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‘Let me see.’ He sidestepped the flowers and had her wrist in his hand before her brain could even engage.
Her pulse shot into the stratosphere. ‘It’s fine. A little plaster or a tissue will stop it,’ she babbled faster than a Japanese bullet train rode the rail. Every muscle quivered, wanting him to draw her into a closer embrace.
‘Suck on it.’ His gaze snared hers. ‘Or I will if you want.’
For half a second her jaw hung open. Oh, he was every bit as outrageous in the morning as he was at night. And she was dangerously tickled.
‘It’s fine.’ She snatched her hand back, curling her fingers into a fist. ‘I need to get these out of here.’
‘Hey.’ He frowned and reached out again, pushing her wide gold bangle further up her arm. His frown super-sized up as he stared at the skin he’d exposed. ‘Did I do that?’
‘Oh.’ She glanced down at the purple fingerprint bruises circling her wrist. ‘Don’t worry about it. I bruise easily.’
He looked back to her face, all the erotic spark in his expression stamped out by concern. ‘I’m really sorry.’
‘Don’t be.’ She shook her head quickly. ‘Like I said, it’s nothing.’ Honestly, his contrition just made it worse. She did bruise easily and his switching to all serious made him all the more gorgeous. And now he was ever so lightly touching each bruise with a single fingertip.
‘It’s not fine.’
Penny swallowed. With difficulty. Did he have to be so genuine? She needed to get out of there before she did something stupid like puddle at his feet. That gentle stroking was having some kind of weird hypnotic effect, making her want to move even closer. Instead she turned to the flowers.
‘I’ll take them.’ He picked up the massive bunch with just the one hand.
Okay, that was good because he’d be gone and she’d have a few minutes to bang her head and hormones back together. She should be polite and say something. But she didn’t think she had a ‘thank you’ in her this second. The sensations still reverberated, shaking her insides worse than any earthquake could.
‘Penny—’
‘Mason should be here any minute,’ she said quickly to stave off any more of the soft attention.
‘No Mason today,’ Carter answered. ‘He’s working from home. He’ll have sent you an email.’
She frowned. Mason never worked from home. He might be eighty but he was almost always first in the door every day. ‘I’ll take what he needs to him there.’ Truthfully she wanted to check on him.
‘That would be great.’
Their gazes collided again, only this time the underlying awareness was tempered by mutual concern.
‘I’ll find out who’s hurting him,’ Carter said, calmly determined.
Penny nodded.
He cared about the old man, that was obvious. Some thing jerked deep inside her—the first stirrings of respect and a shared goal.
‘I’ll be back in a minute.’ He swept out of the room.
Penny just sank into her chair.
Carter carried the oversize bunch of blooms down to Reception. Taking the stairs rather than the lift used a bit of the energy coiled in his body, but not enough. Like an overflowing dam he needed a runoff to ease some of the pressure.
Penny had got under his skin faster than snake venom got into a mouse’s nervous system. He’d thought about her all night instead of getting his head around the company setup. Seeing her again today had only made it worse. She looked unbelievably different. The clubbing vixen had vanished and in her place was a perfect vision of conservative and capable. An, oh-so-sensible-length skirt simply highlighted slim ankles and sweet curves, a virginal white blouse was covered by a neatly tailored navy jacket. Hell, there’d even been a strand of pearls at her neck. With her shiny black hair swept back into a plait and her even blacker eyes, she’d looked like the epitome of the nineteen-forties secretary. No matter what she wore, she was beautiful.
Ordinarily Carter wasn’t averse to mixing business and pleasure. When business took up so much time, it was sometimes the only way he could find room for pleasure. So long as the woman understood the interest was only ever a temporary thing, and that there were no benefits to the arrangement other than the physical. He didn’t generally mix it with someone directly subordinate to him, but someone in one of the offshoot companies or satellite offices.
But he shouldn’t mess with Penny—not with only a week or two to find the slime-ball ripping Mason off. But he didn’t think he was going to be able to work without coming to some kind of arrangement with her, because her challenge was enough to smash his concentration completely. Fortunately he figured she was a woman who’d understand the kind of deal he liked, and the short time frame saved them from any possible messiness. He just had to ensure she understood the benefits—and the boundaries.
