Falling For Her Bad Boy Boss (Island Girls: 3 Sisters In Mauritius)

by Zee Monodee

  Suzanne stood and walked towards him. Flinging her arms around him, she then hugged him tight.

  With a soft chuckle, he returned the hug.

  “Thank you,” she said against his shoulder.

  The sound came out muffled, but he had a feeling something more was making her voice so strangled. Breaking away from her, he stared into her face and at the trails of tears down her cheeks.

  “Hey,” he said, at a loss. “What are the waterworks for?”

  “Thanks for the talk. You’d make a great dad, you know?”

  Let’s not go there.

  Because Neha came with her three kids, and bugger if those children hadn’t each wormed their way under his skin and into his previously stone-cold heart, too.

  Bloody hell. What was he getting into?

  “So, if I tone it down and don’t make it too sexy, you think I can do it?” Suzanne asked.

  Man, she didn’t let up, did she? “Yeah, you could spell it this way.”

  “And uh, Logan, can we keep this between us?”

  “You mean not let your mum know about our little talk?”

  She nodded so hard, it made him think of the possibility of whiplash.

  He shook his head and grinned, too, while handing her the hat. “Honeybun, I’m a bad influence on you.”

  She winked at him. “Pin it down to practice.”

  “Practice for what?”

  This time, she rolled her eyes and stood. “For working said ‘bad’ influence on Mum.”

  He couldn’t stifle a chuckle when she made inverted commas with her fingers as she said the word ‘bad.’

  “You think I should work it on her?”

  If there existed one person he could quiz about such matters without fear of appearing like an idiot, it sure would be Neha’s daughter.

  “Believe me, she more than needs it.” Suzanne turned her striking, piercing eyes on him. “Have you thought about what I told you at the party?”

  “I have.”

  “And?”

  “And what?”

  “Aw, don’t play dumb! Are you, or aren’t you gonna go after her?”

  “You’d want to see this happen, eh.”

  “Not just me, silly. She’ll want to see it happen, too. In case you haven’t noticed, Mum isn’t exactly the forward type of gal.”

  Yes. She suffers from the tension in silence and lets her emotions dance nakedly on her face.

  “I’m working on it.”

  “Well, work faster. You’ll lose her if you keep this snail’s pace up.”

  “Maybe I should offer you a Love Doctor spot in the radio features,” he teased.

  She rolled her eyes. “Logan, I’m a girl, too, you know. There’s only this long we’ll wait for a guy to hit on us. In my case, I’ll hit on him if he doesn’t get the hint. In Mum’s case, she’ll simply withdraw like a wilted flower if she thinks you don’t have a clue.”

  He pondered her words as he kept his gaze on her. “She has a clue, honeybun. And very soon, she’ll have more than a hint, too. I promise.”

  ***

  Neha settled down in the staff’s kitchen with a freshly brewed cup of tea in her hands. Across the table sat Vanessa and Griffin. The two held hands, a gleaming diamond on the girl’s left third finger.

  “You guys got some news to share?” she asked.

  The smitten couple exchanged a glance. Vanessa giggled and showed her bejewelled hand to Neha.

  “He finally asked me.”

  “Congratulations!” She stood and went around the table, to hug each of them as they got up to accept her best wishes. “When’s the wedding going to take place?”

  Griffin grimaced while Vanessa’s eyes sparkled.

  “We’re thinking in a few months’ time, you know, in the summer. Maybe on one of those island resorts, with a huge party. I’m already looking at the dresses ...”

  Neha kept one ear on Vanessa’s exuberant talk while she glanced at Griffin as she returned to her seat. He wore an expression of long-suffering torture. With a stifled laugh, she could imagine the flamboyant Van dragging the soft-spoken and quiet Griff into the whirlwind of preparations she had in mind for the wedding.

  Yet, for all the emotional suffering Van seemed to be inflicting on her fiancé, Griff’s eyes held the soft, gentle look of a man completely in love with his woman.

