Page 10 of Tempt

Two seconds later my email dinged with my meeting details. It was taking place in conference room B in two hours—just after everyone had left for the day.

Great. I was stuck at work late with only the janitors to save me if the meeting went poorly (which it wasn’t, because I was going to charm the pants off of whoever was crazy enough to buy this nearly dilapidated building.)

So I kept myself busy until everyone started to leave. I gathered my things and went to setup in the conference room. I’d just finished spreading out the last of the photographs when someone stopped in the doorway. I could tell out of the corner of my eye that whoever it was had a sizeable frame, the kind that took up the entire doorway.

And yet I was surprised when I looked up to find Theo standing there watching me.

“You?” My ghost was suddenly very real. My heart rate ticked up a notch.

He grinned. Ilikedthat grin. “Me.”

“You’re my mysterious client?”

He shrugged and pushed inside, closing the door behind him. He was dressed in a charcoal three-piece suit. That beard had, in fact, grown in quite nicely since I saw him last. He looked fantastic… including those dark eyes of his. “I don’t know about mysterious, but I’m definitely the man who owns that building.” He pointed at the eleven-by-seventeen image I had placed at the center of the table.

I missed his soft, rough accent. How could someone sound like they were purring through sandpaper? It didn’t make sense, but it was exactly how he sounded.

“I’m sorry, Margaret didn’t tell me.” Had the air gone out of the room? I felt lightheaded. No. I was needy and turned on. The moment I laid eyes on him every fantasy I’d had in the last two weeks came slamming back all at once. I wanted to feel his hands on my body, to know what his cock felt like deep inside me.

I suppressed a groan.

“I know she didn’t.” His voice was deeper. “I asked her to keep it quiet.”

As he spoke I realized what photographs couldn’t capture and what most people probably missed. His eyes were so expressive. There was a great deal going on inside his head and it showed in his eyes. Interest, empathy, appreciation, curiosity… maybe more.

Damn… now that I thought about it, eyes like that could be downright deadly in the bedroom. That idea made me even wetter than I already was. I could feel every inch of my skin that was confined beneath my clothes—and I was suddenly hyperaware of my wardrobe choice of the day—a form-fitting deep purple sheath dress with a silver zipper that ran from my neck to my knees.

“And why did you do that?” My voice was deeper, too.

“Well,” he replied. “I don’t let many people know what I’m working on. And Margie selected you before she knew we’d met...”

“How long haveyouknown?” It felt odd to be the one in the dark. I didn’t like the way that felt at all.

“When I emailed her about keeping you from your meeting.”

They’d both known where this was heading for two weeks, and neither had felt it important to clue me in. Was this just business or something else? I remembered Margaret’s warnings.

“Is this how you like to operate? Smoke and mirrors? The paperwork says Nolan Enterprises owns the building.”

He looked taken aback by my questions. Or maybe it was the anger in my voice. Yeah, it was probably the anger. “Nolan Enterprises is one of many companies I own. Is that a problem?”

Wasit a problem? Honestly, I didn’t know why all of this was making me so damn irritated. I felt strangely betrayed even though no one owed me anything. Margaret put me on a project, just like any other. Businesses bought, renovated, and sold buildings all the time. Billionaires owned multiple businesses. This was just business.

And yet I was pissed.

“No. It’s not a problem,” I lied.

“Then why do you sound different?”

How would he know? He’d known me just as long as I’d known him. He shouldn’t have any idea if this was normal for me. But then again, the Theo standing in front of me was not the man I found on the internet.

I justknewit.

Call it instinct.

The man in front of me was the man who caught me that night at the club. The same man who whirled me around a dance floor and gave me a ride in a lift. There was no anger on his face. He wasn’t uncomfortable, grumpy or angry. This Theo was somehow softer, more open, and unassuming. He genuinely looked confused and wanting to make things right.

Which made me the confused one.

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