“When someone owes you money, we call it accounts receivable,” Emanuel pointed out knowledgeably.
“So that’s an asset too?” Sin asked, feigning an interest she didn’t actually feel.
“Yes.” Emanuel nodded. “Things like inventory, property, equipment are also assets because they can be used to produce more inventory or sold outright to make cash. A liability on the other hand is something you owe…”
On and on he droned about the basic principles of accounting. Meanwhile, Sin plotted. Now that Worth wasn’t in the office, it was the perfect time to access his financial records. And this ‘lesson’ was the perfect way. When she’d settled next to Emanuel for her lesson, she’d noted that a few files on his desktop looked like what she was looking for. Her flash-drive was ready. All she needed was some time alone to copy his files.
Now, how would she get Emanuel to leave her alone with his computer?
Most of their coworkers had already left for the day leaving only her and Emanuel in the office. Perfect! A brief glance around the office gave her just the right idea.
Emanuel continued, “Accountants use the terms credit and debit-”
Sin cut him off with a cough. Then another loud cough, and another one that was even more raucous.
Emanuel stopped his lesson to give her a concerned look. “You okay?”
“Yeah, it’s j-” She coughed again. Her voice rough, she asked, “Water.”
“Water?” He immediately jumped to his feet and rushed to the water dispenser. Minutes later, he came back with a tumbler of water. “Here you are.”
“Thank you.” Sin gratefully took the tumbler and emptied it in a few gulps. Before Emanuel could settle back next to her, she coughed again.
“More?” he asked.
She nodded.
A moment later he came back with her water. This time she didn’t drink it, she set it on the desk in the space between her seat and Emanuel’s.
When Emanuel settled back in his seat, she said, “So you were talking about credit and debits?”
“Ah, yes!” Emanuel nodded eagerly. “Accountants use the terms credit and debit as a way of saying they’re increasing or decreasing an account. An account could be an asset account-”
“Such as cash?”
“Exactly.” Emanuel gave her an impressed smile. “Or it could be a liability account such as an account payable.”
“Ah interesting.” Sin nodded slowly. She leaned towards him while moving her arm. “What about-”
Deliberately, she knocked over the tumbler of water.
“Oh!” Both she and Emanuel exclaimed, but Emanuel’s exclamation was louder because the spilled water headed straight for his lower body. He jumped up, trying to evade it, but it was too late. His pants were soaked.
Horror filled his eyes. “Oh Jeez.”
“Oh, oh. Oh no.” Sin’s hand flew to her throat as she widened her eyes. “I’m so sorry. Oh dear. Where are you napkins? Oh no.”
“Napkins? Napkins?” Emanuel looked around the office while trying to hold his pants away from his body.
Of course there were no napkins to be found. When Sin had checked out the office while plotting, it was the first thing she’d noted.
“I’ll just go to the bathroom and dry myself there,” Emanuel suggested without her even having to guide him towards that solution. Seconds later, he scurried out of the office.
He was barely out of the office before Sin took over his computer. Ten had already taught her how to access the files on someone’s machine, and her actions were subtle enough that anyone watching the CCTV footage would assume she was just messing around with the computer. Soon, the download begun. Nervousness bit at Sin as she waited for its completion.
Thirty-two percent complete. Forty-seven percent complete. Forty-nine percent complete. Fifty-one percent complete.
Was it just her or was this thing slowing down by the second? Even though she maintained a bored expression as she stared at the computer, her palm felt clammy against her cheek.
Fifty-four percent complete. Sixty-two percent complete. Sixty-three percent complete.
Jesus! This computer was killing her. Her heart was practically in her throat and any moment now, she’d throw it up.
Seventy-seven percent complete. Eighty-six percent complete. Ninety-one percent complete.
“Come on, baby. You can do it,” Sin softly coaxed the machine.
Ninety-three percent complete. Ninety-five percent complete. Ninety-six perc-
Sin almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the footsteps outside the door. A moment later, Emanuel walked back in looking drier and carrying a bunch of napkins. “Did you need some too?”
She rushed to meet him. Her smile as she crossed the room gave no hints of the panic throbbing beneath. “Oh thank you so much.”
