“Miss Vasquez and Mr. Esposito will be assisting me with the investigation, taking care of the audit of the electronic files.”

“I understand,” Zach said and pointed to the couch again.

She sat down and he did the same.

“Coffee?” He filled a cup for her.

She accepted it and took a sip.

“And your colleagues are on their way here, you said?”

Rochelle looked at her wrist watch. “They should arrive any moment.”

Apparently satisfied with her answer, Zach nodded and leaned back in his leather armchair. “Then we should make good use of the remaining time to negotiate the conditions of our truce.”

She nearly choked on her coffee and coughed. “What?”

“You didn’t really think that I’d just drop the whole thing without any concessions, did you?”

“But you just said that you understood.”

“I understand your situation very well indeed. However, it doesn’t mean that I’ll give in.” He bent toward the coffee table. “Because the way I see it, you’ve got more to lose than I do. Imagine your colleagues finding out that we’re in a relationship.”

Rochelle’s chin dropped. “We’re not in a relationship.”

He motioned to the door from where she could already hear the sounds of footsteps coming down the hallway. Had her colleagues arrived?

“Your colleagues might get the wrong impression.”

She huffed indignantly. “Because you want to give them the wrong impression.” Her hand trembled, when she set the coffee cup down.

“They don’t have to if you and I come to an understanding.”

What was Zach planning? “What kind of understanding?”

“Here’s how I see this working. You and your colleagues will do your job and I won’t let anybody know that we were intimate. In exchange, you’ll go out with me tonight.”

Rochelle looked at him, stunned. “You can’t be serious.”

The telephone on his desk began to ring. “I believe that’s my assistant announcing your colleagues.”

“That’s blackmail!”

“Call it what you must.” He rose and slowly walked to his desk. Without looking back, he added, “As soon as your colleagues enter my office, the deal is off, and I will behave like your lover from last night, no matter who’s watching us.”

Rochelle jumped up. “You can’t do that.”

Zach stopped behind his desk and reached for the phone. “Last chance.”

Her lips trembled with rage. If Zach made good on his threat, her boss would suspend her today. And then she’d pay dearly for her lapse in judgment.

She wanted to curse, but she suppressed the urge. One single time she’d let herself go. One single time she’d done what her heart wanted. And what was the result? She’d maneuvered herself into a situation from which she didn’t see a way out.

She had no other choice.

“Agreed,” she bit out from between clenched teeth.

She had to concede right now, but tonight over dinner, she would clear everything up and appeal to his good sense. Surely, right now Zach was simply too annoyed to think clearly, but in a few hours he’d cool down and be more reasonable. He would realize that he had overreacted.

8

Agreed? Had Rochelle really accepted his idiotic demand?

Zach could hardly believe that he’d even made this suggestion. What had gotten into him? Because for certain it hadn’t been his brain that had made that decision. Because his brain was only just switching on, telling him that to go out with Rochelle was not only stupid, it was irresponsible. Wasn’t it enough that while she was running this investigation, he would have to see her on a daily basis? Why was he signing up for more torture by taking her to dinner tonight?

Had he lost his fucking mind?

“Yes, Jessica?” Zach now answered the phone.

“A Miss Nicole Vasquez and a Mr. Anthony Esposito from the SEC are here to see you.”

“Send them in,” he advised her and disconnected the call.

When the door opened a moment later and Rochelle’s colleagues entered, he walked toward them and greeted them.

“Miss Wright already informed me that you would be joining us.”

“Good morning, Mr. Ivers,” the young woman said and shook his hand. “Nicole Vasquez.”

Zach nodded and addressed the man, whose skin color hinted just like Miss Vasquez’s that he was either from Mexico or Latin America. “Mr. Esposito, nice to meet you.”