Excerpt from Unleashed Temptation
Release date: May 17, 2024
Click HERE to get Tim and Raven’s story!
“You’re here,” he snapped, his short, sandy blond hair in an ever so slight disarray, making her fingers itch to brush it back in place. He continued to glare down at her and she suddenly felt like a bug under a microscope.
Bristling at his lack of a professional greeting, Raven straightened her shoulders, refusing to back away. She lifted a sarcastic eyebrow and returned his glare with equal intensity. “Obviously, your reputation for brilliance is justified,” she replied without the snarl that he deserved.
There was a moment of silence as both combatants glared at each other. Raven would not back down!
“You’re here to do your voodoo magic on me?” he demanded.
Raven stiffened at the insult. “Are you saying that my process for finding eligible matches between two individuals isn’t based on science?”
He shrugged, shoving his hands into the pockets of his charcoal slacks. “I’m saying that your profession is based off feelings. And feelings are usually transient.” He paused. “Am I wrong?”
She wanted to tell him that he was an ass, but remembered that he was now her client and she earned a very large salary to be kind and patient with her clients. Plus, she needed her past clients to tell their friends about her skills and services. Her business was mostly based off word of mouth.
“You’re correct, Doctor Armstrong,” she replied. “However, my process is very effective. I have a master’s degree in psychology and I’ve done extensive research into personalities, ensuring that the people I introduce to each other have a very large probability of success. I do a great deal of research on the people I introduce, with a process based off the latest psychological studies. I’ve matched up over thirty-five couples during my career, and all of them are still happily together.”
There was a long silence after that litany. “Shall we go?” he finally snapped.
Go? Where would they “go”? Raven definitely didn’t want to “go” anywhere with him!
He’d stepped away for a moment, bending down to write something on a post-it note.
Raven was confused and peered through the doors behind him. “I thought we would talk in your office,” she asked when he turned toward the door. “What’s wrong with right here?”
He put a hand to her arm, turning her so that they were heading back the way she’d come.
“Just this morning, I was told by Bailey and Matteo that I needed to get out of the office more. So, we’ll discuss whatever it is that you need to know at the sandwich shop down the street.”
Raven wanted to tell him to go to hell. She wanted to jerk her arm out of his grasp and tell him that he could revive his social life on his own time, not hers!
However, talking outside of a business atmosphere was actually a common thing for her to do with her clients. Many of her clients didn’t want their staff to know about her and her services, so they often met with her outside of their work life.
So, she pasted an overly bright smile on her face, gritted her teeth, and nodded. “That sounds delightful!” she lied. As long as he stopped insulting her methods, she could work with the guy.
Tim grunted in response and she had to restrain herself from turning and stomping on his foot. Instead, she muttered something under her breath and turned around, heading back toward the door. They passed by the long hallway and Raven kept her curious gaze away from the activities behind the glass windows. She wasn’t going to ask him anything other than his preferences in women! He’d probably answer in a smug, superior tone, which would just irritate her further.
There were people in laboratory coats walking briskly from the office area through a set of double doors. Everyone badged through from one place to the next. As she walked through to the next area, there was another long hallway with glass walls where there were about a dozen people working with glass tubes and flames and…actually, Raven hadn’t been any good at chemistry. In fact, she’d hated the subject.
However, in order for her methods to work, she needed Doctor Armstrong to give her information. Success was contingent on communication. Besides, Raven wasn’t exactly sure why Doctor Armstrong irritated her so much. Well, besides his insulting attitude towards psychology in general and her profession in particular.
“What’s going on in this room?” she asked, trying to sound like she cared. But it all looked very technical and Raven doubted that she’d understand, even if he deigned to tell her anything.
“Chemistry stuff,” he replied, his deep voice grumbly and irritated as he stabbed the elevator call button. “A psychology buff wouldn’t understand.”
His response pissed her off all over again and she turned, glaring up at him. ‘Psychology buff’? Is that really what he thought of her work?
Stuffing down her anger, she tried very hard to pretend that she wasn’t fighting not to wrap her hands around his throat. “What kinds of stuff?” she asked, tilting her head and stepping back.
Carefully, she watched him, trying to understand his body language and facial features. But he simply pulled back his shoulders and looked down his nose at her as if she were some sort of bug. A bug he wanted to crush under his five thousand dollar loafer.
Granted, Doctor Timothy Armstrong was brilliant. And ridiculously handsome. Hell, the man should be on a football field, not hidden away in a laboratory! Features like his should be on a billboard, advertising men’s underwear. Okay – so the guy couldn’t be both a nerd and a jock. However, Raven didn’t need to make sense. Not at the moment.
Maybe he wasn’t a nerd. Maybe he was a jock. A really smart jock.
And of course, that image caused her to wonder what he looked like naked.
Darn it! Raven never pictured men, especially her clients, naked! It was definitely not professional!
