Chapter 18

　　Traitorous body!

　　“And you, Margo.” He turns his head towards her almost as an afterthought, but she smiles.

　　“Don’t I always?” she smirks and throws him a wink.

　　“Of course!” He grins at her and lifts his shades to the top of his head to nestle in his hair. I try to ignore the slight flip low in my stomach. Hating that I react to him this way, I quash it, looking anywhere but at him.

　　He probably practices every sexy move and mannerism he has in the mirror a dozen times a night for ultimate appeal!

　　“What’s with the outfit?” Margo enquires, looking him up and down questioningly. “Even for you that’s rather casual for work.”

　　“All work and no play makes for a very sad boy.” He grins back at her, annoyingly confident in this attire. “Touch of espionage today, Margo, bambina.” His term makes me cringe.

　　Baby? Really? Is this a hint of Casanova Carrero peeking out?

　　I look down at my desk to hide the revulsion I know fleets across my face.

　　“Do you need me to come with you?” she asks, looking him over, intrigued and completely un-phased by his pet name.

　　“I actually need Emma, if she’s up to it?” He turns, throwing me one of his heart-aching ‘yes, I know I’m sexy’ smiles, but I don’t react. I’d seen this smile in action when I researched him and it does little for me.

　　Liar.

　　“I’m up to whatever task you ask of me,” I respond drily.

　　Within reason!

　　The lothario smile is making me uneasy.

　　“Intriguing,” Margo frowns at him, still trying to work out what he is up to. “Is this the Daniel Hunter meeting? I thought we scheduled it for next week?” They’re both standing at my desk, a little too closely for me to ignore, so I keep my eyes on the screen in front of me instead and try to appear busy as I open today’s schedule.

　　“We decided to do it this morning as he’s free for a couple of days. Next week he’s flying to Paris.”

　　She nods, understanding what he’s talking about; I’m not yet privy to the inner office secrets between them, which happen frequently.

　　“My office, Emma, Margo, please,” Jake says as he walks away, and I can only follow without question, so I stand and match his purposeful stride, even in my heels. He waits until Margo and I’ve followed him in and closes the door behind us. She goes straight to his desk, leans over and pulls the laptop across to open files as he turns to me.

　　“Do you have anything less … PA … to wear here?”

　　I falter and my entire face warms as he looks at me with a smile, a brow raised in question.

　　What now?

　　“Emma, yes, dear. You’ll be accompanying Jake today, but you’ll need to look like a date rather than an assistant.” Margo crosses to the printer to retrieve the files she’s printed off.

　　I pause and muster all my willpower to keep my lungs moving in and out as they suddenly feel compressed with weight and unable to breathe normally.