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masculine cologne and sweat mingling with her raspberry tea. A shiver tingled through her and her eyes fluttered closed. She inhaled the memory of Ethan.
    So real.
    Too real.
    Her eyes snapped open.
    A shadow fell across her desk. She didn’t look up.
    “So you really like my butt?” Ethan’s rumbling voice filled her workspace.
    Mortification seared her. She scrolled through the text on her computer screen as if he hadn’t even spoken.
    He sat on the edge of her desk as he’d done at least a hundred times before. “Well, I like your smile. And I’m mad as hell at myself for having done something to take it away.”
    Damn, he was good. Already she could feel her anger melting like a bowl of her favorite rocky road ice cream left in the sun.
    “You’ve earned this assignment, Kelly. I had no right to tamper with that.”
    She studied her still fingers on the keyboard and mumbled, “As if you could.”
    “Ah, that’s right. I need to ‘get over myself.’”
    His ability to laugh at himself made him all the more appealing and she could almost hate him for that. Sure he showed that fine butt of his on occasion, but once her anger had cooled she knew he’d been trying to protect her feelings—in his own man-dense kind of way.
    Sort of sweet, actually. And gorgeous. And smelling so good she wanted to crawl over the desk to bury her face in his jacket.
    Ethan hitched his knee farther on her desk and moved closer. “I looked over the data on Morrow’s disappearance this afternoon and came to a conclusion.”
    He might as well have dangled a carrot in front of her. No way could she resist. “And?”
    “Hatch was right about us as a team.”
    She looked up at him. “Really?”
    “I’m okay with foreign languages conversationally.” Ethan scooped up her paperweight again. “Written translations, however, are not my strong suit. And I sure as hell don’t speak as many languages as you do.”
    She crossed her arms over her chest. “So you need me.”
    Ethan went still. His eyes fell from her face, lower. He couldn’t be looking at her breasts?
    He glanced away, replacing the paperweight. “A goodfield operative needs to know his or her limitations. Which means you have to accept I have something you need, too.”
    “You do?” she asked, her breasts suddenly warm and heavy beneath her crossed arms.
    He swallowed, long and slow, before his eyes locked firmly on her face. “Things could turn ugly at that summit ball. You have to be able to defend yourself. I need to know you can defend yourself or I won’t be able to concentrate on my end of the operation.”
    “Okay.” Feet planted, she heeled her office chair back for distance from the draw of those sapphire eyes. “I’ll log in extra training hours.”
    “Not good enough. If you’re going to be ready in two weeks, it’ll take more than a few extra agency courses. I require a personal reassurance my partner can protect herself, and even watch my back, too. I’ll only have that if I take part in the training 24/7.”
    Kelly scrambled to follow the conversational thread with the scent of him filling her tiny cubicle. She needed air. She needed space.
    She needed another partner.
    Ethan canted forward. “I think we should live together.”

Chapter 3
    “L ive together?”
    If Kelly’s horror-filled eyes were anything to gauge by, Ethan guessed he was being subjected to a crash course in “getting over himself.” His bruised ego would have to move aside. He had to convince her to move in with him so his Aunt Eugenie could orchestrate a makeover in a way that wouldn’t hurt Kelly’s tender feelings and he would be one step closer to securing the file on his parents.
    Ethan reached to stop her chair before she backpedaled into the next cubicle. “Hear me out.”
    She smacked his hand away. “If this is your idea of revenge for what I said this afternoon, it’s not funny.”
    “Kelly, this afternoon was,” he paused, “surprising. It’s not