Page 47 of Tempting Her Forbidden Boss

And he would—the man worked round the clock.

‘Admit it.’ She poked him in the ribs with her finger.

‘What?’

‘You love it. There’s nothing else you enjoy more than your wheeling and dealing. You’re a banking and business geek. And you’d be lost without it.’

His eyes slid sideways. ‘Okay, I like it.’

‘No.’ She maintained her authoritarian tone. ‘Youloveit.’

He did—she’dseenhim at work. He was happy there.

‘Okay, I love it.’ He sighed and smiled at the same time. ‘But I also like bunking now and then too.’

Yeah, but being the head of the family bank was his natural home—whether he was bloodstock or not. He was good at it too. They walked over to where the few adults were being

sorted by the whistle-wearing coach. ‘Skills and drills first, then games later.’

The kids were broken up into groups of eight and they worked them out—practising passes, forward and back, running games, short drills, team building.

Dani laughed—working her group while surreptitiously watching Alex work his crew just alongside her. His time at his ‘boys’ own outdoors’ school was evident and it was equally clear he must work out a lot still—but then she knew that already.

She wasn’t totally useless herself—she’d enjoyed her self-defence classes and working out at the gym. She might be on the curvy side, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t fit. She jumped up and caught a ball someone accidentally lobbed into the middle of her kids.

‘Good catch,’ Alex murmured. ‘Nice to see a woman who isn’t afraid of balls.’

‘Ilikeplaying with them,’ she answered, all soft sass and an oh-so-innocent smile.

He chuckled, shaking his head at their tragic innuendo. She giggled too and got on with exercising her group for the best part of an hour—catching his eye too often and sharing that smile.

But the best bit was when the games of touch rugby began. A lightweight version of the thump-you-to-the-ground national sport—only in this you disarmed your opponent with a touch, not a tackle. Dani shouted encouragement to the kids whom she’d helped drill. Another hour slipped by until there was a grand winning team. Alex strolled over to where she was standing, applauding them with her gang.

‘The winners want to play the leaders,’ he said. ‘You keen?’

‘Absolutely.’

Some of the kids weren’t that little and Dani felt her competitive spirit kick in. She looked along the field at Alex. They were on the same team. It was a nice feeling.

The game was fast, fun. Early on she got the ball, passed it straight to him and watched him run—all sleek speed and power. The try was easily scored.

The kids stood no chance against him.

At the end of it Dani asked him, ‘You wouldn’t let them win?’

Alex laughed and shook his head. ‘It’s good to learn how to lose. Besides, they wouldn’t respect us if we didn’t play an honest, hard-out game.’

He was right, maybe. Except Dani wasn’t sure he’d ever had to learn how to lose. She walked with him to where the coach was looking harassed. Now it was all over, some of the kids were tired and heading towards cranky.

‘We’ll load the shed,’ Alex said. ‘You guys head back. It’ll be easier if Dani and I do it when you’re all gone.’

The coach hesitated for all of half a second. ‘Thanks.’ He immediately started rounding everyone up—ordering them back to the buses.

‘Bye, Alex.’ One of the young players from his group hovered near.

‘See ya.’ Alex grinned and waved before turning to gather more of the gear and head towards the shed.

Dani looked at the young teen, saw how her round eyes swallowed Alex whole, how the colour swept into her cheeks before she turned and ran away. Dani smiled; she knew just how overwhelmed the poor girl felt.

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