Free Destiny by Design by Wylie Kinson Page A

afternoon so you’ll have to stay out of there overnight, okay?”
     
    “Do you have any suspicions about who’s behind this?”
     
    “Yeah,” Simon said as he yawned and stretched. His shirt rode up, exposing his rippling abs and the line of hair running down his belly into the waistband of his jeans. Ellis swallowed the gasp that threatened to escape. Her nervous system flashed back to their closet encounter, sending currents through her body, making her hands want to reach out and touch the hard, muscled flesh. She wanted to push him onto the floor and let her tongue explore every wicked inch of him. She wanted to—
     
    “Cynthia.”
     
    “What?” The mention of her archrival was enough to drench her naughtiest thoughts.
     
    “You used to work for her, what are your thoughts?”
     
    “No…no,” Ellis began. “Not her. Couldn’t be. The original paint screwup involved her and me, right?”
     
    “Yes, but the master bedroom was never painted. The mistake was corrected after the office was done. Come to think of it, she requested a later painting date, which had me puzzled since she usually wants everything done yesterday. Your room was done first.”
     
    “I don’t know. She might be a nasty cow, but she’s very good at what she does and I find it hard to swallow that she would resort to sabotage in order to win the competition. I don’t like her Simon, and I have my reasons, but I don’t think she would stoop to illegal means. She doesn’t have to, despite what Remi thinks. You’ve seen her work. She’s brilliant.”
     
    “What do you mean, ‘despite what Remi thinks’? What does Remi think?”
     
    “Oh it’s just a silly bit of gossip,” she said, but Simon urged her to relate the story of the falling mirror.
     
    “You’re right. It does sound farfetched but I’ll mention it to Detective Novak and let her do what she needs to do. She can probably get access to Cyn’s financial records, see if anything looks dubious.
     
    “Now, about last night,” he continued, walking over to her and rubbing her forearms.
     
    About what part of last night , she wondered—the ground-dropping kiss, the fondling or the insults? She did her best to mask her emotions before looking directly at him. He searched her face, looked for a clue to her mood but he wasn’t able to read her normally expressive golden-brown eyes.
     
    Ellis took advantage of his momentary silence to jump in. “Yeah, about that,” she began bravely. “Let’s just forget about it, okay?”
     
    “No,” Simon said, shaking his head. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “I can’t forget about it. I’m sorry I yelled at you, Ellis. I was rude and I’m sorry.”
     
    He misunderstood again. Ellis swallowed. “No. I meant the other part.”
     
    “Oh, the fun part,” he said, treating her to a wolfish grin.
     
    “No. Well, yeah,” she said, looking down and wishing he would stop looking like a schoolboy who had been groped by the prom queen in the closet. She’d probably hate herself later but it had to be done. She needed to get back to work. She needed to focus and rid herself of all distractions. In her memory, she’d never felt this conflicted about a man. She wanted him with a desire so fierce it hurt, yet a relationship was out of the question. This man was not her type, clearly not the kind of person she’d seek for a relationship, so she had to get past this silly hormonal lust and get her heart back into the competition. “It probably wasn’t such a good idea, you know, considering we’re working together, so let’s just forget it happened and—”
     
    “Don’t play games with me, Ellis,” Simon said.
     
    “I’m not playing games! But I can’t do this…” She paused, grasping for a word but unable to articulate the status of their relationship. “This thing with you. This is an important competition and I need all of my focus, all my energy and you’re a distraction—”
     
    Simon