Christmas with the Boss (9 page)

New Year’s Eve

Jilly rolled over and propped her head on her elbow. Dominic was
sleeping peacefully beside her, his broad chest rising gently with his
breathing. She had moved her few things into his cottage when he’d locked up
his cousin’s cottage three days ago. She reached out and tucked a stray curl
behind his ear but he didn’t stir. The last few days had been wonderful. She’d
done more wild things with him this week than she had in her whole life. Beach
sex. Up against the wall sex. Morning Sex. Afternoon sex and one all night
marathon session. Luckily Dominic had filled his fridge with groceries because
her appetite was insatiable. Not only for him, but for food as well.

 Eating, sleeping, surfing, and sex. A magical vacation.
She grinned to herself—maybe magical wasn’t the right word to use.
He’d driven into town and brought his cousin Margaret back for lunch on their
second last day. Margie was quirky but friendly to Jilly, especially once she
knew that Derro’s cottage was empty again. She’d bolted down her lunch and
borrowed a garden spade from Dominic’s shed, preferring to weed the garden than
catch up on old times with her cousin and his…

His what? Jilly wondered?

His executive assistant? His girlfriend? His lover?
A quiver of uncertainty ran through her as she wondered what things
would be like when they returned to Sydney.

All doubts fled when he opened his eyes and reached for her. She
sighed as a hot tingling ran low in her belly. His lips found hers before she
could speak but Dominic said all there was to say without opening his mouth.

##

“How do you want to greet the New Year?” Dominic came up behind her
in the kitchen as she washed some lettuce leaves in the old sink. “Mary at the
servo tells me there’s a rocking party at the river.”

“What river?”

His deep laugh sent a shiver though her. She’d fallen hard for this
man over the past few days. Working with him for the last six months, although
distant, had already shown her what a good man he was. He was a man of
integrity, kind and considerate. This week had also shown her what a great
sense of humour he possessed…and what a versatile lover he was.

“The one around the point.”

“Didn’t know there was one. You’ve barely let me out of bed.”

“Are you complaining, Miss Henderson? Am I working you too hard
again?”

 “I’m not. But tonight’s our last night before we go back to the big
smoke and I think I’d rather stay in unless you want to go out?” She turned
around and held his gaze steadily. “What’s going to happen when we go back to
work? What about our rules?”

“I’ve had an idea and our rules aren’t going to matter.” Jilly
looked up at him but he wouldn’t be drawn into discussing his idea.

He shook his head. “Come on, we’ll head into the shops and get some
food and I’ll cook you a fabulous meal. Tempt you with some local seafood,
perhaps?”

“Tempt me?” She reached down and undid the top button of his jeans.
“I don’t need seafood for that. Maybe some whipped cream and strawberries? What
do you think of that?” she said in a husky voice.

“Mm. Maybe ice cream? Your skin is feeling very hot.”

When his lips found hers, Jilly returned his kiss with everything
she had; unsure about the coming weeks. He lifted her and carried her to the
bedroom but she slid from his arms and pushed him back against the wall before
they reached the bed. She looped her arms around his neck as Dominic grabbed
her butt and turned her around to the wall. She raised her legs around his
hips. He lifted her sarong and a murmur of pleasure exploded from his throat as
his hands encountered bare skin.

“Clever girl.”

“No point putting panties on if you keep taking them off.” She
nuzzled his neck as she pulled down the zipper of his jeans. She could do it
all by feel now and instantly he filled her hand, hard and ready for her.

“You are incredible,” she murmured.

“I aim to please.” She let go of him and gripped his hips, opening
to him as he plunged, filling her with one swift movement.

They made the local shops five minutes before closing time.

