Page 9 of Unbuttoning Her Brooding Boss

That overly determined answer both annoyed and amused him. He knew to his bones she wasn’t being honest. He’d irritated her, but she wasn’t going to bite back. Which made her better than him. Because he was close to snapping.

‘No?’he asked, letting his disbelief show.

She continued to meet his gaze with a defiant little tilt to her chin. He fell silent, falling into the spell she seemed to cast wordlessly—all with those big blue-green eyes that made his skin burn.

For too long he looked at her. Desire sank deeper into his muscles, slicing through to the bone. What he’d do to make her mask slip—

But then his damn phone beeped, signalling a new text message. He didn’t read it, but the sound alone was enough to make reality race back.

He cleared his throat. ‘Where were you planning to take me?’ Time to pull back and be professional—focus on the far more important meeting he had in two days’ time. ‘Some new mall? A new consumer paradise?’

‘Not a mall, no.’

Thank God.But he faked a crestfallen look. ‘That’s a shame. I wanted to see you in action.’

‘I’m sorry?’ Her eyes widened.

He bit back a grin. It was obvious she’d heard inappropriate innuendo when he hadn’t meant it.Interesting.

‘I wanted to see how you come up with all your content,’ he clarified with an easy smile. ‘How you create all those lists and pictures...’

‘Oh...’ She nodded. ‘Well, there are a couple of out-of-the-way places I thought it would be nice for you to see. They’re upcoming features on the blog.’ She bestowed her wide ‘Steffi Leigh’ smile upon him. ‘So your wish will be granted.’

As if she was some fairy princess?Yeah.That wastotallyhow she sold herself. A bright, bubbly bringer of beauty and joy.

‘What about your office?’ he asked. ‘Where you film your vlogs? I’d like to see that.’

He wanted to see what was on the other side of the camera—what it was that wasn’t shown on screen. Because his curiosity had been aroused—along with a few other things.

‘You want to see my room?’ She shifted, lifting a hand to adjust her seatbelt as if it were strapping her in too tightly.

For a split second she looked startled. In fact, he’d go so far as to say she looked scared. But then she released the belt and put that smile back on her face.

‘I’m sorry—not today.’

She wasn’t sorry, and now he reallydidwant to see her space. What was all this icing hiding?

‘Actually, I was going to take you to the zoo,’ she suddenly spoke again, looking down at her lap.

‘The zoo?’

‘Perfect place for you,’ she murmured.

‘Pardon?’

‘Have you ever seen a baby echidna?’ She lifted her lashes, her eyes now limpid. ‘They’re very cute.’

‘Cute?’ He couldn’t decide if her eyes were more green than blue or more blue than green. All he really knew was that the colour was natural. He was close enough to know she wasn’t wearing contacts. ‘I don’t do cute.’

Whereasshedid nothing but.

‘Do you even know what an echidna is?’ she asked.

‘A small, strange-looking thing that’s one of the very few mammals that lays eggs,’ he replied.

Amongst other things he did travel guide books for a living—so yeah, he knew random facts about animals in so many countries. ‘Is that why you’re wearing gloves? So you don’t get your hands dirty while you feed the cute little animals?’

For a moment she didn’t answer. But her gaze sharpened, held his ensnared. Was it him, or was it getting hotter? The temperature wassearing.

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