Worth the Risk by Karen Erickson

lit his gaze. Worry. Nerves. Just seeing it made her feel bad.
    How could she give her planned answer without letting him down? “Ah, I don’t know about tonight, Marcus. I’m tired. It’s been a super-long day.”
    “We could go somewhere close,” he suggested hopefully.
    “She can’t make it tonight.”
    The dark, threatening voice sounded just behind them, and they both whirled around to see Hunter standing mere feet from her desk. He appeared ready to tear someone apart. All threatening, blustery man as he clenched his hands at his sides, his black suit making him look even more ominous.
    “Oh, really? Why can’t I?” He wasn’t her keeper. How dare he butt into their conversation?
    “I need to talk to you.” He pressed his lips into a thin, firm line. He wasn’t going to budge. Fine, neither was she. “Now, Gracie.”
    “It’s all right.” Marcus pushed away from her desk. “We’ll go to dinner another time. Good night, Gracie. Hunter.” He nodded once in Hunter’s direction as he nonchalantly strode out of the room and toward the hall.
    She turned on Hunter as soon as Marcus was out of earshot. “Why did you do that?”
    His gaze narrowed and he stared her down like a hawk hovering over its prey, zeroing in for the kill. “Why did I do what? Discourage you from fraternizing with another employee?”
    If she could stomp her foot and throw a tantrum, she would. He brought out the immature brat in her, and she hated that. The man drove her absolutely insane. “That you would even say those words to me makes me want to slap you.”
    He smirked. “I didn’t know you liked it rough, Gracie.”
    Her arm reared back automatically, but he caught her by the wrist with his fingers, stopping her palm from making the connection with his cheek. She shook with a flood of emotions, the main one being pure rage. “You bastard,” she whispered.
    Hunter immediately looked contrite. “I’m sorry.” He gentled his grip on her wrist, his thumb sweeping along her pulse, sending a scattering of goose bumps across her skin. “I didn’t mean to make you so upset.”
    “You interrupted our innocent conversation by acting like a possessive, jealous lover.”
    “Maybe I am a jealous lover.” Hunter looked pained that he made the admission and he shook his head, as if he could dismiss it. Make his words disappear. But he couldn’t. They still reverberated through her, stunning her silent. “He was trying to ask you out.”
    “And I was trying to refuse him.” God, why had she said that?
    “Why?”
    She didn’t have an answer for him, was too afraid to confess the truth. And wouldn’t he love hearing that she wasn’t over him yet? Not that she’d given herself enough time. Three weeks wasn’t nearly enough.
    A lifetime might not be enough.
    His thumb swept over her flesh again, a slow, tantalizing caress that made her tingle. “Tell me why, Gracie.”
    She cleared her throat and very carefully extracted her wrist from his hold, purposely ignoring his demand. “You said you wanted to talk to me?”
    His gaze hardened and she knew she’d angered him. Luckily enough, he let it go. “Come to my office. We’ll talk there.”
    “If you’re looking for privacy, there’s no one around who can overhear us.” She glanced about the empty room, the cubicles long abandoned by her fellow employees. She hadn’t caught a glimpse of the nightly cleaning crew who came around at this time yet either.
    “I’d rather discuss it in my office. I have something I need to show you.” He turned and headed toward his office, leaving her no choice but to follow. She locked her gaze on his long-legged stride, how proud and tall he held himself. He was a leader. Magnetic, handsome, commanding—Hunter Worth pushed all her buttons and made her want.
    Him.
    She barely withheld the growl of frustration that wanted to escape her at the thought.
    “Sit down.” He waved at the chair that sat close by his desk as they entered