he was anything but a good actor.
Tahlia lengthened her stride, pushed open the door to their building, holding it for Case this time. The air was tense between them. ‘And—?’ she had to ask.
He strode alongside her as they crossed the foyer. A lift was waiting, its doors open.
Case strode in, punched their floor number and turned to her. ‘Now what can I do to show you I’m only human?’
Tahlia’s glance went straight for his mouth.
Case fought every impulse in his body to reduce the distance between them, take her into his arms and crush his mouth to hers.
It was insane.
He’d thought he’d got his instincts under control. After the disaster that his marriage had turned into, he would have thought he’d have learned.
He took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to rush into this, no matter what this was.
If he hadn’t been so young and naïve four years ago he wouldn’t have ended up with a two-year sentence for stupidity with Celia.
He’d been in such a rush to get married and complete his well-rounded success in all areas of his life he hadn’t stopped to think.
The fact that she’d been married once already to another blinded-by-love well-off businessman should have given him fair warning of what he was in for.
He pulled his attention from those lips that were taunting him and those sea-green eyes that seemed to be daring him to take the plunge. ‘Tahlia, Miss Moran… I…don’t have a personal assistant or secretary.’
She blinked. ‘She went when the Executive went, sir,’ she said smoothly, her sweet voice hardly registering the look of surprise that showed in her eyes.
‘Really?’ He cleared his throat, pushing down the heat in his body. Talking shop would dull the senses. ‘Why was that?’
‘Yes. I believe Raquel can explain your predecessor’s departure more appropriately than I can,’ she said slowly, staring at the lift doors, her sweet perfume circling around him and taunting him.
It would be so easy to lean over and hit that stop button, sweep her into his arms and taste those lips and feel the passion that lay there, simmering just beneath the surface.
‘I want to hear what you have to say,’ he asked tightly. Any sort of office history may serve as a distraction to the desire coursing through him.
‘He and his secretary had a hot and heavy affair.’
Case stared at the ceiling. Cripes. Just what he needed to hear. ‘And that was frowned upon by company policy?’ he asked slowly. And maybe he’d find out Tahlia’s policy.
She smoothed down the fabric of her short skirt over gently rounded hips. ‘Well, yes. The powers that be don’t want office harmony going to hell because of spats between exes and all those favouritism issues that become a factor in intimate relationships, not to mention issues of harassment.’
‘That makes sense,’ he said softly, forcing his feet to stay where they were and not take him any closer to the woman who was calling him like a siren to the rocks. ‘But what do you think?’
She moistened her lips and jerked her gaze back to the lift door, holding her hands tightly in front of her. ‘Me?’ she asked tightly. ‘In the end, the staff are all adults…mostly,’ she rushed on. ‘And it’s impossible to police—more a guideline, really. You know, don’t mix business and pleasure.’
‘Right.’
She sucked in a breath. ‘And in that particular instance the pair involved were doing more of the pleasure than business, and not just in his office—’
‘O-kay,’ Case said, adjusting his belt and taking a step back from Tahlia. ‘I get the picture.’ Vividly. And his mind filled with all the places they would have gone and visions of him visiting such quiet nooks with the incredible woman next to him.
‘Basically it’s to dissuade secretaries of the young and idealistic variety from thinking that a fling with the boss is going to help the career,’ she blurted, twining her fingers together.
Case couldn’t help but smile at her rush of words. Was she nervous?
‘Well,’ he offered, his voice low. ‘You can inform the office and any young and idealistic staff that I’m single. But I can assure you that I will not give my assistant any illusions about climbing the ladder through sexual favours.’
The lift doors opened.
Tahlia stepped forward. ‘You don’t have to assure me anything, despite your lack of assistant,’ she shot over her shoulder.
He wanted to assure her of so many things, but the scars still ached from Celia. ‘Well, that’s the thing,’ he said slowly, following her. ‘Until I get one, I’ll need some help.’
She swung to face him. ‘Of course. You’ve met quite a few of the staff. Have you anyone in mind…maybe from the copy room or mail room on a temporary basis?’ She touched a flushed cheek; her nails, long and rounded, were painted the same peach as her lips. ‘Until we get someone else in, you know, advertising and interviews take time.’
Case shrugged, slipping his hands deep into his trouser pockets. ‘I’m thinking of someone who’s very aware of who’s who and what’s what and how the place is run.’
She looked towards her office, pointing in that direction, avoiding his gaze. ‘Great. Look, I’d love to chat on and on but I do have work to do, as you well know. And I’m sure you do too. Having such a senior position and all. If that’s all? Let me know what you decide…how you want to do it…who.’
Case rocked back on his heels, taking in her tall, shapely body, her neat black skirt and jacket, her white sleeveless shirt. Her all-business appearance covering the all-enticing challenge that gleamed in her eyes like burning embers waiting for his breath.
He knew exactly who he wanted. ‘Actually, I’m thinking of you.’
Chapter Seven
‘What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.’ Yeah, right, Nietzsche. And who does not drive you crazy, can’t steal your job and make you act stupid?
TAHLIA sat at her desk, staring at her computer screen. Case Taunting Darrington couldn’t mean her, want her, as his assistant—that was just wrong, humiliating and wrong, and stirring and sexy and wrong.
As if she was going to accept a job helping out the competition, the man who had stolen her job, her promotion, her rise, her nice safe rung that she was going to conduct the next challenge of her life from.
Hell, the man had taken so much from her he didn’t deserve anything but the same confusion and pain he was putting her through.
This was her life he was messing up, her feelings he was messing with and her anchor he’d cut loose with no concern for the weather.
She
