Purchased For Pleasure. Nicola Marsh

at all times. To do this she needed at least eight solid hours of sleep a night. Without it she turned into a monster, as all her staff knew. Unfortunately, last night hadn’t been conducive to sleeping and she was paying the price now. So would anyone else who crossed her path today.

      ‘Good morning, boss. Sleep well?’ Di strolled into her office, all blonde spikes and cheerfulness.

      ‘Is it? And no. Where’s that damn article on homeless shelters?’

      She shuffled around her desk, sending papers flying in all directions while making a frantic grab for her take-out skinny latte.

      What happened to organised and professional? Right now her desk resembled a second-grader’s with the writing strewn across it probably making about that much sense.

      ‘Didn’t sleep too well? Can’t blame you.’

      Kate didn’t like the twinkle in her assistant’s eye. Besides, how could Di be so darn chirpy every morning? Didn’t she ever wake up with a sore head?

      ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

      Kate finally stopped rummaging around and sat back, draining the last of her coffee, lobbing the cup in the bin and rubbing her temples. She rarely drank and the three glasses of champagne last night combined with the haunting image of Ty looking better than ever had kept her tossing and turning all night.

      ‘Oh, nothing.’ Di’s grin broadened. ‘Though if I had the prospect of some sexy sailor trailing after me all week I wouldn’t be able to get any shut-eye either.’

      ‘He’s not trailing after me,’ she snapped, her headache intensifying by the minute.

      ‘Oh, yes, he is. He’s just stepped out of the lift and is heading this way.’

      Kate sat bolt upright in time to see Ty honing in on her office.

      Great. Just great.

      Di wiggled her fingers in a saucy wave and strolled away, giving Tyler a similar wave, and Kate tried to ignore the absurd jolt of jealousy that shot through her. Ty was her past and she shouldn’t have to remind herself of that fact.

      He walked straight into her office as if he owned the place. ‘Hi. Got a minute?’

      How dared he look so good at this hour of the morning? Faded denim jeans hugged his long legs and a white T-shirt moulded his muscular torso like a second skin, delineating every single layer of taut, hard muscle beneath it. The type of muscle she used to love running her hands over, caressing, skimming, relishing.

      Okay, maybe good was an understatement. Try delectable and she struggled not to drool.

      ‘What are you doing here?’

      Though she tried to keep her voice cool, it came out all high and squeaky.

      A smile tugged at the corners of his delicious mouth. ‘Still not a morning person, huh?’

      She shook her head and wished she hadn’t as the pounding in her brain increased.

      ‘I’m surprised you remember.’

      ‘How could I forget?’

      He flashed his trademark killer smile, the one that always made her knees go weak. Thankfully, she was sitting down.

      ‘So, what else do you remember?’

      He closed the door and strode across the room in one lithe movement. She loved how he walked. Correction, how he stalked, all stealth and fluid lines, and her pulse accelerated in anticipation as he perched on the corner of her desk less than two feet away.

      ‘I remember plenty.’

      He tipped up her chin, stroking her cheek with his thumb in the barest of touches as she stared, trapped beneath his scrutinising gaze, his thumb doing crazy things to her insides as it grazed her skin slowly, repeatedly.

      ‘Yeah, well, I do too.’

      She leaned back, breaking the tenuous contact that was wreaking havoc with her senses. ‘But that’s all they are, just memories.’

      His eyes narrowed to slivers of electrifying blue. ‘Yeah, but they were good. Damn good. And you know it.’

      She glared, the jackhammering in her head intensifying as she tried to put words together in a coherent fashion, her brain befuddled by his closeness, his touch.

      ‘All I know is I’ve got a lot of work to do and sitting here talking about ancient history is wasting my time.’

      Thankfully, his thumb had stopped stroking her cheek. On the downside, he re-established contact by trailing his index finger along her jaw-line, setting her nerve-endings alight.

      ‘What’s with the attitude? You said we’d talk in the morning. Aren’t you glad to see me?’

      She pulled away from his blazing touch. ‘We’ll talk later. I haven’t got time for this now.’

      He grinned, sending her pulse rate into overdrive. ‘You didn’t answer my question.’

      ‘About the memories, the attitude or being happy to see you?’

      There was no way she would answer any of his questions. She’d made a fool of herself last night. Questions only led to answers and they led directly to trouble.

      ‘How about all of the above?’

      ‘Look, I’d love to chat but I’ve got important deadlines to meet.’

      She tried to stare him down. It had been a game with them, a battle of wills to see who would look away first. She’d always lost but not today.

      He sat back and folded his arms, looking way too cocky, the corners of his mouth curving into a tempting smile.

      ‘Surely Lois Lane can take a break for a few minutes?’

      ‘Nope, sorry, no can do. I’m busy.’

      She picked up a few papers and rattled them for good measure, needing to look away from his intense stare and that sexy smile. He still had the power to reduce her to a blathering mess with just one look—not that she’d let him know that.

      ‘Aren’t you the least bit curious?’

      ‘About?’

      ‘Why I’m here. Where I’ve been. What I’ve been doing. You must be otherwise you wouldn’t have paid a small fortune to have me last night.’

      Sighing, she pushed away from the desk, grateful to establish some distance between them. ‘You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?’

      His smile couldn’t get any smugger if he tried. ‘Not on your life.’

      Her heart clenched at the seductive glint in his eyes, the same twinkle that had prompted her to do all sorts of crazy things six years earlier.

      He’d always had this power over her, teasing her, infuriating her, making her fall in love when it was the last thing she’d expected.

      Unfortunately, it looked as if he still held that same power to make her contemplate all sorts of nutty things, like make her bid for him when the last thing she wanted was to have him trailing after her for a week.

      ‘Okay, you win. Let’s get this sorted now so I can get back to work. You really can’t be serious about wanting to go through with this odd-jobs stuff?’

      He leaned forward, the depth of his blue eyes leaving her breathless as his voice dropped an octave lower. ‘Why not? It’ll be fun.’

      She didn’t have time for fun. Maybe the girls were right, she was stuck in her ways and a workaholic: uptight, frustrated and alone.

      Logically, she should never have attended the auction if she hadn’t wanted a confrontation with Ty and now that she’d had it, he’d kissed her silly and resurrected memories better left forgotten, she needed to get rid of him once and for all.