Chapter Two #3
It was the kick in the drawers she needed. Self-conscious, she wiped her hand across her cheeks but found them dry. Behind her, the door opened more carefully.
She was already halfway across the room to her desk. Grabbing her catchall bag, she pushed her armful of proposals into it.
Rowe stepped into the room, his dark eyes intense. “Are you okay?”
The words to get him to leave died on her lips. Okay? No, she wasn’t okay.
“Not really.” It was no use lying.
A muscle twitched in his jaw, and he closed the door behind him. Trapping her. Trapping them.
Lexie pulled her purse out of the drawer. Opening it, she began searching for her keys. He was in her space again, and she didn’t like it any better than she had last night. He liked to close in whenever she was vulnerable.
Just like the wolf he was.
He crossed the room, watching her so hard she felt the heat. He didn’t stop until he was straight across the desk from her. “That never should have been handled that way.”
Yet it had been. Somehow she wasn’t surprised.
He braced his hands flat on the oak surface. “Which one of them did it?”
Her head snapped up. Had she been that transparent?
“You know what I’m talking about. You suspect one of them. Which. One?”
Tara or Landers. The answer popped into her head, but she refused to let it cross her lips. Lowery had just looked green—although he was the computer geek and had the skills to pull off something of this caliber.
“Damn it, Lexie. Why didn’t you say something?”
“Accuse them?” she said with a disbelieving laugh. “In front of my father?” Yeah, that would have gone over well. She returned her attention to her purse. “You heard him, it doesn’t matter if it’s me or not.”
“That’s bullshit. Of course, it matters.”
She pinned Rowe with a look, upset and angry enough to challenge him back. “I would think this would make things simple for you. Wasn’t it last night that you were warning me I was about to be let go?”
“That has nothing to do with this,” he practically snarled. “Besides, nothing is ever simple with you.”
No, things between them were definitely getting more complicated by the minute.
“Well, just so you know, it wasn’t me,” she said. “I wasn’t lying in there.”
“I know.”
“Really?” For some reason, she couldn’t let it go. “Then why did you ask me to explain the connection to Underhill?”
His head dipped for a long second then he rolled his neck until he stared out the window. The city was bustling outside, unaware of all the drama going on twelve floors up. “I was told it was you. I didn’t check close enough to make sure.”
“Couldn’t get past the cleavage?” The words were out before she could stop them, and they surprised even her. Why was she poking him with a stick? Worse yet, sex?
His attention slowly swung back. “Honey, if I was looking at your cleavage, we’d both know it.”
They watched each other, his brown gaze sizzling, until she couldn’t stand it any longer.
Heat flushed her cheeks and she dropped her chin to her chest. She began pawing through her purse.
What was wrong with her? She was usually much more affable, submissive even.
She’d spent weeks avoiding this man in the hallways.
Yet now he was a hot button she couldn’t stop pushing.
Rowe raked a hand through his hair then backed away. Settling against the arm of the chair in front of her desk, he watched her fumble for her keys. “When I took a second glance, it was plain as day. The woman on that billboard is not you.”
There was no question in his voice at all. He really did believe her. But why? “How can you be sure?” she asked before she could stop herself.
“There were differences.”
“I couldn’t see any.”
“I could.” He remained slouched against the chair, his arms folded over his chest and his legs crossed at the ankles, yet there was nothing casual about him. The tension she’d sensed radiating from him in the conference room hadn’t abated.
Lexie couldn’t contain her curiosity. “What differences?”
She regretted the question almost immediately. There was a lot to live up to in that picture. She didn’t have to close her eyes to remember the blatant come-on the model had presented. Maybe he thought the woman’s cleavage was nicer or her skin was creamier or her mouth…
“The eyes.”
She stilled.
His gaze slid over her face, and she felt it as well as if it had been a touch.
“They had an edge to them that yours could never have.”
For a moment, Lexie forgot to breathe. She simply stared at the hard man sitting across from her. Felt his heat radiating towards her… Sensed his anger and frustration and…something else…
“Yes, well…” She cleared her throat. “Thank you for standing up for me.”
“Somebody had to. You certainly weren’t fighting back very hard.”
He just didn’t understand how things worked.
Her keys finally found their way into her palm. She snatched them up and pulled her purse up onto her shoulder. “Julian’s just upset. He’ll apologize once he calms down.”
“Is that the way it normally works?”
She went quiet again as the hurt and betrayal flooded back in.
Pushing away from the desk, she snatched up the rest of her things.
She headed for the door, but Rowe moved too.
Her office hadn’t grown in the last few hours.
In the small space, it was impossible to avoid one another.
He made sure of it. He stopped her at the door, bracing one hand flat against it.
“Where are you going?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then I’ll go with you.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“We need to figure out how this happened.”
Her jaw set. “We?”
“I can help you. I have resources you don’t.”
“I have my face. I’m pretty sure that’s all I’ll need.”
She didn’t mention her cleavage again, but she didn’t have to. His gaze dropped. Even fully dressed in a button-down suit, Lexie felt her breasts warm.
“I told Julian I’d fix this, and I will.” Finding chutzpah she didn’t know she had, she shouldered Rowe out of the way. His hard heat pressed against her side, making her breasts start to ache, and his warm breaths brushed against her hair.
“Damn it, Lexie.” He stepped back, even though he wore a scowl on his face. “I don’t like the idea of you being alone.”
“I’ve always been alone, Cam.”
Opening the door, she walked out. Underhill staff still mingled about, but if they watched her, she didn’t notice.
Cam’s name tingled on the tip of her tongue as she walked towards the elevator bay.
Her legs were unsteady, and her body was sensitive from where they’d touched.
She felt him watching every step she took, but no footsteps came after her.
She was grateful for the reprieve.
She had too many things on her mind right now, too many problems with which she had to deal.
Her father had given her the boot. Her family was looking down their noses at her, while thousands of strangers were looking up with awe, disgust or even lust. Yet things between her and Cameron Rowe had just changed.
And that might be more than she could handle.
Bad to worse was right.