"I was distracted." She felt her cheeks warm. "If y-you didn"t say Pete and I are leading the project, then wh-wh-what did you say?"
His lips curled into a slow, s.e.xy smile. The kind of smile that made her belly clench and her imagination work overtime. "I said I"d be heading up the project and you would be working directly under me."
"Oh."
Oh, my.
Working directly under Reid Forester? Off the top of her head, she could think of dozens-no, hundreds-of things she"d love to do directly under Reid. Working was pretty far down on the list.
Her cheeks burned even hotter. And, at the moment, her cheeks weren"t even her hottest body part. Her body seemed so tuned in to his. And nearly sleeping with him on Friday night only made things that much worse. Now that she knew what it felt like to be almost naked and writhing beneath him, how could she stand here and not think about it?
"But-" she struggled to come up with something semi-intelligent and not at all s.e.xual to say "-you never head up projects."
He arched his eyebrow playfully. "You think I"m not up to the job?"
Which was worse? Coming on to your boss or insulting his abilities? "I didn"t mean that. I was just making an observation."
"I think I can handle it." Wrapping his fingers around her wrist, he gently removed her hand from the door, then opened it.
Her skin tingled where he"d touched her and she had to fight the impulse to rub off the effects of his touch. She walked briskly to keep up with him as he worked his way to the elevators. "The thing is, Mr. Forester, I"m not sure-"
He stopped abruptly, and she nearly ran into him. "Don"t you think you should call me Reid? Under the circ.u.mstances, Mr. Forester-ing me is a little absurd."
"I thought w-we agreed to forget what happened Friday night," she said through clenched teeth.
"I was referring to the circ.u.mstances of us working closely together." He smiled suggestively. "But it"s nice to know you haven"t forgotten it, either."
Either?
Oh, my, indeed.
Before she could get her thundering pulse under control, he started walking again. "I know what you"re going to say, Jane."
"Y-y-you do?"
"You"re going to throw out the same protests you did the other night. You don"t have enough experience. There are better people for the job. Et cetera, et cetera."
In fact, that had been what she"d been about to say. She didn"t like that he found her so predictable.
"Those arguments are just as true now as they were then," she pointed out.
"Those arguments are all in your head."
"What are you saying? That I"m delusional?"
He laughed. They reached the elevators and he pushed the b.u.t.ton. "I wouldn"t go that far. Let"s just say, you tend to downplay your abilities."
She stiffened, crossing her arms over her chest. "I resent that."
In a decidedly non-bosslike gesture, he reached out to grasp her chin. He nudged her jaw until she met his gaze. "And I resent that you don"t trust me. I know what I"m doing."
She pulled in a deep breath and was. .h.i.t with the scent of his cologne. But it was the husky intimacy of his tone that sent shivers down her spine and the gentle persistence of his touch that made her ache to close the distance between them.
The doors to the elevator opened with a ding and he dropped his hand. "Come on, Jane, be honest." He stepped into the otherwise empty elevator and she followed. As the doors closed behind her, he said, "Just between the two of us, admit it. You know you"re good."
His voice dropped even lower as he spoke. Suddenly the elevator seemed incredibly tiny. Unbelievably close and intimate.
She felt his words like a caress as he coaxed the response he wanted. "Just admit it. You. Are. Good."
"I am good," she confessed. The expression in his eyes darkened and she suddenly wished she were talking about her abilities in bed rather than her ability to write copy. "I"m very good."
But she didn"t feel good. She felt very, very bad. Downright naughty, in fact. For an instant, the line between Jane and Sasha blurred.
He leaned in even closer and she imagined she heard him suck in a deep breath. She tilted her chin up, begging him with her eyes to kiss her again.
Had it been mere days since he"d last kissed her? It felt like weeks-years even-since she"d felt his body pressed against hers. Felt his heart pounding beneath her touch. Felt his hands stroking her flesh.
The elevator jerked to a stop and the doors swooshed open. She jerked away from him, putting enough distance between each other to fool anyone watching into thinking they were talking about just business.
Which we were, she reminded herself.
Reid merely smiled, looking smug and confident. And so d.a.m.n s.e.xy it was all she could do not to push the "close the doors" b.u.t.ton, trap him in the elevator and have her way with him right there against the elevator wall. Who cared if the entire office knew what they were doing? Not her, apparently.
This thing with Reid was seriously getting out of control.
Trying to get ahold of her rampaging hormones and hoping to avoid being the object of office-wide speculation, she whispered, "I"ll give it some thought, okay?"
Before she could beat a hasty retreat, Reid caught up with her and wrapped his hand around her arm. "Oh, no, you don"t," he whispered back, steering her towards his office.
"People are staring," she hissed under her breath.
"No, they"re not." But as they pa.s.sed his a.s.sistant"s desk, Audrey stared openly. He laughed. "Maybe a little. Get used to it."
She dug in her heels and pulled her arm free. "Wh-what"s that supposed to mean?"
He ignored her and turned to Audrey. "Can you bring us a couple cups of coffee? Decaf cappuccino for me. Latte, two sugars, extra foam for Jane." He shot her an a.s.sessing look. "Right?"
Audrey nodded and, without waiting for Jane"s reply, bustled off to fetch the coffee.
"How do you know how I like my coffee?" she asked.
"I"m observant." With a hand pressed to her lower back, he guided her towards his office.
"n.o.body"s that observant."
The corner of his mouth twitched in a wry smile. "You were making coffee the other day when I realized you were Sasha."
She blinked in surprise. "So?"
"Let"s just say there are several things about that moment that are burned into my memory."
