Anna Cleary – In Bed With Her Tall, Sexy Handsome Boss: All Night with the Boss / The Boss's Wife for a Week / My Tall Dark Greek Boss (страница 22)

‘But?’ he prompted again.

She grimaced at his ability to pick her mood so easily. ‘But I don’t think we can continue this any further.’

‘What?’ he asked.

She turned and looked at him. ‘We go back to being work colleagues tomorrow,’ she said firmly. ‘Nothing more.’ The fatal words were uttered and she felt her heart shatter into a million pieces.

Chapter Eight

INCREDIBLY Rory laughed. He threw his head back and laughed, really hard. ‘You’re kidding, right?’

Lissa stared at him, shocked.

He sobered and stared back. ‘You’re serious.’ The wonder in his tone did nothing for her confidence. A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. ‘Lissa, don’t you get it? It’s too late. The volcano’s erupted, the dam’s burst, the horse has bolted. The genie is out of the bottle—’

‘Enough with the clichés.’ she interrupted sarcastically.

He carried on, ignoring her. ‘There’s no going back. We’re on a runaway train, darling. There’s nothing you can do but hang on for the ride.’

And wait for it to crash? No, thank you. She inhaled deeply and spoke sharply. ‘Stop it. Next you’ll be talking in management speak. All about low-hanging fruit and synergy.’

‘Well, we do have the most amazing synergy.’ He sighed. ‘Lissa, you can’t be serious. We’ve just had the most incredible weekend together. I know you haven’t wanted to talk about it, but you can’t deny it. This isn’t just anything. This is special. Why can’t we enjoy it while it lasts?’

For once it was panic rather than lust speeding up her pulse. ‘Rory, it was just great sex.’ She stared at the motorcycle. How could she ever have thought this was going to be easy? This was Rory, champion charmer and people manager.

‘That’s bull and you know it.’ He seemed to be going for the less charm, more honest approach. ‘We made love, Lissa. Your words. Remember?’

She gulped and tried to ignore the direct hit. She couldn’t let it work. ‘No, Rory, it finishes. You know you’re the same. You never blur the line between your private life and your professionalism.’

‘Professionalism?’ He swore sharply. ‘This is crazy. You’re wanting to throw this away on some temp job?’

She clenched her teeth together. The panic receded and anger ran icily through her veins. He thought it was just some temp job, did he?

‘Yes, I am,’ she said coldly. ‘Because that temp job is important to me.’

She saw anger flash in his eyes. ‘Don’t you think it’s just a little too late for this?’

‘It’s never too late. These things can be contained. It was a fling, Rory, that’s all.’

‘Really?’ His eyes glittered and she realised she’d just made him very, very angry.

Before she could move he’d leaned across and pressed his lips to hers. Not hard and fierce, but gentle and tender. Taken by surprise, she let her guard slip. Her mouth softened and, oh, so skilfully he parted her lips with his tongue, slowly deepening the kiss. It was beautiful. Absurdly she wanted to cling to him. Why did he have to make this so hard? He lifted his head, his eyes still flashing fire.

She looked back at him, willing the silly tears in her own eyes to disappear. The awful tiredness had returned and she just wanted to crawl off into bed. With him, but that was something she could barely admit to herself.

‘Why do you want to stop this?’ he asked softly, and she closed her eyes against the desire she saw in his and summoned the anger and hurt she’d felt in the past.

‘Just because you’re my boss at work doesn’t mean you can boss me about here. You don’t call the shots.’

She heard his sharply indrawn breath. ‘Now, hang on, Lissa. It really bothers you, doesn’t it? The fact that I’m your boss.’

She clenched her teeth. The whole thing bothered her. How had she let this happen? She beat her head back on the headrest of the car seat.

‘Look, if it makes you feel any better I can arrange it so we’re not assigned to the same team again. I won’t be your direct manager.’

It was like Grant all over again. She couldn’t stop the barrage.

‘You think that makes it OK? That it’s fine that you can rearrange my career for me? That who I get to work with, or what project I’m on, is down to you. That my work options are limited because of an affair that we’re having?’ She’d had one boss who had unfairly controlled her employment options. She refused to have another.

‘Well, what would you have me do, Lissa?’

‘The situation is impossible. It will never work. We stop this thing now.’ The anger was all to the fore now; she could ignore the icy pain in her chest.

