Play Thing

She stared at him, dazed, but the faint pink in her cheeks indicated he’d hit the mark by articulating just how incredible it had been between them.

‘You expect us to work together and pretend like nothing happened?’

She’d lost the biting, sarcastic edge and it gave him hope.

‘I don’t know about you, but I’m not that good a pretender.’ He steepled his fingers together and rested them on the desk, trying to project a professional picture, when forgetting what they’d done in that warehouse was the furthest thing from his mind.

Seeing her again, sitting opposite him in her conservative work attire, only made him want to see what was under it all the more. Would she be wearing lace? Satin? Or that risqué leather again?

Damn, not helping the hard-on situation.

‘But doing the best job I can for this company is important to me and I want you to work alongside me to achieve that goal. Can you do it?’

He half expected her to tell him to stick his offer. To tender her resignation and sue the pants off him.

Instead, after a long pause where she studied him with disconcerting intensity, she nodded.

‘I can do this if you can.’

Hot damn, that almost sounded like a challenge.

As if she thought he couldn’t work with her without reverting to the horny caveman he’d been yesterday. He’d show her.

But in agreeing to keep this all business, he’d be deprived of some serious pleasure.

Their first encounter had been colossal.

What would prim Charlotte be like if she really let go?

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHARLOTTE LEFT THE office in a daze. She couldn’t return to her desk to focus on work and pretend her carefully ordered world hadn’t just been tipped on its head.

She’d had sex with her new boss.

Not just sex. Amazing, stupendous, multi-orgasmic sex. The kind of sex she’d only ever read about but never dreamed could happen for real.

As she walked aimlessly in the bright Sydney sunshine, she remembered one of the last things she’d said to her flatmate Mak before she’d left to take Broadway by storm.

‘I need a bad boy. Some big, bold, annoying, arrogant guy to rattle my cage.’

Well, she’d got her wish and then some.

In what weird alternate universe, in what giant cosmic twist of fate, did she have the best sex of her life only to discover she’d have to work alongside the hot guy who’d rocked her world? The guy who held her dream of owning her perfect house in the palm of his hand and had the power to make or break it with a snap of his talented fingers?

It didn’t seem possible. But it was and now Alexander Bronson expected her to work with him and act like he hadn’t been inside her in the most intimate way?

Impossible. Improbable. Improper.

Because Charlotte couldn’t forget, despite what she’d told him.

She blamed him, for saying all that stuff about how badly he’d wanted her and how he couldn’t control himself around her. As if she were some glamorous femme fatale who inspired that kind of passion in a man. She wished.

There’d been a moment when she’d first seen him behind his desk, an infinitesimal moment, where she’d seen hunger in his eyes. As if he still wanted her. It should have sent her running. It didn’t.

For the simple fact she liked feeling wanted.

Men didn’t turn their heads to stare as she walked down the street. She didn’t inspire sexist wolf whistles or lewd comments. And the one and only time she’d succumbed to searching for a date online, she’d taken down her profile from the app after a day when she’d received a mortifying two less-than-stellar requests.

Besides, she valued her job. She needed her job. And she couldn’t walk away now, not when she was so close to realising one of her long-held dreams.

Having nomadic parents, being raised by a kooky aunt, meant Charlotte craved security like nothing else. And the quirky cottage on the outskirts of Sydney that she’d fallen in love with represented that to her.

A home.

A house all of her own, where she could establish the life she wanted before following the rest of her dreams: a husband, kids, the works. Charlotte wanted it all and knew the only way she could make it happen was to go after it.

It wouldn’t be easy, finding her perfect guy. She knew this, considering she’d have to date regularly to discover what she really wanted in a man and her track record in the dating stakes had been abysmal until now. But the house was a first step in the right direction and somehow, with her twisted logic, she thought that once she had the house she could set about finding a guy happy to live in it.

She almost had enough for a deposit, enough for the bank to take her seriously for a hefty loan application. Just another fortnight and she could start living her dream.

But to do so, she had to tolerate working with Alexander Bronson.

‘You can do this,’ she muttered, kicking at a stone on the footpath, as her cell buzzed in her pocket.

