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She cleared her throat and took a small step backwards, breaking the contact. “Bobby,” she said quietly but firmly. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
His face was crestfallen. His handsome eyes, which usually tilted with laughter, were suddenly dark and confused. “I thought you felt… that we…” He shook his head. “I was wrong, I suppose.”
Mikey nodded apologetically. “I really like you, Bobby. I’ve come to think of you as a friend. I hope you think of me like that, too.”
He was quiet, his face conflicted. Finally, he nodded. “Good night then, Cali girl.”
Mikey watched him walk off, feeling like she’d just kicked a puppy dog.
Hurting Bobby was not what she wanted, but kissing him was even lower down on her to-do list. No. There was only one man she was fantasising about, and it was not Bobby.
* * *
He wanted to punch something. Loucas settled for slamming his palm into the railing of his balcony. They were too far away for him to hear more than a hint of their voices, but the kiss had been impossible to miss. Beneath him, bathed in the pale silver of the moonlight, Mikey stood motionless, watching the cowboy disappear from sight. He’d guessed there was something going on between them, but seeing proof of it brought no pleasure to Loucas.
He narrowed his eyes, as he properly took in Mikey’s appearance. Not only had she let that farm hand turned teacher kiss her, she’d dressed up for him. Gone were the casual clothes she favoured by day. Now, she was wearing an actual dress. Not a floaty sundress, either. A vibrant turquoise number that was fitted around her excellent bust, and loose to her knees. Her feet were clad in wedged sandals that had ribbon tied around the ankle. Her hair she’d worn loose, but stylishly messy, so that he knew she’d put effort into it.
Beneath him, she shook her head slowly and began to move in the direction of the house. His house. He glanced down at his Rolex. It was not yet midnight.
With an air of casual authority, he took the stairs two at a time. Once downstairs, he leaned against the entrance way wall, and waited.
He did not have to wait more than a few minutes.
It was obvious from how long it took Mikey to open the door that she was trying to be silent. His house was a virtual palace, and she was worried about waking people hundreds of feet away.
He expelled an angry sigh and crossed to the door, wrenching it open.
Mikey jumped. “Oh! Loucas. I didn’t expect anyone to still be awake.” She was still thinking about what Bobby had said. That Loucas watched her like a hawk. Or an eagle. She wouldn’t mind being prey to this predator. Not one bit. Her face showed her embarrassment now, at the direction her thoughts had been travelling, but Loucas put her grimace of shame down to the highly visible embrace she’d just been engaged in.
“I am awake,” he said, an edge of hardness to his words. “As, I see, is Bobby.”
Her eyes were wide in her pretty, heart-shaped face, when she looked at him. Her skin flushed.“You saw.”
“Yes.” He stepped back, allowing her entry into the villa. She stepped in quietly, meekly, he would have said, if asked.
“It’s not what you think,” Mikey said hastily, wondering, in the back of her mind, why she felt she owed her employer any explanation at all.
“That you and Captain America were making love in my rose garden?”
“Making love,” she spluttered, her cheeks growing a darker shade of pink with embarrassed denial. “Hardly. It was a drunken kiss.”
“You are drunk?” He demanded, his face suddenly pale beneath his golden tan, his eyes glinting with disapproval.
“Not me,” she said with a glance heavenward. “You really are a control freak, aren’t you?”
“When it comes to the people who work for me, especially in the capacity of minders to my nephew, then yes, I am. And I am unapologetic about it.”
She gnawed on her lower lip. She supposed she would be the same, if she had a child in her care. “I shouldn’t have said that, anyway.” She fingered the thin strap of her dress, and it slipped over her shoulder, revealing a perfect expanse of skin beneath. Loucas’s gaze was drawn to it. He couldn’t look away.
“Why? Would you have preferred to lie to me?” He asked, his voice distracted, but his words were heavy with accusation.
“No,” she responded immediately, yanking the strap back into place. “I meant that Bobby isn’t drunk. That makes it sound like he’s been pounding back shots of whisky at the bar. And he hasn’t. He’s just had a few beers.” She shrugged. “I guess he’s just one of those guys who gets a bit friendly when they’ve been drinking.”
Loucas narrowed his vision, regarding her speculatively. “You do not strike me as a person who would make apologies for someone having taken such liberties. Which leads me to believe one of two things. Either I was wrong about you, and you are a push over of the highest order. Or you wanted him to kiss you, and now you’re making excuses up to placate me.”
It was too much for Mikey to process and respond to in one hit. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs. “First off, I am not a pushover, and I resent you even saying it. He kissed me and I put an end to it. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that I think of him as a friend and nothing more.” She was so angry that she didn’t see the relief that crossed Loucas’s face. “I most certainly did not want him to kiss me. Half way home I realizedd he might have thought we were on a date and I was doing my darnedest to get him to back off before he even got to the whole kissing debacle. As for allowing him to take liberties, as you put it, I did no such thing. It was just a kiss! A meaningless, silly kiss between two friends.”
She glared up at him, waiting for a response, but none was forthcoming. She made a strangled sound of annoyance and then stormed across the foyer, towards the stairs. He caught her at the bottom, he fingers wrapping around her wrist, pulling her until she spun around. “A meaningless kiss?” He parroted, his expression dark.
