“He’s family, so he has to say nice things about me.” He was her mother’s brother, and more of a parent to her than her mother had ever been.

A job would be really good. She’d been unemployed about five months and it was wearing on her. Her unemployment was enough to keep the lights on, but not much more.

Duke’s smile was one of the sexiest things about him, she realized as she nearly poured boiling water on her hand instead of in the mug.

“You know the industry. We’re nice guys, I promise. We bring in food every Friday. Free soda in the fridge and ice cream bars in the freezer. I did mean it about the dog friendly thing. One of our guys has a Jack Russell terrier. Xena, as in the warrior princess? She hangs out a few days a week. She’ll love Georgie. What do you say?”

Carmella should say that routinely being in close quarters with Duke Bradshaw was bad for all her promises to stay away from bikers and grease monkeys and the like.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t see his appeal. No, it was the opposite. He was pretty much a total package. He stood well over six feet. He was handsome. Like really handsome in that rugged, works-with-his-hands way, which in her opinion was the best kind of man. Duke wouldn’t be thrown off by hard work. If something broke, he got it fixed. Broad shoulders, work-strong muscled arms and legs. She’d seen him in enough T-shirts to know he had detailed ink on his arms and belly. A really flat belly too. He moved with confidence, like he always knew exactly where he was going and how to get there.

Duke was at ease with himself. That sort of confidence was a sensual punch to the gut. She knew she wasn’t alone in liking him. Friends were often at his house on the weekends and in the evenings. Never so rowdy that she considered calling the cops. Always cleaned up afterward.

He owned his business. Owned his home and a number of vehicles. At times he had a slow-as-molasses delivery with a hint of New England. And then he’d say Right on like some sort of Zen surfer.

No matter what he said, when he said it he made her hot and wet and tingly.

On top of all those things? He had an amazing ass.

She was beyond any ability to deny his appeal. If she could have ticked a bunch of her favorite man-type things and the result was rendered human, it would look a hell of a lot like the guy in her kitchen just then.

And none of that erased the fact that she couldn’t afford a man like him. Her mother would love him, which was Carmella’s general meter for unacceptability in a gentleman companion.

But he wasn’t there asking her to nail him. He was offering her a job. And damn if she didn’t need one of those. The number he rattled off as a starting salary was higher than her old one. She needed the benefits and the income and he was right, she was familiar with the industry, so it would probably be pretty easy to get started.

“Wow, you’re doing a lot of thinking in there.” He tapped her temple and she smiled.

“Not thinking gets a girl caught in too many dead ends.” She paused. “You said you needed me right away?”

He nodded. “The sooner you can start, the better. Even if it’s just a few hours here and there until you can start full-time.”

“All right then. Sounds like you have a new office manager.”