***

New Year’s Day

Rested and relaxed, Dominic and Jilly packed his Audi ready for the
trip back to Sydney together later that afternoon. For some reason, her car was
stone dead and she knew Dominic suspected that a well meaning—but ghostly—hand
had been at work. He had insisted that they needed to have a midday nap to
prepare for the trip ahead, but of course very little sleep had taken place.
She shook her head and her hair brushed against his shoulder but his eyes
remained closed as his chest rose and fell gently.

If anyone had told her the events that would pass when she came for
her solitary holiday at the beach, she would have told them they had had a
touch of sun, or perhaps too much Christmas cheer. But Dominic’s explanation
had been heartfelt, and had supported the things that had happened to her over
the past few days; Jilly wondered whether a ghostly influence really had been
at work bringing them together. Or was it simply that their deepest desires had
culminated in dreams that had guided their choices.

She would never forget that night of terror sitting up in the chair
when something had frightened her out of the cottage and into Dominic’s arms.
She moved to lie back on her pillow but her hand was held and pressed against a
tanned and golden-haired chest. She sighed and smiled into the wicked eyes that
were holding hers. A warm, hair-roughened leg rubbed against her thigh and
before she knew it, Dominic had grabbed her and flipped her up onto his chest.
His erection was hard and throbbing against her stomach, and she gave into the
exquisite sensation that ran through her whenever he touched her. Anywhere, anytime—even
a touch on her back as he walked behind her sent shimmers of desire running
straight between her legs. She let out a little giggle.

“What’s so funny?” Dominic’s fingers were doing wicked things to
Jilly’s composure as they moved down her back until they cupped her bottom. She
rolled over and lay on top of him and his fingers continued to work their
magic.

She smiled at him and kept her tone saucy. “I was just thinking
about the size of your feet and whether I should tell Shaz about her theory.”

“Don’t you dare.” His voice was husky as he moved his lips down the
side of her neck.

“I’ll be able to tell the girls that I have tested the theory and
that Mr Iceberg has a new nickname. Mr Hot Stuff, maybe?” She giggled at the
look on his face as he pulled her down to his chest.

“Oh, I don’t think so, Miss Henderson. I think you’ll be doing
exactly what your boss says.”

And Jilly did for the next hour or two.

##

“I’ve got a proposition for you,” Dominic said later that afternoon.

Jilly threw him a laughing glance. “We don’t have time.”

“I’m serious.” He walked across to her.

She tilted her head to the side. His face was closed and he looked
more like Dominic the boss. Zipping up her toiletries bag, she put it on the
bed and walked across to him. She slipped her arms around his waist, reveling
in her new found ease with this man.

“Tell me.”

“How much do you like living in Sydney?”

“I don’t. I’d be out of there like a shot if I could get a decent
job out of the city.”

“How would you like to be my executive assistant in another
business? Out of the city?”

Hope flowed though her as she stared up at him.

“Where?”

“How about here? We can do what we do from anywhere, you know.
There’s more to life than work and with our experience, we could work from here
and use our skills consulting and telecommuting in the finance industry.”

“And surf some of the day?”

A slow grin crossed his face as she looked up at him and saw her
expression.

“Amongst other physical activities.”

In the end they decided to leave Jilly’s car there; it was a good
excuse to come up for another weekend and start to set up their home office
until they were replaced at the bank. Dominic’s Audi was packed with their
bags, and both surfboards were secured to the roof racks.

“We’ll have to surf at Narrabeen until we move back,” he said. “You
can’t let all that surfing practice go to waste.” He locked the front door of
the cottage and walked slowly along the verandah. Jilly waited for him in the
car and he smiled as she caught his eye.

“Hurry up. It’s hot in the car.” She waved a hand in front of her
face in an exaggerated movement. “Come on and get those big feet walking over
here, boss.”

Dominic smiled back at her. “Whatever you say, Miss Henderson.”

Dominic had no doubt that in some way, Derro—whether it had been a
dream or not—had shown him the way to where his future and true happiness lay.

With Jilly. At the beach.

