Free The Passionate Mistake by Amelia Hart

disgruntled that he could rock her world and then talk all properly about what was appropriate or not. He shouldn’t be able to think straight after that kiss. She sure wasn’t feeling steady. “It’s no big deal.”
    “It is a big deal. A manager can’t go around making advances on his staff members. It’s an abuse of power.” He said it flatly and she read self-condemnation in his tone, which was totally not the way she wanted this to go. She wanted a hot romp between the sheets with sexy Mike Summers and here he was getting all gloomy about it.
    “I made advances on you, so I guess if anyone abused their power it’s me. And it doesn’t have anything to do with our roles.”
    “That’s naïve,” he said without emphasis, a simple statement of fact. “Everything we do at work has to do with our roles. As well as everything we shouldn’t do. I’m sorry. I’d rather it hadn’t happened and it won’t happen again.”
    He gestured to the door, indicating she should go. “Thanks for showing me all that, Cathy. It’s great. Really impressive work. Now if you wouldn’t mind . . .?” He went to stand by the door, his hand on the handle, and as soon as she was through the doorway he closed the door – the first time he had done so other than for a private meeting.
    She glared at the door. She wasn’t used to being rejected. Honestly she couldn’t say she liked it. Nor did she plan to let the matter lie. Oh sure, she’d never force a guy against his will , but she had received the message loud and clear he was acting from morality rather than an absence of desire. So fine. Was there a way she could get him to put morals aside and see her as a woman rather than an employee?
    She could immediately think of one, but it meant blowing her cover as Cathy.
    She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, rolling it a little back and forth as she hesitated, good sense, family duty and powerful lust all battling it out in her impulsive heart while Amanda the Dragon PA stared up at her with flinty suspicion.
    Oh screw it. The Cathy cover was redundant anyway. She w asn’t going to go through with the theft. She would wear the flak from her family. Dad would get over it. She would design something for him herself, and he could use it or not. But she wasn’t going to steal for him. Certainly not from Mike.
    Mike. Sexy Mike Summers. Who was about to get a lovely, lovely surprise.

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Eight
     
     
    So she was too young, was she? Too young to know what she was doing when the boss took advantage of his position and hit on her. Helpless and naïve.
    As if.
    She was going to show him. She was going to show him exactly what a sweet, innocent thing she was. By the time she was done with him, naïve would be the last word he’d ever use to describe her.
    It took precisely five hours. Five hours to transform herself. First she washed the mousy brown dye out of her hair, following a strong shampoo with a host of calming produc ts to soothe and smooth away any damage. She set it in large rollers to dry, and lavished her skin with her favorite exfoliating cream, then moisturizing facemask.
    A manicure and pedicure. Plucked eyebrows and curled eyelashes.
    The canvas was ready. Skillfully she added her usual subtle make-up, choosing the more intense effects suitable for the low l ight conditions of evening wear; dark, mysterious eyes, her light brown eyebrows also darker by several shades. And red lips, to match her dress.
    A red satin dress, figure-hugging, faithfully following her every curve ; the sort of dress that would turn male heads of every age; With spaghetti straps that left her shoulders bare, showing her golden early-summer skin off to best advantage.  The most expensive item in her wardrobe, because if a woman wanted to turn heads, it had better be in good taste.
    And it was.
    Just.
    Let him look at her in this dress, and then tell her she didn’t know exactly what she was doing.
    Dry now, her