Wanted by the Boss: Sleeping with the Boss / Cowboy Boss / Billionaire Boss. Maureen Child

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СКАЧАТЬ wicked through her body, but Eileen fought it. Otherwise, she’d be forced to roll over onto her back and shout, Take me, big boy!

      Oh, wow.

      Eileen pushed herself to her feet. ‘‘Okay, better go take care of this. Don’t want to look at life like a Cyclops.’’

      She headed unsteadily toward the door. He was right behind her, but Eileen didn’t look back. The words ‘‘pillar of salt’’ kept reverberating inside her mind.

      ‘‘Can I help?’’

      ‘‘No thanks,’’ she said, waving one hand. ‘‘Been doing this for years.’’

      ‘‘I didn’t know you wore contacts.’’

      ‘‘No reason you should, since we haven’t seen each other in six years.’’

      The hall looked impossibly long. The wall on her right was painted the ever-present gray, but the wall on her right was glass. Afternoon sunshine poured in, and five stories below them, it winked off the windshields of the cars jammed bumper to bumper on the 405 freeway. Just the thought of joining the thundering herd trying to get home made her grateful that Rick wanted her to stay later than usual.

      Even if he was making her a little nervous.

      ‘‘Man,’’ Rick said from behind her, as if reading her mind, ‘‘the freeway’s a mess.’’

      ‘‘I noticed.’’ She made a sharp right and walked into the ladies’ room.

      ‘‘It should be thinned out later, though. We could send out for dinner while we work.’’

      Dinner. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to swallow. Eileen looked into the mirror and stared at Rick’s reflection. He was there. Right behind her. In the pale blue lounge area. Of the ladies’ room, for Pete’s sake. Two vinyl chairs sat on either side of a low table holding a bowl of fresh flowers. Eileen looked into the mirror, ignoring the furnishings to stare instead at Rick. ‘‘Dinner?’’

      ‘‘What? You don’t eat?’’

      ‘‘Sure I eat. I just usually don’t have men following me into the ladies’ room to deliver an invitation.’’

      He shifted his gaze from hers and looked around, as if surprised to discover where he was. Then he looked back into the mirror, meeting her gaze again with a wry, crooked smile. ‘‘Oops.’’

      Eileen felt a ping bounce around inside her and realized that smile of his could still affect her. Apparently, at heart, she was still that eleven-year-old girl with a kinda sorta crush. For heaven’s sake.

      He jerked a thumb at the closed door behind him. ‘‘I’ll, uh, see you outside.’’

      ‘‘Good idea.’’

      Once he was gone, Eileen let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Leaning forward, she planted both hands on the slate-blue Formica counter and stared at her reflection. ‘‘This temporary job was a bad idea, Eileen. Really bad.’’

      Three

      Rick hadn’t had Mexican fast food in far too long. He didn’t remember tacos and nachos ever tasting quite so good. And he’d never considered having an indoor picnic on the floor of his office. But then maybe it wasn’t the food, he told himself. Maybe it was sharing it with Eileen. She was annoying, irritating and more entertaining than he would have guessed.

      Watching her now while she talked about some of her customers, he saw her eyes flash with humor.

      ‘‘This one guy is a regular,’’ she was saying, and paused to take a small bite of a taco. She chewed, swallowed and said, ‘‘He’s got a standing order for a dozen roses once a week.’’

      ‘‘Good husband?’’ Rick ventured.

      ‘‘Hardly,’’ she said with a quick shake of her head. ‘‘It’s for the girl of the week. Always someone different, always a different color rose—according to their personalities, he says. But one week, he changed the order—switched to a spider plant.’’

      One of Rick’s eyebrows lifted. ‘‘Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?’’

      ‘‘Makes me wonder how he finds so many women willing to go out with him.’’ She sighed and leaned back, bracing her hands on the floor behind her. ‘‘His bedroom must be like an assembly line.’’

      ‘‘And you think I’m cynical?’’ Rick drew one knee up and rested his forearm on top.

      ‘‘Touché.’’ She inclined her head at him, allowing him a point.

      ‘‘So,’’ he asked after a long minute of silence, ‘‘how’s Bridie doing?’’

      Eileen smiled. ‘‘Big sister’s doing fine,’’ she said, thinking about Bridget and her ever-growing family. ‘‘Three and a half kids and a husband she drools over. She’s disgustingly happy.’’

      ‘‘Three and a half?’’

      ‘‘Pregnant again,’’ she said with a slow shake of her head. ‘‘Hard to imagine, but Bridie just loves being pregnant and Jefferson—that’s her husband—he’s as nuts about kids as she is.’’ Eileen met Rick’s gaze. ‘‘If you guys hadn’t split up, you could have been a very busy father by now.’’

      He frowned, reached for his soda and took a long drink. ‘‘No, thanks.’’ He set the large cup back onto the rug. ‘‘Tried the husband thing. It didn’t work. Besides, I’m not father material.’’

      ‘‘There’s that sunshiny outlook on life I’ve come to know so well,’’ Eileen said.

      ‘‘Touché.’’ His turn to incline his head and acknowledge her point. Then he asked, ‘‘What about you?’’

      ‘‘What about me?’’

      ‘‘You involved with anyone?’’ And why do you care? Rick asked himself. The answer was, he didn’t. Not really. It was just a polite inquiry. Didn’t matter to him one way or the other.

      She sat up, dusted her palms together and gathered up her trash, stuffing it into the white paper bag. ‘‘Not lately.’’

      Good, he thought even though he knew it would have been better if she were engaged. Married. Hell. A nun. ‘‘Hard to believe.’’

      ‘‘Why?’’ She looked up at him.

      He shrugged. ‘‘It’s just…’’ He waved a hand at her. ‘‘I mean…’’

      She smiled. ‘‘Are you about to give me a compliment?’’

      Frowning, Rick crumpled up the last of his trash and snatched the bag from her hand to stuff his trash inside. ‘‘Stranger things have happened.’’

      ‘‘In science fiction movies.’’

      ‘‘You’re СКАЧАТЬ