Page 19 of Tempting Her Forbidden Boss

‘Not this week, you mean.’ So there damn well shouldn’t be or he shouldn’t have kissed her like that.

‘So you can stay here and save, just for a week or two.’ He ignored her hit. ‘Until you’re in a position to take a place of your own. Meantime I have a dinner to go to tomorrow night—very nice venue, black tie. Don’t you love a little glamour?’

‘No.’ She threw him a dark look, trying to keep a grip on herself. This wasn’t what she’d meant to happen. He hadn’t even bothered to learn her name—she needed to keep that little fact up front and centre in her head.

‘I thought all women did.’

‘Not me.’

‘Oh.’ He smiled. ‘I’ll have to help you change your mind on that. Dances like this one can be a lot of fun.’

‘I thought you said it was a dinner.’

‘Followed by dancing.’ He looked thoughtful. ‘Have you got something to wear?’ He ignored her start of annoyance. ‘We can go shopping tomorrow afternoon if you’d like.’

Go shopping? ‘You don’t need toPretty Womanme, Alex,’ she said sharply. ‘I have something to wear.’

‘Great, that’s settled, then.’ He turned away flashing a Cheshire Cat smile, then turned back just as quick. ‘Oh...’

‘What?’ Rattled, she snapped—had she just agreed to go out with him tomorrow night? How had that happened?

‘What about you?’ With that too-bland expression he moved back into her space. ‘Who did you go out with last Friday night?’

‘I—’ She blinked. No one, of course.

‘What about the Friday before? Is there a boyfriend I ought to know about? I mean, you asked me, I can ask you, right? I don’t want to put you in a difficult position as my escort.’

Escortwas not a good word—the connotation compounded with his offer to take her shopping pushed her defence button. She wasn’t anybody’s paid-for plaything. She’d prefer to be the player, not the toy.

‘Of course you won’t.’ She lifted her chin and fired a shot at him. ‘I don’t do “boyfriends” as such, but I have a few joy boys around. I choose one to service me occasionally but we share nothing more than that.Variety,’ she added with a conspiratorial whisper. ‘You know.’ She was quite sure he did know. Quite sure he had a whole variety line-up of lovers himself—only his wouldn’t be imaginary.

‘Occasionally?’ His brows lifted. ‘Only occasionally?’ His smile was feral. ‘No wonder you burned so hot in my arms.’

She opened her mouth to snap at him but this time he laid his whole hand across her mouth, leaning in to quiz her. ‘You don’t believe in romance?’

She pulled back from the sizzling touch. ‘I don’t believe in romance, relationships or anything like that. I certainly don’t believe in marriage.’

‘A free woman?’

‘Absolutely,’ she declared. ‘An independent one.’ Her aim was to take only what she wanted when she wanted and leave the rest of the rubbish for others to suffer through. Except she’d not really managed it yet and now wasn’t the time to start trying. She had something way more important to be focused on. It had taken her long enough to earn back the money her father had stolen, and truthfully she’d come over too soon—without all she should have. So she didn’t need distractions now—not of any kind.

He stepped even closer, gleaming green eyes trained on her. ‘Don’t you believe it can happen, Dani? A look across a room? Love at first sight?’

‘Never in a million years.’ She straightened her shoulders. ‘And you don’t, either.’ The man was a complete playboy. But he had every right to be—he had every necessary asset: the looks, the humour, the drive.

‘No,’ he agreed, looking her over, top to toe and back again so every inch of her skin was sizzling. ‘Not love. But lust is another matter.’ He tilted his head as if to study her from a different angle. ‘Why are you breathing so hard? Something bothering you?’

‘I don’t like confined spaces.’ Hell, he got to her.

‘I know the house isn’t huge, but it’s not exactly tiny.’

It wasn’t tiny at all. She stared into his green eyes. ‘I don’t like feeling trapped.’

‘You’re not trapped,’ he said calmly, then moved fast, his arms hauling her to him. ‘But now you are.’

She twisted in his embrace. ‘Watch it. I’ve a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.’

‘Really?’

---