Читать книгу A Dangerously Sexy Affair - Stefanie London - Страница 13

5

TODAY COULD HAVE been everything she wanted, but instead it was a pile of stinking irony and bad luck. The universe hated her, she was sure of it. But what could she do, cut off her nose to spite her face? She wanted this promotion, and she wasn’t going to let some lying phony take it away from her.

Some superhot, crazy-skilled-with-his-mouth phony. Ugh.

A little voice in her head reminded her that she had, in fact, stopped Aiden from talking about himself. She told that voice to shut the hell up. Instead, she found a free table in the far corner of the café, but even the familiarity of her favorite coffee spot didn’t soothe her nerves. Normally, the Brunswick Café was her safe haven, a place where she could bring her laptop and get away from the drama of the office. The guy behind the bar—who had long hair, tropical-fish tattoos and a broad Australian accent—knew her order by heart.

Even the sight of the quirky meme-inspired posters on the wall didn’t make her smile.

Behind the anger she’d hurled at Aiden was a kernel of fear taking root deep in her psyche. Had she been played by yet another guy? Used and exploited and made a fool of? Again.

Now you know he can’t be trusted. So work with him but don’t let him near you.

“One double-shot vanilla latte with a sprinkle of cinnamon.” Aiden put the towering coffee down in front of her. “Sounds like it has as much sugar as it does caffeine.”

“Something has to get me out of bed in the morning.”

He took the chair opposite her, his own coffee cup dwarfed beside hers. “You didn’t seem to have too much trouble today.”

She ignored the dig. “What’s that? Baby’s first coffee?”

“It’s a macchiato. A real coffee, not some cupcake masquerading as a drink.” His full lips quirked up. “I am sorry about lying to you, you know. I really was going to tell you last night.”

“Easy for you to say that now.” She wrapped her hands around the coffee cup and relished the warmth seeping into her palms.

“You have every right to be angry at me. But I am serious about this job, and I want us to be able to work together.” He brushed a stray black curl from his forehead, and Quinn’s heart jumped.

Stupid, traitorous body.

Sipping her drink, she focused on the sweet, sugary flavor instead of the way he was looking at her.

“I understand that I’ll need to earn your trust back and I’m willing to do that, but not at the cost of this assignment. I’m going to figure out this leak whether you’re with me or not.” He crossed one ankle over his knee, taking up all the free space at their cramped little table. “I do what has to be done for the sake of the job. If that involves crossing a line or two, then so be it.”

The smooth black wool of his pants curved around muscular legs. He wore a plain blue shirt a few shades lighter than his eyes, the sleeves rolled up and the top button popped open. She knew everything that was underneath that shirt—the ridges of muscle, the sharp V at his waist, the dusting of hair across his chest.

How good he tasted.

“I see you take yourself seriously,” she said, swallowing another mouthful of her drink.

“I take my job seriously.”

The ambient noise of the café filled in the gaps of their conversation. Familiar, busy sounds—like the rumble of the coffee machine and the clacking of cups being stacked—soothed her. They gave her something to focus on other than the swirl of toxic doubt in her mind. Quinn tapped her sneaker against the leg of the small table between them, playing out the hyped-up drumbeat of her heart.

This guy seriously unnerved her.

“What tips do you have for me, Mr. FBI? Do I need to know how to defuse a bomb with a paper clip?” She set her coffee on the table again and crossed her legs, keeping her hands at the hem of her dress so it didn’t rise too far up her thighs. “I played a lot of 007 back in the day. I’m handy with a gun... Well, a PlayStation one, anyway.”

“You need to know how to lie,” he said. “Convincingly.”

Talk about taking the wind out of her sails. Since she’d given him hell for lying to her, she couldn’t exactly proclaim to be a master liar herself. Truth was she didn’t often have to lie because she never shared details of her life. But she’d be going undercover as a Third Planet employee in a few days’ time, and she’d have to lie to everyone she met.

“Are you going to be able to do that?” He leaned forward, his forearms braced against his thighs until it felt as though he’d closed the world in around them.

Her jaw worked as she ground her teeth together, a terrible habit she’d picked up after “the webcam incident” two years ago. She often found herself doing it when she felt backed into a corner, even though Aiden wasn’t the one putting her in this position. This was her opportunity to get the job she wanted, but it drove her full steam ahead to the boundaries of her comfort zone. Hopefully, she wouldn’t crash into a wall.

“Quinn, it’s part of the job. If you’re not going to be able to do it then speak up now and I’ll go in by myself.”