“Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about you too,” she admitted. “But I’ve already got plans tonight, and you’re still my boss so… we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”

Her plan for tomorrow included bright sunlight and public places and other people and activities that would be appropriate for a woman who was showing a new guy around town in a casual, platonic way. Even her boss.

“Take me with you to do whatever you’re doing tonight. Oh, and no, I’m not.”

“You want to come with me?” she asked, imagining introducing Dax to Kelsey, Aspen, and Cassie. Wow, that would be… interesting.

“Of course.”

“You don’t even know what I’m going to be doing.”

“It doesn’t matter. Just want to be with you.”

She put a hand on her hip and tried to pretend that didn’t make her heart thump a little harder. “There probably won’t be any opportunity for more kissing.”

He grinned. He wasn’t touching her, but he was absolutely in her personal space. And she wasn’t doing a thing to change that.

“I really do just want to hang with you.”

Oh. “So you won’t even try to kiss me? Or talk me into kissing you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

That was better. She smiled. “Well, I guess…” She frowned as something occurred to her. “Wait a second, did you say ‘No, I’m not’ when I said you’re my boss?”

“I did.”

“But you are,” she said. “I mean, I guess if you’re not directly my manager or whatever and say that you’re not going to promote me or give me a raise or special treatment, I understand, but you still are. I can’t kiss or date or sleep with the owner of the company I work for, Dax. In spite of there being no fraternization policy. Which we should maybe talk about at some point, by the way.”

“I understand,” he said.

Okay, that little stab of disappointment was stupid and unexpected. She wanted him to understand this. It made sense. It was very understandable. But she wanted him to insist it would be okay, a little more.

“Good,” she said with a nod.

“Which is why I gave up my shares this morning.”

Jane stared at him. She repeated his words in her head. She frowned. She tipped her head. Finally she said, “What?”

He reached up and brushed the pad of his thumb over her cheek. He lifted it to his nose and sniffed. “Powdered sugar?” he asked.

Jane’s hand flew to her face, wiping the rest of the sugar away. “We dropped a huge bag in the warehouse, and it was everywhere. I was in the process of cleaning up in the locker room when my sister called and I just headed out. I didn’t remember I hadn’t gotten it all.”

He put his thumb to his mouth and licked the sugar off.

Her belly, and lower, clenched.

“So, um…” Her thoughts were spinning. In part because this guy just did that to her. He was very distracting. But also because she was still trying to fully understand what he’d said a minute ago. “What do you mean you gave up your shares?”

“Oh,” he said, his hand back at his side. He shrugged. “Grant, Aiden, Cam, and Ollie now each own twenty-five percent instead of twenty.”

“They divided up your shares?”

“Right. Or they will. They’re in the process. We just met about it this morning.”

“And that leaves you with what? Zero? Nothing? You just don’t own any of Hot Cakes now?”

“Exactly.” He smiled. “That doesn’t mean I won’t be in there playing Ping-Pong every day though. In fact, it means I can play more Ping-Pong. I’m just consulting now. I don’t really have to do anything but sit around and drink cappuccino and watch the Game Show Network.”

She had no idea what do say. Who did that? Who just gave up twenty percent of a multimillion-dollar company? “You’re… crazy.”

He grinned again—this was slower and sexier. He lifted his hand to her face, this time cupping her cheek, and leaned in. “Oh, and I also now get to fully pursue a woman I’m becoming completely enamored with. I can ask her out. I can kiss her. I can sweet-talk her into coming back to my hotel room with me—and not leaving for about a week.”

Jane felt hot bubbles fizzing through her bloodstream. “Why doesn’t that sound creepy and like you’re going to stalk me and hold me captive?”

“Because you want me to ask you out and kiss you and sweet-talk you and take you to my hotel room,” he said.

Well, that was a very good point.

“The problem is,” she said, realizing she sounded very breathless suddenly. “You’re not the boss now, so you can’t really get me out of work for a week to lie around naked in a hotel room with you.”

His eyes flared with heat, and he leaned in, putting his mouth against her ear. “If they fire you, I’ll just be able to keep you in my hotel room even longer. I promise you won’t even remember where you used to work, and you certainly won’t care.”

She laughed, though she sounded completely seduced. Which she was. She imagined that laugh was the soft, breathy, oh-my-God-you’re-Dax-Marshall laugh that he heard a lot from girls at Comic-Con. She got it. She really did. And she didn’t even know that much about his video game.

“You didn’t really give Hot Cakes up so I'd say yes to going out with you.”

He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “I did. I absolutely did.”

“But…” That just wasn’t sinking in. Who did stuff like that? “That’s nuts. You don’t even know that you really want to date me. We haven’t even gone out.”

“Well,” he said. “I hate to tell you, but last night was kind of a date.”

“It wasn’t. We both just happened to be at the same bar at the same time surrounded by coworkers and friends.” Yeah, that wasn’t true and she knew it.

“And we talked and got to know one another and realized we want to know each better, and I got a little crazier about you, and then you laid a kiss on me I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to. Which I absolutely do not.”

Jane pulled in a deep breath. “I’m assuming your friends will let you buy back into Hot Cakes if you suddenly decide this is all a huge mistake.”

He frowned slightly but said, “I’m sure they would. But I’m not planning on calling that meeting anytime soon.”

“Well, maybe we should actually try this out and see. That way you’re only out a few million by the time you realize you messed up.”

He smiled. “Excellent idea. I’ll let them know you will be very late getting to work tomorrow.”

She gave a soft laugh. “I wasn’t actually talking about that part. I think you should see what hanging out with me really entails.”

He narrowed one eye. “You’re going to try to scare me off?”

“No. I’m not going to try. But I’m going to show you my real life, and, well, if you get a little scared, I won’t blame you.”

“I’m not worried.”

“Of course you’re not.” Jane wondered if Dax ever actually got scared about anything.