by Nina Croft
Then they could get back to normal. And she could get that promotion and go on the exciting jobs that would take her mind off sex. Jake had told her that she should try living dangerously. Well, wasn’t that what she’d been trying to persuade him to let her do?
She’d show him—she’d pass his damned test. Break into his office and steal whatever was in his safe.
She picked the locks on his door, safely navigated the maze of infrared beams, opened the cabinet holding the safe…and promptly tripped Jake’s latest addition to the security system. That hadn’t been there last time she checked.
The office locked down immediately, leaving her trapped inside. It took two hours before anyone came to let her out.
She’d known they’d have contacted Jake when the alarm went off, but still hadn’t expected him when the door finally opened.
“Aren’t you supposed to be car shopping?” she asked.
Then she saw his mother peering around his shoulder. Obviously, she’d interrupted them in mid-shop.
“Hi,” Kim said, attempting to sound nonchalant. “Just doing a little breaking and entering.”
Jake raised an eyebrow.
“I was trying to live dangerously—you set the rules.”
He shook his head. “This wasn’t quite what I meant.”
…
Nadia leaned toward him in her chair, her expression earnest. “You love me. I know you love me,” she murmured.
“Er, no, I don’t.”
Jake pressed a finger to his forehead. Why the hell had he let the woman into his office? But Nadia had called several times every day, and nothing he said put her off.
He wished Kim would be half as keen, but in the five days since he’d released her from his office—after another abortive attempt to pass the test—he’d hardly laid eyes on her. She’d even canceled their weekly movie night.
When Nadia had arrived in person, he’d thought he might have more success persuading her face-to-face their relationship was over. Some people thought he was quite scary, but apparently, he was losing his touch. Also, he began to suspect Kim was right, and the woman was unstable.
Nadia crossed her long legs and leaned even farther forward, giving him a great view of her cleavage, but she did absolutely nothing for him. She never had. She’d been convenient, and at the time, the arrangement had seemed mutually beneficial.
“You wouldn’t have gone out with me if you hadn’t cared.”
He sighed. “We made an agreement. You wanted to save face. Remember?”
“I know you just went along with that, thinking I wasn’t ready for a relationship.”
“And you cried.” He realized immediately he’d made a strategic mistake by reminding her that he was a sucker for a woman who cried. She blinked, and her eyes glistened. Jesus, she was good.
“I know you really want me.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You just didn’t want to take advantage when I was vulnerable.”
Jake was beginning to believe that “vulnerable” and “Nadia” were mutually exclusive. She was like a juggernaut, impervious to any obstacles in her path.
As she rose to her feet, he girded himself to stay in his seat and not show signs of fear. But as Kim pointed out, Nadia was more than a little scary. She strolled around the desk and came to a halt only inches away, so close he could breathe in the cloying scent of her perfume.
“But I’m over the past, Jake, and I’m ready to move on. With you.” He opened his mouth, but she was already speaking again, so he clamped his lips shut and waited for a break in her momentum. “You’re not seeing anyone else, and I know it’s because you want me.” She leaned closer and rested her hand on his shoulder. “And you can have me, Jake.”
He flinched but held himself immobile.
A light glinted in her eyes. Maniacal zeal? Insanity?
“I thought you wanted that girl who works for you—the plain one. But I asked around and it’s obvious she’s nothing to you. Just someone you feel responsible for.” She trailed one scarlet-tipped finger down his cheek. “You’re a nice man, Jake, but you can’t be responsible for everyone. These people will take advantage of you. You need to let them go.”
Now he knew whom to blame—Kim. If she’d only give in and admit they were supposed to be together, then Nadia would no doubt back off.
But it didn’t look like Kim was ready to admit anything. Or even to talk to him. And they needed to talk.
Kim worked harder than anyone else in the company. However much he hated the idea, he had to give her the promotion she’d been asking for. By holding her back, he was proving her accusation of being a total control freak.
He’d tell her soon. But to do that he had to actually see her, and that wasn’t happening. She’d either turned invisible or she monitored his movements and made herself scarce whenever he was around, probably ducking under her desk or slipping out of the room. Though he’d checked the rosters and she’d hardly been in the building. He’d thought to confront her once or twice in the evenings and found himself outside her door. But there had been no response to his rings.
How the hell was he supposed to show her that they were meant to be together when they were never…together? What he needed to do was get her to the point where she couldn’t live without him, where her body craved his. Make it so she couldn’t stop thinking about sex and how good it could be between them.
What she needed was a good dose of sexual frustration. Like he was suffering.
If he played this right, she’d be begging him for it. She’d probably be stripping off and laying herself on his desk, screaming, “Take me, take me.”
And just maybe, he’d give in and give her what they both needed. Fuck her right there on his—
“We should go to lunch.” Nadia jerked him from his daydream. “Talk about our future.”
Shit, she was persistent. “Sorry, but I have an important meeting.”
“How can anything be more important than our future? Let me show you how good we can be together.” She edged even closer.
