Free Adore Me by Darcy Lundeen Page B

chest. It was that same damn superior-male pose he sometimes assumed—the one that both annoyed and turned her on in equal measure.
    Meredith ignored the turn-on effect, shrugged, and retrieved her scissors from the table. “His viruses were a pain in the neck, but they didn’t destroy my business. They only made me temporarily crazy.”
    She headed to the living room, conscious that Vlad was behind her. He trailed her across the room and into her office, his body so near that she could feel his heat invading her personal space.
    “What about Tippi?”
    His question was the operative one, and Meredith dropped the scissors on her desk and turned to answer him. “She gets a visit from me and maybe a letter from a lawyer to put the fear of God in her.”
    He abandoned the superior arms-folded posture and nodded. “If you want, I’ll go with you.”
    Okay, now it was getting harder to remember why she should be annoyed with the man and easier to remember how quickly and completely he could always turn her on, dammit.
    “Thank you. I’d appreciate it. And thanks for unraveling the mystery for me.”
    “That first day I worked on your computer, I sensed something was wrong, you having all that trouble. It just took a while for me to figure out what was going on.”
    “I’m glad you did. At least that’s one problem I won’t have to deal with again.” She paused and stared at him when a grin spread across his face. “Why are you smiling?”
    “Hug your child for me.” His grin broadened as he quietly echoed the request she’d made to Randy.
    “And?”
    He shrugged. “Very nice.”
    Meredith narrowed her eyes at him, sure he must be making fun of her. “Are you laughing at me?” she said, sticking her chin out to show she was ready to do battle if necessary.
    “Never. You’re a good person, Merry Crismis. Except for that potent glare you gave me when I arrived. But underneath that you’ve got a heart of pure—”
    “Gold?”
    “I was thinking more in terms of vanilla buttercream.”
    Meredith bit her lip to keep from grinning, then couldn’t help it and grinned anyway. With a sigh, she gave up completely on annoyance and admitted to herself that being turned on was the only logical option. “Make it chocolate ganache, and I agree.”
    He nodded. “Chocolate ganache, it is.”
    “You know, that answering glare you gave me was pretty potent, too,” she protested.
    “Only because you glared first.” He held his hand out to her. “Truce?”
    The smile wreathing his face was so genuine there was no way she could refuse, or resist, so she grasped his hand. “You bet.”
    He squeezed her fingers gently. “I apologize for criticizing your candy-heart obsession.”
    She squeezed his fingers in return. “I apologize for concentrating so much on one sale that I became unbearable.”
    He shook his head firmly. “Never unbearable, just slightly single-minded.”
    He settled his butt on the edge of the desk and opened his arms to her. “Come here. Somehow you don’t look deliriously happy about it. I thought you’d be dancing on the ceiling to know those computer screw-ups weren’t your fault.”
    She went willingly, letting him envelop her in a warm embrace. “I would be, if it weren’t for that cake.”
    He groaned. “That damn ‘Adore-Me’ cake.”
    “The same,” she admitted, hoping he wouldn’t get ticked off again and break their embrace.
    He didn’t, but his attention suddenly seemed diverted to something in back of her.
    “Hey, you have a package.”
    Meredith spared a glance behind her at the mystery box. “Uh-huh.”
    “You haven’t opened it.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    He leaned toward her until they were almost nose to nose. “Will you stop saying, ‘Uh-huh,’ and open the damn thing?”
    Meredith stared at him. Okay, this was strange, him being obsessed by someone else’s mail. “Why are you so interested in my package?”
    He leaned back again and cleared his throat.