Page 20 of Worth Every Risk

I close my eyes and shake my head. I cannot be thinking this way about my boss, but when he’s on display like this—

“Can I help you?”

My stomach plunges at the sound of his voice, and I creak open an eye. The treadmill is stationary now. He faces me as he steps off it, holding my gaze. His stare is an accusation, but even though guilt flashes through my system, it doesn’t stop my gaze skimming down his body.Delicious. The pulse between my legs kicks up a notch.

He pushes his dark hair off his face as sweat trickles down his chest. I can’t help but follow the trail down his skin, where the V of muscles is visible above the darkened waistband of his shorts.

I take it all in at lightning speed, but his eyes narrow when mine land back on his. He’s fully aware I’ve checked him out.My face is so hot I think my cheeks could fry eggs.I shouldn't be here. What must he think of me?

“How long have you been standing there?” He speaks each word slowly, as if the answermatters.

I step confidently into the light of the doorway, emerging from the shadows of the darkened hallway.Might as well own the fact that I’m here, now he’s caught me.I blink in the sudden brightness. For once, I’m speechless. Mr Hawkston tilts his head and steps in my direction. I can smell him; his cologne mixed with sweat and body odor. I briefly wonder if this version of his scent is even more appealing than the straight smell of his cologne.

I must be losing my mind.

I grapple for words. Excuses. Anything. All the while he’s stalking towards me, closer and closer, until he’s so close I could run my fingertip—or my tongue—through the sweat on his abs.

“Sorry,” I mutter. “About earlier, at the museum—”

“Don’t mention it. It is what it is.”Holy crap, this man is attractive.When his eyes meet mine, there’s a hint of something there… not much, but definitely a little amusement. “For the record, I prefer this expression”—he nods at my face—“to the judgmental one I got at the museum.”

Heat rages through me, and I can only imagine what expression he’s talking about.Is it that I’m mindlessly drooling over him? Am I that obvious?

“Oh. Ha. Um…”Speechless. He’s rendered me speechless—again—in his sweaty near-nudity.

“Aries?”

I startle, jolting into a more upright stance and yanking my gaze back up to his face from where I was staring at his abs.Again. “Yes?”

“What are you doing down here?”

“I…”Crap. Why am I here?“I got lost.”

Got lost? Damn it.I could have come up with something better than that.

The creases at the corners of his eyes deepen. “Where’s Lucie?”

“In the cinema room. She fell asleep during the movie. I was going to wake her.”

“Don’t. I’ll take a shower and carry her up to bed. She’ll probably sleep through the night if she’s tired enough. Can you wait with her? Give me ten minutes.”

I barely hear anything he says after the word ‘shower’.Did he have to say that? Did he have to plant that image in my mind? Him completely naked with water running all over him? Those droplets would get everywhere.Focus, Aries.“Sure.”

“Do you need me to show you where it is?”

“Huh?”

I’m pretty sure he’s trying not to laugh at me, but I can’t put my finger on why I think it, because there’s nothing to suggest it on his face. “The cinema room. You said you got lost.”

The heat in my cheeks is furious.Is my face on fire?“Oh, right. No. I think I can find it.”

There’s that slight glimmer of amusement in his eyes again, like a ghost or a spectre; a trick of the light.

Before I can say another word, he disappears into an adjacent room and I pad back along the hall to the cinema room. It’s a straight line from here to there. He definitely knows I didn’t get lost. And that I was just standing there, admiring him.

This is definitely not good.

5

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