Code of Control (5 page)

“Don’t you mean
too
hot
to handle?” he asked shamelessly, lowering his gaze to her lap.

Charlotte shook
her head. “No. I meant too
hard
to handle.” Her eyes then lowered to his
lap, just to spite his resolve.

Nolan dragged in
a deep breath, held it, and smiled. “Fine, you win. Two weeks, no touching, no
thinking about touching, no contemplations on why touching would even be set on
the table, nada.” He held out his hand, expecting Charlotte to shake on this
deal. “The worst two weeks of maneuvers in my entire life.”

She stared at
his open palm, avoiding the contact.

“What? You can’t
shake on it because you know you will be the first one to crack?”

“Oh, I can shake
on it, but that would mean touching and I’m not falling for your ploy.”

“My pl—” he
sputtered, his hand lowering in slow motion.

“You wanted
honesty…I just gave you honesty,” she said sweetly.

“Honesty would
be a whole lot better if you were not smiling at me as you are.”

“I can’t help my
smile.” However, it did not lesson. Nor did she turn away from him.

Two seconds
later, he leaned back to stare at her face, gave her a harsh look in return, and
then chuckled. “Damn, you’re one tough cookie to crack.”

“You should have
done a much better job of kissing me if you wanted me to crack. I’ve had
better.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Do tell.” If
she hadn’t licked her lips at that point he might have believed her.

“Nope. I’ll save
the telling for a bedtime story.”

Nolan’s loins
tightened. “Are you going to be in the same bed as I to tell me this story?”

“Not on your
life, Mr. Morgan.”

“What if there
is only one bed?”

Her grin
widened. “Then you had better get used to sleeping on the floor.”

Chapter Five

Charlotte could not
wait to get started on the next two weeks. Nolan was everything a woman would
want and more…and damn, if anyone knew this as fact it was she. She’d never met
a man so put together, so sure of what he desired, or so sure of what made him
tick as if a well-oiled Swiss clock.

But, he was her
boss, so this was the perfect opportunity for her to show him what a code of
control entailed. If she could get him to understand the probability and
statistics of bad judgment, lack of concern to possible outcomes, she would
never have a problem in the field,
OSHIT
would praise her abilities, and
she would never have to question job security again.

How to get him
to understand was a whole other ballpark. The more she glanced at his profile,
the worse this became. Every atom in her body vibrated for his touch. She’d had
him deep inside her, for Christ’s sake. They could not have gotten any closer
to each other last night and again this morning than if conjoining twins. She
knew his facial twitches when in the throes of ecstasy. She knew what pleasured
him, how to touch him to make his body drum. Hell, she knew the exact octave of
his snores.

These were going
to be two incredibly torturous weeks for her. She would never make it without
cracking.

“What’s going on
in that head of yours?” he suddenly asked.

Charlotte shook
her head, warding off the fantasy. “Nothing. Just thinking.” He was out of the
Hummer, standing at her side of it, waiting for her to get out.

“Thinking can
get you into a lot of trouble out here.”

She gave him a
softened smile. “I’m sure it will.”

“Oh, it will,
but not because of me.” A hurried frown marred his face, replaced quickly by a
tip-lipped grin. “So, are you ready to face the music?”

“That would depend,”
she said.

“On what?”

“Who’s playing
the song?”

His false smile widened.
“I know I already asked you this, but are you going to be this way the entire
two weeks?”

“And what way
would that be?”

“Combative,
censored, an arm’s length away at all times.”

“I’m not
combative,” she argued.

Nolan’s brow
touched his hairline.

“Fine, I might
be a little combative…”

“A little? Hell,
woman, I have been standing out here for the better part of three minutes and
you still have not exited the Hummer. It’s getting late. The mosquitoes are
starting to suck me dry.”

Charlotte
glanced at her watch. “It’s only four o’clock, and mosquitoes aren’t out until
summer.”

“I meant late
for your first introduction to the world of Nolan Morgan.”

“The world of
Nolan
Morgan
?”

“Yeah, it’s sort
of a Jurassic theme park, or so I’m told.”

“I bet I can
guess the type of person who would tell you such a thing.”

