Page 32 of A Diamond Deal with Her Boss
‘How easy are you going to find that?’
‘Sorry?’
‘You want to keep the walls up between us, but they’ve been coming down, haven’t they?’
‘No!’
‘It’s understandable, when you think about it.’ Gabriel overrode her protesting squeak. He wanted to touch her. She was so close, all tucked up in the sheets like a mummy. The overhead fan was on, a soft purring sound that was curiously restful, but she’d be hot under those covers. As hot as he was. Hot, hard and turned on by playing with fire.
‘I’m not interested in thinking about it.’ But, that said, she was still looking at him, mesmerised by his dark beauty and the seductive journey of his words, leading her down all sorts of taboo routes.
‘I mean,’ he mused, reaching to trail one finger across her cheek, ‘One minute you’re my perfect PA, and the next minute we’re engaged.’
Abby barely took in the ironic, tongue-in-cheek wickedness of his observation because that finger on her cheek was devastating. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t blink. She heard herself sigh, an unthinkably telling sound that penetrated the silence of the room and shattered the illusion that she was in control of the situation.
‘We’re not engaged,’ she managed to croak and Gabriel smiled. She saw the flash of white.
‘No,’ he agreed softly, ‘We’re not. But tell me that we’re not in thrall to the same feeling.’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘And have you asked yourself this...?’ He trailed his finger along her neck and noted the way she shifted, arching a little and half-closing her eyes. It was an instinctive reaction and it said a lot. ‘We could go there.’
Had she asked herself that? No! Had she wondered what it would be like to touch him, make love with him? Yes! And not just now, not just in the past few days. She’d thought about it in that hazy window between wake and sleep. Thought about those strong, brown hands roving over her body and touching her.
‘We couldn’t...no...we definitely shouldn’t...’
Gabriel smiled again, a slow, curling smile. ‘Maybe we shouldn’t,’ he conceded, ‘But we most certainly could.’
‘I... Gabriel, I’m not the kind of girl who indulges in one-night stands.’
‘And I’m not the kind of man who has ever mixed business with pleasure.’ He paused and his eyes dipped to her full mouth. ‘Are you sure you’re not a one-night stand girl?’ he murmured, more because he wanted to give breath to his curiosity than because he didn’t believe her.
‘I’ve never done that in my life before. Never even thought about it.’
‘Never thought about it? Sure about that? Not even when you were in that club?’
Abby reddened. ‘Do you ever forget anything?’ she asked. His finger was still brushing her skin and she was loving it.
‘A long memory is the secret of my success. And you haven’t answered my question.’ He felt an amusing spurt of jealousy, and not just at the thought of her flirting with some guy but talking to him, opening up to him, sharing confidences with him. Had she done that?
‘I wasn’t interested in a one-night stand,’ Abby admitted. ‘I was interested in a possible relationship, but unfortunately...’
‘So where do we go from here?’ Gabriel traced the swell of her breast and she shuddered. ‘Admittedly this is no relationship, but neither is it a one-night stand. We’re here for another five nights.’
‘Gabriel...’
‘I want you,’ he told her bluntly. ‘Trust me, I see the pitfalls, but hell, once we both know the nature of the road we’re walking down then where’s the danger?’
‘You make it sound so easy.’ Abby could scarcely believe that she was having this conversation because it went against every single thing she believed in. A one-night stand? Or, as he put it,afive-nightstand...?
But where had being sensible got her? One date since Jason and that had been a disaster. She hadn’t even fancied him! She’d been so busy ticking boxes that she had forgotten that there was one very important box that had to be ticked—the sexual attraction box.
Gabriel didn’t tick any boxesbutthe sexual attraction one. She should be running a mile from this situation. She had given herself long lectures on the importance of avoiding anything like this, yet here she was, with his finger touching her oh, so lightly and setting sparks off in parts of her she’d never known existed.
Temptation kicked in hard and fast. Sheknewthe score. She probably knew the score better than anyone else because she’d seen him in action, had witnessed the ease with which he moved from woman to woman—had even clocked the way he had reacted to his broken engagement. He didn’t do relationships. He didn’t do commitment. He did sex. One day he would get married but the marriage, as he had pointed out, would be an arrangement that suited both parties involved. There was no room in his life for love. Oh, yes, she knew the score all right.
‘It’s only hard when wires get crossed,’ Gabriel murmured. This touching business was driving him insane. He honestly had no idea what he would do if she gave the matter some thought and decided against it. He’d never had to take so much time before and it was agony.