Client, she reminded herself. Doctor Armstrong was her client! An insulting client with a superiority complex.
Maybe. If his grouchy demeanor was any indication, she suspected the man didn’t want to be her client any more than she wanted to help him.
Thankfully, the elevator door opened and she stepped inside.
As soon as the doors closed, she heard him huff. Raven was just about to turn and give the man a piece of her mind when he surprised her.
“They are working on a formula that will eventually soften fabric without a toxic impact to the environment,” he explained as the elevator quickly moved down through the floors.
She glanced up at him, startled. That’s when she noticed his jaw clenching. Was he irritated by his answer? And why would that irritate him?
Were the experiments a secret? “I don’t reveal secrets,” she announced, then turned to face him directly. “Under no circumstances will I tell anyone anything you tell me.”
He’d been staring at the small lights indicating the descending floors, but with her words, he looked at her, those intense, blue eyes causing her body to do something weird. If that gaze was coming from anyone else, she might have suspected that there was some sort of weird attraction going on between them. But this was Timothy Armstrong. She literally hated the man. And he hated her! Worse, he didn’t believe she had any skills that could help him.
Okay, yeah, that’s what irritated her the most. That he disrespected her profession.
“Thank you,” he finally replied. Those blue eyes flickered back up to the lights, then to her again. “Everything we do here at Larmpo Industries is top secret. The people on my staff have to go through very intense background checks before they are ever allowed into the lab.” He sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand before shoving both into his pockets. “I don’t know why I even told you what they were doing. Normally, we don’t discuss our work until we’re ready to take the product to market.”
“I get that. Anything you do or say could end up betraying the trust of your company.” The elevator doors opened up and she stepped out. When he was beside her again, she continued, “It’s the same with me. My clients tell me their deepest desires and I help them find the person who can give them that. Sharing information on that level requires a great deal of trust.” She touched his arm, stopping him and she met his eyes. “I won’t betray your trust.”
For a long moment, he stared into her eyes. And for just a moment, the rest of the world disappeared. Raven kept looking at him, ignoring the growing crick in her neck because of his height. Ignoring the bustle of people moving through the lobby. Ignoring everything but the tingling awareness that seemed to sizzle and spark between them.
It wasn’t until someone bumped into her, breaking the spell, that she was able to take a proper breath. In that same moment, she noticed the fury wash over Tim’s face as he glared at the man who had bumped her.
“I’ll be right back,” he snarled and started towards the man who was halfway to the doors now.
Raven knew exactly what he was thinking and caught up to Tim in two steps. “Don’t,” she whispered. The one word stopped him and he spun around, his jaw tight again. “He didn’t hurt me and we’d stopped in the middle of a busy area.”
He blinked at her, then frowned at the man’s retreating back again. When he turned back to her, she could see his anger was still simmering, but he had it under control again.
“Lunch.”
Raven blinked. The man was certainly curt and to the point!
“Right. Let’s get something to eat,” she agreed, but waited a moment until he turned to head out the door again.
He eyed her curiously, as if he was waiting for her to do the same. Smothering her sigh of frustration, she turned and led the way out of the building.
Sure enough, he lightly touched the small of her back. Yes, it was most likely a gentlemanly thing to do. Many men over the years had done exactly the same gesture. However…however what? What was the issue?
She didn’t like him touching her! He didn’t like her, didn’t respect her and her experience or her job.
So, why had he agreed to let her help him? If the man didn’t think her process was worthwhile, why had Tim Armstrong even agreed to this meeting?
That question seemed to ground her, to bring her back into what she did best. Raven was an expert at “reading” people, understanding their motives, and helping them find a lifelong companion that could enhance their life experiences.
Which was exactly what she needed to do with Doctor Armstrong. Be professional. Ignore that unexpected tingle at his touch and ignore the wish that she could turn and look up at him. Ignore the sensation of feeling…safe wasn’t exactly the right word. But…yeah, walking down the street, she noticed how the man shielded her from the others on the sidewalk. Was that just a habit? Or was it, perhaps, more personal?
Walking down the busy streets of downtown Philadelphia next to Tim Armstrong was a unique experience. Somehow, the stench of the garbage rotting in the alleys and the combustion of the traffic disappeared. She didn’t notice the trash packed into the crevices of the sidewalk. Nor did she feel the heat and humidity that came with Pennsylvania’s summers.
It was…nice!
And…not so nice.
Raven valiantly tried to pretend that she wasn’t aware of the other women glancing at him, many of them doing a double take to get a longer look. Objectively, Raven knew Doctor Armstrong was a very attractive man. Scientifically, she understood their interest. A tall, powerful looking man who was obviously well-dressed was an eye magnet for women. Applying evolutionary logic to the problem, she understood that other woman would be attracted to him.
