Page 27 of Dangerous Temptation
He was clean.
The paper fell from her grip, and she pressed her fingers to her mouth. She’d been so wrapped up in the other after-effects of their encounter that she hadn’t even thought about that. To be so reckless … so careless … She’d been so entangled in the emotional and logical sides that she hadn’t considered the physical.
Which was ironic, since the physical was what had gotten her into trouble in the first place.
She picked the paper up from where it had fallen across her chest. She’d been avoiding his calls and she’d been avoiding him.
She bit her lip.
She couldn’t avoid him any longer. She had to be responsible.
Some of the stress that Tabitha had just dispelled snuck back between her shoulder blades. Taking a deep breath, Elena reached for her phone on the kitchen counter above her and navigated to the list of missed calls. Before her nerves could get the best of her, she hit redial.
The moment the ringing began, her thoughts jumbled. What was she going to say? What would he say? It was all so uncomfortable. They’d gone from avoiding one another to rolling around on the floor together.
His low voice came on the phone much too quickly. ‘Hello, Elena.’
The way he said her name made her belly squeeze, and she reflexively drew her knees up towards her chest. ‘Thank you for Tabitha.’
It was a safe start. An accepted compromise.
‘How do you feel?’
He might as well have reached through the phone line and stroked her side. Her eyelids drifted shut and she swallowed hard. She felt wonderful, relaxed and sensitive, but she chose her words carefully. ‘De-stressed.’
‘Good. I’m glad you enjoyed it.’
The conversation dipped into one of those uncomfortable pauses that happened whenever they spoke – the quiet moments with so much current moving underneath the surface. Elena ran her hand over the hoodie that covered her like a blanket. ‘She returned my backpack,’ she ventured.
‘You’re going to need those socks.’
Her lips curled up at the corners. She never would have expected him to have a sense of humour. ‘I’m clean,’ she whispered.
There was a quiet pause on the other end of the line, a poignant pause that held so many secrets.
‘And I’m on the Pill,’ she continued in that same whisper. She’d gone on it when she and her last boyfriend had been together, and she’d stayed on it long after they’d broken up because it regulated her periods.
He’d been honest with her; she had to be up front with him. He had enough problems right now. He didn’t need to worry that he’d procreated with her, a Bardot. That just might possibly be the scandal to top The Scandal.
‘Have dinner with me.’
The request had her sitting up halfway. It had been firm and authoritative, a powerful CEO re-establishing his control. Yet it had also been wistful, with just enough ache to remind her of the panicked man who’d clung to her as he’d fought off his claustrophobia.
‘Up here at the main house. I’ll get Marta to make us something, just the two of us.’
Elena scooted back until her bottom pressed against the arm of the sofa. She cuddled deeper into the sweatshirt, pulling it up to her chin. ‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea.’
‘We can’t keep sneaking around this property, trying to avoid one another,’ he said, the powerful side taking over.
No. No, they couldn’t. She glanced at the front door to the lake house. Her car was outside. The boxes still lined the far wall.
‘Just dinner,’ he promised, that crooning tone coming back, almost as if he could read her mind. Funny, but that tone didn’t give her platonic thoughts. ‘You can get that book you wanted to borrow.’
She blinked in surprise. Ah, there was the conniving side of him, the one she’d always expected.
‘We need to talk, Elena.’
Yes, they did. About what had happened and so much more. She had so many questions and so few answers. She glanced at her office. She’d been here for over a month and she’d failed to dig up many of them.
