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Chapter Eight
Where the hell was she? Dale stopped pacing and for the umpteenth time looked at his watch. His secretary had assured him that she’d sent Zoe an email, giving her the time and address of this hotel.
And okay, it was only a few minutes past ten, but why wasn’t Zoe on time?
He was in a foul mood and having to wait for the woman responsible for that was not improving his disposition. Sleep had evaded him most of the previous night and he placed the blame squarely on her shoulders. And the damn black panties…
Swearing, he tried to breathe normally. What made him go to her place last night he didn’t want to dwell on too much. Blame the wine, blame her telling her sister she’d like to kiss him again, blame the fact that she also mentioned kissing other men. He didn’t even know her yet, but just the thought of other men putting their hands on her had him grinding his teeth. So, like a caveman, he had to somehow stake his claim.
This situation was fast becoming out of control. He couldn’t do his work, he couldn’t even get excited about cycling—the one thing that normally helped him to relax. And to top it all, he hadn’t even looked at another woman since he’d seen Zoe for the first time. She was taking over his life and he didn’t like it one bit.
She was doing this job because it was good for her firm, he shouldn’t forget that. He closed his eyes and remembered the silkiness of her skin, the heat of her mouth. Damn it to hell. He rubbed his face. He didn’t do relationships, he kept forgetting that.
Relationship. That word again. Damn it, he didn’t want a relationship with anyone, least of all with a woman who seemed to be able to turn him inside out even when she was kilometres away.
The mess with Tammy confirmed what he’d believed—women could fake interest in him if they wanted something badly enough. And they always seemed to want something.
True relationships where respect and love played a role were rare. Yes, his parents had been married for forever and it was obvious they still adored one another. But he didn’t know anyone else who’d stayed married to the same person for long.
Don’s marriage obviously didn’t count at this point. He was completely smitten at the moment, but then he’d only been married for a few months.
Although Caitlin was beautiful, Dale couldn’t help wondering whether Don wouldn’t at some point fall for one of the many gorgeous women they met on a regular basis.
Thinking about Zoe this often over such a long period of time was plain scary. Somehow he’d have to distance himself from her. Hell, he didn’t even have to work with her. There were other employees who normally consulted with outside contractors, and that was exactly what she was—an outside contractor. One who’d taken on a job she didn’t want to do in the first place because she knew it would further her career. She had even been upfront about her reasons. Maybe if he started thinking of her as pure business, his body wouldn’t keep taking over his brain.
He felt her presence before he saw her. And he smelled her before he turned around. And then he forgot to breathe. She was dressed in neat charcoal pants, a frilly kind of white blouse neatly tucked into the waistband, and over it she wore a light pink jacket. Her hair was neatly twisted and pinned up, leaving her long neck bare. Sunglasses hid her eyes. A laptop case was slung over her one shoulder, a handbag over the other.
It was a very neat outfit for work, but if she was hoping to look businesslike, she was not succeeding. She looked sexy as hell. All he could think of was taking down her hair and getting her naked. He knew exactly how soft her skin felt, how neatly her breast fit into his hand.
He wanted to tell her he had a room upstairs with a huge bed covered in black satin sheets where they could spend the rest of the day. He wanted to describe to her in detail what he wanted to do to her, with her.
“You’re late,” he snarled instead.
This was business, damn it. After this meeting he was going to get on his bike and cycle until he’d be too tired to think about having sex with this woman.
And then he was going to phone one of the very willing women listed in his little black book. Hell, he didn’t have to spend his nights taking cold showers. He was thirty-one, not fifteen, for crying out loud.
She pressed her lips together and nodded.
“The traffic—” she began, but he turned his back on her and started towards the lift.
“You know traffic is bad, you should’ve left earlier.” He growled and pressed the button.
*
Zoe inhaled slowlywhile she followed Dale into the lift. The doors closed silently and the two of them were alone while they travelled upwards.
It was clear Dale was in a bad mood and she wasn’t going to dignify his last comment with an answer. Lack of sleep had left her feeling grumpy, and she was using all her control to try and behave civilly. Add to that the ridiculous effect the man had on her and she shouldn’t talk about anything else but work today.
She had promised herself she would behave like the professional she was supposed to be and not let him affect her again like he’d done last night.
Although they were both facing the doors, she was aware of everything about him—his scent, his breathing, the heat of his body. And she recalled every stroke of his hand over her skin the previous evening.
Just when she thought she was going to do something foolish, the lift stopped and the doors opened.
“This way,” Dale said in a clipped voice and pointed towards a big room opposite them.
He waited for her to step out and, as they walked towards the office, he put his hand to her back. She had to swallow the sudden lump in her throat. She loved seeing a man touching a woman like this, loved seeing how he instinctively tried to protect the woman he was with even though she didn’t need it.
