No Strings__ - By Janelle Denison Page 0,1

those strong forearms...well, she wasn’t a girl prone to swooning, but there was just something incredibly arousing about a man with arms and hands that spoke of inherent power and strength that did it for her in a major way.

And Aiden Landry had a pair of big, strong hands, and nice long, capable fingers. The kind she imagined could give a woman all kinds of erotic pleasure. Unfortunately, she’d never find out for real. Instead, she’d just have to be satisfied with the fantasies she spun in her head.

Reaching Aiden, she handed him the tall paper cup of espresso and cream, topped with a generous dollop of foam. “I’ve got you covered this morning. Cappuccino with one packet of sugar.”

“Thanks.” He smiled his gratitude as he stepped out of the coffee line and fell into step beside Chloe as they headed for the building’s elevators. “Looks like I owe you one.”

She cast him a sidelong glance filled with teasing intent. “You know I like to keep it that way.”

Amusement glimmered in his eyes. “What? Me, owing you?”

She took a drink of her latte and nodded. “You never know when an outstanding favor might come in handy.”

He chuckled, the deep, smooth sound stroking across her senses like an intimate caress. “Yeah, you like having me indebted to you, don’t you?”

“Oh, absolutely,” she agreed, enjoying their flirtatious banter. It gave her an extra pep in her step, and released all kinds of feel-good endorphins inside her. “You know what they say. Keep your friends close, and your work rival even closer.”

The corner of his mouth quirked with a playful grin. “Are you saying you like having me on a short leash?”

“The shorter, the better.” They were joking, of course, as they’d done for the past two years. But oh, the images that flooded her mind, of him wearing nothing but a leather studded collar and her tugging on a chrome chain leash like he was her personal plaything, willing to obey her every command, was a heady fantasy, indeed.

They arrived at the elevators, and since it was close to eight o’clock in the morning, there was a mad rush for those who had a time clock to punch. The Boston high rise, located in the financial district, boasted forty-two floors and was comprised of a few hundred companies and firms, which made for a congested elevator ride in the morning and at quitting time. Since she and Aiden weren’t in any big hurry, they sipped their coffees and gradually shuffled their way forward.

“Are you ready for your presentation for Organic Kitty this morning?” he asked, referring to the pitches she’d been working on for the past month.

She always had a little flutter of nerves the morning of any client meeting, and this one was no exception, especially since she was going it solo, which was happening more and more lately as she built her own client base. She felt confident about her overall campaign and was certain she’d meet, or exceed, all of the client’s expectations.

“I was up until two this morning putting the final touches on the proposal, and I’m pretty damn happy about it,” she told him.

“You know I’ll be at the meeting.” He sipped his cappuccino, his eyes crinkling slightly at the corners as he grinned mischievously. “For moral support, of course.”

“Of course,” she replied drolly, and rolled her eyes, not buying his “moral support” statement for a minute. And he knew it, too.

Perry & Associates had a lax policy about allowing other employees to sit in on presentations, as a learning experience and to keep abreast of what the agency was doing, so long as there were no disruptions. But for someone as experienced as Aiden, his strategy was more about keeping himself informed on what the competition was doing. Chloe was just as guilty of doing it to his presentations, too.

But while there had been some incidences of back-stabbing with other employees, she and Aiden had never stooped to that level. Over the years, they’d developed a mutual respect for one another and their work, probably because they’d started out on the same marketing team that had required them to work together on various projects. They’d learned early on to trust one another with their ideas and campaigns, but now, with each of them building their own client base, there was a level of competition between them that kept them both striving to one up the other.

And ultimately, they both had their eye on the next rung