Because of that, he’d caused her pain. Him. No one else. So he had to find a way to fix it. “Remember how I told you I have three brothers?” It had been during a late-night work session, after the two of them broke for coffee. “Sailor, Jake, and Danny.”
She didn’t lift her head, but he knew she was listening.
“Well,” he said, “two of them are fathers, both of little girls.” Tiny, fragile creatures he couldn’t believe his rough-and-tumble siblings had helped create. “I babysit about once every month.”
She raised her head at last, a shaky smile tugging at her lips. “Really?”
The fist squeezing blood from his heart loosened a fraction.
“Hold on.” Stepping inside his apartment, he returned holding a sparkly pink purse smaller than the size of one of his palms, and an enthusiastic hand-drawn card that had the words “I love you, Uncle Gabe” spelled out painstakingly if crookedly in purple glitter pen, what looked like rugby balls raining from big, fluffy clouds.
“I didn’t know rugby balls had smiley faces.” Charlotte’s own smile grew deeper.
“Esme thinks they should, since they’re so much fun.” His five-year-old niece was a ruthless machine on the rugby field, having inherited the family love for the game as well as their competitive streak.
Stepping close, Charlotte took the card, traced the glittery writing with open affection. “They adore you.”
“I let them run roughshod over me, so yeah.” He dared touch a finger to her cheek. “Want me to pick them up to play chaperone? Their parents would love a night off.”
“No,” she said softly, her smile fading to leave her eyes stark in a face that was still too pale. “I’m sorry for acting this way. You’ve been nothing but professional.”
Gabriel realized this was it. He could either take the risk or lie to her. “No, I haven’t,” he said after dropping the girls’ things on the small table by the door where he usually left his car keys.
Charlotte’s eyebrows drew together over her eyes. “What?”
“I’ve been flirting with you, Ms. Baird.” He saw red paint her cheeks, but when she didn’t put space between them, he continued. “I told myself I shouldn’t since I’m your boss, but I’m afraid I didn’t follow my advice.”
When she still didn’t say a word, he forced himself to make an offer he didn’t want to make. “I know another CEO who needs a personal assistant of your skill.”
“Are you firing me?” Sparks in those clear eyes, her hands fisting by her sides as if in readiness for battle.
“No, damn it.” It came out a snarl, his attempt at good behavior dying a quick death now that she was his Ms. Baird again, tough and with a fiery spirit. “I’m telling you that if my interest makes you uncomfortable, you can move into another comparable position.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That also removes the flirting with a subordinate issue for you.”
“You’re the best damn personal assistant I’ve ever had.” His voice rose. “I have every intention of stealing you away from Saxon & Archer when I complete this contract.”
That made her lips part in a quiet gasp before she folded her arms. “Doesn’t change what I said.”
“Of course it wouldn’t make anything easier,” he growled, infuriated by her stubborn refusal to see what he was trying to tell her. “The hours I work, when exactly do you think I’d have time to seduce you if you weren’t working with me? I like you exactly where you are.”
Glaring at him—though her cheeks remained that hot pink that made him want to throw her over his shoulder and carry her off to the nearest bed to see how she tasted—she said, “I like my job.”
It was the first time a personal assistant had said that about working with him. Most complained he was a bad-tempered slave driver. He wondered what Charlotte would think if he told her she was the only one who’d ever had the guts to push back, to tell him he couldn’t have all her weekends and nights. Probably not believe him, she saw herself as so meek.
“Good,” he said and then asked what he needed to know. “Are you going to sue me for sexual harassment if I keep flirting with you?” He had plans to go well beyond flirtation, but this was hurdle number one. And it wasn’t a lawsuit he was worried about—it was whether his pursuit would scare Charlotte.
“Why are you flirting with me?”
The befuddled look in her eyes was adorable.
“Fishing for compliments?”
Her cheeks flushed hotter. Pushing up her spectacles and setting those soft pink lips in a prim line that just made him want to mess her up, she said, “Men like you don’t go for women like me.”
“How many men like me do you know?” he asked with a lingering look at her mouth. God but he wanted to kiss Charlotte, wanted to feast on her. Every part of her.
BREASTS SWELLING AGAINST HER bra and skin tight under the molten silver of Gabriel’s gaze, Charlotte fought the urge to wet her lips. “You know what I mean.” Her voice came out all breathy, her lungs struggling again for a far different reason than earlier.
“Do I?” He leaned in close enough that the hot kiss of his breath brushed her earlobe as he murmured. “I happen to find this particular small, smart, sexy package very, very attractive.”
Small, smart, sexy.