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“You’ll definitely create a stir, so why not?”

“A stir?” he asked when they stood on the concrete in front of his truck.

“Oh come on, Ty. You have to know you’re attractive. The women I work with will drool all over themselves at”—she waved a hand to encompass his body—“all the muscles and plaid masculinity you’ve got going on.”

“Plaid masculinity?” She was amusing him now.

“Lumberjack is probably more accurate. You’ve got that plaid shirt unbuttoned over a T-shirt, the scruff of a beard, and you look like you chopped a cord of wood before breakfast.”

He snorted as they walked toward the elevators. “I live in an apartment. No wood chopping, I’m afraid.”

“Too bad,” she declared as they stepped into the elevator. She punched the button to take them to the eighth floor and then leaned back against the steel wall to study him.

He liked that she was looking at him now. That she wasn’t avoiding him. He had a sudden picture of stepping into her, pressing her back against the elevator wall, and feeling her soft curves against his body. Then he’d thread his fingers in hers and lift her hands to press them against the wall. When he had her there, he’d press his mouth to her neck and listen to her intake of breath as he skimmed his lips up her soft skin before taking her mouth in a hot, wet kiss.

“Uh-oh,” she said teasingly. “You look like you’re suddenly wishing you were anywhere but here. Not that I blame you.”

He shook himself back to reality. “Not at all.”

“Right.” She looked like she didn’t believe a word he said.

He had a sudden urge to shake her up just a little. “Actually, I was wishing I could see if your lips are as soft as they look.”

She blinked. Her cheeks flushed pink. Then her eyes flashed. “Don’t you dare,” she said, her voice quavering with sudden emotion. “Don’t you dare say such a thing to me when we both know you don’t mean it.”

“How do you know what I mean?” he growled at her. “Are you inside my head?”

She turned away, breaking eye contact. Her arms were folded tightly over her chest. “I don’t like being teased about something like that, okay?”

Frustration was beginning to hammer at him. “Again, who said I didn’t mean what I fucking said, Cassie?”

The elevators glided to a stop on the eighth floor and the doors opened into a hallway. He stalked out and waited for her to join him. When the doors whisked closed again, he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder before she could walk toward the frosted glass doors that said Elite Events across them.

She spun to face him, her eyes wide and vulnerable. And hurt?

Something in him snapped. He pushed her back against the wall, a hand on her hip while the other tipped her chin up and forced her to look at him.

“I think you’re fucking sexy, Cassie Dixon. I don’t know what kind of crazy ass shit you’ve got going on in your head, but there’s not anything about your body I don’t like. It’s true I didn’t notice you in high school. I’m noticing you now. I haven’t gotten you out of my head for a single minute since I saw you again yesterday.” He leaned into her just a little and inhaled her sweet, floral scent. “Maybe this is too much to say, but I’m going to say it anyway. I’d love to strip you out of that cute skirt and spend a few hours exploring that lush body of yours. So you think about that the next time you want to tell me I’m making shit up, okay?”