  A pang clanged hard in her heart. How many times in her life had she dreamed of finding this expression in the eyes of the man she’d loved with all she’d had?

  It had never happened in her and Rahul’s case. There’d been gentle affection, tenderness even, between them, but her husband had simply liked her. He’d never loved her. He’d never looked at her with the same kind of protective glance he’d reserved for Lara—

  Don’t. Go. There.

  “Neha?”

  “Hmm?” She tore her focus from her self-destructive thoughts and looked at Vanessa.

  “You seemed a million miles away.”

  “Sorry. Got lots on my mind.”

  “Well, add something else to your list of worries. You’ll need a great dress for the wedding day, as you’ll definitely be invited.” Still clutching Griff’s hand in one of hers, Vanessa reached out for Neha’s fingers with the other. “I’d never have taken a chance on Griff if we hadn’t had our talk on the day I nearly broke down and thought my life was over.”

  Neha squeezed her hand. She remembered that fateful day, in this same kitchen. “Something good can come out of everything to happen to us.”

  Vanessa lifted her gaze and grinned. “And here’s the best man in person.”

  The whiff of spicy aftershave hit Neha’s nostrils.

  Logan.

  He walked into the room and pulled a chair next to her.

  “You lovebirds have deserted your offices, eh.”

  His tone rang scolding, but a small smile hovered on his lips. He was teasing Griff and Vanessa. Who’d have thought Logan knew how to tease?

  Oh, he’s a tease, all right. Have you forgotten how he sucked cream off your thumb and then left you completely dangling?

  Heat crept up her whole body and burnt her cheeks at the memory. She shouldn’t think of this. Especially not when Logan had gone back to being his usual bossy and rigid self at the office. Sure, there existed a growing complicity between them in front of the camera. With the lens on them, they talked and interacted in a casual, natural, and easy way belying the tension between them when the spotlights turned off.

  Sexual tension.

  Neha gasped, and in an effort to deviate attention from the sound, she took a sip of scalding hot tea. The heat burnt her lips and tongue, and her whole face suffused with warmth.

  “Are you okay?” Logan asked.

  She looked up. The two of them sat alone in the big room. When had Griffin and Vanessa left?

  Probably when she’d been so wrapped up in her sensual thoughts, oblivious to anything around her.

  Drat, she needed to get a grip on herself. Fast.

  “Neha?”

  Don’t say my name like this. She could almost imagine this hushed tone playing out in a dark, moonlight-drenched bedroom ...

  “What?” Her tongue felt thick, still numb from the blast of heat that had burnt it. The word came out sounding as ‘wot.’

  “Bugger, you talk like a pom.”

  “Huh?”

  “It’s how we call a Briton in New Zealand.”

  “Oh.”

  “So, how come you speak like a pom, eh.”

  She shrugged. This conversation had become strange. Logan being casual with her?

  “Born there,” she said. “Came back to Mauritius when I was fourteen.”

  “You’re British, then.”

  “Dual nationality.” She frowned. “Why the interrogation?”

  He leaned forward.

  “It’s not an interrogation, babe. It’s called ‘getting to know someone’.” His eyes narrowed. “If I’m ever to interrogate yo
u one day, you’ll know the difference right away.”

  The fire in his gaze flamed her vocal chords to ashes. She gulped.

  “How?” she couldn’t help but ask.

  “I’ve got my methods.”

  The words thrummed low and husky, and coming from his deep, throaty voice—the one reminding her of sexy crooners of times past—they sent a shiver of unease down her spine.

  Stop kidding yourself. Unease, my foot! It was nothing but desire coursing up and down the length of her.

  His methods ... They made her think of tantalizing caresses, hot kisses, hard and fast lovemaking—

  Neha shot to her feet. The tea in her cup sloshed over the rim and onto her hand, the liquid warm but thank goodness, not hot enough any longer to burn. Rushing to the sink, she dunked the cup under the flow from the tap she opened to full force. The rush of the water took her by surprise, and the fragile porcelain escaped her grip and crashed into the sink.

