Elise shook her head and made herself focus on the phone. “Messages,” she muttered, frowning over the password she’d used for eight years. Finally, she accessed the five messages and listened to them with her eyes clenched shut, one hand pressed to her mouth.

The first message was just a routine check-in. The second was a calm inquiry into whether or not she’d seen Noah James after he’d driven her back to the hotel. The last three were increasingly frantic messages from various team members. No one could find Noah James, and by six in the morning, they’d finally registered that no one could reach Elise either. The security question, it turned out, was rather inconsequential, especially in the face of two missing senior team members.

“No, no, no,” she whispered. They’d all figure it out now. Every single one of them.

“Elise!” Noah shouted.

She shook her head frantically, rushing for the bathroom just as the shower cut off. “Shhh! Be quiet! There’s nothing going on. One of the satellite branches lost power for a half hour, that’s all. But now everyone is going to know! You’ve got to—”

“Know what?”

“That we—” Elise snapped her mouth shut and glared. Not an easy accomplishment. Noah had pushed back the curtain, and he casually toweled himself off as he watched her with raised eyebrows.

“You know exactly what I mean. You’ve got to get the hell out of my room. But what are you going to tell them? What will you say?”

His brow snapped down. “I’m going to tell them my phone ran out of power.”

“They went to your room, and you weren’t there. Then they couldn’t find me and… This is a disaster!”

“Elise—”

“Wait! I’ve got it. I know where you were last night. You met up with those flight attendants. It’s perfect!”

Noah stepped out of the shower, his deliberate movements giving him a menacing look. Or maybe it really was a menacing look. “What are you talking about?” he growled.

“Last night,” she said simply. She very carefully kept her eyes on his face. “We were tired and…the tequila. It was a mistake. I’m your supervisor—”

“A mistake.”

Something dangerous glinted in his eyes. Elise swallowed and told herself she was backing out of the bathroom again only because he was stark na**d. And damp. And ten inches away. She hid on the other side of the door. “Hurry up!” she hissed.

She needed a shower too, but it would have to wait. Elise faced away from the bathroom as she switched her T-shirt for a bra and clean blouse. When she turned around, she was confronted with Noah standing there, towel around his waist. Stupidly, she reached down to cover the sight of her underwear with her hands.

Noah’s gaze slid down to the shield of her fingers, and when his eyes rose to meet hers again, she read disappointment in the pale blue depths. “Unbelievable.”

“What?”

“You’re doing it to me again. But this time…” He threw a hand toward the bed.

Panic finally exploded in her chest. What had she done? No, she hadn’t jumped on him this time, but she’d opened the door with only a towel around her. She’d let him in. He was a man, and she’d presented him with a little free action.

“No one can know, Noah. Please. My job!”

“Sure. I understand. Want me to go out the window?” He snapped his towel off and spun back to the bathroom, leaving Elise with a brief but thorough glimpse of his taut behind. Her knees weakened, but that was probably lack of oxygen. Her lungs were working too hard, too fast. She dressed herself while Noah stomped around, snatching his wrinkled clothes off the floor. She tried to keep from hyperventilating.

“Noah,” she said when he reached for the door. He froze, back tense, neck tight. He waited, and she realized she didn’t have any idea what she meant to say. I’m sorry or Did you mean it? or I’ve wanted that for so long.

She couldn’t manage any of them. In the end, she just said, “Make sure no one’s in the hall.”

His shoulders rose higher, as if he were protecting himself from a blow. He took a deep, quiet breath. And then he left.

She didn’t feel better. She felt worse. The panic swirled inside her chest, more like heartache and sorrow than pure fear.

But this was work. Nothing more or less than that. So Elise brushed her teeth, fixed her hair, and dusted on powder and blush. And then she went back to work, ignoring the ache in her muscles and her heart.

“HEY, MAN,” Tex Harrison drawled from behind Noah’s back as he poured himself a coffee in the bank’s break room.

“Yeah?” Noah’s tone wasn’t polite, but he marked it as a great triumph that he hadn’t actually punched anybody in the two hours since he’d gotten out of Elise’s bed.

“I heard you were a naughty boy last night.”

Coffee sloshed over the edge of Noah’s cup, burning the tip of his thumb. He didn’t notice the pain, because he was busy trying to stop the movie playing in his head. Elise, against the door, both legs wrapped around his waist as she tilted her h*ps to take him deeper… Noah cleared his throat and squeezed the mug tighter. “Excuse me?”

“The flight attendants? Dude, everyone is talking about it. You’re a rock star. Listen, can I go with you tonight? I don’t mean for some sort of group scene, but surely you can’t handle another night of all three—”

Noah spun around and stalked from the break room. Behind him, Tex muttered, “Jeez, I’d think you’d be in a good mood.”

He did not turn back and throw a roundhouse at Tex’s jaw. He did not slam the door of his temporary office. He didn’t do anything except sit down in the chair, place the coffee slowly on a coaster, and force himself to breathe in and out. In and out. Calmly.

She’d done it again. Made a fool out of him. Apparently Elise Watson’s attraction to him only kicked in after a few drinks. Tequila made him palatable, but the cold light of day reminded her of her real feelings. She didn’t like him.

At least this time he hadn’t broken up with his girlfriend for her.

He breathed. In. And out.

This time, the outcome was bad, but less complicated. They’d had a one-night stand. People did that all the time. He should be happy. It had been mind-blowing. Enough said.

Except there were all those unsaid things, wrapping strings around him, pulling so tight they cut. The sweetness of her skin. The heat of her mouth. The way she’d curled into him in the night, a tiny sigh drifting past her lips when he’d stroked her back. There was the sound of his name in her breathless voice, and the strangled scream of her cl**ax. And there was the fact that he’d fallen hard for her a long time ago, long before she’d kissed him in that crappy little bar.

