„Accommodate both of us, actually.‟ Instead of switching on the engine, he shoved the key into the ignition and proceeded to look at her, resting his head against the glass window of the door.

He could reach over right now and make love to her all over again. Right now, right here, like a sweaty adolescent without the privacy of a bedroom to fall back on. She turned him on.

Not just her body, or the way she was looking at him now, eyes slightly contemplative, as if she was sizing him up but was not about to give him her verdict.

No, it was the way she was. Forthright, funny, private, with a mind that was as sharp as any he had ever encountered.

„Oh, really?‟ Mattie grinned. „So you‟re thinking of both of us! Well, maybe another time. Now, perhaps we should get going? I expect you have a busy day tomorrow. Wouldn‟t want to be the cause of your not being able to function at work because you went to bed too late.

Empire builders need their beauty sleep, I expect.‟

„Witch,‟ Dominic muttered, but he started the engine and edged out of his parking slot.

He would quite happily have taken a day off work if the plus side was spending all of it in bed with her. „Just to fill you in, I can get by on very little sleep. I frequently do. As you must have when you were doing that ridiculous job of yours.‟

„That ridiculous job was very handy when it came to paying bills,‟ Mattie said coolly, so that he was grittily aware that he had said the wrong thing. „Some people do actually have to do ridiculous jobs simply to cover the cost of living.‟

„Point taken,‟ Dominic muttered grudgingly. „Not that I want to waste time on an argument about it.‟ He flashed her a sideways warning glance and Mattie relented. „What are your plans for tomorrow?‟

„Tomorrow?‟ She directed her gaze out of the window and frowned. „I need to get some decent clothes for my job and then I shall try and see Frankie so that he can move back under his own roof. I have no idea where he‟s been staying but I‟d bet on a floor somewhere.‟ Her voice softened. „He‟s been brilliant over all of this. No recriminations, no post-mortems.‟

Dominic‟s hands tightened on the steering wheel. „What a hero,‟ he muttered

sarcastically and she directed her frown to him.

If her head wasn‟t screwed on very tightly indeed, she might have been tempted to think that there was jealousy beneath that barely audible comment.

However, the thought of Dominic being jealous was almost laughable, especially when the jealousy pertained to her, a woman with whom he was having a thoroughly adult, uncluttered affair, if it even fell into that category.

No, a lot more likely was the fact that, being the man he was, he would on principle disapprove of someone like Frankie. Someone who had allowed himself to become a victim of circumstance and had reacted by drinking and shying away from looking for a job.

Mattie‟s lips tightened. „I happen to think that it‟s quite heroic for him to let me have the use of his house when we‟re no longer an item. Would you have done the same in that situation?‟

„That‟s hypothetical and I don‟t deal in hypotheses.‟

„Huh. Sounds as if you lack imagination, in that case.‟ But she couldn‟t find it in herself to have an argument with him. Their eyes met for a fleeting second and Mattie felt a shiver of such mutual compatibility that it frightened her.

„Something I‟ve never been accused of before,‟ Dominic drawled.

Which made her think that perhaps he was referring to his imagination when it came to between the sheets, and she didn‟t want to think of him between the sheets with another woman.

So she shrugged and said airily,

„Well, if you go out with paper dolls…‟

He laughed, reached out to place the flat of his hand on her thigh, and her body started into immediate response.

„That‟s an unsafe driving practice,‟ she said a little breathlessly.

„Shame.‟ He removed his hand, leaving her leg feeling cold and deprived. „We could always remedy the situation when we get to your house…?‟

Mattie felt torn between her longing to fall in with him and her gut knowledge that she shouldn‟t. That she had to protect herself and that included laying down her own boundaries, so she shook her head very firmly.

„Then when am I next going to see you?‟ They had reached her house and he parked directly outside and killed the engine. „If you‟re busy tomorrow, then I‟ll pick you up at seven-thirty on Friday. We could go somewhere for dinner.‟

Mattie pushed open her door, expecting him to walk her to the front door, which he did.

Though he couldn‟t possibly go inside. Not when she seemed so prone to losing control the minute she got too close to him.

„I‟m not sure,‟ she said vaguely.

Not sure? What the hell did that mean? He swung round in front of her and leaned against the front door, arms folded. He, of all people! The one man who abhorred possessiveness in another person! Who himself had never shown a sign of any such inconvenient emotion in his life before! Now finding himself in thrall to wanting to know every single thing she was planning to do that would exclude him from seeing her.

„I start work next Monday,‟ Mattie said. „Do you mind moving? I can‟t get in if you‟re standing there.‟

„Yes. You start work next Monday… So far, I‟m following you. What I can‟t see is what that has to do with when I next see you.‟ Self-control, he told himself. He was a master of it. Or so he had always assumed. He wasn‟t feeling all that controlled at the moment, least of all with her looking up at him, keys in one hand, expression politely informing him that she wanted to get past him. He remained solidly in place.

„There‟s a lot to sort out before then. Frankie will want to move back here as soon as he can. I‟m sure of that. Which means I shall have to move into the apartment some time over the weekend. I‟m going to see the personnel manager on Friday morning to sort out the details and sign whatever contracts need signing, but, as the apartment was vacant, she did imply that I could move in at my own speed, and really I‟d rather not stay here with Frankie if I can help it.‟

Oh, no. No chance of that, Dominic thought with another unpleasant stab of

possessiveness. Not if he had any say in the matter. He would be inclined to heave her kicking and screaming back to his own apartment if the alternative was sharing the house with her ex.

„You said that the apartment is…? Where exactly…?‟

Mattie raised her eyebrows and gave him the address.

„Right.‟ He pushed himself away from the door and looked at her with a hint of a scowl.

Then he sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. „You might need a hand with the moving… I can get hold of any size transport vehicle you might need.‟