Page 13 of Back in Black

“Because I bet you look sexy as hell loosened up a bit, don’t you, Gillian?”

Her stomach fluttered and her breath caught.Get a grip, Gillian. Standing her ground, she thrust her chin up and glared at him. “You are outrageous.”

“I know. But it’s still true. You look hot all spruced up, but I’m betting you look even better freshly tumbled.”

He found her sexy?Freshly tumbled?Gillian shook her head to clear it. “Enough of that, Drew. We have business to discuss. Important business.”

“That we do.” He looked into her eyes, and his were so dark, so filled with purpose, that she felt herself falling. “But we’ve got all night, don’t we?”

All night.What did he mean?

He said nothing more, but Gillian was so aware of him, her every nerve ending started to tingle.

As he reached around her, she found herself leaning in—and caught his small smile.

“Have a seat.”

The fog cleared. He’d . . . pulled out a chair at the table for her? And she’d thought . . .

Heat rushed into Gillian’s face, but she tried to pretend it hadn’t. Her voice trembled, ruining her crisp tone when she said, “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” He circled around to a fancy bar situated in the corner of the dining room. “Drink?”

“No, thank you.” Obviously she needed her wits about her to deal with him.

“I ordered dinner. It’ll be here in an hour. If you’re hungry now, I could grab something to snack on.”

She shook her head. “I’m fine. Thank you.” In fact, given her overboard reaction to him, she’d do well to get this done and skip dinner completely. She tried a smile. “Maybe we can get started?”

“I’d love to.”

Now why did that sound so sexual? Maybe it was that expression of his that accompanied the words.

She started to speak, and he said, “Fran told me they’re paying you well.”

Sensing a trap, Gillian went still. Cautiously, she masked her expression and took the time to consider her response. She did make a ton of money, and she had no reason to be embarrassed about it.

She put her shoulders back. “With my record of success, I now earn a top-of-the-line wage.” Without modesty, she added, “That’s because I’m the very best at what I do.”

Ignoring what she said, Drew slouched in the hard seat and studied her. “Outrageous, I think is how Fran described it. She said she’s paying you an outrageous amount of money.”

Unwilling to let him bully her, Gillian got out her paperwork, set it neatly aside, and folded her hands on the tabletop. “Your point?”

“You don’t want to lose this job.”

“Ha!” An understatement, but surely he had more at stake than she did. “Youcan’t afford the repercussions if I should quit.”

“Touché.” His gaze warmed. “So we both want this . . . arrangement to work, agreed?”

Bantering with Drew Black was like playing with fire—tricky, and she could get burned so easily. Warily, Gillian said, “I suppose that’s a fair statement.”

So much satisfaction showed in his expression, Gillian felt like running.I will not let him get to me.

The corners of his mouth curled up. “The thing is, if you quit, or if you can’t handle the heat, Fran will just find herself another broad to harass me. But she won’t shit-can me, Gillian. She and Loren might not want to admit it, but they need me.”

Gillian feared he was right. Even while ranting about his less-than-sterling qualities, Fran Ferrari had extolled his business virtues. “I can see thatyoubelieve it.” His conceit knew no boundaries.

“Iknowit. They might have funded this venture, but I’m the one who made it worthwhile. I’m the one who took a floundering organization and turned it into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.”

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