Marrying The Boss (15 page)

"
No, believe it or not, I'm quite
domesticated. My mother insisted I learn to cook. You look
surprised."

"
No, not at all."

How could she say that the ability to cook
a decent meal simply added to this man's already disastrous
appeal?

Eric had been unable to boil water. It had
always been an issue of contention between them in the months
they'd lived together. She would come home from a long, heavy day
at the hospital and he would be waiting impatiently for her to
begin preparing their evening meal.

She pushed the unwelcome thought aside.
She didn't want to think anymore about her ex-fiancé tonight.
Beyond their similarities in appearance and build, she was
beginning to realize Spencer was nothing like her erstwhile
lover.

She sipped her wine, feeling the delicious
sense of unreality intensifying. It was almost like flying, she
decided, a trifle unsteadily—without the benefit of a
parachute.

"
You cooked, so Jamie and I can clear the
table," she insisted, as she stood quickly.

"
And you're our guest." Spencer also rose
to his feet. "So I guess that makes us even."

Kate couldn't find an answer. So they
shared the very domestic task of clearing the table and setting the
dishwasher in motion.

"
Coffee?" Spencer raised a dark brow half an hour
later.

"
No...thank you. It's getting late. I
really should be going."

Everything inside her seemed to catch fire
in that moment. It was well past time for her to make her polite
excuses and leave. She'd lingered too long and had drunk a little
too much wine. Everything seemed to be passing her in slow motion
and her limbs refused to obey the dictates of her rational mind. A
delicious sense of irresponsibility swamped her caution.

"
It's still early." Spencer shrugged. "I'm
sure your boss will understand. But if you're sure you can't
stay..."

"
Do you know how to play cards, Auntie
Kate?" Jamie's hopeful question squeezed her heart as he came
closer to slip his small hand into hers. "I want us to play
some."

Kate's
fingers closed tightly on his.
Spencer's cool eyes were still fixed on her face, as if he was
trying to gauge the level of her discomfort. Kate felt trapped by
roiling indecision. She didn't want to give the impression she was
running away. That she was some kind of coward.

"
Cards," she mused throatily, smiling at
Jamie. "Well, I will admit to being a little rusty. But I think I
could manage a hand or two."

"
We don't mind rusty, do we, Jamie?"

Kate pursed her lips. She was deeply
suspicious of the shared look of understanding between father and
son. Her dark suspicions were soon confirmed. After two hours of
being soundly trounced by a gleeful five-year-old at every card
game Kate could remember from her childhood, the little boy's head
began to nod.

"
Time for bed, champ." Spencer rose from his
chair.

"
Good night, Auntie Kate." Jamie came
around the table to throw his small arms around her
neck.

"
Good night." Kate returned the boy's tight
embrace and rose. "I should be going too. Thank you both for a
lovely evening. Next time, my place." It was a rash promise she had
no idea how to keep. She had to rejoin the land of the living some
day soon,
right
?

Spencer's
frowning look was unreadable,
making her fear she'd said the wrong thing. Then he shrugged. "This
won't take long, Jamie's out on his feet. Stay for a few more
minutes. You look like you could use some coffee."

Kate knew she shouldn't agree. She gripped
the back of her chair, feeling her stomach twist and tumble with a
strange surge of conflicting emotion.

"
Don't go." Spencer's dark look held her in
place before he took his son and left the room, not waiting for her
answer.

Kate stared after him. He seemed
determined to make her leaving not an option. She could only guess
at the reason why. She was still hovering uncertainly when he came
back into the room. As his eyes found hers, he exhaled a deep
breath, almost as if he expected her to have left already. Taken
the coward's path and fled while she had the chance.

Kate began to wish she had. She shuddered.
"So, what now?"

"
Are you always this suspicious of other
people's motives?"

"
Only when I have no idea what they have in
mind."

"
Coffee." Spencer shrugged. "What else do
you think I want?"

Kate's
heart gave a funny little thump. Her
brain felt as if it was strung with cobwebs. He was being
deliberately obtuse. "I have no idea."

"
That makes two of us," Spencer replied
cryptically, moving away to make the coffee before filling two
small crystal glasses from a long necked green bottle.

He returned to place the coffee mugs on
the table. "I can't stop wondering who once hurt you so badly that
you can't even begin to trust me."

"
No one did anything to me." It was herself
she didn't trust, Kate thought raggedly, watching him pour her
coffee. She was getting way out of her depth in this strange
conversation. The wine she'd consumed fizzed lightly through her
system. She took a grateful sip of the black brew in her
cup.

"
I will understand, you know?" Spencer said
softly.

Kate blinked, looking up. "Understand?"

"
Whatever it is you find so difficult to
say. Every time I come close, you look ready to bolt as if I'm some
kind of monster. I could never hurt you, Kate. Surely you
understand that."

"
I'm just happier with my own company." She
braved his searching look. "It's how I am. I prefer it that way. No
strings, no heartache."

"
No strings?" Spencer's lifted eyebrows
disbelieved her. "Ah huh. And what about Eric?"

"
Eric...?" Kate blinked, her voice
trembling over the single repeated word. She didn't want to have
this conversation.

She watched Spencer run his
fingers through his dark hair. "You mentioned him the other night.
When you came over to look after Jamie. You started to say
'
Eric and
I
'...then you
clammed up. Was it him, Kate?"

Kate closed her eyes. "I...no, it was a
long time ago." She lifted her shoulders in a denying gesture. "I
don't wish to talk about it tonight."

