Hot Boss, Wicked Nights

As she had been. She tugged her hand again, and this time she broke free. Mortified. She was mortified. She felt as if he’d stripped her naked to the bare bones. ‘Thank you so much for your words of wisdom. If you’ll excuse me, poor sex-deprived Kate Fielding has work to do.’ She pushed up and out of her chair.

‘For goodness’ sake, Kate, sit down.’ He caught her arm before she could pass him, the challenge in his eyes breaking down her defences as fast as she built them. ‘Don’t you know how much of a turn-on it was to know you wanted me when it was clearly something you didn’t normally do?’

‘Will you stop grabbing at me and holding me against my will?’

‘It’s not against your will.’ He released her arm to prove it.

Kate was tempted to march off just to prove a point, but something kept her standing there with the scent of his testosterone temptingly close. ‘How did you know? About…the no sex…’ She tilted her chin and looked down at him at the same time. ‘So I can rectify it the next time…I see someone I fancy.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘In that case I’m not going to tell you. Sit.’

She did as he asked only because her legs were wobbly, scooped her half-finished coffee towards her and drank the remainder in a couple of deep gulps to moisten her throat. This whole situation was surreal. ‘Why would you want me when you know who I am now and you’re clearly attracted to another type of woman?’

His eyes dropped to her breasts, hidden beneath her suit jacket. Just as well, too, since her nipples immediately puckered against her bra.

‘Why don’t we explore that notion?’ he said after a pause.

The idea of exploring took flight in Kate’s imagination, making a mockery of her earlier determination to avoid office complications. Why don’t we?

Sensing her warming to the idea, he continued, ‘Let’s take this opportunity to get to know one another better, for however long we’ve got.’

In other words: temporary. More, ‘You make it sound terminal.’ But at least she knew where she stood.

‘We won’t know if we don’t give it a go. The holiday of a lifetime.’

‘Educational,’ she corrected. ‘Whatever you call it, I’m not camping out and I’m not skydiving or bungee jumping or doing any of those…’ she waved a hand ‘…dangerous things.’ Of which letting Damon accompany her to Bali was one.

‘Where’s your sense of adventure?’

‘In permanent hibernation.’

‘I promise we won’t camp out. Or bungee jump.’

He grinned, making his stubbled cheeks crease in an alarming way. It did serious things to her internal organs. It made her want to reach out and run a finger down the groove beside his mouth. She tightened her fingers around her empty cup. ‘That’s two. What about the rest?’

He leaned back, his eyes still sparkling. ‘We’re travelling first class. Score one for you. Two—the hotel’s only recently opened—five-star luxury. I’ll make you a deal. I choose the daytime activities, you choose what we do nights.’

Nights. Her choice. In other words he was giving her the option of whether or not they had sex. The truth was she’d have preferred it the other way round. She had a feeling they’d both agree on what they wanted to do in the evening. At midnight. Before dawn.

But in daylight hours…’ What sort of activities?’

‘Ever been paragliding?’

Images of being suspended in a harness with nothing between her and certain death flashed through her mind before the image morphed into what she’d spent years trying to forget. Pain stabbed through her heart but no way would she allow him to see. She shook it away. ‘No, and I don’t intend to.’

‘Ridden a motorbike?’

Big Harley-Davidson. Just her and jungle boy and a big throbbing machine between her legs… She might be tempted.

‘Say yes, Kate. I’ll even go to one of those cultural shows with you if you’re interested in that kind of thing.’

‘What am I saying yes to—you accompanying me or your so-called deal?’

‘I’m going with you, that’s a definite, but the deal’s a suggestion.’

She mulled over his suggestion. It sounded more like a dare. A dare she couldn’t accept. Could she?

Damon studied her while he finished his sandwich. He’d thrown the idea out as a challenge. When she’d threatened to walk out on him, he’d felt the beginnings of something like panic, which of course it wasn’t—but there’d been an uncomfortable clench in his gut, the kind he’d felt when he’d taken his first jump. Suddenly there’d been only one thing on his mind. Kate. All of Kate.