He’d taken off his boots and was lying on the bed going over the architectural plans for Prescott’s house and grounds. The house was modeled after a large English manor, complete with a maze and rose garden. On the Oregon coast for crying out loud. The man was pretentious and rich enough to indulge his tastes.

“Sounded more to me like you were flirting. He probably thought so, too.”

“I’m glad.” And she had the temerity to look like she meant it. “I didn’t realize I’d be so nervous when he called and I wouldn’t want that to come through the phone lines.”

He scowled. “We agreed you were not going to flirt.”

“I didn’t flirt, but I’d rather he thought I was doing that than that I was so nervous at a job offer I could barely speak.”

“Try harder next time.”

“Try harder to be nervous?” she asked, sounding confused.

Annoyance spun through him. “Not. To. Flirt.”

She gave him that look, the one that said she thought he was being ridiculous. “Since I wasn’t flirting, that should be no problem.” She bit her lower lip and twisted a dark strand of her shoulder-length silky hair around her finger. “I hope I’m not a total basket case once I start working for him.”

“You won’t be. This job is going to be a piece of cake for you.”

“Yes. Right.” She looked like she was committing that fact to memory.

He bit back a smile. He wasn’t sure why she was so concerned, but she had no reason to be and she’d realize that sooner or later. As long as she refrained from tempting the tiger to hunt with her flirtation.

At that moment, Ethan wasn’t completely certain which man he considered the tiger she had to be wary of unleashing-himself or Prescott. “When do you start?”

“He would like me to start next Tuesday. He’ll be out of town on Monday. I told him I could.”

“No problem. We talked about this and we’ve already got accommodations.”

“We do? Then why are we staying at a hotel?”

“Convenience. Another layer of safety. The team is still working on setting up security.”

“When is move-in day?”

“Monday.”

“That’s good timing.”

“Always.”

“Are we staying here until then?”

“It makes the most sense. Did you pack before we left?”

“Maude has my suitcases she can ship tomorrow.”

“Mine, too.”

“I guess we were both pretty confident this was going to work.” Beth was still twisting her curling hair around her finger, her expression uncertain.

“Yeah, we were. But you aren’t sounding so confident now.”

She took in a deep breath and let it out. “I guess it just became a lot more real for me when I got the job. How long do you think we’ll be out here?”

“I don’t know, baby. A job like this can last as little as a week with a lucky break and as long as a year if things get hard.” Strangely, the thought of living a year in the same house, sharing a bed with Beth, did not bother him at all.

However, she blanched, looking almost sick at the prospect. “A year…I hope we get a lucky break.”

Her reaction bothered him and he had to force himself to reassure her instead of demanding what her problem was. She probably wanted to get that new life of hers started right away and he didn’t want to hear about it. “I’ve got a good feeling about this case. It won’t last forever.”

“You won’t let it. You really want to nail Prescott.”

“You know it.”

“You really think he’s responsible for the deaths of your friends?”

“I know he is, Beth. Don’t ever underestimate the evil that lurks behind the charming exterior.”

“He’s not charming.”

“You didn’t sound like you didn’t think he was charming on the phone.” His voice sounded accusing and that bothered him.

He’d never been possessive like this with a woman before, but like he’d told her, she wasn’t trained for that sort of undercover work. And he didn’t want her hurt, or compromising the case. That’s all it was.

“Are we back to that?”

“I’d rather be in bed.”

Her eyes widened, and instead of interest he read panic in their dark depths. “We haven’t had dinner yet.”

“We can order room service. Later.”

“But…”

“I told you…I think lots of sex is going to help us control the intensity.”

Her face went blank and then she got that stubborn look. “About the intensity,” she said the word like it was something sour she was trying to get off of her tongue. “I don’t know how to do light sex.”

“We’ll work on it together.”

“I don’t think so.”

“What do you mean, you don’t think so?” His heartbeat was hammering inside his chest all of a sudden for no reason.

“I mean I think that no sex makes a lot more sense than trying to keep intimacy between us low-key. I’m not like you. I haven’t been trained how to divorce my emotions from physical pleasure with another person.”

“I never said my emotions were divorced from you.”

She stood up, slipping on her shoes. Not a good sign. “You said you need to keep your focus on the case and I agree. I don’t want to do anything to put this assignment in jeopardy. I haven’t had your training. I definitely don’t have your experience with casual sexual encounters. The smartest thing for both of us to do is to pull back from any sort of physical intimacy.”

“I’m not a damn gigolo.”

“I never said you were.”

“Casual sexual encounters?” he asked with a bite to his tone that would have made a rattler turn tail and run.

She just shrugged. “Call it whatever you want, but we just aren’t in the same league. I knew that going in, but I didn’t realize it would be so hard to hold back my emotions, or that you might have a problem with how good the sex was between us. I’m not like you, Ethan. I’m not like my parents. When I feel, I want the freedom to express those feelings and I’m not comfortable sharing my body or my bed with a man who has issues with intensity. I want you. You know that, but I’m asking you not to capitalize on it.”

She didn’t raise her voice, or get choked up, or any of the other feminine emotional weapons at her disposal. She spoke with quiet dignity, every word laced with conviction. She wasn’t budging. Not for her own sex drive. Not for him. Not for anybody.

She picked up her purse. “I’ve come to realize I’m an intense person. And that’s okay with me. You don’t have to like it. My parents don’t have to like it. Alan didn’t have to accept it. But I do accept it and I’m through trying to fit in with people who don’t. You said we were friends and I’ve always believed we are, but we’re going to have to make this assignment work without the sex thing.” She stepped toward the door. “I want to go to dinner. I’ll wait for you to get ready if you want, but if you’d rather stay in and get room service, I’m fine going on my own.”

“Just like that, no discussion?” He wasn’t only talking about dinner and he knew she was smart enough to see that.

She nodded, a small but decisive jerk of her head. “It’s the way it has to be. I need you to accept that.”

“You think we can live together in the same hotel room and keep our hands off each other?”

“If we both try, yes.”

“And you expect me to try?”

“I wouldn’t respect you if you didn’t.”

“Only a woman would come back with an answer like that.”

“If I were a man, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.”

“Damn right.”

She laughed when all he wanted to do was howl at the moon in frustration.

He glared at her. “Let me get my boots on and we’ll go.”