“I’m sure everything will get sorted. You’ll help her, won’t you, Robert?”

“Of course. I’ll take very good care of her.” Why did he seem to look into her soul when he said those little words? His fiancée was standing right there.

Once Elizabeth had walked off, Robert came closer. He kept coming until she was forced to back up against the closed glass doors. Why was she being tested? The guy was a two-timing loser, yet he still had a unique magnetic pull.

“What’re you doing?” she managed to squeak out.

“Hush.” He reached out and tucked some of her unruly locks behind her ear. The touch sizzled right down to her marrow. “You can’t imagine how good it feels to have you here. I watched you setting up the displays at my last business conference. All I could focus on was you—the highlights in your hair, the way you moved, the curve of your ass. I knew I had to see you again. Knew I had to have you.”

What the hell? Was he for real? She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Didn’t your parents tell you that you can’t have everything you want? There are some things money can’t buy.”

“That’s a lie,” he said. “I wanted you, and you’re here.”

“Then I’m an unsuspecting victim. I came here to sell flowers, not my body.”

“You’re right. You’ll give me that for free.” He smiled, not allowing her any personal space. “Tell me there’s no spark between us, and don’t lie.”

She kept silent.

“Sounds like fate to me,” he said.

Of course she remembered Robert Black. How could she not? He’d starred in most of her bedtime fantasies ever since they’d first met. She wasn’t sure how she could forget. “It’s all a coincidence.”

“There are no coincidences in life, Ms. Jones. Fate isn’t so fickle.”

Fate? As in the two of them together? What game was he playing? Did he think she’d readily open her legs so he could have one last fling? Was she part of his last bachelor hurrah?

“Well, I don’t give myself away for free, and I can’t be bought, no matter how much I need this job.”

“The job is already yours, Ms. Jones. That’s not in question. And please don’t mistake me for a man who needs to take without permission.” He leaned in close enough that his subtle cologne tickled her senses. “And I can be very patient,” he whispered.

He abruptly pulled back, nodded once, and walked away from her, turning a corner and moving out of sight. She felt an odd sense of loss after he was gone. Had she wanted him to continue? You’re sick, Karlee. Sick, sick, sick.