Enough.
He slipped his finger under the desk and pressed his panic button. Then pressed it again in case Margie thought he wasn’t panicking enough yet. He’d seen his assistant’s air of amusement as she’d shown Nadia in. That woman needed to work on her sense of humor.
Nadia’s lips puckered into a pout. Jake leaned back in his chair as far as he could go. And the door opened.
“Your really important meeting is here, sir,” Margie said from the doorway.
Since when had Margie called him sir? She was definitely finding this funny. “Good.” He exhaled loudly. Getting rid of Nadia was going to take drastic measures. He didn’t like to use them, but he’d run out of all other options. Maybe he had led her on—though he didn’t believe so.
A scowl flashed across her face, but she stepped away. “Never mind. I’ll see you at your father’s party tomorrow night. We can talk then.”
She’d be at the party? That was news to him.
She turned and strolled from the room, swaying her skinny hips. He wasn’t impressed.
Margie closed the door behind her. “Stalker trouble?” she asked with a grin.
“Do not let that woman in here again,” he said. “And get hold of my mother.”
A minute later, he picked up the phone. He didn’t bother with any pleasantries, just got down to business. “Did you invite Nadia to Dad’s birthday party?”
“Well, she sort of invited herself. But I know you’ve been seeing her. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.”
“I’m not seeing her.”
“Oh. That’s not what Nadia said. She made it sound as though you two were serious.”
What a surprise. “And why would you want to talk to me about it anyway? It’s a long time since you gave me girlfriend advice.”
“I presumed you knew what you were doing. Until Nadia.”
“Why until Nadia? She’s
your best friend’s daughter—I thought you’d approve.”
“Well, she is, but Sadie was hardly stable, and I’m afraid Nadia has inherited that.”
“Thank you for telling me before now, Mother.”
“After she invited herself—which I thought a little odd—I talked to Sadie. Apparently, Nadia has had a few issues with drugs. It’s what ended her last relationship, and she’s a little unpredictable right now.”
Great. Just what he needed.
“Anyway, I wanted to tell you to be careful, and if it’s over, then don’t be too hard on her. Extricate yourself gently.”
“Don’t worry. I run a security company. I can handle Nadia.”
“If you say so, darling. But I’m not sure she’s entirely all there.”
Jake stared out of the window as an idea formed in his mind. “Well, maybe I do need a little extra protection. And it so happens I know just where to get it.”
Chapter Eleven
Keep her distance.
Pretend it never happened.
Hide from Jake…
It was this last one that caused her the most trouble. She hated hiding, but after careful consideration, she’d come to the conclusion that in this case, discretion was definitely the better part of valor.
She couldn’t be trusted around him right now. Eventually the memory of her desire would fade, Jake would find someone else—that gave her a twinge she decided not to investigate too closely—and they could go back to being friends.
Giving up the idea of sex, especially sex with Jake, to return to their previous relationship would be worth it because she missed him. She missed seeing him, talking to him, just knowing he was there if she needed someone. Plus, it took all her ingenuity to avoid him. She’d signed up for every surveillance duty posted until Dave pointed out that she needed to be awake to be of any use.
She’d just popped into the office to pick up some paperwork. Now she was heading home to catch up on that sleep, and then she was assigned an early night shift.
The sound of footsteps made her duck behind the cubicle wall, and she held her breath. This was turning her into a nervous wreck. She peered around the corner and came face-to-face with Steve. He raised an eyebrow. “You hiding from me?”
She sniffed. “Of course not.” Steve was dressed in a smart dark suit, white shirt, and dark-blue tie. “Are you on duty?” she asked.
“Yeah. I came to pick up my gun, and then I’m off.”
“You on the job with the sheik?” Another detail she’d asked to be assigned to.
“Yeah.”
“I’m so jealous. But one day…”
He grinned. “Never going to happen, babe.”
“It will.” Because she’d now worked out how to bypass the security code and get into Jake’s safe. Then he would have to upgrade her.
“You really imagine the boss is going to put you in harm’s way?”
She gave a casual shrug of her shoulder. “I don’t see why not.”
Steve shook his head as if she were particularly dim-witted. “So how is the love life?”
“I don’t have a love life.” Not anymore and probably never again.
“So the boss hasn’t declared eternal love and gotten down on one knee yet?”
“No, and he’s not going to. Jake’s not like that.”
“Yeah, right, of course he’s not. The guys have got a pool going—how long before he gets a ring on your finger.”
She glared at him, lips pursed. “I hope you’ve bet on never. Because otherwise, you’re going to lose your money.”
“Are you saying there’s nothing between the two of you?”
She squirmed. “Not ‘nothing’ exactly. But neither of us is interested in long term.”
“You totally believe that, don’t you? The boss branded you as his property from the moment you walked through the front doors.”
“I don’t belong to Jake.”
“Why not? I say grab him while you can.”
