Tempted & Taken (Men of Haven #4)(13)

Three times now she’d mentioned Jason and every one of them had stunned him a little more. Yeah, the kid had talent, but he also had the attention span of a gnat. The fact that he still remembered Knox’s name, let alone anything from their mentoring, shocked the shit out of him. And what was a woman as gorgeous as JJ doing hanging around a rail thin geek whose idea of a hot date happened on online role playing games?

The first answer that came to him pissed him off on about twenty different levels and made him ask without thinking, “You and Jason are a thing?”

She blinked a few times, a nonplussed expression leaving her a little slack-jawed. “A thing?”

“You and Jason. Together. Are you dating?”

Her eyes widened and she flinched as though he’d literally shocked her. Just as fast, her cheeks turned a soft pink. She shook her head and ducked her chin. “No, I’m not seeing anyone.”

Why the hell her answer calmed him as much as it did he couldn’t say, but hearing those simple words unwound a good chunk of his tension. As for the blush, she might as well have dangled a red cape in front of a bull. One way or another, he was finding out what was behind it. “So, you want a mentor?”

She lifted her head, hope flashing brilliant behind her arctic blue eyes. “Yes. And maybe a chance to work for your company once I gain the sufficient skill.”

He fought back a smirk and rubbed his palm across his mouth to cover any tells that slipped by. He’d give her kudos for gumption. Katy hadn’t dared to utter the word employee until she’d lived and breathed all things programming for a year, and it’d still taken her another six months to make it on the payroll.

“I know it’s a time investment on your part,” JJ said. “So, I’m willing to trade my services in exchange. If you need anyone found, or need someone in your company to do entry level work, I can do that. I’m a fast learner. I’m not afraid of hard work.”

Damn it. Nothing reeled him in more than willingness and a killer attitude. If she had talent to boot, he’d be stupid not to give her a shot. He leaned his elbows on the table and nodded at her computer. “You bring samples of your work?”

The smile she gave him was bright enough to give the mid-afternoon sun a run for its money. Eagerly, she opened it up, tapped out her password and guided her fingertip along the trackpad. “I don’t have anything fancy. I’ve mostly taken simplistic existing applications and tried to replicate them on my own. I figured learning technique to start was more important than trying to create right away.”

Funny, because that was the same approach he’d taken early on—although when he’d been doing it, he’d been scamming to make a quick buck or two instead of wholesome learning.

She double-clicked the trackpad and spun her computer around. “I’ve got four I’ve been working on. They’re all in this folder.”

“All right.” He plucked her laptop off the table, wheeled in his chair to his desk and hooked the device up to his external monitors. “Pull your chair over here and let’s see what you’ve got.”

His focus was instant, the draw of the syntax in front of him lassoing his attention until the rest of the world fell away. Or at least it did until JJ slid her chair beside him and perched on the edge. No more than six inches away, her prim and proper skirt had ridden up to reveal a good span of creamy thigh. And her hair. Christ, it was long. Perfect for a man to wrap his hands around and pull her to him while he fucked her from behind.

Bad idea.

As in don’t even think it, dumbass.

He shifted in his seat, willed his cock to calm the hell down and scrolled farther down in her code. The structure was good. Rudimentary still, but a solid beginning. She’d even found some creative ways to streamline her code in places other people would have been thrown off course. He closed out the first app and opened the next.

Her scent gently curled around him, the same winter rose he’d appreciated in her apartment only more potent when combined with her presence. Even without looking, he felt her gaze on him. Studying him. Probably with that same doe-eyed wonder she’d nailed him with when he’d found her cooling her heels in the lobby. And damned if he didn’t want to turn his head, palm the back of her neck and give her something that would really rattle her world. He forced himself to focus and asked, “How long did this one take you?”

She kept staring. No answer.

“JJ?” He slanted a quick glance just to make sure she’d heard him.

Big mistake. That wasn’t doe-eyed wonder on her face. That was infatuation wrapped up in an insane amount of lust. Her lips were free of lipstick, but the lower one was shiny as though he’d just missed her tongue wetting it. And they were parted. Ready and begging for attention.

“How long did this one take you?” he asked again, though the repeat was a whole lot more grated than the first.

Her gaze lowered to his mouth, pure craving written on her face. “A few days for each.”

Fuck.

He wasn’t sure what turned him on more—the fact that she’d worked through how to make the apps work in a short amount of time, or that she hadn’t so much as flinched when he’d busted her openly eyeballing him. “Did you make any design changes, or copy the apps outright?”

She swallowed and some of her professional distance returned. As if she’d realized her dream was over and it was time to crawl out of bed. She faced toward the screen, evaluated what section of code he’d stopped on, then motioned for him to scroll down. “I took time to evaluate where the user interface could be streamlined. Places where the user could do more with less steps. This one had too many subpages to navigate in the settings menu, so I streamlined them into more intuitive groupings.”