Undressed by the Boss (Mills & Boon By Request) (33 page)

Humming the faintest strains of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Sexual Healing’ under her breath, she gave herself over to enjoying what promised to be the best night’s sex of her life.

‘W
HAT’S
going on?’

Beth stopped chopping onions and dashed a hand across her teary eyes, squinting at her cousin propped in the kitchen doorway.

‘I’m making you my world-famous lasagne, that’s what. Personally, I think you’re taking this whole invalid thing a tad far. I’m betting you ditch the crutches the moment I’m out the door and dance around here naked.’

Lana quirked an eyebrow and stared down at her baggy brown cords, shapeless beige sweater and Doc Martens, her usual daggy stay-at-home garb. ‘You think?’

Beth laughed, wishing Lana would let her spice up her wardrobe a little. It might help her to loosen up, act her age, have a little fun, maybe go the whole hog and find a guy. ‘Well, maybe not. Now, vamoose. You have a master chef at work here.’

Lana shook her head and hobbled towards the breakfast bar. ‘Sorry. Not leaving till you tell me what’s up.’

‘All this lazing around has given you an overactive imagination. There’s nothing wrong.’

Beth resumed dicing, needing to keep her hands busy and
her mind focussed on getting the recipe just right; anything to keep her mind off the extremely X-rated fantasies—though they could officially be classed as memories now—of Aidan.

Lana picked up a wooden spoon and banged it on the side of a stainless-steel cookie container. ‘Spill it. You only ever make lasagne as comfort food, so give over. Something’s wrong.’

Turning away from Lana’s probing stare, Beth winced at what she was about to do.

Considering her cousin would have to work with Aidan once her ankle healed, it was only fair she told her the truth. Besides, Lana had been her confidante, best friend and sister rolled into one for ever and she was busting to tell her what had gone down—literally—with Aidan.

Rinsing her hands under the cold tap and drying off, she turned to face Lana, drew out a kitchen chair and pointed to it.

‘You better sit down. I have a feeling you’re going to need to when you finish hearing this.’

Concern crossed Lana’s face in an instant. ‘Are you okay? It’s nothing serious?’

Gnawing at her bottom lip, she dropped into the chair opposite Lana and said, ‘Depends on your definition of serious. If you think sleeping with the boss is serious, well, then, it’s—’

‘You did
what
?’

Lana sat bolt upright so quickly one of her crutches toppled and slammed against the floor with a bang.

‘It’s no big deal, really,’ Beth hurried on, more than a little intimidated by the appalled look on her cousin’s face. ‘We’ve had this flirting thing going on from the start and we kinda got carried away after that fund-raiser and—’

Lana shook her head and held up her hands. ‘Whoa! Tell
me this is yet another example of your warped sense of humour. Tell me you didn’t really sleep with Aidan Voss.’

Beth tried to keep a straight face and failed. She couldn’t, because the instant Lana mentioned Aidan’s name she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

‘Okay, I didn’t really sleep with Aidan Voss … considering there wasn’t much sleep involved.’

Lana groaned and dropped her head in her hands. ‘This is insane. He’s your boss,
our
boss!’

Banishing thoughts of how fabulous the little sleeping she’d had with Aidan had been, she sobered up for her cousin’s sake.

‘Look, it’s not that bad. We’re both consenting adults, it’s not really going anywhere and once he finishes his stint at the museum it’ll all be forgotten.’

Lana’s head snapped up as she pinned her with an accusatory glance. ‘You think?’

Beth dropped her gaze, preferring to trace the chocolate brown and aqua circles on the fifties tablecloth rather than face the judgement in Lana’s eyes.

Knowing Lana wouldn’t buy her best innocent look—she never had, all those times Beth had swapped book reports, ‘borrowed’ her best jewellery, pilfered the last of her favourite chocolate bar—she tried one on for size anyway.

‘Look, we laid out the ground rules. This isn’t going to affect our working relationship at all. I made sure he understands that.’

‘All very nice in theory, but have you seriously thought this through? What can happen to your job if you botch this?’

‘Settle down, cuz. Nothing’s going to happen. I’m working my butt off at the museum to keep my job and everything’s cool.’

Extremely cool, considering how they’d blown each other’s minds last night.

