what is it you want, Jonah?”
He couldn’t very well tell her that he wanted to distract her until he could clean up his brother’s mess. And in that moment, that wasn’t his biggest motivation. There was something about the way she said his name that sent a fire raging through his veins and made him want to pull her close and kiss her. It was different from the run-of-the-mill lust most attractive women lured from him. It was more powerful. Potent. And it demanded he take action.
“I just want to get to know you. There’s something happening here... I can’t explain it, but I want to see where it goes.” Jonah released her waist with one hand to reach up and caress her face. He just had to touch her, even if it earned him a slap.
Instead, he heard Emma’s sharp intake of breath and decided he wasn’t the only one whose plans were crumbling under the strain of their attraction to one another. “Tell me I’m crazy, but I know you feel it, too. You’re just determined to fight it. Stop fighting.”
“I...” Emma began to protest, but words seemed to escape her in that moment.
They escaped him, too. And words wouldn’t fill the need building inside him. Jonah leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. He expected resistance, but he found none. There was only a slight hesitation, then surrender. Maybe it was the safety of the dark, but his uptight auditor melted into him instead, matching the enthusiasm of his touch.
He’d been correct in his assessment of her. Under that straitlaced veneer was a sensual female looking for an outlet. Jonah would gladly provide it.
Deepening the kiss, he let his tongue slide across hers, drinking in the taste of spicy cinnamon. The flavor was sharp, biting him unexpectedly. He liked the surprise contrast. Emma was full of them.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, tugging her body closer to him. The darkness and the familiar feel of her in his arms roused thoughts of his butterfly again. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear he was with her, in his laundry room. Without thinking, he let his right hand drift to her chest, stopping short of groping her breast, but aligning his hand where his butterfly’s tattoo would be.
She must have misinterpreted his intentions because Emma instantly stiffened in his arms and jerked away from his kiss. “What the hell are we doing?” she whispered.
“Wait,” he protested, the distance between them suddenly painful. Jonah let go of her to fumble for the light switch, but the instant he did, he felt her pull away and scramble for the doorknob. The door flew open, flooding the small room with light so he could see her dash away from him and down the hallway to the ladies’ room.
Flopping back against the wall, Jonah ran his hand through his hair and wished away his erection. That hadn’t exactly gone to plan.
So pulling her into a dark room and pinning her against him might’ve been the wrong tactic if he’d really just wanted to talk. And he had, at first. His body just had other plans. So had hers, but he went too far, as always. Damn.
He shook his head. Something about her just wasn’t quite right. She was nervous around him. Avoided him at all costs. Refused to accept gifts or dinner dates. He’d watched her interact with other employees, and the stiff, overly polite veil dropped. She was still professional, just not militantly so.
Emma was just insistent on keeping the wall up between them. A wall that in the dark, crumbled in an instant. She’d let him in for a brief moment, then regained her senses and ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction.
For some reason, he absolutely repelled her and had since the first moment they met. He didn’t understand at all. Yes, he was a force of nature when he wanted something, but he was also friendly, laid-back and fairly easy to get along with. Why would she fight something her body so clearly wanted?
Unless...
Jonah swallowed hard and looked out the door to watch Emma peek out, then dash down the hallway back to her office. Maybe his plan was too little, too late. Perhaps his enterprising accountant had already found the discrepancies in the books. If that was the case, it would explain a lot.
Who would want to date a man they were about to report to Game Town for keeping sketchy books?
Jonah was forced back to his office for a teleconference after the closet incident, but he wasn’t about to let that whole thing go. Either she knew about the missing money or she didn’t. She liked him or she hated him. But he was going to find out the truth either way.
The next morning, he found her sitting in her temporary office. Jonah watched her silently for a few minutes as she sat hovering over her paperwork, studying it with unmatched intensity. Her nose wrinkled just slightly, a line of concentration settling in between her brows as she scrutinized every number.
Even at her desk and fully immersed in her work, her posture was not slouched over. She sat quite upright, her shoulders back, her breasts pressing insistently against her pink, silk blouse. Her brunette hair was pulled back again, a stray piece framing the curve of her face.
Without looking up, she tucked the strand behind her ear and started to make notes in a spiral notebook. She had some of the neatest penmanship he’d ever seen. Programmers were not known for their handwriting. He typed nearly everything aside from signing his name to contracts and checks. Her handwriting was precise and delicate with full, curling loops and sweeping letters. It suited her, he thought. Rigid and controlled at first glance, but inherently feminine and open if you took the time to study and understand her better.
Audit or no, Jonah was genuinely interested in Emma and it surprised him. She got under his skin and irritated him, but at the same time, she was a fascinating puzzle to try and solve. Yesterday’s encounter just made it that much more intriguing. Figuring her out and breaking down her defenses would be an achievement on par with the first time he’d beaten Legend of Zelda as a kid.
“What’s the matter, Mr. Flynn? Run out of women to abduct so you thought you’d stop by my office and try again?”
The sound of Emma’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. She was watching him, but he didn’t see the tension in her shoulders that was there before. There was even a touch of amusement in her voice, which surprised him. Giving her some space had been the right thing to do.
“I’m sorry about yesterday. I hadn’t intended—”
“That’s fine,” she interrupted. “It’s not a problem. Let’s just pretend it never happened.”
Jonah didn’t expect this. He expected her to be wound tight and ready for a fight, or at least, a harassment suit. Instead, she was insistent on keeping things professional and putting it behind them. Perhaps she hadn’t found Noah’s indiscretion after all. “Can we talk about it?”
“I’d rather not.”
A blush lit her cheeks and Emma let her gaze drop back to her paperwork. She actually looked embarrassed. Jonah had no idea what that was about. It had been virtually impossible to make most of the women he’d dated blush, much less embarrass them with talk of romantic embraces. He wanted to see her porcelain complexion flush pink again, this time after they kissed. Kissing in the dark had robbed him of that tantalizing visual.
“Let
