Page 12 of Tempting Her Forbidden Boss

He’d be dead if her eyes had ammo. Sadly her eyes were too busy gobbling up the gorgeousness before her to execute the death look. Her failing brain managed one last attempt to control the weakening of her body and she tried the door again. It still didn’t move. She glanced down. His foot was jammed against it.

‘I really have been overseas. I left the afternoon we were in the lift. The trip was unavoidable. I expected to see you when I got back. To talk to you.’ His hands had dropped to his hips. She couldn’t stop looking at his long fingers.

‘What were you going to say?’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ His fingers curled into fists. ‘What matters is that I only found out about the clip this morning and I found out about you being dismissed two minutes ago.’

She took a step back from the door so she could look into his face from a safer distance. ‘You didn’t know?’ He hadn’t ordered it?

‘No. The clip was taken from the security camera in the lift. I don’t know who did it yet, but when I find out you can be certain thatthatperson will be in danger of dismissal.’

That sharp edge sliced back into his eyes for a second. She wanted it to stay—wanted him to truly understand the impact. ‘It’s had hundreds of hits. It got sent to the agency. I got a warning for it but by some great coincidence they can’t complete the necessary verification on my paperwork.’

Shaking her head, she walked into the middle of the room—the greater the distance between them, the better she could think.

‘I know.’

‘So what are you going to do?’ It wasn’t the unfairness of the ramifications that had brought her here, it was that she needed help and had nowhere else to turn. And she hated it.

‘I’m not sure yet.’

That wasn’t good enough. She spun and saw the wicked smile was back on his face. He thought this was funny? He still didn’t get how serious it was for her? She walked back to stand right in front of him, whipping the words out.

‘Thanks to you I have no job and no hope of getting another one. Thanks to you I am flat broke. I’m in a strange country, I don’t know anyone and suddenly I’m starring in some local sex clip and all you want to do is laugh it off.’ Breathing hard, she glared at him—her eyes filled with the ammo they’d lacked before.

His grin was wiped. ‘I don’t think it’s funny.’

‘Oh, really? So that’s why you’re smiling like some satyr and watching replays like it’s the joke of the century.’

‘It wasn’t a joke.’ His eyes bored into hers so intently she couldn’t move. His face hardened in the long seconds of silence. She sensed the rest of him becoming tense too—his body sending such strong vibes of tightly leashed energy that she could feel them pressing on her.

For a second her instinct screamed at her to run, but just as fast the urge was squashed. Other urges began to surge instead—and she needed a strong leash of her own to control them. Her whole body was aware of him, her whole focus was on him. His gaze dropped to her mouth and she felt it like a physical touch. He was remembering—as was she, and the fire arcing between them threatened to burn through her control. But she wasn’t going to let this raging attraction muck up more of her life. She wasn’t going to lose the little credibility she had left by letting it happen again.

She made her body move—away—a few steps back towards the door.

‘You really can’t get another job?’ His voice sounded rusty.

‘You really think I’d be here if I could?’

His brows drew closer as he regarded her. The angles of his face became more pronounced.

Suddenly, sharply, he moved. Walking to the window, he glared through it—she figured the glass would melt in moments if he still had that heat in his eyes.

‘I might have another job for you. But not here. I don’t think that’s something you or I or anyone would be comfortable with.’ He turned. It seemed he’d taken the time to ice over, for his face was schooled into blandness. ‘Look, let’s get out of here and go talk somewhere more relaxed.’

He opened the door and waited for her to pass through.

Dani hesitated—relaxed might be a really bad idea. But if he could do cucumber cool, surely she could do better than melting jelly.

THREE

Dani keptthree feetbehind Alex as he strode past the PA.

‘Please cancel that last appointment and take messages, Kelly. I’m out for the rest of the afternoon,’ he said without slowing his pace.

‘Certainly.’ No surprise, no questions. The PA gave Dani a coolly professional smile but Dani was still too rattled to be able to match it.

Alex glanced at the lift. ‘Shall we take the stairs?’

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