Page 35 of The Ice Queen in the Corner Office

“You’ve been outside?” he asked, leaning one hip against the kitchen island.

“Star gazing.” My heart went crazy again, my breath tight.

He held out his steaming mug to me. “Chamomile. I think you need it more than I do.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. It was hot in that kitchen and I wanted to shed my coat, but I didn’t want to be any more exposed to him. “I’m fine.”

He smirked. “It’s just tea. Can’t you even accept a warm drink from me?”

“No.” My earlier resolve returned. “What the hell are you doing here? You promised not to push.”

His smile faltered. “I know. I won’t push. I won’t try to seduce you or ask you for anything you aren’t ready to give. I just want to get to know you. I want you to get to know me outside of the office.”

Except he was asking for so much more than that. He was asking for everything. He was filling my space without my permission and filling my thoughts ever more full of him. Now, I had the sounds of his laughter mixing with that of my nieces and nephews to add to the list of good things I knew about Alex.

“I already know you, Alex. Whatever you think you want will be forgotten after you’ve gotten me into bed. I’m a challenge to you right now, but once you’ve had me, you’ll want to move on to the next challenge, to the next bright shiny thing.” And I’d be left alone again, unwanted, and, worse, without his respect. He’d see me as a bedded conquest, not as a capable CFO.

His jaw hardened and twitched. “You don’t know that.”

“I know you’ve never dated any woman longer than a month. I know you’re young and single and enjoying that lifestyle. Frankly, I am, too, and I have no interest in being tied down.”

“Tied down?” He scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “You know what I think? I think you’re scared. I think you’re fucking terrified, because you remember that kiss and you know how good we could be. You’re afraid you might actually have to crack that ice you live inside and feel something real.” He’d stalked closer as he talked. I wanted to back up, to get away, but I knew better than to let him see my fear.

“You wouldn’t know real if it kicked you in the balls,” I said. “You just can’t stand to lose.”

He stepped closer, his nose nearly touching mine. “You don’t know anything about me, Jill. I admit, I’ve never been good at relationships. I’m not perfect. But you aren’t perfect either. What’s your longest relationship been? How many hearts have you broken because you aren’t willing to let anyone get close to you? You judged me as soon as you met me, and you aren’t willing to give me a chance to prove you wrong. I might like a challenge, but you’ll spend the rest of your life alone to avoid being wrong.”

At some point, I’d dropped my hands to my sides and they’d curled into fists. I was so…So furious. But I also wanted, so badly, to reach out and touch him, to grab the back of his neck and pull his face to mine, to repeat that amazing kiss we’d shared.

I wanted to melt into him and let him hold me up, let him warm me.

He was wrong about me. Every stuck-up asshole who’d ever called me frigid or distant or ruthless was wrong about me. They were just men whining because they hadn’t gotten what they’d wanted.

“You want to get to know me so badly? You’ve got twenty-four hours. I’ll give you tomorrow. One day. But you have to leave after that one day and never mention it again.”

“Unless you agree to let me stay,” he said. “You might actually have fun.”

He was so close now I might kiss him accidentally if I breathed too hard, but I didn’t back down.

“I doubt it,” I said, more to taunt him than because I actually believed it.

I was drawn to him against my will and my good sense, like a moth to a bare, molten hot light bulb. He’d hurt me, maybe break me, but I wasn’t sure I could live with myself if I never felt his bare skin against mine, if I never felt the rumble of his laugh against my ear.

He didn’t move, just breathed in my breath as I breathed out. I refused to be the one to make the first move, refused to give an inch.

“I’ll see you soon,” he said. And he walked away.

I was in so much more danger than him, because I couldn’t have walked away from him if I’d wanted to.

***

I stepped into the pre-dawn morning and hurried down the steps and right into a jog. It was too cold to stand around stretching or warming up, it would be a sprint kind of day. Sprint to warm up, sprint to exorcise thoughts of Alex and that almost kiss last—

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Alex said, jogging up next to me.

I bit back a growl of annoyance and kept my gaze straight ahead, making sure I didn’t trip or run into a tree in the gray dawn light. “You’re up early.”

“Don’t want to miss a second of the twenty-four hours you promised me. Didn’t expect you to be up quite this early, but I’ll manage.”

---