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Justin’s blood heated as she unfolded her torso and reached over her head once more, pulling the silky white blouse she wore taut against her breasts. He must have been blind, he decided, not to have realized how lushly curved Kim was. He noticed now—a fact that was all too evident by the desire stirring in his gut.
Don’t be a jerk, Connelly. Say something. Let the woman know she isn’t alone.
Justin opened his mouth, intent on announcing his presence, when Kim removed the clip from her hair. He nearly swallowed his tongue as yards and yards of long, honey-blond hair came tumbling down around her shoulders and face.
Sweet heaven, had all that gorgeous, sexy hair been tucked into that no-nonsense twist?
Damn! He scrubbed a hand down his face. He’d always been a sucker for a woman with long hair, beginning with Miss Malone, his kindergarten teacher. Biting back a groan, Justin admitted that next to Kim, Miss Malone wouldn’t even stand a chance.
He was absolutely out of his mind, Justin assured himself. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to block out this new image of Kim. Didn’t he have enough on his plate to deal with without this? They’d yet to find out who had tried to assassinate his brother, and he was none too thrilled about his sister Alexandra’s upcoming marriage to Marsh. Add to that the problems at work and the headaches resulting from that most-eligible-bachelor status. The last thing he needed was to complicate his life even more with a woman—especially a woman he worked with on a daily basis.
The smart thing to do was to go back to his office and forget he’d ever seen this side of Kim. Which was just what he intended to do, Justin decided as he opened his eyes. Allowing himself one final glimpse of the sensual creature before him, he started to retreat into his office when Kim opened her eyes and stared straight at him.
“Justin,” she said his name in a breathless whisper that did nothing to cool the erotic thoughts that had been running rampant through his head only moments before.
“I’m sorry,” he managed to get out. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“You didn’t. Disturb me, I mean,” she added while she slipped back into her shoes. “I was…I was just doing a few stretching exercises to try to work out some of the kinks in my shoulders and neck.”
Although she told him something about the importance of stretching, the words barely registered because he was far too mesmerized by her attempts to tame all that honey-gold hair into a neat twist. As far as he was concerned, she’d failed big-time, since several thick strands managed to escape the clip and now tumbled carelessly down her nape and the sides of her face. With her cheeks flushed and her hair mussed, Justin could all too easily imagine the way Kim would look after a night spent making love.
Kim took a breath. “Anyway, I guess I got kind of stiff sitting at the computer and— And here I am babbling on. Did you want me for something?”
Justin nearly groaned at the innocent remark as totally inappropriate thoughts came to mind. “No, I was just…” Damn, he couldn’t even remember what it was he’d come out here to look for in the first place.
“Justin, are you all right?”
No, he most definitely wasn’t all right. Not when he couldn’t shake the punch of arousal he’d experienced upon seeing Kim stretching a few moments ago.
“Is something wrong?”
Justin gave himself a mental slap, forced himself to focus on the present. “No. Nothing’s wrong.” He let out a breath. “It’s been a long day. And speaking of long days, what are you still doing here?”
“I had some work that I wanted to finish up.”
“Whatever it is, it can wait until tomorrow. You should have left hours ago,” he said, more gruffly than he’d intended.
“You’re still here.”
“My family owns the place,” he pointed out.
“Yes, of course. I never meant to imply…I’ll leave now and get out of your way,” she murmured, then quickly turned away.
But not before Justin caught a glimpse of hurt in those big blue-green eyes. Damned if he didn’t feel as though he’d just kicked a puppy. “Kim,” he said, moving beside her. He turned her around to face him and tipped up her chin. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Just because I’m in a lousy mood is no reason to take it out on you.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.” He captured the fist she held stiffly at her side and lifted it between them. “If it’ll make you feel better, go ahead and sock me one,” he said, jutting out his chin. “I deserve it for acting like a jerk.”
“You’re not a jerk.”
“Sure, I am. Or at least I gave a good impression of one a minute ago. I hurt your feelings, and for that I’m sorry.”
“But you didn’t—”
Justin silenced her with a look. “You may be a terrific assistant, Ms. Lindgren, but you’re a lousy liar.”