She grabbed the napkins. When he tried to move past her, she subtly cut in front of him to face him. “Did you manage to dry off? Let me see.”
Before Emanuel could protest, she spun him around so she could make sure he was dry enough. From her calculations the computer needed just a few more minutes to fully download its documents. Just to be safe, she dragged Emanuel’s attention to a calendar on the wall.
The calendar was made up of photos of W Sport employees at different events. By the time he finished telling her about all the events, from January to December, a decent amount of time had passed. Still, Sin made sure to get to the desk before him.
Phew! The download was done. Subtly, she plucked the stick out and stuffed it into the pocket of her jacket. Soon her oblivious teacher continued with his lesson.
Their lesson ended at about seven-forty.
“I’ll wait for you at the elevator,” Emanuel said as they walked out of his office.
“It’ll only be a few minutes.” Sin threw over her shoulder. “I just need to get my purse.”
With a smile, she headed to their wing. That smile dropped as soon as she got to the reception area. Oh, crap! What the hell was he doing here?
Worth was seated at her desk, thumbing through a file. He noticed her just as soon as she noticed him.
“You’re here late.” Though his voice was low and his tone bored, the glint in his eyes said he wasn’t happy. “Where were you?”
Sin thought of lying but realized that this dude was vicious enough to pull out surveillance tapes just so he could prove she was lying. “At Finance.”
“Doing?”
“Nothing much.” She shrugged. “I was on my way out though.”
Just to show that she really meant to leave, she crossed the room and circled her desk until she was right next to Worth. When she went to grab the strap of her purse, he stopped her with a firm grip of her wrist. She almost gasped at the contact. Electric heat shot up from her arm to zing across every erogenous zone in her body.
“You can’t leave yet.” Worth spun around on the wheeled seat until they were facing each other and she was practically standing between his legs.
Sin’s heart immediately jumped at the intimate position. It took everything in her to hold her ground and keep looking down at him as she ordered, “Let go of my hand.”
He ignored her and instead asked, “Are you done setting up my schedule for next week?”
“It’s just Thursday-” she started. When his lips tilted up in a smile (probably because he thought he could torture her into doing it right now) she quickly crushed that smile. “- but yes, I’m done with your schedule.” Her tone almost taunting, she asked, “Would you like me to show it to you?”
“No.” The look in his eyes was almost angry, and his fingers tightened around her wrist as he bit out, “I hear Elon are shutting down soon. Have you found someone else for supplies?”
This man was ridiculous. Elon had only announced today that they were bankrupt and wouldn’t be able to honor their office-supply contract with W Sport. Wasn’t it ridiculous of Worth to expect his assistant to have already set up another supplier? Fortunately, she was Sin. Nothing was impossible.
She smiled. “I already talked to a few vendors and asked them to send in bids. Carmichael’s following up on it.”
Worth’s stormy expression left no doubt that he didn’t like her answer, but what could he say? That she was too competent? Ha!
Her eyebrows arched, Sin tugged at her wrist. “Now can I go?”
This time he had no choice. As soon as he released her wrist, Sin grabbed her purse. “Goodnight.”
With that she stalked away. What she didn’t count on was Worth following her. She immediately spun around to face him. “Are you following me?”
“Are you worth following,” he retorted with an annoying smirk before skirting past her.
As it turned out, he was also headed towards the elevators. When they turned the corner, she saw Emanuel standing by the elevators. He didn’t see them at first but their footsteps were loud enough to draw his attention. The moment his gaze met Worth’s, Emanuel visibly stiffened, almost like a soldier who’d just sighted his commander.
“I didn’t know you were still around,” Worth said as he came to a stop beside the shorter man.
“Ah yes… yes,” Emanuel tripped over his words. Sin could’ve sworn that he was shaking as he added, “I… I had a bit of work to… to finish off.”
“Ah. Okay.” Worth nodded. “Good work.”
Just then the elevator doors opened. Sin entered first then smiled at Emanuel, silently urging him to get in. But Worth was the only one who got on.
Emanuel sent her an embarrassed look before stuttering, “I… I think I left uh… a… something in the office. I need to get it.”
