Daring to Date Her Boss

by Joanna Neil

  He stopped her words with tender kisses over her mouth, her cheeks, gliding along the column of her throat in a sensual, exhilarating journey of exploration. ‘I can’t bear to think of him sweet-talking you into going back to him. I need you,’ he said again, his voice rough with desire. ‘I want you so much.’

  She lifted her hands to his chest, feeling the warmth of his skin emanating from beneath his shirt. She let her fingers trail over the rigid six-pack of his stomach and upwards to explore the inviting, smooth silk of his pectorals. As her hands roamed a soft groan escaped him.

  ‘It feels so good to have you touch me that way.’

  She lifted her face for his kiss, lost herself in the wonder of being with him this way. But at the back of her mind she couldn’t help wondering whether she was making a big mistake. Could she really be letting this happen?

  She wanted him, loved being in his arms. She longed to have him tell her the things she wanted to hear, but how could that ever come about? He didn’t love her, did he? He’d never said those words she desperately needed him to say. And through it all he was still her boss, the man who held power over her future. Hadn’t she told herself she would never get into this situation ever again? What was wrong with her that she couldn’t find the willpower to keep him at arm’s length?

  A piercing beep came from somewhere on the desk behind them, and for a moment she stayed perfectly still, unable to take it in. It wasn’t the beep of a phone or any other sound that she recognised right away.

  It came again, and Tyler stiffened. ‘No...no...how could I have been so stupid?’ He straightened and eased himself away from her.

  ‘What is it?’ She looked at him in confusion.

  ‘The laptop—the battery’s about to give up.’ He grimaced. ‘I need to sort this out; I’ve got to save my work before I lose what I’ve been doing for the last hour.’

  He looked at her, his expression full of frustration, exasperation and apology.

  ‘It’s okay.’ She stepped to one side so that he could sort out the problem. Perhaps it was just as well that they had been interrupted. She still wasn’t clear in her head that she was doing the right thing. Hadn’t Michael used soft words and easy charm to convince her that he was the right man for her? Wasn’t she in danger of falling into that same old trap?

  She left Tyler to work his magic with the computer, telling him briefly, ‘If you need to go on working, you can use my laptop. You just need to save your work to a memory stick and transfer it over. I brought it with me.’

  Distracted, he looked at her. ‘Thanks. That would be great.’

  She took her laptop to him then shut the study door and went to help the children get ready for bed.

  She had to go next door to pick up what they needed, but she was back within a few minutes, glad of the light burning in Tyler’s house and the warmth that emanated from the flickering flames of the gas fire in the lounge and the heat from the Aga in the kitchen.

  Tyler was still working in the study when she decided to go to bed. It seemed that whatever he set out to do, he gave it everything he had. Wouldn’t it be something if he decided he wanted her at all costs?

  It wasn’t long, though, before doubts began to creep back in. Hadn’t he said that Imogen was the ideal woman for him? Perhaps not in so many words, but he’d said they were very much alike and asked why they wouldn’t be a couple. So why was he kissing another woman? Had his kisses been born out of a momentary, compelling desire, or was there something more going on in his subconscious?

  She didn’t sleep well. The storm raged through the night and she tossed and turned as flashes of lightning lit up the room and thunder growled. In the early hours Charlie clambered into bed beside her, snuggling into the shelter of her arms.

  He wasn’t there when she woke in the morning. Sitting up in bed, she looked around, befuddled for a second or two until she had her bearings. The electric clock at the side of the bed still had a blank screen so obviously the power hadn’t been restored overnight. That had been some storm.

  Hurriedly, she washed and dressed, pulling on a pair of blue jeans and a button-through top that clung to her curves and outlined her slender waist.

  ‘Can we make breakfast?’ Becky asked, coming into the room as she finished dressing. ‘We’re all hungry.’

  ‘Yes, I should think so. I’ll see what there is.’

  ‘We had cereals first thing, but Charlie’s starving and Caitlin says we have to wait till you come down before we help ourselves to anything else.’

