‘You could become uncomfortable seeing me in the office every day and change your mind about mixing business with pleasure.’
‘And fire you presumably?’
Ruby raised a brow at his cavalier tone. ‘It’s been done before. And you are my boss.’
‘True. But I’m not that small-minded.’
‘What happens if one of us decides to end things?’
‘We behave like mature adults and go on as normal.’ He gave her a slow grin and tugged her closer. ‘Anything else?’
‘I’m sure there is but I can’t think of it right now.’
‘Because you’re creating mountains where there are none.’ He leant in and kissed her. ‘Say yes.’
‘Sam.’ She groaned against his lips, her arms tight around his neck. ‘I think you could wear down a Sherman tank just by looking at it.’
Sam frowned. ‘I don’t want to wear you down.’ Was she saying that she didn’t want this? That she didn’t want him? It felt like a sharp blade had just been rammed through his midsection. ‘If this isn’t what you want then just say the word and I’ll walk away right now.’ Even if it seemed impossible to do so. ‘Is that what you want, Ruby—do you want me to walk away?’
‘No.’ The word was barely a whisper but it kick-started his heart again. ‘I don’t want you to walk away, Sam, but I’m not very good at this. I don’t know how to make it work.’
The words rushed out of her as if she was taking an enormous risk just saying them. The echoes of that feeling resonated somewhere deep inside Sam as well. ‘You make it work one step at a time,’ he said gently. ‘At the office we keep things to business as usual, and on the weekends...’ He gave her a slow smile and slipped his hands into her hair. ‘On the weekends we burn up the sheets together until we can’t move. How does that sound?’
‘Like trouble,’ she said, pressing closer. ‘But okay, if we do this we have to keep it simple.’
‘Very simple.’
Ruby nodded so seriously Sam had to pull back from kissing her again. ‘No unnecessary promises and no repercussions,’ she pressed.
‘None.’
‘And no emotional entanglements. From either one of us.’
The light breeze swept a few strands of hair across her face. Sam pushed them back. ‘Ever do anything without a caveat, Clarkson?’
‘Not usually,’ she grumbled reluctantly. ‘Is that a problem?’
‘No, my crazy little control freak, it’s not.’
‘I am not a—’
‘You are and I love it.’ He crushed her lips beneath his in a greedy kiss, only coming up for air when they were both breathless and wanting.
‘Feel what you do to me, Ruby. What we do to each other.’ He ran the pad of his thumb across her lower lip, soothing her swollen flesh. ‘What have you got to lose by saying yes?’
Her eyes were heavy-lidded with a desire he knew was reflected in his own. ‘Nothing,’ she whispered.
But what Sam heard in her voice, what he felt when she tightened her arms around his neck, was everything. And he didn’t know if he was the one thinking that, or she was.
CHAPTER NINE
ON THEIR NEXT weekend together they flew to Melbourne, hired a car and drove along the rugged cliffs of the Great Ocean Road.
Victoria wasn’t as warm as New South Wales, so Sam had stopped at a local market and bought her a shawl to wrap herself in. They’d stayed in a gorgeous house overlooking the sea in Apollo Bay, lit an open fire in the hearth and toasted marshmallows, talking about everything from horror exam days at university to the merits of the government’s new environmental-law package, and favourite Broadway musicals—none in Sam’s case, loads in hers.
Ruby found out that Sam had gone into law because his father was usually scathing about it, and she’d told him how she had an over-developed sense of fairness that drove her to want to set things right.
The following weekend Sam had flown them to Far North Queensland, where they’d stayed in an eco-resort and snorkelled with dolphins, and slept out under the stars. Kong had gone with them on both trips, proving to be an excellent travelling companion apart from the sofa leg he had chewed at the house in Apollo Bay, and which Sam had already replaced with a more expensive version.