With that he scrambled away like a terrified rabbit, leaving Sin more than a little disappointed. She knew that Worth could be a bit scary, but he wasn’t that scary. Thank goodness she wasn’t interested in Emanuel because his spinelessness would’ve brought him down several notches in her dateablity index.
The elevator doors closed and she and Worth began their descent. The silence that immediately filled the space was so deep and stifling that it almost echoed. As they rode down, Sin stared at Worth’s broad back, wondering how to ask him to drive her home and whether he would even agree. A drive together would be the perfect opportunity to get closer.
As it turned out, her plotting was unnecessary. The gods of seduction were in a good mood and they did all the work for her.
The elevator suddenly lurched. Sin’s first reaction was panic and she immediately grabbed the rail next to her, as did Worth.
“What the hell?” He exclaimed under his breath moments before the lights flickered then went off.
“What’s wrong?” Sin shakily asked from her position at the corner. “Did we just stop between floors?”
“Hold on.” There was rustling from Worth’s corner. A moment later, his phone’s flashlight came on, lighting up the dark space as he moved forward to press the call button repeatedly. “Excuse me. Is anyone there?”
Marty, the security guard, answered the call. “Yes. What is it?”
“Marty, this is Wentworth Ransom,” he said calmly. “The elevator just stopped.”
“Oh, sir. It’s you.” Marty instantly came awake. He sounded more urgent as he apologized, “I’m so sorry. Did the elevator stop?”
“That’s what I just said.”
“I’ll call maintenance immediately,” Marty said. “Hang tight.”
“Will do.” Judging from Worth’s calm tone and his unaffected demeanor, it almost seemed like he didn’t think their situation was that dire. It was enough to calm Sin and the nervousness within her fizzled out like air rushing out of a balloon.
However, right at that moment she realized that this was a wonderful opportunity for her to further squeeze her way into Worth’s thoughts. She fixed her gaze on the elevator doors then begun to take sharp, noisy breaths while rubbing her upper chest.
Her gasps were so dramatic that not even Worth could ignore them. He shone the light in her direction. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Yes. I’m… I’m fine,” she gasped. Her gaze still on the door, she stuttered, “He… He’ll fix it soon, right?”
“Of course.” Apparently, Worth had a heart underneath his stony exterior. There was real worry in his voice as he asked, “Are you really okay?”
“I’m… I’m fine.” She moved as if to straighten to her full height but stumbled.
Of course she stumbled straight in Worth’s direction. The poor guy had no choice but to catch her. Ignoring the heat that immediately leaped within her at the contact, she whimpered, “Sorry,” as she clung to his upper arms.
“Do you suffer from claustrophobia?” he asked as his arms came around her upper body to hold her closer to his warm body. When her only answer was to stare at the door, he tightened his hold on her waist. “You do, don’t you?”
“It’s okay.” Sin whispered shakily even as she stared at the door. Meanwhile, she wound her arms around his waist to bring their bodies even closer. Trying not to dwell on how good he smelled, how tall he was, how firm his body was and how she fit perfectly in his arms, she stuttered, “It’s okay. I’m… I’m fine.”
“My step-mother has claustrophobia too,” Worth confessed right before he cupped his hand over Sin’s hair and turned her face so she was staring up at him. “Don’t look at the door. You should focus on something else. Look at me. Just focus on my face.”
Seeing this tender side of Worth was jarring. Even in her wildest dreams she’d never dreamt of him caring for someone in distress, and it left her feeling guilty for faking her panic. However, now that she’d already thrown her hat in the ring she couldn’t back out.
Still clinging to him, she moved her gaze back to the door.
“No.” With two fingers on her chin, he brought her face back until she was face-to-face with him again. With his fingers in her hair, he urged her to tuck her face into his chest.
Goodness! The man smelt amazing. His scent, an intoxicating mix of soap, leather and man, left her senses dancing in delight. Without conscious thought, she burrowed even closer into him. Close enough to feel a bulge press into her stomach.
Oh! Her eyes opened and widened. Was he already aroused?
Her heart thumping wildly, she tightened her grip around his waist then pressed her lower body into his to make sure that she hadn’t just imagined his arousal. Nope, she hadn’t imagined it and it was growing by the minute. Something about her movements must’ve awakened Worth because the hand he had on her upper back moved downwards along her spine to come to a stop at her lower back.
