Free Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It by Lucy Monroe

atSandy . "1 guess there's something to be said for bean sprouts and granola."
     
    Sandylaughed, obviously pleased by Marcus's compliment. 'That's what I keep telling Veronica, but she won't even venture to low-fat salad dress-
     
    Marcus turned his attention back to Veronica and she braced herself for the critical comment
     
    Sandyhad unwittingly set him up to make. She knew her friend hadn't meant to criticize her. Sandy's health food habits were a source of a running joke between the two of them, but Marcus didn't know that and even if he had, would it have stopped him from making the sarcastic comment she was sure was coming? She didn't think so.
     
    "Ronnie looks pretty damn good to me. Regular dressing must agree with her."Sandy sighed. "You may be right, lucky girl." Veronica said nothing. She felt as if her vocal cords had been frozen by Marcus's compliment.
     
    She hadn't expected it and was even less prepared to respond to it.
     
    Then he shocked her further by taking her fork from unresisting fingers, filling it with a bite of salad and saying, "Open up."
     
    She did so without thinking and then felt another embarrassing blush crawl up her face, as she realized what she'd just allowed Marcus to do.Sandy would think their relationship was much more intimate than it was.
     
    He smiled.
     
    The fiend. He knew exactly what he'd just done and was enjoying her discomfort.
     
    She snatched the fork from his hand and concentrated on eating the rest of her salad while Sandy and Marcus discussed a sailing competition north ofSeattle the following weekend.
     
    "Well, I've got aone o'clock , so I'd better go. It's been a real pleasure getting to know you, Marcus."Sandy extended her hand toward Marcus, who had stood when she did.
     
    He shook it and said good-bye before reseating himself at the table.
     
    Veronica looked at her watch pointedly. "I've got things to do this afternoon, as well. Stop by my desk when you're ready and I'll show you your office."
     
    "Okay, honey."
     
    "Please don't call me that. I'm hardly your honey and I wouldn't want my coworkers to get the wrong idea." She sounded like a spinsterish schoolmarm from the 1950s.
     
    Why couldn't she carry things off withSandy 's easy sophistication?
     
    Marcus cocked his head to one side and studied her. "Just what exactly would be the wrong impression, Ronnie? That we once meant something to each other? That there's more to our relationship than the surface connection of Kline Technology?"
     
    'There isn't more to our relationship. Not anymore." She realized it was the wrong thing to say as soon as the words left her mouth.
     
    They sounded too much like a challenge and Marcus was too darn competitive to ignore it.
     
    He gave her a wolf's smile. "Have dinner with me tonight."
     
    This was it, then. The moment of truth. Did she have the guts it would take to call his bluff?
     
    She didn't really have a choice. If therewas a corporate spy, she had to de-tooth Marcus's threats to tell Mr. Kline about her past. She opened her mouth to say yes, but Marcus forestalled her by speaking.
     
    "You owe me."
     
    Shocked, she blurted out, "I don't owe you anything. "
     
    His blue eyes narrowed, deepening to the color of aquamarine. "I was your lover; you betrayed me."
     
    The idea that he would have felt personally betrayed did not sit well with her. She had enough guilt to carry without adding that burden.
     
    "I betrayed Alex and CIS, not you. TheHarrison deal was his baby."
     
    "You left me. You didn't even say good-bye."
     
    She stared at him, her mind grappling with his words. "We didn't have a formal enough relationship to break off. Remember? No ties. No commitments."
     
    He ought to remember the rules: he'd set them.
     
    He leaned across the table until their faces were inches apart. She could see her own reflection in the black depths of his pupils. Her gaze lowered to rest on his firm, male lips. Did they still taste as intoxicating?