She fished it out, her palms growing clammy as his name popped up on the screen. She’d entered it the moment she’d left his office, ensuring she could ignore his calls if needed.

But this wasn’t a call; he’d sent a text.

Have ordered morning tea for staff. Please pick up the order from Le Miel on your way back.

Will be good to have staff bonding session.

Alex

Charlotte muttered an unsavoury curse under her breath and shoved her cell back in her pocket. She didn’t need a staff bonding session. She’d already bonded with her boss and it had been so damn monumental she couldn’t forget it.

Le Miel was a café they often used for work functions, and she figured he’d probably got the recommendation from the receptionist. Heading there would be good—she needed a friendly ear and Abby was a great listener. Though what her friend would say when she heard about the events of the last few days... Charlotte picked up the pace. The faster Abby talked sense into her, the better.

Ten minutes later, she had two bags filled with Abby’s delectable pastries ready to take back to the office. But she couldn’t leave without talking to her friend so she perched at her favourite table, ordered a cappuccino and waited.

Abby always popped out from the kitchen when she visited, which was several times a week. Charlotte couldn’t resist her friend’s melt-in-the-mouth beignets, croissants and pain au chocolat, eternally grateful for her fast metabolism that ensured a thirty-minute walk a day burned off the calories.

That leather bustier yesterday had been tighter than her usual size—a moderate B cup—so maybe she should lay off... She stopped eyeing up a giant almond croissant and sipped at her coffee instead, wishing she hadn’t thought about that damn lingerie. She blamed it for her entire lapse in judgement. That, and Alex’s inherent hotness.

Alex.

That was what he’d said to call him. Informal, casual, implying intimacy.

Hell, it was going to be a tough four weeks, waiting until the wunderkind yanked the accountancy firm out of the mire. It could only be a good thing, ensuring she had a job to support her impending loan. But four weeks of working alongside the guy who’d haunted her dreams last night would be torture.

‘Hey, Char, what brings you by this time of day?’ Abby collapsed into the chair opposite after placing a plate of freshly baked strawberry tartlets on the table between them. ‘Your firm only ever orders afternoon tea and only then infrequently.’

‘The new boss is trying to suck up to the employees.’

Abby smiled. ‘So how is the boss from hell? Is he as intimidating in person as he was on the phone to you all these weeks?’

She’d whined about Alex for weeks—his condescending teasing, his constant demands, his infernal tasks—and Abby had been a sympathetic ear. Which would make what she had to divulge all the more shocking. Her friend would think she’d lost her mind.

‘Uh... Alex is good.’

Abby’s eyebrows shot up. ‘That’s interesting.’

‘What?’

‘You’ve never called him anything other than nasty names before. What’s with the breathy tone? Is he hot?’

‘You don’t know the half of it,’ Charlotte muttered, wishing she’d grabbed the morning tea order and made a run for it.

Abby grinned and rubbed her hands together. ‘I sense a story.’

‘Yeah, a horror story.’ Charlotte sighed and internally debated how much to tell her friend.

‘That bad, huh?’ Abby patted her hand. ‘Why don’t you tell dear Abby all about it?’

Charlotte usually laughed at her friend’s corny joke whenever she used that line. She barely mustered a wan smile today.

‘I had sex with him.’

The tartlet Abby had halfway to her mouth fell to the floor and landed upside down with a small splat. ‘What did you just say?’

‘You heard me.’ Charlotte grimaced, hating the way her stomach churned. She could have blamed it on hunger, considering she hadn’t eaten a thing since last night, but she knew better. ‘I did something crazy yesterday and now the karma gods are paying me back big time.’

Abby gaped at her and she didn’t blame her. Charlotte hadn’t had a date in all the time she’d known her so the fact she’d just announced she’d had sex with her boss would be as unbelievable as flying to the moon.

‘I think you better start at the beginning.’ Abby grabbed a serviette, scooped up the smashed tartlet, and placed it on the table. ‘Though you’ll have to make it the quick version because I’ve got another batch of croissants in the oven.’

Charlotte inhaled a breath and blew it out. Yeah, like that would calm her nerves. Thinking about what she’d done was bad enough. Articulating it would make it all too real.

