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innocent. But Michael knew the truth. Kate had sent him into the lion’s den. “I talked to your parents.”
    Her eyes rounded. “Oh. How’d it go?” she asked in a tone entirely too casual.
    He followed her around the couch. “How do you think it went?”
    She bit the inside of her lip. “I can only imagine.”
    He put his hands on either side of her, trapping her and forcing her to meet his gaze. “I want her on my negotiations team for my next merger.”
    Kate laughed breathlessly. “Piece of cake?”
    “Why didn’t you warn me?”
    “You seemed so confident. So when’s the wedding? Next year?”
    “Two weeks,” he corrected and watched her eyes widen in surprise. He lifted his hand to touch her jaw. “She wanted six months. You weren’tusing this as a ploy to procrastinate about marrying me, were you?”
    Kate wiggled slightly beneath his hands and glanced away. “Not really,” she said.
    “Good,” he said, nuzzling her cheek. “My feelings would be terribly hurt,” he told her in a mocking voice.
    She shot him a look of disbelief. “Yeah, right,” she said. “As if feelings would affect you at all once you’ve decided to do something.”
    “I’m glad you understand that about me,” he said. “Because you could put ten of your mother in a room with me by myself and it still wouldn’t stop me from marrying you.” He brushed his lips over hers in a lingering kiss. Damn if he didn’t feel like he’d earned it. “So if this wasn’t a procrastination ploy, what was it? A test?”
    Kate seemed to have trouble removing her gaze from his mouth. “Uh, no.” She forced her gaze to his chin. “It wasn’t really a test.”
    “Then what was it? Really?”
    “I just thought you should know part of what you’re getting into,” she said, her eyelashes forming a sexy shield over her eyes and reminding Michael of all the times he’d wanted to lay her down and take her.
    “Did you honestly think she would scare me off?” he growled.
    “No.” She looked up at him. “I know there isn’t much that scares you.”
    The almost hidden come-hither look in her eyes grabbed at his gut, combining with his frustration over the negotiations with her mother and running into a competitor he detested. Drinking in her scent, he slid his fingers through her silky hair and took her mouth with his. She tasted sweet and forbidden, and kissing her only made him want more of her. Sucking at her bottom lip, he consumed her mouth the way he planned to consume her body.
    He skimmed his hands down her sides and pulled the hem of her skirt up her legs. Cupping her bottom, he rolled his hips against her.
    “What are we doing?” she asked against his mouth.
    “Making love,” he told her. “Every time I think about how good it was between us that night…” He slid his hands beneath her silk panties and swallowed her gasp with his mouth.
    Kate pulled her mouth away, turning her cheek to him. “I—uh—” Her cheeks blooming with color, she seemed to struggle for breath. “This feels kind of fast to me.”
    “This isn’t the first time.”
    “I know, but—” She broke off and raked a hand through her hair. “That was before.”
    “Before what?”
    “Before I knew about your anti-love policy.” She sighed. “You won’t understand this.”
    “Try me.”
    She stepped to the side, putting a little distancebetween them. “Too many hairpin turns. First, I’m your assistant, then we’re lovers for a night, then I’m your assistant again, then I’m pregnant, and I’m not your assistant, then you want to marry me.” She met his gaze. “I need to catch my breath. It all feels a little unreal to me.”
    Michael looked at her and saw the conflicting emotions spilling from her. She was a complex creature. Knowing her as a woman, he thought, would be far different than having her as his assistant. She was a seductive mystery to him. The urge to possess her raged through him, but he reined it in.