He slipped into the driver’s seat and started the car. Slowly he
drove down the driveway and glanced in the rear view mirror, back at the
cottage where he had spent many happy years, and where he was going to make a
life with Jilly. He touched her hand and gestured back behind them.

Though the haze of the late afternoon, Derro leaned against the
fence, his surfboard beneath his arm. Lazily, he lifted his arm and waved
before he turned and walked across the sandy road to the beach, disappearing
into the sea mist that hadn’t been there a moment before.

Also
Available by this Author

Check Annie’s
website
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Ten Days in Tuscany

Capturing the Pirate’s Heart

Silver Valley Witch

Holiday Affair

Italian Affair

Outback Affair

The Romance Abroad Bundle

Hot Rock

Tangling With the CEO

Brushing Off the Boss

Guarding His Heart

Seductive Secrets

Dangerous Desire

Adventures in Time

Kakadu Sunset
…
coming
December 2015 to a bookshop near you in Australia and New Zealand.

On Kindle for my international
readers

Seductive
Secrets

Excerpt

Regan James turned her cheek into the
soft silk of the pillowcase. Her head throbbed and she squeezed her eyes
closed, willing sleep to return. She had a huge day ahead and wasn’t looking
forward to facing the bathroom in this seedy motel room. Another half hour of
sleep and she’d force herself to climb out of bed and make a start. She
burrowed further into the soft pillow and let her head sink into the feather
soft silkiness—

What the…? Silk?

Regan lifted her head and opened one eye.
Her stomach roiled and she swallowed, fighting back the urge to throw up, when
the contents of her stomach rose to her throat. Fuck, she couldn’t even
remember coming home or getting into bed.

When her stomach stopped churning, she
turned her eyes to the pillow.

Yep, it’s silk.
Pale green silk that matched the drapes
across the other side of the huge room.

A luxurious room. Nothing like the two
bit dive she’d checked into yesterday afternoon when she’d flown in from Bali.

Holy fuck, where the hell am I?
Raising a shaking hand, Regan covered
her eyes as the throbbing in her head intensified. A lost night and a hangover
from one drink? Impossible
.
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to
remember last night.

She’d gone to the waterfront to check out
the
Midas,
the luxury motor cruiser she’d applied to work on. A guy at
the bar had tried to hit on her. She’d ignored him, sipped her wine and looked
out over the bay at the huge white cruiser. The last thing she could recall was
thinking about the job interview. Hoping against hope she got the job. If not
she’d have to ask Gracie for a loan until the scholarship money came through.
And Regan would only do that as a last resort. Her little sister had bailed her
out too many times before. Regan had changed and it was time for a new start.

 Today.
One o’clock. All her hopes
hung on that one interview.

Money was going to be tight until she got
to Sydney, enrolled in her university course and picked up her scholarship, so
she was going to have to slum it for a few nights. She’d lined up some work for
the next month until the semester started…or hoped she had. The interview today
hopefully would seal that for her.

Drawing a deep breath in through her dry
mouth, Regan opened her eyes to the bright light filling this strange room.

Water. Painkillers.
She needed
both before she could even think about leaving.
Leaving wherever I am.
A
cold feeling snaked through her chest as the thought of kidnapping briefly ran
through her mind. She rolled over and drew in another breath in relief as her
silk camisole slipped on the silk sheet beneath her.

At least I’ve got clothes on.
Regan looked around as the pain in her
head lessened.

Where am I and how did I end up here?
But there was no sound apart from the
quiet hum of the air conditioner.

Thank goodness
.
At least there was
no one in bed beside her. And the panties that matched the silk camisole were
still in place covering her butt. Regan’s hair dropped in a curtain across her
face, blocking the light as she pushed herself up to lean against the soft
padded bed head.

“Ah, Sleeping Beauty awakes. And she
didn’t even need a kiss.”

No. God, no.
Please no.

