Crickitt twisted her lips. Lori LaRouche. Shane’s tone had changed from all business to cotton-candy sweet. He offered a warm laugh, one she’d prefer he didn’t share with clients, and explained he was running “a tad behind.”
A tad. Really?
Her reflection on the screen of her idle computer frowned back at her. She wiggled the mouse to wake it up. Anyone who didn’t know her might think she was jealous. And she was not the jealous type, especially over a man she wasn’t even seeing. Heat speared the center of her chest as she reconsidered. Maybe she didn’t used to be the territorial type, but something about Shane talking to another woman had definitely raised her hackles.
What if he was flirting with Lori? It wasn’t any business of hers. They’d agreed on Friday they would be professional, despite a shared attraction. Scowling at the back of his head while he talked to another woman was definitely not professional.
Crickitt tried to focus on something else, but honestly, wasn’t his voice “a tad” too sensual to be discussing directions?
Giving up, she slouched in her chair in time to see Shane move his jacket aside to stuff a hand in his pant pocket, the movement revealing one well-formed butt cheek. Was admiring her boss’s derriere considered inappropriate if he didn’t know about it?
She perused the intricate stitching of the material hugging his perfect butt, too wrapped up to notice he’d hung up the phone. He turned so suddenly she didn’t have a chance to avert her eyes. She was staring directly at the fly of his pants.
She redirected her gaze to the design of his tie, staring at it for a good long while before daring to look up at his face.
“I’m…going to go,” he said, capping his statement with a hoisted brow.
She peeled her lips back into what she hoped resembled a smile and not a mortified grimace. “Okay, I’ll just”—stop ogling your crotch— “finish up…”—she gestured at the screen—“…here.” Fingers on the keyboard, she began pecking Lord-knew-what onto the screen while he made his way to the door.
After he left, she buried her head in her forearms. Or she would have if the file Shane needed wasn’t right under her nose. “Crap.”
Snatching the folder, she ran across the waiting room, catching up to him as he pressed the call button for the elevator.
“Shane!” She held up the folder.
“Ah,” he said, reaching for it. His fingers brushed hers and he held her gaze a second longer than necessary. Or maybe she was the one who couldn’t look away. She let go of the folder as the elevator dinged, its doors sliding open. “Thanks.”
Crickitt waved a hand as he disappeared behind the door, then slapped it to her forehead.
“Tempting, isn’t he?”
She flicked a look over at Keena, who was grinning and waggling a pen between her manicured fingers.
“Excuse me?” She’d forgotten she wasn’t in a bubble. And if Keena had noticed her eating Shane up with her eyes, he probably had as well.
“Shane August,” Keena said in that mystery accent of hers. Czechoslovakian? Welsh? “He’s tempting.”
Crickitt offered a tight nod. She really didn’t want to know if Keena spoke from personal experience.
Back in her office, she returned to her e-mail. After ten minutes of channeled focus that could have caused a nosebleed, she leaned back in her chair. A single thought continued to gnaw at her.
Did Shane make it a habit of romancing his co-workers?
Had Keena once been the shy new girl? Had Shane urged her out of her shell and into his bedroom? According to Sadie, some men could plant ideas in a woman’s head without her knowing it. Like a kind of masculine superpower. Maybe kissing Shane wasn’t even her idea. How convenient that they’d ended up at his house on Friday. How did she know those files weren’t tucked in his briefcase the entire time?
She shook off the budding conspiracy theory. If Shane wanted to seduce her, he wouldn’t have insisted Thomas take her home. He wouldn’t have suggested the no-kissing policy.
Come to think of it, that last bit bothered her.
Maybe he doesn’t want you to kiss him. Ever think of that?
She had. As well as she remembered the feel of his lips, she couldn’t recall a second when he’d kissed her back. He just sat there while his personal assistant made out with him. Then he asked her to promise not to do it again, as if she were the loony new hire bent on seducing him.
No, that wasn’t exactly true. He wasn’t appalled by her. He even admitted being attracted to her. She pulled her shoulders back. And why not? She was attractive. Maybe not va-va-voom-Sadie attractive, but she wasn’t exactly a can of Spam, either.