‘Short version. My aunt got called away to Byron Bay to help a sick friend. She had to urgently vacate the warehouse she rents to store her merchandise and asked me to do it. So I was there, packing stuff, when the hottest guy on the planet walked in and we ended up having sex.’

Jeez, it did sound crazier spoken out loud.

Abby, astute as ever, eyed her with speculation. ‘You’re not telling me everything. Why would you have sex with some random stranger, hot or otherwise?’

Heat flushed Charlotte’s cheeks as she remembered exactly how hot sex with Alex had been. The way he’d looked at her, the way he’d touched her, the way he’d pounded into her...her insides clenched at the incredible, erotic memory. ‘Well, I was in a weird mood, lamenting my rather pitiful social life, so decided to try on some of the lingerie.’

Abby let out a whoop of laughter. ‘No way. He walked in on you?’

‘In faux leather, no less. Bustier and thong. A real eye-opener.’ Her sardonic response elicited more laughter.

‘So you’re blaming the lingerie?’

‘If only.’ Charlotte shook her head, wishing she could blame her lapse in judgement on something so trivial. ‘The lingerie made me feel bold but it was more than that...he really looked at me and I liked it.’

‘Oh, sweetie.’ Abby leaned over and hugged her. ‘You’re beautiful. The guy has good taste.’

She snorted. ‘I’m average at best and he must have thought I was easy in that get-up.’

Abby frowned and tut-tutted. ‘Why do you put yourself down like that?’

‘Habit,’ Charlotte wanted to say, but she wisely kept silent. Abby had always chastised her for being self-pitying and Charlotte agreed it wasn’t an attractive trait. Didn’t mean it stopped her from lamenting her lack of a love life in her quieter moments.

‘Anyway, I lost my head, had the best sex of my life, then walk into my new boss’s office this morning and realise he’s the hot-sex guy.’

‘I can’t believe this.’ Abby’s eyes widened, her expression awestruck. ‘It’s like something out of those romance novels you devour.’

‘I know, right?’ Charlotte couldn’t help but smirk. ‘Who knew I had an inner vixen?’

Abby squared her shoulders, her nod emphatic. ‘Well, I think it’s great. About time you had some fun.’

‘It’s not going to happen again.’

Despite that tiny, insistent voice deep inside that whispered how great it would be to feel that good again.

‘How did he react when he saw you this morning?’

‘Not surprised.’

Abby startled. ‘You mean he knew? About you working for him?’

Charlotte nodded, anger quashing her momentarily lapse into wistful. ‘Yeah. He’s good at his job. Has a mega reputation in the accountancy world for taking ailing firms and turning them around. So he researched me. In his defence, he said he didn’t recognise me—’

‘I bet he didn’t,’ Abby chortled.

‘I’d taken my hair down and my glasses off before trying on the lingerie, trying to get into some vampy character to see if I’d feel any different, so I guess I didn’t look anything like my work picture.’ She dabbed at pastry crumbs with her fingertip, pushing them around the plate, embarrassed to admit how she’d been role playing for a brief moment in time at that warehouse. ‘He said he only recognised me later, when I used a phrase I’ve been using a lot in our business dealings.’

‘Well, I’m assuming it wasn’t take me now?’

Charlotte shot Abby a death glare and she laughed.

‘He sounds like a bad, bad boy, not telling you the truth immediately when he recognised you.’ Abby snapped her fingers. ‘Hey, isn’t that what you said you wanted before Mak left, a bad boy?’

‘Yeah, be careful what you wish for.’ Charlotte rolled her eyes. ‘Now I have to work with that bad boy for a month and pretend he didn’t rock my world. Several times.’

Abby beamed. ‘You go, girl.’

Charlotte managed a wry smile. ‘The only place I’m going right now is back to work with some of your amazing pastries, so the ratfink can try and buy us off with treats.’

Abby’s smile faded. ‘You’ll be okay, yeah? Working with him?’

‘I’ll be fine,’ Charlotte said, hoping her conviction lasted when faced with the prospect of working one-on-one with her dishy boss for the foreseeable future.

