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Hetskedto admonish her, and she groaned. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said, groaning again.
“As I said before, it’s dangerous out there. It’s like you wanted to deliberately disobey me.”
“Okay, first off,” she began, her voice rising an octave. “You didn’t say there would be freakin’tigers, and second, I’m a grown woman, so you can’t tell me what to do ...”
“Kirsten, please ...”
“... I am youremployee,not yourservant, and third, I made sure Zara was safe, so don’t go off at me, and fourth, my heart’s beating so fast I’m going to have a heart attack anddie...”
“Can you just ...”
“... and it’ll be the tiger’s fault, so you better get him for me as revenge, and fifth ...”
The whole time she talked, she stood a step away and had her finger poking his chest. As she exhaled all of this information, he grew increasingly concerned, which spurred her on more. He shouldn’t be concerned. He should be sorry! Continuing her tirade, Henry smiled until she was so mad her face grew hot.
“Why are you smiling?” she asked, more pissed off than scared now.
A second later, she found out why. He swooped down and kissed her, leaving just enough time for her to realize what he was doing. She met him there, gasping as their lips touched. His hands reached for her waist, as her hands touched his face.
It was like an electric current ran through her starting from everywhere they touched. His hands were so big and felt so hot, even though her clothes, that she melted into the kiss like sun-warmed butter. Her lips tingled from the scruff on his chin as they deepened the kiss and tightened their grip on each other. His body heat made her skin prickle with sweat.
She was overcome by the feelings of arousal flooding through her. They were really doing this. It wasn’t a fever dream she conjured up in her newly-acquired bed. It wasn’t some fantasy she imagined while gazing at him, shirtless and cutting wood. It wasn’t a daydream born out of pure loneliness. It was real.
His hands moved down until they cupped her ass and pulled her closer. She softened into his body, all the fighting leaving her as quickly as it had come. His chest was firm and pleasurable against her breasts, her nipples almost hurting from pressing against it as they hardened from arousal.
The first lick of his tongue into her mouth sent a shiver down her spine. Henry tasted as good as he smelled, like rich coffee and hazelnut, and smelled of wood lacquer. All of it combined into something from a rom-com or a fairytale. It was too good to be true.
Just as she slipped a hand under his shirt, he let out a noise ... something like a purr? She pulled away sharply, feeling the loss of contact like a bucket of ice water.
“I’m sorry,” Kirsten said, touching her lips where they still had the taste of him on them. “I can’t do this. I’m supposed to be looking after your daughter. You just got divorced. You’re my boss!”
He sighed and took a step back, giving her some space. His body posture was relaxed, shoulders slumped, hunched in on himself to show deference.
“Please don’t be sorry. I was the one who …” He trailed off, a forlorn expression on his face. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have …”
“Yeah, but … I liked it. Ireallyliked it ...”
All her attempts at conversation failed her now that she wasn’t angry or scared. The thing is, she did like it, and she did want it, but being paid by him to look after his baby 24/7 meant that she was his employee and had to abide by certain rules.
It wasn’t fair of him to put her in that situation, and it wasn’t fair of her to demand more than what they had. She would need to set better boundaries. She would need to control herself around him. It wasn’t enough that she really did like him. She also knew how quickly she could fall for him if she wasn’t careful.
He looked at her with a resigned expression. “But we shouldn’t.”
“No,” she agreed. “We shouldn’t. I don’t want to lead you on. I just can’t right now.”
He nodded. His hands came up to his arms, rubbing lightly as if he were cold. She took one last look at Zara before she stepped around him and left the room.
He was a great guy. He was one of the better fathers she had ever seen. And that was the problem: he was so good that she could not let anything jeopardize her job and the chance she had to work with this amazing family. She had grown attached to so many amazing kids and their parents, and it all ended the same way, with her moving on and leaving their lives.
So she would do what she needed to do and move on from the romantic ideas she had in her head. As she closed her bedroom door behind her, a thought rose to her conscious mind.
What was the deal with the purring?
EIGHT
HENRY
