A cynical smile twisted his lips. ‘What are you suggesting, Miss Ryan?’
Whenever he addressed her like that she thought of sex and it took a lot to remind herself that he wasn’t thinking the same thing. Only this time he was. But that was because he was moody and looking for an argument. And she was directly in the firing line.
‘Not that kind of outlet,’ she managed. ‘I meant exercise. For me that’s taekwondo, but for you I know it’s
running.’
His eyes gleamed speculatively as he considered her. ‘How good are you?’
Cassidy frowned. ‘That wasn’t an invitation to spar with you.’
‘I didn’t take it as one.’ Dark lashes lowered to conceal the compelling blue of his eyes. ‘That’s why I’m issuing one of my own.’
‘But you don’t even practise taekwondo,’ she said on a rushed breath, her mind frantically searching for some way she could get out of this diplomatically.
Unfortunately Logan had his juggernaut expression in place. ‘I know karate. It should make for an interesting session.’
Cassidy shook her head. ‘There’s no way I can spar with you.’
‘Afraid I’ll hurt you?’ he asked softly.
No, she was afraid she’d have to touch him, and she had enough brain cells still working to understand a bad idea when she came across one. ‘It wouldn’t be appropriate.’
That arrogant gleam returned. ‘Why not? We’re not working right now. And even so... I don’t care about what’s appropriate. I care about doing something I want. And what I want is to find out what my EA is made of.’
If she had to answer that, she’d say jelly. ‘This is not a good idea.’
‘Duly noted.’ Logan’s grin turned wolfish. ‘Now go and suit up.’
Her sister?
Logan was stunned. How had he got that so spectacularly wrong? And why did finding out that she didn’t have a lover make him feel so much better than before? It wasn’t as if he cared if Cassidy had someone special back home and, really, it changed nothing between them.
Even if he had the freedom to explore the sexual spark between them, he wouldn’t. Not only did she work for him but she was the kind of woman who would inevitably want more from him. The kind he tried to stay away from.
Still, he was aware that on some level he was playing with fire by inviting her to spar with him. Especially when he saw her walking toward him in her white cotton dobok and matching black pants, her long hair pulled into a plait that trailed down the centre of her back like a silky horse’s tail. She looked younger like this, her lovely face and clear eyes so guileless he could see just how nervous she felt.
And she probably had good reason to feel that way. He wasn’t exactly himself right now.
Finding out that Leo would not reconsider his abdication, making him the next King of Arrantino, had shaken him. He still wasn’t convinced that his brother giving up the throne for a woman was the wisest course of action, but he’d kept his own council this time. Leo had accused him of being over-protective in the past, but having sat by his brother’s bedside while he’d gone through months of chemotherapy had been painful to watch. Then having his marriage fail... Was it really being over-protective to want to prevent someone you loved from experiencing pain?
Because what if this Elly woman turned out to be just another version of Anastasia?
Grabbing two bottles of water from the refrigerator, he joined Cassidy. She looked stiff and uncertain as she glanced up at him, her green eyes brighter without her glasses.
‘You’re not wearing your glasses?’ he asked, not recalling a time he had seen her without them before.
‘No. I generally need my glasses for work because I suffer from eye strain, but I don’t need them all the time.’
Something else he hadn’t known about her.
He led her downstairs to the gym and pushed open the door, wondering how many more secrets she had that he had yet to uncover.
Uncover?
He frowned. He didn’t want to uncover Cassidy’s secrets.
Her plait swished as she walked ahead of him beckoning him to wrap his fist around the thick length and tug on it until her mouth was under his. There was definitely one secret his body was keen to uncover but he forced his mind not to go there. She was out of bounds.