still here.”
“My family owns the place,” he pointed out.
“Yes, of course. I never meant to imply…I’ll leave now and get out of your way,” she murmured, then quickly turned away.
But not before Justin caught a glimpse of hurt in those big blue-green eyes. Damned if he didn’t feel as though he’d just kicked a puppy. “Kim,” he said, moving beside her. He turned her around to face him and tipped up her chin. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Just because I’m in a lousy mood is no reason to take it out on you.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.” He captured the fist she held stiffly at her side and lifted it between them. “If it’ll make you feel better, go ahead and sock me one,” he said, jutting out his chin. “I deserve it for acting like a jerk.”
“You’re not a jerk.”
“Sure, I am. Or at least I gave a good impression of one a minute ago. I hurt your feelings, and for that I’m sorry.”
“But you didn’t—”
Justin silenced her with a look. “You may be a terrific assistant, Ms. Lindgren, but you’re a lousy liar.”
“Thank you. I think.”
He grinned at her. “Hey, I’m the one who should be thanking you. The truth is I’m not sure what I’d do without you.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’d manage just fine,” she said, and reclaimed her fingers. Though she stepped back, she came up against the desk, which prevented her from putting the distance between them that Justin suspected she’d intended.
“Hopefully, I won’t have to find out. But seriously, what I should have said, and botched totally, is that as much as I appreciate all your hard work, there’s no reason for you to put in such long hours.”
“I don’t mind,” she told him. “I like my job. I like working with you.”
“Darned if I understand why,” he countered, and smiled at her again. “But how about calling it a day? I bet if you try, you might still be able to book yourself a massage at the health club.”
“I probably could if I belonged to a health club. But since I don’t, there’s really no reason for me to hurry,” she said, smiling up at him.
The smile intrigued him almost as much as she did. There was something both innocent and seductive about her smile. And it did nothing to ease his arousal. Taking a step back, Justin tried to shake off this new awareness of Kim as a desirable female.
“You’re scowling at me again,” she accused.
“Not at you. At myself,” he corrected, feeling like an idiot. Of course she didn’t belong to a health club. The fact that his family and most of his friends worked out regularly at a club certainly didn’t mean that Kim did the same. Chances were she couldn’t afford that kind of luxury. Because a luxury is what it was. It was the reason he refused to join the fancy clubs and worked out at a hole-in-the-wall gym. He stared at her and suddenly realized that other than the fact that Kim was single and had no family—facts his brother had told him when he’d taken over the position of vice president of marketing—he knew very little about Kim’s personal life despite the fact that they worked so closely together. It was hard to imagine her all alone when he had such a large family himself. “I guess this is my night for apologies. That sounded terribly arrogant of me. I shouldn’t have assumed that you belonged to a health club.”
“Don’t be silly. It was a logical assumption.”
“No, it wasn’t. And I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”
“You didn’t,” she insisted. “Please. There’s nothing to be sorry about. Connelly Corporation is very generous to its employees, and most of the clerical staff belongs to health clubs or spas. I could, too, if I wanted.”
“But you don’t want to?”
She shrugged. “I just don’t know when I’d get the chance to use it.”
“Which is my fault.”
She tipped her head, studied him. “And how do you figure that?”
“Look what time it is and you’re still here. I work you too hard.”
“No, you don’t. Besides, I don’t work nearly as hard as you do,” she countered.
Justin snorted. “I don’t have a choice. My family is depending on me. You, on the other hand, don’t have any excuse. I mean it, Kim. No more late nights like this for you.”
“But I told you, I like my job. I like working with you.”
“Even when I’m a royal pain in the neck?” he teased.
“Even then,” she said. “Now, unless you need me for something, I’d really like to finish transcribing these notes,” she told him, and reclaimed her seat in front of her computer screen.
“The notes can wait until tomorrow.”
“They could, but there’s no reason why they have to.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but which one of us is the boss here?”
Kim laughed. “You are. But all I need is ten minutes to finish, and then I promise I’ll head for home and a long, hot soak in the tub.”
An image of Kim naked in a bathtub covered only in bubbles had Justin gritting his teeth. “Scouts’ honor?”
“Scouts’ honor,” she said and held up three fingers.
“All right. You’ve got ten minutes and then I want you out of here.”
“You got it,” she promised and went back to work.
When Justin exited his office fifteen minutes later, Kim was still at her desk, staring at her computer screen and rubbing the back of her neck with one hand.
Even though his brain told him it was a mistake, he started toward her. “Here, let me do that,” he said, and pushed her hand away and replaced it with his own.
“You don’t have to do this,” she argued.
Justin ignored the comment. “No wonder you’re hurting. Talk about tense. Relax,” he commanded, and began to massage her shoulders. Determined to prove to himself that his earlier reaction to Kim had been a fluke, a momentary aberration caused by spending too much time at work and neglecting his social life, he went to work on those stiff muscles. Satisfied that, by analyzing the situation, he now had any earlier sexual attraction he’d experienced toward Kim firmly under his command, Justin skillfully tackled the mass of knots along her spine. Using his thumbs, he applied pressure to a particularly tight spot between her shoulder-blades and began to knead it.
“This really isn’t necess— Oh…”
His
