LITMIR.BIZ

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      “I thought so, but apparently not.” He glanced around for the perfect spot. Before she could balk, he took her hand and with the other palm pushed the door to the men’s bathroom open.

      She leaned back, putting most of her weight behind going in the opposite direction. “What the hell are you doing?”

      “Talking to you.” Since the element of surprise was on his side, and because he outweighed her by a good sixty or more pounds, he got her into the white-tiled room with only a few tugs.

      “This is ridiculous.”

      “Don’t move.” After a quick check of the two stalls to make sure they were alone, he clicked the lock on the door and faced her down.

      “We’re going to talk in here?” Her squeal bounced off the metal stalls.

      It was the most emotion he had heard from her all day. Even during a scene with a man who clearly once meant something to her, she had managed to keep her cool, to sound distant and uninterested.

      That was over. Josh needed answers. Needed her to understand who was in charge and how exactly this bizarre business relationship of theirs was going to work. Getting her cooperation was key. She had backed her body into a corner, seemingly careful not to touch the wall or anything else in the small area.

      Red stained her cheeks. “You can’t just—”

      “Yes I can.”

      “It smells in here.”

      He inhaled the antiseptic scent of bleach and urinal cakes. “I’ve been around worse.”

      “Lucky you.” Her chest rose and fell.

      Even under the high-buttoned blouse, he could see her fight for breath. He assumed that had more to do with the close quarters and her lack of control over the situation than her concerns about the crap on the bathroom floor.

      “This is a public restroom,” she said as if that would have some impact on his decision to talk to her.

      “Your choices were the lobby, the elevator, or here. This is more private and more convenient.”

      She glanced around, making a face at the stray toilet paper rolled across the floor. “And the most disgusting.”

      “Sorry, your highness. Next time I’ll rent out the penthouse for you.”

      Her hands dropped to her sides as her fidgeting stopped. “Don’t do that.”

      “What?”

      “Judge me based on my bank account.”

      “If the diamond tiara fits…”

      Anger sparked in her eyes. “Dragging around that attitude of yours must get pretty damn exhausting. Good thing you don’t need money like the rest of us.”

      “We can talk about me later.” He stepped in front of her. “Right now we’re discussing you and Eric.”

      “No, we’re not.”

      “Look, lady.” Josh slapped his hand on the tiles behind her head, crowding her against the wall until her attention focused solely on him. “Your love life is screwing up my case.”

      For some reason the fact she even had one ticked him off. He pictured her as hiding in her house and coming out now and then. As asexual despite that tempting long hair and beautiful face. Realizing under all that stuffiness and bossiness sat a real person made him less comfortable. Sort of itchy. Made him think of her as a woman instead of a case or a wallet, and that was not okay.

      “You’re out of the loop,” he said.

      “What?”

      “It’s just me from here on out. That was the plan to begin with, but you insisted on coming today. No more. This isn’t a group effort. Can’t be.”

      She lifted her chin. “I had to follow you in my own car because you refused to let me ride with you.”

      “Most people would take that as a hint.”

      “I just assumed it was part of your usual rudeness.”

      “I knew I should have tried a few wrong turns and lost you.” He bent his elbow and dipped in closer. “Won’t make that mistake again.”

      “You’re not funny.”

      “We’re starting over. Under the new rules you’re out of the day-to-day stuff.”

      She held her hands together right under her breasts and close to his chest but not quite touching him. “Absolutely not.”

      “You’ll stay at home and wait for me to report to you. No more looking around and seeing you waiting nearby.”

      “You make me sound like your employee.” She screwed up her mouth as if she tasted something sour. “Or a dog.”

      “The former description works for me.”

      Deana shoved against Josh’s chest with the heel of her hand. “That’s very evolved of you, but my answer is the same. No.”

      “You aren’t calling the shots here.” And he vowed she was not going to make him move, either. He didn’t intend to pull back or go away until they had this problem worked out. The fact she smelled good, like some sort of exotic flower, didn’t exactly make being this close a hardship.

      From this angle he could also see the gold flecks in her green eyes. Pretty.

      “We are partners in this,” she said. Even nodded her head as if doing that sort of thing made the comment true.

      “You are dead wrong.”

      “Don’t make me—”

      His mouth hovered a few inches from hers. “Are you going to threaten me with money again?”

      She shifted her head to put a tiny bit of space between them. “Of course not. You make me sound like a—”

      “Ice queen?”

      “How original.” She put her hands against his chest and pushed. “Can you back up, please?”

      Despite dress shirt and suit jacket, Josh felt the touch right down to his bare skin.

      “No.”

      Like that, the atmosphere in the room changed. He smelled her. Saw her. And for the first time, wanted to open that shirt and see what she hid underneath.

      “You should…” Her breathy voice barely registered over the whirl of the room’s automatic fan.

      “What?”

      She swallowed. Hard. “We should go.”

      The woman talked sense. A smart man would turn around and walk right out of the room. An even smarter man would hand back the check and the file and get on a plane to Kauai. Only a dumb man would give in to the urge to kiss her, but he was going to do it anyway. This was less about desire than about satisfying his need to know.

      Just as he leaned in with his mouth close enough to feel the soft puffs of air from between her lips, she dodged to the side. Her hands shot to the very top of her shirt and that highest button right under her chin as she walked to the sink. With shaking hands she turned on the water and slipped her hands under the stream.

      Fury slammed through him. Looked like being that close to the hired help was beneath her. “You suddenly feel the need for a bath?”

      “Germs.”

      Damn her. “What did you just say?”

      “I touched the wall.”

      Her lies made the situation even worse. “No, you didn’t.”

      “It’s time to go.” She grabbed for a paper towel and yanked hard enough to pull the roll out of the container. “Damn!”

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