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He stepped closer, but she stepped a half-inch back, crossing her arms—an ineffectual barrier but it was all there was.
‘And what are we going to do about…about…?’
He raised an ironic brow. ‘The way you kiss?’
‘The way we kiss.’ It wasn’t as if he hadn’t kissed her back—if anything he’d led the dance, his hands had crossed the boundaries, his tongue had teased hers out.
‘Nothing.’ He shrugged. ‘I can control it.’
That got her. As if it weren’t anything spectacular? Of course it was. She’d done a lot of kissing and that had been in another class. He thought he’d been testing her? Yeah right. He’d been as breathless as her. As hot as her.
‘Oh, really?’ she asked, pouring on the sarcasm.
He stood stock-still, meeting her fiery gaze with a banked, black one of his own. ‘Sure.’
She deliberately let her eyes trail down his body and back up again. He could control it? She turned and literally flounced out. Determined to prove him wrong on everything.
Chapter Five
THE second Amanda got to her desk she picked up the box of chocolates and put the lot in the bin.
‘We’re having a planning meeting late this afternoon.’
Damn, he’d followed her through, carrying on the conversation as if that kiss had never happened.
‘I’m not free this afternoon.’ She didn’t turn to face him. ‘Tomorrow morning will have to do.’
‘I’m not in town tomorrow. It’ll have to be tonight.’
‘But—’
‘This is priority work, Amanda.’
Amanda saw the way Sean was sitting unnaturally still at his desk. The way he was staring at her and then at Jared and then back to her—and down, looking at her mouth and then her blouse.
Hell. The top two buttons were still undone—and Amanda’s buttons were never undone. That was the problem with Jared—he made her forget all the important things, such as that now she had to be nice to him.
‘Where and what time?’ she turned and asked him sweetly.
He grinned, knowing how much she was hating having to change her attitude. ‘I’ll pick you up from here at six.’
‘No,’ Amanda said hurriedly. She did not want to meet him in the evening. ‘I can come to your office at four. Would that suit?’
‘I thought you were busy.’
‘I can squeeze you in.’
His eyes met hers for a pregnant moment and she felt heat flood into her cheeks—had she really said that? Was he really thinking of what she was suddenly thinking of?
‘That would be perfect,’ he purred and with a wave to the others was gone as silently as he’d arrived.
Bronwyn looked worried. ‘Are you sure you can handle this, Amanda? I mean, things look a little—’
‘I know.’ Amanda raced into damage-control mode. ‘Jared likes to tease. But I can handle him.’ She’d learn to handle herself around him. She looked around at the other two and realised just how much they were counting on her. Not to mention Grandfather. She straightened. ‘I can handle the account, Bronwyn. I won’t let you down.’
No getting close. No proving anything. Not until this job was out of the way and the money was in the bank.
Jared breathed the fresh cold air, opting to go for a walk rather than get in his car and go straight back to his office. What the hell had he been thinking? He hadn’t, of course—the minute he’d got her into a room alone he’d been unable to stop pouncing. Hand on heart he hadn’t intended to touch her. But hand on heart he couldn’t resist. He walked faster as his body threatened to react awkwardly to the memory of that kiss.
She was the hottest woman he’d known. But she was also destined to be his forbidden fruit. He’d set up a business situation; following through on that heated encounter wasn’t possible when they were going to be working together. So stupid—he should have stayed away.
Almost ten years ago he could have had her but honour and duty to another had forced him to refuse. Now, it was his own integrity and he would stay in control of it.
But despite that, and despite knowing all about her spoilt streak, he still wanted.
Amanda got to his office two minutes before she said she would. The receptionist told her to go straight up. His office was nice, large, but not ridiculously so, and very informal. She turned her back on the sofa, opted for a chair at the round table in the corner. For the first few moments she felt awkward, but it was as if the morning had never happened. He kept his distance, barely looked at her, as he showed her the previous campaigns and pointed out what he liked and didn’t like about them.
