Now he didn’t know what to think.
All he knew was that nothing had changed for him since Friday night. One look from those incredible eyes of hers and he’d been right back there on that dance floor, his body consumed by the need to sweep her off into bed.
Bed? He almost laughed at that notion. A bed would not do. This all-consuming passion he was suffering from demanded a much faster, harder surface to pin her to. A wall. A floor. This desk, even.
Kane swallowed. He was really losing it!
And he’d lose her again, if she knew what was going on his head.
‘Last Friday night has no relevance whatsoever to today,’ he said with astonishing composure. Lust was a very powerful motivation. ‘That was pleasure. This is business. But perhaps we should get the past out of the way first. Would you care to sit down and tell me why you left the way you did?’
She frowned, but stayed standing. He tried to stop his eyes from continually raking her from head to toe, but truly she was a magnificent-looking woman. And so sexy in those tight jeans, it was criminal.
‘What’s the point?’ she said sharply, brown eyes flashing. ‘I can’t work for you. You must know that.’
He didn’t, actually. Was she worried about sexual harassment in the workplace?
Perhaps she had just cause, given how much he craved her right now. But Kane could exercise control and patience when necessary. And when she wasn’t touching him. The last thing he wanted to do was frighten her off. She was the first woman in a long time who had made him feel what he’d felt on Friday night. To be honest, he couldn’t recall ever feeling quite what he’d felt on that dance floor.
Usually, he could stay in control. Usually, his brain was always there in the background, analysing the situation, making judgement calls, warning him when the momentary object of his desire was another waste of his time.
But it hadn’t on that occasion.
Maybe that was why she’d obsessed about him all weekend. The way she’d made him forget everything but the moment. He hadn’t known anything at all about her, except that she went into sleazy bars alone, dressed to thrill. Not a great recommendation.
Yet he’d still wanted her like crazy.
He still did.
No way was he going to let her escape from him a second time. He wanted to experience the magic he’d felt in her arms once more. Too bad if it didn’t go anywhere. He was sick and tired of thinking about the future and working his life to a plan. He’d got into a rather boring rut over the years. He’d forgotten how to be impulsive.
He wanted this woman, and he was going to have her, whether she was good for him or not.
‘But you won’t really be working for me,’ he replied smoothly. ‘You’ll be working for Harry Wilde. I’m just the caretaker manager till Christmas, which is less than two weeks away now. After that, any boss-employee relationship between us is over.’
She still stared at him with wary eyes and he wondered why. Damn it all, she fancied him. He knew she did. She’d been with him all the way on Friday night, till she’d gone to the ladies’.
He’d been stunned when she hadn’t showed up again.
‘So what did happen on Friday night?’ he asked, his teeth clenched firmly in his jaw. ‘Did you just change your mind? Was that it?’
‘I…I…’
Her fluster was telling. And quite enchanting. Maybe she wasn’t the tease he’d been thinking she might be. Or a serial good-time girl, the kind who cruised bars at night looking for some cheap fun and excitement.
‘It’s not a crime to change your mind, Jessie,’ he said gently. Though it had felt like it at the time. He’d been furious.
‘I didn’t change my mind,’ she said, which totally confused him.
‘What, then?’
Jessie felt she had to come up with some explanation, or look a right fool.
‘A girl in the ladies’ told me you were married,’ she blurted out. ‘I…I don’t sleep with married men.’
There was no doubt her excuse startled him. His head jerked back and he blinked a couple of times. But then he did the strangest thing.
He smiled.
‘Married,’ he said with a low chuckle. ‘How come I didn’t think of that? Married!’ And he laughed again.
‘I don’t think it’s funny,’ she snapped. She knew a lot of modern people didn’t take marital vows seriously. But she did.
‘Aah, but it is funny. Because I’m not married,’ came his astonishing announcement. ‘My brother is, however. My twin brother. My identical twin brother. He’s been frequenting that particular bar every Friday night for a while, so it’s understandable that someone made a mistake, thinking I was him.’
Jessie opened her mouth, then closed it again. The man she’d flirted with, and wanted so badly on Friday night, hadn’t been her target at all. It had been this man, Kane Marshall, Curtis Marshall’s twin brother!
As amazing as this revelation was, it did explain the small differences between the target’s photograph and the man in front of her. His hairstyle. The colour of his eyes. And his whole personality. The man in the photograph had seemed softer.
There was nothing soft about Kane Marshall.
A second realisation hit Jessie with even more force. Kane Marshall was single. And available. There was absolutely no reason why she couldn’t say yes if he ever asked her out.
Which he would. She could see it in his eyes.
A thrill—or was it a chill?—rippled down her spine. So much for her decision not to have a man in her life.
Of course, she hadn’t anticipated at the time that she could possibly have this man. He was a whole different ballgame.
‘You’re definitely not married?’ she asked.
‘Definitely not. My divorce came through a few months ago.’
This added news didn’t thrill her. She wasn’t sure why. Perhaps because most of the recently divorced guys she’d met were always on the make. It was as though after casting aside their wives, sex was the only thing on their minds. They were always on the hunt for new prey. She’d met quite a few newly divorced men at the restaurant and they usually gave her the creeps, the way they looked at her, and the way they assumed she’d be easy meat.
Was that what Kane Marshall had thought of her on Friday night, that she was easy meat? She’d gone into that bar alone, after all. Why would a girl go into a bar alone on a Friday night, if not to pick up some guy? The only excuse she’d given him for not going to a hotel room with him was that someone had told her he was married.
Now that he knew she knew he wasn’t, he had to be assuming she’d fall into bed with him next time without a qualm.
As much as the idea of falling into bed with him was incredibly exciting, Jessie knew that the reality might not be wise.
‘No wife,’ he stated firmly. ‘No children. And no current girlfriend. Just so we don’t have any more misunderstandings.’
Jessie blinked. That was sure laying his cards on the table. Next thing he’d be telling her if he had any communicable diseases!
‘So are you quite happy to work here now?’ he went on.
‘Are you offering me the job?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘But