Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Her boss was naked in bed.
Correction, her pretend boss was naked in bed.
A big, king-size bed. Black sheets. Looked to be silk, black sheets.
Not that she was spending a great deal of time focusing on the sheets.
Her attention was mostly focused on the giant, naked man sprawled in the middle of the bed.
His powerful shoulders. His muscled chest. His abs of steel. His big, saluting di—
“Good morning, Charlotte.”
A gasp broke from her, and her stare whipped up to his face. His alert face. Eyes open. Slow smile curving his lips.
“I—” Dammit! Immediately, she whirled, giving him her back. “I had no idea you slept in the nude. How was I supposed to know that?”
“You didn’t knock,” he noted.
“I did. I knocked three times, and you did not answer the door a single time. We were supposed to meet downstairs in your office at nine—”
“Were we? Don’t really remember that. Sorry. My PA keeps track of things like my schedule.”
Oh, funny. Her hands tightened into small fists at her sides.
“It’s ten a.m. now. Considering that a group of men attempted to kill you last night, I grew concerned about your welfare.
I knocked at your suite’s door, but when you didn’t answer, I had no choice but to enter the premises to do a wellness check on you. ”
She caught the faint slither of the sheets. Definitely silk. Had he covered up? Hopefully. “Are you decent?”
“Never. I try to always be indecent. So much more entertaining that way.”
“Logan.”
“My dick isn’t waving around any longer, so feel free to turn at any time.”
She spun back to face him.
He’d sat up in bed, with the sheets bunched near his waist. His gorgeous chest was still bare, but, nope, no waving around of any private appendages, not any longer.
As she stared at him, he raked a hand through his tousled hair. “Who gave you a key to my suite?” Logan asked, and he sounded annoyed. Sort of like he’d just asked…Who should I fire?
“No one.”
His hand dropped. His eyebrows rose.
She sighed. “Do you really think a simple hotel suite lock would keep me out? For longer than like, five seconds, anyway?”
“Ah. Spy skills. Nice. So, let me get this straight…” And he climbed from the bed.
Her eyes closed.
Soft laughter. “I kept the sheet with me. Not like I want you passing out with joy because you glimpsed my dick again.”
Her eyes flew open once more. “With joy?”
He winked at her.
Charlotte’s back teeth clenched. They seemed to do that a lot when she was around him.
And I’ve been with him for barely more than twenty-four hours at this point.
“I get that this whole situation is super amusing for you. But I am actually working a very important case, and it would be greatly appreciated if you could cut the crap and be less of a menace so that I can actually achieve my goals.”
“Menace,” he repeated. He also closed in on her.
The sheet was wrapped around his waist, falling down his muscled legs, and part of the silken material trailed over the lush carpet of the suite.
“Yep, that’s me. The big, bad menace.” He stopped right in front of her.
“You broke into my suite because you were worried about me.”
“Yes.”
“That’s sweet.”
Was it?
“Keep doing stuff like that,” he said, a darker edge entering his voice, “and I’ll think that you’re falling in love with me. That you can’t resist my amazing charm and that you want to quit the CIA. Run away with me. And live happily ever after.”
She searched his gaze. “Stop it.”
“Excuse me?”
“Stop acting like the careless playboy. Stop with the one-liners and the attitude and the mockery. I know you are more than that.”
“I am absolutely not. What you see is what you get.”
Liar. “You risked your life in London in order to protect a friend.”
Her sharp stare caught the faint tightening of his jaw. Ah, she’d just scored a hit.
Charlotte decided to press her advantage. “And I know all about your grandmother.”
His nostrils flared. “You’ll want to stop right there.
I will not be discussing my grandmother with you.
The CIA will have no interaction with her, understand?
None. You’ll stay the fuck out of my private life.
I’m the one playing your game. Not my grandmother.
Not my friends. You leave everyone else out of this mess, understand me? ” Real anger. Not the mockery.
She’d just seen the steel beneath his careful grin. There was a reason that Logan Sterling had risen so high in the world. He’d turned himself into a billionaire. He had casinos and hotels all over the world…
And he still attended late-night meetings where he took out shady characters who ran unsanctioned cage matches.
“I am not some hero buried beneath the surface of a villain,” he told her, voice flat. So hard. So intent. “If you’re here expecting that, then think again. I’m not looking to save the world. You can do that. You and your CIA buddies. I only protect what is mine. I only care about what is mine.”
“And everything else can burn? Is that the way it works?”
