Silk Confessions by Joanne Rock Page B

off. Memories of their shared kiss had him in a state of perpetual simmer ever since he’d walked out of her apartment.
    She looked different today in her executive suite than she had in her Chelsea apartment. She wore a vivid blue suit with a yellow silk scarf tucked into the neckline of her buttoned jacket. Tailored and sophisticated, the suit screamed high-powered exec, but Wes’s eyes kept straying to the scarf as he speculated about what she wore beneath the jacket.
    A blouse? Some kind of lingerie top like he’d seen strewn all over her apartment? Or nothing at all?
    Aside from the sexy mystery of the jacket, her clothes now weren’t all that unlike the ones she’d been wearingwhen they first met. Maybe it was the setting today, or just her attitude that seemed more cool and in-control. But there was a definite difference in her.
    “I wanted to see if anything had turned up missing at your place now that you’ve had more time to look around.”
    “Nothing.” She crossed her ankles beneath her chair, her weekend running shoes replaced by camel-colored leather pumps. “I don’t think anything was stolen. All the intruder’s effort seems to have been geared toward destruction.”
    Wes didn’t like that one damn bit. “All signs point to the break-in being a threat, probably perpetrated by someone who has a particular beef with you. We didn’t find any prints but yours around the apartment, so who ever trashed the place took time to cover their tracks.”
    Perhaps he’d finally succeeded in scaring her be cause she nodded with jerky movements, her fingers smoothing the scarf at her neck.
    “I won’t work at the studio anymore until the security is installed. I usually sleep at the family house during the week anyway.”
    “Good.” He hated upsetting her, but there could be no help for it. “And hopefully we’ll have some answers soon on MatingGame. I’m trying to set up a time to meet a date tomorrow night and we’ll see if the service works as advertised.”
    “You’re going on the date?” Color returned to her cheeks, her twitchy fingers stilling over her scarf.
    “Since your Web mistress never got in touch with me, it’s the fastest way to get the answers we need.”
    “Apparently Bliss Holloway’s mother has been in poor health and Bliss is out of touch. I’m sure we’ll hearfrom her soon.” Tempest sounded aggravated and looked downright mad.
    She couldn’t be upset about the date? Maybe she was just annoyed he continued to check into her company, because his brain refused to consider that she could be…jealous?
    The idea fanned the slow heat that had been building inside him all weekend long.
    “Until then, I guess I’m going on a blind date.” He looked back through her office toward her locked door. They were utterly alone, the conference room inaccessible to anyone else. Wicked thoughts came to mind. “Too bad we couldn’t have enjoyed that kind of anonymity.”
    She stared back at him blankly for a moment until her honey-colored eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
    “I mean, wouldn’t it have been fun if we could have met under different circumstances?” He eased out of his seat at the head of the table and closed the distance between them, propelled toward her by a deep hunger he didn’t fully understand. Halting a few inches away from her, he dropped into a swivel chair right next to her. “What would it have been like between us if I wasn’t the cop investigating your company and you weren’t a woman I needed to protect?”
    Her fingers splayed on the mahogany conference table, her red nails as shiny as the richly polished wood. She stared down at her hand on the table for a long moment before meeting his eyes.
    “It might have been very interesting,” she admitted, voice soft with sensual promise.
    Or was that hopeful thinking on his part?
    The air around them turned warm and heavy. The raindrops that had soaked his hair and his coat seemed toevaporate in a