Chapter 2
TWO
CALLUM
Her hair was a wild riot in shades of brown and blond, half-tamed into a bun at the crown of her head.
Tendrils framed her face, emphasizing big brown eyes and pink, lush lips.
Lips I wanted to suck and bite and punish for speaking to me so impertinently.
Heat burned through my chest, half of me so angry I couldn’t breathe, the other half full of desperate want.
It knocked me sideways, and I resented her for it. I hated when my emotions got in the way, when things happened that I didn’t expect.
And I hadn’t expected her. The chaos of her presence, and the way everything went silent in her wake. The way her eyes challenged with nothing but a guileless blink.
Deena Brand was not like our last travel coordinator.
She wasn’t like anyone I’d hired before.
She faced me, her hand hanging between us for a long moment before I lifted mine to shake it.
I hid the jolt that went through me at the touch of her skin against mine.
She was soft, her bones fine—but her grip was firm.
I wanted to pull her closer and make that lush mouth soften.
I wanted to tell her to get out of my face and never come back.
“Ms. Brand,” I repeated. “How nice of you to finally show up.”
Her eyebrow arched in response, lips twitching.
Mocking me. The suit she wore looked wrong on her.
It fit her perfectly, but the austere lines and plain gray of the weave looked too drab for the fire raging in her gaze.
Her ears and hands were adorned with multiple glinting jewels and rings, hinting that in another environment, Deena Brand would not be wearing a staid, gray wool pantsuit.
She enraged me, marching into my office like she owned it, fixing problems that had stumped my entire team like it was nothing to her. I was angry that she’d made a fool of me and vaguely embarrassed that she’d done it in front of my staff.
Even still, I was impressed, and because of that mix of fury and admiration, I wanted to own her. I wanted to see her melt, to bend her to my will, to pick apart every knot that kept her tied together so tightly.
Standing so close to her, I inhaled her scent. It was sweet and complex, amber and orange blossom. It went straight to my head, and I forgot to be mad while it filled my nose.
“According to my watch, I’m right on time,” she said, pulling her hand away so she could shake the watch down from her cuff.
My hand flexed as I dropped it to my side, a huff slipping through my lips. “According to me, you’re not.”
“That’s not a metric I’m interested in using to assess my punctuality.” A sharp, insolent smile.
The clatter of a key ring and stomping of heavy boots preceded the arrival of the security team. I kept my eyes on the woman before me as they hovered at the doorway.
“Sir?”
“False alarm,” I grated, and Deena smiled. It was an impudent curve of her lips that did nothing to lessen the hostility in her eyes. If she hadn’t just saved my company from disaster, I’d have her thrown out. Maybe. Probably.
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” she asked sweetly.
She could get on her knees and beg for forgiveness with that obscene mouth of hers. She could surrender to me and maybe—maybe—it would scratch the itch her presence ignited under my skin.
I did not like this feeling. As a result, I did not like her.
“You’ve done enough,” I replied, knowing I should be grateful. If Jack made it to Mexico City on time, Deena had saved the biggest deal of the year, right in time for a nice little holiday bonus for the team and a jump in my own net worth.
But I couldn’t shake the fury clinging to my skin like an oil slick. I always felt this way when control slipped from my grasp, when things didn’t go exactly as I’d planned, when disaster seemed to lurk just around the corner. I was jittery and edgy, and I needed this woman gone.
Either that, or I needed her under me. But that didn’t seem likely based on the thinly veiled hostility lurking in the shadows of her eyes.
“Where should I send my invoice?” she asked. Her eyes went wide and innocent, and she tilted her head to blink at me. She was mocking me even now, but no one else in the room would be able to tell. This irreverence was a special gift, just for me. “Miranda was my main point of contact, but now…”
Now my assistant had quit, which meant once again, I’d be looking for someone new to replace her. She was my third assistant in as many months. Infuriating. Predictable. How could it be so hard to find someone competent? I demanded excellence, but the job wasn’t rocket science.
I tugged open a drawer and pulled out a business card. “Send your invoice to me.”
She was careful not to touch my fingers as she took the card, and as she tucked it into her purse, I thought I caught the slightest trembling in her fingertips.
“Will do. Good day, Mr. Frost.” She nodded at me, then at the rest of the team, and then she was gone. Thankfully.