Page 10 of The Boss's Forbidden Assistant

She hesitated, then leaned closer so she could study his face better. ‘Sir.’ His eyes narrowed, his pupils dilated, and she was sure his cheeks had darkened. Her insides stirred and heat built between her legs, so she had to move to uncross then re-cross them. Only his legs were there, beneath the table, and the action brushed them together. The effect was electric. Sparks flew into the air and up into the night sky, like fireworks.

‘What for?’ His response was gruff, almost a bark.

‘Sometimes, I can’t help speaking my mind.’

‘I don’t dislike that quality.’

‘Careful,’ she said with a half-smile. ‘You might not always like what I have to say.’

‘Then I’ll find a way to punish you,’ he drawled, and she startled, because his meaning was impossibly clear, impossibly sensual, and utterly, disastrously desirable.

Her lips parted and his eyes fell to her mouth. This time, she couldn’t contain the little moan that escaped, just a whispered sound of attraction. It was all too much.

‘I’ll be good,’ she said quietly, looking down at the table, the dangerous game they were playing tying her stomach into knots.

‘Are you good, Ms Lawson?’

She bit down into her lip. ‘Oh, yes.’

‘Always?’

She didn’t tell him about the time she’d been bad. The time she’d screwed up, monumentally, by giving into something not entirely dissimilar to this and going to bed with her boss. Of course, she hadn’t known he was married! She’d thought they were falling in love, that the feelings were mutual. But she seriously doubted Peter was capable of love—not for his wife, not for Harper either. She’d learned her lesson. Or had she? Because right now, if Salvador da Rocha snapped his fingers, Harper would go to him in a heartbeat.

What kind of fool did that make her?

‘I’m not sure I believe you.’

‘Are you calling me a liar, sir?’ she asked, and though it wasn’t intentional she shifted her legs a little, so now her toe brushed his calf. She had to stop this. It was getting way out of hand.

They had two weeks together, and this was only the second day.

What was going on?

Harper didn’t usually do casual flirtation. She didn’t do this kind of sexually charged banter. Not anymore. The relationship with Peter had killed her confidence and destroyed her faith in her own judgement.

His fingers reached for his wine glass, lifting it to his mouth slowly, thoughtfully, then taking a sip. She echoed his movements, tasting her own wine, savouring the flavour while simultaneously recognising she shouldnotbe adding alcohol into the mix.

‘What do you do for fun?’ His question was perhaps an attempt to draw the conversation away from the incendiary volley they’d been sharing. Or perhaps he was expecting her to respond with something that would throw fuel on the fire, by responding with an answer that was sensual and provocative.

Harper was drowning. She stared at Salvador, and felt all of her usual reserve and caution drifting away, so she dug her nails into her palm in an attempt to remember who she was and why this was a very, very bad idea.

‘I work,’ she said, glad that the words emerged reasonably level.

‘For fun?’

‘Is there something wrong with that? I would have thought it’s a hobby we share.’

He frowned, took another sip of wine and Harper exhaled, because things between them were less charged; the provocative verbal game of cat and mouse had moved on. She could relax a little.

Except, with a man like Salvador, she suspected she would be wise never to let her guard down. It wasn’t him, but the way she felt about him meant she needed to be permanently cautious.

‘I do not consider work fun.’

‘Yet you do so much of it?’

He looked beyond her to a point over her shoulder. ‘It’s habit, I suppose.’

That didn’t sound quite right. She was sure there was more to it, but if there was, he clearly wasn’t in the mood to expand. She had a little more bread and some more wine, but was relieved when a few minutes later Catarina returned, this time brandishing two plates, each filled with crunchy spiced potatoes, some sautéed greens and what looked to be two excellent pieces of steak.

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