Page 10 of Unbuttoning Her Brooding Boss

Finally, pointedly, she lifted her eyebrows. ‘You think I’m afraid of getting dirty?’

Her reply soundedsoinnocuous. But that glimmer in her eyes... She’d turned some innuendo onhim.Turned him on tighter...

He glanced up at the crystalline sky above, taking a breather from the intensity. They’d got barely two blocks from the hotel and he couldn’t be more on edge. Who’d have thought she’d pack such a punch?

‘Why else the gloves?’ He couldn’t resist glancing back at her.

She eyed him thoughtfully. ‘I’m wearing gloves to hide the state of my fingernails.’

‘You’re not happy with the colour of the polish? Does it clash with the car?’ he mocked.

‘Don’t tell anyone...’ She leaned a touch closer to him and spoke with a conspiratorial smile. ‘But they’re bitten down to the quick and I didn’t get the chance to put on fake ones.’

Honesty? It almost touched him—except she was all about covering up.

‘You’re wearing other fake things?’ He couldn’t help a glance to her chest.His bad.He owned it, but he figured she’d started it.

She pulled back to settle into the farthest comer of her seat. ‘A woman never gives upallher secrets.’

‘No? Only enough to engender interest?’ he taunted. ‘Is that one of the tips you dish out on your blog?’

She smiled a secretive, frankly seductive fairy princess smile. ‘My tips areverypopular.’

That they were. And he could see why. She could write—her lists were entertaining. But it was the vlogs that had the greatest number of hits. It seemed people liked watching her prance about in her bedroom. His body winched tighter.

‘You’re interested in wildlife?’ And, yeah, he might have emphasised the ‘wild’ just a little.

‘Most people are.’ She continued to smile at him—so innocent and perky. Except for that heat in the back of her eyes. ‘And I thought you’d like to see some that’s unique to Australia. We have some amazing creatures. There’s a very big saltwater crocodile at the zoo. I think you’d like him. I’m sure he’d likeyou.’

He chuckled, appreciating the less than subtle implication. ‘I’m tougher than I look. Can’t be chewed up and spat out as easily as all that.’

‘Oh?’ She sounded disbelieving. ‘So you don’t want to go to the zoo? Wheredoyou want to run away to?’

Anywhere. As long as it was with her.

He looked at her silently, trying to ride out the intense impulse sweeping over him. The car seemed to be shrinking. She was so near he saw her breath hitch, heard that faintest gasp. The urge to kiss her was overwhelming.

Sex.The body’s happy place. And for him the ultimate avoidance activity. He’d bury himself in her hot, tight body and screw their brains out. Until he could think of nothing else. Until he was exhausted and could sleep—not lie awake for hours and hours and hours, wondering and worrying and worrying and worrying...

It wasn’t such a bad idea, was it?

Wrong. It was the worst idea ever. He hadn’t succeeded as much as he had by bedding possible business partners.

He’dneverdone that.

Steffi Leigh was the excuse he’d given for making this trip to Australia. His brothers had been on his back about working too hard, but he’d said he needed to assess the viability of this acquisition himself. Truth was, he was hunting for something far more personal and he didn’t want to hurt his family by telling them yet. Not until he knew for sure. Not until he’d found everything out—even if it was the worst.

‘Jack...?’ A soft query.

He’d been silent too long—staring... all but eating her with his eyes. And in her eyes now was not just that spark that lit brighter as he neared, but the concern he’d turned away from the first moment he’d seen her.

She’d seen his anxiety again. And he hated it just as much as he had in the hotel foyer.

Unable to take the heat any more, Jack shrugged off his jacket and tossed it onto the ludicrously small back seat of the femininely sweet car.

Her eyes widened. ‘What are you doing?’

‘I’m hot.’No lie.And it wasn’t because of the sun beating down on them.

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