His smile
reached deep inside her, then stopped abruptly when he said, “My ex-wife. Now
get out of the Hummer before I drag you out of it.”

Shocked he would
divulge personal information about having an ex-wife, Charlotte moved out of
the vehicle slowly. She looked him over, head to toe. For some strange reason
she could not imagine him as married. Even so, she could not stretch the
imagination to what the woman would look like, be like, or why she would ever
divorce such a handsome, intriguing man who had the arrogance of Godzilla.

His grin grew to
where his dimples dug deep. “You’re thinking again.”

“Aren’t I
allowed to think?”

“Not unless I
say so, and not if it involves a slip of the tongue about my ex-wife.”

“You never meant
to tell me you’d been married?”

“Nope.”

“Then why did
you?”

“Likely for the
same reason I hired you…even after sleeping with you. There’s something about
you that draws stuff out of me, whether it’s meant to come out of me or not.”

“Stuff? Sounds a
little gross, Mr. Morgan.”

Nolan’s chuckle
went deep. “Okay, poor choice of words, but you know what I mean.”

“I could make
this difficult on you and pretend I do not know what you mean.”

“But you won’t,”
he jibed.

Charlotte gave
him easy escape this time. “No, I won’t.”

“How very big of
you,” he declared.

“This does not
mean you’re off the hook, however,” she said quickly.

“Off what hook?
Were you fishing for something, Ms. Raven?”

Charlotte’s
smile slipped, only a little, then returned in full force. “If I was, you’d
know. You would not have to ask me.”

He gave her an
odd look then said, “Let’s go inside. I’m getting hungry. We’ve got a lot to
do, and I need to write up a few reports before we head to bed.”

Charlotte
followed Nolan up the sidewalk to the farmhouse, keeping three feet between
them at all times. Her safety zone from a complicated, virile man. He produced
a key from his front pocket, slipped it in the lock and opened the door. He then
stepped aside to let her through.

She was not at
all certain she should enter the house unprotected. After all, she met this man
last night, had sex with him, a veritable stranger, and she would now be
crossing into the lion’s den knowing exactly what he was after; and if catching
it, aware of how much he would take from her before she cried Uncle.

He flipped on an
overhead light, bringing clarity to the situation.

Everywhere the
eye looking, her intrigue about him increased. It’s likely why she let him take
her to a hotel room. He exuded confidence—exactly what she needed in a man. Dark
leather furniture, modern lamps and side chairs—this place was not at all what
a country farmhouse should look like. She halted in her tracks, flabbergasted
by the continuous contradictions bombarding her from four sides.

“What? Did you
think there would be an apple pie baking in the oven? Sorry to disappoint. I
don’t bake.”

“I’m not sure
what I expected,” she squeaked. His large hand had settled on the small of her
back.

“Come, I’ll show
you to your room.”

“I get my own
room?” she teased, tongue in cheek, her gaze instantly clashing with his.

“Keep up the lip
and you might not,” he warned rakishly. “The floor is cold at this time of year
and I doubt you’d like it down there.”

Charlotte zipped
her lips with her fingers, smiling at his face. He then led her down a long
hallway to the right of an open kitchen. She did not dare peek through any open
doors until certain she was allowed.

“Bathroom is in there.”
He pointed at the second door. “Shared, of course.”

“Shared?”

“My bedroom
connects to it from the other side.” She must have looked confused, because he
added more. “This isn’t the Ritz, sweetheart. You get what you get out here. No
complaints.”

“I wasn’t
complaining…”

“No, you were
thinking about complaining, and that’s the same thing in my book.”

“How is
thinking…” she started, moments later realizing he was only trying to get her
goat. “I don’t complain,” she muttered as afterthought.

“We’ll see about
that,” he rued. He opened a door on the other side of the hall. “Office. If you
need anything in here just ask. Do not use the computer on the right.” He
pointed to it. “That’s
OSHIT
’s mainframe.”

“Out here?”

His head bobbed.
“Yes, all the way out here. This is not Siberia. There is Internet in Iowa. A
little hit and miss on account of all the sexually fanatic sheep messing with a
man’s success, but it’s here.”

“I did not
mean…”

His chuckle went
deep, coursing through her. “I know exactly what you meant. You’re so damn easy
to read.”

