Stripped. Nicola Marsh

You know that, right?’

      She doesn’t blink. ‘You can but you won’t, because you need me to make you look good.’

      Her snooty gaze sweeps me from my head to my torso. ‘And it’s going to be a tough enough job without you vetoing everything.’

      I bark out a laugh. I can’t help it. She’s feisty and mouthy and bold, unlike any woman I’ve ever met.

      The girls I knew growing up in the foster system were defiant, but I always saw through to the underlying fear. It was like looking in a mirror. Later, when I began to move in Pa’s social circles, the women were deferent yet calculating, impressed by wealth more than anything else.

      Daisy is...unique. She’s not scared of me, she’s not embarrassed, and she’s not backing down.

      ‘I’m glad you find me amusing.’ Her anger has faded, replaced by something more alarming: daring.

      I see it in the brash way she meets my gaze, unflinching and questioning. And her mouth has relaxed, the corners curled up like she’s about to smile.

      ‘I find you many things, but amusing is low on the list.’

      Those beguiling flecks in her eyes glow again but with heat this time, not anger. ‘Do tell.’

      I can’t do this. I shouldn’t do this. But I’ve never backed down from anything in my life and I’m not about to start now, no matter that I should.

      ‘You’re confident. Overly so.’

      She remains silent, one eyebrow arched in provocation, and I continue.

      ‘I also find you surprisingly impertinent for someone who’s technically an employee of mine for the foreseeable future.’

      The other eyebrow arches. ‘There’s a difference between being impertinent and articulate. I’m the latter, in case you were wondering.’

      ‘There you go, being insolent again.’

      She rolls her eyes and I stifle another chuckle.

      ‘And at the risk of going over old ground when we said we wouldn’t, you’re also incredibly attractive.’

      ‘Hey.’ She waggles her finger at me. ‘You chastised me for looking at your mouth earlier so you can’t say stuff like that.’

      ‘You asked me to give you a list. I’m doing that.’ I shrug. ‘What’s the big deal?’

      She doesn’t buy my guileless smile. Smart girl.

      ‘I’ll email you what I’ve just presented.’ She closes her laptop, slips it into her portfolio and stands. ‘I recommend you take another look and we reconvene this afternoon.’

      I should let her get away with her abrupt reversion to professionalism but where’s the fun in that? Not much amuses me these days and I haven’t laughed in forever. Daisy Adler, with her swiftly changing faces—audacious to prim, teasing to business-like—has managed to get me doing both over the last thirty minutes.

      ‘Maybe we should make it dusk and take another walk along the beach?’

      Those sensational glossed lips compress into a thin line. ‘I’ll see you back here at two.’

      With that, she tucks her portfolio under her arm and stalks towards the door, back ramrod straight. Her ass is divine and I remember palming it last night. How it filled my hands. Soft yet firm. Pliable.

      As if sensing my thoughts she stops at the door to glance over her shoulder, shooting me a disapproving glare.

      I can’t help but grin as she slams the door on her way out.

       CHAPTER SIX

      Daisy

      I CAN’T BELIEVE IT.

      Hart caved.

      Well, technically he’s only agreed to doing a few shots around the resort but it’s a start. I’ll have him agreeing to the rest before he can say ‘I’m a contradictory jerk’. Because he is. The way he stared down his nose at me one minute, then flirted with me the next... I could’ve slapped him.

      Instead, I had to play nice. Especially when he said he had the power to fire me. That gave me a fright. But I took a risk. Rather than back down as he would have expected, I goaded him further and it worked. I’d pitched to guys like him in the past: they respected courage so I showed no fear.

      Unfortunately, it semi-backfired when he found my boldness a bit of a turn-on, if the way he looked at me was any indication. He switched from moody to intrigued, like he couldn’t figure me out.

      Confronting the guy I kissed was bad enough. My quick mental argument between my logical side and my inner vixen when I entered his office went something like this:

       Why the hell does Hart Rochester have to be the hottie you kissed? What’s so special about him that he makes you want to shuck your panties? What the hell were you thinking?

       Well, I wasn’t. He’s a seriously good kisser and he’s hot and I’m in a man drought so I couldn’t help myself despite having to work with him. Damn, he looks fine. Better than I remembered in the semi-darkness last night. I wonder how unprofessional it would be to lie on his desk and ask him to take me now?

      Thankfully I managed to appear calm and coherent during my presentation. But I was ultra aware of him throughout, staring at me with those enigmatic eyes that shield his every thought. Only when he lightened up did I see a glimpse of how he could be if he let go: funny, interested, alive.

      The latter had me spooked because when I’d first entered his office and we’d got past the awkwardness of our kiss, I’d seen a man sitting behind a desk who appeared like a robot. Like he was going through the motions. Like he didn’t want to be here.

      I’m good at my job but no amount of positive PR will make an ounce of difference if he looks like that in the rebranding material I have planned. Which is why I’m here to ensure he lightens the hell up.

      ‘How about this for a few casual shots?’ I hand him one of the outfits I asked him to bring down to the cabanas circling the pool.

      He stares at the red polo and navy shorts like I’ve given him a chicken suit to wear. I expect him to baulk. Instead, he shrugs and glances around. ‘Where should I change?’

      I refrain from rolling my eyes, just. He’s deliberately making this as hard as humanly possible and my patience is wearing thin, considering we’ve been at this for an hour.

      I tap my bottom lip, pretending to think. ‘I don’t know, Einstein, maybe in one of the cabanas?’

      ‘But the material is flimsy, you’ll see everything.’ He ducks his head to murmur in my ear. ‘Or is that your intention, perv?’

      I bite back a laugh. ‘Trust me, Sweet-Cheeks, if I wanted to see everything it wouldn’t be out here.’

      ‘Then where would it be?’

      He hasn’t moved, deliberately staying close enough to taunt me, so I respond in kind. ‘Somewhere private, because I don’t like an audience for what I have in mind.’

      He makes an odd strangling sound and backs away. Go me.

      I deliberately avert my gaze when he enters the nearest cabana. But I’m only human, and insanely attracted to this smart-mouthed guy, so I risk a peek.

      Bad move. While I can’t see anything per se, I see enough. The angling of the sun ensures light pours through the cabana’s canvas, casting his shadow against the opposite wall. He has his back to me and I see him slip off his shirt and pants, leaving him silhouetted like a goddamn Adonis. Broad shoulders, tapered waist, long, lean legs.

      My