CHAPTER EIGHT

ALEX FOUND HIS gaze drifting to the elevator all too often as he mingled with staff in their cubicles. Charlotte should have been back by now and the longer she stayed away, the more he wondered whether she had done a runner.

Not that she struck him as the flighty type. Not if her work record was any indication. But if she’d been half as rattled as him after their earlier meeting...

Damn, he hadn’t expected to be so affected by her. He’d been prepared to make his confession, ensure she understood and move on to work. He hadn’t expected to be so confused.

His visceral reaction to seeing her again startled him. His gut had griped like he’d drunk too much fine cab sav when he’d seen her in that professional get-up. There’d been nothing remotely sexy about her skirt, blouse and jacket, but when she’d looked at him—albeit in stunned horror—he’d felt it like a kick in the head.

It had something to do with her eyes. Those cool, grey orbs held a world of secrets and he’d love to discover each and every one.

Yeah, like that was going to happen.

Alex had a job to do. Turn this company around. And Charlotte was a big part of making that happen.

As if thoughts of her had conjured her up, the elevator doors slid open and she stepped out, laden bags in each hand. The staff clearly looked forward to Le Miel’s delights because they flocked to her, quickly taking the bags and heading for the mini conference room where they’d set up cutlery and crockery.

Her gaze homed in on him like a radar and he felt that kick again. It unsettled him and he reacted with a goofy grin. It didn’t go over well if her raised eyebrow and supercilious expression were any indication.

He crossed the office, determined to set her at ease. They had a lot of work to do. ‘Thanks for picking up the morning tea.’ He gestured towards the conference room. ‘Shall we?’

She didn’t respond, other than a curt nod. He much preferred the warm, willing woman he’d held in his arms yesterday but knew her frosty counterpart would be much more conducive to work.

He followed her into the conference room, not surprised when she kept her distance. He chatted with staff, made small talk, discovering that Edgar had worked here the longest, an impressive twenty-four years, that Suzie had five kids, that Viola would happily take a redundancy to go farm alpacas and that Charlotte was the glue that held everyone together.

Staff raved about her, vindicating his choice to make her the new manager. She had smarts, kindness and respect, three traits that would ensure she excelled in the job.

But appointing her in that role meant they’d be working a lot closer together for his time here. The old manager had been responsible for running the place into the ground almost single-handedly and a lot of work had to be done to ensure it prospered again. He was up for the challenge. Would Charlotte be?

If she could barely stand to be in the same room as him, he doubted it.

As some of the workers drifted back to their cubicles, she finally approached him. ‘You did a good thing with this morning tea, thanks.’

‘Good working relations are important to me.’

Her eyes widened imperceptibly, pinning him with what he’d quickly come to recognise as her signature scepticism.

He hadn’t meant it as anything other than what it was: a declaration to foster a solid work ethic. But she glared at him as if he’d made some gross sexual innuendo.

‘We need to talk,’ he said, making a grand show of glancing at his watch. ‘You’re a team leader here and I need to pick your brains about some of the ideas I’ve been kicking around.’

‘Sure.’ Her brisk nod was as terse as her response. ‘I’ve got clients all afternoon so does first thing in the morning suit?’

Usually, he’d insist they work through dinner but in this case he’d be better off keeping his distance for now.

‘Fine, see you at nine.’

She stared at him a second too long, as if she couldn’t quite figure him out. That made two of them. Because as Charlotte stalked out of the conference room, he couldn’t tear his gaze off her ass, the memory of how it had felt in his hands making his palms tingle.

After all his self-talk, he still wanted her.

Not good.

The smart thing to do would be to lock himself away in his office for the rest of the day, but that plan was shot to shit when he reviewed the latest performance reviews.

Staff cuts would have to be made if certain sectors of the company didn’t start shouldering their load.

Which meant he had to play hardball.

He called the staff back into the conference at one and made his usual speech when he arrived at companies like this one.

‘Thanks for taking a few minutes out of your busy day.’ He pointed at the empty conference table. ‘Sorry I didn’t have time to organise a banquet lunch too.’

