Page 18 of Virgin's Stolen Nights with the Boss

Carmen had started to wonder if she was actuallycapableof reacting in that way...but now she saw Elias’s honey-brown torso and his dark chest hair. She watched him dry himself as he continued to focus on Domitian, warning him now and then to move back and letting him know who was in charge.

He dried his flat stomach, and the curly black hair there, then held the towel in both hands and ran it across his back.

Goodness, he was stunning!

In all the usual ways, but also in ways that were inexplicable to Carmen.

Why did the flat mole on his left shoulder look as if an artist had chosen to place it there? Why did the raising of his arm to warn Domitian to move back, and the glimpse of dark underarm hair, make her feel as she was being pinched between the tops of her thighs? And why did the glint of an expensive watch on his wrist make her think not of its obvious value but instead of him taking it off at night?

These were not the kind of thoughts Carmen was used to. Not at all! So much so that she was ridiculously grateful that her thrift shop boots were a size too big, for there was room for her to curl her toes.

Thankfully, he pulled on his shirt.

Thankfully, because even if hiding away such a vision of male beauty felt akin to closing the shutters on a stunning sunrise, Carmen seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.

He was tucking in his shirt when he glanced over at her, as if suddenly aware of her attention. Carmen had to quickly come up with something to say. ‘Your father...’ she mumbled. ‘He’s waiting.’

‘So he is.’

He closed up the stable, then headed off.

‘Laura?’ he called to someone who now stood behind Carmen—the same woman who had thrown her the clothes. ‘Make sure Domitian moves to the back of the stall when you feed him.’

‘Sure,’ Laura said and, holding a bucket of feed, Carmen watched as she took down the flag to wave at the stallion to get it back.

Laura was a little tentative, but actually good with him, but of course Carmen would have done things differently.

Carmen closed her eyes.

I am a stable hand!

It was her new mantra.

She was here to do the grunt work, not run the yard...

She could do that with her eyes closed.

As Laura carried on with her duties, Carmen wandered closer and looked at the many posters tacked to Dom’s stable.

STAY BACK!

I BITE!

AUTHORISED EMPLOYEES ONLY

‘Those signs are there for a reason...’

She jumped when she heard Elias’s voice and swung around.

‘I was just admiring him,’ Carmen said. ‘I thought you had a meeting.’

‘It’s done.’ He refused to meet her eyes. ‘Blake’s been called away and he’s asked that I show you around.’

‘I’m sure I can find my way...muck in where needed...’

‘This isn’t a farm,’ he said in a snobbish voice. ‘Or some backwater riding school.’

Carmen really had to bite her tongue and stop herself from telling this arrogant man just who was...

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