After several deep breaths, which restored her colour, Lana said, ‘Okay, you seem to have a handle on the job side of things.’ She tapped a split fingernail against her bottom lip before shouting, ‘But honestly, what on earth possessed you to sleep with him?’

‘Would you believe the devil made me do it?’

Beth couldn’t help her response and she sure couldn’t control the smile tweaking her lips.

Ever since they were kids she’d been making Lana laugh, trying to lighten up her serious cousin, trying to make her see that life wasn’t all textbooks and museums.

Thankfully, Lana was usually a good sport and her tight-lipped, grim expression softened a moment later.

‘You’re nuts, you know that?’

Beth shrugged and picked up the pitcher of iced green tea she’d set out earlier, pouring them both a generous glass. ‘Like you didn’t already know.’

Lana accepted the proffered glass, the rim barely hiding her growing smile.

‘You actually slept with Voss the Boss,’ she murmured, shaking her head before taking a healthy slurp.

‘And you’re actually lightening up enough to call him that?’

She met Lana’s bemused glance and they burst out laughing.

‘I guess it’s pointless me asking how good he was?’

‘You can ask, I just won’t tell you.’

Beth hoped the instant heat flooding her body at the memory of her night with Aidan didn’t make it to her cheeks. ‘Besides, you’re the workaholic. Think how awkward it could be at your first staff meeting, trying to maintain a professional front when you know how long his—’

‘Point taken.’

Lana almost snorted the remainder of her tea before her smile faded and she leaned forward, pushing her glasses back up her nose and reverting to her usual serious mode. ‘Just be careful, okay?’

‘Of what?’

Lana paused, as if searching for the right words, before blowing out a long breath that sent her scraggly fringe heavenward.

‘You date a lot of guys and pretend to be the ultimate party girl, but I know for a fact you don’t sleep with many of them. And I’ve got to say I’m pretty surprised you’re even interested in Aidan considering he’s probably not your type.’

Beth frowned, still none the wiser about her cousin’s warning. Was she trying to tell her to take care of her own feelings or Aidan’s?

‘You’re being as clear as mud. Come on, spit it out. I’m a big girl. I can take it.’

Concern flashed in Lana’s eyes before she blurted, ‘If Aidan’s reputation as one of the world’s best archaeologists is accurate he won’t be staying around for long. He’ll be heading off into the wild blue yonder faster than you can say palaeontology.’

‘And your point is?’

Though she knew and didn’t need her cousin to articulate what she’d been thinking since last night. She wouldn’t have slept with Aidan unless he meant something to her and now that she had she couldn’t help but think beyond that one, incredible night.

She’d craved a stable home her whole life, had yearned to stay in the one place and build a family of her own she could depend on, which meant she had pretty lousy judgement considering
she’d just fallen for a guy who’d been blunt about his fever for travelling the world.

Lana topped up her glass and took a long sip before answering. ‘We both know you want a long-term relationship. And we both know why.’

Her heart sank. She should be on a high after last night. Instead, here she was playing twenty questions with her nosy cousin and having to suffer her amateur psychobabble to boot.

‘This has nothing to do with my dad.’

She kept her tone deliberately flat, downing another top-up and leaping from her chair. ‘Now, I really have to finish this bolognese sauce if you want to eat any time this century.’

Lana wouldn’t push.

She knew it; Lana knew it.

It had always been the way with them: Beth the confident, outspoken one, Lana the shy, retiring one who gave her opinion but wouldn’t force the issue no matter how right she was.

‘Fine. I just care about you.’

Lana’s soft-spoken words hung in the air and Beth blinked several times, grateful her back was turned.

‘Right back at you, cuz,’ she said in a fake, perky falsetto, resuming her chopping at a frantic pace in an attempt to drown out any further forays into topics she’d rather not discuss.

Pity she couldn’t drown out her thoughts, especially the main one centred around one very sexy boss and the strange urge to do something completely out of character … like fall head over heels for him despite the fact he had wanderlust in his veins.

Beth found herself humming again on Aidan’s doorstep before quickly silencing her vocal cords.

She’d never been this nervous and it was all Lana’s fault.
So he’d invited her to dinner at his place? No big deal. However, ever since Lana had planted the idea of Aidan about to do a runner in her head she’d been as fidgety as her cousin that time she’d offered to dust her precious sake cup collection.

