New Year at the Boss's Bidding

No. She was here professionally and wouldn’t jeopardise her business reputation for one night of excitement, however tempting Xavier might be.

* * *

Xavier sensed there was a lot more she wasn’t telling him. To be defending her ex-fiancé so strongly, she must still love him. But why love someone who’d hurt you, walking out on you when it had most counted?

He done exactly that to his long-term girlfriend when she’d left him literally hanging in the hospital, too disgusted to even sit with him. Carlotta had taken it so well he’d seriously questioned if she’d ever loved him and was relieved he’d resisted prompts from her and his family, before the accident, to make that final and permanent commitment. At least he hadn’t had to deal with a divorce as well as the knowledge he’d destroyed Paulo’s family.

Tilly stood up abruptly, dragging his thoughts back from those dark days, effectively ending the conversation. ‘Dessert?’

The husky tone of her voice pulled his thoughts back from those painful months after the accident. Painful not because Carlotta had shown her true shallow nature but because of the guilt that racked him every time he thought of the accident and the devastation it had caused.

He let his gaze travel down Tilly’s slender body, allowing her gorgeous figure to ground him and pull him back from that abyss. On her beautiful face was an expression of hesitancy, mixed with the composure she’d been fighting to retain all night.

A stab of hot lust shot through him. It wasn’t just the challenge she’d set before him, it was much more—and almost impossible to ignore.

He wanted her—more than he’d wanted any woman.

‘Let’s abandon this formality.’ The need to break out, to rebel against what was right, surged through him.

‘What do you mean?’ The shock in her voice was clear, her blue eyes wide with disbelief.

‘The fire in the lounge is so much more inviting, no?’

‘Yes, it is.’ She lowered her lashes, blocking him out, but even so her body called to his, beckoned him with the lure of desire.

‘Bene.’ He got up and moved around the table towards her. She met his gaze again, her gorgeous eyes wide and luminous, and he felt something squeeze tight around his chest. It had been a long time since a woman had affected him so potently.

Suddenly she moved away from him and began clearing the table. ‘I will see to this first.’ The matter-of-fact words cooled his ardour, reminding him she was not the kind of woman to have affairs, the kind who wanted just what at the moment he could offer. He had to remember he’d hired her for this evening’s dinner party, which in itself was an added complication.

Before he had time to process those thoughts properly she left the room, carrying things back to the kitchen. He picked up other items from the table and strode through to the kitchen where the bright lights subdued what had arced between them—and highlighted reality.

‘I have a few things to do then I will bring dessert through to the lounge.’ She turned and looked at him, the wariness in her eyes halting him in his tracks. She was warning him without words to keep away, telling him she didn’t want to pursue the attraction, and after what she’d just told him he’d be heartless to force her. She was still in love with another man, even though her body called to his. But ignoring her was proving difficult.

‘Allow me to help.’

‘No.’ The shock in that word startled him, and he looked at her in question. ‘No, thank you. This is my job, Signor Moretti, I’m not here to be wined and dined. I’m paid to be here—working.’

She was either putting them both firmly in their places or laying down an even bigger challenge. His pulse leapt at the thought, but he knew, deep down, it wasn’t that. She was right. Her brief story about last New Year’s Eve only confirmed she wanted more than a night of passion and an expensive parting gift. She wasn’t the kind of woman who sought such nights, she never would be. He couldn’t give a woman like Tilly what she wanted.

‘Very well,’ he said firmly. ‘But I expect you to join me in the lounge. I have no intention of welcoming in the New Year alone.’

‘But...’ She searched for more excuses.

‘You will join me,’ he said sternly, and she looked up at him and the expression on her face soothed his ruffled demeanour. She looked vulnerable and so very beautiful. ‘For just one glass of champagne. To toast in the New Year.’