“Who else had you expected to be in my house? And what are you doing here?”
“You’re awake. What time is it?” Locating what she was looking for—her phone—she stared at it.
“Yes, I’m awake.” She still looked cute as hell, all mussed and sleep-drunk, even as heat poured into her cheeks, and she avoided looking at him. “It’s almost seven. You were sleeping on my sofa. Why? And how did you get in?”
“I couldn’t sleep last night, so I went for a walk and noticed your window was open.” She kept her gaze averted. If the heat staining her cheeks was any indication, she was embarrassed he’d caught her asleep on his sofa.
“So you broke into my villa?” Sam glanced around. Something was missing. In fact, a whole lot of stuff was missing. “Did you move my files?”
“It was a bit of a mess, so I tidied for you. I filed everything in the cabinets in alphabetical order—date and deadline.” She spoke to the floor.
“You broke into my house and tidied?”
“I didn’t break in. I told you, the window was open.” She still wouldn’t look at him.
“And you took it as an invitation to waltz in?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“You said that already.”
“I thought someone had broken in and I tried to wake you, but you’re a heavy sleeper.” She refused to meet his gaze and it was starting to bug him.
“It just gets better and better. Did it cross your mind not to sneak in through a stranger’s window and watch him sleep?”
“I didn’t intend to come in but the place was such a mess, I couldn’t just leave it like that. And I didn’t watch you sleep.” She pushed some strands of hair that had worked loose from her hair band out of her face, slid her fingers into her hair and cradled her head as she stared at her feet, still encased in her white deck shoes. “After I shook you a couple of times and you refused to wake, I left and came back down here.”
“To tidy my mess?”
She nodded.
“I don’t suppose you stopped to examine the possibility that I might actually have a system? That what you thought was a mess may very well be organized?” The muscles in his shoulders cramped. “How am I supposed to find the files I was working on before you ‘tidied’?”
“I told you; I sorted a system for you. I made a list of all the files you left out and their contents. I created an Excel file on your computer with all the information. Look.” She jumped to her feet, swiftly averted her eyes and rushed to his desk.
And that’s when he remembered he was butt naked.
“I’m going to put on some pants. Stay here, I want to talk to you.” He stalked off and left Riley staring after him with her mouth hanging open.
****
Holy smoking macaroni!
Riley had gone shaky and weak, and hot all over. She dropped into the comfy executive chair behind Sam’s desk, blew out her breath. She still couldn’t believe Sam had stood stark naked in front of her and interrogated her. Now that was a man at absolute ease with his body. And goodness, what a body. Lean muscle roped every inch of him, his stomach hard and ridged with muscle so taut looking she yeaned to reach out and touch. His whole body was nicely tanned, too.
Yes, she noticed all of that in the split second after he’d woken her with his rough growl.
Did he sunbathe in the buff down on that secluded part of Lover’s Beach in front of their villas? The thought heated her entire body and made her go all melty just thinking about it. Sam in a suit was arresting. Sam in the nude was stupefying. Desire and unease competed inside her. She was sure there must be some sort of etiquette associated with sleeping on your neighbor’s sofa uninvited then seeing him starkers that dictated she executed a rapid exit before he came back. How was she ever going to look him in the face after she’d seen his…everything? All she could say was the man was built to seriously impress.
The low murmur coming from his bedroom sounded as if he was on the phone, then Riley heard the shower whoosh on and debated whether to stay or leave. Making her exit now seemed a prudent idea, yet the smooth authority in Sam’s command to stay kept her glued to the chair. When her knee started to bounce with nervous energy, she leaped up to make coffee, anything to keep her mind from bombarding her with pictures of a naked Sam Rutherford.
She forced herself to deny the images that kept coming, and her desire to trace her fingers through his chest hair, to let her mouth follow the thin trail that cut a path between the ridges on his stomach to its destination.