She gritted her teeth. “I—”
Her phone rang, and she picked it up.
“Kim? He wants to see you.” It was Margie, Jake’s assistant, so Kim knew exactly who “he” was.
“I can’t, I’m on my way out.”
“He told me to say that if you don’t get up here now, you won’t have a job tomorrow.”
“He wouldn’t.”
Margie chuckled. “He said he would.”
She put the phone down to find Steve leaning against the wall, arms folded, a smirk on his face.
She glared. “He probably wants to assign me a really dangerous job.”
“Of course he does.”
…
“You want me to what?”
Kim tried to look anywhere but at that big steel desk, but it was hard to avoid, especially with Jake sitting behind it. As usual, he appeared totally relaxed. No seething hormones bothering him, then. It didn’t seem fair.
He steepled his fingers and studied her out of inscrutable eyes. “I want you to act as my bodyguard at my father’s party tomorrow night and then afterward as long as it takes.”
As long as what takes?
“You do?” Her first bodyguarding job. Something occurred to her, and a tightness squeezed her chest. “Are you in danger? Is someone after you?”
“Only Nadia.”
A mixture of relief and irritation mingled inside her. Relief that Jake wasn’t in real trouble. Irritation that he was wasting her time and raising her hopes. For a moment there, she’d really believed she was going to be able to say “I told you so” to Steve.
“Would you prefer me to be in danger?” Jake asked.
“Of course not. Not really. But it would have been nice to save you from someone truly threatening. Then you might have been appreciative of my superb bodyguarding skills.”
“Do this, get Nadia off my back, and I’ll be appreciative.”
She sat in the chair opposite him and thought for a few seconds. This didn’t make a lot of sense, but she couldn’t see any reason why he would make it up. “You want me to guard you against Nadia?” He nodded. “Am I allowed to shoot her if she gets too close?”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Knock her out? I’ve been practicing pressure points.”
“If she looks like she’s a danger to me—feel free.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“She doesn’t appear willing to accept that the relationship is over.”
“Well, what can you expect when you’re so good that she feels the need to tell everyone about it?”
His raised a brow, and she cursed herself. She was supposed to avoid the subject of sex, so why had she said that? Probably because she was more than a little miffed that he avoided it as well. He’d been behaving as though they were back to their old relationship. Which was good. Wasn’t it?
“Under other circumstances, I’d just cut her off, but she’s a family friend, and my mother informed me that Nadia has had…emotional issues in the past.”
“Well, what a surprise—I told you she was unstable. You have only yourself—”
“Shut up, Kim.”
She clamped her lips closed and made a zipper sign with her fingers.
“So, I have to tread gently, but I want to make it clear in no uncertain terms that it’s over between us.”
“And if she still doesn’t accept it, then I knock her out.”
“Not quite.” A smile tugged at his lips. “You’re going undercover.”
“Undercover as what?”
“My girlfriend, of course. Or maybe even my fiancée. Anyway, the love of my life.” She remained silent—she could think of absolutely nothing to say—and waited for him to continue. “Nadia already suspects there’s something between us, so we’re going to play along with that.”
“You want me to play the love of your life?”
“Yes.”
“At your father’s party.”
“And oth
er times as well. She may be having me watched. We have to be convincing.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“No kidding.” He rose to his feet and strolled around the desk, then rested his ass against it. The desk she was trying not to think about.
“I know things have been a little”—he glanced at the desk and a smile flickered across his face—“uncomfortable between us lately.” He stroked a finger along the steel top of the desk, and for some reason she couldn’t yank her gaze away. It was around this time last week that she’d been lying on that very desk. She shifted in her chair and crossed her legs.
“But I like to think of us as friends,” Jake continued. “And I’m hoping that you’ll do this not so much because it’s part of the job, but because we are friends.”
“Oh, low blow.”
“You know what it’s like to be in a relationship you can’t get out of. I need your help here, Kim.”
“And another low blow.” But he sounded genuinely worried. He wouldn’t allude to Michael unless the situation was serious. And Jake had done everything for her. How could she contemplate not helping him now?
“Okay, I’ll be your girlfriend, but not your fiancée. That would be too weird with your family.”
“Okay, live-in lover then.”
“Pretend live-in lover.”
“Well, you can pretend the lover bit but not the live-in. You don’t have to worry, Kim,” he said gently. “From now on if you want us to have sex, you’ll have to ask.”
“I will?”
“I know I shocked you the other day.” He stroked a finger along the desk again, and a spasm rippled through her. “And I know you’ve been avoiding me. I’d like things to be comfortable between us again. So I want it to be clear—if you need anything from me, I’m here for you. You just have to tell me what you want. Otherwise…we’re friends.”
She swallowed. This was exactly what she wanted. Wasn’t it? On the surface, everything seemed perfect. Why did unease prickle through her, then? She pushed the feeling aside.
“Good. Right then, I’ll do it. Though I’m not sure what ‘it’ is. They don’t cover this in the manual.”