“Thank you. I think.”
He grinned at her. “Hey, I’m the one who should be thanking you. The truth is I’m not sure what I’d do without you.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’d manage just fine,” she said, and reclaimed her fingers. Though she stepped back, she came up against the desk, which prevented her from putting the distance between them that Justin suspected she’d intended.
“Hopefully, I won’t have to find out. But seriously, what I should have said, and botched totally, is that as much as I appreciate all your hard work, there’s no reason for you to put in such long hours.”
“I don’t mind,” she told him. “I like my job. I like working with you.”
“Darned if I understand why,” he countered, and smiled at her again. “But how about calling it a day? I bet if you try, you might still be able to book yourself a massage at the health club.”
“I probably could if I belonged to a health club. But since I don’t, there’s really no reason for me to hurry,” she said, smiling up at him.
The smile intrigued him almost as much as she did. There was something both innocent and seductive about her smile. And it did nothing to ease his arousal. Taking a step back, Justin tried to shake off this new awareness of Kim as a desirable female.
“You’re scowling at me again,” she accused.
“Not at you. At myself,” he corrected, feeling like an idiot. Of course she didn’t belong to a health club. The fact that his family and most of his friends worked out regularly at a club certainly didn’t mean that Kim did the same. Chances were she couldn’t afford that kind of luxury. Because a luxury is what it was. It was the reason he refused to join the fancy clubs and worked out at a hole-in-the-wall gym. He stared at her and suddenly realized that other than the fact that Kim was single and had no family—facts his brother had told him when he’d taken over the position of vice president of marketing—he knew very little about Kim’s personal life despite the fact that they worked so closely together. It was hard to imagine her all alone when he had such a large family himself. “I guess this is my night for apologies. That sounded terribly arrogant of me. I shouldn’t have assumed that you belonged to a health club.”
“Don’t be silly. It was a logical assumption.”
“No, it wasn’t. And I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”
“You didn’t,” she insisted. “Please. There’s nothing to be sorry about. Connelly Corporation is very generous to its employees, and most of the clerical staff belongs to health clubs or spas. I could, too, if I wanted.”
“But you don’t want to?”
She shrugged. “I just don’t know when I’d get the chance to use it.”
“Which is my fault.”
She tipped her head, studied him. “And how do you figure that?”
“Look what time it is and you’re still here. I work you too hard.”
“No, you don’t. Besides, I don’t work nearly as hard as you do,” she countered.
Justin snorted. “I don’t have a choice. My family is depending on me. You, on the other hand, don’t have any excuse. I mean it, Kim. No more late nights like this for you.”
“But I told you, I like my job. I like working with you.”
“Even when I’m a royal pain in the neck?” he teased.
“Even then,” she said. “Now, unless you need me for something, I’d really like to finish transcribing these notes,” she told him, and reclaimed her seat in front of her computer screen.
“The notes can wait until tomorrow.”
“They could, but there’s no reason why they have to.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but which one of us is the boss here?”
Kim laughed. “You are. But all I need is ten minutes to finish, and then I promise I’ll head for home and a long, hot soak in the tub.”
An image of Kim naked in a bathtub covered only in bubbles had Justin gritting his teeth. “Scouts’ honor?”
“Scouts’ honor,” she said and held up three fingers.
“All right. You’ve got ten minutes and then I want you out of here.”
“You got it,” she promised and went back to work.
When Justin exited his office fifteen minutes later, Kim was still at her desk, staring at her computer screen and rubbing the back of her neck with one hand.
Even though his brain told him it was a mistake, he started toward her. “Here, let me do that,” he said, and pushed her hand away and replaced it with his own.
“You don’t have to do this,” she argued.
Justin ignored the comment. “No wonder you’re hurting. Talk about tense. Relax,” he commanded, and began to massage her shoulders. Determined to prove to himself that his earlier reaction to Kim had been a fluke, a momentary aberration caused by spending too much time at work and neglecting his social life, he went to work on those stiff muscles. Satisfied that, by analyzing the situation, he now had any earlier sexual attraction he’d experienced toward Kim firmly under his command, Justin skillfully tackled the mass of knots along her spine. Using his thumbs, he applied pressure to a particularly tight spot between her shoulder-blades and began to knead it.
