The Inconvenient Laws of Attraction. Trish Wylie
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with me. If I hire you, you’ll work for me.’
Technically true, but she could argue a technicality. ‘I’m employed by—’
‘Seriously—’ the corner of his mouth tugged again ‘—consider the T-shirt.’
‘They pay my salary.’
‘And Warren Enterprises pays them. Way I figure it—since I’ve just been handed the keys to the kingdom—that means I pay you.’
Not until he signed the papers, he didn’t.
‘So if I’m stepping up to the plate—’ a potent smile began to form on his lips ‘—you get to be at my beck and call, day and night. I holler, you come a-runnin’.’
Summoning the professional demeanour expected of an employee of one of Manhattan’s most respected law firms, Olivia stopped herself from running through the endless possibilities involved with being at his beck and call, day and night.
Wait a minute. She was playing messenger girl so he could prove a point? Her eyes narrowed. ‘Trust me when I tell you I’m not paid anywhere near enough for that kind of service. I’m good at what I do, Mr Clayton. That’s why I’m here. I can work with you, represent Warren Enterprises’ best interests and ensure a smooth transition for you to head of the company. But I’m not going to bring you coffee, I’m not going to jump when you snap your fingers—’ she stepped across the room and set the file down beside him ‘—and I’m not a messenger.’
The slow hand clap started when she was halfway across the room. ‘You practice that on the way over?’
Olivia kept going, the words ‘justifiable homicide’ jumping into her head. She was almost at the door when a large hand captured her elbow, causing her to jerk in surprise. She swung round. She was a heartbeat away from allowing the training of her former career to kick in before she realised where she was and who he was. Horrified by what she might have done, she took an immediate step back, bumping her spine into the doorframe.
She closed her eyes. ‘Please tell me you didn’t stain this doorframe before I got here.’
When she opened her eyes again, he was setting a palm on the wood beside her neck. Immediately glancing at her one remaining escape route, she watched another large palm flatten on the wall beside her waist. Like it or not, she wasn’t going anywhere. Not without hurting him.
‘Nice speech,’ he commented.
‘I meant every word of it,’ she said with a lift of her chin, trying desperately to ignore the erratic thudding of her heart. One man should not be that breathtakingly gorgeous up close. She took a deep breath and stifled a moan. He absolutely shouldn’t smell that good.
For a second she felt a little bit dizzy. She could really do with some air that wasn’t filled with testosterone. Everything around him contracted and went fuzzy again, leaving her unable to focus on anything but him. Her gaze went to the full lip she was so attracted to—the one she wanted to kiss, lick with the tip of her tongue, suck and maybe even nibble a little.
When had she got so sexually frustrated? She tried to remember the last time she’d been on a date—the kind with the remotest possibility of ending in great sex.
Well, that was depressing.
‘If you’re not up to the task, maybe I need to find another lawyer.’
Thank you! It was exactly how she needed him to be. If he added charm—or, worse still, seduction—to an already potent mix, she would be in deep, deep trouble.
Not to mention naked. Fast.
‘For the record, Mr Clayton, underestimating me is a bad idea.’ And she wasn’t kidding about that. Thanks to her former profession, she could have him flat on his face on the floor in less than ten seconds and when it came to her present occupation—‘I’ve been assigned to the Warren accounts since I joined the firm. I know the company inside out and back to front. You won’t find anyone more qualified than me.’
He frowned. ‘You worked for Charlie?’
‘I met him.’ She softened a fraction at the mention of the father he’d lost. ‘But I didn’t work with him.’
‘For him,’ he corrected.
‘With him,’ Olivia argued. ‘That’s how we do things at the firm: we work with our clients. It’s a long-term partnership based on mutual trust and common goals.’
‘I’m not looking to get married, sweetheart. I’m looking for someone to do what I tell them to do when I tell them to do it. Is that a problem for you?’
‘You tell me to jump, I ask how high?’
‘Works for me …’
Over. Her. Dead. Body.
Her breath caught as his head lowered. What was he doing? When he stilled, his face inches away from hers, every fibre of her body ached with an almost crippling desire to be kissed. How could she dislike him and want him so badly at the same time? Maybe the heat was getting to her. They said people did things they wouldn’t normally do during a heatwave. Olivia just wished she was the kind of girl who hid behind excuses when they did something stupid.
‘What’s wrong, Liv?’ he asked in a low, excruciatingly sensual rumble. ‘Not good at taking orders?’
‘Depends what they are,’ she replied in an equally low voice. And what they were doing at the time.
Don’t go there, the professional warned the woman.
When a knowing smile began to form in his eyes, she frowned, swiftly getting back to business with, ‘I won’t do anything illegal.’
‘Unless I’m mistaken, a big part of your job would be to make sure I don’t.’
‘Whatever trouble you get into away from Warren Enterprises isn’t my concern.’
‘I’ll keep that in mind when I’m only allowed to make one phone call.’
The man had no shame. Raised on a diet of discipline and obeying the letter of the law, Olivia had never considered herself the kind of woman who would be attracted to a bad boy but apparently she’d been wrong. Who knew?
‘I assume I can’t schedule any meetings north of the border.’ She analysed his reaction with a tilt of her head.
‘Probably best not,’ he replied without giving anything away.
She sighed heavily. ‘Is this how it’s going to be every time we try to have a discussion?’
‘That’s what we’re doing, is it?’
She aimed a narrow-eyed glare at him.
‘So what’s it to be?’ he asked. ‘We got a deal?’
‘I’m not going to come running when you holler.’
‘Where’s the fun in that?’
‘I think you’ll find it would be more fun for one of us than it would for the other.’ Inwardly groaning at the fact she was encouraging him, she moved on to the next point. ‘I have no problem working outside office hours, but you can’t call me in the middle of the night.’ Her errant gaze dipped to his tempting lower lip. ‘There are boundaries I’m not willing to cross.’
‘Like never mix business with pleasure—you have a rule on that, right?’
As it happened, yes, she did. Olivia liked rules. It was part of the reason she loved the law so much. A single set of rules for everyone to follow, there for the protection of all. It was an even playing field and she was less likely to mess up as badly as she had before if she worked within the boundary lines.
‘Yes,’ she replied.
‘Why