Page 25 of Defying Her Arrogant Boss

He laughed aloud exultantly. He’d hardly slept but he wouldn’t have with the meeting today anyway. He didn’t mind that it had scuppered the chance of being with her last night. It made the prospect of tonight even more exciting. It felt as if he’d wanted her for ever. It had been good to have the presentation to concentrate on in the end; reciting facts and figures had been a way to finally get to sleep rather than twisting and turning all night with the most enormous erection of his life. Of course, he’d been dreaming of her when he woke. The ache in his body had been growing since the night he first met her. She was so alive. So refreshingly blunt. Her laughter. So sexy with those long legs and caramel hair. But her reluctance in the office nearly killed him. It was all he could do to stop himself from teasing her, tormenting her into betraying herself. Making her reveal the sparkle and enthusiasm he knew bubbled under that cool facade.

His body tightened at the thought of the night to come. Unbuttoned and tousled. Oh, yes, it was all going to happen. After her response last night he knew she wouldn’t say no to him.

He wasn’t sure what she’d wanted to do just as the others got back. He’d seen the fear in her eyes and guessed she wanted to try to push him away again. But she couldn’t. She’d opened up to him and going back now was impossible. Heknew.He knew her passion for him was as blazing as his for her. And she knew he knew.

He strode into the library wanting to establish a date even before going to debrief George, the managing partner, on how the meeting had gone. He came to an abrupt halt by her empty chair. Damn. He looked around, encountering Gina’s bland look.

‘She’s not here,’ she said.

Disappointment hit him in the chest and a bad feeling rose with it.

‘She’s at home. Sick.’

He flinched, the bad feeling bang on. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Flu, I think. She sounded terrible.’ Gina and Hugo were both watching him closely. Did they know something of what was going on with him and Lissa? Frankly he didn’t care what they thought, but he knew Lissa did.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘I just wanted to let her know how we got on today.’

Hugo nodded and went back to his work. Rory glanced at Gina. Her sceptical ‘yeah, right’ expression let him know he hadn’t fooled her one iota. He winked and left.

An hour and a bit later, after meeting George with James and Marnie and wangling the afternoon off as time in lieu, he was bounding up another flight of stairs. Thank God he’d driven her home that night otherwise he’d have had to con her address out of Gina or HR. That would have definitely raised eyebrows.

He reached the door of her flat and pounded on it. If she was sick, he’d take care of her.

Hell.

He’d do anything for this woman.

He stopped banging as he absorbed that idea.Anything?

No, he’d do the same for anybody who was unwell. Compassion, a normal human reaction. He wasn’t driven by any greater urgency just because it was Lissa, was he? He hadn’t had a serious girlfriend in a while, didn’t want one. Had dated, sure, but nothing much more. He’d been too preoccupied with his career. Damn it, he was still preoccupied with his career. Only now something else demanded his attention.

Lissa.

After waiting a while he rapped again, harder this time, unable to stop the drive that insisted he see her. Finally, he heard some movement on the other side of the door. It opened a fraction and when he saw her big tawny eyes staring at him in surprise, he pushed it right open.

She was wearing an old white tee shirt over panties and nothing else. At least he hoped she wore panties; the shirt hung down to mid-thigh and he couldn’t quite tell. All the blood in his body headed south—fast. He forced his eyes back up.

A sheen of sweat bathed her face and her eyes looked huge in her pale face. Huge and slightly glazed. She’d twisted her hair back into a loose, low pony-tail but large sections were escaping. He thought she looked beautiful, but while his gut twisted with desire he could see she was in no way up to a marathon session of love- making. She looked about ready to collapse on the spot. The protective male bit in him reared its head.

‘What?’ She looked stunned to see him.

‘I wanted to make sure you were okay.’ Well, he wanted that and a few other things, but they’d have to wait right now.

‘I’m fine.’ She leant back against the wall for support.

‘No, you’re not,’ he said softly, stepping into the tiny hall and closing the door behind him.

She pulled upright with visible effort and walked through into the main room. Rory followed, looking about him with growing concern. The place was tiny. A studio apartment and freezing to boot. His concern leapt into worry and then manifested as irritation. He couldn’t help but notice the big bed in the comer with the sheets in disarray. He looked away hurriedly. She obviously wasn’t sleeping too good, judging by the way the covers were tossed about. Either that or she never made her bed.

‘Have you eaten?’ He tried to focus back to the basics.

She shook her head weakly.

‘Drunk anything?’

Again she shook her head.

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