Australia: In Bed with the Boss: The Marriage Decider / Their Wedding Day / His Boardroom Mistress. Emma Darcy

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СКАЧАТЬ part was she sensed he knew it and wasn’t the least bit alarmed by it. He was positively revelling in it. And he’d come here at this hour, when she was so rawly vulnerable, having burnt all her bridges, making himself available to her, seeking entry…Jake, the rake.

      The moment those words slid into her mind, sanity bolted back into it, repressing the urges that had been scrambling common sense. In sheer, stark defence, words popped out of her mouth, words she would have given anything to take back once they were said, but they hung there between them, echoing and echoing in her ears.

      “I’m not going to bed with you.”

CHAPTER TEN

      ‘ACTUALLY, I was thinking about feeding other appetites,” Jake drawled, holding up a plastic carrier bag that held takeaway containers and a paper bag bulging with bottles of wine.

      Amy flushed scarlet. She knew it had to be scarlet because her whole body felt as though it was going up in flames. Even her midriff.

      “First things first,” Jake burbled on. “Moving is a hot, thirsty business and you’ve probably been run ragged today, too tired by now to think of bothering with a proper dinner, even if you did get provisions in.”

      Which she hadn’t, except for absolute basics.

      “And since you insisted on doing all this on your own, I thought you might welcome company at this point. Winding down at the end of the day, putting your feet up, enjoying some tasty food and a glass of wine…”

      He was doing it to her again, pouring out a reasonable line of logic she couldn’t argue with. Except he was here at the door of her home. And it wasn’t business hours. And he certainly wasn’t dressed for business. This was personal.

      With Jake Carter, personal with a woman meant…

      His eyes twinkled their devilish mischief. “But if you want to change your mind about going to bed with me later on in the evening…”

      “There! I knew it!” she shot at him triumphantly, having worked her way out of the hot fluster.

      “Whatever you decide is okay by me, Amy,” he blithely assured her. “I wouldn’t dream of going where I wasn’t wanted.”

      “I didn’t invite you here, Jake,” she swiftly pointed out.

      “Telepathy,” he declared. “It’s been coming at me in waves all day. Couldn’t ignore it.”

      “I haven’t thought of you once!”

      “Subconscious at work. No one here to share things with. Low point coming up.”

      Suspicion glared back at him. “Sounds more like psychology to me.” Get the girl when she’s down!

      “Well, you could be right about that,” he grandly conceded. “I guess I was compelled by this sense of responsibility towards you.”

      “What responsibility?”

      “Well, I said…Jake, my boy, you more or less pushed Amy into that apartment. There she is, without her familiars, and the least you can do is turn up and make sure she’s okay.”

      “I’m okay,” she insisted.

      His mouth moved into its familiar quirk. His womantrap eyes glowed golden with charming appeal. “I brought dinner with me.”

      No one, Amy reflected, knew the art of temptation better than Jake Carter. She could smell the distinct aroma of hot Chinese mixtures. Her stomach had unknotted enough to recognise it was empty. More to the point, sparring with Jake had banished the black beast of loneliness. If she sent him away…

      “Dinner does sound good,” she admitted.

      “I hate eating alone,” Jake chimed in, pressing precisely the button that had Amy wavering.

      “I wouldn’t mind sharing dinner with you,” she said with arch emphasis.

      “Sharing is always better.” He cocked an eyebrow in hopeful appeal. “Can I come in now? I promise I won’t even ask you to show me the bedroom.”

      No, he’d just sweep her off there, Amy thought, and the awful part was, the idea had a strong attraction. But he didn’t know that…couldn’t know it…and she was making the rules here.

      “Be my guest,” she said, standing back to wave him in. “You know where the kitchen is,” she urged, not wanting him to linger beside her.

      He breezed past, never one to push his luck when the writing was on the wall. As Amy shut the door after him, it occurred to her she might be driving the loneliness beast out, but she’d let the wolf in, a wolf who’d huffed and puffed very effectively, blowing her door down, so to speak.

      On the other hand, he wasn’t about to eat her for dinner. He’d brought Chinese takeaway. She could manage this situation. But she wouldn’t feel comfortable staying in these clothes. She was too…bare.

      Jake was happily unpacking his carrier bag, setting out his offerings along the kitchen counter. His white shorts snugly outlined the taut curve of particularly wellshaped buttocks. When it came to cute butts, Jake Carter could line up against any gym buff. As for power-packed thighs…Amy took a grip on herself, wrenching her mind off the seductive promise of so much impressive male muscle.

      Looks weren’t everything.

      So what if Steve had been on the lean side in comparison?

      “Lemon chicken, sweet and sour pork, Mongolian lamb, braised king prawns, chilli beef, fried rice.” Jake shot her a dazzling grin as he finished listing his menu. “All ready for a banquet.”

      “Good choice,” she commented as blandly as she could.

      He laughed. “I have acquired some knowledge of your preferred tastes, Amy.”

      It surprised her. “You noticed?”

      “There isn’t much I haven’t noticed about you in the two years you’ve been at my side.” His gaze skated over her skimpy clothes. “Though I haven’t seen you look quite so fetching as you do this evening. Very au naturel.”

      Amy instantly folded her arms across her midriff but she was acutely aware the action didn’t hide the tightening of her nipples.

      His eyes teased the flare of hard defence in hers. “Just as well I’m a man of iron control.”

      The need for evasive action was acute. “I was about to take a shower and clean up.”

      “Go right ahead.” He waved expansively. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll get things ready for us here.”

      If he thought she was going to reappear in a sexy negligee, he was in for severe disappointment.

      All the same, as Amy stood under the shower, soaping off the stickiness of the long, humid day, she couldn’t help wondering how well she stacked up against Jake’s other women. Thanks СКАЧАТЬ