"Oh."
As the door clicked shut behind them she was suddenly aware of how alone they were. This was much worse than being alone with him in the elevator. This was private. No elevator doors to whoosh open at any inopportune moment.
Yes, the rest of the company was right outside, and, yes, Audrey would return soon with their coffee. But no one would enter Reid"s office without his permission. For all intents and purposes, they were as alone right now as they had been last Friday night in the hotel room.
His hand still rested at her back, warm and strong, through the thin fabric of her dress. What would he do-she couldn"t help wondering-if she closed the distance between them? If she kissed him?
Loosen his tie, shuck off his jacket, and they could almost pick up right where they"d left off. Sure, there was no fire, no champagne, and no king-sized bed. But there was something almost better.
His desk. His executive leather chair. How many times had she imagined making love to him there?
An image flashed through her mind of him sitting in that chair, naked except for a pair of silk boxer shorts. She sat across from him, perched on the edge of his desk. Black lace teddy, garters, sheer stockings, black three-inch heels...No. Make that black leather riding boots. The toe of one of those boots propped on the edge of the chair, just between Reid"s parted legs, just inches from his- "G.o.d, Jane, I would love to know what you"re thinking right now."
Reid"s huskily muttered words brought the real world sharply back into focus.
"What?" she asked dumbly, her body throbbing, every instinct she had screaming at her to mold herself to him.
He brushed a lock of her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "It"s not the first time I"ve seen you do that."
"What?" Her voice sounded breathless, which was not surprising since her heart was beating faster than it did after one of her power yoga cla.s.ses.
"You do it in meetings all the time. Your eyes dilate and get kind of s.p.a.cey. It"s like you"re in your own little world."
Her own little world? Her own little fantasy world.
Her cheeks burned with embarra.s.sment and she forced herself to take a step back. "I don"t know wh-what y-you"re talking about."
"Sure you do. You-" A knock on the door interrupted him.
He closed his eyes, ducking his head slightly as he exhaled. Was that regret flicking across his expression?
A second later, whatever she thought she saw vanished as he raised his head and called out, "Come on in, Audrey."
She was grateful for Audrey"s interruption and used the reprise to lower herself to one of the brown leather chairs opposite Reid"s desk.
Audrey handed her the coffee cup. As Audrey left, Reid settled across from her, resting on the edge of his desk, legs stretched out in front of him as he eyed her over the edge of his cup.
"I know I shouldn"t ask-h.e.l.l, I probably don"t want to know-but when you do that "your own little world" thing you"re just...I don"t know, estimating your taxes or something, right? I mean, you"re not thinking about anything...in particular."
It had to be the first time she"d ever seen him fl.u.s.tered. It was hard to believe, but he had to be even s.e.xier like this. Or maybe it was just the idea that he was fl.u.s.tered because of her that was so s.e.xy.
But whatever it was, it wasn"t helping matters.
So she took a fortifying sip of coffee, then said, "No, n-nothing in particular. Estimating my taxes. Calculating the national debt. Trying to remember the digits of Pi, that kind of thing."
"Nothing interesting at all, then?"
If possible, she felt her cheeks burn even hotter. "Nope. Not at all."
But the expression in his eyes told her he knew she was lying. "That"s good," he said with a sigh. "Because if you were thinking of something...at all interesting, that would only make this situation harder."
"Yes, much harder," she agreed, wishing fervently that things were getting harder by the minute.
For a long moment, he just watched her. She felt his gaze deep within her, like a physical caress. Like the familiar touch of a lover.
Then, abruptly, he straightened, moved away from his desk and from her. "I know you"re worried about this project, Jane, but you don"t need to be."
He"d changed topics so quickly, it took her a second to catch up. She thought about what he"d said earlier about her not trusting him. She didn"t want him to think that, especially since-whether he"d ever admit it or not-his new role must be as scary for him as hers was for her.
She didn"t want him to think she doubted his abilities. At the same time, she really wanted him to take her seriously. So she sucked in a deep breath, thrust back her shoulders and summoned all the Sasha she could muster. "It"s not that I don"t think I can do the job. Others don"t think I can."
"Does that really matter?"
"To you? Maybe not." Probably not. Reid was always the picture of self-confidence. He probably didn"t understand these kinds of fears. "But it matters to me. And whether you want to admit it or not, it matters to the company."
"I don"t see-"
"In times like these, people need a strong leader. And they need to know they can trust their leader."
"This sounds like something out of one of Roosevelt"s fireside chats."
""The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"? That"s not far from the truth. All I"m saying is, no one in this company will be doing their best work if they think you"ve made a bad decision."
"No problem, then. All we have to do is convince people you"re up to the job."
"As if it were that easy."
"It is that easy."
"What? Exude self-confidence while single-handedly saving the company?"
"Don"t forget, I"ll be right there with you."
As if that helped matters. With him right beside her she was twice as likely to make a total a.s.s of herself.
He must have seen the doubts in her eyes, because he added, "I"ve seen you do it." His voice dropped a notch. "That night we met up on the roof, you were self-confident and s.e.xy as h.e.l.l. You knocked my socks off. You did it to the guys from Butler, too."
"That"s different."
"How?"
"The guys from Butler didn"t know me. They had no expectations. No preconceptions."
"You can"t let other people"s preconceptions about you run your life. This is your job we"re talking about. This is your future and the future of the company. What"s more important? Holding on to your fears or winning this account?"
Faced with a question like that, she couldn"t even meet his gaze anymore. He"d stated it so simply, in such obvious terms, that her arguments against working on the project suddenly seemed selfish and childish.