Now he was all she could think about. Already, she was looking forward to his driving her home. Her skin actually broke into goose-pimples at the thought.
Yet she should have been concentrating on the job she’d just been given.
Jessie jumped to her feet. ‘Now that that’s all settled, I’d better get started, don’t you think?’
He was much slower in rising, buttoning up his jacket as he did so.
His action drew her eyes to his suit. It wasn’t the same pale grey number he’d worn on Friday night. This one was a darker grey. But it was just as expensive-looking and stylish. Not a wrinkle marred the line of its sleeves, or where the collar sat neatly around his solid neck.
He was a big man, she noticed once more. Not overweight. Just tall, and strong, with the broadest shoulders.
He would look good, naked. Feel good, too.
Oh, dear, Jessie groaned to herself. I’m in trouble here. Big, big trouble.
‘This way,’ he said as he walked around and gestured towards the door.
Thankfully he didn’t touch her. His eyes were bad enough. The way they kept running over her.
He wasn’t all that different from those other divorced creeps who’d pursued her, Jessie realised as she bolted through the door ahead of him.
The difference lay in her. Those other men hadn’t made her tremble with a look. They hadn’t made her forget every wise word of warning her mother had ever given her about men.
No, that wasn’t true. She hadn’t forgotten any of her mother’s warnings. She knew what Kane Marshall was, and what he wanted.
The difference this time was that she wanted exactly the same thing he did.
JESSIE could not believe how quickly the day went, and how nice everyone was at Wild Ideas, especially her immediate boss.
In her early thirties, Michele was an attractive brunette, married, with one little girl and another baby on the way. She was warm and welcoming to Jessie, but at the same time efficient and precise. Very precise with her directions. She knew what she wanted—art-wise—and expected things to be done exactly as she wanted.
But Jessie was used to that. Jackson & Phelps had been a demanding company to work for. They had high standards and had trained her well.
But she much preferred working for Wild Ideas. Such a friendly atmosphere. The staff was relatively small—about twenty—and pretty well everyone had popped their heads into Michele’s office at some time during the day.
Actually, calling it an office was misleading. It was more of a work station. The behind-the-scenes office layout at Wild Ideas was open plan, cut up into cubicles, some larger than others. Michele’s area was quite large, but not fancy in any way. Plain pine furniture. No carpet. No doors. One window that looked out on to the main road.
Still, everything in it was clean and functional, with state-of-the-art computer equipment, along with every piece of software imaginable. Jessie got very excited to work on the very latest G5 Macintosh, which was so much faster than her old Imac.
Just as well, because her predecessor had left things in a right mess. There was so much to sort through that when lunchtime came she ate a sandwich at her desk. Margaret from Reception dropped by and brought her some coffee, which was sweet of her. Jessie could see that they were going to become friends.
The only breaks she had were to go to the ladies’ room and to make three phone calls. The first was to the restaurant to say that she was quitting. Since she was only a casual anyway, they didn’t much care. They’d fill her spot within hours. The second was to the day-care centre. True to form, Emily didn’t give a hoot that she would be late picking her up. Traitorous child! The third was to Dora, who was thrilled Jessie had got the job.
Unfortunately, Jessie couldn’t explain about the fiasco with the Marshall brothers, not with Michele sitting right next to her.
Actually, Jessie liked it that she worked right beside Michele and wasn’t off in another section on the floor, either in a corner by herself or with a whole bunch of other graphic artists. It seemed that at Wild Ideas, each creative designer had their own personal graphic artist. Sort of like their own private assistant. Jessie could see that this was a very successful way of doing things. New team leaders were being trained all the time. No wonder Harry Wilde never had to head-hunt executives from other agencies. He didn’t need to.
‘Time to wrap it up for today, girls. It’s almost five.’
Jessie whipped her head round at Kane’s voice to find him leaning against the open door frame, watching her. He looked as if he’d been there a while.
Actually, she’d surprised herself, the way she’d been able to put the man out of her mind for most of the day. But the moment their eyes met once more, all the feelings he evoked in her rushed back.
Not just heart-pounding desire. That was a given. But accompanying jabs of panic, and worry.
Her life since Emily had been born had been so simple. And straightforward. Maybe a little boring. And yes, lonely at times. But not too stressful.
If she became involved with Kane Marshall—even on just a casual basis—he would begin to make demands on her time and her space. As a single mother who now had a full-time job, Jessie knew she wouldn’t have much spare time for leisure and pleasure.
‘So how did our new girl work out, Michele?’ Kane asked.
‘Excellent,’ Michele replied crisply. ‘She’s very good at what she does. And I suspect she’ll be very good at what I do. Eventually,’ she added with a cheeky wink.
Jessie didn’t know what to say in reply to such fulsome praise, so she said nothing.
‘We’d better get going, Jessie,’ Kane asked. ‘The traffic will be heavy. I’m driving Jessie home today,’ he explained to Michele. ‘She has to pick her daughter up by six and she’s not sure about the train timetable.’
‘Yes, I know. Jessie told me all about your knight-to-the-rescue act,’ Michele said drily, a slightly knowing smile playing on her mouth. ‘Off you go, love. And thanks for all your hard work. See you tomorrow at eight-thirty.’
‘Eight-thirty?’ Kane echoed. ‘I thought the hours here were nine to five.’
‘Jessie and I had a talk and we decided eight-thirty till four-thirty would suit us better. We’re both up early with our children anyway. Might as well get them to day-care and get to work. Then we’ll have more time to spend with them in the evening.’
‘Whatever.’ Kane shrugged his broad shoulders, his nonchalance reminding Jessie that men like Kane didn’t have to worry about making time for children. All they had to think about was themselves.
Men did that very well, she reminded herself. So don’t go thinking he’s driving you home because he’s genuinely kind. He’s driving you home because he wants to get into your pants.
Jessie was appalled when this thought didn’t repulse her, as it normally would. Maybe she shouldn’t have stayed celibate this long. Suppressing a sigh, she turned off her computer, picked up her bag and stood up.
‘Bye, Michele. Thanks for being so nice. See you in the morning.’
‘She is a nice woman, isn’t she?’ Kane said as they rode the lift down to the basement car park. He sounded surprised.
‘Very,’ Jessie agreed. ‘Good at her job, too,’ she added, determined not to let her secret thoughts and desires make her go all stiff and awkward with him again.
‘Harry doesn’t