  “Babe, are you sure you’re okay?”

  Logan’s concerned voice resonated near her ear.

  He shouldn’t stand so close to her. Blast it, his proximity did things to her, things she had seemingly no control over.

  Move away.

  Don’t go.

  Come closer.

  The conflicting desires jumped into her brain and made her dizzy.

  “Neha?”

  His hands lay on her shoulders. The warmth of his palms filtered through the tweed of her jacket in a soft, lingering heat diffusing through her body. She risked a glance at him over her shoulder.

  Tension tautened his features.

  “Did you hurt yourself?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  “Turn around.”

  Powerless to not heed his subtle command, she turned. Who was she kidding, really? She wanted to do as he told her. Maybe then, he’d bring an end to the nerve-wracking, sexy emotional torture he put her through.

  “Neha ...”

  “Yes?” Her voice came out all breathless.

  Licks of flames danced in the depths of his dark brown irises.

  “Will you spend one night with me?”

  At this, she blinked in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”

  He watched her intently for long seconds, then he smiled.

  Damn the man. Was he taking the mickey out of her or what?

  “What did you just say?”

  He released her and propped his delectable, jeans-clad arse against the counter behind him.

  “This coming Saturday night. It’s the media and advertisement awards ceremony at the Clover Leaf Resort. The station’s been nominated in a few categories, and I’ll have to attend.” He paused. “I keep hoping you would accompany me.”

  “Why me?”

  “I have two invites, and Griff’s got another commitment he cannot bail out of. You and I are up for a People’s Choice award, too.”

  Oh, no. Another spotlight? “It’s … only for a few hours, right?”

  “Ceremony and the party scheduled afterward are expected to go well into the night. Consequently, many of the participants will opt to spend the night at the resort and leave in daylight. I’ve already asked to have two rooms booked.”

  Her mouth went dry. Spend the night in Logan’s company? Wouldn’t that be insane?

  “The kids can stay with your parents or your sisters for one night, eh.”

  “Yes,” she replied without thinking, belatedly realizing she’d trumpeted her only out-card. What else would she find as an excuse to not attend the ceremony with him?

  “So,” he asked as he peeled himself from his position and came to stand in front of her. “What do you say?”

  She travelled her gaze up from his broad chest and massive shoulders, along his strong chin and jaw, his beautiful, kissable mouth, the broken-before-and-reset nose, to land into the dark pits where emotion seemed to swirl and beckon into an abyss.

  “Spend one night with you?” she gasped softly.

  “You’ll enjoy it,” he said in a hushed whisper.

  I’m sure I will—especially if I land in your bed.

  “Tell me to say no,” she whispered in a moment where utter vulnerability blew every inch of caution to the wind.

  “Now, why would I do that? I need you.”

  He paused again—a long, drawn out moment where she dangled at the edge of a cliff.

  “Say yes, Neha.”

  There could be no mistaking the subtle push laced into the words. Still, what she heard more clearly was the pronounced hint of expectation and uncertainty as to the outcome tingeing the gently voiced command.

  Neha suddenly didn’t want to heed caution, or her rational brain, or any other thing that would’ve told her to back out and run as fast as she could. No, she craved to be entranced by this man, completely taken by the sensual spell he wove around her.

  Completely taken by him, full stop.

  “Yes,” she said.

  She would surely regret this, but now was not the time to think about it. Now was a moment to be savoured, and savour it, she would.

  “You won’t regret it.”

  The quiet confidence in his tone soothed and rattled at the same time.

  I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore—wanna bet?

  ***

  What had gotten into her? What was she doing here, with him?

  Neha darted a look at the well-built man standing a few feet from her on the wooden pier.

  The drive to the east coast had been one loaded with tension. Logan had picked her up an hour earlier. Since they’d be spending the night, he’d reasoned they’d come and leave together; she wouldn’t need to drive all the way to and fro when they could both travel in his X6.