In the privacy of the stairwell he opened the card still attached to the flowers.
Hoping to see you again tonight—Aaron.
Carter’s muscles tightened. Had she seen him last night? Maybe she had had a hot date after meeting up with the women. Had she gone to this Aaron with the taste of Carter still on her? Because he could still taste her—hot, fresh, hungry.
He wasn’t in the least surprised to think she’d go to another guy having just blown hot for him; he was well used to women who manipulated, playing one man off against another. His ex had done exactly that—trying to force him into making a commitment by making him jealous. It hadn’t worked. And he sure as hell wasn’t feeling jealous now. The aggro sharpening his body this minute was because of the threat to Mason. Not Penny.
He stalked out to Reception and put the flowers on the counter. ‘I think a courier company is coming to pick these up.’
The receptionist grinned as she looked at them. ‘Penny sent them down?’ She shook her head. ‘That’s the third bunch this week. She’s mad not to want them.’
The third this week? It was only Tuesday. Yeah, she would like holding the interest of multiple men. His long-held cynicism surged higher—there was no doubt Penny was as greedy and needy as every other woman he’d known.
It was almost an hour before Carter reappeared, a piece of paper in his hand and a frown creasing his brow. ‘Penny, I need you to—’
He broke off as her phone started ringing.
She shrugged an apology and answered it. ‘Nicholls Finance, Penny speaking.’
‘Did you get the flowers?’
‘Aaron,’ she whispered, inwardly groaning. She darted a look at Carter, then turned away on her chair so he wouldn’t see the flush rising in her cheeks. She already knew he was rude enough to stay and listen. Her best option was to end the call asap. ‘It really isn’t convenient to talk right now—’
‘Did you get them?’
‘Yes, I’m sorry, I should have called but it’s been a busy morning.’ And she could hardly let him down without some privacy. ‘Can I call you back?’
‘The roses reminded me of you. Stunningly beautiful but with some dangerous prickles.’
Yes, she’d encountered one of those real prickles. She shrank more into her chair. ‘Look, it was lovely of you but—’
‘Dinner tonight. No excuses.’
She breathed in and tried to stay calm. ‘That’s a nice idea but—’
‘I’ve already made the reservations. It’s my only night off this week and I want to spend it all with you.’
‘Aaron, I’m sorry but—’
The phone was taken out of her hand.
‘Look, mate, don’t bother. She has a new boyfriend and she’s allergic to flowers. She’s already sent them on to the hospice down the road.’
Penny stared as Carter leaned across her desk. She couldn’t hear what Aaron said in response—she could hardly process what Carter had just said so complacently.
‘Yeah, I know. Save your dough. It isn’t going to happen.’ Carter hung up the phone and then looked at her coolly. ‘So, I was saying I need you to track down some files for me.’
For a moment she was too shocked to fully feel the rising fury. But then it truck-slammed into her. ‘What did you just do?’
Carter met her gaze with inhuman calm. ‘Solved your problem. He won’t bother you again.’
‘How could you do that?’
‘Easily. And you should have done it sooner already. Your body language said one thing, your mouth another. You looked like you wanted to hide under your desk for fear he’d appear, but you were brushing him off too gentle. A guy like that doesn’t get subtle, Penny. You need the sledgehammer approach.’
‘I didn’t need you to be the sledgehammer.’ She shook her head. ‘That was bully behaviour.’
‘It was man talking to man,’ he argued with an eye-roll for added effect. ‘And more honest than the drivel coming out of your mouth.’
‘I was handling him,’ she said defensively.
‘You were playing with him.’ Now he didn’t sound so calm. Now he sounded that little bit nasty.
Her hands shook as she brushed her hair behind her ear. She hadn’t been playing with Aaron, she’d been trying to be nice.
‘Three bunches of flowers this week already, isn’t it, Penny? You’re not even honest enough to tell him you don’t want them, let alone that you don’t want him.’
