“Let’s go,” I say as soon as she shows up in my office.

Kat looks delicious today, but then she always does. A thin pink blouse covers her body, affixed to the skin of her cleavage by gravity and skimming the rest of her upper body demurely. Her white lace pencil skirt shows off the flare of her hips.

My strait-laced personal assistant with the tight bun on her head. I can’t wait to peel off her office-appropriate clothes and plunder the prize within.

Her hand is still on the door handle. A cute little frown appears on her pretty face. “Where?”

“You’ll see.” I put my arm around her delicate shoulders and lead her out of the office.

She keeps insisting, though, and I keep refusing to answer. She puts on a mirthless expression in the car.

“You don’t like surprises, kitten?” I ask.

“Not when I’d planned to spend the day at the office,” she answers curtly.

I chuckle. She’s always been highly organized, which makes her a great personal assistant. She wrangles my schedule like she was born to do it.

“I only told you to show up at the office in the morning as usual. I never said anything about staying in the office the whole day. Sounds like you were anxious to get started on the baby-making,” I say. “Did you want to pick things up where we left off the other day?”

I know she remembers the kiss I gave her in my office. With her sparkling green eyes, she panted and begged me for more.

But it’s not my style to gobble up everything in front of me, like I’m in a cheap buffet joint.

No, someone like Kat… I want to taste her, really savor her. An exquisite beauty like her doesn’t come around often. And she’s not just a looker—I’ve seen glimpses of her brilliance and her sensuality.

I can’t wait to enjoy this arrangement.

To me, sex without intimacy is like a dish without any spices. But I get the feeling that being with Kat is going to be like an explosion of tastes… and not just in my mouth either.

But I need to wait. It’s going to take a little preparation to get her to the right state of mind.

“Let’s keep this professional,” she retorts, which only proves my point. She’s not ready yet.

“Work can be fun, too, kitten,” I remind her.

“Spoken like a true workaholic.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Fair enough.”

Kitty’s got claws!

“I’m just saying, it’s okay to enjoy your work. That’s why you want to be a romance author, right? Because you enjoy the work?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she admits.

“You know what they say about all work and no play.”

“Is that what this is? Play?” she asks.

“You can say that.”

I take no more questions and ask Kat to tell me about herself instead. But beyond saying that she lives with an investment banker (the roommate who made notes on her smutty manuscript), she doesn’t reveal much.

When I ask her about her family, she mentions having a step-mom and step-siblings, but gets even more tight-lipped than usual. It really makes me wonder what her life is like.

She stops talking about herself altogether when we pull up outside the airport and park the car. It’s her turn to ask questions now.

“Why are we at the airport?” she asks with suspicion in her voice.

“You don’t have to plan every second of your life, kitten. Let loose a little. Go with the flow,” I say as I get out of the car. I smile to myself when she follows me and we make our way into the airport building.

Kat’s jaw slackens as a man in a smart suit drives up in a caddy and takes us past the lines at the check-in desks and the security checkpoints.

“Are we… flying somewhere?” she asks. The widest part of her hips brushes against my thigh as the caddy whizzes past other travelers.

“That’s generally why people go to airports, yes. To fly somewhere.” I give her a smile.

It’s so amusing to watch her try to figure out what I’m planning. I can almost hear the gears turning in her mind. But she’s not going to guess this one.

“You’re not… This is… not human trafficking, right?” she asks in a small voice, as if she realizes how ridiculous it sounds but still has to ask.

I burst out laughing. When I finally calm down, I give her a dramatic, sinister look and say, “If this were human trafficking, you think I’m just going to tell you?”

“No?”

“Not a chance.” I shake my head.

“You really did make your money from stock trading, right?” she asks.

“Stocks, humans… Whatever makes the most money. What’s the difference?” I pause to watch her decide whether to laugh at my lame joke or run in the other direction.

She lets out a nervous laugh. “You’re not going to fool me. I know some finance nerds who are big fans of your work.”

“Sure.” I hop off the caddy when it stops. “But they don’t know all the things I do on the side.”

Kat catches up to me in the jet bridge connecting the airport gate to the private jet. “Ha-ha. Very funny. Where are we really going?”

“Shopping.” I nod at the flight attendant welcoming us on board.

“Shopping for what?” If anything, her tone only gets more insistent after getting an answer for one of her many questions.

“Wine.”

The flight attendant directs Kat to her seat. She lands her luscious ass on the leather and folds her toned legs gracefully. She keeps her eyes on me, waiting for an explanation. “Where?”

“A winery.” I know she’s just going to keep asking the same question, trying to get me to reveal more information about the location. “You’re going to work overtime tonight. We’re probably only going to reach our destination at the end of the day.” I pause. “Or is it going to be morning again when we get there, because of the time difference? I can never tell.”

“We’re flying far enough for there to be a time difference?” Kat asks in a surprised voice.

“Yeah.” I fasten my seatbelt.

I usually like this big, comfortable seat with plenty of leg room, but right now I hate that the spaciousness of the aircraft also means that there’s a wide aisle between my hands and her sexy little body.

“So we’re probably flying to the east or the west…” Kat’s voice trails off as she thinks.

“Hint: we’re going to fly over the Atlantic.”

“We’re going to Europe?” Kat asks in a fascinating mixture of disbelief Apprehension, and excitement.

“Yeah,” I say. “It’s going to be about ten hours until we get there. You’d better rest up. It’s going to be morning when we land.”

“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said ‘overtime,’” Kat says.

I laugh. I don’t often have people challenge me, and that’s the way I usually like it.

But with Kat…

I don’t know. Even when she’s being a sassy smart-mouth, she’s entertaining. There’s an honesty about her, a genuine quality.

Most people want something from me. Money. Connections. Power. Assistance.

I’m not saying Kat doesn’t want all those things. Let’s not pretend that I’m not paying her to be here. I’m not delusional.

But she acts like she doesn’t need all those things. Like she could take it or leave it. I can’t tell if it’s pride or if she’s here for a different reason.

Is it me she’s staying for? Is it something else?

I’ve worked my ass off to build my business from an unknown investment firm into an international hedge fund management company worth billions of dollars.

If there’s anything I know, it’s that I can make anything happen if I really put my mind to it.

So here’s what I’m going to do. I’ll crack Kat’s armor and show her how much fun this can be, if she lets go and follows her instincts.

Sure, this agreement is about having Kat deliver my baby. But that doesn't have to be all it is.

I’ve decided that Kat will be my next project. I’m going to tame her.