A Brother's Honor (Grangers) - By Brenda Jackson Page 0,74
her clothes off and making out in a professional setting.
Shana eased back down on the sofa, feeling as if her back was against the wall. “You could end this by promising to—”
“I told you I can’t, Shana. I would be giving you my word with no intention of keeping it.”
She held his gaze for a moment and then asked stubbornly, “Would it be so hard, Jace?”
“It would be impossible, Shana.”
Silence settled between them for a long moment, and then Shana broke it by saying, “So, I’ll ask again. Other than my ending my contract and walking away, what do you suggest? I assume you’re here because you have an idea that you want me to consider.”
He was glad they were moving from avoidance to acceptance and could now work on a solution. “You might not like my suggestion, Shana, but I think it will work.”
“What is it?”
“I suggest we become involved.”
He was right...she didn’t like it. “Are you out of your mind?”
Jace shrugged his massive shoulders. “That’s the only alternative we have.”
“No,” she said in a firmer tone. “My professional role at Granger would be jeopardized and no longer effective, especially if your employees get wind of it. I can just hear all the whispering behind our backs. We need to retain our business relationship in front of everyone.”
“I agree, which is why I propose to keep the involvement between us. No one has to know, since there’s no reason to flaunt it. What we do during our off time is our business. While in the office, we’ll concentrate on the business at hand. Granger Aeronautics. But after hours, we can do just what we please.”
Her eyes shot up in surprise. “You want to engage in a secret affair?”
“No, that’s not what I want. But because of your rule, which you refuse to break, if we want to be together, we don’t have a choice.”
No, they didn’t...if they wanted to be together. He was speaking as if it was a foregone conclusion that they did. He didn’t know her, not really, yet he had the ability to read her so well, and she wasn’t sure just how she felt about that. She and Jonathan had been together for almost eight months before she found out the truth about him. She wished she’d read his motives in pursuing her. It would have saved her a lot of heartache.
She stood and began pacing, considering what Jace had suggested. It would be so unlike her to consider doing such a thing, engaging in a secret affair with a man. Definitely a novelty. But already she’d done the far-fetched with him. Something that was so unlike her. And what was most surprising was that she had totally enjoyed it. Didn’t have an ounce of remorse in any bone in her body when God knows she probably should.
Besides, his suggestion wasn’t far from what she had questioned Gloria about last night. Eric and Gloria had resolved that if that was the only way they could be together, then they were willing to meet in secret. It had been almost two years now, and their hidden affair didn’t seem to bother either of them. And Shana would be lying to herself if she didn’t admit that such an idea had crossed her own mind.
She stopped and turned to Jace. He was watching her, and a part of her resented that he’d had the courage to suggest such a thing to her when she would never have done so with him.
“It’s not my fault that you’re such a beautiful woman, Shana,” he said.
She didn’t want his compliment, but that didn’t stop her breath from catching in her throat. “It’s not about you and me, Jace. It’s about Granger Aeronautics and figuring out just who’s trying to destroy it.”
While she was saying those words, she knew it went beyond that. She was asking him to control emotions when she doubted she could control herself. And it was hard, almost too difficult, not to consider what he was suggesting when he was standing in front of her looking so breathtakingly handsome. Jace Granger had that air about him, one that could set any female’s sensual side rocketing and her pulse leaping.
Even now, her heart was beating hard and her nipples were throbbing. And when he lowered his gaze from her eyes to the front of her shirt, she knew he was well aware that her breasts were taut and aroused. She could feel their fullness and a tingling sensation