Erin McCarthy - Bad Boys Online

"I've signed the two of you up for online couple counseling!"

Jared's head pulsed so violently he could swear he went momentarily blind.

"Oh!" Candy cleared her throat. "Well, that sounds like a great idea."

It wasn't a great idea. It was a stupid, asinine, garbage-can-full-of-crap idea cooked up by his boss who had temporarily lost his mind due to the onset of male pattern baldness.

"We're not a couple, Harold. We don't need counseling." He tugged on the pant leg of his black suit trousers and tried not to panic.

He didn't want some unlicensed Internet shrink telling him he had the hots for his mother or some other such sick shit.

"Yes, you do. There are unresolved issues between you, maybe some domination control problems from your past life, and I want this resolved before we lose Chunk o' Chocolate." Harold pointed to his computer, sitting on his large masculine cherry desk.

"You're all enrolled, ready to go. This is a three-hour session. You are not to leave my office until you've finished the session and given me the printable certificate of completion."

Jared couldn't breathe. Oh my God, Harold was locking him in the plush corner office with Candy for three hours? Alone? With a touchy-feely counseling session to muddle through?

Maybe he could suddenly develop a fever. Or trip and take his eye out on the corner of Harold's desk.

Trouble. Had he pegged her or what?

Candy watched the horror flash across Jared Kincaid's face with interest. He really didn't like her.

She had joked about it, but it was starting to bother her. Everyone liked her, especially men. She had been born a flirt, had always known how to work a smile and a hair flip. It was in her genes, passed down through the women in her family, and instead of fighting it, she had learned to embrace it.

Candy was proud of her femininity, but even more so of her brain. But just because she had that brain didn't mean she wanted to deny she was a woman. She liked wearing heels, and soft flirty dresses when the occasion warranted, and she liked the casual push-pull between men and women.

She liked to flirt, and she was good at it. Candy knew she in no way qualified as a slut, having slept with only two men by the age of twenty-seven. Nor was she a dick-tease as her ex-husband had once accused her. To her mind, you were a tease only if you let a man touch, then taunted him with no. You were a tease only if you promised him sex, then laughed in his face.

Those were nasty games she wasn't interested in playing. But smiles and friendly conversation, that she couldn't resist. And men responded.

All men except for Jared.

She was starting to take it personally.

Jared was saying coldly, "I don't think I can do that, Harold. I don't see the value in that type of exercise."

Ouch. Probably not the best thing for Jared to say. Candy waited, watching Harold's bowling ball-shaped face turn pink.

"I think there is value. And that's all that matters. Don't make me angry, Jared. We're all about love here at Stratford Marketing."

Jared's jaw twitched. Candy pressed her lips together to prevent laughter from spilling out.

She didn't think Jared was all about love. Jared was all about getting his job done and getting the hell out of the office, from what she could tell. He didn't socialize with any of the staff, and he was downright cold to her.

There was a control, a raw edgy dominating control that flickered in his black eyes, and showed in his rigid stance every time she saw him.

It fascinated her.

And he was gorgeous.

It took a lot to draw Candy's interest. Usually men were falling all over her, in a semi-idiotic tongue-wagging sort of way. Maybe that was the reason her eyes were drawn to Jared over and over again.

When he looked at her, she burned. Deep between her thighs where it mattered.

He always looked away with a flicker of disinterest. He never smiled.

Whereas she knew she tended to look as if the wind had blown her into a room, Jared was impeccable in his black suit and merino blue shirt and tie. His black hair never changed, but was short and smooth with a touch of gel that flipped the front up half an inch.

Jared stared at Harold. "So you're saying I have to do this?"

Harold, bless his confused and misguided heart, said firmly with lips pressed together, "That's what I'm saying."

Candy wasn't looking forward to answering probing questions about past lives and intimacy issues either, but she was looking forward to three hours alone with Jared.

Surely in three hours she could make him smile.

Or groan.

Oh, my, where had that thought come from? Appalled at herself, she shifted in her chair and clenched her thighs together. There was enough energy between them to light up the Chicago skyline for three days and nights.

Or heat up Harold's office for three hours.

"Fine." Jared broke eye contact with Harold and leaned back in his chair, unbuttoning his suit jacket. His casual slouch belied the anger apparent on his face.

Candy smiled. "What a great idea, Harold. Jared and I are going to have so much fun getting to know each other."

In more ways than one if she had any say in it.

Harold nodded. "I thought so too. Here." He turned his laptop around to face them. "You're all set to go. See you in three hours."

"Okay." She gave Harold a little finger wave as he headed for the door.

Harold paused. "Be nice to each other."

"I'm always nice," Jared said in a hard low voice that shivered over Candy.

Exactly how nice could she convince him to be?

Candy knew she should be ashamed of herself. But never, ever had she engaged in a casual affair. Nor had a man ever taken so much as one minute to think about satisfying her. They all looked at her and wanted. No one ever cared about what she wanted.

Since the day Jared had walked into the office two months ago, she had been watching, wishing, imagining he would be different.

Jared was making her crazy, making her so achy and desperate that she was liable to start rubbing up against her desk at work if she didn't find some kind of release soon. Would it be so wrong to indulge a little?

If she could break down Jared's mysterious defenses, she would see he was like any other man, out to please himself, and the urgent need would dissipate. Then they could do the Chunk o' Chocolate ad, and she could get back to concentrating on something other than what his chest would look like bare.

"I'm nice too," Candy reassured Harold as he gave them both a doubtful look.

Then the door closed and they were alone.

Jared did nothing. He sat in his chair without moving a muscle and stared out the window.

"Well, no sense in pouting, Jared." She stood up and leaned over Harold's desk, dragging the laptop toward her. "Let's get started."

If she were completely ignorant of her own sexuality, she would have no idea that her backside was in Jared's face. But she was aware of her body, and knew very clearly that bending over meant she was showing a long display of leg. And that her behind with her skirt hugging tight over it was pushed slightly out toward him. She even knew to splay her palms on the desk, lock her elbows, and bend one knee to make the view all the more enticing.

Candy knew how to attract a man's attention. She just didn't know how to keep it focused on her once she had it. Jared, who displayed such iron-clad control, looked as if he would never walk away from a woman until he knew she was satisfied. It would be a matter of pride for him, she suspected. And whoo-whee, was she ready to be satisfied. She wanted a reaction from him.

"Shit," Jared said in a nasty angry whisper.

That was a start.

Candy grinned at the computer screen. "Hmmm? Did you say something?"