Page 42 of The Boss's Forbidden Assistant

But Harper didn’t want to think about that. There was one week left of her contract, one week left with Salvador, and she didn’t intend to ruin it by overthinking anything.

She’d work hard—even harder than she had been doing—to prove to herself and him that nothing had changed for her professionally. And in the evenings...

Her heart rate kicked up a gear. In the evenings, she’d be his, as completely as she had been in Prague. Having opened the floodgates, there was no way to stem this tide. It was overpowering and relentless.

He landed the helicopter with expert skill, unhooked his headset then turned to face her, a frown on his lips that she wanted to lean forward and kiss away.

‘We should talk, before we go inside.’

Harper lifted a brow.

‘Our relationship...’ His frown deepened and he paused, weighing his next words with care. Despite the happiness Harper had just been enjoying, something inside her stilled now and she held her breath, waiting, uncertain, and hating that uncertainty. Hating that he might say something devastating, like he wanted to go back to the way things had been before. Pride wouldn’t allow her to argue with him, even though that was the last thing she wanted.

‘Yeah?’ she pushed when he didn’t speak for ages.

‘Like you, I’m a private person,’ he said eventually. ‘I consider my personal life to my business alone.’

She waited, still not able to breathe properly.

‘I would prefer the staff here not to suspect anything has changed between us.’

‘Oh.’ Relief surged inside Harper. ‘That would be my preference too.’

His eyes scanned hers, as if looking for reassurance.

‘It’s not anyone else’s business,’ he muttered. ‘But people talk, and I’ve had enough of that. After—’ He hesitated. ‘She died...’ His voice cracked a little and tears formed in Harper’s eyes because her heart was breaking for him. Sympathy squeezed inside her. He’d loved his wife so much. Anna-Maria must have been a very special person indeed. ‘I felt as though everyone was speaking about it. About me. I did not enjoy that.’

‘No,’ Harper agreed softly. She reached over, putting a hand on his thigh, thrilled that she was able to do so without overthinking it, without worrying he might brush her hand away or frown. Instead, he reached down and squeezed her hand in his.

‘So, we’ll leave things as they were before,’ he said with a nod. ‘You have your room. If you agree, I can come to you there...’

‘I’ll think about it,’ she said and then rolled her eyes, flipping her hand over and catching his. She lifted it to her lips and held it to her mouth, eyes sweeping shut a moment as she trapped this memory in the depths of her mind for later examination. It felt like the calm before the storm, the pause before they returned to something far more like normal life.

It was nothing like normal, nothing like before. She worked in the office beside Salvador’s, but her every thought was of him. Even worse was knowing he was in the same boat. She only had to lift her eyes to look towards the glass that separated their offices and their eyes would meet. When she forced herself to focus for a period of time, she felt him watching her. It was electrifying and addictive.

The first day passed like some form of torture, both avoiding the other except for essential conversations pertaining to business and the hours moving slowly, oh, so slowly, until finally the day was over.

Harper stood, rubbing a hand over her neck and switching off her computer and sliding her laptop into a bag so she could do a little more in her room later. But for now she needed a break from the reality of being close to Salvador and not touching him, of wanting but knowing she couldn’t have.

He was focussed on his screen when she approached his door, but the second she knocked he flicked a glance at her and her heart skipped.

‘I’m done for the day, Mr da Rocha,’ she said with the hint of a wink.

‘Thank you, Ms Lawson.’ Then, after a beat, ‘Do you have dinner plans?’

She lifted a brow. ‘It’s a private island. Did you think I might swim to Rio to see a movie or something?’

He scowled. It was a lot of fun teasing him.

‘No need to be sarcastic.’

‘But it’s fun,’ she murmured.

‘I can think of better ways to have fun.’

‘Oh?’

‘Later.’ He grunted, returning his gaze to his screen, focussing as though his life depended on it.

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