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Carys walked into the office the following morning, not sure what to expect.

Her head ached from the wine last night and it occurred to her that the wine she shared with Rafi never left her with a hangover.

She’d have to ask him about that – if she ever decided to face him again.

Going on a jealous rampage was so unlike her.

However, falling for a guy as hard as she’d fallen for Rafi also wasn’t anything like her.

She kept her dates at a distance. She never became emotionally involved with the men in her life.

She enjoyed their company, but then left them with a kiss and a wave goodbye.

What was it about Rafi that was so…different? Other than how he was shockingly handsome and dynamic, so powerful and fascinating!

An unexpected noise made her jump, but it was just a co-worker coming in to start the work day. Darn it, she wasn’t concentrating.

Suddenly, a meeting request popped up on her screen. She stared at it, her stomach tightening when she realized that it was sent by Rafi’s assistant. Apparently, he wanted an update on the progress with the new marketing campaign. And he wanted it in less than ten minutes!

Thankfully, over the past few weeks, Carys had been diligent in formatting the story boards and the scripts, so she was ready to present her ideas to him. Tanya and Dave stopped by her cubicle. “Did you get the meeting request?” Tanya asked snidely.

“Yep,” Carys replied, piling all of her materials into her arms. “Where is this meeting?”

Tanya reached out. “I’ll help you carry everything to the conference room. Looks like you’re weighed down with all of that stuff.”

Carys knew Tanya’s tactics all too well and half turned away.

“That’s okay. I’ve got it.” When her boss frowned at her, Carys explained, “Everything is sort of tied together.” She nodded toward the stack.

“It’s like a Jenga pile. Pull one thing out and everything will topple.

” Or more accurately, the assistant director would take credit for Carys’s work.

“Whatever,” the irritated woman snapped, then turned, heading for the conference room.

Carys noticed that Tanya fluffed her hair and pressed her lips together as she walked, as if she were trying to refresh her lipstick. Had the woman popped open another button on her blouse?

“Are you ready?” Dave demanded in a low hiss.

Tanya sniffed. “That pile of stuff is what she’s been working on, apparently.” Then she walked through the door, her hips swaying a bit more than usual.

With a disgusted shake of her head, Carys followed her bosses into the conference room.

Rafi walked in right after them, carrying a cup of coffee and a leather notebook.

His assistant followed with his tablet. Did the guy ever have anything other than that electronic device?

She doubted it. But the man didn’t talk much, just took prolific notes, so Carys wasn’t going to be bothered by him.

Then something occurred to her. The rumors about layoffs had died down slightly, but there were still whispers. Was Rafi’s assistant evaluating each employee’s value to the company? Was he taking notes on that tablet, making lists of possible people to be laid off?

Banishing the thought, she sorted through her story boards and scripts, trying not to look at Rafi.

But the need to see him, to look him in the eyes and find out if he was disgusted by last night’s jealous tirade, was too much.

When she finally looked up at him, Carys’s cheeks burned since Rafi was staring right at her with a look in his eyes that she recognized.

It was the same look he gave her whenever he was about to tear her clothes off.

Clearing her throat, she stared down at the work she’d done over the past several weeks.

Rafi started the meeting. “Sorry for the short notice. I just returned from London last night. But I’ve received word that there are some excellent ideas coming from this group.

” He’d looked at Dave and Tanya during that short speech, but after a moment, he focused his attention on Carys.

“Let’s hear them,” he said, leaning back in his leather chair at the head of the table.

“I think I have some good ideas,” Tanya blurted, drawing everyone’s attention.

She opened her sketch pad and started talking.

The idea she presented was a rough outline, without scripts or fleshed out campaign ideas.

Her drawings looked like something she’d slapped together in the past thirty minutes.

There were no graphics, no cohesive message, and even the pictures were badly drawn.

“I know it’s rough,” she said, with what probably was supposed to be a secret smile, “but I think it has potential.” She leaned forward, giving Dave and Rafi an excellent view of her cleavage.

When she finished, there was a stunned, almost awkward, silence while everyone contemplated the truly horrible ideas that the assistant director had presented.

Finally, Rafi turned to Carys. “Okay then. How about if you give me your ideas? I liked the approach you suggested several weeks ago. Let’s see what you’ve put together.”

Carys pulled out her storyboards and flipped them around.

She passed out copies of her scripts for the first ad series and went over both the obvious and subconscious attributes of the idea.

Then she went on to demonstrate how this concept could be altered for six other products the company currently had on the market, as well as two more products that were still in production.

“The overall campaign gives the ads more of a cohesive message. It’s sort of a branding effort as well as a message about the product. ”

“I like it,” Rafi replied, nodding in a way that caused the morning sunshine from the window to make his dark hair glimmer.

“That’s exactly the kind of advertising that consumers are responding well to right now.

” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.

“It’s not an obvious push for the product, but it gets people thinking.

You’re solving a problem they have and giving them a reason to buy the product.

” He turned to Dave and Tanya. “Why aren’t you pulling more of the team members to help flesh out this idea?

I told you several weeks ago that this was the direction I wanted to go. ”

Dave had the grace to look embarrassed, but Tanya straightened, pasting a bright, fake smile on her overly made up face.

“I know that you wanted to go in that direction, Rafi, but what’s the harm in coming up with other options?

We’re all brainstorming, trying to toss around ideas, just like you asked us to do. ”

“You’re right. I like the idea of collaboration and brain storming, but let’s focus on Carys’s ideas.

I want her in charge of pushing this out.

Get the rest of the team on board so that we can advance her ideas.

I want this same concept developed for every product in our line.

We need to get this idea out for everything so that the production crew can start creating the graphics. ”

With that, he stood up. “Carys, I need to speak to you in my office, please.” And then he walked out of the conference room, his assistant at his heels, like a well-trained puppy.

