Page 27 of Booked for Summer

‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ They both turned to find Jade standing in the doorway, cheeks flushed. ‘I knocked, and I thought I heard someone say come in, but obviously I just heard a voice, and assumed it said come in.’ Her gaze jumped to Jeremy and back to Liam, before giving him a smile he knew to be forced because he’d seen her real one. ‘I’ll just turn right round and wait outside. Pretend I wasn’t here.’

That, Liam thought with a flare of annoyance, was damn near impossible. As if he could read his mind, and Liam hoped to Christ he couldn’t, Jeremy let out a low whistle the moment the door clicked shut. ‘And who is that?’

If Jeremy wasn’t a gay, engaged man, Liam had an unnerving feeling he’d have been annoyed at his interest. ‘Jade. She arrived a couple of days ago to run the bookstore.’

‘Ah, another of Flo’s band of super-keen temps eager to leave their stamp on the Little Bay Book Shack.’ Jeremy studied him a moment. ‘Does she know you plan on bulldozing the place she’s spent the last few months in a state of giddy excitement about running?’

Annoyance bubbled. ‘Not yet, but it’s hardly my issue. Flo employed her.’

‘Yes, but now you’re about to throw her dream onto a bonfire and light the match.’

‘Was there anything else?’ he snapped.

Jeremy rose to his feet. ‘Nope, at least nothing more important than the conversation you’re about to have.’ He walked towards the door but instead of opening it, he turned back to Liam. ‘Be kind.’

Jesus. Like he was some sort of big bad wolf? ‘I’ll be fair.’

‘You always are.’ Jeremy met his eyes. ‘But that isn’t the same thing.’

He ducked out of the room and Liam slumped back against his chair. Fuck. For the first time in years, he didn’t feel ready for the conversation he was about to have. He’d asked Jade to come to the office in the hope the business environment would enable him to forget his attraction, forget all memories of the last two nights, and see her as another issue to be handled.

He looked up at the light tap on the door, and instantly knew it didn’t matter where he met her. He wouldn’t be able to look at her without thinking of sex. Heart thumping, sweaty, can’t-get-enough-of-it sex. Mixed with bouts of laughter.

She wasn’t laughing now. In fact, she looked as uncomfortable as he felt.

‘So, apparently I slept with my boss,’ she said.

‘Apparently.’

She swallowed and glanced away from him. ‘You said you didn’t know the first time.’

‘How could I? We didn’t talk about anything personal.’

Bold blue eyes clashed with his. ‘I told you something about me I’d never admitted to anyone.’ She let out a pained laugh. ‘To think I thought you were sweet.’

His skin felt it was too tight a fit for his body. ‘I told you I wasn’t.’

‘And you were right. Because a sweet guy– heck, just a decent one– would have told me who he was after he knew I was working at the bookstore for three months.’

Guilt slithered into his gut. ‘You had your hand on my dick. I couldn’t fucking help myself.’

Her cheeks reddened. ‘And I’m supposed to be flattered?’

Shit. He let out a rough exhale, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. ‘Look, what is done, is done.’ Except that it didn’t feel done. She was technically now his employee, in his place of work, and wearing a simple short-sleeved blouse and Capri pants that should not scream sex. Yet he wanted to leap over his desk and crash his mouth down on hers. Then pin her against the wall, or to his desk and…

‘Flo said you promised her I could stay the full three months.’

He dragged his mind out of the gutter. ‘You can. I’ll pay whatever Flo agreed with you, and you can stay in a room here at the resort.’

‘Thanks but I don’t need a room. I’m sleeping in a cute studio above the bookstore.’

He worked to make his tone flat, dispassionate. ‘Little Bay Book Shack is being knocked down.’

Her mouth hung open, blonde brows coming together in a frown. ‘You’re getting rid of the bookstore?’

‘Yes.’

‘So I’ll be selling books from a place in the main resort?’

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