He was about to leave the room when he spotted something on the floor. Something lacy. He bent down to pick it up and realised it was her mask. At the last second, instead of stuffing it into his pocket as he wanted to for some ridiculous reason, he threw it into a bin and walked out.
Chapter 13
Jess
‘Ithink the devil is paying us a visit.’
‘What’s that?’ I asked distractedly as I rummaged in a box to find a file that had gone missing. I looked up at my boss, the charity director, Julia, who was currently looking down onto the street from the window of our office on the first floor. An office that we’d joked would probably become a luxury dressing-room for the next tenants.
She said, ‘Mr Hot Shot Property Shark.’
I froze, and then I went to the window and looked down to see my worst nightmare manifested. Brodie Montgomery. Worst nightmare and the object of my X-rated dreams for the last two nights. What the hell was he doing here? My insides went into freefall. But then a wave of heat went through my entire body, betraying the fact that my reaction to this news was not one of immediate antipathy.
We heard the buzzer downstairs in the main office and then voices, one deep one, and then heavy footsteps on the stairs up to our office. Not heavy because of excess weight. No, heavy because of dense muscle mass. Specifically, very taut and toned muscles. All six foot plus of dense muscles. Didn’t muscles weigh more than fat? I was literally spiralling, completely unpreparedto see the man who I had fucked in an anonymous moment of lust-induced insanity.
Not so anonymous as it had turned out.
Julia grumbled. ‘I thought he was going to leave us in peace to clear out?’
Maybe he was coming to land me in it. My insides lurched queasily.
A knock on the door. Julia didn’t try to hide her irritation. ‘Yes?’
The door opened and Brodie Montgomery took up most of the frame. He almost had to duck his head. He looked no less formidable – and gorgeous – today in a regular suit. No tie, top button open. I was frozen to the spot, not quite believing he was here.
He looked at me and I couldn’t read anything in his expression, and then he moved his gaze away to Julia. He held his hands up. ‘Sorry to disturb you. I know we said we’d leave you to pack up under your own steam.’
I didn’t have to look at Julia to know she’d be shooting him a look as if to say,well?
He looked at me.Oh, God.He was going to dump me in it. She certainly wouldn’t appreciate the fact I was bringing the charity’s name into the realm of gossip fodder. I hadn’t told anyone what had happened the other night, not even Tash who had been looking at me suspiciously since I’d arrived home with her dress half drenched in champagne. And in a man’s shirt. A man I’d fucked senseless. The same man who was standing in front of me now. I started to sweat.
He said, ‘It’s actually something I need to discuss with Jessica.’
Jessica.My insides flipped and then I forced the rollercoaster sensation down.
Julia frowned. ‘We’re quite busy here, as you can see. You set us the deadline to be gone in a few weeks.’
‘I am aware of that.’ He gave me a look as if to say,Do you really want me to say any more? Because I will unless you stop me.
Hurriedly I said, ‘Um, Julia, do you mind if I take five minutes to deal with...whatever this is?’
She was suspicious. She looked at Brodie. ‘Why do you have to talk to Jess and not me?’
Brodie smiled at her. I saw a blush stain Julia’s cheeks. The woman was in her sixties and not immune to him in spite of what he was doing to us. God help us. ‘Because it’s got nothing to do with the property deal. It’s personal.’
I groaned inwardly. She looked at me speculatively. I said weakly, ‘I didn’t mention it, but we actually met at the charity event the other evening. I’ll only be five minutes.’
I went towards him and all but pushed him back out of the door, closing it behind me. I folded my arms and looked up at him. ‘What the hell do you want?’ I whispered this, mindful of Julia.
He looked at me. ‘I have a proposition for you.’
I remembered the way he’d been so reluctant to look at me the other evening. ‘Didn’t we say all we had to the other evening?’
A muscle ticced in his jaw and it drew my attention to that intriguing scar. ‘Apparently not.’
A proposition. I hated to admit it, but I was intrigued and also seeing him here was throwing up all manner of conflicting emotions. None of which I really wanted to analyse for fear of having to acknowledge that I was actually happy to see him again.
‘Fine.’ I spied a door across the corridor and went over, opening it into an empty room. ‘In here.’
