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Not just because he had a conscience.
Abe had long thought his conscience had been severed along with the umbilical cord.
No, he wouldn’t make a move because there was something so rare about tonight.
Something he didn’t want to jeopardise.
And there wasnothinghe wanted her to regret.
Naomi felt the burn of his gaze and she felt the shift in the atmosphere.
The way he first held her eyes and then the lowering of them as they took in her mouth had her body prickling with sudden awareness.
Naomi had never encountered a moment such as this.
Just for a second, when rational thought was suspended, she wanted to know the feel of his mouth, and there was a sense of certainty that if he leant forward a fraction, then so too would she.
There was silence, save for the hiss and occasional spit from the fire and the tick of a clock on the mantel, yet she could hear the roar of blood in her ears and she almost closed her eyes in anticipation of bliss.
But Abe did not move forward. Instead, she watched as he looked away and reached for his drink, and so inexperienced was she that Naomi was certain she’d misread things.
Jet lag, cognac, and an absolute dearth of knowledge about men told Naomi that she’d been imagining things, and had come very close to looking a fool. She blushed as she pictured herself sitting, eyes closed, and waiting for a kiss that would never come. Embarrassed, she told herself that if she was having fantasies about a playboy wanting her, then it really was time for bed.
‘I ought to get some sleep,’ Naomi said. ‘I’ve got a load of sightseeing planned for tomorrow.’
She stood and re-fastened the tie on her robe then reached for the box. ‘Leave it,’ he said, because if she bent down to retrieve it, he might just pull her in.
‘’Night, Abe.’
‘’Night.’
She made her way up the staircase and found her door, holding it together until in she was in the bedroom. But once there she sat on the bed and, head in hands, Naomi moaned.
Not because she’d foolishly thought he’d been about to kiss her. She could easily talk herself down from that—he was surely one of New York’s most eligible bachelors, and there was no way he’d be interested in her.
No, it was because of howshefelt.
In the space of an hour Naomi knew she had developed a king-sized crush on Abe and that was something she didn’t want or need. Not just because she was here to work and nothing must get in the way of that, but because she was scared of being hurt.
Naomi guarded her heart with the same ferocity that she guarded her tiny charges.
There had been no dates, no romance in her life.
Her career took care of that, and she was grateful for it, especially on a night such as this.
She simply refused to open herself up to potential hurt.
CHAPTER THREE
ABE.
Naomi knewexactlywhere she was the very second that she awoke, and her first thought was about last night.
It was as if, in the hours since they had said goodnight, Abe Devereux had not left her mind.
Of course, she had surely left his.
She had overslept and it was after nine. No doubt he was at work now and not even thinking of their lazy fireside conversation on her very first night in New York.
