Page 48 of Tempting Her Forbidden Boss

‘I’ll repack the shed, you hand the stuff through to me.’ Alex was already in there.

‘Thanks.’ She didn’t fancy the job of being inside that windowless shack.

They worked quickly—Dani stacking the cones and tossing the balls through to him. It took no time in the space and silence the rowdy kids had left. She waited outside the door while he put the remaining items away.

‘Why do you feel trapped in enclosed spaces?’ he asked from inside the shed. ‘What happened?’

She spun the last ball between her hands. It wasn’t a small space putting her on edge now.

‘Tell me.’ He stuck his head out of the door. ‘Something happened, right? You got a fright some time.’

It was a long time ago and she tried never to think about it. ‘It was nothing. I was an idiot.’

‘What was nothing?’

No one but her mother knew what had happened that day. No one but him, of course. ‘I’m not telling.’

He took the ball from her. ‘Why not?’

‘Because it was nothing.’

‘It obviously wasnot,'he said with feeling, tossing the ball home. He shut the door and fixed the padlock, then moved to tower over her. ‘Look, if you don’t tell me, I’ll hold you on the brink of orgasm for so long you won’t be able to walk for three weeks because your body will be so sore from the strain of wanting it, but not getting it.’

She couldn’t help but giggle at that. ‘Sounds great—when do we start?’

‘Tell me.’

Dani sighed. So he wasn’t going to give up. Well, she’d give him the abridged version. ‘I locked myself in a cupboard when I was fourteen. Was stuck in there for ages.’ She forced another laugh—but it was too high-pitched.

‘Why on earth did you do that?’

Okay, so here was the not-so-fun part. She hesitated and felt him lean closer to her.

‘Dani…’ A very gentle warning.

‘My mother’s boyfriend came round. She was at work. She used to give her boyfriends a key,’ Dani blurted—sooner said, sooner forgotten. ‘I didn’t like the way he looked at me.’

‘So you hid from him?’

‘He came into the house and called my name—he must have known Mum was at work so I went into my wardrobe. I heard him come into my room. He poked around everything. I was too scared to move. He stayed for ages. Until I couldn’t tell if he was still there or not.’

All she’d been able to hear was the pounding of her heart. And her ears had hurt with the effort she’d had them under—waiting for the tiniest sound, terrified he was lurking just on the other side of the door and was going to smash it open at any moment.

And she’d been right.

‘What happened?’

‘He tried to break down the door.’ Dani flinched, lost back in the memory of it. Barely aware she’d answered.

‘What?’

Heart galloping, she turned to stare at Alex. Her body trembling with remembered shock. ‘He knew I was there. He knew. And he waited and waited and waited until he got sick of waiting. And then he smashed the door.’

Alex swore. ‘What did you do?’

‘At first I couldn’t do anything. I just couldn’t move and I thought he was going to, to... but then the scream came out. I screamed and screamed.’ But that moment—that infinite moment when she’d been unable to make a noise—had been the root of nightmares for years after.

‘Did he get to you? Did he hurt you?’

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