care?â
âBecause you were a good employee,â he murmureddown at her, all smoky intensity. âMy best.â
Pfff. âWe fought every day.â
He slipped his hands into his trouser pockets and the move effectively pushed him out from the wall and a smidge closer to her. She didnât step back. On principle. This was her domain, tiny as it might be. The scented heat pumping off him pleasantly consumed her.
âYou challenged me every day,â he corrected.
It felt odd testing him now, standing this close and peering up at him. Hardly a position of power. Yet she felt as if the cards were all hers. âYou made some bad decisions.â
It was only when his lips twisted so fully that she remembered what a nice mouth he had. When it wasnât issuing ridiculous demands.
âClearly you thought so. But they were my decisions to make.â
âIf you just want a bunch of yes-men in your department then why are you here, trying to get me back?â
âBecause diversity is apparently healthy in a workforceââ
âNot if itâs only token.â
ââand because, surprising as it might seem, I appreciate spirit in women.â
âLike horses?â She snorted.
He wisely ignored that. âSpirit and brains.â
âUh-huh. So all those times you and I ended up locking horns, that was⦠appreciation making you flush red?â
He did it again now and it added a dangerous kind of gleam to his eyes.
âYou tell me.â
She crossed her arms angrily and it only served to plump her minor cleavage up a tad in the aperture of her blouse when viewed from virtually above. Which, naturally, he took full advantage of. Izzy dropped her hands by her side, instead, to take away his toy. It left his eyes nowhere to go but back to hers, all simmering and smart and way, way too close.
âCome on, Dean,â he purred, âyou canât say ourâ¦discussions didnât give the daily grind a productive boost.â
There were times sheâd have liked to have boosted Harry Mitchell right out of his twelfth-floor window. âStrange as it may seem to you, my productivity goes up when Iâm respected professionally.â
His eyebrows shot up. âYou think I donât respect you?â
âYou donât respect my opinion. Anyoneâs really.â
âDisagreeing with it and not respecting it arenât the same thing. Anyway, occasionally I did agree with you.â
She knew. And werenât those days the most confusing of all? Because he did so unconditionally. And wholeheartedly. She bit her lip and his gaze went straight to the childhood gesture.
âYou know what Iâm starting to think?â he murmured, still checking out the nibble of her teeth on her lips.
âEnlighten me.â
âMaybe all our fighting was just sexual tension in disguise.â
The room was way too small for her bark of a laugh. It fairly ricocheted off the walls. âYou must be joking.â
âNot at all.â He grinned and it was the most predatory sheâd ever seen from him. And smug.
âBecause youâre so irresistible?â
âBecause we have chemistry. I thought it was just me but Wednesday put a big question mark over that.â
No, they didnât. Not chemistry and not Harry Mitchell. Hot or not. âMaybe youâre just projecting your own hormones.â
âYou donât feel it?â
Challenge, not question. As if he already knew the answer. As if she did, too. But they bred them tough in Manchester. She tossed her short hair back. âNot particularly.â
Liar, liarâ¦
âFebruary twenty-first this year,â he challenged. âWe shared the same lift and the end-of-day rush pushed us together at the back. We didnât speak a word to each other and the only uncovered parts of us touching were our ungloved hands.â He stepped a tiny bit closer. âBut