and throaty while it said dirty, improper things and begged him to do those things. Also sexy because he loved a challenge and could read between the lines very well. His old research partner was telling him that the building was not the only thing he was no longer allowed entry into. Jay almost snorted. Shit. As if he hadn’t already known that. If her having disappeared by the time he’d come out of the bathroom the next morning hadn’t been enough of a clue, her ignoring his voice mail messages and e-mails had been.
Jay studied her. She was small, dark, and gorgeous. It was hard to believe that someone so delicate could be so dangerous. But she was; she was deadly. He did the only thing he could do. He gave her a grin cocky enough to ruffle her perfect feathers and said slowly, “What’s up, Doc?”
Victoria turned around and marched toward a table on the other side of the lab. She needed to get away from that flash of white teeth against brown skin—the perfect smile. “I’m busy, Mr. Banerjee,” she said over her shoulder.
Jay smiled. “Now, darlin’,” he chided softly while he watched those long, slim legs and images of them straining against the palms of his hands and high into the air as he filled her exploded in his mind. “After what we’ve been through together, don’t you think it’s about time you call me Jay? All my friends do, especially the ones I’ve fucked.”
Victoria stiffened at his crudeness but didn’t address it. “What I think,” she said and turned to face him again, “is that you are not supposed to be here. I won’t even ask how you got in.”
Jay pulled his gaze up to her face and told himself not to sink into those pretty amber eyes of hers. He grinned again and made his way over to her, his long, easy stride in direct contrast to her hurried one from moments earlier. “Yeah, it’s best that you don’t. Anyway, I want to talk to you, Doc. And since you haven’t returned any of my phone calls,” he said as he gave in to his need and reached out a finger to tangle it in one of her curls. “I like it like this,” he murmured absently as he let more fingers slip in and out of the strands, “all short and sassy and soft…just like you.” He felt her go completely still and smiled and let his hand drop. She wasn’t as unaffected as she wanted him to think. Good.
Victoria let the breath she wasn’t aware she’d been holding shudder out when he dropped his hand. “Well?” she finally asked when he remained quiet for so long.
“Well what, darlin’?”
Victoria sighed. The man was going to be the death of her. He certainly wasn’t reserved and conservative —not like most of the other South Asian Indian men she’d met, and she’d met plenty of them in her chosen career. But Sanjay had been born and raised in Athens, Georgia, and from what little she knew of his family, they were pretty Americanized—at least he seemed to be, anyway. “What do you want, Sanjay?”
Jay stopped studying her hair long enough to answer her question. “Well now, that’s a pretty loaded question, Doc. I mean, here it’s been…what? Four months since we last saw or even spoke to one another —not for any lack of trying on my part, by the way—and you ask me that question? Why, if he didn’t know you too well, the man that answered that question might think you’ve just left yourself wide open to the possibilities of his answer.” While his voice remained slow and easy, his eyes told a different story. They were furious. “But he should know better, shouldn’t he?”
Victoria folded her arms. “All right, fine. It’s about time we had this confrontation anyway. Just say what you’ve come to say, Sanjay, and then leave before I call down to security.”
“You’d do it too, wouldn’t you?” Jay demanded. “Of course you would. You’re the quintessential stick-up-her-ass boss lady who never has a hair out of place. You were the same when I worked with
The Jilting of Baron Pelham