‘So you’re telling me that for as long as we’re working together we can’t be together.’

‘That’s right.’

He stared down at her thoughtfully. ‘OK, beautiful, have it your way.’ His face had hardened and remoteness replaced the tenderness in his eyes.

She opened the door and stepped out into the chilly night only just catching his low murmur, ‘For now.’

She trudged up to her door feeling as if she’d just ripped out her heart, stuck it in a Ziploc bag and shoved it in the bottom of the freezer.

Rory strode down the corridor unable to stand it any longer. He hadn’t seen her for two days and it was killing him. He’d purposely avoided the information centre. She obviously needed time to cool off and think about things. Maybe the weekend had been too overwhelming. It sure had blown him away. Maybe they should have talked about things earlier instead of leaving it till that car ride home. But he’d known she hadn’t wanted to talk much and, to be honest, nor had he. He’d just wanted to go with the moment and had hoped that every time they’d made love she had sunk deeper into his web as he had hers. Magic—no other word for it. But doubt gnawed at him. For the first time in his life he felt uncertainty. He couldn’t see where this was going. Wasn’t sure he wanted to. All he knew was that he wasn’t ready for it to end. Not yet.

His gut tightened. But what about her? Could she switch off just like that? Maybe it had just been a weekend of wild sex and nothing more. Maybe it was all over as far as she was concerned. She pushed him away at every corner.

He thought back to that parting kiss. She’d wanted more then. No, he couldn’t believe it was finished, but he needed to know for sure she still wanted him. He stopped off at the Gents on the way to calm down and get a grip. He couldn’t exactly just march in, grab her and kiss her senseless even if that was all he wanted to do. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. Something was bugging her. She’d said she didn’t like being talked about. That was why her behaviour was usually so circumspect in public. He grinned; she wasn’t quite so circumspect when she was dealing with him. In public or private. She couldn’t seem to stop herself from reacting to him—teasing him as much as he loved to tease her. He got to her and he needed to play on that for all he was worth.

She hated that they worked together. Hated that he was her boss. He frowned. She hadn’t been impressed when he’d suggested he arrange it so they were no longer on the same team. Too late to change things now, but he was sure she’d be pleased when she learnt what had been done. And at least it removed that particular obstacle.

The fact was he wanted to spend more time with Lissa. And not just time in bed. She was beautiful, smart, funny and he loved the way she teased him. He loved the way she laughed at his lame jokes. He found her zest for life intoxicating. She was fun to be around. And then there was the sex. Spectacular. He’d known she was passionate but, flu or not, she was amazing. Every waking moment of that weekend she’d been at him. It made him want to throw his head back and roar like a lion. It made him want to stake his claim big time. He wanted to go exploring with her. He wanted to tag along on her tourist outings. Laugh with her about being ripped off by ice-cream vendors in Italy. He couldn’t believe she hadn’t been to Florence. He wanted to take her there. Stand with her when she saw Botticelli’s Venus for the first time, wink with her in front of Michelangelo’s David. Drink wine, eat lots and make love morning, noon and night. It was as if he’d come home to a holiday romance.

His heart beat faster with every step nearer her desk. She was looking magnificent in a red suit, the jacket buttoned up. She’d swept her hair back into a severe style, the golden tresses locked away. He grinned. She looked the über-professional ice queen. She would. She didn’t look up as he approached. Only when Gina said, ‘Hi, Rory,’ did her head fly up. He watched her intently. No mistaking the flash of fire in her eyes. She quickly dampened it but he took perverse satisfaction in watching a slow tide of colour rise in her cheeks. An uncomfortable silence prevailed.

‘How can we help you?’ Gina finally broke it.

He thought about his reply a second, wishing he’d had the nous to actually think up an information request before charging up here.

Lissa suddenly stood. ‘I’m going to sort out those CDs,’ she muttered.

Rory wasn’t sure to whom. She marched down to the other end of the room behind the book stacks to where the search computers were. So she wanted to get away from him did she? Tough. He couldn’t help but watch her as she moved. Her red skirt ended just above her knee. He mentally slid a hand under the skirt, imagining the stockings and suspenders he knew he’d find underneath. He drew in a sharp breath and studied the painting on the wall nearest him. Geometric blocks of colour sploshed haphazardly over a white canvas. Thank God. A nude or even a still life with ripe, round fruit would have been a problem. He needed to think neutral thoughts or he’d be in big trouble.