ago. That’s why I was standing there, hoping to catch you for your reaction.” She pulled an email printout from the folder she carried and placed it on his desk.
He glanced down at the paper, and then his head came up sharply. “I thought this was a list of rejected candidates. I deleted it.” He pushed it aside. “It’s been five working days. I need your results. Now.”
He deleted her hard work? Without so much as an acknowledgment he had received it? “I know it’s been five days!” she shot back. “Five days of you ignoring my emails, my phone calls, my chat invitations, my texts.” How dare he put this on her? “I did everything but parade naked in front of that window to get your attention!”
The light in his eyes changed. Prickles formed on her skin. “I answer communications when I have something to say. No answer from me means ‘No.’” A corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk. “Although no one’s tried parading naked before.”
That treacherous heat suffused her cheeks again. “If this is the way you treat your employees’ attempts to get in touch with you, no wonder they talk as if the company needs to be measured for a coffin behind your back.”
His lips compressed into a thin line. “They do no such thing.”
“I know this room resembles a bubble, but that’s no excuse for talking like you live in one.” Luke was powerful and wealthy. Perhaps his lofty status kept him from seeing the ground below him. “I’m practically locked up in a converted supply closet because you don’t want anyone to know why I’m here, and even I know the acquisition is in trouble. You need to talk to your employees. Starting with me.”
His gaze was the glacial blue of an iceberg beneath the surface and just as dangerous. “Fine. Let’s talk. If you’re having difficulty performing the task assigned to you, we should rethink this arrangement.”
What? Her breath came in staccato bursts. She’d told her parents she would pay for Matt’s treatment. She refused to let that become a lie. “I performed the task assigned to me. That list is the result of hours of impeccable research. Every single person has been vetted and meets your criteria.” She returned his arctic gaze with a heated glare. “How dare you delete it?”
He stood up, his broad, muscled form towering over her. “You submitted a list of women already known to me. Therefore, it’s unusable.”
She sprang to her feet. He would not intimidate her with his stance. The top of her head came up to his Adam’s apple, forcing her to tilt her head back so she could meet his gaze straight on. “It may be hard to believe, but every date you’ve ever had is not on a gossip website. That is why I sent the list to you to vet. I need your feedback.” She leaned over and pointed at the printout, her index finger planted firmly on his desk.
He raised a dismissive eyebrow and slid the paper from underneath her finger, crumpling it up and tossing it in a perfect arc into a nearby wastebasket. He then put his hands on the desk and angled his torso over the table. Scant inches separated them.
“The women on your list work in tech. You think I’m not aware of talented up-and-coming executives? I don’t need you to tell me who I know and already considered. I need you to find someone I haven’t considered.”
Danica huffed. “Remember what I said about communication? This would’ve been useful information to have. A week ago.”
He leaned even closer. The scent of expensive leather and fresh citrus teased her nose. She got the distinct sense of a tiger playing with his prey. The prey might think it could escape. But the tiger was coiled to jump and tear out the prey’s throat in a blink.
“You’re the search expert, not me,” he said in a low, controlled voice. “But common sense dictates looking further afield than the client is able to do on his own is a prerequisite for the job.”
“You—” she began.
Then she stopped and considered his words.
He was right.
She had overlooked a basic step in conducting a search: assess which candidates had already been rejected before she came on board. And yes, he could have explained the problem with her list in a timelier, if not infinitely more tactful, manner. But if he had, he wouldn’t be Luke Dallas.
Her gaze fell. His shirt was open at the collar, revealing a triangle of sun-bronzed skin. A pulse leaped at the side of his neck, and for a split second she wanted to rest her lips there and see if he tasted as good as he smelled.
“You...” she started again. “You’re right. I’m sorry. If you still want me to work on the search, I’ll compile a better list.” She snuck a glance at him from under her eyelashes. She expected chilly disdain, but there was something warm and contemplative deep in his eyes. A hot spark kindled in her chest as their gazes tangled.
“I only hire people who perform well at their tasks. You’re still on the search. But I expect better results.” He sat back down in his chair, taking his appealing scent with him. She stifled her disappointment.
“And you will get them. I promise.” She turned to leave the room.
“Have dinner with me.”
“What?” She whirled around so quickly she nearly caused self-induced whiplash.
He put down his tablet and looked up at her, leaning back in his seat. “I haven’t given this project the specialized attention it needs. It’s clear you don’t have the necessary inputs to make correct assessments. I don’t have time to remedy that right now. But I do have to eat later, so you might as well eat with me.”
His words doused the spark’s last flickers. “When you put it that way, how can I refuse?”
“I’ll text you the address. I trust going into the city isn’t a problem for you?” His tone made it clear it was a rhetorical question.
San Francisco was almost an hour each way on Caltrain, depending on the train schedules, and her exhausted brain was already looking forward to putting on pajamas and binging on reality TV with her roommate, Mai. She gave him her best, if forced, smile. “No. Not a problem.”
“Good. I have a commitment beforehand, so I’ll meet you there.” His attention returned to his tablet and he became absorbed in whatever he was reading. She fled before the tiger could realize the prey had left the room.
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