Page 30 of Just a Little Tempted

A grin tugged at my mouth before I could stop it. This was a new side of her—openly annoyed, making no effort to hide it. It was… endearing. Cute, even.

I doubted she’d appreciate hearing that.

“I suppose that makes me the expert,” I said.

“I’m fine.” She shifted in the chair, her fingers drumming against her forearm.

I fixed her with my best no-nonsense glare—the one that had helped me dominate countless boardrooms—but Raina seemed entirely unaffected. She leaned back and raised one stubborn eyebrow, matching my intensity with her own.

“I should get to work,sir.”

Sir.The word landed somewhere low in my gut, twisting into something it had no business becoming. I couldn’t help imagining how it would sound in a different context—breathless, desperate, falling from her lips in the throes of desire.

I shoved the thought aside and leaned forward, placing my hands on the armrests of her chair to cage her in. I was bent over her now, our faces separated by mere inches.

“I told you to call me Simon.”

“Okay,Simon.” There was a bite in her voice, and a challenge in her eyes.

The impulse to bend her over my desk and spank her flashed through my mind. Completely inappropriate, absolutely an HR disaster, and yet the image refused to leave. Maybe we were past worrying about such things. We were supposed to be faking a relationship, after all.

“Can I go back to work now?” she asked impatiently.

“Not yet.” I inhaled, and her perfume hit me stronger than ever before—vanilla and flowers, sweet and intoxicating. It smelled like an invitation. “I think we should talk more about our relationship.”

Something flickered in Raina’s eyes, too quick for me to identify. “We don’t have arelationship.”

Ahhh. There it is.

I didn’t know exactly what was bothering her, but I was certain now that it was connected to the fake datingarrangement. It was the only thing that had changed between us. Based on the edge in her voice, I was on the right track.

“Don’t be like that,” I said, letting a teasing note lighten my tone. “This whole thing was your idea, after all.”

“And I suppose you’re going to hold that against me forever.”

“No.” I meant it. I might not have been thrilled in the moment, but I knew she’d only been trying to help and it had worked like a charm with Alexander, honestly. “I’m just trying to figure out why you’re angry.”

“I’mnot!”

Her hands flew up and pressed against my chest, shoving hard. She wasn’t strong enough to actually move me, but I stepped back, allowing her to escape the chair. Raina shot to her feet, flustered, her face flushed as she tugged at the collar of her blouse.

Not angry at all. Sure.

“If this is going to work,” I said evenly, “we’re going to have to be honest with each other. Otherwise, I might as well call Alexander and tell him to partner with Chuck instead.”

At that, something in her expression finally softened. “You should see your face when you say that. You look like you’d rather chew glass than let Chuck get one over on you.”

I shrugged. She wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t going to force her into this if she was truly unhappy about it. Even if that meant losing Alexander’s business.

The thought stopped me cold.

When did her well-being become more important than a business deal?

I didn’t have an answer for that—or maybe I did, and I wasn’t ready to examine it too closely. All I knew was that somewhere along the way, Raina had become more than just my assistant. More than just the woman I found attractive. She mattered to me, in a way I hadn’t let anyone matter in a very long time.

Raina sighed, absently twisting a strand of blonde hair around her finger. I found myself wondering if it felt as silky as it looked before forcing myself to focus.

“I really am fine. It’s just…” She cleared her throat, her gaze dropping to the floor between us. “The kiss.”