Page 34 of Resisting Her Playboy Boss

‘Looking like the gardener.’

‘Exactly.’ He’d edged closer still. ‘Go on, come with me.’

She nibbled the inside of her lip, steadfastly ignoring the less than subtle undertone to his invitation. There was that irresistible desire to see what he was like at one of those events—to be out in public with him at her side. To indulge in that dangerous fantasy for a few hours would be far safer than to stay here another night alone with him.

‘Okay.’ She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. ‘I’ll go with you.’

‘We have a couple of hours before—’

‘Yeah, I’m going for a lie down.’ She walked, quickly.‘Alone.’

* * *

Two hours later she was running late, having spent too long messing around with all the luxury bathing products in the bathroom and thinking up movie-tour spiels. Wrapped in one of the luxurious robes supplied in the wardrobe, she raced to the kitchen to hunt out a snack. Munching a cracker, she caught him in the corridor on her way back to her bedroom.

She stopped, spilling crumbs as she unconsciously clenched her fist and crushed the cracker. How could any woman think ‘friends only’ when he looked as sex-in-a-suit as that?

He grinned as if he could read her thoughts. ‘You like it?’

Oh, yeah, herlikewas all over her face. Way too late she pulled her jaw from the floor and got her tongue back behind her teeth. ‘You’re not playing fair.’

‘I just thought it might be good to lift the challenge for you. Make you think about what you’re giving up.’

As if she needed to think about that any more than she was already.

‘You were wrong once—isn’t there the possibility you might be wrong twice?’ he asked slyly.

‘What was I wrong about?’

‘That it was fantasy sex that couldn’t be repeated. But that kiss in the spa was way better than any fantasy. Just imagine what a whole night together would be like.’

‘This is you meeting the friendship challenge, is it?’ she asked.

He shrugged negligently. ‘Oh, I can meet that challenge. But if you wanted to change your mind at any time, all you have to do is ask.’

And he’d do her? She merely smiled and went to set a challenge of her own. Twenty minutes later she walked into the lounge and waited for his response.

He stared—up and down, up and down, paused just north of her centre, and then up and down again. ‘That was really in that tiny overnight bag?’

She twirled. ‘It’s a tiny dress.’

It was and all Ruben wanted to do was peel it off her. It was black and sleek—like cobwebbing over her breasts and an equally clinging skirt. Her legs were lightly tanned and framed with a pair of barely there sandals on her feet—only a strip of black sequins across her toes and a heel that gave her a slight chance of levelly meeting his gaze.

He managed to haul a couple of words together. ‘We’d better go.’

There would have been a couple of hundred people there. The place glittered—diamonds adorned ears, necks, wrists and fingers everywhere. He glanced at Ellie’s beautiful skin; diamonds would look good on her. Or sapphires to match her eyes. Although no gem, no matter how precious, could sparkle the way her eyes were now.

She was laughing at how he’d just waylaid a waitress and hoovered too many of her canapes before she’d been able to offer them to anyone else. But honestly, he’d not eaten for ages. The two hours Ellie had had her lie-down, he’d been working.

‘You really don’t give a damn about what these people think of you, do you?’ Ellie teased.

‘Why should I? It doesn’t matter to me what anyone thinks.’

‘But what about your business?’

‘It speaks for itself. Each hotel or lodge is its own advertisement. I create them and then disappear into the background. It’s not about me. Never about me. People don’t go to a luxury retreat to hang out with the owner. They go for space, rest, privacy.’ He shrugged.

He watched her talk with one woman about the scenery. Snowboarding. Turned out Ellie had never been snowboarding herself, but she got that other woman talking about it for the best part of twenty minutes. She really was interested in what the other was saying. Asked intelligent, thoughtful questions. She was so good at listening and paying attention to other people. At seeming to care. Watching her in action, he realised it was the skill set she’d learned as a lonely kid. By giving others attention, she got attention. It made her included.

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