Page 46 of Tempting Her Forbidden Boss

Neither of them had had a decent night’s sleep all week. She took his hand and stood, tugged until he drew his feet in and stood too. She let him up the stairs—past her landing and

on up to his bedroom. She undid his tie, his buttons on his shirt, his trousers, slid them from his body. ‘Lie down.’

He got into the bed. ‘I want you to stay.’

‘I am.’ In her pink-pig pjs she joined him.

‘I—’

‘Just go to sleep, Alex.’ She put her arms around him. Hugged him close. Cared for him

TEN

Alexdidn’t wantto move—couldn’t. Way too content. Dani lay beside him, curling into him, warming him more comfortably than the softest wool blanket. And now nothing else did matter. Because just resting together like this was so complete. The questions faded, the need for answers, and the bitterness disappeared the way wisps of clouds did beneath the heat of the sun—just, like, that.

All that he needed right now was right here.

In the early morning he looked across at her. Still asleep, she looked so beautiful. He’d never seen anyone so beautiful. And he wanted to see her happy. He wanted to see her have some fun—and not justthatkind of fun. His heart leapt up, somersaulted, and bellyflopped back into his chest. He wasinterested—in her and everything about her. The caring she’d shown last night had melted something inside him. Her telling him that about her father...he knew that had been hard. He knew how private she was, how protective. But she’d done it because she’d thought it might help him. And it had in more ways than she’d expect. It had made him see clearer—seeherclearer. Now he needed to know even more. He needed to know everything—why she was so alone and what she hoped would happen when she found her brother.

He slipped out of bed. First he had to shower and get down to the office so he could make plans. But some of the peace from last night remained in his system. He felt freer somehow—less angsty about Patrick. He couldn’t even think his relaxed state was from fantastic sex—they hadn’t even had sex last night. Sharing a trouble—was it as simple as that? He glanced back to the sweet dreamer in his bed. No. It wasn’t that simple. Not at all.

* * *

Alex appeared just before lunchtime, wearing jeans and tee. Dani stared—shouldn’t he be at work?

‘Come on.’ He grinned. ‘We’re bunking.’

She gestured to the pile of letters in the tray on her desk. ‘I can’t.’

‘Cara won’t mind, will you, Cara?’ He magnified the impact of his smile with a wink.

‘Course not. Go on, Dani.’

‘Where are we going?’ she asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

He led her to his car. ‘I realised that you’ve only been in New Zealand a couple of weeks and all you’ve done is work. You haven’t had much fun.’

He was certainly in a play mood. She looked sideways at him—he was a different person from the tired, hurt man she’d seen last night. Now he was all colour and charm again. Her heart lifted and the smile bubbled out of her. ‘So what we are doing?’

‘It’s a surprise.’

Dani felt excitement tingle in her tummy. So much for keeping her life free from getting more complicated. Complicated wasn’t anywhere near enough of a description of her life—especiallyher feelingsnow.

‘I brought your jeans and trainers. You might want to get changed.’

She wriggled in the passenger seat of his car, slipping off her skirt, laughing at his all too frequent glances towards her. ‘Concentrate on the road!’

He pulled up near a big sports field. There were a couple of buses already stopped on the side of the road; the sound of people chattering carried through the trees.

‘It’s a rec afternoon for one of the Whistle Fund’s beneficiary schools. They need some help with the kids.’ He sent her an embarrassed kind of glance. ‘Not that great a surprise, I guess. You up for it?’

She looked ahead through the trees to the football fields where orange cones were being set up and kids in trackies and trainers milled in a kind of amorphous mass. ‘Sure, I like exercise.’

‘I know.’ His grin was pure shark.

She turned and went faux school marm on him in retaliation. ‘But aren’t you going to get behind with your work?’

‘I can catch up tonight.’

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