He shouldn’t have taunted her about Shakira. He was feeling good about the fact that she’d told him she didn’t sleep around. That she’d made an exception for him.
‘Luxury and adventure,’ she mused aloud.
‘You got it.’ Kate wasn’t much of a risk-taker, he was discovering, but he wanted her to be, for her own self-esteem if nothing else, and he had a feeling she wasn’t going to let him see her back down. In fact, he was counting on it.
‘Why not?’ she agreed.
He leaned back. ‘My sentiments exactly. You only live once.’ But there was something in her dark-eyed gaze that niggled at him as he spoke the words.
Damon didn’t see much of Kate on her own over the next few days. In the office she was all business and obviously didn’t want to be seen to be too cosy with the boss. Which was okay since he was bogged down with the mess Bryce had left behind in addition to his own Internet business, which was currently taking a back seat.
She went home on Friday night before he realised and when he left the office and rolled into bed at one a.m. it was too late to call. He spent the entire weekend at the office, knowing he’d be away the following week.
On Sunday evening he phoned her. The sound of her ‘Kate Fielding’ on the other end of the phone was a bright spark in a hard day’s night.
‘Hello, Kate. You packed yet?’
‘Damon.’
Rolling his chair away from the desk, he closed his eyes and leaned back. He loved the way she said his name in that almost proper but smoky velvet way that caressed his senses. It made him want to drive right over to her apartment and hear it up close and personal. Close enough for her to murmur it against his ear. Better still, to hear her moan it. Against his mouth, over his chest, his—
‘Hi, and no. I still have tomorrow. Didn’t you say I could take tomorrow to get organised?’ All business now.
He swiped a hand over his eyes and grinned, imagining her behind his closed eyelids, curled up on her sofa, her hair down around her shoulders, damp and fragrant with shampoo. ‘This from the girl who never takes time off.’
There was a pause and he could hear her elevated breathing. ‘You make me do crazy things.’
He hoped. He sincerely hoped—he had a lot of ideas for those ten days. ‘It’s not crazy to take a day off to prepare for a demanding and strenuous business trip.’
‘Not too strenuous. You promised. And I think the word “luxury” was mentioned somewhere.’
‘So it was.’ He smiled again, remembering the spa baths mentioned on the hotel’s website. No doubt she’d need it after some of the activities he had in mind, both in and out of the bedroom. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Now? I’m researching Bali on my laptop. In bed.’
Had she purposely slipped that little tidbit of information in? ‘And what have you uncovered?’ No—discovered. Damon had meant discovered.
‘That some beaches have white sand and some have black. I’m watching a video clip…brilliant blue water and black sand.’
‘We’ll find it and take a swim there.’
They talked for a few more moments about details of the trip and arrangements he’d set in place for staff to cover for them while they were away.
‘I’ll see you Tuesday morning, then,’ he said. ‘The taxi will pick us up from your place at ten a.m. Don’t forget to pack a swimsuit.’
He thumbed the disconnect button and remained with eyes closed a moment more. He hadn’t had a woman’s company in a while and now he was going to be with one very appealing Kate Fielding 24/7 for over a week.
How would that work? He couldn’t wait to find out.
‘So why haven’t we met this new boss of yours?’ Kate’s father said when she rang to say goodbye on Monday evening. She wished Rosa had answered the call.
‘It’s not like we’re dating, Dad. You don’t bring your boss home for tea.’ Not even when you’ve had wild sex. Especially not when you’ve had wild sex.
‘Didn’t stop you from eating tea at his house the other night.’
‘I’m sorry I cancelled at the last minute, but Damon was alone. He asked me to stay; I couldn’t say no. We had work to do,’ she remembered to say at the last moment.
‘I hope you don’t go along with everything he asks of you outside office hours, Katerina. You need to stand up for yourself.’
Kate felt the familiar prickle of annoyance. She needed to stand up to her father. ‘I wanted to stay, okay? The work doesn’t go away because you ignore it.’
‘The least you could have done was invite him over here instead so we could meet him. You’re going overseas with this man alone—you know how your mother is.’