Page 24 of A Wedding Negotiation with Her Boss

‘That’s not why I did it,’ Helen said quietly. ‘I don’t care about getting a bonus.’

‘Maybe you were just on a high after what happened between us,’ he suggested in a roughened, wicked undertone.

‘It’s not always about—the physical, Gabriel.’

‘I know.’ He raked his fingers through his hair and shook his head. ‘At any rate,’ he said gruffly, ‘thank you.’ He meant it—and yet he would have rescued the situation somehow. She had cleverly stepped in but he hadn’t needed her. ‘Need’ was not something in his psyche.

He rushed into speech. ‘It’s getting cold out here. You—you should head in. Last day tomorrow. No need to do anything at all. Enjoy the place. Go into town. Clear your head.’

Helen realised that actually he was the one who needed to clear his head. Hers felt fine. She’d succumbed to the moment and she didn’t regret it. A little less comfortable was what she and Gabriel had been doing when they’d been interrupted.

Did she regret that? Since the business with her broken engagement, she’d stuffed her sexuality in a box and pretended that it didn’t exist. Working for Gabriel, it had been all the more imperative she never acknowledge what her own body might feel like were it to be aroused because, somewhere at the back of her mind, she accepted that her boss could very well be the guy to show her.

She was so used to caution ruling her life that the very thought of letting herself go to something that was bigger than her was inconceivable. But out here the ground had shifted and she’d opened the door to temptation. She’d let him touch her because she’d wanted it—and she’d rescued him from an awkward situation just then with Arturio because he got to her in all sorts of ways that weren’t altogether physical.

He was a physical guy whose brain travelled on a one-way track but that wasn’t her.

Confusion and trepidation tore into her. What would he do if he started thinking that she had feelings for him? Did she have feelings for him? She couldn’t have. He wasn’t her type.

George hadn’t worked out but that didn’t mean that her choice of guy had been completely off-target. It just meant that youth had stopped her from exploring what else was out there first. She had been conditioned by her over-protective father to gravitate towards safety and she’d jumped in at the deep end without giving it as much thought as she might have. She still wanted someone who believed in love, believed in marriage and wanted security and stability, just as she did.

Gabriel wasn’t that man. He was sexy, so she’d been attracted to him. She was only human, after all. She was still young, she was a woman and she decided that, however imprudent her behaviour had been, there was nothing really to be ashamed of. She’d let nature get the better of her for once. And, if she’d been savvy enough to gauge the situation with Arturio and act on it, then it was because it had really been no skin off her nose. Besides, whilst Gabriel might not be her type, she still liked him and could still appreciate those qualities in him that made him a man worthy of respect.

Gabriel, though... Was he torn with guilt? Would he think that she had over-stepped the brief by what she had said to Arturio? Worse, would he get it into his head that she had been expressing some kind of secret desire for them to be an item?

It made her break out in a cold sweat.

She could downplay that bit of it, bury it under the tug of war that had been going on between them on the physical front, he’d get that. For both their sakes, it would work.

‘We need to talk this through,’ she said firmly. ‘Maybe the bar? I could have something to eat. I haven’t eaten yet.’

‘You want to talk about it?’ He sounded startled. ‘I didn’t think that you were open to discussions about things that happen that shouldn’t have happened.’ He shot her a wicked, sideways glance. ‘“Sand” and “ostriches” spring to mind.’

‘I know I said before that—yes, okay—what happened a few days ago was a blip that should never be mentioned again. But what happened...’ She drew in a deep breath. ‘What happened back there was more than a blip...’ She shot him a quick glance and gathered her scattered self-control. ‘I also don’t want you to start taking the blame for anything.’

‘Helen, I’m not a fool. I’m a man with a great deal of experience, and of course I hold myself responsible for my shocking lapse in good judgement.’

‘Let’s just say that it takes two to tango.’ She began walking towards the reception area, behind which was the gorgeous bar that gave out to the fields and open land behind, and which was bedecked with lanterns and clusters of sofas, chairs and thoughtfully positioned outdoor heating for when it was a little chilly.

She was so aware of him striding alongside her that it made her body go hot. She thought of them together, and she wanted more, and then she went even hotter when she wondered how long that want had been brewing away under the surface. He would shoulder the blame for what had happened and that said so much about the man that he was. He might pick women up and drop them just as fast but he played fair because, as he had once murmured in passing, he never promised anything. And that was an intensely attractive trait.

‘And did you enjoy the tango, Helen?’

‘I...’ She blushed. ‘It happened and...and...’

She shot him a sideways glance as they were ushered to their tables in the bar that, thankfully, was free of Arturio and his wife.

Barely glancing at the menus that were brought for them, she ordered some tapas and a glass of wine, and then sat forward to meet his dark gaze head-on.

From being the dutiful secretary, she felt oddly empowered as their eyes met. Their unusual interlude had altered the balance of their relationship and there was no point trying to unpick the situation. Maybe it was a good thing that he had seen beyond the professionalism to the woman underneath.

He was a guy in the enviable position of being able to have whatever woman he chose, and the women he chose all seemed to be women who would do anything for him. She would just have to make sure he knew that she didn’t include herself in that category, whatever had happened between them. She might fancy him, but she hadn’t joined his fan club. Things would revert to what they had been once they returned to reality, but he would no longer smile those annoying, amused smiles because she would no longer be the person he’d assumed she was.

‘And?’ Gabriel prompted, settling into the chair and giving her his undivided attention.

She raised her eyebrows, going for light-hearted and steering clear from serious. Light-hearted was the response of a woman in cool control of a situation, whatever had happened. Shame she didn’t quite recognise that version of herself.

‘And I don’t regret it,’ she told him simply. ‘Like I told you, I was engaged once, and maybe over here it felt right, even though it was probably a little crazy.’ She smiled and kept her cool—just.

---