She arched a
brow. “Why you hired me?”

One muscular shoulder
shrugged, making light of his involvement, as they moved farther down the hall.
“One of many reasons,” he muttered.

“There are more?”

He turned and
looked at her before opening the last door. “Yes, Ms. Raven, there are many more
reasons to my hiring you.” He pushed open the door to an opulent room,
tastefully done in mocha and mauve.

“Nice. Do the
decorating yourself?” she asked, trying to maintain an aloofness when so near
him. She hadn’t dared draw in a deep breath, his cologne doing irreparable
damage to her psyche.

“No. My ex-wife
did,” he said. “Her idea of the color scheme. I haven’t had the time to change
it to my liking.”

Charlotte turned
around, flabbergasted. “I’m having this strange feeling about you all of a
sudden, and if we are going to be stuck with each other for the next two weeks,
perhaps longer, I should probably tell you so, shouldn’t I?”

His smile
lowered. “Tell me I have a hang-up about my ex?”

“Um…yes.”

“Can’t.”

“Why?”

“I can’t have a
hang-up about her. She’s dead.”

Charlotte’s jaw
dropped to the floor.

“End of tour,”
he said abruptly. “I’ll leave you to unpack. I’m going into the kitchen to
start supper.”

“Nolan?”

“Leave it alone,
Charlotte.”

She stepped
forward, halting when he quickly reacted from possible touch. “You can’t drop a
bomb like that on me then expect me to leave it,” she determined.

“I can. You
will. End of story.”

“Nolan…”

He held up his
hand. “Please, Charlotte, just leave it be, for now.”

She was about to
argue, but she closed her mouth quickly when he looked the other way. “What’s
for dinner?” she said instead.

His eyes
returned to hers. “It’s a culinary surprise.”

“Same as the
rest of this day has been, a surprise?”

“Yep. Same
thing.”

“No hints?”

“Not a one,” he
answered, his mood changing gears.

“As you can see,
I don’t have much to unpack, since you said this was maneuvers, and since I did
not bring a thing along with me to an interview. What should I do while you’re
in the kitchen?”

“Your things are
in the closet.” His head jerked toward the closed doors.

“Excuse me?”

“There should be
a suitcase in there with some of your personal items.”

“My what?” She
was shocked to the core by this news.

“You don’t think
I would bring you to my home without doing a thorough investigation of you, do
you?”

“A thorough
what
?”
she yelped.

“I sent a team
over to your place, once discovering who I hired. They took the liberty of
packing some clothing for you and whatever else a woman might need for two
weeks extended stay.”

“Are you for
real?” she exclaimed.

“As real as they
get,” he calmly said.

“You sent a team
to break into my home?” Her tone loud, she hoped she was getting her point
across. He might, and she considered this a far stretch, he
might
be
taking this boss thing a little too far.

“Not break into
it. Enter the premises with my permission,” he said, smiling at her.

“Aren’t you
forgetting one very important detail?” she asked.

“Such as?”

“I should have
been the one to give any permission, not you.”

“We do things a
little differently at
OSHIT
. You’ll have to accept that, or this won’t
work between us.”

“I’m beginning
to think this was not such a good idea to begin with…” she interrupted.

“Good idea or
not…the man in charge is the man in charge. That man would be me, Ms. Raven.
Like it or leave it.”

“You don’t budge
much, do you?”

Nolan smiled.

“I’m coming to
the conclusion that working for you is a bad idea, as well.”

“How so?”

“You don’t have
boundaries.”

He pretended
hurt. “I have plenty of boundaries.”

“Oh? Then how is
it I haven’t seen any of these imaginary lines since meeting you?”

“It’s just a
suitcase and some toiletries, Charlotte. It’s not like we went through your
empty bank accounts.”

“But it’s my
suitcase…and my toiletries,” she scoffed.

“So?”

“How would you
like it if I’d broken into your home and packed a suitcase for you?”

His dimples sunk
deep. “I would love it. It would save me a ton of time.”

“Y—you…” She was
too flabbergasted to continue. He’d sent people into her home, knowing ahead he
was going to kidnap her. That was a little scary. “And what do you mean…empty
bank accounts?” she hotly probed.