Page 16 of Back in Black

“Deal. We’ll keep things fully clothed. How’s that?”

She gave one brisk nod.

“But I have a condition. Whatever it is you want me to do can’t start for a few days. I’ll need time to rearrange my schedule. And I want to know up front everything you have planned.” With a little warning, he could rearrange the less desirable appearances without her ever knowing.

“Of course.” She nodded toward her briefcase. “I have a detailed strategy all mapped out. Once we put our heads together and compare time frames, I’m sure we can make everything work.”

“Then it’s a deal.” Drew started for her, and even though he didn’t want to admit it, the thought of tasting her skin left him edgy and taut.

She held up a hand. “I have a condition also.”

Damn it. He should have known. “Let’s hear it.”

“When in public, whether on arranged publicity or not, I want you to refrain from using objectionable four-letter words.”

And so it begins. For Drew, a word was a word. He couldn’t see why everyone got so hyped up over it. “Like? Give me an example of what you consider objectionable.”

Suspicion tightened her features. “Drew Black, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Sorry, I don’t.” Would she say it? He hoped so. Gillian Noode could use some loosening up. He was just the man to help her with that. “Be more precise.”

“Fine.” Proving she had plenty of backbone, she said, “I’ll compile a list for you and present it to you at our next meeting.”

Drew couldn’t help but laugh. “Gillian, you little prude. You can’t even say it, can you?” He eased closer, coaxing her. “Come on, lady. Let me hear you say it. Whisper it in my ear if that helps.”

Seconds passed, and then a devilish light shone in her bright blue eyes. “All right.”

“Really?” His pulse thrummed in excitement. Damn, he was getting easy when something like this turned him on. “Well, come on then.”

Wearing the slightest of smiles, Gillian sashayed up to him, put her small hands on his shoulders, and went on tiptoe. Her breasts pressed into his chest.

With her lips all but touching his ear, she breathed,“Fuck.”

She eased back to her heels and looked at him.

Ridiculous as it seemed, he felt the stirrings of a boner. “I like how you say that.”

“Thank you.” She looked very pleased with herself, as if she’d somehow put him in his place.

That wouldn’t do.

To keep her close, Drew put his hands on her waist. “What I’d really like is to hear you screaming it. In bed. You know, as in, ‘Fuck me, Drew.’”

Her smug expression faded beneath embarrassment. She moved away from him—and he felt like a jerk.

“Gillian . . .”

She didn’t let him speak. “Hellanddamnaren’t too horrible, if used in moderation and in certain situations within a defined audience.” She kept her back to him as she put a lot of distance between them. “But you’d do well to avoidson of a bitchandbastard, too. Oh, and calling womenbroads.” Turning back to him now that half a room separated them, she shook her head in a pitying way. “That term is so Neanderthal, Drew, it has hair on it.”

Tension spiking, Drew rubbed the back of his neck. Somehow, his plans had gone awry in a big way. He needed to get things back on track. “Fine. So now that I know what I can and can’t say, what’s first on the agenda?”

She seated herself at the table again and shuffled through her papers until she found a brochure. She handed it to him.

“What’s this?”

“I’ve been in contact with the director of this local group. They work with troubled teenage boys. Many of them have horrid home lives. They need something to aspire to.”

Huh. Not a heinous task at all. Drew could see the merit in giving at-risk kids some guidance. Some of the fighters had joined the sport to harness their anger over an abusive background. Some had gotten into it to escape the trappings of poverty. The SBC was a family that supported, encouraged, and rewarded.

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