His eyes narrowed. “Yeah, that’s exactly how it works.”
Tension thickened in the air between them. It should have been an angry tension but…
He was naked beneath the sheet. And aroused. And maybe…maybe that tension felt sexual to her because they were standing so close to one another. Because his chest was bare. Because it was all too easy to imagine him grabbing her, tumbling her back onto the bed, and…
“Just what are you thinking?” Logan asked her as he tilted his head. “Why have your cheeks just turned pink?”
“I’m thinking that this is inappropriate.
” I’m thinking we could wreck that bed. That I bet you’re an incredible lover.
“I’m thinking you need to get dressed.” I’m thinking you could rip off my clothes.
A brisk nod. “I’m thinking that I will wait for you in your office downstairs, and we will get started with our plans for the day.
” I’m thinking I need to get out of this room.
Right now. Before I cross a line and make a bad mistake with you.
She retreated. Four steps. Then whirled on her heel and hurried for the open bedroom door.
“Are you running from me, Charlotte?”
She stilled. Her head turned as she glanced over her shoulder. “I’m not afraid of you, Logan.”
His stare searched hers. Then he smiled once more. “Yes, you are.”
His CIA operative was afraid of him.
She also wanted him.
Two interesting developments.
Logan’s fingers tapped against the edge of his desk. His gaze remained fixed on the sexy form of his new PA as Charlotte paced near his windows. He’d showered, dressed, and, after grabbing a quick breakfast, met her in his office.
“There were no news reports about the incident last night,” Charlotte was saying. “No charges filed with the local police, so that’s good. But…” She swung toward him. “I have to ask, was that a routine situation for you? Do you often head out at night and take on four men in bloody fight scenes?”
He’d been looking at her legs. Dammit. But she had great legs. And she was wearing another of those pencil skirts and cute heels. Plus, she had on her glasses. His gaze rose to admire those glasses and her eyes. “You should ditch the glasses.”
Instead, staring him dead in the eyes, she used the tip of her index finger to push the glasses up higher on her nose.
He stopped tapping the desk and gripped the edge for dear life. The woman was playing with fire.
“You need to focus on the conversation we are having,” Charlotte admonished him. “But since you clearly were not focusing, I shall repeat my question.”
“Have at it.” He actually had heard her the first time. He could admire her legs, her glasses, and listen all at the same time. Talk about being a multi-tasking badass.
“Do you often engage in life-or-death situations where you attack a group of men and then not a single victim reports the crime to the police?”
Yep, he did, in fact, often engage in those situations.
But to clarify a point, “They weren’t victims. I didn’t strike first. They did.
” A roll of one shoulder. “Pretty sure that makes me the victim, and since I kicked their asses, I didn’t need to involve the police.
” Though he would be checking to make sure that Morris followed his orders and got the hell out of Vegas.
There was no longer room for the guy in Logan’s town.
A sharp knock sounded on his closed office door.
“You don’t have a meeting scheduled with anyone but me,” Charlotte noted. Her dark brows had snapped together.
“I’m expecting this visitor.” He rose.
“But no one is on the calendar for this morning.” Charlotte rushed closer to him.
The door cracked open.
Jake poked his head inside. “Boss? Got your message. You, uh, wanted to see me?”
Jake Brown. Twenty-two years old. A kid with one hell of an arm. So good that he had a tryout scheduled with the minor league baseball team in the area. A tryout that maybe Logan had arranged.
Logan motioned him forward.
Jake bounded inside. Nervous energy always rolled off the kid in waves. Except when he was pitching. When he was pitching a ball, the guy was dead steady.
Jake shut the door behind him. Bobbled his way to Logan’s desk. Jake’s blue gaze cut to Charlotte, then to Logan. “A-alone?” Jake asked. “Are we gonna talk alone, boss?”
“We will talk with my PA here.” Why not? “She was with me last night,” Logan said. “She knows what went down.”
Jake licked his lips. “I don’t know.” Low. He rocked forward. “Am I…am I fighting tonight?” Then his shoulders straightened. “Because I can win, I know it. I can get in that cage, and I can beat anyone I face. I can—”
“They’ll break your pitching arm, Jake.” Flat. “That will be the target of every opponent you face in the cage.”
Logan could feel Charlotte’s eyes on him.
But for the moment, he kept his attention on Jake and not his sexy spy. “They will aim for your arm, and it won’t be some clean break. They will go for maximum damage. They will rip tendons. They will shatter bones.”