Because she didn’t want to be rude. She never wanted to hurt anyone. Never. Horrified tears prickled her eyes as she panicked over Aaron’s reaction to Carter’s heavy-handedness.
‘Why are you so upset?’ He stepped closer, his eyes narrowing. ‘Oh, I get it. You liked to leave him hanging? Was it good for your ego? You like getting all the flowers and attention? You’re a tease.’
‘I’m not.’ She jerked up out of her chair, beyond hurt at the words he’d just used.
‘You are,’ he argued. ‘Why else wouldn’t you cut him free sooner?’
‘I tried.’ She snatched the paper off him and marched to the filing cabinet, hauling the drawer open with a loud bang.
‘That wasn’t trying.’ He followed and faced her as she rummaged through the files. ‘You’re not stupid, Penny. You could have flicked him off much sooner.’
‘Maybe I’m not as arrogant or as rude as you are.’ She slapped files on the top of the steel. ‘I don’t like trampling on people’s feelings.’
‘You don’t think it’s worse to string him along so your ego can be inflated some more?’
‘That wasn’t what I was doing.’ She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
‘Oh, don’t tell me you really liked him?’ He looked stunned. ‘Were you just making life hell for him? Playing with him so he’d do anything you ask him to?’
‘Of course not!’ She clenched her teeth. ‘I was trying to make it clear that nothing was going to happen. I thought I had already. But he didn’t deserve your kind of in-your-face humiliation.’
‘What he doesn’t deserve is you screwing him up and spitting him out only when you’re sick of chewing him over.’
Breathing hard, she glared at him as fury burned along her veins. ‘Wow, you think so highly of me, don’t you, Carter?’
His shoulders lifted in a mocking shrug. ‘If you really wanted rid of him, you needed to be cruel to be kind.’
‘Well, I’m not cruel,’ she said painfully. ‘I won’t ever be.’
He glared right back at her—for what felt like hours. Slowly she became aware of their isolation in the office, the smallness of the space between them. They were just about in exactly the position they’d been in last night.
‘How about honest, then, can you manage that?’ he asked quietly.
‘Not if it’s going to really hurt someone,’ she muttered. Utterly honest.
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘That’s the coward’s way out.’
Well, what would he know about anything? For all his cruel-to-be-kind cliché, she’d bet her last cent he’d never hurt anyone the way she once had.
She blinked back her sudden tears, focused on his eyes instead. Close up now she saw even more colours in them—not just green and blue but shots of gold as well. All of a sudden she was trying really, really hard not to think of that kiss and how incredible she’d felt. Trying really, really hard not to notice how his mouth looked fuller today.
The atmosphere changed completely. It seemed he’d forgotten his anger too. But there was no less emotion in the air—it just transformed and intensified as it swirled around them. Somehow it made her feel even worse than when he’d been so rude on the phone. Somehow she was more afraid. She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak.
‘Do you want me to kiss you again, Penny?’ he asked. ‘Is that the real problem here?’
That brought her voice back. ‘You are so conceited.’
‘So you really can’t do honesty,’ he jibed.
She bent her head and fished for the last few files, needing to find her moxie more than the damn data. He so easily tipped her balance, she needed her defensive sass back. But all she could manage now was the silent treatment.
‘So what should that guy have sent you—a big box of Belgian chocolates?’ His tone lightened.
‘I don’t eat chocolate,’ she said shortly, not looking up.
‘Maybe you should, smooth off some of those sharp edges. Isn’t chocolate better than sex?’
‘You’re obviously not doing it right if the women you know say that.’
He yelped a little laugh. ‘Throw out a challenge, why don’t you?’
She slammed the file drawer shut.
‘And now you’re backing away from it again. See, you are a tease. You just like having men want you.’
She faced him full on, to put him firmly in his place. Oh, so arrogant Carter Dodds could definitely cope with that—he wasn’t exactly crushable. ‘You wanting me is not a compliment.’
‘You don’t think?’ He grinned. ‘Well, I’m not going to chase after you with a billion flowers or calls. If you want to follow through on this, just let me know.’
‘And you’ll come running?’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t run after any woman.’
‘Because they all fall at your feet?’