Regan knew that deep, sexy voice; she’d
know it anywhere. She’d heard it in her dreams often enough over the last year.
The sick feeling slammed back as she slowly turned her head to the doorway on
the opposite side of the room.

Rod Carruthers stood there. Tall. Broad
shouldered. Jet black hair, his face more deeply tanned than when she’d last
seen him just over a year ago. His bare, muscled chest was covered in water
droplets, a white towel slung low over his hips, hinting at what was beneath.
Regan lifted her eyes to meet the sardonic expression of the man she’d run away
from.

“Still sleeping around, Regs?” The
disdain in his voice tore at her gut, worse than the sickness that was still
roiling away in there. Regan fought down the solid lump that seemed to have
lodged in her throat. She swung her feet over the side of the bed and glared at
the one and only man she’d ever loved.

“Still rescuing damsels in distress, Rod?
Or kidnapping them?” She flicked a casual hand around to the luxurious room.
“Now tell me, how the fuck did I get here?”

Rod pushed himself away from the door,
and Regan narrowed her eyes, ignoring the response of her traitorous body. It
might have taken a year but she was over him.

I am.

Her body needed to listen to her heart.
What they’d had was good, but it had burned into ashes when he’d doubted her.
Just another man who couldn’t be trusted; she should have known that from the
very beginning, despite him saying he loved her. Just like a man, he’d
conveniently turned the tables and blamed her for what had happened.

“I figured someone had to save you from
yourself.” Rod knotted the towel more firmly around his hips as he strolled
over to the bed.

“I had one drink.” Regan fought to hold
her gaze on his face, and not drop her eyes to the body that had taken her to
heaven and back for six months. Although staring at his mouth was just as bad.
But rather than seeking to give her pleasure, his lips were now curled up into
a sneer.

And she knew now that’s all it had been—
sex. Despite his talk of a future together, despite him telling her he loved
her. Talk was cheap and so was she, according to Rod. That last no holds barred
argument had brought out some home truths.

She’d not even had a chance to tell him
she’d caught him out too, that Mandy had confessed to sleeping with him. Even
though he’d accused her of cheating on him, they’d still ended up in bed after
harsh accusations were exchanged that last night. Because that’s all it was and
all it would ever have been—a sexual attraction that burned hotter every day
they spent together. He’d thought the worst of her, believed lies about her and
what had hurt the most—on the word of someone else. Regan had caught him out,
but he’d blamed her for being dishonest and cheating before she’d even had a
chance to raise it. And yet they’d still ended up in bed.

As they always did.

So she’d packed her bags and left him in
Perth. Snuck out in the middle of the night without telling him that she knew
he’d cheated on her.

Broken-hearted. Devastated. Taken the
first flight to Bali. Left him to his life as a cop, climbing the greasy pole
of career promotion, not caring who he trod on, or who he hurt on the way up.
Left him to take up with Mandy—his partner in the local area command of the
police service. Left him gladly—she’d tried to convince herself of that for
twelve long months. Self disgust warred with the sickness in her belly. Warmth
was pooling in her belly already and she ached for him to touch her.

Regan startled, her thoughts coming back
to her present predicament when Rod sat next to her on the side of the bed. She
gazed down at her red-painted toenails, fighting for composure, trying to look
disinterested and not appear greatly affected by seeing him again. By having
him within touching distance.

 “Christ, Regan. It’s a wonder you
haven’t been found dead in an alley somewhere. Will you ever grow up and get
some fucking sense in that head of yours?”

The desire coursing through her fled as a
red mist of anger pushed past her aching head. Regan turned and shoved a finger
into his bare chest.

“As usual, Rod, you weren’t listening to
me. I told you I only had one drink.”

He grabbed her hand and held it firm
while she stared up at him. He was unshaven and the darkness of the stubble
gave him a dangerous look. His black hair was longer than it had been when
she’d lived with him; the short back and sides were gone, now the ends curled
sexily on the back of his neck well past his collar length.