  It would’ve been pointless to say no. She’d maybe escape the trip to the coast, but she wouldn’t be able to escape the boat trip to the island where the resort sat and the evening she’d have to spend in his company, with the ceremony and the party afterward.

  An island. They’d cross water, leaving solid earth. She’d heard of the Clover Leaf Resort; what Mauritian didn’t know of the hotel located on a jutting piece of rock off the east coast of the main island? But in her mind, the place had been located a plank’s distance from mainland, a few minutes’ walk.

  To her surprise and utter dismay, she’d found out the resort was a full ten minutes’ boat ride away from the coast, from the pier on which they stood awaiting the skipper who’d take them across the small channel.

  Neha kept thinking of an ancient piece of lore her mother and aunts had always spoken about in the past. For some things to happen, one needed to leave solid ground and go over water.

  A stupid superstition, really, but in her current state, she couldn’t help but feel it contained a whopping wallop of truth and certainty for her.

  And then, once on the rock, she’d be alone with Logan, away from the world as they knew it, from the parameters shaping their everyday lives.

  How could she not be scared out of her wits?

  The time came for them to board the speedboat. Logan went in first, and then, he offered her his hand to help her lower herself onto the craft.

  Her gaze onto his upturned palm, she hesitated.

  Don’t do this. You will not be able to return.

  “Come on, Neha,” he said when she remained rooted to her spot. “Trust me.”

  She closed her eyes. She didn’t want to hear this, because if he asked her to place her trust in him, she might be too tempted to do just that. The tension-filled game he’d been playing with her nerves and her whole countenance for the past few weeks had taken their toll on her, and she couldn’t even trust herself anymore.

  Once she forced her eyes open, she found her hand in his warm grip, and, as she stepped onto the boat, he reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist, his solid muscles bracing her to him as the boat roared from the pier and took them to the rock sitting on the edge of the horizon.

  The place where s
he would lose herself, she couldn’t help but think with dread, and worse, anticipation.

  ***

  Neha didn’t know how the time flew by. She had no idea how she’d made it to her room, changed into the classic red sari she’d chosen to wear for the night, and joined Logan for dinner and the ceremony. She also held no clear recollection of walking up to the stage with him and accepting the People’s Choice Award they had won.

  Blast it, she recalled nothing. Nothing save for the way to dash back to her room as soon as diplomatically possible.

  She’d made a terrible mistake in coming here. At least, if she barricaded herself in her room, she’d be safe.

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, she fanned her face with a brochure lying on the side table. Could there be a heat wave on the coast? Where she lived, the highest point inland, the thick of winter thrived. But this meant squat in the coastal regions, where summer seemed to blaze all year through.

  Great big licks of fire scorched her cheeks, and she sighed. Of all the times to have hot flashes.

  Don’t think why you’re having said flashes in the first place!

  She reached for the remote control of the air-conditioning, but as soon as she powered the vents on full, she started sneezing. Damn sudden temperature change. She’d always had problems with it in the past. Couldn’t it have been different today?

  The only way she could get some cool breeze implied going out for the night air. Yet, going out meant leaving the sanctuary of the room. Did she dare attempt it?

  But, as the flush intensified on her face, she knew she had no other option. Standing up, pulling the long trail of the sari dangling off her left shoulder almost all the way to her ankle, she took a few steps towards the sliding door opening onto the terrace. As she inched the panel open, a whiff of cool wind brushed her face, and she sighed in bliss.

  At the same time, the hint of cool only made her skin burn hotter. No way around it—she’d have to go out.

  Draping the extra length of silk over her arm, she opened the door farther and stepped out onto the terrace. The fresh breeze from the sea soothed over her, and she breathed in the tangy, salty air.

  The full moon lingered low on the horizon. The clear sky twinkled with stars, devoid of any cloud. The huge, gleaming orb hung over the softly rushing water, its radiance sending a trail of silver over the sea, all the way to where the waves lapped at the white sand of the beach.