“This really isn’t necess— Oh…”
His control slipped a notch at the sounds coming from Kim. Steeling himself, Justin reminded himself this was Kim Lindgren. Kim his assistant. Kim his right hand. Kim, whom he had no right to think of as a woman. But when she moaned again, his body reacted. Desire fisted in his gut, sent heat firing through his veins.
So much for being a master of control, Justin decided. Calling himself ten kinds of fool, he tortured himself further by inching closer and breathing in her scent. Roses, he thought as he dragged in another whiff. Since when had the scent of roses become a turn-on?
But he forgot all about the way she smelled when Kim tipped her head forward, giving him further access to her neck. Although he knew he was playing with fire, he reached for the strands of hair trailing her nape. They slid across his fingers like wisps of silk and did nothing to cool his blood.
The sight of that pale strip of skin where the edge of her blouse ended sent another wave of heat rushing through him. Before he could stop himself, he moved his fingertips along her bare neck. Soft and warm was all he could think. And before he could shut off the voice in his head, he heard the question. Would she be this soft and warm all over?
“You have magical hands,” Kim murmured.
The husky timbre of her voice stripped off another layer of his control. “Kim, I—”
The sound of the elevator bell in the hall outside the suite sent sanity rushing back. Saved by the bell, Justin thought, and dropped his hands to his sides. Taking a step back, he dragged in a steadying breath just as the building’s chief of security entered the suite.
“Evening, Mr. Connelly. Ms. Lindgren,” Tom Jenkins said.
“Good evening, Tom,” Justin told the other man.
“Hi, Tom,” Kim said softly.
“I’m just making my rounds. You folks going to be here awhile longer?”
“I’ll be here for another hour or so, but Ms. Lindgren is leaving now. As a matter of fact, I’d appreciate if you’d see her to her car.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Connelly.”
“But, Justin, my notes—”
“Can wait until tomorrow,” he said briskly. “You’ve put in enough hours for one day. Go home, Kim. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Kim’s expression fell, and he could have sworn it was disappointment he read in those blue-green eyes. But before he could change his mind, he turned on his heels and retreated to his office, where he sat down at his desk and dropped his head into his hands.
Talk about close calls. He was lucky, Justin assured himself. He’d come dangerously close to crossing the line with Kim just now, and tomorrow he would be grateful he hadn’t done so. Because if he’d kissed her as he’d wanted to do, he had no doubt he would have made a major mistake on both a personal and a business front. Silently patting himself on the back, he told himself he’d done the right thing. He’d done the noble thing. He’d walked away when every instinct in him had wanted to pull her close, taste her mouth.
Yes, he was lucky, he reiterated. They both were. Lifting his head, Justin stared unseeingly at the work spread out across his desk. And as the memory of Kim’s scent, the feel of her skin came back to haunt him, Justin grimaced and decided that sometimes doing the honorable thing really sucked.
Two
Justin was just being kind. Don’t read anything into it.
Kim repeated the words like a litany—just as she had been doing since she’d left the office hours earlier. Not that it seemed to be doing her much good, she admitted. Because, try as she might, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the way Justin had been looking at her just before Tom’s arrival. Not as a boss would, but the way a man looks at a woman. A woman he wants. And she’d felt the heat of those oh-so-serious hazel eyes trained on her like a caress.
Even now, just remembering that look in his eyes made her shiver with excitement, with longing. Despite her limited experience with men, she knew desire when she saw it. And it had been desire she’d read in Justin’s eyes. Desire for her.
Her. Plain, polite and boring Kimberly Lindgren.
A ripple of pleasure raced over Kim even as that nagging voice inside her reared its head and warned her not to be foolish, not to delude herself by believing that Justin would ever see her as anything more than his assistant.
Be realistic, she told herself. The man was a Connelly. A member of one of Chicago’s most prestigious families. Wasn’t he just voted one of the city’s most eligible bachelors? The man dated models, socialites, gorgeous women—not nobody secretaries with less than sterling pedigrees.