A few titters echoed through the group and he continued. ‘As you know, I’m here to ensure The Number Makers becomes a viable company moving forward and the go-to accountancy firm in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. To do that, the profit margins need to improve alongside work productivity.’

He paused, letting the implication sink in. He heard the sharp intake of breaths, the furtive glances, the stricken expressions. This part of his job sucked.

‘I’m still in the process of reviewing all personnel’s billable hours but I won’t sugar-coat this. Cuts may need to be made.’

A paper clip bouncing off the carpet could have been heard at that point, the silence was that profound.

‘Rest assured, that will be my last resort, but I wanted to be upfront with you on the first day so we all know where we stand.’

Feeling like an ogre trampling Lilliputians, he tried his best reassuring smile. By the number of round eyes fixed on him, it didn’t work.

‘I’ll be moving forward with a plan of action over the next week. In the meantime, keep up the good work.’

Damn, that sounded trite and condescending, considering he’d virtually threatened some of their jobs. He’d avoided making eye contact with Charlotte during his little speech but as the staff trickled out of the room, he couldn’t resist.

Her reaction surprised him. That gleam in her eyes almost looked like admiration, before she turned her back and followed her co-workers out.

It gave him hope. Maybe this could work out after all.

If only he could stop staring at her cute ass.

CHAPTER NINE

WHEN ALEX HAD called the staff into the conference room at lunchtime, Charlotte had expected a pep talk.

She’d been impressed by his team-bonding exercise at morning tea and hadn’t been afraid to tell him. It boded well that they’d resorted to polite indifference. She could do this. Work alongside him. Without constantly thinking about how damn incredible he’d felt inside her.

Yikes. That was the fifth time this afternoon she’d let her mind slip back to yesterday. She blamed him. If he didn’t keep strutting around the office looking delectable in a navy suit, pale blue shirt and trendy stripy tie, she wouldn’t be reminded of how hard his muscles had felt beneath that suit when she’d hung on for the ride of her life.

‘Not helping,’ she muttered as she prepared for the last client of the day. A call-up that she usually would have postponed until tomorrow considering she’d officially clocked off thirty minutes ago.

But with Alex’s less than encouraging speech ringing in her ears, she needed to prove her indispensability and what better way than working late?

Her co-workers had skedaddled at five, either too intimidated by Alex’s threatening speech or too stupid to care. Whatever their reasoning, it didn’t affect her. She had a job to do: to prove to the boss she’d inadvertently shagged that she’d become essential to taking the company forward.

Hopefully, taking on an unexpected client and working late would go some way to convincing him she’d do whatever it took to consolidate her position.

She also had an ulterior motive. If she impressed him with her work and appeared keen to toe his new company line, it would show him she’d forgotten their encounter. That it meant little in the grand scheme of their working relationship.

Utter bollocks, but it was her excuse and she was sticking to it.

Her new client turned out to be an ex-rugby league player who needed a new accountant to manage his business interests, a string of lucrative pubs. He dwarfed her office with his height and broad shoulders, which she couldn’t help but notice in the vest top he wore, with shorts that accentuated well-toned legs.

In the past she’d surreptitiously ogle a guy like this, lamenting the fact he’d never notice a girl like her beyond her mathematical skills. But today, something had changed. The client openly flirted with her—and she enjoyed it.

Maybe the wild sex she’d had with Alex had given her a much-needed confidence boost, maybe wearing sensuous satin underwear for the first time made her meet the guy’s eye when she’d usually look away. Whatever it was, she liked feeling this empowered. It boded well for chasing her dream.

‘You’ve done a great job with keeping accurate records.’ She turned the computer screen towards him. ‘This is the program we use so whatever you need, don’t hesitate to get in touch.’

His wolfish smile revealed a row of startlingly white teeth. ‘Does that include calling you after hours?’

Her inner vixen did a little shimmy that he’d be remotely interested in her ‘after hours’.

Her inner accountant shut down that vapid vixen quick smart.

‘I’m available to answer your accountancy questions from nine ’til five.’

‘Pity,’ he said, his grin widening. ‘If you ever fancy a drink, drop by one of my pubs and the staff will let me know you’re around.’