Barbara Hannay - In the Boss's Arms

Watching the way their fingers linked, she said softly, ‘I know pregnancy isn’t the only reason couples use protection.’

‘I’ve—I’ve never taken risks. I would never put you at risk, Alice.’

‘Well, you’re the only man I’ve slept with apart from my husband.’

Was she telling him as clearly as she could that she wanted to take up where they’d left off? The thought robbed him of breath. ‘So you think—’

‘Yes,’ she said, looking up at him with a sweet, shy smile. ‘I think. I very definitely think.’

This time when they kissed it was different. Not just because the kiss was slow and long and lush and warm, but because now they were no longer swept away by dangerously high emotions. They’d taken a step back; they’d had a chance for second thoughts, to think of the consequences. They’d given each other the space to say no.

And they’d both chosen yes.

This time as Liam’s fingertips roamed the silky smooth skin at Alice’s waist his desire was buoyed by a surge of relief. To hell with office politics. He was mad about this woman. He wanted her, and he didn’t care who knew it.

It was late afternoon. The sun was a red ball, hanging hot and low in the west, reaching beneath the branches of the paperbark outside Liam’s cabin and spreading a warm pool of light over the bed where they’d fallen asleep.

Alice woke first. For a while she lay still, thinking about how precious life was, how amazing and unpredictable. And the man whose limbs were entwined with hers was precious, amazing and unpredictable, too.

She suspected that she was in love.

She knew that most people would tell her it was impossible to really love someone on such a short acquaintance. Surely after her experience with Todd she should be more cautious? But she’d never felt like this about Todd. Even before he’d started cheating on her, he’d never really fired her admiration, or her passion.

Liam had. And if what she felt for him wasn’t love it was so close to the real thing she couldn’t tell the difference.

Carefully she lifted his arm and slipped out of bed, pulled on her top and pants and switched on the electric kettle. The sound of the water bubbling to the boil woke Liam and he rolled onto his side and squinted against the shaft of sunlight as he watched her.

‘There are tea bags or instant coffee,’ she said. ‘Which would you like?’

‘I’ll go for coffee, thanks.’

Yawning, he stood, stretched and rummaged in his pack for boxer shorts, while Alice brought their mugs back to the bed and set them on a side-table, then piled the pillows into a comfortable mound and settled herself just so.

Liam sat on the edge of the bed with one leg bent, resting on the mattress.

She handed him his mug, and for a minute or two they sipped their drinks in silence.

‘Why the worried frown?’ Liam asked her suddenly.

‘Was I frowning?’ Alice deliberately relaxed her face. ‘I was thinking about us,’ she admitted.

‘And that makes you frown?’

‘Not really. I was just wondering—’

‘If we should have sex again now or after our coffee?’ Liam supplied with a grin.

Smiling, Alice shook her head. ‘Actually, I was wondering if we’re better at physical intimacy than we are at every-day conversation.’

Liam grinned again. ‘We haven’t had much chance for every-day conversation.’

‘No, we’ve gone about this backwards.’

‘You think so?’

‘Well, normally when a man meets a woman…’ She hesitated. ‘Mind you, I’m out of touch when it comes to dating. Maybe it was only in the Dark Ages that people went out for some time and got to know each other before they—’

‘Leapt into bed?’

‘Yes.’

Liam set his mug back on the little table beside the bed. Her foot was near his knee and he casually wrapped his hand around it. ‘We can always back up a step or two and try the getting-to-know-you part. Although I already know a lot of important things about you.’

‘You think so?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘What kinds of things?’

His long brown fingers played with her big toe. ‘You like green.’

Alice rolled her eyes. ‘And how relevant is that to a relationship?’

‘It’s vital. I might hate green.’

‘But you don’t, do you?’ She regretted the hopeful note that crept into her voice.

‘Green’s fine with me, but that’s only because I have a very liberal attitude to colour.’

‘Does this liberal attitude allow you to have a favourite colour?’

He thought about this and smiled. ‘I’m quite partial to white.’

‘White?’ She grinned. ‘Is that because you’re a Virgo?’

‘I don’t know. Perhaps…’

She was about to tease him, but changed her mind when she realised that his smile had turned cheeky and he was paying rather obvious attention to her white top and white silk and lace pants.

‘Now,’ said Liam, playing with her next toe, creating ripples of warmth that swam up her leg. ‘I know you’re only recently divorced.’

‘Yes…well…that’s not my favourite topic. If you like we can skip over that one.’

Liam watched her thoughtfully for a moment.

She didn’t want to think about Todd now, when she’d been feeling so peaceful and happy.

‘You started this, remember?’

‘You’re worlds apart from him, Liam. In every way. In all the best ways.’

He accepted this without comment, although she was sure she saw his neck redden. He moved on to her next toe, circling the ball of it with his finger tip. ‘You spend far too much time reading in bed.’

‘You know that because you saw the pile of books in my bedroom. Not fair. You have an advantage; you’ve been to my house.’

She wriggled her foot in his hand and he tightened his grasp. ‘I didn’t realise this was a competition.’

‘It’s not a competition. It’s just that…’ She sat up, chewing her bottom lip as she struggled to find the right words for the niggle of disquiet inside her.

‘I still feel as if there’s too much I don’t know about you.’

‘Ask away. What do you want to know? You want me to start with my blood group?’

Letting out a noisy sigh, she slumped back on the pile of pillows. ‘Don’t make a joke of this, please.’

He let her foot go. ‘OK. I can see there’s something bothering you, so why don’t you get it off your chest?’

The cabin and the surrounding bush seemed incredibly quiet as he waited for her.

‘Can I trust you?’ she asked.

She could see immediately that her question upset him.

‘I would hope so, Alice. What makes you doubt it?’

‘Well…’

There seemed to be a shadow in Liam’s past that bothered her, but the feeling was so tenuous she couldn’t be sure and it would be nosy to push him when they’d only just met, so she took a more obvious route. ‘There’s the business about Shana.’

His mouth pulled into a guilty grimace and then he reached for her foot again and with his thumb he rubbed her instep. ‘OK, confession time.’ He stroked her skin ever so slowly.

Did he have any idea what that did to her?

‘You’re dead right. I wasn’t completely honest. But you see, when I first asked Shana to come on this trip and she said she couldn’t I was really pleased. It meant I had a genuine excuse to ask you.’ He lifted her foot and dropped a warm kiss in the curve of her arch. ‘You were the right person for the job.’

There was a sound of knocking on the cabin next door, the cabin assigned to Alice. She stiffened and tried to pull her foot from his grasp. Was someone looking for her?

Liam ignored the knock. ‘All along it was you I really wanted,’ he said.