Ian waited for Cassie to log on to their meeting, reading over their texts. He didn’t know if he wanted the innuendo to be blatantly obvious or for her to be oblivious to his come-on. God, he was in another state. It wasn’t as if anything could come of this. Especially not now that Mac had him doing his dirty work. Yeah, Ian was in a meeting earlier, but what he’d found out was that Mac was the one who was supposed to devise a migration plan for the closure of the south regional office. But when this project started, it was his way to pawn off the work to Ian.
Now Ian was stuck. He’d waited and practically begged to work with Cassie for two years. Well, he got exactly what he wanted. He had to get close enough to her to get her talking about work not specific to their project. He hated lying to her, and he knew even if she was interested in him, he couldn’t forge a relationship on a lie. He needed to cool it, get this project finished, and maybe then he could look her up. Maybe he should friend her on Facebook. It’d provide an opening to her afterward since all their interactions so far had been through company means. He’d then be able to lend a sympathetic ear to the atrocities of corporate cutbacks and even help her find a new job.
When she logged on to the meeting, he sighed. God, she was beautiful. Brown hair and light-green eyes. Her brown suit and tan blouse would probably look bland on anyone else, but it complemented her creamy skin tone, making it look as if it were bathed in milk. He needed to snap out of it and get this ball rolling.
“Hey there, sorry for the delay. I copied the application and loaded it into a development environment. I’m sending you the path now.”
“Great.”
“I’m also sending you the notes I have on what our client wants. I’ve already noted some changes, but since you’re more familiar with this application, you might be able to tell me where best to modify it.”
“Okay. I’ll read over that tonight.”
Ian shook his head and adjusted his earphones. “No, no. I don’t want you working after-hours on this. We should be able to finish without any overtime.”
Cassie laughed, and Ian could swear he felt her breath on his neck. He stifled a groan when his cock twitched.
“I don’t mind. Really.”
“Well, if you are, then I am.”
She laughed again, the sound that of an angel. Fuck! What was wrong with him?
“You must not have a life either,” she said, still chuckling as she jotted down something in her notebook.
“Married to my job.”
“Same here.”
Ian felt a pang of sadness. She was dedicated to a job she was about to lose. He was such a piece of shit for not giving her a heads-up.
But there wasn’t anything he could do, so he needed to use this opportunity to start his investigation.
“You got a lot of projects going on?”
“Not too many. How about you?”
Crap. Her answer was not only too vague, but she threw his question right back at him. Maybe if he was specific, she’d be too.
“I lead three projects that are long-term and handle smaller ones as they come up. You?”
“Wow. No wonder you stay busy. I don’t have anything going on long-term. When I’m in the last leg of a project, my time gets scheduled on whatever’s up next. Sometimes they overlap, but I’ve never worked on more than three major projects at the same time.”
“I’m jealous.” Ian chuckled. “No wonder you produce good work—you’re not frazzled out from being stretched too thin.”
Cassie smiled softly and Ian had to clench his fist to keep from stroking the monitor like a moron.
“Why, thank you.” Her Southern drawl was thicker than it had been, and it was quite possibly the most adorable thing he’d ever heard. “But it is how things are done here. Everyone is assigned projects based on their area of expertise, and we work in teams to complete them on schedule. Even if I’m not assigned to a particular project, I’m known to jump in and help when I think I have something to contribute.”
He smiled and leaned closer to the monitor. “I wish everyone was like that. It’d make my job a lot easier.”
Her head fell back as she laughed carelessly. Even the column of her neck looked inviting. He’d give anything to collar it. No, he wasn’t a Dom, but he knew he had some dominant tendencies that flared to life every now and then.
Like right now.
“Then I wouldn’t be special.”
“Nothing would change how special you are,” Ian said huskily.
Cassie gasped, her eyes boring into the screen.
Fuck! Why did he say that? He cleared his throat. “Um, I think we’ve got enough to go on for now. How about we meet back up in the morning and compare notes?”
“Er, okay.”
“Great,” he said quickly. “Talk to you later.”
“Bye.”
He disconnected the meeting, yanked his earphones off and threw them on his desk. What the hell had gotten into him? Had he not just told himself to cool it where she was concerned because nothing could come of this? Not right now, anyway? Jesus! He was acting like a sixteen-year-old with his first girlfriend. Next thing he knew, he’d be having wet dreams at the thought of just copping a feel.
He ran his hands through his disheveled hair, realizing he had to get out of here. He logged off and grabbed his laptop, thinking over the rest of their meeting as he bolted. At least he did learn a little about the dynamics of her office. It didn’t seem as if she was juggling too many projects, and the way she talked, that was the norm for everyone there. It was a start.
A start to his betrayal of her. Fuck! He needed a beer.
Chapter Three
Cassie was snuggled in her pj’s, sitting on her bed with her laptop while
