6
The room remained blessedly silent. Since Kelly had taken a sudden interest in the conference table, she didn’t see if anyone was looking at her. Right now none of that mattered.
The only thing she cared about was her phone. Did Tony or Cale—so much for them being her friends—still have it? Or had they passed it on to other employees?
Or—her head snapped up as the room started to empty—did Spencer have it? Had he seen her list?
Oh God, had he seen hisplacementon her list?
She didn’t move as everyone filed out and the door thudded shut. Why not make it really obvious she wanted to talk to Spencer privately?
She wondered what the chances were that her staying behind had been unnoticed.
Slim, meet none.
He dropped into the chair beside her. He didn’t speak, just rested his hands on his stomach and waited.
“You have my phone, don’t you?”
Something about the way he looked at her confirmed her suspicions. She swore she could feel her skin blanch. How freaking embarrassing.
“Don’t you?” she repeated. She didn’t know if it was pity or sympathy she read in his eyes but both emotions were unfamiliar and unwelcome.
“Did you lose it?”
“No.” She swore under her breath. “Fine, maybe I did. I don’t know. But I definitely didn’t intend for it to be passed around.” Her eyes grew hot and she bit her lip, hard. “It contains personal stuff. Private things I don’t want anyone to see.”
“Too late,” he said, his terse response momentarily stifling her urge to snap at him. “Do you have my car?”
“It’s in the parking lot. Where else would it be? I left the key fob in the inbox on your door as soon as I got in this morning.”
“You borrowed it without permission.”
How did he do that so effortlessly? Somehow he knew just how to switch gears so she stopped feeling depressed. “I needed a ride, you weren’t around. What did you expect me to do?”
Spencer’s gaze locked with hers and the power from that single look thrummed all the way to her toes, spending a few choice seconds between her thighs. “I didn’t expect you, period.”
Before she could dwell on his statement, he removed her beautiful purple phone from his pocket and set it on the table. Relief crashed over her like the bay at high tide. But when she reached for it, his hand blocked her. “I’m not done ‘borrowing’ this. Just like you set the limits on how long you needed my car, I’m setting the limits for how long I need your phone.”
She tried not to sputter. “That’s not professional. You can’t keep my property—”
“You stole my car,” he reminded her. “I didn’t give it to you.”
“That’s completely different. I want my damn phone back!”
Unshockingly, he didn’t appear moved by her impassioned plea. “I’m holding on to a piece of electronic equipment that caused some…excitement in my store.”
Her foot, clad in a soft-soled ballet flat, lifted perilously close to his ankle. As if he guessed her intentions, he gave her another of those not-quite-a-smiles he flashed when they were alone. “I wouldn’t, if I were you.”
“Why? Gonna spank me?” Though she’d intended to be flippant, she barely suppressed a moan when he gave her a look hot enough to melt off her panties.
“I’m keeping this. End of discussion.” He slipped the phone into his jacket pocket. It was probably best he didn’t remark on her spanking question. “Maybe you won’t do something so foolish and reckless again.”
So hehadread her list. He’d probably crowed when he saw his ranking. Ten, the best of the best. She hadn’t really explored that best last night—truthfully, their car and wall interludes had been the quickest sex of her life—but she still had hope she’d get a chance to discover all the hidden erotic pockets of Spencer Galvin.
Hope, desire, need—he made her a tightly wound ball of all three.
“Maybe.” His inscrutable expression made her belly clench. “And maybe when I go back to the club, I’ll do something even worse.”