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what she’d chosen to do instead of representing Timeless Heirlooms at last night’s showing? She needed to get home immediately and call them. But first, she needed to return the jewelry she’d worn last night before Tina went into total meltdown. Assuming she hadn’t already.
    Francesca thrust a tangle of curls from her face and looked desperately around for a clock, hyperventilating when she read the glowing digits that warned she had precisely half an hour to get to Timeless Heirlooms and explain herself to the Fontaines.
    “Where are you going?” Sev asked in a sleep-roughened voice. He snagged her around the waist and tipped her back into his embrace. “I have the perfect way to start our morning.” A slow smile built across his face. “Funny thing. It involves staying right here.”
    She wriggled against him. “No. Please let go. You don’t understand.”
    “Mmm.” He reacted to her movements in a way she’d have delighted in only hours before. “That feels good.”
    “I have to get to work.”
    His hold tightened, locking them together from abdomen to thigh. Heat exploded, and even knowing she may have destroyed her career thanks to one night of stupidity, desire awoke with a renewed ferocity that left her stunned. How was this possible? She squeezed her eyes shut. Why, oh why, did this temptation have to hit last night of all nights? And why hadn’t their time together satisfied the unrelenting hunger that accompanied it?
    Well, she knew one thing for certain. If she hesitated even one more second, she wouldn’t get out of this bed anytime soon. Taking a deep breath, she planted both hands against his chest—Lord help her, what a chest—and shoved. To her surprise, she succeeded in freeing herself. One minute she lay cocooned in warmth and the next she stood beside the bed, naked, cold and vaguely self-conscious. Sev lifted onto an elbow and studied her through narrowed, watchful eyes. Tension rippled through him, and a hint of something dangerous and predatory lurked in his expression.
    “I have to get to work,” she explained. “Assuming, after last night, I still have a job. I made a huge mistake leaving with you.”
    His tension increased ever so slightly, and he continued to remind her of a watchful panther debating whether or not to take down his prey. “Which was your mistake? Leaving with me…or leaving with a couple mil worth of the Fontaines’ jewelry? I suspect both the Fontaines, as well as your agency, won’t be too pleased. If you’d like, I can place a couple of calls and get you off the hook.”
    Francesca frowned in confusion. “What agency?” she asked, before waving that aside. “Oh, never mind. More to the point, where’s the jewelry?”
    Sev gestured toward the diamond-and-amethyst pieces glittering on the bedside table. “Relax. Everything’s safe and sound, and more importantly, undamaged.”
    “Thank God.”
    She scooped up the set with exquisite care. Since she didn’t have the jewelry cases on her, she could only think of one safe place to put them, and swiftly fastened the pieces to her neck, wrist and ears. It wasn’t until she finished that she sensed Sev’s gaze on her. His hungry look deepened and made her acutely aware that she stood before him wearing nothing but the designs she’d created. Tension filled the room, heating the air between them.
    Her job! How could she have forgotten…again? The thought propelled her to action. She caught a glimpse of lilac panties peeking from beneath the pleated edge of the dust ruffle and snatched them up before exiting the bedroom. To her dismay Sev followed right behind, wearing even less than she.
    The instant they hit the living room, Sev’s cell phone emitted a faint buzz from the direction of the coffee table. This time he picked it up and answered it. “What?” His gaze flickered in her direction. “Say that name again? You’re certain?”
    She spared him a swift glance, concerned by the sudden