Page 8 of A Sinful Trap

Her heart thundered in her ears at hands-on. “I said I wasn’t used to it, but I’m more than capable of adapting. I’m young and single. Flexibility is a given.”

He inhaled sharply and she bit her tongue. Everything coming out of her mouth sounded like a challenge or a sexual invitation. To her boss. She had a sinking feeling she was about to be fired.

It might be a good thing. She could catch up her shows or her reading. Spend more time visiting with friends. And now that he’d shown her she still had a sex drive, maybe she could finally accept those offers she’d been regularly turning down. She wasn’t sure if ending her celibacy made up for being homeless and having her dreams flushed down the toilet by some rich playboy, but it was something.

You won’t be homeless this time.

True. She had the money she’d been saving to buy the inn, and Dani would take her in until she found a new place. She loved Bailey like a sister, and the pool and a live-in chef would be icing on the couch-surfing cake. It would be like visiting a spa. She would make it work.

“Have I lost your interest?”

Never.

She’d been busy planning her depressing new life of unemployment and bracing for the hammer to fall. “Like you said, just sorting out the logistics. If you’ll give me tonight, I think I can have my things out by morning.”

“You can what?” He leaned back, looking as stunned as if she’d punched him. “Why the hell would you do that?”

“Because I’m fired?”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Why would you think that?” He rubbed the back of his neck, the movement so frustrated she almost wanted to smile again. Almost.

“Anyone would think that, Mr. Locke.”

“Most people wait until they hear the actual words.” He shook his head. “You’re not fired.”

“Are you positive? Because it really sounded like you were trying to find a nice way to fire me.” She wanted to drop to her knees in gratitude, but she couldn’t trust it yet. Instead, she started pointing out the examples on her fingers. “You implied I wasn’t adaptable. You criticized my behavior, mocked my boxers—which revealed your ignorance of superheroes—and insinuated that I was immature and incapable of respecting your autho—”

His large hand seized hers and dragged her up against his body. They both groaned at the contact.

“Is there a reason you want me to fire you?” he asked from between gritted teeth.

“No?” She wanted a lot of things from this man that she shouldn’t, but that wasn’t one of them.

“That’s good, because despite this…” His hips rocked forward, and he closed his eyes when she gasped. “I need your experience. Work experience. I doubt I could find anyone who knows this place or this town as well as you do.”

Right. That kind of experience. “That’s true. I do know the town.”

He pressed his lips against the hair near her temple and she shivered.

“You’re definitely not firing me?”

He sighed. “You’re an intelligent woman, Bailey. If I dismissed you for being distractingly underdressed while you were in physical danger due to a broken ladder on my property, you could sue me for wrongful termination, workplace endangerment and sexual harassment.” His hand tightened on hers. “Hell, you could do that now.”

She hadn’t even considered it, but she understood that this was his olive branch. An upper hand she could use if she chose to.

It was enough for now. “Okay then.”

He let her go with obvious reluctance and she took a step back, giving them both some breathing room.

“This,” he motioned between them, “isn’t going to affect your employment, Bailey. I’ll put it in writing if you’d prefer.”

This.If it didn’t affect her job, did that mean they could feel more of it?

No. Absolutely not.

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