Third, why did he smell so damn good anyway? It just wasn’t natural.

By the time they arrived at their floor, the crowd had thinned and Andy was no longer pushed against her boss. It made thinking considerably easier. That would be the answer to making their relationship work—no contact. Simple as pie. She had no plans to touch him again anytime soon.

They walked in silence through Donovan InfoTech toward Blake’s office. Andy wondered if he would send her to HR or if he would leave her with his secretary. Or would he handle her paperwork himself? She looked at the cubicles as they passed. Would one of those spaces be hers? Again, the notion of matchmaking while her co-workers wrote strings of computer code at the desks next to her seemed strange.

His secretary stood as they approached. “Good morning, Mr. Donovan.”

Blake didn’t return the greeting. “Put together some paperwork for Ms. Dawson. She’ll be a contract employee.”

The woman nodded, not seeming to notice or care that he’d neglected to use a please. “Will you want it under the business account or personal?”

He considered for a moment. “Business.” He nodded for Andy to follow him to his office.

After sharing a sympathetic smile with the secretary, she tossed her cup in the trash and joined Blake at his door. It was shut and evidently locked since he pulled a key from his pocket and inserted it into the knob.

Sure to not stand too close to him, she took the moment to ask her first question. “You’re running my employment through the corporation? How are you justifying that?”

He glanced at her as if the answer was obvious. “I told you I needed a wife for public appearances. That justifies qualifying you as a business expense.”

“So romantic,” she muttered under her breath.

Her words didn’t escape her boss. “Practical, Drea. Practical.” He opened the door and swept his arm out for her to enter.

Andy bit back the urge to argue and headed in. Then she stopped abruptly, causing Blake to crash into her and send goose bumps racing down her skin.

So much for no contact.

“Sorry.” She stepped away from him and gestured toward the sight that had halted her—a small mahogany desk sat opposite Blake’s large one. A desk that hadn’t been there three days before. “What’s this?” She feared she already knew the answer.

“It’s your desk,” Blake said matter-of-factly.

That was what she’d been afraid of.

“My desk is in here? With you?” She tried to keep her volume down, but really, she didn’t try that hard.

His forehead creased. “Is there a problem?”

“Is there a problem?” She echoed his phrase and inflection, dismayed that he couldn’t see it for himself. “Yes, there’s a problem. We’ll be together. Alone. Behind closed doors.”

Blake nodded as if understanding. “You’re worried about what will happen between us.”

“Wha—no!” She was mortified. “Your employees will think things are going on that aren’t. That’s not the kind of reputation I want floating around about me. There will be rumors!” If the rumors were true, on the other hand …

No, there is no other hand. This is the only hand.

Blake shook off her concern as he walked to his desk. “There are hundreds of rumors about me. If I cared about squelching every single one of them, I’d never get anything done.”

“But there aren’t hundreds of rumors about me.” Well, after what happened with Max Ellis, maybe there were. Which made it that much more prudent that there weren’t any new ones. However, she wasn’t willing to explain that to Blake, so she conceded. “You know what? Fine. Just fine.” She walked to her desk and deposited her purse in a drawer. “I won’t be spending much time at the office anyway.”

Blake frowned at her from across the room. God, he was even beautiful when disgruntled. “Why not? Of course you will.”

“For a week or so. That’s what you said in the ad.” She wouldn’t get alarmed just yet. He couldn’t mean long-term.

“Yes, I did.” Still standing, he opened his top drawer and threw his keys inside. “For a week, I need you to spend time with me so that you can get to know what I’m looking for in a woman.”

She tried not to roll her eyes. Did he even care what a woman might be looking for in him? How on earth was she supposed to find someone for this man? The task was impossible.

No, she wasn’t going to think that way. She could do this. Either she could search for a woman equally as shallow or she’d have to search for his humanity. The latter sounded perhaps more difficult, but also more beneficial to the world in general. If she could discover something redeeming about Blake Donovan, something maybe even a little lovable, that was how she’d advertise him when searching for his match.

But to make that happen, she needed to be in control of her schedule.

Placing her palms on the surface of her desk—the desk, she wasn’t going to think of it as hers—she braced herself for her next question. “Then after that week, my hours can be performed outside the office. Correct?”

“Correct.”

She started to let out a sigh of relief.

“Except on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I want you in the office those days.”

Her back straightened, rearing for a fight. “In the office? But you didn’t say that in the interview.”

“I didn’t not say that in the interview.”

She gaped, not sure if she was more surprised by his working terms or that Blake Donovan would use a double negative.

When she got past the surprise, the denial set in. She could not work with him in the office every day. Could. Not. Between his inside-ugly and his outside chiseled perfection, he would drive her to drink. And even with what he was paying her, she couldn’t afford the amount of alcohol that she’d need.

Besides, it was impractical considering her assignment. “How am I supposed to find you dates if I’m in the office all the time?”

Blake unbuttoned his jacket and sat. “You won’t be in the office all the time. You’ll be here Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You can use Tuesday and Thursday to do your shopping, so to say.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose, hoping it hid her cringe at his choice of words. “And what will I be doing when I’m here?” She sounded like a petulant child, but, seriously, what did he expect?

He seemed happy to tell her. “Work using social media and the like. You can conduct phone interviews with potential dates. Plus, the more time you’re with me, the better you’ll get to know me, effectively helping you to find appropriate matches. I also need you around so I can report how each date goes. Having you here is convenient.”

Andy was getting pissed. Blake had said the search process was up to her and he was taking that away. She told him as much.

He waved his hand dismissively. “I’m not taking anything away. I’m simply telling you when you’ll be in the office and when you won’t.”

“But … but…” She couldn’t think of what should follow that but. He had made some valid points, and if it weren’t for the fluttering and stuttering that he seemed to provoke in her, she’d have volunteered for that schedule herself. Just discussing the time she’d be spending with him made her throat tight and her palms sweaty.

Another excuse flickered through her mind and she grabbed onto it like a life raft. “Don’t you meet with people in here? I’ll be in your way.”

Blake straightened a stack of papers that already seemed straight to Andy. “Don’t be silly. I’ll schedule meetings when you’re not here. Or I’ll use the conference room.”

Andy teetered on the line between acceptance and full-out fuck no. She chewed on her lip as she evaluated her choices. No matter what she said he was going to have a counter. She knew that about him this early in their acquaintanceship. It was part of his egotistical, narcissistic nature. And arguing with her employer probably wasn’t the best way to start a new job.