She didn’t do a lot of forward thinking as a rule. She always lived life to the fullest, making the most of every precious second. Losing her mum had taught her that.

But her dad had taught her, however inadvertently, the value of staying in one location long enough to build a place to call her own, to value dependence on those closest to you, to have a base, the one stable place you could head to for refuge no matter what happened.

The only time she’d had something like that was when she’d stayed with Lana and her uncle, those few, brief, precious months every year when her dad would feel guilty for dragging her around the countryside and give in to her pleading. It had never lasted.

Now here she was, getting in deeper by the day with a guy who’d up and leave any time, a guy who already had a first love: his job.

The door opened and she fixed a smile on her face, more than a little disconcerted a family of butterflies had taken up residence in her stomach. Worse, they took flight the second she caught sight of Aidan in casual gear for the first time, wearing a navy T-shirt, faded denim and a sexy smile.

‘Hey, Beth. Any trouble finding the place?’

Dragging her gaze away from his chest, which appeared so much broader in soft cotton than the stiff business shirts he usually wore, she sent him a flirtatious glance from beneath her lashes.

‘I’m here, aren’t I?’

‘You sure are.’

She propped in the doorway, enjoying his leisurely perusal, wondering if he approved of her outfit as much as she did his.

‘Nice shoes.’

He sent her a sizzling look that said the Marc Jacobs avocado satin ankle-tie-ups were a hit.

‘Enough with the shoes fetish already.’

She rolled her eyes in mock exasperation as she slid past him, planting a casual kiss on his cheek as if having dinner with the guy she’d had sensational sex with the night before was something she did every day.

‘Anything you say, Fancy Feet.’

She smiled, still not quite believing he’d given her a nickname. He’d surprised her on many levels, especially with the inventive talents he’d exhibited last night.

‘Something smells great.’

She inhaled deeply as she followed him up a short hallway and into the most bizarre kitchen she’d ever seen with its old-versus-new motif: ultra-mod stainless-steel appliances clashing oddly with an old-fashioned dresser covered in Wedgwood plates, the black granite bench-tops out of place next to an old Aga stove.

‘It’s one of my foolproof recipes, from a limited repertoire, I might add,’ he said, lifting a pot to release a fragrant aroma of lemongrass and coconut into the air, which made her mouth water. ‘Hope you like Thai chicken curry.’

‘Love it.’

She slid the bottle of chilled white wine she’d brought out of her bag and plonked it on the granite-topped bench before pulling up a stool, afraid of how much she liked his domestic
side, the comfortable atmosphere between them and how much she’d love it to exist beyond this night.

‘I’ll just pop the rice on, then we can relax in the other room,’ he threw over his shoulder, looking way too efficient as he measured out the jasmine rice, the water, added a pinch of salt and set the lot to boil.

Apart from lasagne she could barely make a cup of tea and adding culinary expertise to Aidan’s growing repertoire of talents wasn’t helping the stayer-versus-fling argument echoing through her head.

She wanted him to be a stayer; he was definitely a fling type of guy. What if they couldn’t come to an agreement? What then?

‘There, all done.’

He wiped his hands on a tea-towel hanging on the oven door handle, giving her a prime view of his butt as he bent forward. ‘Now, for some wine …’

He trailed off as he stood a lot quicker than anticipated and caught her staring at him, a slow smile spreading across his face. ‘Or would you prefer something else?’

Ignoring the way her heart pounded at the thought of ‘something else’, she handed him the bottle of wine.

‘As much as I fancy dessert I’ll settle for wine now.’

His eyes glittered with fervour as he registered what she meant. Okay, so she hadn’t banked on getting horizontal by the end of this evening, but seeing him look at her with potent desire told her exactly how much she was kidding herself.

She had as much chance of resisting him as taking some monotonous desk job somewhere: absolutely none.

She wanted him. Naked. Gloriously naked. Skin on skin. With her.

Beth wasn’t sure how long they stayed that way, gazes
locked, the heat sizzling between them having little to do with the curry and rice simmering on the stove, but she was the first to break the deadlock before she flung herself over the breakfast bar and tackled him to the floor.