Jamie Sobrato - Any Way You Want Me (Harlequin Blaze)

Five Months Later

Y ASMINE HAD BEEN BREATHING paint fumes for the past few days, and now she liked to think shed become immune to their side effects. That they were no longer killing off her brain cells one by one.

Nice work, Alex said from behind her, startling her out of what was likely a paint-fume-induced stupor. I cant believe youve already finished the whole room.

She turned to see him admiring the shade of gray blue shed just painted their front office. DiCarlo Consulting and Investigations new business office officially opened tomorrow, though they already had enough clients to keep them busy for several months.

Yasmine had been freaked out at first by the idea of going into business with Alex, doing independent security consulting and investigations. But once she settled into the idea, she knew it was exactly the change shed needed.

The sex game industry had been fun, but she wanted a different challenge, and she loved the idea of working closely with her soon-to-be husband.

People had warned her about working with a spouse, but she couldnt think of anyone else shed rather be with all day. They needed to make up for lost time.

I didnt want you to think Id grown soft during those two weeks in the South Pacific.

Theyd taken a vacation together last month, a cruise during which Alex had proposed to her. Those blissful days and nights aboard the ship and in Tahiti had been two of the best weeks of Yasmines life, but what shed been looking forward to most was now. The everyday routines together, the day-to-day hum-drum life. Shed had enough of excitement, and shed traveled enough to last her a while. What shed never had, and what she craved, was this closeness, this intimacy that came only with living your life with another person.

They hadnt picked a wedding date yet, but it didnt matter to Yasmine. Shed already given herself to Alex heart and soul. The formal part could wait a few months.

What I think is, youre working too damn hard. You need to save your energy for me.

Oh? She turned and slipped her hands around his waist and up the hard planes of his back.

Im a man with certain needs, you know.

Believe me, I know. Every night, he had needsneeds she loved fulfilling.

He dipped his head down to kiss her, and she felt him grow hard against her abdomen. A few feet away, the soon-to-be receptionists desk sat covered in a drop cloth, the perfect destination for them.

Ill just close these blinds, Alex said, letting go of her for a moment.

Is the door locked?

Yep, just locked it.

So you had no intention of helping me clean up when you came in here, she said as he lifted her onto the desk and nestled between her legs.

Well, I did, but then I saw you bent over that paint can, and

Youre so predictable.

Ill do all the clean-up, he said, if youll do me.

Afternoon sex breaks were definitely an unexpected and most welcome benefit of working together.

T HE NEW GUY in the office was a serious distraction.

How was a girl supposed to concentrate when there was a six-foot-tall specimen of male perfection strutting around, on his way to the copy machine, the fax machine, the coffee makeralways on his way somewhere, and always passing by Yasmine Talbots desk.

As he walked by just now, his ocean-and-evergreen scent wafting over her, Yasmines fingers halted on the keyboard, and when he was well past her desk, she turned to watch. Two days ago, shed nearly fallen out of her chair watching.

He knew the effect he was having on her, and he probably reveled in his power. From the moment theyd first laid eyes on each other last week when hed emerged from the new-employee training session and stood across the room from her, blinking under the fluorescent lights, theyd begun a silent office flirtation that had gotten progressively bolder by the day. Now it bordered on the ridiculous that theyd yet to even say hello to each other, even in an office as big as Virtual Actives. Were they just going to exchange hot-and-heavy glances forever?

Yasmine was both amused and embarrassed by the animal-mating-dance quality their relationship had assumed. She imagined them starring in their own Discovery Channel documentaryMating Habits of the Common Office Drone. He fluffed his feathers, strutted to and fro, made searing eye contact. Essentially he was staking his claim. But Yasmine didnt want to be claimed. Nor did she want to star in any mating-ritual documentaries in the midst of her workplace. And yet she couldnt deny how mesmerized she was by him. It was as if shed been biologically programmed to want him.

This guy, with his windswept hair and his perfect ass, was the stuff heroes on the covers of romance novels were made of. Put him in a billowing white shirt unbuttoned to reveal his chest, with a beautiful damsel draped on one arm, and hed look right at home. But put him in the middle of the mundane offices of Virtual Active, Inc. and he was likely to spawn his own interactive sex game, Virtual Alpha Male. And dont think that, as the only female programmer at the sex software company, she hadnt seriously considered it.

In fact, she realized, as she glanced at the file full of notes on her latest software project, Sexcapade, a night with a guy like him probably was just what she needed to kick-start her creativity. So far, shed been uninspired, and the project was going badly.

But her attraction to the new guy was slightly bizarre. She didnt do beefed-up, all-American-surfer-boy types. She was completely immune to the charms of calendar hunks with too-perfect hair. Yet here she was, her girl parts getting all tingly every time this guy who was prettier than she was strolled by. It had to be the lack of available attractive men in her life.

Her type of guy was darker, more brooding, prone to motorcycles and leather. True, she had a bad-boy fixationparticularly if they were the unattainable, strictly fantasy type. But the way she figured, bad boys and bad girls went hand in hand. Yasmine might have turned pretending to be good into an art form, but in her heart lurked a rebel.

The new guy disappeared into the break room, and Yasmine tried to turn her attention back to her work. But her mind kept wandering.

One other problem with himhe looked as though he belonged in L.A. more than San Francisco. He had a tan, for crying out loud.

Where would anyone, especially a programmer who spent his days attached to a computer, even get a tan in this city in the middle of December? The answer was he wouldnt, not unless he was going to a tanning beddid those even exist anymore?which this guy must have been doing. A fact that should have repulsed Yasmine.

Instead, she found herself wondering if he had tan lines. One of her more disturbingly detailed fantasies even had her freeing him of his khakis, inch by inch, to discover not a single line. It was ridiculous. He was probably the kind of guy who had a Playboy bunny tattoo right next to his schlong.

The break room door opened, and the object of her whacked fantasies came out carrying a bottle of Evian water. She watched him walk to the printer, his snug pants advertising the well-sculpted muscles beneath them, and shook her head. It was officialYasmine was losing her freaking mind.

She glared at her computer screen and promised herself she would do no more ogling today. She would focus on her work. Focus, focus, focus.

If only he looked like any other code-slinging brainiac who spent too much time indoors and could use a trip to the nearest fashion consultant, there would be no problem. But he didnt. And he worked in her office, no less. Yasmine didnt do the office help. So she took her tingly feelings as a sign that shed spent a few months too many sans boyfriend.