Page 14 of Tempting Her Forbidden Boss

That was because Dani knew all about credit cards not working—and, worse, being abused. ‘I paid cash,’ she mumbled. ‘Great. Shall we settle it now, then?’

Dani swallowed. ‘I already paid for last week.’

‘I know.’ She looked apologetic. ‘But I now need payment for this week.’

Alex was like a statue next to her, listening to every word of the painful exchange. Could the day get any worse? Did he really have to be here to witness this last painful humiliation?

‘Um.’ Dani mumbled some more. ‘I’m waiting on my pay before I can do the next week.’

‘Oh.’ The receptionist frowned and then suddenly smiled. ‘Well, what about you pay up to tonight, then, and you can pay the rest tomorrow.’

‘Sure.’ Dani nodded. ‘Thank you.’ There was no pay tomorrow. All she had was in her bag—the two days’ wages she’d got from the agency this morning. She felt her face on fire, felt the sweat trickling down her back as she handed over most of her last dollars.

Nightmare.

She turned and saw him watching her closely, his expression serious. Had he seen the lack of notes in her purse? Her anger spiked again—what was he going to do, pull out his fat wallet and hand over a couple of hundred to her? The humiliating thing was, much as she wanted to, she wouldn’t be able to refuse. She hated being backed into a comer like this. While she needed help, her pride didn’t want to take a thing from him. She wanted him to leave. Now. Bitter tears stung her eyes and she blinked them away, trying to build up her defences again—getting emotional only made things a million times worse. Getting emotional made you vulnerable.

‘Thank you for dropping me back to the hostel,’ she said fiercely. ‘I’m sorry I bothered you at work. Let’s just forget the whole thing, shall we?’

* * *

Alex watched her go—head high, shoulders back—but it was more of a run than a walk. He hesitated for half a second, then strode straight after her. Damn it, he couldn’t just leave her so obviously on the skids. He walked into the dorm room she’d turned into. His skin crawled when he saw the state of it; what a dump.

‘What are you doing in here?’ She was standing by the bunks, her hands visibly shaking. As he glanced at her she screwed them into fists. No, she didn’t want him to see her distress. He looked about the hideous room to give her a second, feeling like rubbish himself. Her pack was open on the bottom bunk. His eyes flicked over the gloriously huge bra poking out the top and quickly he turned his back on that. He glanced back at her—now she was watching him as if she wanted to beat the hell out of him.

Okay, this was bad. Really bad. She was living in a dodgy part of town in a flea-infested hostel in a room with a bunch of strangers. And she was about to be turfed out of it. He felt terrible. He felt responsible. And this was the last thing he needed—he already had enough mess cluttering up his mind. So he had to do something—anything—to fix it. ‘Danielle.’

Her eyes narrowed.

‘I heard the receptionist.’ He shrugged. It was a pretty name. He wished he’d known it sooner. ‘Put your things together.’

‘Pardon?’

‘You can’t stay here.’ It just wasn’t going to happen.

‘Yes, I can. Look, I was wrong to interrupt you today. I made a mistake the other day. I can live with the consequences.’

‘Well, I can’t.’ He took a step closer. ‘Gather your things together and we’ll find you someplace else to stay.’

‘Where?’

He clamped his mouth shut. Yeah—where? Was he going to put her up in a hotel or something? For how long?Think, brain, think. Where were the solutions to problems that he usually found so easily? But he couldn’t think because he was still seeing the lace edging of that pretty white bra and the play part of his head was imagining what it would look like on her. ‘Someplace else.’

‘I can’t afford anywhere else.’

Yeah, and she couldn’t afford here, either, could she? He could offer her money. Lots of money. Wouldn’t that make it all go away? Why the hell hadn’t he just written her a cheque in his office?

Because Alex hadn’t got to the top without dotting ‘i’s and crossing ‘t’s—Alex never left a job unfinished. He needed to make sure she really was back on her feet. She couldn’t get a job—there were no jobs. He knew this—his HR department had got over a hundred applicants for the single permanent position they’d advertised. For her to have got the temp position meant her references and skills were brilliant. The personal issue between them had blown it. So he owed her.

But what made him determined to truly see for himself that she was okay was the expression he’d seen—the vulnerability in the elevator. In those brief moments when the façade had dropped, he’d seen the fear in her eyes. And he’d seen it again at the counter of the hostel. She was isolated and alone.

The protective male bit in him dominated the direction of his thoughts. ‘Do you have any friends here?’

The answer was obvious and she didn’t even bother voicing it.

‘Do you knowanyone!'

Her chin lifted. ‘I only arrived in the country two weeks ago and got straight to work the minute I could. Sadly I didn’t have the time to make friends there.’ She got in a little dig.

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