Fair Game Read Online Free PDF Page B

obtuse, but yes, that’s how she’d phrased it. “Well, what I meant was that I would be providing the same level of expertise.”
    “So no casual sex?”
    She laughed. “And no dating.” Why didn’t she find his persistence annoying? Duh. She liked the attention. “That would be unprofessional.”
    “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t let your sexual performance affect my judgment about your professional performance. You fuck up this project for me, and your bosses will hear about it in no uncertain terms.”
    It was a challenge. Even if he didn’t mean it that way. He could control his emotions, split himself in half, but was she capable of doing the same? Damn straight, she was. That wasn’t the point, however. “No matter how it shakes down, it’s my job on the line, not yours. I think you’re better off with Little Miss Snowflake.”
    “You know,” he said, “she does have this hot pair of thigh-high leather boots she wears with the shortest damn skirt she can get away with.”
    “Then go for it. You’ll have her eating out of your hand.” Yet there was an odd little hitch in her chest even contemplating the two of them together.
    “I appreciate the vote of confidence.”
    She smiled. “Any time.” Somehow, she’d slipped into an easy familiarity without even realizing it. It didn’t bode well for keeping him at a distance.
    “But,” he added, “somehow I don’t think Kisa could separate business from pleasure.”
    And she could? As in, she came off as more heartless? Or . . . Why in tarnation did this man make her question everything? She was heartless and glad of it. She’d had her heart trashed once, and thankfully it wasn’t something she ever had to put herself through again. Besides, Ian, her college lover, was also her professor, and she’d learned hard and fast about the rule regarding mixing business with pleasure. He’d stolen her senior project, called it his own, and published it in a trade journal. When she confronted him, he actually said most of the work had been his, and he believed it. She could have sued him, but it was easier to let it go, move on, start over.
    “Dump the project,” Kyle said, voice low, seductive. “Give it to someone else.”
    “I can’t.” She wouldn’t. She’d put her blood into getting everything together on Coyote Ridge. No way was she going to let someone else screw it up. Nor was she going to risk losing everything again and having to start over.
    He paused long enough for her to think they’d lost the connection. “You’re right,” he said. “Unfair of me to ask.”
    “Don’t worry.” She might think dirty thoughts about him, fantasize, but she was not crossing that line. But the dirty thoughts were oh-so-fun. She could handle it, handle him , keep her thoughts separate from the job. After all, no one had to know about her little fantasies, not even Kyle.
    “I’ll pick you up tomorrow, as planned.” He paused. “And don’t forget the short skirt.”
    She huffed out a breath. “I am not wearing a skirt and heels to a quarry.”
    “You don’t need heels. Wear your steel-toed boots with the skirt.” She was sure that was a groan from his end. “Now that would be really hot. Girlie, yet dominant.”
    “Forget it. I’ll get dirty and dusty.” Since when had dirt and dust bothered her? His idea made her hot all over.
    “Just do what I tell you, Josie.” This time the dead air was real.
    He was getting to her. Letting her imagination go wild, she fantasized about all the sexy things she could wear to give him heart palpitations. It left her with an odd, giddy sensation fluttering in her chest.
    If she didn’t watch herself, Kyle Perry just might make her break her own rules.
     
     
     
    THAT was asinine. Kyle shut down his computer and started packing up his briefcase. Why the hell had he asked her to give up the project? Way out of line. It sure as hell didn’t sound like keeping business and pleasure separate. Where was his