such a sexy young woman—and the instant their lips had met he’d known she was young—would participate in a burglary. Any logical explanation had been so far beyond the comprehension of his upper-middle-class value system that he’d been shellshocked into indecision.
The rational side of his brain had insisted he report the break-in. The more impulsive side hadn’t been able to get past the fact that sounding the alarm would have meant such a sexy young woman would likely end up in prison.
While the two sides of his brain had warred, fate had intervened and made the decision for him. Someone, he assumed the security guard, had sounded the alarm and the police had shown up and arrested one of the burglars—not her, he’d found out later.
The company president hadn’t wanted explanations. He’d wanted an employee who would put the company’s best interests first. Jake didn’t blame him.
As a result of meeting Mallory Hunt, he’d lost his job, his internship, his scholarship, a decent reference and any hope of a future with Innovative Engineering.
As his father had been golfing buddies with the company president, the real reason for his dismissal hadn’t become part of his permanent record. Mallory Hunt couldn’t know the details, and now didn’t seem like the best time to tip his hand. Erection aside, the rational half of his brain had brought him here today. He needed this woman’s expertise, felt she owed him a favor, but he didn’t want to show a soft underbelly by letting her think he held a grudge.
“You should take my job because working together will be mutually beneficial. TSS will be a strong reference. My business is well respected in the industry.”
She exhaled a laugh that was more exasperation than amusement. “What is it with you men?”
Jake didn’t know what other man she was referring to and he didn’t care. He wasn’t finished yet. “I was going to say that your endorsement of my new security system will be good for the Sentex 2000. See, mutually beneficial.”
Not the strongest of arguments, but the most logical to his way of thinking. Jake braced himself to counter her objections, mentally sifted through rebuttals that might establish his case.
What he didn’t expect was Mallory to say, “Okay. It’s a deal. You pay my exorbitant fee and I’ll infiltrate the system of your choice and take you with me as my assistant.”
She slid open the shower door, heedless of the drizzle spraying out from the wall jets as she extended her hand. Jake had the wild thought that the last thing in the world he needed to do right now was touch this woman, but reason wasn’t priority here—sealing the deal was.
Pushing away from the vanity, he swallowed hard when the seam of his slacks bit hard into his crotch. He schooled his expression and closed the distance between them.
But Jake knew before his fingers slid around hers that this was nothing more than a ploy. Mallory was testing his limits again, pushing him. To see if she could shock him? Or to get him close enough to…what?
He didn’t know. He only knew that with her hair slicked back he could see her features more clearly than ever before. He stared down into her face, the perfect forehead, the elegant slash of her brows, the creamy skin, the high cheekbones, and knew a hunger for this woman more intense than anything he’d ever known before.
Then she lifted her gaze to his. Despite the water droplets clinging to her lashes and the lush landscape of moist skin between them, the challenge in those clear green eyes was so reminiscent of ten years ago…
Only this time he kissed her.
3
JAKE TRINITY had known how to kiss ten years ago, but the past decade had honed his skill to the point where Mallory forgot to breathe. His mouth possessed hers with a serious deliberation that made her knees grow weak, made an eager tenderness fill her breasts and draw her nipples into peaks.
She’d intended to taunt the man until he’d lost control and couldn’t keep his hands off her. Well, his hands were on her now, but there was nothing about the fingers he angled beneath her jaw that suggested a loss of anything.
Jake Trinity’s kiss was all about hunger, all about resolve, all about taking what he wanted. Deliberate. Thorough. As though he’d spent ten long years deciding how he might kiss her if the opportunity had presented itself. As though he’d meant to make the most of the moment if it did.
Mission accomplished.
He’d scattered her thoughts so completely that it took him driving his tongue into her mouth for Mallory finally to pull her thoughts together enough to react.
The best she could come up with was a sigh, one of those lips-parting-in-abandon, open-mouthed numbers that always made her laugh when she saw them portrayed in movies.
She hadn’t believed women really felt that way.
Well, women like her, anyway. Confident, assertive women who didn’t have a problem taking what they wanted from life.
Or from a man.
But she felt that way right now. Boy, oh boy, did she.
She remembered exactly why she’d kissed Jake Trinity ten years ago instead of following the egress plan. Yes, she’d wanted to buy her dad time, but she couldn’t deny that she’d also noticed how gorgeous her unexpected intruder had been, which had inspired her particular method of stalling.
He’d reminded her of a lion with his dark-blond hair, tanned skin and brawny body. He’d been tall—but not too tall, about six feet she’d guessed—but that sense of power about his strong shoulders and wide chest had made him seem…solid. Yet he’d moved easily, gracefully, as though he had his size thoroughly under control.
Jake Trinity all grown up wasn’t what Mallory had been expecting. Nor was her reaction to him.
Water dripped from her face to flavor their kiss, bathing their tongues in liquid warmth that tasted of their mouths combined. A taste that had lingered in her memory barely remembered—until now when she tasted it again and realized just how firmly embedded he’d been in her consciousness.
Pressing her hands against his chest, she slipped her fingers beneath his jacket. She explored the feel of hard muscle through his shirt and traced the sculpted hollows as though she wanted to learn him by heart, uncaring that her wet hands and the shower spray were trashing his pristine dry-cleaning job.
And when she came across his tie, an accessory she’d thought conservative at first glance, she recognized the anchor it offered. Slipping her fingers around the expensive silk, she drew it down, down…forcing him to lean forward and his mouth to slant across hers even harder.
He explored the curve of her jaw with strong fingers, trailed them down her throat, and for a heart-stopping instant she thought he would continue moving downward, touch her aching breasts to feed this growing need inside her.
But ever the gentleman, he explored the pulse beating at the base of her throat, the sensitive hollow where neck met shoulder while awareness coursed through her with an intensity that made her burn.
No, Jake Trinity wasn’t what she’d expected at all.