Riley planned her day instead. Once she got back to her place, she was going to hit the shower and spend the day job hunting. But her thoughts drifted back to Sam. She could go all gooey thinking about him, but the fact remained that in all the time they’d been neighbors, he’d never shown an interest in her.
Not once.
By walking around naked in her presence without batting an eye hadn’t he proved he didn’t think of her that way?
She’d bet Sam liked his women sophisticated and serious. The type of woman she used to pretend to be in order to please Beto. He never liked that she was a little accident-prone. He hadn’t liked her sense of humor either. In fact now she thought about it, she’d never dated a guy willing to accept her as she was. They all tried to change her in some way. If it wasn’t her clothes or her hair, it had been the way she carried herself. And she was sick of feeling like she had to become some sort of chameleon with each relationship. If nothing else, the thought of having to make herself over in order to please a man would be what she needed to break the magnetic pull Sam seemed to have on her hormones.
Hadn’t she danced on her front lawn in the middle of the night to celebrate her new-found freedom to be herself? Why would she risk losing that again for a guy?
All she had to do now was get her body to agree.
She was still battling to tame the heat burning her skin and the jittery sensation in her stomach when Sam breezed into the light airy kitchen.
The rich aroma of fresh coffee filled the room, mingled with the warm woodsy spice of Sam’s cologne. Tall and gorgeous with his cool blue-gray eyes, trimmed stubble and dark hair still damp from his shower, he looked smoldering in his lightweight navy suit. Something sensuous fluttered inside her.
“Sorry about that. If I knew you were here I would’ve pulled on pants before I left my room.”
What should she say to that? I’m sorry you took the trouble to get dressed ’cause the view was spectacular? Probably best not to say that.
“I’m sorry I fell asleep on your sofa. I only meant to rest for a minute,” she said instead as she poured him a mug of coffee like nothing had happened. Like she wasn’t on the verge of hyperventilating just because his fingers brushed hers when he took the mug. “I didn’t know how you liked your coffee.”
She’d already added milk and sugar to her mug.
“Just like this is fine.” He dipped his head and breathed in the aroma of his black, unsweetened coffee.
If he could be blasé about this morning, so could she. She would act like she saw naked men all day long and seeing him like that meant nothing at all.
“Sit with me.”
Did he say sit on me?
“Riley?”
“Hmmm?” She glanced up into his face. He was frowning, so he couldn’t have said what she thought she heard. “Sorry?”
“I said come over to the breakfast bar and sit with me.”
“Oh.” That’s what he said. She grabbed her mug and followed him, trying not to let the image of his naked butt—firm and tanned—besiege her imagination. “Aren’t you late for work?”
“I’m my own boss, but I did call in to let my partner know I was going to be in later today.”
“Oh.” See? This was easy. She predicted she’d be so good at keeping her attraction for Sam under his radar that he’d never suspect a thing. Riley plunked onto the stool next to his.
He smiled and her insides did a slow melt.
Oh, boy!
He took a swig of his brew, focused his attention on her. “You mentioned you worked as a personal assistant.”
“Yes, I did. Why?”
“I want to offer you a job.”
Chapter Five
Riley instantly had two reactions. One: elation. Two: utter panic. She’d gotten a job—yay rah-rah! And the salary Sam offered to pay her meant she’d be able to keep her house. Crisis averted. No need to move back to her parents’ in Cheshire.
But how was she going to control her feelings for Sam when she had to spend hours each day with him? She needed the job. She wasn’t idiotic enough to turn it down. No matter how her body zinged and tingled when Sam looked at her, she’d be the best PA he ever had.
Riley grinned, stuck out her hand. She meant to offer it to Sam in a hearty handshake. What she actually did was knock her mug of coffee into his lap. Blessed relief that it had grown cold…well, at least no longer scalding hot. She’d forgotten about it while Sam had outlined the job offer and salary benefits.
“Damn.” Sam leapt from his stool, the mug crashed to the tiled floor.
