“Well, since I’m clearly too late to keep the two of you from thinking naughty thoughts about each other,” Josie said, “I’m going over to talk to Stacey and Kara.”

“You show up late, don’t do your job, and then leave me alone with him?” Jane asked.

It was clear she was teasing. Dax loved that these women gave each other as much trouble as he and his friends gave one another.

Josie looked back and forth between them. “Well, if I’m sitting here, you’ll feel bad about asking him to walk you out to your car, and then how are you going to kiss him good night? You can’t do that in front of all these people.” She leaned in and said in a lower voice, “He is your boss after all.”

Jane opened her mouth, shut it, shook her head, then said, “You’re the worst.”

“Because I’ve now told Dax you want to kiss him or because I reminded you that he’s your boss?” Josie asked, batting her eyes.

“All of it,” Jane told her.

Josie went up on tiptoe again and kissed Jane’s cheek. “Love you.” Then she started for the far side of the bar.

“Love you too,” Jane muttered, watching her friend go.

Dax waited until she finally turned back and looked at him. Almost reluctantly.

“You called for reinforcements?” he asked.

“I tried to call for reinforcements. Unfortunately, my reinforcements were elbow deep in cookie dough at the time.”

He grinned. “You can just say no to me, Jane.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think I can.”

He leaned in. “Have I given you the impression that you can’t say no to me if you don’t want to be with me?”

“Not at all.”

“Has anyone at Hot Cakes, especially in management, ever given you that impression?” he asked with a frown. A sudden, hot bolt of protectiveness went through his chest. That was weird. He didn’t get protective.

“No. Never.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I needed someone to remind me that this is a bad idea.”

Relief washed through him. He gave her a slow smile. “Ah. The irresistible thing again.”

“Did you look up incorrigible?” she asked.

He laughed. “I texted Piper about it, but she disagrees, just so you know.”

“Does she?”

“She said incorrigible means beyond reform, and she reminded me Grant has been successful in correcting my behavior on more than one occasion.”

“How’s he do that?” Jane asked, her lips curling up as though she was fighting a smile. And losing.

“Sinatra memorabilia, mostly,” Dax said. “He gets some great pieces and then dangles them like carrots.”

“Wow, expensive carrots.”

“He tried rationing my gummy bears, but I mean, those are really easy to get. It had to be something I couldn’t get for myself.”

She nodded. “Should have known that correcting your behavior was out of my price range.”

“Well…” Dax leaned in. “You do have some things to offer me that I can’t get anywhere else.”

Both of her eyebrows went up. “Tell me you don’t mean anything by that that would be inappropriate for a boss to suggest to his employee.”

He shook his head, his desire for this woman growing by the minute. “Can’t do that. But,” he added, “if it’s any comfort, Cam is an excellent attorney, and he’d love to sue me for sexual harassment.”

She laughed. “You’re trouble.”

He smiled. “And you’re a good girl?”

She tipped her head. “Actually, I think I’m just too busy and tired to be bad.”

He chuckled. “There’s a lot there for me to think about.”

Jane pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, watching him, then said, “Speaking of tired, I really do need to get going.”

“Okay.” Disappointment jabbed him in the chest, but it wasn’t realistic to think he could keep her here talking all night.

The urge was so unusual he thought maybe it was good for them to have a little space too. Maybe it was the tequila. Or something they put in the pizza. How could he be falling for a woman with so much going on in her life that he couldn’t even touch? And so quickly?

“But… would you walk me out to my car?”

Fuck yeah. Josie seemed to know Jane well, and she’d thought Jane would want him to walk her out to her car so she could kiss him good night.

He’d do just about anything to have her kiss him. To have her let him kiss her. To slide his hand into her hair, hold her head, and taste her. Really taste her.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted anything more than to walk you to your car,” he told her. “And I really wanted that napkin from the Sands with Frank’s signature on it.”

“That’s a big deal?”

“The Sands Casino in Vegas was where the Rat Pack performed together in the sixties,” he said, his hand over his heart. “The casino doesn’t even exist anymore. So that napkin is… everything.”

She laughed. “I’m going to need to read up on Frank Sinatra.”

“I can tell you anything you want to know.” Dax stretched to his feet. “In fact, we should go back to your place right now and get started. I know a lot.”

“Nice try.” She slid off her tall chair. “But I have to work at the factory tomorrow. New bosses. Have to impress them.”

He stepped close. “Consider that done.”

She blew out a breath. “Yeah, see… about that boss thing…”

“Shit,” he said. He grabbed her hand and started for the door. “Forget about that. I didn’t say a thing. That’s nothing.”

She tugged her hand free but kept walking with him. He pushed the door open and let her step through.

As she passed him, she said, “It’s not nothing.”

“It’s…” It was going to be nothing. He was going to talk to the guys in the morning. “Jane…”

“How about for right now we just… stop talking completely?” she asked.

He could do that. Probably.

He walked with her to her car. A very basic, blue Nissan sedan.

She opened the driver’s side door and tossed her purse onto the passenger seat, then she shut it again, and turned to face him.

“I had a really great time talking with you tonight,” he said. “Thank you for telling me about your dad. Thank you for coming out tonight.”

“The no-talking thing is pretty tough for you, huh?” she asked.

He nodded. “Really is.”

“Maybe this will help.” She took the tiny step forward that brought her right in front of him then took the front of his shirt in her hand and tugged him down, putting her lips against his.

7

The first time she’d met him, Jane had wanted to kiss him.

She’d told herself she couldn’t. It would never happen. It was a bad idea.

But now… now that his lips were against hers, now that he’d made that little groaning sound in the back of his throat, now that his hands were on her hips and he was backing her up against the side of her car and pressing close, angling his head to deepen the kiss, opening his mouth, making her feel like he’d never wanted anything more… well, now she was a goner. Because it was still a bad idea. But, oh man, she didn’t care.