Blackmailed By The Boss. Kathryn Ross
This was proving so successful that they’d had to expand the company’s design section.
No, somehow he couldn’t see Charlotte being pleased if her father was to leave the business.
As soon as he stepped out onto the top floor of the office he saw that she was already seated at her desk. He’d half wondered if she would be late this morning. Then he smiled to himself. He should have known better. Charlotte was always in her office bright and early, no matter what. She was a dedicated career girl.
He took a moment to study her now. She seemed completely engrossed in the papers in front of her. Her long blonde hair was piled up on top of her head, exposing the creamy length of her neck. As usual she was dressed in a smart, businesslike black trouser suit, with a white blouse open at the neck. She had a great figure—he allowed himself to remember her soft curves and the long, shapely legs and found himself wanting her all over again. Not a good start, he warned himself with annoyance. He was going to have to play this very carefully.
She glanced up and their eyes collided briefly. Only the pallor of her skin and the faint shadows under her green eyes gave away the fact that she wasn’t entirely at ease. She gave him a brief smile then returned her attention to her work.
Charlotte cursed herself as she fixed her eyes on her papers. Maybe she shouldn’t have smiled? She had been telling herself all morning that she should just act like normal—but what was normal? She couldn’t seem to remember how she usually behaved around Jordan. It was all muddled up in her mind now with memories of red-hot passion last night. Concentrate on work, she told herself fiercely.
At least her designs were taking good shape, she thought, running a critical eye over them. Sometimes it seemed as if she did her best work when she was under duress—maybe because she used work like an escape valve. When she entered her world of interior design she could shut the door on everything and everyone else. Jordan was a bit like that as well; they had remarked long ago that when it came to work they were remarkably similar, both totally dedicated. Which was probably the reason they had worked so well together lately.
Had she jeopardised that last night? Right at this moment Charlotte doubted very much that she could even pretend to be relaxed around him again.
The door of her office opened and she was aware of his dark eyes raking over her even before she glanced up. She held herself very straight, as if she was completely at ease and in control of the situation, and gave him a brief smile. ‘Hi, Jordan. You’re late—the accountant will be in soon and we have those figures to sort out.’ She was pleased at how confident she sounded.
‘Of course I’m late.’ He put down his briefcase and came around to perch on the edge of her desk.
Couldn’t he just use the seat opposite like any other normal person? Charlotte wondered nervously. She felt at enough of a disadvantage this morning without him looming over her like some kind of bird of prey.
‘Some feisty young woman kept me very busy last night.’ His voice was softly teasing.
She felt her skin glow with vivid colour.
There was a moment’s silence, a moment where he waited for her to say something. When she didn’t his eyes moved with thorough gentleness over her upturned face, taking in the colour on her high cheekbones, the softness of her lips. ‘Why did you rush off like that this morning?’ he asked.
She leaned further back in her chair, trying to feign an indifference that she just didn’t feel. ‘Last night was…pleasant, Jordan—’
‘Yes, it was,’ Jordan agreed, a wry gleam in his eyes. ‘Very pleasant.’
‘But we’ve got to work together and I don’t think we should complicate things.’
‘Who said anything about complicating things?’ Jordan shrugged. ‘I’m all for keeping things simple.’
She nodded. ‘Of course.’ She had never for one moment thought that he would read anything serious into last night. ‘Look, I’ll be honest with you, I’m feeling a bit awkward.’ She tried desperately to hold his gaze but failed miserably and had to look away. ‘I’m hoping we can put this…incident behind us and forget about it, go back to the way things used to be.’
Jordan reached out a hand and tipped her chin upwards so that she was forced to meet his eyes. ‘Do you feel guilty about last night because you are still in love with David?’ He asked the question quietly.
The question and the touch of his hand against her skin brought a very heated response coursing through her veins. ‘I don’t think that’s any of your business, Jordan,’ she snapped, pulling away from him.
He shrugged. ‘Well, if you are still holding a torch for David, you’re making a big mistake. The guy is a loser.’
‘And I really don’t need your analysis of David, thank you. You’re hardly a model of perfection where women are concerned yourself.’
Jordan smiled at that. ‘You weren’t complaining last night,’ he said teasingly and watched the even brighter flare of colour in her cheeks.
‘You see! This is exactly why last night was such a mistake,’ she spluttered indignantly. ‘I can’t have you reminding me about it every two minutes we have to work together.’
‘I’m not reminding you about it every two minutes; we were discussing the implications of last night before moving on to the day’s work, like a couple of grown-ups—remember?’
‘Don’t get smart with me, Jordan. There are no implications from last night; it was just two people enjoying a bit of light-hearted fun. So let’s just forget about it and move on. OK?’
‘Fine with me.’ Jordan shrugged.
‘Good.’ She picked up some papers that were sitting beside her. ‘Those are for you; they are the estimates for the soft furnishings.’
‘Great, thanks.’ His voice was dry. ‘I’ll look through them and get back to you.’
‘Good idea.’
‘And I’ve got something for you.’ He opened his briefcase. She thought he was going to pass her some papers that he wanted her to look at. Instead he took out a folded black lacy bra and put it on her desk. ‘It was on the floor in the lounge.’
Mortified beyond belief, Charlotte grabbed it and stuck it in the top drawer of her desk. ‘What are you thinking of?’ she said shakily, glancing around through the glass walls to see if any of her co-workers had noticed. Her office made her feel a bit like she worked in a goldfish bowl—everyone could see what she was doing.
‘Well, I was thinking that you might just be missing your bra,’ he said with a smile.
‘I’ve got to work here, Jordan! I don’t want everyone knowing that I’ve had a moment’s insanity with the boss.’
‘Charlotte, they’d have to have bionic vision to see what that tiny scrap of material is,’ he said with a shake of his head. ‘Relax, for heaven’s sake.’ Before she realised his intention he reached out and tipped her chin up so that she was forced to meet his eyes.
‘And as moments of insanity go it was very, very pleasant,’ he murmured huskily, his eyes moving towards her lips.
Then he released her and walked out of her office. Her heart was thumping. She felt sick inside with the knowledge that she had just handled that situation appallingly. Maybe she should just have laughed the whole thing off instead of acting so uptight?
Breathing deeply to release the tension inside, Charlotte tried very hard to think straight. But her mind was a jumbled mess of words and feelings she couldn’t get a handle on. In desperation she reached for the phone and dialled her sister’s number.
The answering machine came on and she was just about to hang up in complete frustration when Jennifer answered, sounding a bit breathless.
‘Oh, hi, sis. Sorry, I was just attending