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“What are you? Cirque du Soleil?”
“How’d you know I wanted to learn trapeze when I was little?” She’s out of breath, which I find very attractive. This whole thing is attractive. “Actually, that was just one of many things I wanted to be when I was growing up.”
Somehow that makes sense. She’s had about as many jobs as there are Tate International hotels, maybe more.
She’s wiggled out of one arm of her blazer—which is something straight out of those sewing pattern books we used to have at the house when I was little—and I can’t help the slice of desire as I see her bare shoulder and arm. The blouse she’s wearing is sleeveless, something that I probably won’t be able to get out of my head now that I know.
I don’t need that distraction. If I’d known Elianna was like . . .this. . . I wouldn’t have agreed to hire her. I needed a competent, no-nonsense assistant who could integrate seamlessly into my life. I’ve lost traction with my goals, and I need to get back in the groove.
Which is going to be hard, considering I now know what she looks like when she swings.
“It looks like you’re having fun,” I tell her, shaking my head in disbelief.
“I am!” she shouts. She’s out of breath, her cheeks rosy, her mouth open. She usually wears a dark red lipstick, but now it’s worn off. I can see her natural lip color. The result is fresh, and again, it draws me to her. She’s managed to pull the jacket off her other shoulder and it’s trailing in the wind behind her.
This is no strip tease. It’s too wholesome and silly to resemble anything like that. I’m not supposed to be attracted to my employee—that’s not how this works. But I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way she looks right now. Or the way I feel.
This irritating, fiery woman laughing like a kid, her legs long and taut. The mid-morning sun behind her, the light shining through her hair.
One last wiggle, and the sports coat is free, clutched in her hand, cushioning it from the rope.
“That feels better,” she says with a sigh.
I laugh and the look on her face is wide with wonder. Our gazes are locked, and there’s another frisson there between us, like lightning connecting to the ground.
She lets go again and tries to whip it up in the air and throw it behind her. The movement sends her body right off the seat of the swing. She screams and clutches one rope with both hands, her body dangling off. Instinctively, I step toward her, grabbing her and catching her in my arms.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” The force of the swing’s movement sends me backwards, and I stumble, nearly losing my balance. She slides from the swing and it bounces up and away, jaggedly finishing its motion back and forth, back and forth.
She’s in my arms, hers around my neck. Her breath coming in harsh tones, she giggles and traps the corner of her mouth between her teeth. “I almost broke my neck.”
“No, I had you the whole time.”
“You did not,” she almost whispers. “You nearly fell flat on your backside.”
I laugh. And it feels good.
She, in turn, knocks her head back in a wicked laugh. I spin us around once before setting her down on her feet. “You good?”
She nods and licks her lips, then whisks away a strand of hair that’s gotten caught in her mouth. “What do you want to do now?”
I want to kiss those soft, pale-pink lips.
I hold her in my arms. She’s pressed up against me, so soft. I’m getting flustered. I know what people have said about me, my brothers tell me because they think I need to know.
People say I’m arrogant. That I don’t talk to people enough. That I stick to myself because I don’t want to socialize.
What they don’t understand is that I freeze sometimes, particularly when I’m around someone like Elianna.
Check that. There is no one like Elianna.
I clear my throat and step back and away from her. “I guess the tour is over, unless there’s more you’d like to see.”
She only gathers her hair in her hands and combs through it with her fingers.
“Cirque du Soleil would be lucky to have you with those acrobatic skills.”
She just smiles, and it’s warm and delicious. “We’d better head back, sir.” She turns to grab her jacket from the clutches of a bush. “I’ve got notaries and brothers to find.”
