No, that had definitely not been pity in his eyes. And he’d just admitted he’d enjoyed it.

Plus, she noted to herself, Blake having sex was an entirely different Blake. A Blake she needed to know more about. For work purposes, of course. He was generous and unselfish. He’d given her not one, but two amazing orgasms, and truthfully, there had been a time or two in Andy’s past when she had considered that she might be frigid; two orgasms in the space of one session was mighty big news for her.

The sound of a throat being cleared brought Andy back to the present moment.

“Sorry.” She felt her cheeks flushing. “Go ahead. Unless you’d like me to go first.”

“No. I got this.” Blake’s brow creased, a frown playing on his lips. “I don’t quite know how to put this without seeming, as you so eloquently put it, douchey.” He actually looked nervous.

Jeez, if Blake is nervous about coming across poorly, this is bound to be bad. “Shoot.” She braced herself for where he might possibly go from there. If not fired, then what? Transferred out of the office? Oh, God, was this going to affect her performance review?

Or maybe, possibly … was he asking for this to be more? Was her job in jeopardy because Blake Donovan no longer needed a matchmaker? The idea sent goose bumps racing along her bare skin.

Blake scratched the back of his neck. “As I said, I would like to continue doing—this—with you, and I would also like you to continue working for me in your current capacity. I realize this is a cake-and-eat-it-too situation.”

Andy swallowed hard against the knot of unreasonable disappointment in her throat. Besides the failed seduction attempt, this was what she had hoped for. String-free sex with the most gorgeous man she’d ever met in real life. Just what he needed to keep his raging libido in check while he dated the women she found him. Just what she’d wanted. She’d never even considered more with the man until … well, until about ten seconds before.

And more with that man was a ridiculous idea. Crazy. Insane.

It was just that now that she’d had sex with him, truly fantastic sex at that, she didn’t know what she wanted. She wasn’t sure she even wanted to know what she wanted. But if this was acceptable to him, to continue giving her orgasms while also keeping her on staff—so be it. She’d take it. And maybe she’d slow down on the matchmaking, though that really shouldn’t be a factor in this internal debate. It was separate. That was her job, and this was … this was Blake.

She released the lip she’d been biting, put on a bright smile, and threw her shoulders back. “I accept.”

“Excellent.” He winked and the glint in his eyes made butterflies stir in her stomach. “There will have to be rules.”

“Yes, rules.” She nodded a little too enthusiastically. Then she stopped. “Such as?”

“No fooling around in the office.” Blake considered a moment, his expression seeming as disappointed with his statement as she was. “Well, just not during office hours.”

That was better. “But after work is okay.” It wasn’t a question.

He nodded. “And before.”

“And lunchtime.”

“And lunchtime.” His eyes grazed her half-eaten sandwich before rising to meet hers and she knew he was thinking the same thing she was—namely, that it was at that very moment lunchtime.

She forced herself to look away, grabbing her soda for a long sip. Though she’d happily spend the rest of their lunch spread across his desk, there was more to discuss.

“I’m on birth control,” she announced when she put her drink back down.

“Oh?” His eyes widened ever so slightly.

“But I’d still prefer we keep using condoms. Do you mind?” It wasn’t only protection from STDs, but protection from becoming too intimate. So many walls had been removed, there needed to be some barrier between the two of them.

“Of course not. It’s practical.” He sounded a little disappointed.

For some reason, that made Andy happy. “Exactly.” She crossed her legs and drummed her fingers on her thigh. “Is there anything else?”

Blake’s eyes were pinned on the newly exposed skin of her leg. “Anything else? Oh. Yes. Nothing romantic. No candlelight dinners. No overnights.”

It was her turn to feel disappointed, but he was right. It was the best way to keep this … what? Businesslike wasn’t at all the right term. Simple, maybe. “No beds in general.”

He narrowed his eyes. “No beds?”

“Do we need them?”

Blake laughed. “No, we do not.”

While she was certain that he was calculating all the places that were not beds in their shared office, she took the moment to stick him with the big one. Her big rule. “And I hate to be old-fashioned about this, Blake, but I need to know you aren’t sleeping with your dates. Not just because of the problems I’ve mentioned before, but it’s simply not fair to me.”

It looked like Blake was going to argue for a second, but he didn’t. “No, that wouldn’t be fair at all.” He studied her for several seconds, and she thought that she’d give up her other Prada shoe to know what he was thinking.

Finally he shook his head once as if clearing whatever thought he was having from his mind and said, “That’s why we’re doing this, anyway. So that I can better focus on the candidates. Right?”

The butterflies from earlier fell with a thud at the bottom of her gut. “Right.”

She lowered her eyes to her fingers and tried to swallow past the lump forming in her throat. Without a doubt, she knew that Blake was as into the sex as she’d been. That it wasn’t simply because he thought it might better help him find a bride. But she also knew what admitting that would mean—it would mean exposing himself. It would mean letting yet another one of his masks down. Maybe that was something he simply couldn’t bring himself to do.

With that thought, she felt she understood the man a little bit better. And okay, if that was how he had to be, that was fine. But she didn’t have to. So she raised her eyes to his and said proudly, “Also, we’re doing it because it’s fun.”

His smile could have lit a dark room. “Definitely because of that.”

That was all he’d needed, it seemed. Reassurance from her. Good thing she’d spoken honestly. But she still hadn’t gotten an answer to her big rule. “So, you won’t? Be sleeping with your dates?”

“I can promise that I will not be seducing any future dates, Ms. Dawson.” The honesty in his voice threw her for a second.

“Thank you.” She stood, gathering the remains of her sandwich and her drink and headed to her desk. “Now, shall we go over potentials for next week and finalize this weekend’s dates?” She sat in her chair and went decisively back to her work, suddenly anxious for the familiarity of it. She picked up a pencil.

“One moment. This conversation isn’t over yet.” She swiveled back. He was staring at her with the same deadly serious look he’d had earlier. What now?

“Your position has changed. We need to discuss your pay rate changing to reflect that.” The pencil snapped in two. Just one sentence; that was all it took to turn the delicious postcoital haze into a blind red rage.

“You want to pay me to have sex with you?” Last chance to dig yourself out of this hole, Donovan.

“That sounds rather ugly, Andrea. I simply want to maintain fairness in acknowledging that you have new duties, which I do not expect to be performed gratis.” She threw the pieces of pencil to the floor, deliberately, one by one.

“Ugly? Duties? Performed gratis?” She began advancing toward his desk. His eyes were widening with the sudden knowledge that he had really said something wrong. Good.

“Again, I feel this isn’t coming out quite the way I had intended…” His eyes darted around, looking for an escape route. Andy continued, one step at a time.

“You mean, you didn’t intend to call me a prostitute? Because that just happened.” She was keeping her voice low and menacing, and it was working. As she stalked toward him, rounding one side of his enormous desk, his chair went sliding away from her.