The bathroom door opened and Troy’s assistant, Kayla Johnson, stared at us for a moment. “What’s so funny?”

With a small smile on her lips, Alana walked to the door. “Nothing. Personal joke.” She looked directly at me. “Thanks, Cora. I think I’m going to be okay.”

The door closed behind her and Kayla looked at me, chocolate brown eyes filled with awe. “How did you win her over?” She had been witness to Alana’s coldness toward me.

Over the last month, Kayla and I had developed a casual friendship. Since the brothers’ schedules needed to be synced, we had to be in close contact. I really liked the African American woman. On more than one occasion, she had helped me navigate some of the stickier relationships among the executives. She had very little interest in gossip. As a busy mother of twin boys, her focus was on providing for her family and not on office politics.

My brows furrowed in bafflement. “I honestly don’t know.”

“Well, whatever you did, way to go, girl!” Kayla grinned and held up her palm.

I slapped my hand against hers, distracted by the bizarre encounter. “I’d better get back to my desk. See you later.”

My purse and the memo pad and pen I threw were placed neatly on my desk. It was a silent message telling me Jake expected me to continue working for him. And as satisfying as it was to tell him I quit, it was impractical. I needed the work and I enjoyed it immensely.

I slouched in my chair and glared at the innocuous notebook as if it had been the source of my turmoil instead of a complicated, confusing billionaire who didn’t understand the word no.

Well, moaning and writhing against him like a cat in heat was not exactly a resounding no, my annoying conscience pointed out.

I dropped my forehead into my hands with a groan of self-disgust. It was patently obvious I had no resistance when it came to Jake Weston. My defenses were dangerously thin and the more time I spent with him, the more fragile they became. His confession about being jealous had turned me into a wobbling mass of jelly. I wasn’t proud of my reaction, but it felt thrilling for a man like Jake to desire me so much.

It was only a matter of time before I gave into temptation and slept with him. I could envision the seams of my life unraveling after that.

I waggled my head, shaking off my morbid thoughts. I had to do something to change my course or I’d be headed toward catastrophe.

Chapter 11

“Cora, we’re heading out to lunch and then to a site visit. Can you be ready in twenty minutes?”

I looked up from the report I was finalizing for the bid to build a hotel in Dubai. It was amazing how widespread the company’s investments were. This was the second international project to come across my desk this week.

“Um…” I hedged, wary of the determined look on Jake’s face.

Since the hot and heavy session in his office last Thursday, I had resorted to a cowardly, but effective strategy: I avoided being alone with him.

His busy schedule worked to my advantage since we were constantly in meetings or on the move. When he had a free block of time, I helpfully slotted in a conference call or two with somebody on the long list of people wanting his attention. People Jake didn’t want to talk to apparently because he’d glared at me balefully after he finished a call with a whiny government official from Springfield.

“Why the hell did you accept a meeting with him?” Jake had demanded.

I adopted my most innocent look. “He said he had been requesting to talk to you for months. Since you had the afternoon free…”

“I wanted the afternoon free!”

I shrugged, “Sorry. It won’t happen again!” I said, trying to sound repentant.

Unfortunately, another appointment happened to slip onto his calendar. This time, I had the perfect excuse.

“But you told me the other day you were looking for a new advertising agency. I thought it would be helpful to have them pitch you some ideas.”

He narrowed his eyes, but gradually the displeasure cleared from his face. He leaned in very close. “I know what you’re doing,” he murmured softly, a light in his eyes.

“Helping you out?” My voice was unnaturally high.

His grin made me nervous. It was an I’m-raising-the-stakes grin.

It put me on alert.

When Jake had to go away for two days to New York, instead of feeling relieved, I missed him unbearably. It was the first business trip he had taken since I worked for him. The office felt empty and lifeless without his presence. I had to have a stern talk with myself about my contrariness, but the self-castigation was wasted because my heart had beat like a hummingbird’s when I saw him in the office again.

Looking up at Jake now, I had the sinking sensation I had been outmaneuvered. I flipped through his calendar and smiled in relief when I saw his Friday afternoon appointments. “Um…I have you scheduled for an interview with Modern Architecture magazine.”

He gave me a toothy smile. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? Troy will be doing that in my stead.” He stooped down and purred, “That also means you won’t be able to have lunch with my brother. Such a shame.”

I dropped my gaze and fought the rush of blood to my face. Whenever Jake wanted to take me out to lunch, I claimed I had previous plans with Jamie or Kayla. Then on Monday, when neither of them was available, in desperation, I dragged Troy into my deception.

The two brothers were walking out of Jake’s office when my boss stopped and asked me to go to lunch.

“I promised to go out to lunch with Troy.” My eyes swung to Troy, silently begging him to corroborate my lie.

He looked startled, but quickly recovered, saying smoothly, “Yes, she did. You’re too slow, bro.” He slapped Jake on his shoulder in mock commiseration.

Jake’s gaze did not leave my face. “Yes, I seem to be.”

My punishment had been an hour of Troy’s teasing. He wasn’t even subtle, outright speculating about the reasons why I was scared to have lunch with his brother. No amount of glaring and scolding would get him to stop. The end of lunch couldn’t have come sooner for me.

Now, Jake wore the smug look of someone who had knocked out his opponent in the first round. “Oh, and did I mention that Kayla had to go to the interview with Troy? And your friend, Jamie, apparently got a bonus personal day today for doing such a good job.”

I stared at him slack-jawed. What did you expect from a master strategist like him, Cora?

I mentally waved the white flag of surrender. “I see. I didn’t realize there was a new incentive plan giving employees extra personal days.”

“We have to keep morale high,” he pronounced in a grave tone.

Don’t laugh, Cora!You’ll only encourage him to continue using Machiavellian tactics. “You’re right, of course. And where are we going for the site visit?”

“You’ll have to wait,” he said mysteriously. With his hands in his pants pockets, he swung around and sauntered into his office. He might as well have whistled.

Twenty minutes later, I was climbing into Jake’s Bentley. “We’re not going to have Carl drive us?” I would have preferred to have another person in the car with us.

“Nope.” He started the car and drove out of the garage.

We crossed Michigan Avenue Bridge to River North and pulled into the underground garage of a towering apartment building.

“Jake, what are we doing here?” I stepped out of the car and looked at the rows of luxury cars parked in the garage.

He took my elbow. “We’re meeting with the property manager later in this building, but I thought we’d park here and walk to lunch.”

It was a good plan since parking in downtown Chicago was a nightmare. We took the elevator up to the ground floor and walked out into the posh lobby.

“Wow, this place is gorgeous.” I slowed down my pace to admire the beautiful Art Deco details. As magnificent as Chicago’s architecture was, this building was still a gem. “Jake, what is the meeting about? I would have liked to be better prepared.”