sweat it, Fitzpatrick. You’re off the hook. I’m not going to beg you to have sex with me,” she said, her voice as icy as a Minnesota winter. “Like I said, I was feeling desperate at the time. Obviously, coming here today and asking you to help me was another mistake.”
She jammed the list into her purse and spun around, but not before he caught the flash of pain in her eyes. “Katie, wait. I didn’t mean—”
The intercom buzzed again. “Get a move on, Sean,” his brother Michael ordered. “Adam Stevens is here.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.” He blocked Katie’s path. “If you’d just give me a second to explain…”
“No explanation is necessary. And I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to hire you. Now get out of my way.”
“No,” he countered, angry with himself for being careless. It cut at him something awful to know he’d hurt her.
“Fine. Don’t move. I will.” Stepping around him, she moved past him and reached for the door.
“Aw, hell.” Sean streaked in front of her, slapped the door shut and twisted the lock. Snagging her by the shoulders, he spun her around and pressed her spine against the door, trapping her between his outstretched arms. “You’re not going anywhere until we settle this.” He couldn’t let Katie walk out now. If she did, he had a sick feeling that things would never be the same between them again. He didn’t want to lose her.
“There’s nothing to settle.”
The doorknob twisted. “Sean!” Michael pounded on the door. “Get your sorry rear out here. Stevens is cooling his heels in the conference room waiting to discuss his building’s security.”
“I said I’d be there in a minute. Go ahead and start without me.” Ignoring his brother’s heated reply, Sean kept his eyes trained on Katie’s face. “Look at me.”
When she failed to respond, he captured her face between his palms and more gently he said, “Look at me, Katie. Please.”
She shifted her gaze to his. There was anger simmering in the gold-flecked eyes. Anger. Pride. Hurt. Hurt he was responsible for, Sean acknowledged. His chest tightened with guilt, with regret. “I’m sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter—”
“It matters to me. I’d sooner cut off my arm than hurt you.” And just as he’d done a hundred times before, he brushed his mouth against hers. It was meant to be a friendly kiss, a brotherly kiss between good pals. But heat licked through him like wildfire, setting his body and senses ablaze with desire. Awareness pulsed between them lightning quick. He watched her eyes soften, darken, and then he stopped thinking. He dipped his head again deepened the kiss. Her fingers curled into his shoulders as she parted her lips, and he dove in, wanting, needing to taste her. When her tongue found his, he groaned and pulled her closer.
A foot connected with the door, jolting them both. “Get your sorry butt out here now, Sean. Or I swear I’ll kick this door in and wring your fool neck.”
Sean lifted his head. His breath came in heavy rasps. So did hers. “I think he means it,” she whispered.
“Yeah. So do I,” he replied, and releasing her, he stepped back. Shock hit him first. Then panic streaked in. What in the devil was he doing? Coming on to Katie like this? Retrieving her purse where it had fallen to the floor, he eyed her warily. She looked dazed, nervous, arousedexactly the way he felt. “Are we all right?” he asked, handing her the purse.
“Sure,” she told him. But she looked ready to bolt. “You’d better go before Michael makes good on those threats. I’m sorry I bothered you.”
“Listen, about this baby business…”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll find somebody else to help me.”
Damn! “Katie, I don’t have time to argue now. Just promise me you won’t do anything until we can talk.”
“Really, Sean, I don’t think—”
Michael beat at the door again, issued another string of threats. “Tonight. Just hold off on doing anything until then. We’ll talk when I get home. I’ll even bring pizza.”
She hesitated.
“One with anchovies and a thick crust,” he bribed.
“Anchovies?”
“Anchovies,” he promised, no matter how much he detested the little suckers.
“All right.”
He flipped the lock on the door, and Michael stormed in, angry enough to chew nails. “Excuse me, Katie, while I rip my idiot brother’s head off.”
“Rip away,” she said. “I was just leaving.”
Michael snarled at him. “I ought to knock your block off.”
“Yeah? Well, stand in line,” Sean muttered, irritated with himself. He had a sinking feeling that kissing Katie had been a major mistake.
Kissing Sean had been a mistake, Katie told herself for the umpteenth time. Gathering the ends of her hair, she secured it atop her head with a clip, then reached for the makeup bag. She coated her lashes with mascara, slashed the passion-pink lipstick across her too-wide mouth. For good measure she fastened on the pink sparkly earrings her stepfather had given her the Christmas before he’d split. Stepping back, she surveyed the results in the mirror of the dressing table in her bedroom.
Ordinary. Run-of-the-mill. Nothing special.
The words all but shouted at her like accusations. She stared at her heart-shaped face. Not one single feature stood out. Nothing about her stood out—except maybe her height. She cast a critical eye over the white blouse and cutoffs and sighed. Narrow curves on a five-foot, nine-inch frame might be great for models, but she felt like a scrawny chicken in a world full of peacocks.
Was that why no one in her life ever stayed? Because she wasn’t pretty enough? Wasn’t special enough? Wasn’t lovable enough?
She thought of those petite blondes and redheads that breezed in and out of Sean’s life—and no doubt his bed—women like Heather Harrison with her big blue eyes, chic blond hairstyle and double-D cups. Women who were nothing like her.
Not that she wanted to be one of Sean’s women. Despite that ripple of sexual awareness that kept popping up between them, she’d decided long ago that Sean Fitzpatrick was out of her league. And while she’d made some real stinker decisions when it came to men, she wasn’t fool enough to risk the kind of heartache a man like Sean would offer. Still a girl couldn’t help but dream a little, and wonder how it would feel to be the one on the receiving end of that unholy grin or the wink of those deep blue eyes. It was easy to see why women fell for him. The man had enough charm and sex appeal to be declared a lethal weapon. If that kiss this afternoon was anything to go by, she was darn lucky she wasn’t his type.
Kate shivered as she thought about that kiss again, recalled the feel of his mouth on hers, hot and demanding, the heat of his arousal pressed against her belly. He’d kissed
