Dreaming Of… Italy. Alison Roberts

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ her next shot. When she found it, she bent across the table to take aim.

      But Tucker shook his head. “Your form is all wrong.”

      “My form is fine.”

      “No. Look at your stick. It wobbles.” He walked behind her and leaned down with her so he could adjust her arm. “See? Isn’t that better?”

      The feeling of his chest along her back sent waves of awareness flowing from her back to her toes. He stepped away, as if totally oblivious and, shell shocked, she took the shot.

      Miraculously, the ball she aimed for fell. She jumped up with a whoop of joy. “I did it!”

      He motioned at the table. “Keep going.”

      She picked a shot and leaned over the table, but again he shook his head.

      “Your stick still wobbles.” Positioning himself over her, he leaned down and straightened her arm. Then he froze.

      The room grew quiet.

      Warmth radiated from him into her and would have sent a shudder through her if she hadn’t ruthlessly stopped it. She turned her head slightly to catch his gaze. His green eyes smoldered.

      Oh, boy. This wasn’t good.

      * * *

      Tucker stayed frozen. The woman was the softest thing he’d ever touched. Every hormone in his body awakened at the feel of her skin sliding against his. His hand itched to leave her pool stick and cruise along the curve of her waist, to turn her around, so he could kiss her.

      The instinct was so strong, so natural that it shook him to his core and brought him back to planet earth. She was an employee. Smart executives did not kiss employees.

      He stepped away and ambled back to the bar, pretending nothing had happened, confused that he couldn’t seem to get himself under control around her.

      As he picked up his beer from the bar, Constanzo walked in.

      “Great! I see I’m just in time! I’ll play the winner.”

      Olivia took her next shot but missed this time. Without looking at him, she said, “Your shot.”

      He licked his suddenly dry lips. Okay. That thing between them? He now had confirmation she felt it, too. But he could handle this. They could handle this. They’d just pretend it hadn’t happened.

      He set down his beer, picked up his pool cue and walked to the table. He got two balls in then missed, surprising Olivia who quietly walked up to the table again. She hit the remainder of her balls into the pockets, beating him soundly.

      “Looks like you and me, Vivi,” Constanzo said, happily rubbing his hands together.

      But Olivia yawned. “You and Mr. Engle play. I think it’s time for me to go to bed.”

      He didn’t know if she really was tired or trying to get away from him, but he breathed a sigh of relief.

      Until Constanzo said, “Tucker will walk you to your room.”

      The blood froze in his veins. He couldn’t walk her to her room! He was unstable around her. Confused. He wanted to be away from her, not walking down a dark corridor with her.

      Olivia shook her head. “I’m fine. I know the way.”

      But Constanzo said, “Vivi, you will not go upstairs alone. Walking a lady to her room is what a gentleman does.”

      It was what a gentleman did and that reminder corralled Tucker’s hormones and got him back to reality. He was a gentleman and she was an employee. Worry that he couldn’t keep himself in line was ridiculous.

      He set his beer glass on the bar. “Nonsense. You’re asleep on your feet. I’ll walk you to your room.”

      They said goodnight to Constanzo who racked the balls again. Walking out of the den, Tucker heard the sound of silence left in their wake. Constanzo had put on the soccer game, and there was noise when he broke the balls on the pool table, but just beneath the surface of those sounds was a quiet nothing. And he suddenly understood why Constanzo wanted his son. When he retired, this would be his life. Entertaining an occasional visitor or two would fill the void, but mostly he would be alone. He wanted that “nothing” filled with the sound of his child, and maybe, someday, grandchildren.

      “Why do you call me Miss Prentiss?”

      They’d reached the end of the hall and were heading for the stairway in the front foyer. Focused on Constanzo, he hadn’t noticed how far they’d come. He’d also forgotten about his attraction. But the minute she spoke, his body reacted.

      Still, she was an employee and he was a gentleman. He motioned for her to precede him up the stairs. “I call you Miss Prentiss because it’s your name.”

      “So is Olivia. Or Vivi.” She stopped and peered back at him. “And I have to admit, sometimes it feels a bit weird having to call you Mr. Engle when everybody else is calling you Tucker.”

      Just what he and his hormones needed, for another of the barriers between them to come tumbling down. “I’m always on a first name basis with people I do business with. You are an employee.”

      “An employee who has to call you something different from what everybody else calls you.”

      He should have been annoyed with her impertinence. Instead, he understood. They were two incredibly attracted people who, in any other circumstance, would be getting to know each other, probably pursuing this attraction. But she was an employee. And he was a gentleman.

      He repeated it like a mantra in his head as they walked down the hall. When they reached her door, she stopped and faced him.

      “Good night, Tucker.”

      Damn it. He almost laughed. She could be such a smart-ass. Worse, he’d liked the sound of his name on her lips. He liked that she was so bold.

      “You’re a brat.”

      “No. I just don’t appreciate anyone trying to make me feel less than.”

      Confused, he stepped closer. “You think that’s what I’m doing? Trying to make you feel less than me?”

      She shrugged. “Isn’t it?”

      “No!” All this time he was fighting an attraction to her and she thought he didn’t like her? “I’m just trying to keep a sense of dignity for my office. Decorum.”

      “I don’t think it works.”

      This time he did laugh. “Not with you.”

      When she didn’t reply, the corridor grew quiet. But this quiet was different from what he’d felt as he left Constanzo in the den. This quiet hummed with electricity.

      He liked her. He didn’t want to like her but he did. And he wanted to kiss her.

      He took another step closer. She looked up at him, her blue eyes wide and unsure. СКАЧАТЬ