If Sin wasn’t already turned on, that would’ve done it. Her hands balled into fists over the fabric of his suit-jacket as she pressed her body even deeper into his. Her nipples brushed against his chest, sending sensations straight to her pussy. She didn’t have to fake the ragged breaths anymore. Her breaths became shorter all on their own. When she turned her face upwards, her hot breath whispering against Worth’s throat, he made his move.
It was slow. It was torturous.
The hand that was cupping her head slowly moved to her face, to her cheek and down to her chin. When he lifted her face to meet his lowering one, she was waiting.
He took her lips in a kiss that put every other kiss she’d ever had to shame. Sensations she’d never felt before exploded through her body and pleasure rippled across every sensitive nerve ending within her. He made love to her mouth with smooth nips along her lips and with slow and sliding thrusts of his tongue.
A moan echoed in the small space when his tongue slid along hers sinuously, and she realized too late that the moan had come from her. But she couldn’t bring herself to care. Not when he was driving her this crazy. She melted into his kiss easily, undeniably.
WORTH HAD DREAMT of kissing Sin more times than he cared to admit. None of those dreams could even come close to the real thing. Having in her in his arms was more satisfying than he’d imagined, feeling her lush breasts pressing into his hard muscles was more erotic than he’d dreamed. And she tasted sweeter, so much sweeter than he’d expected. Like peaches on a warm summer day, like chocolate and honey swirled together.
The thought that he was falling right into her trap briefly crossed his mind, but it scattered when Sin’s tongue slid deep inside his mouth to war with his own. He couldn’t push her away. If anything, he brought her closer. He moved his hands so they skimmed down her body until they cupped her ass, pulling her into his erection.
Damn, that felt good! He’d been aching to touch her flesh for so long that he got so hard that it almost felt like he was about to burst. Worth couldn’t hold back his growl of pleasure. It rumbled from his chest right to her, and she met it with a frantic kiss that left his senses clouded with lust. She hooked her one leg around his waist as if to bring her pussy to his cock. He was just about to help her up when the lights suddenly came on.
By the time the elevator lurched and began to move again, the two had already jumped apart. As soon as he was apart from Sin, Worth’s reason came rushing in. What the hell had he just done? He met the eyes of the siren standing in front of him, staring at him with eyes as wide as headlights, and knew he was in trouble. How the hell was he supposed to come back from a kiss like that?
Fortunately, it was obvious that he wasn’t the only one affected. If the stark lines of passion on Sin’s face were faked, then he was Albert Einstein. Her face was flushed and her eyes were dazed. Her lips were those of a well-kissed woman; swollen, moist and slightly parted as if for begging for more. And maybe he would’ve obliged had the elevator not come to a stop right then.
The moment the doors opened, they both looked up to see what floor they were on. Ground floor. Without even a goodbye, Sin grabbed her purse that seemed to have fallen during their… um… activities and ducked out of the elevator. Worth followed her but at a more relaxed pace. Even with only her back to him, he could see that she was panicked.
By the time he walked out of the building, she was already in a cab. That threw him for quite a while. After that kiss, she obviously had the upper hand. If he were in her position, he would’ve tried to lure her into his bed so he could take advantage of their attraction and drag her deeper into falling for him. It was while he was in the cab on his way home that he realized why she hadn’t used the opportunity.
She was too busy running away to even see it.
If he had to take a guess, he’d say that she likely hadn’t expected to fall into the kiss as much as she had. She must’ve realized that she’d bitten off more than she could chew with that kiss.
He grinned.
Oh, Sin, Sin, Sin! She’d just revealed her weakness. She was as much in lust with him as he was with her. He settled back in his seat with a smirk. This was splendid- a sword he couldn’t help but use. He’d use her lust against her.
Why should he have to hold back from having her? If she was offering herself, then he’d take her completely, until he’d satiated his lust. When he was done with her, he’d dump her. And while he was at it, he’d make sure to hurt her. He’d make sure that she knew that she’d just wasted her time on the one man who’d never, ever, ever fall for her tricks. That she wasn’t worth the ring she was angling for.
Yes, that’s what he’d do. He chuckled. He’d use her just like she was planning to use him.