“Okay.” She set aside her book as he took a seat next to her on the leather sofa.

Ian picked up her hand, idly brushing his thumb over her knuckles. “You know I’ve broken all of my rules for you,” he began half-teasingly. “In all the years - decades, actually - that I’ve worked for my family’s company, I have never dated or even flirted with an employee.”

Tessa gave him an impish smile. “And I’m guessing it wasn’t for lack of opportunity. An awful lot of opportunities.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t believe all the gossip you hear, darling. I’ve worked hard to develop a reputation as a cold, unapproachable bastard over the years. It’s done a lot to keep most of the overly optimistic females at bay.”

She snuggled up against him, her hand creeping under his gray cashmere pullover to rub his lower back. “There’s nothing the least bit cold about you,” she whispered, her breath tickling his ear. “You’re actually really, really hot.”

Growling, he yanked her onto his lap. “And you’re making me burn for you, my sweet. Careful about playing with fire, hmm?” He brushed a kiss on her cheek. “Now, before you make me forget my damned name again, let’s talk about the office. More specifically, how you and I are going to have to conduct ourselves while we’re there. At least for the short term.”

Tessa frowned. “Short term? I’m not sure I like the sound of that. Are you planning to have me transferred somewhere?”

“No. That’s not one of the options I’ve considered. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves just a bit.” He brushed her hair behind her ear. “I’ve told you more than once that I don’t want to overwhelm you, Tessa. Nor do I want to control or manipulate you - ever. That’s not the sort of relationship I want to have with you.”

She nodded. “I know you don’t. And that means a lot to me, Ian. It would be so easy for me to just allow you to take me over, to depend on you for everything. But I don’t think I’d like myself very much if I let that happen.”

“Well, it’s nothing you have to worry about because I won’t let that happen, either. You’re a bright, capable young woman, and I fully intend to help you realize that. Now, as I was saying, I’ve broken all of my hard and fast rules for you by getting involved with an employee. In particular, an employee who works directly for me. We cannot let anyone else find out, Tessa. The repercussions for both of us would be - unpleasant.”

“I know,” she agreed readily. “I’m good at keeping secrets, Ian. I’m also very closed mouthed about my personal life, even if the rest of the team is pretty much an open book about theirs. Especially Kevin.”

Ian grimaced when he noticed the way she wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Yes, I’ve had the great misfortune of overhearing some of that young man’s - er, exploits. I can just imagine some of the tawdry tales he’s offended you with.”

“It’s okay,” she assured him. “He’s an airhead and, well, kind of a slut, but at least he’s always been kind to me. Not like A -”

“Alicia,” he finished. “No great surprise there. That one’s a nasty, stuck-up little witch. Unfortunately, her parents attend many of the same events that I do, and she’s invited along occasionally. I’m not pleased that she knows quite so much about my social life.”

“She’s pretty fixated on you,” Tessa told him quietly. “She’s even talked about quitting her job so that you’d be free to date her.”

Ian made a small sound of distaste. “It certainly wouldn’t bother me in the least if she quit, but there’s nothing she could do that would entice me to ask her out. Ever. Alicia is definitely not my type, so put that thought out of your head right now.”

“Okay,” she agreed happily.

“I appreciate that you’ve always been the epitome of discretion at the office, Tessa. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to take even more precautions now to make sure no one suspects we’re involved. If someone asks what you did on the weekend, for example, or if you’re dating someone, you’ll have to find a way to diffuse the situation.” He hesitated. “I hate to outright ask you to lie, but if it becomes necessary -”

“I’ll do whatever I have to in order to protect both of us,” she insisted. “And I’ve become pretty good at avoiding personal questions. Fortunately, the others love to talk about themselves so much that they seldom ask about me.”

Ian was beginning to feel a little less worried about what could have easily developed into an awkward situation. “All right. I’ll count on you to keep everything under wraps and simply avoid discussing your personal life as much as possible. The far more difficult part, I fear, is going to be for the two of us to act as though nothing has changed.”

“I know.” She began to twirl a lock of her hair through her fingers again. “While we’re at the office, you’re back to being Mr. Gregson. But we really don’t see much of each other during the day anyway. Especially since you travel so much.”

“And that’s another huge problem.” He picked up her hand, forcing her to release the lock of hair. “I’ve always missed you when I was away, but at least in the past it helped having some distance between us. Out of sight, out of mind, that sort of thing. But now that we’ve been together, it won’t be nearly so easy to stop thinking of you. It will be damned near impossible, in fact.” He brought their clasped hands to his lips, his voice solemn. “I want you with me all the time, Tessa. Living with me permanently here in San Francisco, but also traveling with me wherever I need to go.”

She made a small sound of surprise and gazed at him wide-eyed. “But how would that be possible? I mean, there’s no way to keep that a secret. Plus, I have to work. I couldn’t just take time off whenever you had to travel.”

“You’d have to quit your job, Tessa,” he told her gently. “And if we’re going to continue this relationship - something I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure happens - then you’ll need to do that sooner than later anyway. I don’t want to pressure you, it has to ultimately be your decision, but we could be together freely if you left the company.”