What she had to lose was her self-respect.
She hung on to that thought as she walked back into Trainor’s office twenty-nine minutes after she’d left. It was empty. She sat down at her workstation and picked up where she’d left off on the report she’d been editing, becoming so absorbed in the task that she was shocked to find twenty minutes had passed before Trainor sauntered in.
He’d rolled up the sleeves of his shirt so she could see the ridge of muscle along his forearms. The sight sent a thrill of heat up her spine. Self-respect, she reminded herself.
“Got all your errands done?” he asked, coming around the desk to seat himself. The scent of the expensive soap he must have just washed his hands with wafted past her, making the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck prickle.
“Errands?” She’d nearly forgotten her spur-of-the moment excuse. “A couple of them.”
“I told you to take as long as you needed.”
She decided it was better not to argue with him. “Yes, you did.”
He gave her a long look before swiveling his chair toward his computer. She let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and returned to her report.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the motion of his hand as he swiped documents and e-mails on and off his screen at high speed. Then all movement ceased and he cursed under his breath.
She waited but he made no further comment. She heard his chair creak and sneaked a glance to see him leaning back with his fingers steepled in front of a ferocious frown.
“Problem?” she asked.
“The same problem. The Prometheus project has hit another wall.”
Chloe discarded her newly instituted policy of not disagreeing with her boss. It had been a lost cause from the start. She couldn’t keep her thoughts to herself when someone refused to see the obvious. “Who invented the original Trainor Electronics battery?”
He lowered his hands and looked at her. “What’s your point?”
“You’re trying to develop a better battery, but you’re depriving your research-and-development department of the most brilliant mind in the company. Yours.”
“I have a multinational corporation to run. I can’t take time off to do R and D.”
“You have a whole bunch of vice presidents. Let them run it for a while.”
Astonishment froze him for a moment. It was still in his voice when he spoke. “You’re telling me how to manage Trainor Electronics.”
Chloe wasn’t backing down. “All I know is you have a key project floundering, and you’re the person best qualified to rescue it.”
Longing crossed his face before he looked away. “I was young. I had no responsibilities and I didn’t know what was impossible.”
“So you’re afraid you’ve lost your ability to innovate?”
His gaze snapped back to her. “Thousands of people depend on Trainor Electronics to pay their mortgages, fund their health insurance, and feed their families. I can’t walk away from that.”
She began to understand that he felt the weight of all his employees’ lives on his shoulders. Trainor was more his father’s son than he wanted to acknowledge. Something made her keep prodding him. “Look at it this way. Trainor Electronics can provide livelihoods for even more people if the Prometheus project succeeds because you pitched in.”
“Why are you so interested in the well-being of Trainor Electronics?”
“I’m not. I just see the obvious solution to your problem.” He needed some joy in his life, and she got the feeling that working on the new battery would bring it to him. “But I’m just a temp, so you don’t have to pay any attention to me.”
The tense muscles in his jaw relaxed, and an undercurrent of amusement ran through his voice. “You are downright impossible to ignore.”
“Because I have a valid point.” Chloe basked in the glow of Trainor’s compliment. At least, she decided to take it as such.
“Because you are an unusual person.”
That was definitely a compliment.
He continued. “Opinionated, outspoken, insubordinate, manipulative, mercenary . . .”
Or not.
“. . . and Machiavellian—all qualities I admire.”
Chloe couldn’t stop her pleased grin. “You do?”
“Yes, I admire them so much that I want to do something inappropriate.” He took her hands and stood, drawing her to her feet with him.
Her heart stuttered as he released her hands to slide one of his under her hair to the nape of her neck. He cradled her head and tilted it so he could bring his lips down on hers at a better angle. There was plenty of time for her to armor herself in self-respect and step away from him, but she didn’t.