oh-so-briefly. âMy career and I have an understanding.â
âWhen it gets you laid?â
âIs that what you think this is about?â He looked genuinely wounded. âSex?â
Doubt crept in at the corners. âUnless youâre proposing a rollicking game of chess?â
âSomething tells me youâd be quite good at chess,â he murmured. âIâm talking about exploration. A bit of good old-fashioned groping. Tangling tongues and heavy breathing. When was the last time you had that?â
Ahâ¦no. Not a question she was going to answer. âYouâre assuming rather a lot, donât you think?â
âYou still havenât asked me to leave.â
The simple truth of that stripped Izzy bare. He was flirting and she was, too, in her own clunky way. They were standing in a darkened, tiny bedroom close enough to get right into that groping without even needing to reach. They no longer had any kind of professional relationship to protect or reputation to preserve. She knew him well enough to know he wasnât some kind of weirdo or monster. And there was a strange kind of hormonal haze going on thanks to the intriguing fingertip preview of the hard body under his McQueen business shirt.
He was offering her a few hours of healthy distraction and making it clear that it didnâthave to end in sex and, most importantly, he was exactly the right kind of guy for a one-night-only appearance.
And she wasnât throwing him out.
âA good time but not a long time? Is that it?â she murmured.
âA great time, Izzy,â he clarified, âbut noâ¦not a long time.â
Yes, yes, yes, her three champagnes ganged up to whisper violently in her ear. But everyone knew champagne was a tart.
âBecause you have your career?â
âBecause Iâm not looking for a relationship.â
âBut youâre open to a fun night.â
âThatâs up to you, Iz.â
Izâ¦
That one diminutive sealed her fate, seducing her with its simple masculinity and emboldening her with its intimacy. That one diminutive made it easier to imagineâto stick her fingers in her ears and go la la la for a few hoursâthat they knew each other even vaguely well enough for what he was proposing. For what she suddenly realised she was contemplating.
And was desperately, obscenely hungry for. And maybe always had been.
What was there to know? He was gorgeous,he was Australian, he smelled like a god. What if he kissed like one, too? And what if she never found out, first hand? And she wouldnât because, without turning up in his building at eight every morning, this was the last she was ever going to see of infuriating Harry Mitchell.
Intriguingly sexy Harry Mitchell.
Maybe he was right about their office bickering, maybe it was just the only work-appropriate way for the chemistry to get out.
Because she could sure feel it now, surging like a tidal current between them, urging her closer, urging her to say yes. Urging her to give in to the speculative curiosity she suddenly realised sheâd always had about him.
âCan I touch your suit?â she asked, eyes not quite meeting his. Not believing sheâd asked.
âMyâ¦suit?â
She ignored his rich chuckle and stretched her fingers towards the same jacket heâd been wearing on Wednesday. He stood perfectly still as they feathered down onto the curve of his shoulder and even stiller when she flattened them against his breast.
Her suspended breath released on a strangled half groan. âItâs beautiful.â
Those blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. âDid you just climax?â
âI wanted to do this on Wednesday,â she confessed, smiling.
âWell, youâre in luck. You can do whatever you want to me tonight.â
Whatever you wantâ¦
Her fingers curled back into a fist of their own volition and she reluctantly lowered it.
âThis is