The End of Faking It

He grinned at her tone. She made provocation so irresistible. ‘You don’t think?’

Her eyes raked him hard and, heaven help him, he loved it. ‘I think you could do with some more practice.’

‘You’re offering?’

She turned away from him, retrieved the jug from the floor and marched to the water cooler to refill it. What, she was literally going to douse the flames again? But, no, she poured the water around the base of the monstrosity that was supposedly an office plant.

‘What is it, some kind of triffid?’ He reached up to the branches overhanging the cabinet. ‘If it grows any more, there won’t be room for anyone to work in here.’

‘She belongs to Carol and she’ll be here when she gets back. All healthy.’

‘You think that’s really going to happen?’ Carter knew Mason’s long-time assistant had a cancer battle on her hands. She’d been off for months and Mason was paying her full salary out of his own pocket. Which was why finding the person stealing from him was a priority. He was paying for two PAs. He was a hardworking, generous employer who deserved better than some skunk skimming and putting the entire company in jeopardy.

‘Of course she’s coming back.’ Penny banged the jug back on top of the filing cabinet and finally looked at him directly again. The flames were still there. ‘Is someone really stealing from him?’

Carter nodded. ‘I think so.’

‘But Mason’s one of the good guys. He gives so much to charity. He doesn’t deserve that.’

‘That’s why I’m here.’

Her appraisal went rapier sharp. ‘Well, you’d better lift your game.’

‘Hmm.’ He nodded agreeably. ‘I was thinking that too.’ But the game he meant was the one with her. And he didn’t miss the warring desire and antagonism in her expression.

He walked alongside her down the corridor, rode the lift in silent torture. The space between them was too small but he wanted it even smaller—to nothing but skin on skin. Like a tiger, he was ready to pounce. At least his body was; his brain was frantically trying to issue warnings—like he didn’t have time for this, like he needed to focus.

The security guard leapt up from his desk to get the door. ‘Goodnight, Penny.’ His smile widened as he watched her walk across the foyer towards him. That smile faded when he glanced behind her and registered Carter’s frown. ‘Goodnight, sir.’ Suddenly all respectful.

Carter made himself nod and smile.

‘Hope Maddie’s better when you get home,’ Penny said lightly.

‘Me too.’ The guard’s smile spread again. ‘See you tomorrow. Not too early, you understand?’

She just laughed as she went through the door.

‘Have fun, Penny,’ Carter drawled softly as they hit the pavement.

She turned and fluttered him a look one eyelash short of do-me-now. ‘Oh, I plan to.’

So she couldn’t resist striking the sparks either. And he knew the kind of fun girls like her liked—the eat-men-for-breakfast kind. He smiled, happy to play if she wanted, because experience had made him too tough to chew. She could learn that if she dared.

She walked away, her legs ridiculously long in that sexy strip of a skirt, her balance perfect on the high, narrow heels. Her glossy brown hair cascaded down to her almost too-trim waist. He bet she worked out in the pursuit of perfection. Not that she needed to bother. She nailed it on attitude alone.

Testosterone—and other things—surged again. So did his latent combative nature. That vulnerability he’d seen upstairs when he’d startled her, and again after he’d kissed her? A mirage—she’d been buying time while assessing her position. For Penny the PA knew how to play men—the slayer look she’d just shot him proved it. Mason thought the world of her. The security guy was falling over himself to help her. She’d want to bring Carter to heel like every other man she knew. Yeah, he’d seen her vixen desire for dominance. She thought she could toy with him as some feline would a mouse.

She was so wrong.

But he could hardly wait for her to bring it on.

CHAPTER TWO

PENNY winked at Jed as she walked back into the building just over nine hours later—three of which had been spent dancing and six sort-of sleeping.

‘Too early, Penny.’ The security guard covered his yawn, clearly barely hanging out the last half-hour before clocking off.

‘Too much to do.’

First in for the day, she wanted to get ahead and be fully functioning by the time Mason showed. Definitely by the time Carter Dodds rolled in. The super-size black coffee in her hand would help. But she’d barely got seated when there was movement in her doorway.

‘Thought I’d bring this up before I left.’

Jed walked in—well, from the voice she knew it was him. His body was completely obscured by the floral bouquet that was almost too wide to fit through the door.

‘They just arrived,’ he puffed.

‘Not more?’ Penny shrivelled deeper into her seat. She knew who they were from. Aaron—a spoilt-for-choice playboy type with several options on the go—the kind of guy Penny always looked for when she needed some company for a while. Only the spark was missing. Last week she’d told him no and goodbye—thought she’d made it clear—but the flowers continued to prove otherwise.

‘Thanks, Jed,’ she said as he offloaded the oversize blooms onto her desk. ‘Have a good sleep.’

‘Not me who needs it.’

Penny held back her sigh. She’d take the bunch back down to Reception again but she’d wait ’til Jed had gone for the day—he was exhausted after the night shift and had to go home to a sick preschooler. He didn’t need to be hauling flowers back and forth for her.

She picked up her phone and hit one of the pre-programmed buttons.

‘SpeedFreaks.’

‘Hi, Kate,’ Penny said. ‘I’ve got a floral delivery please.’

‘Penny? Another one?’

‘Yeah.’ She tried not to sound too negative about it. It was pretty pathetic to be upset by having masses of flowers delivered; most women would be thrilled. But cut flowers didn’t make her think of romance and sweethearts, they made her think hospitals and funerals and lives cut way too short. ‘Can you pick them up as soon as possible?’

She heard a movement behind her and turned, smiling in anticipation of Mason. But she forgot all about Mason, or smiling, even the flowers. Only one thing filled her feeble mind.

Tall, broad shoulders, dark hair dangerously leaning towards shaggy—she shouldn’t be thinking shag anything. But she was. Because his eyes were leaning towards dangerous to match. She half waved with her phone hand to let him know she was occupied. But he didn’t go away and she really needed him to because her head wasn’t working well with him watching her like that. She pointedly looked past him to the corridor—didn’t he know to come back in a few minutes?

No. He just thudded a heavy shoulder against the doorframe, becoming a human door—blocking her exit and anyone else’s entry to the room.

And he smiled. Not just dangerous—positively killer.

She tried to look away, honest she did. But that ability had been stolen from her the moment her eyes had met his.

‘Can you get them picked up asap?’ she asked on auto, her brain fried by Carter’s perfectly symmetrical features. Other parts of her body had gone on quick burn too. Thank heavens she still had her jacket on, because her boobs were like twin beacons screaming her interest through her white blouse. Memories of that gentle stroke last night tormented her. ‘They’ll be at Reception.’

He was even more handsome in the morning light. Even more now she wasn’t blinded by fear and her senses weren’t heightened by a surge of adrenalin. No, now it was some other hormone rippling through her body making her shiver.