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But Lila was right. What kind of asshole couldn’t control his attraction to another woman when he had one on his arm?

Me, that was who. But these weren’t normal circumstances.

They’d spotted us now, and we closed the distance between us and began exchanging greetings. I deliberately shook hands with Eli, Chelsea, and Jude first, while Lila went for Cassandra. The grumpy lumberjack wasn’t here.

Finally, Cassandra was in front of me. For a moment, all I could do was breathe her in. I was used to women being a full head shorter than me, but Cassandra was only a few inches below me, and with heels, we were nearly eye to eye.

Man the fuck up, Harrington.

“Cassandra,” I said. I held out my hand and she hesitated. Up close her eyes swam with something fierce—she still held onto a spike of anger at me, I could tell. Good—that was a good thing. I knew, once I was in her presence, that I wouldn’t be able to be physically close to her. Just being next to her sent heat pooling in my abdomen.

For a moment, I wondered if she wouldn’t take my hand at all. But then she did, slipping her fingers into mine. “Blake.”

An ache of something too close to desire scraped across my skin.

I could feel Lila’s eyes on me. I wished I could send her a psychic message.I’ve got this under control.But I didn't have this quite as under control as I should have.

I’d given myself a pep talk about seeing Cassandra before picking up Lila. I’d splashed cold water on my face and reminded myself how this was business. Strictly business. And Lila, noticing my attraction just now, should have been all the reemphasis I needed on how important it was that I focus strictly on work.

Luckily, Cassandra still looked like she wanted as little as possible to do with me. She pulled her hand from mine.

I forced myself to regain control. I remembered Conrad, who’d played college football, talking about his game face.No matter what you’re feeling, dude, put on that cocky-ass game face and no one will be able to tell the difference, not even you.

While everyone chatted amicably, I leaned into Cassandra’s ear. Her scent was intoxicating. Something soft and warm and intermingled with just… her.

“I’ve got papers for you,” I said, before straightening back up. I wasn’t sure I could speak if she was swirling in my nostrils like that.

“Later,” she said.

“Should I leave them at the front counter for you?” I said, a little hard.

But I wanted to get this done so I could relax, at least a little. Until she signed our new contract, everything was a liability. She knew about me and Lila. She could still fire me. Hell, she could still fire me after, but I doubted she would once she saw how heavily this contract operated in her favor.

She narrowed her eyes. “Fine. I’ll take them now.”

To the group, I said, “Should we eat?” I smiled broadly. Game face.

“Yeah,” said Jude. “I’m starving.”

It worked. Everyone joined in with their assent, and with their attention turned to the restaurant, I could ignore the turmoil in my guts.

As the others drifted toward L’Aubergine, I shifted so we were facing each other, her back to the restaurant. I pulled the envelope out of my breast pocket. “I’ll need this back before Monday,” I said, looking her in the eye. “Tonight would be best.” That blue-gray swirl in her irises made my stomach jolt.

“Fine,” she said, taking it from me and tucking it into her purse.

Over her shoulder, I saw Lila look back at me.

I forced a smile. “Let’s eat, Cassandra.” Then I walked past her, joining the rest of the slow-moving group headed across the lobby.

8

BLAKE

As we cutacross the wide-open marble space, I slid to the opposite side of the group, next to Eli. It was only when Cassandra was out of my direct line of sight that I realized Eli looked as rough as I felt. His hands were jammed into the pockets of his slacks like a kid.

“You all right?” I asked.

“My ex is working here tonight,” he said.