He’d started to open the door and found her unexpectedly outside it. In that millisecond of being hit by the sight of her, he’d been taken aback by how beautiful she was. By howpleasedhe was to see her.
Today she wore a thick gray knit dress that fell to the tops of her knee-high boots. A chunky belt of square silver links nipped at her waist, and its neckline draped like a scarf. Nothing about it was particularly sexy or daring, but she made it look runway chic.
Then Ramon Sauveterre stepped out andhuggedher.
A deeply regressive emotion exploded through Joaquin. He clamped down on it, but the atavistic taste for blood stayed on his tongue.
Because Siobhan hugged Ramon back. And she offered the other man a bemused, untampered laugh. Not the kind she muted as quickly as it formed, the way she’d been doing around here, if she suddenly realized he was watching her. This was natural and lovely and full of genuine affection.
“It’s good to see you.” Ramon hung on to her arms, continuing to smile fondly at her. “I knew you’d taken a job in Madrid. I didn’t know it was here. I’ve already sent the family south, but I wanted to take this meeting.” He glanced at Joaquin with bemusement.
Whatever was in Joaquin’s face erased Ramon’s good-natured humor. He pulled his brows together. The temperature in the corridor dropped several degrees.
“I do work here.” Siobhan’s tone grew reproachful. “And everyone here knows me as Siobhan.”
“Oh, hell.” Ramon gave his jaw a rub then held out his palm. “My bad, but when have I ever had to call you that?”
“Today. Right now. This is the moment you were supposed to call me that.”
They shared a look of laughter and apology and history. So much history it made Joaquin want to pull Siobhan into his office and lock out everyone else, most especially his too-suave business partner.
Joaquin had never been a jealous person. He hadn’t been allowed to be. He’d had a taste of it with his assistant last week and learned the emotion didn’t sit well with him. At all.
“Howare you two acquainted?” he asked coolly.
“Oh. Um.” Siobhan folded her arms and flickered a look between them.
“I’ll let you fill him in.” Ramon gave her shoulder a squeeze. “My plane is waiting. Do you need a lift? Should I wait for you?”
“No, I need to work, but thank you. I’ll see you again soon.”
Ramon kissed both her cheeks, needling the green monster within Joaquin before he gave Joaquin a last thoughtful look and left with his bodyguard.
Joaquin opened his door wider and jerked his head at Siobhan to enter.
“What—” he said as he pushed the door closed with a hard click “—was that?”
“Someone I know.” She shrugged it off, avoiding his gaze as she set the folder on his desk. “Oladele is waiting for this. Do you mind? I have a lot of work that needs to be finished by end of day, and the big boss is looking for any excuse to fire me.” She delivered the facetious remark with a distant smile that could have come from his own arsenal.
He hated it.
“Tell me.” He approached the desk and closed his hand over the pen she held out, capturing her fingers in his grip. Not tightly. Just enough to hold her full attention. Just enough toholdherand convince himself she was, in some small way, his. For now.
“You’re asking me to share something highly personal.” She could have pulled her hand away, but she didn’t. Her chin went up a notch. Her lashes flickered and he thought her breath stuttered. “Too personal for the workplace.”Inappropriate, her defiant glare said as she slid a pointed glance to his grip on her hand.
She was getting back at him for that day in the corridor, when he’d told her she was out of line with her personal question about children. He’d felt small when he’d slapped it down, but every moment around her was a struggle. Even as he commuted to the office, before he saw her, he would wonder what she would be wearing today. Hair up or down? Glasses or contacts? Heels or boots? Did he have a meeting scheduled that would bring her up to his floor? Or did he have to engineer a glimpse of her from afar?
Then, when he did see her, he had to fight the urge to fall into bantering with her. He fought standing too close. Fought asking her to dinner. Fought pulling her near—
He wanted to yank her into his arms right now.
He let go of her hand.
The pen dropped to the desktop.
“Tell me how you know him or I’ll imagine you were lovers.” He drew the folder closer, pretending disinterest even though his vision was still violent green.
She made a choked noise. “Why would you care if we were?”
