‘I have to be in control,’ she said, glowering down at him and shoving her hands in the back pockets of her shorts, which did interesting things to her chest. ‘I need everything to be perfect. All the time. I can’t accept second best. It’s just not in me.’
‘You’re a high achiever,’ he replied with a nod. ‘I get that. So am I.’
She shook her head. ‘It’s more than that. For high achievers, the goal is important but mainly it’s about the journey. My older brother and younger sister are classic examples of that, so I should know. Nothing fazes them. If something goes wrong they dust themselves off and pick themselves up. They see it as a lesson learned. For me, it’s all about the goal, which I have to reach no matter what. It’s not about the journey. I couldn’t care less about that. I just want results. Failure sends me into a spin. I sink into a pit of self-doubt and despair and it’s not a good place for me to be. Ergo, I can’t fail.’
So that was why she’d been so desperate to get her job back after he’d fired her. As he’d suspected, rather disappointingly, he found, it had had nothing to do with him. ‘That’s a lot of pressure.’
‘You have no idea,’ she muttered vehemently. ‘It’s fine if I stay on track. Not so much if I don’t. Which is what’s happening here.’
‘I make you panic?’
‘Yes.’
‘Because I distract you.’
She scowled. ‘What do you want? A medal?’
No. He just wanted her. She looked like a goddess standing there in the sun, her hair gleaming beneath the rays, fire in her eyes. A frustrated and annoyed goddess, it was true, but she was magnificent none the less, and desire hammered hard in the pit of his stomach.
‘I want you to admit you want me as much as I want you,’ he said, focusing every drop of his attention on her so he didn’t miss a thing. ‘I want you to admit you can’t stop thinking about our kiss.’
‘Fine,’ she snapped, clearly at the end of her tether. ‘I am attracted to you. I can’t stop thinking about our kiss. It kept me awake all last night. It’s been plaguing me all day. It’s—you’re—driving me nuts.’
‘Then I have the perfect solution.’
She frowned at him for one long moment, her expression wary and her body tense. ‘What is it?’
‘Sleep with me.’