Riley leaped up too, mortified. Sam seemed to bring out the clumsy in her. “I’m so sorry.” She grabbed the tea towel and swiped it over the front of his suit trousers. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”
Sam’s hand shot out and clasped her wrist, ending her frantic effort to clean him up. “It’s okay, the coffee was lukewarm.” He prised the towel from her fingers.
Fire shot up her arm and through her body. This time Riley didn’t stop to debate whether to go or stay, she spun on her heels. “Thank you for the job, Sam; I’ll be there at eight o’clock tomorrow sharp.” She was out of the kitchen by the time she spoke the last part, and heading out of Sam’s house at a rapid pace. She had to make a hasty exit before he changed his mind about the job offer.
“Riley, wait.”
No way was she going to hang around. Goodness knew what would happen next. She quickened her steps. If he changed his mind about the job, she wasn’t ready to hear the rejection.
“Riley?”
Why was it taking so long to get out of here?
“Riley!”
She finally made it outside into the crisp clear blue brightness of another beautiful day on Nevis. That’s when she bolted to her villa, locked the door and slid to the rustic oak floor in absolute dismay.
****
Sam watched Riley take off to her villa like an F-1 race car. She disappeared inside within seconds, and he heard the door slam shut behind her.
He glanced down at his navy linen/cotton pants. The wet coffee stain ran from his waist to mid-thigh. His pants were probably ruined, yet he found himself chuckling at the craziness of the last twenty-four hours. Riley had managed to back into his car, cook him dinner, and amuse him with stories over said dinner, break into his house, tidy his office, and dump cold coffee in his lap. No other woman he’d ever know had been so dynamic. There was something about her vulnerable pizzazz that captured him and made him want to kiss her. When she flew into action with the tea towel on his crotch and started his personals stirring in his pants, he had to stop her before things got out of hand. Already, he fought a continuous desire to grab Riley and kiss her. Would her lips beneath his make his body tingle the way her fingers had?
Hiring Riley was going to be a mistake. Not because she hadn’t even begun the job yet and she’d already dumped a mug of coffee into his lap, but because he didn’t know how he’d resist kissing her when they’d be spending eight to twelve hours or more together every day—starting tomorrow.
Regardless of what his body wanted, he would have to maintain a purely professional relationship with Riley. He did still have something he needed to speak with her about, and since she hadn’t hung around long enough for him to broach the subject, he’d simply have to go over to her place and see her. Right after he got changed and cleaned up the mess on his kitchen floor.
****
Riley ducked her head under the shower spray.
“What a complete idiot. Somebody please put me out of my misery now.” She let the cool shower water collect in her mouth before she spouted it in a streaming arc in front of her. Of all the stupid things she could have done, smacking a mug of coffee into her new boss’s lap had to be top of the dumb-things-to-do list. How was she going to face him? Riley squeezed her eyes tight against the memory of her hand rubbing a tea towel over the front of Sam’s trousers.
What was she thinking?
Unfortunately, she hadn’t been thinking. She blamed the lack of blood flow to her brain on the weird pull Sam had on her. He made her nervous and clumsy.
So really, the coffee in the lap was his fault.
She reached for the shampoo, squeezed a blob into her palm and got to work lathering her hair. Blaming Sam was ridiculous. She’d been gauche, and she’d probably only get worse the longer she spent in his proximity.
Prickly heat crawled up her body. What must he think of her? Riley exhaled, trying to ease the building tension. She desperately needed a job and although Sam’s offer was perfect, she’d have to tell him she couldn’t work for him. The perpetual self-imposed pressure to maintain her distance from him would create more awkward moments, and heavens knew how she’d end up maiming the poor man.
She’d just have to get her butt in gear and find a job immediately. No matter what sort of job she’d have to take, so long as she did find a job by next Friday.
Mind made up, Riley washed the shampoo from her hair. As soon as she got dressed she’d tell Sam she wasn’t taking the job, after all.
