A Beauty Uncovered (Secrets of Eden 2)

Amanda rolled her eyes and shook her head. “This isn’t a conversation for lunch. This is meant for Happy Hour with half-price wine.” She eyed her iced tea with disdain. “What possessed you to kiss your boss? Did he come on to you?”

“No.” And he hadn’t. She had gone after him. Aggressively. Since almost the first day of work. “I kissed him. Frankly, he seemed a little stunned.”

“Why on earth would you do that after that mess you went through before? This is the first job you’ve been able to land.”

“I know. I’m not sure what I was thinking.”

One of the perks of this job, however strange, should’ve been that her boss was a weird recluse who didn’t come out of his office. Given she’d been fired for sleeping with her last manager, she should’ve been thrilled with the arrangement. The distance was a guaranteed buffer to ensure she couldn’t make the same mistake twice. And yet she’d done everything she could to breach the barrier and coax the beast from its den. And then she’d kissed him.

Success felt bittersweet. First, she’d found a rose on her desk when she arrived this morning. A single pink rose stood on her desk in a tall silver bud vase. It was a deep fuchsia, her favorite shade of her favorite color, captured in her favorite flower. It was flawless, with silky petals that opened farther as the day went by. Brody didn’t leave a note, but given no one else could get to this floor, there was no question from whom it had come. It was a romantic gesture. Not some over-the-top, massive bouquet. One single, perfect rose for one single, perfect kiss.

Then Brody had come out to see her twice this morning. He’d been surprisingly chatty, asking her about her evening and other pleasantries. Oddly enough, they’d both avoided the subjects of the kiss and the rose. Later, he had asked her—politely—to bring his lunch into his office before she went to meet Amanda, so she was able to enter his private space without being harassed.

Somehow, by invading his domain, she had tamed the beast. It was good and bad all at once.

“Is he married?”

“No,” Sam said emphatically. She was pretty darn certain this time. He seemed too isolated for that, and Agnes had told her he was single. She would know. “And he’s nothing like Luke. It’s a completely different situation. But it complicates everything.”

“Kissing your boss can do that. Here’s a question for you, though—do you want to kiss him again?”

Sam took a deep breath and admitted the truth to herself. She did. It was so unproductive. So complicated. And yet she couldn’t help the way he made her feel.

Her affair with her last boss had been purely physical. He was far too involved with himself to contribute any emotion to their relationship, and she was aware of it. It wasn’t until later that she realized why. Brody was different. He aroused all the same physical desires, along with a protective instinct and emotional longings she couldn’t ignore. Combined, it cranked up the intensity dial of her body to a point where she could barely concentrate when she was around him.

Brody was like an injured tiger. Dangerous, beautiful, fascinating…and yet, she couldn’t fight the need to fix the hurt she saw in those blue eyes. Someone needed to be brave enough to go into his cage. Sam wanted to be the one. Even when she knew she could get bitten.

“I do,” she finally said aloud.

“So, he’s not married. He’s not a sleaze. He’s got a good job. You’re interested in him, or you wouldn’t want to kiss him a second time. If he’s interested in you, what’s the problem? This is a temporary job, after all.”

Amanda always had a gift for cutting through the mental clutter to get to the heart of the issue. That’s why Sam needed to talk to her so badly. She just wasn’t sure it was that simple. Her body seemed to think so, but it had proven on more than one occasion that it couldn’t be trusted. “I guess I’m worried it won’t end well. I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.”

“Honey, I saw you go through that mess with Luke. I’m pretty sure you learned your lesson. Don’t be so hard on yourself. If this guy really is different, you can’t let that cloud your judgment. Take it slow. See what happens. You might be pleasantly surprised.”

Sam eyed her watch and nodded. She needed to finish eating and head back to the office. “I will take all that under consideration.”

Amanda smiled. “Keep me posted on the hot seksi times. I want every detail. I haven’t dated anyone in months, and I need to live vicariously through someone.”