He’d thought Denver would be far enough to free him, finally. He’d been wrong.

“Damn it,” he said softly.

She’d said it was a mistake. Again.

Noah should’ve known better.

Her voice drifted down the hall, and he held tight to his anger so as not to expose any other emotions.

“Flight attendants,” he cursed, hitting the computer mouse too hard. Now he had to put up with the winks and nudges of half the team, as if he were a member of a fraternity instead of an important financial institution.

At least the job was almost over. As soon as he discovered the source of the discrepancies, they could turn the bank over to its new buyer and be on their way. Two days, tops, and he’d be free of Elise Watson. Again.

CHAPTER FIVE

TWO DAYS LATER, ELISE still blushed every time she came face-to-face with Noah. But she’d made progress. This morning, she’d finally stopped burning in imaginary flames each time his name was mentioned. She’d expected someone to figure out the lie just based on the signals her face was sending, but the flight-attendant story proved too delicious. People were too busy grinning at each other to notice that their team leader was flustered and nervous for no reason at all.

But she had to stop reacting to him. Noah’s attitude toward her hadn’t changed at all, and she’d do well to take that to heart. They’d slept together. No big deal. They were both adults. They were away from friends and family and staying in a deserted hotel. These things happened.

He wasn’t the least bit fazed by it, and she wouldn’t be either.

Despite her internal monologue, her heart wasn’t interested in staying calm. When she stepped through the door of his office, her pulse careened into a jagged, frantic pace.

Noah’s eyes flickered up, then just as quickly returned to his computer. “Yeah?”

“We can’t drag this out forever.”

His jaw jumped and his gaze slowly rose to hers.

“It’s New Year’s Eve. Everything is in order. The new bank takes control on Monday. They don’t care about the discrepancy.”

His mouth flattened in frustration. “Of course they don’t. You know as well as I do that the discrepancy will be our liability, not theirs.”

“Half the team has gone home and almost everyone else is leaving this afternoon. How long are we going to stay here just so you can solve a riddle?”

He put his hands carefully on the desk. “Are you ordering me to drop it?”

Christ, he had problems with authority. “No, I’m not ordering you to drop it.”

“Good. Because I don’t like to make mistakes, Elise.”

She swallowed hard, and assured herself that hadn’t been a swipe at her. “The acquisition team arrives on Monday, along with the people from Simpson Finance. You have until then. If you can’t figure it out by Monday, you’ll have to take the mystery home with you.”

“Who do I get to keep?” he asked.

“You can have three people. Who do you want?”

He named Tex, a forensics accountant, and an asset specialist.

“They’re not going to be happy about spending New Year’s Eve in Omaha.”

“I’m not exactly thrilled either,” he snapped.

Elise left, tight with anger. Nobody seemed concerned about her New Year’s plans. The fact that she didn’t have any only made her more irritated. Yes, New Year’s in Omaha would be the same as New Year’s in D.C. for her. Take-out dinner. Ball drop on television. In bed by 12:02. And in the morning, she’d wake up too early and sit in her bed reading case files.

But the fact that Noah would be only a few doors away made it all more pitiful and lonely.

As much as she’d resisted postsex cuddling with Noah, it had been…beautiful. Sweet and so meaningful. Because it had been Noah, whom she’d had a crush on from the moment they’d met. Noah, who was serious and strong, whose occasional grins made her heart hurt. Noah, who seemed so far beyond her reach that she could still barely believe she’d slept with him.

Noah, the man who was even more distant than he had been before they’d had sex.

Elise swallowed her hurt like a dose of medicine. She’d slept with him. That was all. He lived in Denver. He’d never be her boyfriend. “Get over it,” she whispered.

Before she could descend into crippling sorrow, Elise picked up the phone and called the head members of the two satellite teams to clear them for the return home.

Then she called in each member of her crew and gave them the good news. Lastly, she called in the three employees Noah had asked to keep on, and gave them the bad news. Not only would they not make it home tonight, but since New Year’s Day was a Friday, they’d have to stay the whole weekend.

None of them looked honored to have been hand-picked by Noah to hang around, but they should’ve been. He had high standards, and his approval wasn’t easily won. She should probably tell herself that and be happy with one good session of animal lust.

“Ms. Watson?”

Startled from her thoughts, Elise jumped a little at the tentative voice. The head teller smiled nervously from the doorway. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“It’s no problem. Come in. You’re Marie, right?”

“Yes, ma’am. Marie Rea. I just wanted to thank you. I already talked to Lara, and… The day before you came, Mr. Castle had warned me that there were going to be layoffs. He hinted that I should prepare myself and… Well, Lara tells me that there won’t be any layoffs in the short term, at least. So I wanted to thank you on behalf of all of us.”

“Oh. It’s not… The FDIC decides…” Elise pictured herself saying “Just doing my job, ma’am” and forced herself to stop stammering. “You’re welcome,” she said slowly, uncomfortable with the gratitude. It was the FDIC higher-ups who decided when to pull the trigger on a takeover, after all. But even Elise knew that would sound rude to say aloud. Maybe she was getting better at this.

But the woman looked like she was waiting for some thing more. Sweat tickled Elise’s hairline. What was she supposed to say? “Um. I’m really glad we got here before anyone was let go.”

“So are we. Have a happy New Year.”

“You, too. Happy New Year.” She wanted to slump with relief when the woman left. Why in the world was she so bad at this? She could speak in whole sentences. She wasn’t a mean person. But small talk defeated her. All she could think of was what she was supposed to say, and what she really had said, what the other person must be thinking about her and… With all those thoughts pin-balling inside her skull, there wasn’t any room for actual conversation.

Did other people feel like this? She supposed she’d never know, because if there was someone like her in the same room, they’d be the last two people to talk to each other.