Page 40 of Tempting Her Forbidden Boss

She was too tired, too desperate, not to take the help Alex had offered. Her pride in her independence had to be shelved. ‘What you said yesterday...’

‘About the investigator?’

She felt the reverberations in his chest as he spoke—even as softly as he had—and felt reassured by the solid strength of him. ‘Yes.’

His wide palms stroked down her upper arms. ‘You don’t have to tell me about it. I can just make the appointment for you.’

She smiled sadly. He was offering her privacy, offering her help, but she wanted to share it now—it was a burden that had got too heavy for her, but that would be nothing to him. ‘My mother had a son eight years before she had me. Here in New Zealand. She named him Eli. She adopted him out.’

‘And you want to find him.’

She nodded. ‘We’ve never met. He doesn’t know I exist. I only found out about him just before she died. I only have the vaguest details and I’ve tried, but I can’t get anywhere.’

‘You don’t have any other family, do you?’

She shook her head—none that she recognised.

‘The PI will help.’ Alex sounded all CEO certain. ‘We’ll call him tonight.’

‘It’s Saturday.’

‘They work all hours.’

Like him. Unless he was in party mode. ‘Shouldn’t you be going out somewhere?’

‘Nowhere else I’d rather be than here.’

Dani rested her head back on his chest and smiled at his hot-chocolate-smooth words—he always had the right answers, didn’t he? But now, having told him about her search, she felt her exhaustion quadruple. She closed her eyes.

‘Don’t worry, Dani.’ She heard him from a distance. ‘We’ll find him for you.’

NINE

Danilookedup at Alex’s deep sigh.

He’d laid his cutlery down and his smile curved lopsidedly. ‘We have to go out tonight.’

‘We do?’ She nearly choked on her last mouthful. He’d picked her up from work bang on time, spun her in his arms the minute they got to the top of the stairs of his house, kissed her while walking them through to the kitchen and made the most of the big bench. When they’d finally come up for air and done their clothes back up, they’d sat down to dinner. All she wanted to do now was fall into bed—and play some more.

Yesterday had been divine—according to Alex the ‘day of rest’ meant no getting out of bed all day. In between the ferocious sex they’d dozed, she’d read the newspapers on his tablet, he tapped on his laptop and they’d snacked on whatever they could find in the fridge. She was still hot from it—and exhausted in equal measure.

‘Drinks with the charity divas. It won’t take long but I need to put in an appearance.’

‘I don’t, though.’

‘Yes, you do, you’re the newest employee and they’re all

very keen to meet you. Besides, you’re my excuse to leave early. You’ll have a headache.’

‘What? No way. You can have your own headache.’ She watched him clear the plates. ‘Do we have to dress up?’ She didn’t want to take up his offer to buy her some clothes—an offer he’d repeated in the guise of a loan—but the fact was, apart from a few work skirts and shirts and her one little black dress, it was jeans and tee and that was it.

‘Casual is fine.’

But after a quick shower she put on one of her quality cotton work shirts, tucking it into her jeans and securing them with a belt. She pulled on her boots instead of the trainers she preferred to jog round in when she was doing ‘casual’. Her casual and his casual were two quite different things. As a last touch she slid in the clip he’d given her the night of the dance. There were a couple of other women in jeans, Dani noted when they got there, but their jeans were designer.

It was a much smaller gathering than the dinner had been, much more informal and much more intimidating. The dinner had been too busy and too loud for any real in-depth conversation with anyone. This was more like appearing in front of a selection panel for an elite club. She was sure she was being judged—and that she was failing.

Alex held her hand and she was grateful for that because, beneath the tastefully mascaraed lashes, she was getting a few scarily close looks. The princesses of society all seemed to have gathered together and now they inspected her with barely veiled curiosity. She made her head stay up high; she would not drop it and stare at the floor. But she was nothing like them—she didn’t have the breeding, the elite education, the looks, definitely not the wardrobe. His fingers gripped hers tighter and she sensed him looking at her.

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