She watched him watching her, his face full
of frowning disbelief. Kate waited, her heart pounding heavily
against the cage of her ribs. She should leave, but she felt rooted
to the spot.

Spencer finally nodded. "Fair enough."

He held out her glass filled with an amber
liquid. "Drink this and then you can go home."

Run away
, his harsh tone seemed to imply.
Kate frowned, ignoring the implication. But as she reached to take
the glass, her hand encountered his long fingers. The contact
shivered like fire along her nerve endings. She couldn't prevent
the soft groan that feathered past her lips.

She heard Spencer inhale sharply. That was all it
took.

He reached for her, sliding his free hand
along her forearm, clasping her elbow as he drew her slowly towards
him.

Kate resisted. "What are you doing?"

"
Settling something in my mind," Spencer
replied harshly, bringing her inexorably closer.

He took the untouched glass from her hand,
placing it beside his own on the table behind them. Kate trembled
as she stared up into his face. Her senses reeled, becoming tangled
in the smoky depths of his eyes.

"
Settling something?" she breathed.
"What...something?"

"
Just how you'll taste," he replied, his
dark head dipping toward hers. "When I do this..."

Kate tried to hold back. Her mouth went dry.
She licked at her lips.

"
Do that again, Kate..." Spencer groaned,
his head dipping lower.

"
No..." Kate folded her lips together in
denial. She wouldn't play these disturbing sensual games with him.
He was amusing himself at her expense. She held back from
temptation. "I really do need to go."

"
Not yet," Spencer exhaled. "Not like
this." He compressed his lips. Why did she affect him so much? What
is it about Kate?

She looked like Katerina, that fact he had
been forced to accept. But he was beginning to understand that Kate
was very different from his ex-wife. She was smaller and more
direct and he always knew what she was thinking. The sensuous
puzzle that she created in his mind itched against his ability to
reason it away with logic. What he felt for Kate wasn't logical.
But it felt right.

None of it made any sense at all. He
should put her aside and step back. Create the necessary distance
between them and let her run away back to the safety of her neat
and tidy life. But if he didn't kiss her right now he knew he would
come apart at the seams.

Something of his inner turmoil must have
shown in his eyes. He saw a strong shudder run through Kate as she
shook her head from side to side.

Kate felt her breathing cut out. She wanted him.

There, she thought hazily, she'd just
admitted it. If only to herself. She wanted him with a confusing
passion that frankly scared her. The man's physical attraction was
undeniable. Would one intoxicating kiss hurt so much? Maybe it was
just the tonic her confused senses needed right now.

Spencer seemed to sense her voiceless
compliance. His dark head came down closer to hers, his lips opened
enticingly across the corner of her mouth, his teeth nibbling at
the fullness of her lower lip. Kate wanted to keep her own lips
pressed together, within the bounds of safety, but she was lost
before she even began.

The air between them began to heat. The
blatant sensuality of his mouth brushed lightly over hers. Lifted
briefly, then came right back for more, tantalizing and
teasing.

Despite the raw need rampaging through his
senses, Spencer managed to drop his hands down to his sides. Their
lips made the only bodily contact between them. Against the raw
power of his desire surging within him, he was intent on allowing
Kate the necessary space to pull back.

If she wanted to.

The sensual look of confusion in her blue
eyes when he'd come closer played havoc with his senses. It created
knots in his stomach and made his heart pound. He already knew Kate
Martin was far too dangerous. To his peace of mind, his
determination to stay away from anything that remotely resembled a
relationship.

But she was also slender and feisty and so
very sweet. Her soft beauty tempted him as Katerina's taller frame
and more obvious looks never had. Spencer played his mouth slowly
across hers and bit back a groan of intense need. He felt Kate
shudder against him as her body collided against his, but she
remained passive. She seemed unsure of what to do next.

Spencer's
rational mind studied the
troubling fact and stored it away. This wasn't the time to wonder
about what the absent Eric had done to her. He prayed the man
hadn't touched her in any way she didn't want, but he was sure the
man had. Some men didn't know their own capabilities to hurt the
woman they professed to love for some perversity of their
own.

His mind roiled with a thousand more
unanswerable questions. And he felt turned on and alive for the
first time in years. It was still just a kiss, he reasoned. He
could soon end it, put her aside and step back. But he didn't want
to, not yet. Not when this felt so new and so right.

What could it hurt to give in to a little
temptation once in a while? He wasn't a monk. Or a
saint!

Kate's
system roiled with shock. And
something else. Something warm and insidious she wasn't about to
tag with a name. Or dare to acknowledge. Surely it was only the
wine...

She inhaled the tang of his
aftershave and blatant masculinity. She felt captured.
Trapped
. The man certainly knew how to catch a girl off guard and
make her want more than was good for her.

His lips enticed, exploring her trembling
softness, begging a response Kate fought not to give. Eric had
always taken, pushed for what he wanted, his own desires and
completion. When he didn't get what he wanted he'd resorted to
threats and raised fists. He'd never once thought to beguile her
into responding to his advances with this intoxicating form of
sensuous play, taken the time to heat her desire to the point of
outright begging.

She felt Spencer shift against her mouth as
he moved closer, his hips framing hers, his mouth deepening the
kiss, slowly destroying her resolve to push him away. Her hands
lifted of their own accord, flattening out over the steady thunder
of his heartbeat. Her own pulse was now racing in overdrive.