Well, maybe one of them wouldn’t have. Maybe one of them would’ve understood.
She briefly closed her eyes, and an image of Achilles Farrell instantly appeared. Not that it required much to summon him to her mind. Physically, they might’ve indulged in a one-night stand, but mentally? Mentally, she’d conducted a three-month-long affair where he invaded her bed most nights, not leaving her dreams until he’d left her aching and wet—and empty. So damn empty.
Huffing out a breath, she shook her head, staring at the lit elevator button for the eighth floor. As it dimmed, the doors hissed open. Her heart thudded against her sternum, stomach twisting as she stepped out onto the deserted floor. She’d waited until after seven to access the building, checking with security downstairs to make sure the person she needed to see hadn’t yet left for the day.
Preparing herself for coming face-to-face with Achilles for the interview had been difficult. And she’d still barely pulled it off. God, the power, the vitality the man emanated... It was a force that slipped under her dress to hum over her skin, skim over her nipples, dance over her belly, slip between her legs... She’d nearly rocked under it, betraying herself to Cain and Kenan Farrell.
Whether in jeans and boots or a perfectly tailored suit, Achilles was potent.
And when his lupine eyes had locked with hers?
She’d lost all thought. Well, notall.
Memories of how he’d laid her out on that dining room table to make a feast of her had bombarded her. Of how he’d carried her so tenderly to the couch before taking her so fiercely.
Of how he’d followed through on his promise of not being finished with her for the night.
She hadn’t stumbled into her own hotel room until early the next morning, deliciously sore and tired.
And yet somehow, she’d met Achilles’s gaze in that conference room and not revealed that she shook with those memories.
If her mother had been there, she would’ve beamed with pride over her daughter’s ability to lie.
A dull pounding took up above her right eye, a sure sign of a pending migraine. The sooner she got this task over with, the better. She started her position at Farrell International in a week. This wasn’t a conversation she could avoid.
The thick carpet silenced the footfalls of her heels as she approached the closed office door. The open blinds on the windows offered her an unfettered view of the long-haired, wolf-eyed giant frowning at the bank of computers on his desk. She stuttered to a halt, her breath catching in her throat. He was so, so... So damntoo.
Too gorgeous.
Too virile.
Too sexy.
Too wild.
He was the eye of the hurricane, a false calm. One shift, one step either way, and he would devastate you with all that he was.
And God. She closed her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose. She needed to lay off the late-night Netflix binges.
She lifted her lashes and a bright gaze immediately ensnared hers.
Lowering her arm, she deliberately exhaled.
Hell.
Fixing a smile to her face that felt brittle and fake, she forced her feet forward and opened the closed office door. He rose from his chair, as if the good manners of standing for a woman were reflexive rather than voluntary. The scowl creasing his forehead remained.
“Achilles.” Wonder whispered through her that her voice didn’t tremble. Because, damn, that glare could burn hydrogen off the sun.
“Kenan told me you were hired. Congratulations.” The flat tone carried no sarcasm, no venom, no...nothing. And that bothered her. More than she wanted to admit.
“Thank you.” She hesitated, studied him. “You didn’t...?”
“Have anything to do with the decision?” he finished her question, then shook his head. “No. I told them whatever they decided was fine with me.”
Once more, relief rushed through her, and she glanced away from him. The last of her uncertainty that she hadn’t earned this job on her own merit faded away.
“Is that why you’re here?” He circled the desk and leaned back against it, crossing his arms over his wide shoulders. She pretended not to notice how the sleeves of his plain white dress shirt strained against his powerful arms. Pretended not to notice the corresponding pull low in her belly. “To make sure I didn’t influence the outcome?” He cocked his head. “Or to make sure I did?”
