming session.” With that, he wished everyone a good afternoon and ended the meeting.

  Despite wanting to meet with Gia, he didn’t call her out in front of everyone. He knew how backbiting these teams could get. If he gave her any more attention now, then offered her the plum assignment he had in mind, there would be bitching. Especially from the geek twins.

  And that was the kind of crap that sank projects, or ruined project director reps. No thanks.

  So he waited, giving everyone equal time as they stopped at the front of the room to say goodbye. He finally shook off the clingy blond who wanted to get a drink and discuss the project—a total no since Luke was keeping this development a smear-free zone. And because he didn’t date guys.

  His smile rueful and friendly, Luke looked around for Gia.

  She wasn’t there.

  Where had she gone?

  He was standing at the front of the room. How had she slipped by him? And why hadn’t she stopped to talk?

  Luke shoved his hands in his pockets, scowling at the empty room. Was it something he’d said? How the hell had he upset or irritated her in the few words they’d exchanged?

  Then, hearing his own pathetic thoughts, he closed his eyes and shook his head in disgust.

  Holy crap. One woman snuck out of his life, leaving him blindfolded, naked and horny as hell, and now he had a complex.

  “How’d it go, dude?” Matt stood in the doorway, one shoulder against the frame and two coffees in hand.

  “Not bad,” Luke said, shrugging off the mood and gathering his notes and reports into his satchel. “I’m still not sure what I was thinking, though. This entire group is head and shoulders above me on tech skills and current programming experience. Any one of them could direct this project better than I could.”

  Matt shook his head, blinked, then shook it again.

  “What?”

  “Just wondering what happened to the Luke Monroe I know. That guy had confidence, skills and balls big enough to sink Alcatraz.”

  Luke’s thighs actually contracted at the thought of trying to walk around with a pair that size between his legs.

  Still, while ridiculous, the message was crystal clear.

  “I’m just saying I might be out of my depths here. You know, like you were that weekend you went home with those triplet flight attendants.”

  Handing over one of the coffees, Matt snorted at that memory.

  “I managed to survive with my rep, and my goods, intact,” he pointed out. “You will, too. You just need to remember what your job is.”

  Luke slanted him a questioning look.

  Before he could answer, Matt’s cell rang. He answered it, diving immediately into dirty talk.

  More than ready to end this day, Luke headed toward the parking lot, Matt chatting away beside him with whoever he was seeing that evening. An evening that would include handcuffs, latex and possibly video equipment.

  Ahh, good times.

  Luke wasn’t interested in sex, though. Which was something he’d lament later, in private. For now, he mulled his friend’s suggestion.

  By the time they’d reached his BMW, parked next to Matt’s Miata, he’d finally figured it out.

  “You clear?” Matt asked, a quick look at Luke’s much more relaxed face clueing him in.

  “Yeah. When I was selling the product, I had to know what it did, be able to describe it in detail and answer all the questions about how it could apply to the client’s needs.” With the push of a button, the driver’s door opened and Luke tossed his satchel on the backseat. Then, leaning one arm on the roof of his car, he took a deep, relaxing breath.

  “This gig is the same. It’s my job to know what we need, to answer questions and push the team. But I’m there to lead. Not to program. I’m the hub.”

  He thought of Gia’s words. Heat stirred. Ridiculous considering he had no idea what she looked like. But her voice had something to it. Something sexy.

  “There ya go,” Matt agreed. He jingled his keys for a second, then tilted his head toward the street. “You want to go get a drink? Dinner?”

  Luke smiled. Only a true friend would give up what sounded like the promise of very kinky sex to listen to a buddy moan his way through an identity crisis.

  “I’m good. I’ve got work to do.”

  “We can double up. I’ll call my girl, have her bring a friend.” Matt pulled out his phone, showing he was ready to do just that. “We’ll skip the handcuffs and hit the clubs.”

  “I’m good,” Luke refused again, shaking his head and offering a wave before sliding into the Beemer.

  Handcuffs? Really?

  Wincing at the things that some people got off on, Luke headed home. His empty apartment didn’t hold much charm, but there was even less in Matt’s suggestion, even though they both knew it’d end with the two of them getting laid. That was the kind of women Matt’s girls—and their friends—were. But faceless, nameless sex had lost its charm for Luke. Besides, unless it was with Vanna, he wasn’t finding much appeal in even thinking about sex.

  Looked as if he was going to have a whole lot of time, energy and focus to devote to this new project after all.

  And maybe, just maybe, by the end of it he’d be over his feelings for the Vegas vixen.

  For some weird reason, the image Gia’s ratty tennis shoes flashed through his head.

  Maybe by the end of this project, he’d be ready to move on. And, horrible taste in footwear aside, he’d already found a woman who just might appeal to him.

  Chapter Eight

  Girlz Guide Words of Wisdom…

  If the cost makes you squawk, you gotta walk.

  Luke couldn’t say he’d had a lot of experience with frustration in his life. The past two weeks had changed that. And he wasn’t much liking it.

  “Is Gia here yet?” he asked as he made his way through
the tech room. Heads down and hard at work, the team kept right on working. Most had headphones on, the better to block out distractions and get into a flow. But a couple grimaced, and finally, Geek One met Luke’s eyes with a negative shake of the head. Luke’s jaw tightened before the guy uttered a single word.

  “She called in an hour ago. She’s working remote until the meeting this afternoon.”

  Suddenly all eyes, even the ones attached to heads wearing ear buds, were on him. Luke kept his expression chill and his smile in place, letting a nod be his only response.

  The project was over halfway done. They were ahead of schedule and kicking butt, mostly thanks to Gia’s brilliant ideas. And, of course, his excellent leadership.

  But he’d yet to get any one-on-one time with his best tech.

  After the team’s first brainstorming session, where she’d once again sat in the back of the room, keeping the session rolling while slouched in half, she’d immediately glommed on to Tri-Solutions’ lenient telecommuting policy. Luke had taken to calling mandatory team meetings in a desperate attempt to get the woman in the same room as him.

  Making a show of looking over the stat board he’d positioned on one end of the room, Luke tried to figure out what it was about Gia that fascinated him. She included cleverly snarky remarks in her reports. Their phone conversations were short, but there was something in her voice that tugged at his senses. She challenged him to think bigger, to challenge himself and, to push the team and the project even further than he had considered. They’d taken to emailing back and forth, at first talking about the project, then, over the past few days, slipping in a personal tidbit here and there. It was as if she could read him, and she wasn’t afraid to point out where he was dropping the ball as leader.

  That’d bothered him at first, until she asked if this was really his passion. Her questions forced Luke to admit that it wasn’t. He’d taken this job to prove something, but all he’d proven was that it wasn’t quite the challenge he needed. There was something else missing.

  Crazy that he’d needed that pointed out to him by a woman whose face he’d never even seen.

  But Gia had him pegged. And that totally turned him on.