Carys started gathering up her materials, feeling self-conscious now that she was left alone with Dave and Tanya. Unfortunately, their anger over Rafi’s set down was palpable.

“You undermined my authority,” Dave snapped, then stalked to the door. “I won’t forget this!”

Carys’s heart skipped a beat, and she frowned at the empty door, feeling unfairly attacked. Tanya came around the table, towering over Carys in her spike heels.

“Back off!” Tanya spat.

“What?” Carys gasped.

“Don’t you dare play the innocent ingenue with me!” she snapped. “Rafi is mine . We’re seeing each other after hours, every night. No, I’m not sleeping with him to get ahead. We’re falling for each other and I’m not going to let you ruin this for me. The man wants me , so just back off!”

Carys clenched her teeth. Maybe if she’d gotten a bit more sleep last night, her temper wouldn’t be so short. But Carys was sick and tired of Tanya playing the queen bee around the office.

“I don’t know what kind of relationship you think you have with our new boss, but keep me out of it.

I’m here to get the job done with as much creativity as possible.

” Oh, that felt good! So good, that Carys kept going.

“You and Dave have fostered an atmosphere here where we can’t share ideas for fear of you or Dave stealing credit for our work.

Everyone keeps their ideas to themselves instead of collaborating, which is why I wouldn’t even let you carry my work into the meeting!

” Carys paused, shocked that she’d said it aloud.

While Tanya’s fury boiled, Carys breathed in, slowly regaining control.

She was shocked that she’d said as much as she had, but it felt really good.

In a calmer voice, she added, “If you don’t like my work, then fire me.

Otherwise,” Carys leaned forward, “ you back off!”

And with that, she turned and walked off to Rafi’s office, her boards and materials tucked under her arm.

As soon as she stepped into Rafi’s office, he said, “Close the door.”

Carys looked around at the huge office with the impressive view of the city and the Delaware river in the distance as she followed his direction and closed the door.

“Put your stuff down.”

She looked into his dark eyes and, instantly, those heated, needy feelings stirred to life. She forgot about the confrontation with Tanya as well as Dave’s harsh words. This moment was all about Rafi.

With a shiver of awareness, she backed up slightly. “I think I should hold onto my stuff,” she argued.

He came around his desk, his eyes heating up with the challenge she’d tossed out.

“I haven’t seen you in several days. I’m going to kiss the hell out of you and I don’t care if those story boards get ruined in the process.

But you clearly put a lot of work into them and I’d hate for you to have to redo everything.

” His voice dropped into a growl as he stalked toward her.

“So, it would be wise to put them down.”

She saw the determined, heated look in his eyes and swallowed hard. Rafi looked like a predator and she was his prey. Suddenly, she knew that it would be better to dump her stuff before he reached her. Fast!

She’d just freed her arms when Rafi pulled her into his arms. “You were jealous last night,” he said in a deep, husky voice.

“I wasn’t,” she lied, but felt as if she needed to defend herself.

“You were.” He paused, his dark eyes moving over her expression.

“I liked it.” He bent his head and nuzzled her neck.

“I liked it a lot! It turned me on.” He nipped at her earlobe, causing her to melt against him.

“You’re always so cool and controlled, until I take you into my arms. And every damn morning, you are gone by the time I open my eyes.

” He nibbled on her neck. “Until last night, I had no idea how you felt about me.” He stared down at her.

“Do you have any idea how much I liked your jealousy? It showed me that you care more than you’ve let on. ”

“Well, I’m about to be fired,” she sighed, letting her head fall back as he kissed his way down her throat.

“Why’s that?” he asked, obviously unconcerned.

Carys laughed when his teeth found a sensitive spot behind her ear. When she pulled back, with a shiver, she said, “Because Tanya just confronted me. She’s determined to have you all to herself and warned me to stay away from you.”

Suddenly, Rafi lifted his head, looking confused. “I have zero interest in Tanya. She’s…not my type.”

Relieved, Carys put her hands on his chest and pushed away. She leaned against the small conference table in his office. When she looked back at him, Carys observed, “She looks like your type considering your past mistresses.”

He chuckled, pinning her against the table with a hand on either side. “You looked me up on the internet.” He kissed her lips. “I did the same for you. But you don’t have a social media presence.” He looked at her curiously now. “Why is that?”

Carys curled her fingers into fists, trying to resist the urge to wrap her arms around his neck. She was in heeled boots today and the extra few inches brought her up high enough that she could almost reach his chin.

Instead of telling him what Dave and Tanya had just threatened, she slipped out of his arms. Or tried to. Rafi pulled her right back.

“Carys, what happened after I left the conference room?”

She knew him well enough now to know he wouldn’t let this go. “Tanya told me, again, how you two are having an affair and that I should back off. She claimed that she’s been spending a great deal of time with you after hours.”

“And you didn’t believe her?” he asked, tilting his head slightly, his dark eyes watching her curiously.

Carys snorted. “Since the nights she claimed to have been with you were the same nights that you and I were together,” she explained with an eyeroll. “Well, I knew that she was lying.”

This time, his hands fell away and Rafi stepped back. “So, the only reason you didn’t believe her was because you had proof.”

“Yes,” she replied, blinking at him curiously. Was he mad? Because she wasn’t jealous? This wasn’t making sense. “Why are you angry with me for not believing her?”

He sighed, rubbing his forehead. “I guess because I was hoping you wouldn’t believe another person’s lies because you trust me.”

Trust? That wasn’t a word she used often. Carys crossed her arms over her chest and backed up. “We…this…trust isn’t…!” She wasn’t sure what she was trying to say. “We don’t really have…!”