Page 56 of Tempting Her Forbidden Boss

Cara laughed. ‘I haven’t had a single bout of morning sickness. Been eating like a horse from the moment I got pregnant.’

Dani sat sharply. ‘You haven’t been sick at all?’

She watched Cara shake her head. Saw how her eyes sparkled, and her skin glowed. This was a woman for whom pregnancy was a piece of cake. Painful realisation dawned. ‘You don’t really need me here, do you?’

‘Well...’ Cara blushed ‘...there’s always too much work to do. I mean, usually we get other volunteers, but now we have you...’

Dani rubbed her head and felt the icy sweat beading on her brow. ‘Do you do this voluntarily?’

‘They insist on paying me something, but I give it back to them by buying lots of tickets to whatever they’ve got going. I, um...’ she was blushing even harder ‘...I don’t really need to work.’ She said it as if it were something to be ashamed of.

Dani forced a smile to reassure her. But inside she was trying to process the info that should have been blindingly obvious before now. How could she not have worked this out already? Cara was a nominally paid volunteer, working part-time hours. Whereas she was getting paid top temp dollar—full-time.

But it wasn’t the charity paying her wages at all. It was Alex. Andshewas the charity. She cringed. The whole thing was a charade. He’d felt bad about what had happened, and this was him taking care of it. He’d said duty to the Carlisle business had been instilled in him from birth. But his sense of duty extended in all areas of his life too. And when he’d played a part in her life being stuffed up, he’d taken every step to help. Duty—not desire.

And now pity.

While he might have wanted to play with her for a bit, she bet he hadn’t meant for it to turn into this almighty mess. For she wasn’t Alex Carlisle standard—she wasn’t like those princesses at the charity—like Cara. She couldn’t even begin to compare.

‘Cara, I’m really sorry, but my head actually is a bit bad.’ Dani stood.

‘Oh, do you want me to—?’

‘I’ll be fine. I’ll just go home again.’

Except there was no home, was there?

She raced to her room as soon as she got back into his house. It only took moments to throw her belongings into her pack. But she’d barely started tugging on the zip when she heard the garage door.

He was up the stairs with Superman speed.

‘Lorenzo called.’ He walked into the middle of her room. ‘Cara said you’d come to work and then gone again almost immediately. She was worried.’ He looked at her bag. When he spoke again, his voice was colder than ice. ‘Were you going to leave a note?’

‘Yes.’

‘Written it yet?’

‘No.’

‘So tell me.’

‘There’s no need for me to stay anymore. I’ve found out all I needed to.’

‘What about Sara and the meeting?’

‘She doesn’t need me. She probably won’t even notice I’m not there. AndCaradoesn’t need me, does she?’ she said bitterly.

His mouth tightened. ‘What about me?’

‘You don’t need me, either.’ And in another week he’d have someone else in her place.

‘What if I told you I did?’ He stepped closer. ‘What if I told you I wanted you to stay? Would you?’

She shook her head. Not trusting her voice. For how long would he want her—how long ’til they became ‘just friends’. She couldn’t do that.

‘What if I said we have something special?’

‘What we have is good sex. That’s all.’

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