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“Now that you’re stuck here, all I can think about is how amazing this morning was and how I’m going to lie here tonight and replay it in my mind.”
Braden came to his knees and slowly closed the space between them. He laid a hand across her abdomen, startling her as she jerked to stare him in the eyes. Their faces were inches apart, so close he could ease forward just a touch and have that mouth beneath his in seconds. From this closer vantage point, he could see the slight flush in her cheeks from the wine, the moist lips where she’d licked them from being nervous, the pulse point at the base of her neck.
“Who said you had to lie here and replay it?” he asked, easing his hand beneath her shirt. His palm flattened out on her stomach, and the quivering beneath his touch only added to his desire for her. “Maybe that bed was lonely last night. Maybe I got sick of rolling over and inhaling your jasmine scent. Maybe I was awake all night wondering when you’d come to your senses and join me.”
Zara lifted her arms, her hands resting on either side of her face. The innocent move, or maybe not-so-innocent, arched her back and pressed her breasts up.
“I couldn’t join you, Braden. I don’t have a good track record with men, not that I’m looking for one right now, and I couldn’t risk my job no matter how much I wanted you. Besides, I would’ve died had you rejected me.”
That right there was the crux of her issue. Rejection. She’d been rejected by so many people. Well, maybe not so many in quantity, but definitely all of the important people, save for her grandmother. She feared rejection, and here he was using her. Taking advantage of a vulnerable woman was a straight ticket to hell.
“I wouldn’t have rejected you,” he murmured. “I was battling myself back at my party because I just wanted to drag you into a room, a closet, anywhere that we could be alone, and I could show you how much I wanted you.”
He trailed his fingertips over her heated skin, earning him a swift intake of breath as her eyes drifted closed. “That wouldn’t have looked very good for my reputation,” she muttered. “I’m a professional and I can’t afford for people to think I slept with you to get the job.”
“Nobody will think that,” he assured her. He’d make damn sure she had more jobs lined up than she could handle. He’d make sure she could choose the ones she wanted and didn’t have to worry about taking them all.
“Keep touching me, Braden.” Her voice, a throaty whisper, washed over him. “Your touch feels so good.”
She was killing him. Those soft moans, her body all laid out on display. He’d told her he wasn’t a nice guy and he was primed and ready to snap and take what she was blatantly offering. But he wouldn’t want anyone else treating Zara disrespectfully. She deserved better than a man who couldn’t control his hormones and took advantage of the fact she loved wine and couldn’t hold it like the rest of his Irish family.
“Zara.” He stilled his hand to get her attention, to let her know he couldn’t take her to bed. But her soft snore greeted him. Braden sat back on his heels, kept his hand on her stomach and simply stared.
When was the last time she’d fully let go and relaxed? Did she trust anyone in her life on a personal level, or were all of her acquaintances the closest things she had to family and friends? Dating men who were users, jerks and not looking for commitment was a surefire way to keep yourself closed off from the world. Zara was excelling at being a loner. The irony wasn’t lost on him that she planned parties and lavish bashes for people to mingle, socialize and enjoy the company of others, yet she refused to put herself in a position to enjoy anyone.
From the investigating he’d done before hiring her officially, he’d learned she’d had a small apartment in Boston, mostly kept to herself and rarely dated. She threw herself into her work, and it showed, but wasn’t there more to life?
Braden snorted. Yeah, there was, and he was going to find it as soon as his family business was a bit more secure in a new territory.
As he watched her sleep, something shifted inside him. He didn’t want that damn shift. He didn’t want to care so much about Zara, about her loveless childhood and how it molded her into the fierce woman she was today.
All Braden wanted to do was wake her up, take her to bed and make love to her all night. Then he wanted to get home tomorrow and show Mac that tube so they could figure out how the hell to proceed from here.
Yet none of that was going to happen, so here he sat staring at the most complex, beautiful woman he’d ever known. Parts of her reminded Braden of his sister. He hadn’t been feeding Zara a line of bull earlier when he’d said that, either. But Laney had something Zara didn’t, and that was the strength and backing of a family.
