Page 19 of Some Like It Deadly
He needed coffee—to hell with the rules. Then he’d call Kate and let her know he would be late. An image of his hand on Kate’s thigh flickered through his brain and he frowned. The sight of a folded blanket and pillow parked on the corner of his sofa stopped him in his tracks. Coffee scented the air, combined with a hint of vanilla, spice and something distinctly feminine.
Following the scents, he pushed open the door to the kitchen and stared at his assistant leaning against the counter, a cup of coffee in hand. She wore the same shirt as the day before, although it was untucked and wrinkled as though she’d slept in it, and her narrow skirt hugged her legs. Her hair hung down, brushed to gleaming and draped over one shoulder. Like the day on the golf course, the sunlight played over the strands and seemed to glint off the white flax amidst the soft gold.
“Good morning,” he managed around the jerk of surprise. He had been touching her thigh—petting it—while she drove him home. Curiosity and embarrassment made for a potent cocktail on his already overtaxed system. Another spate of memories detached from the fog in his brain. He’d also spilled his gutsabout his father—and henevertalked about that son of a bitch if he could help it.
Blaming it on the wine would be a mistake, he’d overindulged because finding Kate in the bar had thrown him. He’d asked her out to the musical and had been disappointed when she declined, even more so because she’d pointed out that he had a date. A date that wasn’t an actual date—Diane Fowler was a reminder to check in with the center, but since he wasn’t supposed to cross the professional line to the personal, he’d let Kate off the hook.
Then she’d been at the bar.
And damned if he hadn’t wanted to cross the line. So what did he do instead? He got drunk like some stupid college student.
Way to go.He congratulated himself. He’d been trying to maintain a veneer of professionalism with the woman, no matter how much she fascinated him.
“Good morning.” Her smile eased the kidney punch from his morals and she pointed to the mug of coffee on the counter. “I heard you in the shower and started a fresh pot. You can get away with more than one cup today. How’s the head?”
“I think I owe you an apology.” Talking actually increased the thunder of his headache. He picked up the mug.
“Drink your coffee.” She chuckled and the soft husky sound did more for his headache than the aspirin and shower combined. “You should probably eat too. However, I draw the line at cooking breakfast.”
She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. She’d chosen to stand in the one spot the morning sun spilled in the window and she seemed to be soaking it up like a cat. Taking advantage of the moment, his gaze skated over her—from bare toes to rumpled shirt. Putting that together with the blanket and pillow on the sofa, he frowned. “You slept on the couch.”
“Hmm-hmm.” She nodded, but didn’t open her eyes. “I wasn’t going to poke around in your house after you went to sleep. Besides, the sofa was more than comfortable enough.” Despite her words, she tipped her head from side to side in a motion he knew helped stretch out tired and stiff muscles. It drew his attention to the slender column of her throat and the smooth expanse of skin visible between the open three buttons of her shirt.
The innocent, tired gesture turned utterly provocative and his body hummed in response. Scowling, he glared down at his coffee.Off limits, dumbass. She works for you.His body didn’t seem to give a damn about blurring the line between professional and personal. “Kate…?”
“Sorry.” She blinked and shifted to move out of the sunbeam. “I think I’m a little bit cat. Give me a beam of sunshine and I’ll sleep there all day.”
Wrapping his mind around the image of her sprawled in front of him—long and lean, draped only in sunshine—sent a violent wave of heat surging through his lower body. “I have a pool,” he found himself offering. Once the words were out, he didn’t want to take them back. “And plenty of guest suits if you want to make yourself comfortable.” In fact, the more he thought about spending down time with Kate, the more he liked the idea. “We have no meetings this morning and since you’re here—and if you don’t object—we could just work out of the house.”
Surprise flickered in her gaze, but she didn’t immediately reject the idea. “Are you proposing that we take the day off?”
Together.He managed to bite off that word before blurting it out like some idiot high school jock faced with the prospect that the girl might say yes. “A half-day at least.” It sounded a lot better. “No morning meetings, remember?” Of course, he’d barely recalled his name when he woke.
“Anything for this afternoon, I can rearrange.” She pursed her lips, and uncertainty skated across her expression. So composed and utterly in control most of the time, the vulnerability invited him to firm their plans. Make her choose to be here. “No one is going to die if you take a day off, Richard. You’ve been going full throttle for weeks.”
“So have you.” Decided, he drained his coffee and padded over to pour himself another cup. “I’m going to make you breakfast, we’re going to eat it by the pool, and you can drowse in the sun to your heart’s content. Unless you have somewhere else you need to be?” His gut said no. He wanted Kate to stay.
“No, not particularly.” But hesitation hitched between the words.
“Then you’ll stay.” He nodded and a spike of pleasure at the idea pushed his headache back further. “The only job I need you to do today is to make sure I don’t go to work.”
Her brows lifted. “A day off spent with your assistant is not really a day off.” When he held up the coffee pot she extended her mug and he refilled it. This close, the scent of vanilla spice he’d discovered in the living room grew stronger.
“So, I’ll spend it with my friend Kate.” He slid the pot back onto the burner and smiled. “I’d like to get to know my friend better.”I’d like to get her naked and see just what it takes to melt that professional demeanor so I can play with that sassy woman I keep getting glimpses of—cutting off the thought before his cock stiffened any further, he reclaimed his mug.
“Richard…” Kate glanced down at her mug and the uncertainty turned to unease. Guilt flooded through him. “I’m not sure how good that idea would be.”
“I am an excellent friend.” Not that his life had room for a lot of them, Armand took up an elephant’s amount of space. Getting personal with Kate was a terrible idea, they worked together—correction, she workedforhim. Dammit, he wanted her tostay. Not wanting to get personal didn’t mean they hadn’t been. He knew all the cons and he didn’t care. “But I’m not going to leverage our working relationship to demand anything more than a down day for both of us.” If she headed out that door, then so be it.
“I didn’t think you were.” She looked from her coffee to him and he could feel the weight of her gaze like a caress on bare skin. Her attention was on his chest and he felt like puffing it out a bit, but smothered the urge. “It actually sounds great to just hang out andbefor the day.”
“But?” He eased a little closer, then leaned against the counter. “I heard the distinctbutin there.”
Their gazes locked and for a split-second, he read heat in her gorgeous eyes. Then her lashes dipped, hiding it before he could see anything more and her mouth twisted into a smile. “But I don’t think you know how to relax.”
He knew a challenge when he heard one. “Then maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
“Oh, I know you.” She grinned. “We’re keeping score, remember?”