He was well over six feet tall with broad shoulders and…a swimmer? Nope, she looked at him again, assessing the way he moved. A runner, she decided, and then mentally nodded with approval. Yep, she was sure he was a runner. Most likely, a long distance runner.
Of course, none of that was in the file she’d compiled on him. In fact, there was very little in his file as yet. Raven did as much research as possible on her clients before meeting them, needing to understand what they might want in a spouse. As soon as a client called asking for an initial interview, Raven started researching. By the time she walked into the first meeting, she knew a great deal about the person, sometimes including their shoe size. She scoured social media and the internet, reading articles written about them or articles that they’d written themselves.
Generally, her clients were wealthy, high powered, and socially savvy. They didn’t have time to find a significant other. Oh, they could easily find a sexual partner, and many of them did so on a regular basis. And thank goodness for that! She often used photos of their previous lovers to assess their current desires for their future spouse.
But Doctor Timothy Armstrong was a mystery. A fascinating, intriguing, obnoxiously handsome and irritatingly arrogant mystery. One that she was going to do her damndest to figure out, even if it killed her!
“This place has great food and the best coffee around,” he said, gesturing to a sandwich shop on the corner. “We can talk in here.”
The place was larger than she’d expected, but still felt like every other pub-like restaurant. The walls were dark, the furniture leather and wood, the floors made of a durable, wood-like material that was sturdier than hardwood. The aromas were similar as well. Every pub in the city smelled the same, she thought, wondering if there was some sort of system to push the various scents into the air or of they all used the same furniture polish.
They stepped up to the line and, even at two o’clock in the afternoon, there was a long line of customers. Raven stood awkwardly in front of Tim, her back tingling, wondering what it would feel like if the good doctor would just wrap his arms around her and pull her back against his chest. She’d love…! Raven stared straight ahead, mentally reviewing what had just passed through her mind. First of all, Tim Armstrong didn’t seem like the kind of man who would enjoy snuggling, especially not out in public. He seemed more the type to have wild, passionate sex, then jump out of bed to shower and hurry out the door as fast as possible.
Damn it! She wasn’t attracted to the man! In fact, she seriously disliked him! Mentally, she reminded herself of the snide dismissal of her profession. He thought psychology wasn’t as relevant as chemistry. He was an arrogant, smug bastard.
Tim glanced down at her, fisting his hands in his pockets to keep himself from reaching out. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and pull her back against his chest. He wanted to lean in and bury his nose in her hair, to enjoy the strawberry scent of her shampoo. He wanted to feel her soft curves against his body, to feel her press that irritatingly lush ass against his hips, maybe even brush his forearms against her breasts as he held her close.
He shifted slightly so that she hid his body’s immediate reaction to the images flitting through his head.
Why the hell was he even thinking about wrapping his arms around her? Raven Markley was a woman who spouted nonsensical psychobabble and introduced people, crossing her fingers in the hopes that they would hit it off. She presumably charged exorbitant rates for doing nothing more than facilitating a date.
So, why the hell was he here? Why hadn’t he simply told her that he didn’t need her “skills”. A simple thanks, but no thanks was all the communication required.
He was just trying to be nice, he thought. He’d buy her a cup of coffee then politely tell her that he was fine, that he didn’t need a partner, then leave the sandwich shop and get back to work. He had about fifty emails from his staff and vendors that needed answers. He should review the latest data from the testing they’d done earlier in the week. Expanding Larmpo’s product line was the only way they would stay in business. No, it was the only way to stay ahead in their business.
Tim ordered a cup of coffee, black with none of the frou-frou stuff. He hated that coffee had become “an event” instead of a basic way to stimulate one’s mind. Coffee was coffee, damn it. Adding all of that extra stuff just bastardized something that was perfectly fine on its own.
As soon as he ordered and stepped aside, pulling out his wallet to pay, Raven stepped forward to put in her order. “I’ll have a chai latte with soy and a single pump of sugar free vanilla syrup, please.” And before he had a chance, she’d already tapped her credit card to the payment module.
He scowled at her, not sure if he was more irritated by her frou-frou coffee order or her paying for their drinks. Or perhaps he was more irritated by her triumphant smile.
Whatever, he followed her, carefully not looking at her sexy ass as they walked to the end of the counter to await their order. He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to ignore his annoyance.
Psychology. He nearly snorted with disdain. Could there be any valid argument that psychology was a real science? Body language and feelings…that was all loosey goosey stuff that didn’t have a finite result. One couldn’t test a hypothesis. One couldn’t properly duplicate the experiment in order to validate one’s results. Humans were too inconsistent, always changing their minds and actions. Plus, how could one replicate an experiment in real life? In a laboratory, Tim could mix the same chemicals in the precise same sequence and amounts, and validate the results. Humans…that wasn’t possible. The variables were infinite.
In other words, not real science, he mentally decided.
Click HERE to get Tim and Raven’s story!