Hot Boss, Wicked Nights

Except… She remembered how he’d looked asleep just before she’d woken him up to turf him out. His face shadowed in the semidarkness, muted light from beyond the suite’s balcony soothing the strong jaw, the straight nose. His large hand resting possessively over her belly button. She could get seriously used to this.

And that was asking for a broken heart. Worse, her stupid heart didn’t want to listen to her head.

Was she falling in love?

In love with a man who was going to walk away from her.

She shook her head against the pillow. No. No. No. Been there, done that, had the scars to prove it. She was never going to let herself be hurt like that again.

As they journeyed towards Damon’s mystery destination for their final day, Kate saw several paraglider canopies high in the sky, circling like rainbow lorikeets through the car’s windscreen. Her stomach clenched and she looked away quickly to concentrate on the stands of coconut palms and little temple coming into view. Much better.

But then the road began to climb the side of a hill and it became nauseatingly obvious when Damon came to a stop a short distance away from others with a similar death wish what his plans were. The sickening scenario washed through her and she clutched her hands together in her lap. ‘I can’t do that. I won’t.’

‘Come on, Kate, be a sport.’ He opened his car door.

Kate remained where she was, every cell in her body revolting at the thought. She shook her head. ‘I am not going up in one of those things. Nothing dangerous—you promised.’ She looked across and met his eyes.

‘We made a deal.’ He smiled, his teeth white against his tan and a shadow of stubble. ‘Kate, it’s a tandem; you’ll be with me. I’ve done it a hundred times.’

‘No.’ She shook her head, but her attention was momentarily diverted by a blond-haired man approaching. ‘You know that guy?’

Damon waved at him. ‘We met here a few years ago. He’s an Aussie, he married a local. Hey, Seb.’ He climbed out of the vehicle and shook hands, spoke for a few moments, then leaned in to her with a grin. ‘This is Kate. She’s a nervous first-timer. Perhaps you can put her at ease while I check my equipment.’

Seb slid into the driver’s seat while Damon walked away in the direction of a low building. ‘You’ll be fine. Damo’s an experienced pilot.’

‘He tricked me into this. And I’m not about to cast my fate to the winds.’

‘So what’s a nice girl like you doing hooked up with a guy like Damo?’ Seb said, ignoring her protest. ‘Don’t tell me he’s finally settled down.’

The image Seb tossed out disturbed her in the extreme. Settle down with Damon? With a man who wanted her to fly off a cliff with him? ‘A guy like Damon will never settle down. We work together, that’s all. He’s been here before?’

‘A few times a year,’ Seb said cheerfully.

‘What does your wife think of you risking your life?’ She glared at him, knowing she was being harsh, not caring. ‘Throwing it away and not concerned about who you hurt in the process?’ She hadn’t realised her fingernails had dug grooves in her palms until she saw Seb staring at the slow ooze of blood.

‘She often flies too, but with the baby…’

‘A baby? You have a baby and you still do this?’

He shifted uncomfortably and peered through the windscreen obviously willing Damon to reappear and wishing himself somewhere else. ‘It’s not that big a deal.’

‘No? Would you still say that if she fell to her death? If she left you to bring up your child alone?’

‘Ah-h-h…here he comes.’ Seb jumped out of the car as if he were on springs.

She watched him jog to Damon, who was carrying two helmets and a bunch of other stuff that looked way too flimsy to hold his weight, let alone the two of them. Seb shrugged. Damon frowned in her direction.

She glared back. Let him call her a coward. Let them both. Because they didn’t know, men like them would never understand.

Until it was too late.

Leaning over, she grabbed the keys from the ignition, then pushed up and out of the car. At the sight of her approach, Seb gave a quick wave and made an even quicker getaway.

Damon dumped the paraphernalia at their feet. ‘Kate. It’ll be okay.’ He wrapped his arms around her. His scent permeated her senses. His hard, warm body pressed against the quivering length of hers. Alive, so alive and vibrant and vital. For now. How easy to allow herself to be seduced into changing her mind.

‘You can’t guarantee that.’ She pushed away from him and stared into his eyes, but she couldn’t see them properly because her own were blurred. Damon wasn’t the only one haunted by old grief. ‘Risk your life, then. I’m going back to the hotel.’