AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Well, she had news for him. She wouldn’t bow down to any guy and as for quitting…that was for losers. She’d never quit on anything or anyone in her life; pity her dad hadn’t felt the same.
“I wish I didn’t have to do this but I have no choice.”
Her gaze snapped to his, the genuine regret in his voice surprising. So he did have a soul.
“We always have a choice,” she said, searching his face for some hint as to what he was thinking.
While she was usually good at reading people, she didn’t have a clue what was going on behind those smoky grey depths at the moment. One minute he was the tyrannical boss booting her out on her butt, the next he sounded like he wanted to give her a comforting cuddle to make it all better. She wished.
“You don’t have a choice in this case.”
“Oh?”
Frowning, he swiped a hand over his face. “I can’t discuss this with you. You have to leave.”
The seriousness of the situation slammed into Beth with the force of a Melbourne gale. This wasn’t one of the many times she could talk her way out of an untenable situation. This wasn’t something she could laugh off, treat as another live for the moment life experience, and move on.
Uh-uh, this was her dream she was toying with, and Lana’s reputation, with the potential to ruin both if she walked out.
She laid a hand on his arm and he jumped as if she’d electrocuted him, and as his gaze riveted to hers, she knew in an instant the real reason he’d fired her.
“It doesn’t have to be this way, you know,” she murmured, trapped beneath the burning intensity of his stare, her breath catching at the smoldering desire in his eyes.
“Yes, it does,” he muttered, through gritted teeth, his yearning expression making a mockery of his words.
He didn’t flinch or shrug off her hand when she slid her palm over the expensive cool wool of his designer jacket slowly upward until it rested on his bicep, the muscle flexing imperceptibly beneath her tingling palm.
“I know what this is all about.” She hoped her touch conveyed that she understood, that he wasn’t the only one caught up in this spellbinding attraction, that they could handle it even if working together.
“Maybe you do, but it doesn’t change anything.”
With a shake of his head he stepped away and turned his back on her to lean against his desk, arms outstretched, leaving her with a tempting view of his butt.
Oh yeah, there was definitely some major attraction going on and it wasn’t one-sided. But where did that leave her? Jobless, with a huge crush on a guy she’d never see again when she left the museum?
There had to be a solution to this, a way they could work around it. He had to give them a chance…oops, she meanthera chance. Not walking out this door was all about work.
Yeah, right, and she could find her way around this monstrosity blindfolded.
Injecting lightness into her tone, she said, “Look, why don’t we get out of here?”
“What?”
He swivelled to face her, his expression comical if it wasn’t for the fact he could end her dream and any hopes she had of repaying the emotional debt she owed Lana with one quick word.
“Considering you just fired me I’d like to get away from this office, clear the air a bit, so why don’t we go grab a coffee and have a chat?”
His jaw clenched, making the tiny muscle near the scar on his right eyebrow twitch, but his molten silver gaze hadn’t lost the ‘I want you but I’m trying to fight it’ gleam.
“I don’t want to do this,” he said, his voice barely above a growl.
“I know you don’t but it won’t be too hard, promise. Just a little friendly conversation over the best cake you’ve ever eaten, accompanied by coffee to die for.”
“You can’t be referring to the cafeteria.”
His wry smile showed her she had a shot at this, just as she suspected. For all his CEO bluster, Aidan was a bit of a softie beneath that tough, brash exterior, and if she could get him to face thisthingbetween them, then reinstate her…
“Actually, I was thinking more along the lines ofMoretti’s.”
