When Carrick placed his hands on her shoulders, Sadie stiffened. Oh, not because she feared him, but because she really, really wanted to bury her nose in his neck, to wind her arms around his back and hold on.
She was an independent, capable woman, but even strong women sometimes needed to lean.
Carrick Murphy was not, she reminded herself, lean-able.
“Who the hell hurt you, Sadie?” Carrick murmured, his words like a caress. “And tell me where I can find him so I can rearrange his face.”
Sadie almost smiled at the image of Carrick pounding Dennis to a pulp. But as nice as that picture was, she was responsible for her own actions and marrying a smooth-talking, seemingly charming man who was as charismatic as hell had been her decision and she lived with that choice.
She’d thought Dennis was her white knight, her Prince Charming, but he’d turned out to be ugly and manipulative. He’d taught her that the prettiest packaging could conceal the blackest soul.
Carrick might be temptation personified, but she wouldn’t make that mistake again. Sadie pulled away and picked up her laptop to put it inside her tote bag, but Carrick’s hand on hers had her turning to face him.
She forced herself to lift her eyebrows, to keep her face inscrutable.
“You can try to look unaffected, but I can feel your pulse hammering beneath my fingertips,” Carrick told her, his thumb drifting over the pulse point on the inside of her wrist.
It was time to end this, to put to rest their very brief fling. “No to dinner, Carrick. No to sex. We’re business colleagues, that’s all. The other night didn’t happen.”
“But it did.”
“Then we should pretend that it didn’t!” Sadie retorted, pulling her wrist from his grip.
“As much as I would love a magic wand that clears our mind of inconvenient memories, life doesn’t work that way. And I don’t mind the memories of that night. They are, after all, scorching hot,” Carrick stated. “Earlier you said I wasn’t being honest. Do you want me to be honest, Sadie? Can you handle my honesty?”
Of course she could. Well, she thought she could. Maybe. But she was, judging by Carrick’s serious face, about to find out.
“I think you are fascinating, possibly the most intriguing woman I’ve ever met.” Carrick’s deep voice filled the space between them. “I spend my nights reliving that night, the memory of you.”
Sadie felt her cheeks flame.
“I can be even more honest... I want you, in my bed, under me, my mouth on yours as I slide into you. I want to hear your screams as I make you come and I want to feel your hair on my stomach as you take me between your lips.”
His graphic words created a buzz low in her womb and she felt her heart rate spike. Sadie wondered if he could feel it in her pulse and, judging by the pressure from his fingers and that small, satisfied smile, he could.
“So yeah, maybe I did offer to take you to dinner in the hope that it would lead to another night, but I don’t think a couple hours talking would do any harm. We have a lot in common and I wouldn’t mind spending time dancing around your mind before taking you to bed again.”
“Why?” Sadie asked him. “What’s the point?”
A frown pulled Carrick’s eyebrows together and he dropped her wrist. “Does there have to be a point?”
“Dinner equals a date and dating implies that you are looking for something more than sex,” Sadie pointed out. “Just so we are clear, I’m not interested in a relationship. I have no intention of investing my time and energy into a man only to be disappointed again. I did that once and I am not stupid enough to do that again.”
Carrick handed her a deep frown. “You really need to tell me who did a number on your head.”
That wasn’t ever going to happen. She’d discussed her marriage with numerous people, including her family, and nobody had believed her. Why would they believe her when everyone knew what an awesome guy her ex was, how lucky she was to have married him? How stupid she’d been to divorce him...
Carrick folded his arms across his chest, and his big biceps pulled his shirtsleeves tight. “I’m just offering to feed you, Slade, and to make you scream. I’m not offering to marry you or asking you to have my babies. I think you are overreacting...”
She could understand why he felt like that. Sadie pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, looking for a way to tell him that she knew more about his marriage than she should, that she knew how he’d treated Tamlyn. But she couldn’t say anything, partly because this situation was complicated enough already without him knowing that her virtual assistant was also his ex-sister-in-law.
It was time to end this conversation, right now.
“Carrick, I’m attracted to you. I would never have slept with you if I wasn’t. But I am wise enough to sense that you are—” she hesitated, pulling back the dangerous that hovered on her lips “—complicated. I don’t do complicated.”
She frowned at him, and, feeling a little vulnerable, decided to go on the offensive. “I thought we agreed not to discuss this again?”
“I know, we did say that but—” Carrick raked his fingers through his hair “—but I can’t stop thinking about how good we were together! And I suspect you feel the same way.”