In Bed With Her Tall, Sexy Handsome Boss: All Night with the Boss / The Boss's Wife for a Week / My Tall Dark Greek Boss. Natalie Anderson
preferably one that ended up in bed, but now was not the time.
He smiled at her. ‘That was a freebie. Next time you ask. See you ‘round, beautiful.’
He turned and walked away, only just winning the battle not to swing back and take another look at her. It might only be lust, but she couldn’t deny that she had feelings for him and those feelings would win out. Rory one, Lissa nil.
Having the most orgasms in her life in a three-day period had the most unfortunate after-effects for Lissa. It was as if now she’d been switched on she couldn’t be switched off, walking around in a permanent state of semi-arousal. It took only the slightest friction or most fleeting thought of Rory to result in a flood of heat and the mad desire to go find him, press against him and take him in. She could only be thankful that their two-week period confined in a room was over. There was no way she could hold fast to her resolve if he were in such close proximity. She tried to concentrate on the information request before her, but every time someone entered the information centre she looked up—the original rubberneck.
She tried to blame her struggle for concentration on the after-effects of the flu, but her heart knew better. She kept replaying that morning’s all too brief kiss with Rory at the other end of the library. He’d completely ignored her call to end it. He wasn’t giving up on her. The knowledge made her giddy. He’d sought her out and proved to her that he could move her. What the hell was she going to do? The fact that they could have been seen by anyone wandering in the library hadn’t occurred to him. Maybe the thought of people knowing they were an item didn’t bother him. Grant would never have taken such a risk. In a perverse way this pleased her. Here was Rory, the one and only, the guy who never fooled around in the office, messing with her, Lissa, the temp from New Zealand.
He’d said he wouldn’t hurt her and maybe he genuinely meant it. But he would hurt her, whether he meant to or not. She was already hurting and the only thing she could do now was lessen the severity.
Gina and Lissa logged off simultaneously and called into the bathroom to fix their hair and make-up. Lissa refused to spend these last few weeks moping. She was going to go out tonight, drown her sorrows and resurrect her party spirit. She was going to plan some mini-breaks for her last few weekends and see some of the sights and she was determined to enjoy it. She would not let her flingette with Rory ruin her last weeks of tourism.
Gina turned to face her and shook her hair. ‘Am I OK?’
Lissa appraised her. She was wearing a baby-blue pencil skirt teamed with a white roll-neck cashmere sweater that hugged her curves in all the right places. She’d applied a soft pink gloss to her lips and brushed her curly blonde bob so it shone. Her blue eyes sparkled and silver earrings hung from her ears. She shone from the inside out. A petite firecracker. ‘You’re a doll.’
‘Yes, but am I a sexy doll?’
Lissa laughed aloud. ‘Absolutely. What about me?’ She adopted a mock-model pose for inspection, smoothing her hands down the black silk shirt she’d just changed into and down her slim red skirt. She tossed her freshly loosened hair with a feeble laugh.
Gina rolled her eyes. ‘Lissa, you exude sex. You’ve got legs to your armpits, boobs to match, long golden hair and this haughty ‘look but don’t touch’ façade. Now with this flu thing you’re all pale and fragile-looking too. It’s a killer combo. You’re irresistible.’
‘Ha!’ Lissa snorted. She knew Gina was over-egging it, but her ego needed the boost and she was happy to receive it.
They quickly walked through the cold rain, sharing Lissa’s umbrella, and climbed the steps leading into the pub. A nauseous feeling rose as the combined smell of beer, wine and perfume met them at the door and Lissa knew the idea of drowning her sorrows was a dumb one. But nor did she go for pineapple juice. Too many memories there. She opted for cranberry, alone and on the rocks.
Lissa was chatting to a young consultant about bungee jumping in New Zealand when Karl made an appearance. He wandered over to Lissa and surprised her completely by snagging her hand and tugging on it. She looked up at him in query. ‘What?’ she asked.
‘Come here, I’ve got something to show you.’ He pulled her over to a quiet corner and turned her so she stood facing the room and he stood with his back to it.
‘Jeez, Karl,’ Lissa began. ‘What’s going on?’
His eyes were dancing, but she noted a steely determination shining underneath. He stood with his hands on his hips, and she could feel the pent-up energy within him.
‘You’re going to do something about Gina?’ Lissa asked.
‘Uh-huh.’ He nodded decisively.
‘What?’
‘In my book, actions speak louder than words. I’m going to show her how I feel.’
She watched in amused surprise as he undid the top few buttons on his shirt, opening it just enough to reveal the tight tee he wore underneath. Emblazoned across his chest in bold type were the words ‘satisfaction guaranteed’. Subtlety wasn’t something that Karl did. She looked back up at him and the giggles burst out of her. ‘Perfect.’ It was as outrageous as he was, as Gina was. The two beautiful flirts were definitely a dream match.
He grinned wickedly back at her, doing the buttons back up. ‘I thought so too. Time to make a move.’
‘Go get her.’ She laughed. ‘But, Karl!’ He stopped and looked at her. ‘Don’t forget we chicks need the words too.’
He grinned and saluted and wandered in the direction of the bar. Lissa looked about, trying to spot Gina. She caught sight of her, cornered by a couple of consultants as usual. Lissa watched with satisfaction as Karl approached her. She glanced away and found herself looking at James, who had somehow appeared right in front of her without her noticing.
‘What are you doing standing in this dark corner all alone?’
‘Oh.’ She didn’t know what to say and took a quick sip.
‘Waiting for someone?’ James asked.
‘No, I was just talking to someone, but…’ She let her voice trail away. James didn’t seem overly interested in her reply. He stared at her. She coloured a little, not sure what he wanted. She held her glass in front of her with both hands, hugging it against her body in an unconsciously protective gesture.
‘Seems funny to be back at the usual desk, doesn’t it? I miss our little team. It was very illuminating.’ He paused and looked her over.
Lissa shifted on her feet uncomfortably. She definitely didn’t like the way this was heading.
‘There’s a whole lot more to you than meets the eye. I miss you, Lissa. I liked sitting near you. You’re a pleasure to be around, you know that? A pleasure to look at, a pleasure to talk to, and I bet you’d be a pleasure to kiss.’
Whoa, this was too much. The last thing she needed tonight was a charm offensive from James. Hadn’t he got the message the last time he’d asked her out? Obviously not. Maybe he thought the two weeks in close quarters with him had made her radically change her assessment of him? She nearly laughed aloud. She’d barely noticed him. She’d felt nothing but awareness of Rory.
Lissa glanced around, half hoping for a saviour. There didn’t seem to be anyone near enough to draw into the conversation; most of the crew were over by the bar. She took another sip of her drink. She’d just have to straighten him out. Trouble was, she knew from past experience he was fairly resilient.
‘James, I’m sorry, but—’
‘But nothing, Lissa. Come on, give me one date. Come to dinner. Get to know me. You might even be pleasantly surprised.’ He gave her a charming, overly confident smile that did nothing for her.
Yes, he was persistent, she’d give him that.
She looked over to where Gina had been and saw that Karl had managed to despatch the two