But, lying in the darkness of her bedroom with morning still hours away and her thoughts so filled with Justin, she ignored the warning voices. For once she didn’t want to be the sensible and level-headed Kim Lindgren. Instead she wanted to relish the memories of how Justin had looked at her, touched her. Snuggling beneath the covers, she squeezed her eyes shut and allowed herself to relive those magical moments at the office with him. The feel of his hands—so strong, yet gentle. The warmth of his breath tickling her neck as he stood behind her. The hot, hungry look in his eyes when she’d turned around and met his gaze.
Kim clasped her hands to her throat as the image of his face swam before her closed lids. He’d been standing so close to her, close enough that she could see the faint trace of stubble darkening his chin. Close enough for her to smell the woodsy and spicy scent that he always wore. Close enough for her to feel the warmth of his body just inches from her own.
Her heart raced. That ache she got low in her belly whenever she dreamed of how it would be to have Justin hold her in his arms, to have him tell her that he loved her as she loved him, started anew. “And the chances of that ever happening are about as likely as Chicago getting snow in July,” she muttered as sanity returned at last.
Grabbing her pillow, she flopped over onto her stomach and ordered herself to go to sleep. And in sleep she allowed herself to play out the fantasy as she never dared do when she was awake. In the safety of slumber she imagined the feel of his mouth—hot and hungry on hers—tasting her, filling her, and then the sound of his voice as he whispered words of love and called out over and over, “Kim…Kim…”
“Kim? Kim, did you hear me?”
The impatient note in Justin’s voice startled Kim from her musings. Embarrassed to be caught daydreaming, she looked up and found a somber Justin standing in front of her desk. “Sorry. What was that?”
“I asked if you had a chance to draft that memo of understanding for my meeting with Schaeffer on Friday.”
The all-business note in his voice lashed at her like a whip. “It’s on your desk in your in basket,” Kim answered, doing her best to match his cool tone.
“Good,” he grumbled, and started toward his office only to pause and look back at her. “Are you feeling all right? You seemed…distracted.”
Kim flushed. “I’m fine. I’ve just had my mind on putting together that date package for the bachelor auction so I can messenger it over to your sister today,” she told him, opting for the half-truth. She had been working on the package, but it hadn’t been the real source of her distraction. Justin had—or rather she’d been busy daydreaming that she was the lucky woman who would get to share the date with him.
He groaned. “Don’t remind me. I still can’t believe I let Tara convince me to go through with that thing instead of just sending a check.”
“Your sister’s very persuasive.”
“Pushy is more like it.”
Deciding not to comment on what seemed to be a family trait, she pointed out, “It is for a good cause.”
“Which is the only reason I agreed to do it in the first place,” he informed her, and mumbled something about needing to have his head examined because he’d probably be changing clothes in the limo to get to the thing on time.
Given Justin’s reluctance to participate in the auction, Kim suddenly questioned her decision to follow Tara’s advice and make the date one that she herself would find appealing. “Do you want to take a look at what I put together as your date package?” she asked, and picked up the envelope that contained a certificate that detailed a romantic sailing date on Lake Geneva.
“I’m sure it’s fine,” he told her, and started again toward his office.
“It’ll only take a minute to look it over, and I’d—”
“I said it’s fine,” Justin snapped.
Kim clamped her lips together and remained silent.
Justin sighed, rammed a hand through his hair. “Listen, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bite your head off. It’s just that…I have a lot on my mind at the moment.”
“I understand,” Kim replied, still stinging from his sharp tone. She did understand that Justin worked much too hard, that he demanded too much of himself. In the six months that she’d worked with the man, she had seen him in a number of stressful situations. But never once during that time had he ever raised his voice to her or spoken to her as he had a moment ago. Even worse, she hadn’t realized until now just how vulnerable she was to him or how much he could hurt her.
Was it because of last night? she asked herself. Had he somehow picked up on her feelings for him and was now uncomfortable with her?
Mortified at the thought that Justin might know she was in love with him, Kim wished she could simply disappear.
“Kim, I really am sorry,” he told her again, his expression softening. “The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt you.”
