Page 48 of The Merger

I laugh, looking at him like he’s crazy. “No.”

“That’s true. Did you also know he has a child in Kansas that he hasn’t visited in three years?”

“How would I know that? How doyouknow that?”

“It’s my job.”

“Is it?” I narrow my eyes. “Because I didn’t know CEOs were that invested in their employees’ personal lives. Seems a bit, I don’t know, creepy to me.”

He crosses his arms over his chest. “I agree. But sometimes I take a personal interest in people.”

“Too bad you don’t take one in me,” I mutter.

I enter the storage room and put my tools away carefully. Then I get the dolly situated in the back, and as I turn around, the door swings shut with a loud bang.

Gannon is standing in the doorway.

His lips are pressed into a tight line, his dark eyes are almost black, and he stares at me with a deliberateness that makes me shiver.

“You have to knock it off, Carys.”

“Is that another innuendo?”

His eyes blaze. “I mean it. This is exactly why I didn’t want you here.”

I know what he means. He didn’t want me here because he wants me as badly as I want him.Wow.

Empowered by this newfound information, I don’t back down.

“You didn’t want me here because you thought I might go out with a guy in accounting?” I ask, lifting a brow.

“Don’t be a smart-ass.”

I grin cockily. “Listen, I’ve been avoiding you just like you wanted. You’re the one who came upon me today—no pun intended, of course.”

His jaw flexes.

“I’ve been minding my business and doing my job,” I say. “You’re the one who seems to have a problem here.”

“Whether I have a problem or not, and what that problem might be, is none of your concern.”

I take a step back and let my gaze drag down his body until it lands on his cock. His pants bulge at the groin. It’s unmistakable. It’s alsohot as hell.

If I press this issue, he might tell me to leave and never come back. Or, on the other hand, he might give in.

“It looks like it has a lot to do with me, actually,” I say, smirking.

“We can’t keep doing this.”

I hop onto the workbench behind me, positioning myself so that Gannon is framed between my knees. He’s not close enough to touch me. He’s just close enough to paint the picture of the possibility.

“No, you’re right,” I say, brushing a strand of hair off my forehead. “We can’t keep doing this.”

He licks his lips, leaving a trail of wetness behind. Goose bumps dot my skin as I imagine the feeling of that tongue on me. Around me.In me.

I shiver again.

“So we have a choice to make,” I say. “Rather,youhave a choice to make.”