If he’d been wearing a collar
.
Her
eyes dropped from the hard chiselled planes of his face to his shoulders.
Regan’s gaze followed the path of the water droplets running from the wet
strands of his hair down onto his bare chest

“When I walked into the marina bar, you
were almost comatose, and hanging off a guy, who—shall I say—has a less than
savoury reputation here on the coast.”

“Read my lips. I only had one drink.” As
soon as she said it, Rod dropped his eyes to her lips. He lifted his hand, and
the rough pad of his thumb traced a path across her bottom lip.

“Don’t.” Regan tried to make her voice
hard, but his touch instantly brought her undone. It always had. “Don’t touch
me.”

“I suppose you’re going to try and tell
me that old chestnut again. Someone spiked your drink?” He dropped his hand,
and Regan let out the breath she’d been holding. “Wears a bit thin after a
couple of times, Regs. Just admit it for once. You need to grow up, cut the
drinking and stop sleeping around. What are you now? Twenty-seven?”

Crack!
She couldn’t help it.

And he knows full well how old I am.
Three years younger than Rod—to the day— they shared a birthday. His lips
narrowed and she watched as his skin reddened where her palm had connected with
his stubbled cheek. She ignored the smell of the citrus cologne she’d loved
that was not only wafting over to her, but on her hand where it had connected
with his face. Pushed away the thought of nuzzling her lips into his neck. She
took refuge in anger.

“Always holier than thou. Don’t you dare
judge me! You know nothing about me and you never did.” Her voice was icy
despite the heat that surged through her blood.

“Oh, but I do. I know every inch of you.
Remember? Every beautiful inch.” Thoughts of her pounding head, her roiling
stomach were overshadowed by the white hot anger filling her when Rod’s hand
landed on her leg and his fingers slowly caressed the skin of her inner thigh.
Her skin twitched traitorously beneath his hand.

“You want a good time? You don’t need to
pick up anyone in a bar. I’m here in Cairns for another day or so.”

And I thought I’d loved him once.
Disgust with herself and her weakness for
this man filled Regan as she shook her head from side to side.
“Stop it.” She pushed his hand
away impatiently and stood, but the thudding pain in her head came roaring
back. Putting her hand to her eyes, she managed to speak. Barely. “Where are my
clothes?”

 “Over the back of the chair by the
window.”

 Strong fingers grabbed her waist. Rod
held her steady before she could step away, and a shiver ran down her back. The
chill of the air conditioning raised goose bumps on her skin and her nipples
pebbled from the cold. Placing a hand on each silk-clad hip, he turned her
around. His face was only inches from her breasts as she stood in front of him.
Her nipples tightened— not from the cold this time—and Regan let out a small
sound of distress.

“Lie down and I’ll get you some Tylenol.
You look like you need it,” he said.

Thank God he’d misunderstood the reason
for her distress.

Rod dropped his hands. He stood and left
her without a backward glance. Regan could hear him in the bathroom as she sank
back onto the soft mattress.

Laying there with her eyes open, she
stared at the ceiling until he returned with two capsules and a large glass of
water. She sat up again and took them from him without a word, before draining
the water in one hit. It was like bliss to her parched throat. As soon as she’d
finished, she shoved the glass back at him, rolled over and put her feet to the
floor ignoring the hammers still pounding in her head. When the giddy feeling
eased, she pushed herself to her feet and crossed the room to the window where
her red dress was draped loosely over the back of the chair.

“Where’s my purse?” Regan lifted the
cushion and felt around the soft chair, before reaching down to the floor and
picking up her strappy heels.

No purse. She spun around. “Where did you
put my purse, Rod?”

“You didn’t have one. I couldn’t even
check for a hotel key. Otherwise I would have taken you to your own room.” His
eyes narrowed. “Unless you live in Cairns now in your own place?”

“It’s none of your business where I live.
Now where the fuck did you put my purse?”