Jessica Lemmon - Temporary To Tempted

He opened the laptop screen and took the wrinkled report and sat in his seat. She again considered refusing his offer. Her pride told her to bolt and never look back.

There was only one problem. She needed him.

Almost as much as he needed her.

Five

Gage had to hand it to her. Andy knew what she was doing.

A week later, he sat at a conference table with Flynn and Reid and his right-hand guy on his sales team, Bruce, reviewing the numbers. The numbers were good.

Really freaking good.

“Bonuses will look great this quarter,” Bruce commented, his smile wide. A thirty-nine-year-old father of seventeen-year-old twins, he could use the extra money. Both of Bruce’s daughters would be graduating and going to college soon.

“Share the good news,” Gage told him. “That’s all I have. Flynn? Reid? Anything?”

“Not on my end,” Flynn said. “Just, good job.”

Reid echoed the sentiment, shook Bruce’s hand, and then Bruce left the executive floor with some really good news for the sales team.

“She’s as good as she claims,” Flynn commented to Gage. “Andy.”

“She is.”

“And bloody fast,” Reid commented. “I’ve never seen anyone swoop in and offer suggestions that work immediately.”

“She’s amazing,” Gage admitted. She was also all business. She strode in here Monday through Friday to train, observe and then meet with Gage on her findings. He’d done some observing of his own—of her—and he couldn’t escape the idea that she’d walled part of herself off.

Last week, when he’d walked into this very conference room, she hadn’t been determined and all business. She’d been flustered and embarrassed. She’d been human . He liked witnessing that human side of her—the flush to her cheeks as her seriousness chipped away leaving her open vulnerability visible. She was able to get shit done, took no crap from anyone, and yet he’d noticed a shier, more withdrawn part of her.

“Are the two of you still on for the wedding arrangement?” Reid asked, a troublemaking twinkle in his eye.

“I agreed to help her out so she wouldn’t walk. You’d have done the same thing. It’s only a weekend.”

Four days, technically, but he was trying to downplay it. He’d agreed so she wouldn’t walk out, yes, but he’d also agreed because learning that the woman from the bar and Andy Payne were the same person had intrigued him in a way no other woman had in years. He wanted to cash in on his fantasy vision of her beneath him, sure, but he was also curious as hell why she felt the need to pay someone—him, specifically. She’d hinted that day in the conference room that there was something about him that had drawn her in. Why him? What had she seen across that bar that made her approach him?

In the time she’d spent at Monarch he still knew next to nothing about her. She was as uncrackable as a sealed safe. He still wasn’t sure what he was supposed to “do” at her side at the wedding. What role was he to play other than a date who danced with her or fetched her a glass of champagne? He needed to find out, but in order to do that he had to get her out of Monarch and into an environment where she wasn’t so...distant.

“She’s not light and bubbly like the women you’re used to seeing. Maybe a wedding will loosen her up.” Reid stood.

“She’s serious about her job but that’s not a bad thing,” Gage said in her defense. He rose from his chair and Flynn followed suit.

“It’s not,” Flynn agreed. “She’s a hard-core professional. Does everything she says she’s going to do, and follows through like a boss.” The description sounded like Flynn himself.

“I was just pointing out that she’s the opposite of the type of woman you gravitate toward.” Reid narrowed his eyes. “Lately.”

What Reid was not-so-subtly hinting at was that Andy was, at first glance, a lot like Gage’s ex-fiancée.

He didn’t want to talk about Laura any more than he wanted to bring up politics at a dinner party. He’d admired her strong work ethic and serious nature. In the end, he’d believed in them more than she had.

She’d broken the engagement, coldly stating that he wasn’t enough like her. He had a case of the “toos.” He was too likable, too fun and too easygoing. She’d claimed she needed someone “serious” about the future. The corrosion of that engagement was his biggest failure.

Gage hated failure.

He’d been sure that Andy was that same kind of woman—cold, calculating—until he’d witnessed her flustered. Seeing that chink in her armor had drawn him in rather than pushed him away. He hadn’t completely understood it. After the hell Laura’d put him through he’d be smart not to pursue Andy at all.

But he’d never been one to back down from a challenge, and Gage sensed there was warmth and gentleness underneath Andy’s rigid exterior that had yet to surface. The more of her flaws he exposed, the more he proved that the attraction wasn’t some masochistic repeat of the past with Laura, but some new, fascinating layer to Andy herself.

He liked that she had an imperfect, human side that rarely showed, that she was a mystery waiting to be uncovered. That she didn’t have it together 24/7. Plus she was downright sexy. If he found an opening to show her how sexy she was, he’d happily oblige.

Not that his agreeing to be Andy’s wedding date had been totally magnanimous. He’d needed her to stay on at Monarch for both appearances and results, and a few days in Ohio seemed a small price to pay.

Flynn and Sabrina had left the office around five. Now that Flynn had a girlfriend in Sabrina, he rarely worked as late as he had before. Reid had a date as well, so he’d packed up and followed them out. That left Gage alone in the executive corner of the office, waiting at his desk for Andy’s daily report, which came at around 5:30 p.m.

She strolled in wearing her office attire of black pants, low shoes and a silky white shirt. Her gold jewelry was simple and understated, except for the large-faced watch, which she glanced down at before she entered.

Mouth a flat line, determination in her eyes, she stalked toward him like a hungry lioness. Much like the first time he’d seen her, he watched her approach with an even mix of intrigue and attraction.

Could he uncover the fun, flirty girl under that armor? Was there one?

“Your team is exceptional, Gage,” she said, skipping over a greeting. “Which is in no small part thanks to you being a dedicated, earnest leader.”

His eyebrows lifted at the compliment he wasn’t expecting. But then she spoke again and made it obvious that she’d come in here with an agenda.

“I have an itinerary, your plane ticket and a few other details to cover for this weekend’s wedding if you’re available for a quick rundown. I know it’s last-minute, but I’ve been busy.”

All business , he thought with a smile. He’d always enjoyed a challenge but, he was realizing, lately he’d pursued challenges professionally rather than personally. He hadn’t chased women who’d challenged him since Laura left. Then again, Andy had been the only one who’d tempted him to do so since.

“What are you doing right now?” he asked her.

“Now?” Her eyes widened slightly.

“Yeah. Now. Dinner?”

She shook her head like what he was saying didn’t compute.

“Are you hungry?” he pressed.

“Yes.”

“Are you busy right now?”

“I’m always busy.”

He waited.

She shrugged and affected an unaffected expression. “Fine.”

“Great. I’ll drive.”

“Where are we going?”

“Why? Are you picky? Have allergies?”