Page 21 of Defying Her Arrogant Boss

‘That must have been hard on your mother.’

‘It was. But she was a survivor.’

‘Was?’ His heart thumped a little harder. He didn’t mean to pry, but he knew he was getting information that was vital. Clues that might help him understand the faint sense of mystery about her. Some fact that might help him figure out why she was So reluctant to follow what he knew she wanted. What his heart and body wanted so much.

‘Was.’ She snatched the paper up and walked away from him. He quietly watched her as she sat back down in her chair, avoiding looking anywhere in particular, especially at him.

An orphan. Fatherless from birth and motherless since—when? The questions nearly burst forth, but her shuttered expression told him he’d got as far as he was going to—for today anyway.

He went back to the figures on the screen in front of him and for the first time in his career wished his work away. Wanted the project to be over so he could have the time to focus on her. Disgusted, he jabbed at the keyboard. What on earth had come over him? He’d said quite clearly he didn’t want distractions. But meeting Lissa was more than a distraction. It felt like a life-changing event, one beyond his control and one he wasn’t sure he could handle.

Lissa escaped earlier than she’d thought she’d be able to, leaving the others up to their elbows in charts. She raced along the footpath to Jackson’s, the bar where Gina and the others were already on their second round. Gina waved her over excitedly and Lissa was soon ensconced with fresh pineapple juice in hand, slightly distanced persona in place talking with some of the junior consultants.

Suddenly she felt an elbow in her ribs. ‘Come and meet Karl.’ Gina had such an expectant look on her face as she dragged Lissa near the door that Lissa had to stifle a giggle. She recognised him from the party at the office where she had mistaken him for Rory. She cringed afresh at her blunder. While Karl had a great physique and a fabulously cheeky grin, he was no Rory. They were poles apart in terms of dynamism and sheer animal magnetism.

Karl took her hand and gave her the benefit of the cheeky charmer grin. ‘Great to meet you at last. I’ve heard so much about you.’

‘As I have you.’ Lissa smiled at him. She was surprised as she caught the vestige of a wink. Not a suggestive wink, but more one aimed at a co-conspirator. That was funny. Unless she was reading things wrong this guy wasn’t interested in meeting someone new in the least. She sipped from her glass, appreciating her decision to go with the refreshing juice, watching the interplay between him and Gina.

Gina was her usual bubbly self, but Lissa noticed the serious glint in Karl’s eye as he watched her. It took about fifteen seconds of observing this for her to make the connection. Gina disappeared, called away by another friend, and Lissa lost no time in calling him to account.

‘You’ve fallen for Gina, haven’t you?’ She looked at him full on.

He stared back, his eyes widening a fraction before looking away to where Gina stood chatting safely out of earshot. ‘Guilty as charged.’

She saw the flicker of insecurity flash before he hid it behind a self-deprecating smile.

‘Waste of time, though, when she’s only interested in types like him.’

She glanced around to where he was looking and drew a painful breath. Rory had arrived and was standing next to Gina and staring at them with a thunderous expression. She felt floored by the ferocity of his gaze. She turned back quickly, looking down at her drink, feeling the heat in her cheeks. What was he doing here? She’d thought she was in the clear for just a few hours. Her Rory-Proximity Indicator, aka her pulse, started its crazy zigzag. She found her attraction to him so hard to control and she knew it would only take a moment alone with him for it to snap. She had to prevent that from happening.

‘Hmm.’ Karl grunted.

Lissa could just about hear the cogs creaking as they turned in his brain.

‘Who is he?’ he asked.

‘Rory. One of the bosses.’ She said it to remind herself more than to inform him. ‘Look, great to meet you, Karl, but I need to head home.’

With a wave she left him and started to move towards Gina to say goodnight.

Rory stepped in front of her, blocking her slow trail across the room, his chest a more effective barrier than the Great Wall of China. ‘So Gina was right, then?’ He asked, his voice rasping harshly.

‘About what?’ she asked cautiously. She’d never seen him look so grim.

‘That he’d be the perfect good-time guy for you.’ He jerked his head in Karl’s direction. Anger oozed from every pore.

If she weren’t so strung out, she’d have laughed. Instead she sighed. Their situation was fractious enough without having unwarranted jealousy compounding it.

‘Actually, no, she wasn’t right about that.’

The hardness in his eyes remained.

‘But she was right about one thing,’ she continued, the need to set him at ease overruling her plan to keep him at a distance.

‘What’s that?’

‘You do have the most amazing eyes.’ She looked at him and let her attraction shine out clearly. Time stopped and, fascinated, she watched as his expression softened from anger to amusement and then to desire. The unspoken communication held them in thrall. She felt heat mount in her cheeks and a thrilling tingle rippled through her as she saw an answering flush rise in his. The desire she had been trying so desperately to hold in check this last week was spiralling upwards— again.

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