LITMIR.BIZ

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      Okay, fine. That was a cheap shot, she thought. No way could Georgia do the job to Jefferson’s expectations. But the point is, he didn’t need anyone with him.

      “The work’s done, Jefferson,” she said, trying for calm, despite the way her stomach was jittering. “You’ve made the offer, the papers have been drawn up and looked over by Legal. All you have to do is sign the papers, take a tour of the ship and slap the Lyon logo on her hull. Why do you need me there?”

      “Because,” he said, his voice low and tight, “I pay you to be where I need you, when I need you. This is your job, Caitlyn.”

      Her head was buzzing. Her blood pumped hard and fast and her stomach did a couple of weird spins. Her job. And she was the first to admit it was a good one. She made a healthy salary, owned her own home—true, a condo, but still a home—and she did darn good work.

      But apparently, somewhere along the way, she’d become a piece of office equipment. Steady, dependable, necessary, but as far as Jefferson was concerned, she had no more feelings than the copier that continually demanded more toner.

      She hadn’t expected he would take the news of her upcoming vacation lightly. But she also hadn’t expected him to be such a jerk about it. Other people took vacations. Had lives. Why shouldn’t she?

      Jefferson Lyon was a man who expected everything around him to fall into line. He walked through life issuing orders with the expectation that they would be followed. Quickly. And as much as that strength and confidence appealed to her, she was just now understanding how hard it was to live with.

      Peter had been the same way, just on a smaller scale. Strong, silent, clearly in charge—and she’d gone along with him just as easily as she had with Jefferson. What in the hell did that say about her? Was she really so willing to lose herself in a strong man?

      “You know,” she mused aloud, her voice hardly more than a hush as she talked more to herself than to him, “I should have seen this coming a long time ago. But I didn’t want to.”

      “Seen what?”

      She glanced at him and noted the confusion in his eyes and the familiar stamp of irritation on his features. What was it about this man? He appealed to her on too many levels. She knew that already. And so, apparently, had Peter. But now that she thought about it, Caitlyn was forced to admit that she’d actually been drawn to Peter in the first place because he’d sort of reminded her of … Jefferson.

      Oh, good god.

      “Are you in a fugue state of some kind?” he prompted.

      “Actually,” she said as her emotional blinders came off and she was nearly blinded by the light, “I think I’m just coming out of one.”

      “Good. Then, maybe we can get some work done.”

      “It’s the alpha-male thing,” she mused, tipping her head to one side and staring at him as if he were a smear on a glass slide under a microscope. How was it she’d never come to this realization before? How had she allowed herself to just drift in Jefferson’s wake? “It has been all along. Peter. You. Even my brothers.”

      “What’re you talking about now?”

      “Revelations,” she said quietly, almost amused now, as everything became clear.

      “You do realize you’re not making sense, right?”

      “Oh, this makes perfect sense, you’re just not getting it. Big surprise. And let me tell you,” she said nodding for emphasis, “it took me long enough, but I’ve learned my lesson. I’m through with you alpha types. Give me a nice, easy-to-get-along-with beta guy. No more strong, silent, take-charge types for me. I want someone nice. Sweet. Sensitive.”

      His lips twisted. “Sounds more like a golden retriever.”

      “You would think that, of course.”

      “Look,” Jefferson said, dipping his hands into his pants pockets, “somehow, we’ve gotten way off the subject. And believe it or not, I’m not really interested in your personal life. You can date whoever you want to as soon as we get back from Portugal.”

      “Wow. Thanks.”

      “Now that we have that settled,” he said, dismissing her as completely as if he were swatting away an annoying gnat, “there are a few more things I need you to do before I leave for the airport. Call the pilot, tell him to be ready in an hour. Then, when you’ve done that, contact the Florida office. Tell them I’ll be there Friday. And cancel my appointments for the next two days. I don’t know how long I’ll be in Seattle and—”

      She watched him as he turned for his office, plowing right ahead with the world according to Jefferson. He’d moved on and assumed she had, too. Absolutely nothing she’d said had penetrated his thick head. Her back teeth ground together, and before she could bite back the word and swallow it, she said simply, “No.”

      He stopped dead, turned to look at her and lifted one eyebrow. “No?”

      Caitlyn took another deep breath because if she didn’t she might start hyperventilating. Everything in her was demanding she sit down and wait calmly for this firestorm of emotion to fade away. So to make sure she didn’t listen to that annoying, logical instinct, she moved fast. Shaking her head, she opened the bottom drawer of her desk and grabbed her purse. Slinging it over her shoulder, she snatched up her suit jacket and tossed it across her arm. “That’s right. I said no.”

      “Caitlyn, I’ve taken all I’m going to take for one morning.”

      “And I’ve given all I’m going to give,” she snapped. Temper spiked inside her, pushing aside all those annoying rational thoughts—and maybe that was for the best. Because, if she calmed down, took a moment to actually think about what she was doing, she’d never do it. “I’m done.”

      He laughed.

      He actually laughed.

      Then he asked, “What are you talking about?”

      “I quit.”

      He couldn’t have looked more surprised if she had announced that she was about to give birth to a Martian. “You can’t quit.”

      “I just did.” She blinked, laid one hand on her racing heart and felt her insides slowly calm, as though someone had poured oil on a choppy sea. Strange. She waited for a jolt of panic, but it didn’t come. As much as she had always loved her job, at this moment, she knew she was doing the right thing in quitting. “Wow. I actually did it. I quit.”

      “This is ridiculous.” He took a step toward her, and she backed up just for good measure. She wasn’t sure where she’d found the courage to tender her resignation, but she wasn’t going to risk him talking her out of it.

      Where was all of this newfound sense of spirit and independence coming from? She had no idea. Maybe it had started with Peter ending their engagement. Or maybe it had been when her fiancé had suggested that she was really in love with her boss. And maybe it was that one startling revelation that had just come to her moments ago. Whatever the reason, though, Caitlyn knew in her bones that this was the right thing to do.

      She needed a fresh start. With her life. With her career. And she’d never get it if she stayed close to Jefferson Lyon. The man was too powerful. Too magnetic. Too damn sexy.

      Peter was wrong about her loving Jefferson. She firmly believed that. But she wasn’t foolish enough to deny the attraction she felt for the man. And how could she ever straighten out her own life when she was so near the man who could make her knees go to jelly?

      “No, this makes perfect sense,” she told him, rounding the edge of her desk.

      “All of this over a vacation?”

      “No, Jefferson,” she said, feeling the swell of righteous indignation fill her. “It’s about working for a man who never

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