NATASHA OAKLEY - At The Boss's Command - Taking on the Boss / The Millionaire Boss's Mistress / Accepting the Boss's Proposal

‘Did you love her?’

Case ran his hand down her cheek. ‘I thought I did. It was a kind of love, but nothing like—’ His voice broke. Like what he was feeling for the woman in his arms.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘I was too, for a long time, but not now.’ He shook his head, drinking in Tahlia’s creamy smooth skin. It was time to come clean. He couldn’t keep anything from her now. ‘Tahlia, I—’

She touched his mouth with her fingers. ‘Enough talking.’ She drew him down to her, taking his lips with her own, smothering the memory of Celia with the magic of her kiss.

It could wait. They had plenty of time. It was probably something he shouldn’t just blurt out anyway. It was something to prepare her for.

At least now he knew for sure. His heart wasn’t broken. It was finally alive with the magic of love. He’d found exactly what he had been looking for. Tahlia.

Keely’s rule number seven: face your fears and seize the moment.

TO: TahliaM@WWWDesigns.com

CC: KeelyR@WWWDesigns.com

FROM: EmmaR@WWWDesigns.com

RE: Chrystal and that look on your face

First, tell all. You haven’t looked like this since… ever. What’s up? Are you in love? Has it got something to do with that man in your chair who fits your original criteria or have you found a tattoo-wearing, glass-munching man to turn you on?

And Chrystal is floating around extolling advice about wounded men like a Florence Night-in-love. Has Cupid hit?

Em

IT WAS ALL Tahlia could do to sit outside Case’s office and not go inside and taste the magic of his lips again and again and again.

He was like a drug and she couldn’t get enough of him. Last night had been magical in so many ways and she couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid to deny herself this.

Thank heavens that Case had come along and opened her eyes to life, to sharing, to him.

Was this what Chrystal was after by chasing every pair of trousers in the building and what her mother had found in the man she wanted her to meet?

TO: EmmaR@WWWDesigns.com

CC: KeelyR@WWWDesigns.com

FROM: TahliaM@WWWDesigns.com

RE: Chrystal and that look on your face.

I’m not saying anything that will later incriminate me, especially where the ‘office playboy’ is concerned. I will figure out what I’m feeling and in due course share my adventures with my two closest friends.

Definitely not shot by arrow-wielding midget.

T

No way was this love. Her mother and father had had something far more sensible than this craziness she was feeling. Besides, she couldn’t be in love. She wasn’t going to love anyone.

She’d decided when she was twelve that love wasn’t for her—about the moment her mother had told her what had happened to her father, that he wasn’t ever coming home again.

Love was for suckers, for young, naïve romantics. She was a professional and this was just another necessity to attain her true goal in life—a perfect career, because you could rely on work, you couldn’t rely on men.

All men were liars; they didn’t share their feelings or their fears and consequently left the world thinking they had jumped, when they could just have befallen a tragic accident.

So Case had shared his failed marriage with her—it didn’t mean he was the one that she’d risk everything for… Or was he?

She chewed on her bottom lip. He was divorced… What did that say?

She was never going to subject herself to pain, no matter how amazing Case Tantric Darrington was in bed, or how warm his lips were, how safe his arms were or how nice it had been to hear another human being’s heartbeat when she had woken up this morning in his embrace.

Chrystal rushed up the hall towards Tahlia. ‘Is this a good time?’

Tahlia nodded and waved her closer, anything to distract her from the love issue. So Case was incredibly, wonderfully nice—it didn’t mean she liked him. So the guy was great in bed—it didn’t mean she wanted him. So she wanted to spend every moment with him—it didn’t mean she loved him.

Chrystal sauntered up to the desk, her plaid knee-length skirt doing nothing to hide the exaggerated sway of her hips. ‘You won’t believe what I just heard.’

Tahlia sat taller and picked up a pen, spinning it in her hand. ‘What? Tell me.’

The receptionist leant forward, her blouse not as demure as the D cups she owned beneath it. ‘I heard on the grapevine that WWW Designs has just been sold.’

Tahlia gripped the pen tighter. ‘Oh, God. No.’

‘Yes.’

She dragged in a ragged breath. It couldn’t be. It was a mess. Who would want a mess like WWW? The only workplace she’d ever known could be ripped apart, her workmates scattered to all corners of the city, her secure future torn to shreds. ‘To whom?’

‘Some conglomerate, they say.’ Chrystal straightened and examined her nails. ‘I’ll let you know if I hear what’s going on, but someone said it’s one of those companies that owns a company that owns another one.’

‘But who?’ If she knew who was behind it all she’d be able to work out whether they meant to revamp the place and run it, or chop it into little pieces and sell it off to make a nameless profit for a bunch of rich fatarsed shareholders.

‘I don’t know, but the guys in Programming said that the first thing these big guys do is bring an expert in and turn the place upside down, weed out the inefficiencies and re-haul, or dissect, depending on the value.’

‘I know,’ Tahlia said softly, pulling her jacket tighter around her. She hadn’t put everything she had into WWW Designs, years of her life, just so that they could sell it off, chop it up and destroy it. Please, no.

Chrystal shrugged. ‘Nothing to do but give everyone the heads-up so they’re all working to top form. Slackers get the sack.’ She paused. ‘And I’ll let you know if I hear anything about the new owners from the rumour mill.’

‘Okay. Good, thanks,’ Tahlia said, her body numb.

Chrystal swung her attention to Case’s door. ‘Should I tell him?’

Tahlia shook her head. ‘I’ll do it.’ The poor guy was going to be out of his new job if an efficiency expert came in. He’d done nothing except get acquainted with the staff under him, which was all well and good, but if an expert came in they’d want to see him doing the job that he was at least a few weeks off knowing the ins and outs of.

She chewed on her pen. An expert coming in would be perfect to get rid of the Rottie, what with the mistakes she’d made lately, but Case was like a sitting duck.

She stood up. Her promotion would be available again, for sure, if the new owners decided to keep the place running, and poor Case didn’t have a clue.

She tossed the pen on to the desk and picked up the file that she’d been making on Case. Some things were more important than her promotion, like doing the right thing for someone she cared about.

Tahlia froze. Was she falling in love?

TO: TahliaM@WWWDesigns.com

CC: KeelyR@WWWDesigns.com

FROM: EmmaR@WWWDesigns.com

RE: Chrystal and that look on your face.

Poor Chrystal—if she had her sights on Case she’s out of luck. Case is interested in someone else… (Hey, Tahlia—how’s it going with lover boy?). After all the work she’s done too. Hope she doesn’t fall off the virgin-wagon when she finds out… She’s so much nicer like this. Liam certainly thinks so. He’s kicked those nerdy spotty shirts and gone for pastels and got contacts and a haircut.

Em

Tahlia froze at Case’s doorway, looking out through the full-height windows to the balcony, the existence of which she usually managed to block out.