NATASHA OAKLEY – At The Boss's Command: Taking on the Boss / The Millionaire Boss's Mistress / Accepting the Boss's Proposal (страница 21)

‘Quail,’ she said, nodding to Case, her eyes bright. ‘The chicken breast with garden salad and a chocolate cheesecake.’

‘Is your mother local?’ he asked, watching her take a sip of the red wine, her lips almost as dark, looking as rich and sweet as cherries, just begging to be tasted.

‘Ye-es,’ she said slowly, her gaze on him. ‘My mother took a job here just after I first moved to Melbourne to work with WWW Designs. I don’t blame her for coming too. I wouldn’t want to be all alone and she is all alone and I understand that I’m all she has and all—’

Case heard the flood of sweet words from her mouth, saw the shine in her eyes as she dropped her gaze to the setting in front of her, and wanted her. Desperately, totally wanted her…never to be alone.

He swallowed hard. ‘God, you’re beautiful.’

Tahlia glanced up at him, a soft flush on her cheeks. ‘You don’t have to resort to flattery to get me to talk,’ she said casually. ‘Shoe size? Seven and a half. How I take my coffee? Black with no sugar. Where I go on holiday? Anywhere that has a seminar that can help my career. So what do you want to know?’

Case shook his head. ‘Can’t a guy make an honest comment about his date’s extraordinary beauty without it being taken as a means to an end?’

She shook her head. ‘No.’

A waiter moved between them brandishing their entrées, the sweet scent of the freshly roasted delicacy wafting around them.

‘You seem dedicated to work.’ Case stripped the small quail of its meat, the prized morsels melt-in-the-mouth soft. ‘Your file is impressive. You’ve done a lot in a few short years.’ He glanced at her, trying to make her out.

She placed her hands in front of her. ‘So you finally read my file.’

Finally, for the twentieth time. She was twenty-six years old and had worked diligently, pursuing her career, yet still seemed so young and innocent in so many ways. ‘You mustn’t have had time for much of a personal life.’

Tahlia put down her fork, staring at him. ‘No, not much of one, but I’ve had my fair share of boyfriends.…if that’s what you’re asking.’

Case shook his head. ‘You are amazingly frank, Miss Moran.’

‘You are incredibly nosey, Mr Darrington. Anyone would think you have an ulterior motive.’

‘I do.’

‘Oh?’

‘I’m seriously interested in all my employees, but I don’t usually take them out for dinner.’

‘And why am I so different?’ she asked softly, watching him with narrowed eyes.

‘Because you fascinate me.’

She stared at her plate. ‘I—’

He’d scared her away. He could see the hesitation in her eyes, hear it in her voice, feel it in every aching muscle in his body.

‘Not that I don’t usually bend my principles for a pretty woman,’ he blurted. ‘Or go after something I want…’ Dammit, he was digging himself deeper.

She glanced up at him, a soft gleam in her eyes and a knowing smile just touching her lips. ‘I know.’

Case leant back in his seat, watching her. Whatever she thought she knew, it made her happier and more relaxed. Who was he to argue?

Whatever she was thinking had put a smile on her face that glowed with a vibrancy that tantalised him.

It couldn’t be bad.

Chapter Fourteen

Emma’s rule number two: make love, not war.

TAHLIA chewed on her bottom lip, walking slowly to her front door, every footfall thundering through a body too alert, too aware of Case so close behind her, the warmth of his suit jacket around her shoulders smothering her with his spicy cologne mixed all too enticingly with pure male scent.

Their third date, in as many days, had been wonderful, the food almost as incredible as the company.

It wasn’t that she wanted to date him, but she found that at work she was so busy with finding files for Case, setting up interviews and doing her own job that she hardly had time to do anything more than admire his dedication to the employees. And he did keep asking her out so she had the opportunity to find out more about him.

Who was she to decline?

At least the plan was working. She was getting to know Case, although she was discovering more about his pets, his parents, his hobbies and his childhood than the details of his career.

Now he was being incredibly tortuous by doing the chivalrous escort-the-girl-to-the-door thing that drove her mind mad with the should-she or shouldn’t-she invitations for coffee, inclinations to kiss him, and intense desire to do more than show him the door after the coffee and kiss.

‘Thank you for another wonderful evening,’ she offered tightly, opening her bag and scrabbling for her keys, pushing the silly notions from her mind.

He was a professional and her boss. Much as she wanted him to be the office playboy, after spending the last few days with him she had serious doubts. He was simply wonderful.

‘My pleasure, Tahlia,’ he said, her name a mere whisper on his breath.

She shivered, plucked out her keys and fought the jumble for the right one. ‘It was great. The mousse was so rich and sweet and smooth—’ She glanced up at him—like his voice, like his jaw, like his lips…

‘It was,’ he said, inching even closer. ‘Can I help?’

She watched as he took the keys from her hand and poked the one she’d labelled ‘front’ in the lock and turned, pushing the door wide.

‘Thanks.’ Tahlia swept his jacket off her shoulders, the moment when he’d wrapped her in it scored in her memory, his body heat still lingering around her, her heart hammering against her ribs.

She tried to keep that comment he’d made that first night she’d gone out with him, that she was just another date, foremost in her mind, but the rest of the week pressed in on her, smothering her senses with a kindness and a warmth a shallow Romeo just shouldn’t have.

She wanted to tell him everything, stay close to him, talk to him all night…and more.

Was this what her mother was feeling? Was this crazy feeling the reason she’d risk so much on a man?

Tahlia looked up into Case’s sapphire-blue eyes. ‘I lied, you know,’ she said softly.

‘Oh, yes?’ he said, lifting an eyebrow and taking a step back. ‘About what, exactly?’

‘I haven’t exactly had my share of boyfriends.’ Tahlia bit her lip. ‘No serious boyfriends at all, really.’

‘Oh.’

Her belly tightened. ‘But don’t get me wrong. I have had boyfriends. Plenty. Just no one special, you know, someone who made me feel like—’ She caught herself. ‘What about you?’

He shook his head. ‘No serious boyfriends either,’ he said softly, a smile teasing the corners of his mouth. ‘But I did… I was…in a serious relationship.’

‘And—?’

‘And it didn’t end well,’ he murmured, moving closer. ‘But I believe in second chances. Do you?’

She hadn’t thought she ever could after what her father did… Hadn’t believed she could ever trust a man again, but this feeling, and Case, was special.

She looked up to hand him his jacket, catching his blue gaze and holding it, the gleam residing there fixing her to the spot. ‘Yes,’ she whispered.

Case lifted a hand to her face, brushing her cheek with his knuckles, pushing back her long fringe, hooking his fingers around her neck and drawing her closer.

His gaze dropped to her mouth.

‘Case—’ she croaked, moistening her lips instinctively, her whole body aching for him. ‘This may not be a good idea—’ There was still so much to say before anything happened between them.

He leant down, brushing his lips over hers.

Oh, gawd—yes. Sensation sizzled along her lips, cascading down her body, nestling deep in the pit of her stomach where a yearning ache flared.

He tasted her mouth, teased her lips with his own, drawing up his other hand to cup her face.

Oh, hell, yes.

Tahlia pressed her hands against his hard solid chest, his heart thumping beneath her touch, his warm skin beneath just one thin layer of cotton, all that hard muscle and flesh so close…

He drew back, tasting her lips again. ‘You’re probably right. Not a good idea…’ He brushed her lips with his mouth. ‘Not a good idea at all.’

She backed into her doorway, her hands clenched tightly in his shirt. ‘Colleagues and all.’