****
Sam knocked on Riley’s front door.
No answer.
He knocked again.
She was in there, so why wasn’t she answering the door? He could think of only one reason. She was still embarrassed. Pink had suffused her face as she’d stared at his pants front, but before he had time to reassure her she’d bailed. Now she refused to even talk to him.
That didn’t bode well for their working relationship.
Sam knocked harder. “Riley? I know you’re in there. Open up, I need to speak with you.”
Maybe she thought he wanted to fire her before she even started work. He knew how much she needed employment, and he wasn’t heartless enough to pull the job from under her just because of a simple accident.
“I’m not here to fire you.”
Not even that assurance got a response. Sam stepped back from the door. Like his, Riley’s villa had a wraparound terrace but unlike his, hers had several pots of lush exotic plants and flowers which gave off heady tropical scents. Sam followed the terrace to the other side of the villa, passing Riley’s pink punching bag hanging from its stand. He’d seen her working out on her terrace a few times, and he couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy the view of her tight body working up a sweat.
Had she left a window open by any chance? If she had, he’d have no compunction about slipping through it. If Riley could enter his home through a window uninvited, surely it permitted him to do the same?
Just when he was beginning to think she wasn’t home, he spotted an open window around the back of the property. Sam wasted no time in pulling himself up and in through the opening. As he straightened, he heard the shower running in the en suite and glanced around his surroundings.
It seemed Riley hadn’t been avoiding him; she’d been taking a shower and hadn’t heard his knock.
Of the two bedrooms the villa contained, this one had to be Riley’s. She’d decorated it in soft peaches, cream and taupe. The feminine room smelled of her exotic scent. Sam breathed it in as his gaze landed on the four-poster queen-size bed adorned with cream bedding, taupe comforter and various shades of peach throw pillows. A cream gauze canopy and mosquito netting surrounded the high bed and padded taupe headboard. Riley’s bedroom was Mediterranean chic, designed for a princess. The unmade bed invited him to take a load off, so Sam strolled over the oa
k floor, kicked his shoes off and waited for Riley.
****
Riley couldn’t say she felt great about her decision, but what choice did she have? She couldn’t work with Sam. Not after everything she’d done in the last day. Why had she let herself even think about accepting his job offer? Clearly desperate, his offer to give her a job had sounded like a gift straight out of God’s hands. If she’d taken a moment to think it through, she would have noticed it would never work. For starters, she’d seen the man naked. That certainly took the mystery out of picturing your boss in the nude. She wouldn’t have to; she’d already seen everything he hid beneath his beautifully fitting suits, which made things even worse because she couldn’t stop thinking about what she saw. Even a split-second was enough to keep her mind permanently occupied.
Riley towel-dried her hair as she padded from the en suite to her bedroom. She dreaded having to face Sam. Maybe if she didn’t hurry, he’d leave for work and she’d have to wait until after six this evening to reject the job offer.
Yeah, that’s what she’d do. Wait until late evening. By then this morning’s awkward moment would be a distant memory. After that she’d give him a wide berth, because every time she thought of him her imagination placed him right in the middle of her bed with her straddling him.
She definitely needed more time before she saw Sam again.
“I’d say we’re now even.”
At the sound of the smooth, sexy drawl Riley yanked her towel from her hair; the fine hairs on her body stood at attention, goosing her flesh. Shock slammed into her.
Her imagination had finally pushed her over the edge, because why else would she be seeing Sam lying on her bed? When his gaze did a slow sultry trip along her body, she remembered she’d left her towel in the bathroom and was as naked as he’d been at minutes to seven this morning.
She let out a squeak and dashed back into the en suite.
“Sam! What are you doing in my room? And how did you get in?” she yelled through the bathroom door while shoving her arms into a peach bathrobe. She knotted the sash in hurried jerky movements.
Kiss Me Again Page 3