He’d lusted after Claire since the day he’d hired her. He flirted with her outrageously, but she ignored him. Anytime he tested the waters, she rolled her eyes and pretended not to notice his attempts to impress her. God! Just one flutter of her eyelashes or sensual curve of her lips and she would’ve been handcuffed and on her knees in ten seconds flat. Instead, she quit. His ego didn’t appreciate the brush-offs. Claire was the only woman who ever told him no. Rather, she had never given him the opportunity to expand the parameters of their relationship. He respected her boundaries. He respected her. He wondered if she responded to him now because she believed him a stranger or if some part of her recognized who he really was—and that she could trust him. He hoped that was case, especially since he was putting more than just trust on the line tonight. He was betting his heart.