Kim nodded and averted her gaze, afraid she would see pity in his eyes, afraid of what he would see in hers.
He stood there a moment longer, then said, “I’ll be in my office the rest of the afternoon. Please hold my calls.”
“But what about the lunch with your father?”
“I canceled it so I could work on this Schaeffer deal. I’ll need to schedule some time with him when I get back from New York.”
“I’ll take care of it,” she advised him, pleased that her voice could sound so professional and detached when inside she still felt raw, exposed.
“Thanks,” he said, and disappeared inside his office.
But the instant the door closed behind him, Kim lost some of the starch in her spine. So much for any notions that something had happened between them last night, she thought. Hoping that Justin might finally have begun to see her as more than just his assistant was obviously nothing more than a fantasy on her part. A fantasy that bore a painful resemblance to her mother’s string of hopeless romances. She’d adored her mother, missed her still. But as much as she had loved her, she had hated the constant highs and lows caused by her mother’s endless quest to find Mr. Right.
Evidently she had more of Amanda Lindgren’s penchant for impossible dreams than she’d thought, Kim decided. Thank heavens she also possessed enough common sense and pride to choke a mule. Whatever change she’d thought she’d detected in Justin’s attitude toward her last night, it obviously wasn’t romantic in nature. There hadn’t been anything remotely romantic about the way he’d looked at her today. If anything, he’d seemed cool and unapproachable—not at all the warm, caring man she’d grown accustomed to working with these past months.
Taking a cue from Justin, she promised herself that no matter how she felt about him, he would never know. She picked up the envelope containing the certificate for the bachelor auction. After enclosing it in a transmittal envelope, she started to attach a cover note to Tara declining the offer of the ticket. Then she hesitated. Maybe she would think about it some more. She tackled the pile of letters and messages on her desk, determined to bury herself in work and forget about those magical moments with Justin last night.
“What else?”
“I need you to sign off on these letters and the checks that go with them,” Kim informed Justin two afternoons later.
Quickly he scanned the letters in question, noted the sums of the accompanying checks and scrawled his signature across the documents where indicated. As he did so, he steeled himself against her scent—a whiff of roses and something exotic—that filled his head each time he was near her. “Is that everything?”
“Except for the final draft on the Schaeffer document. I’ve put in the additional changes you wanted, but you’ll probably want to go over it one more time to be sure everything’s covered.”
She handed him the lengthy document he’d worked and reworked several times already, and as she did so, his fingers brushed hers. Kim snatched her hand away—but not before he’d felt that stab of awareness again. “I’ll take a look at it now, then maybe you can get out of here at a decent time, for a change.”
“I’ll be at my desk.”
After she’d exited his office and he was alone again, Justin swore. Something had to give—and soon. Ever since the other night, Kim had been acting differently toward him. Oh, she still was doing a great job as his assistant. He couldn’t have asked for anyone more knowledgeable, efficient or reliable. But he sensed a distance now, a wall, that hadn’t been there before. While he…he had been going slowly insane with very nonbusinesslike thoughts about her. Despite the fact that he’d driven himself relentlessly at the office during the day, then pounded on the bags at the gym until he was exhausted in the evenings, he’d lain awake for the past two nights thinking about Kim, wanting her. Try as he might, he hadn’t been able to forget the image of her the other night. Sighing, he sat back in his chair and closed his eyes.
And there she was again with her hair tumbling down her back and shoulders. He curled his hands into fists, remembered how silky that hair had felt, how soft and warm her skin had been. He dragged in a breath and could have sworn he could smell her—that sweetness of roses and sunshine and secrets.
Get a grip, Connelly.
Justin snapped open his eyes. He had to stop thinking of Kim that way, he reminded himself. Maybe the trip to New York would help. Surely spending all day Friday, plus the weekend away from Kim would help him get his head and hormones straight. And who knows, maybe that bachelor auction would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. With a little luck he just might meet someone interesting. Maybe another female would make him forget all these wild thoughts he’d been having about Kim, Justin decided. And with that plan of action firmly in mind, he picked up a pen and went to work on the agreement.