Page 32 of Virgin's Stolen Nights with the Boss

‘Yes,’ Elias said, briefly turning from Domitian’s showing off to take in Carmen’s arms, resting on the rails and her face brown with dust and streaked with sweat.

Elias hadnotbeen eyeing her lunch. Instead, when she’d removed her gloves, he’d noticed her slender hands.

Carmen really was beautiful.

He had known it, of course, but had not properly allowed himself to acknowledge it until now. He was surprised to realise that a glimpse of her slender fingers had him wanting to see her toes...

Damn! The last thing he needed was to have the hots for the new stable hand.

The staff here lived and worked together, but Elias kept himself well away from all that.

LA was for work and recreation.

Malibu was his haven—where he relaxed, where he let his guard down...

Because even when it came to sex, his guard was never down.

As for relationships...?

There was no such thing.

He turned his attention back to Domitian, who had boldly made his way over. The stallion was heading straight for Carmen.

‘Whoa!’ Elias commanded.

To his credit, Domitian did as he was told, coming to an abrupt halt—albeit with a challenging stare. It was more than a stare. He flashed his teeth and flattened his ears.

Elias, used to it, calmly turned to Carmen, still keeping the stallion in his peripheral vision, but not offering a direct challenge that might cause confrontation. It was an obvious tactic, and he rolled his eyes at Carmen as they looked at each other, both deliberately ignoring Dom’s challenge.

‘I think he wants a treat,’ Carmen said, knowing exactly why Dom had bounded towards her, given that she’d been bribing him with liquorice all week.

‘Well, he’s not getting one,’ Elias said.

‘Give him a strawberry,’ Carmen suggested, knowing she had some in her lunch box.

‘Not when he’s staring me down.’

She felt guilty again, knowing exactly why Dom had come over, and told herself that that was why she blushed. ‘He’s still staring...’

‘So we’ll just keep ignoring him,’ Elias replied. ‘As you can tell, the lunatic really has taken over the asylum.’

Carmen laughed. ‘At home we say the wolf is guarding the sheep.’

‘Whereishome?’ he asked.

‘Spain.’

‘I had worked that much out, Carmen. Whereabouts in Spain?’

‘The south.’

Carmen didn’t want to elaborate and was deliberately evasive. Jerez was famous for its dancing Andalusian horses, as well as its festivals, and she didn’t want a conversation that would lead them there or give him enough information that he would figure out who she was.

Because Carmen rather liked being here.

She liked who she was here.

Then she met his gaze and acknowledged that sheverymuch liked being here.

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