  ‘Well, she’s right. This isn’t our house.’ She mulled it over. ‘I’ll have to do a grocery shop and stock up again for Tyler. Is he up and about yet?’

  ‘I haven’t seen him.’

  ‘Okay, well, we’ll go and see what we can rustle up, shall we? I expect he’ll want something to eat before he leaves.’

  ‘All right.’

  Saskia’s jaw dropped when walked into the once pristine kitchen a couple of minutes later. It was a mess. Whoever had set out the cereals for breakfast—Becky and Charlie, she suspected—had left small puddles of milk, sugar and wheat flakes all over the worktop. And that wasn’t all...

  ‘I gave Boomer wheat flakes for his breakfast,’ Charlie said. ‘He liked them. And then he wanted to go out, so I let him into the garden. I think it’s a bit muddy out there after all the rain.’

  ‘Yes, I can see that.’ A trail of muddy paw prints ran higgledy-piggledy across the tiled floor.

  ‘Good grief.’ Tyler’s voice sounded from behind her and she half turned to look at him. His eyes were wide with disbelief. His face was dark with overnight shadow, lending him a roguish, sexy air, and his hair was glistening as though he’d just come from the shower. ‘How long have the children been up?’

  ‘Um...about an hour, I think. They’re used to being up and about early for school.’

  He winced. ‘Have you seen the state of the lounge? It looks as if a bomb’s gone off in there.’

  ‘Uh...no, I haven’t yet.’ She frowned. ‘We cleared everything away last night. Are you saying it’s less than perfect?’

  ‘Hah.’ He made a choking sound. ‘You’re joking, aren’t you? You can’t see the floor in there for plastic, among other things, and it looks as though the new cushions have been used for some kind of pillow fight. How can three young people cause so much devastation?’

  She pulled in a calming breath. ‘To be fair, I don’t think Caitlin would have had much to do with it.’

  ‘Just the two of them, then...that’s even worse! How do you live with all this chaos?’

  ‘I’m not sure I do.’ She shrugged vaguely. ‘This is all new to me, too, you know.’

  ‘Yes, of course it is. I just don’t think I could ever live like this.’ He looked beyond her to the window and the garden outside and exhaled sharply.

  She could see the reason. One part of the once perfect lawn was a quagmire, an unpleasant memento of last night’s storm.

  ‘That part of the garden is always getting waterlogged.’ His mouth flattened and he looked down at his watch. ‘I need to finish getting ready. I only came down for coffee—on second thoughts, I’ll get it later.’

  He obviously needed to get away for a while from the scenes of devastation all around him. ‘I’ll make it for you,’ she said. ‘Will you have it in here?’

  ‘Uh...I don’t think so. I need to sort some papers out for my briefcase. I’ll be in the study. Thanks.’

  She left the coffee on his desk a couple of minutes later and went to rummage through the cupboards to see what was available for breakfast. He wouldn’t have time for anything much, she guessed, so she switched on the gas oven and started to heat up a batch of croissants. He hadn’t meant what he’d said about not living like this, had he? Did he never want to have a family of his own?


  She began to clear up the kitchen, wiping down the surfaces and mopping the floor, until it was restored to its former glory. The room was warm from the heat of the oven and her face was flushed from her exertions so after a while she undid a few buttons and ran a hand through her shoulder-length curls, pushing them back from her cheeks.

  Leaving the children at the table, spooning jam on their croissants, she slid a couple more on to a plate and took them along to the study.

  Tyler was in there, standing by the desk, sipping coffee while leafing through a stack of papers. His briefcase was open, next to his laptop bag, and it looked as though he had everything more or less in hand.

  ‘I brought you these,’ she said softly. ‘You should eat something before you go.’

  Perhaps she had taken him by surprise when she walked into the room. It may have been that he hadn’t heard her knock or he was absorbed in what he was reading...whatever caused it, he suddenly seemed to swallow his coffee the wrong way and coughed, staring at her with a stunned expression. She had no idea what was wrong. All she knew was that his gaze never wavered from her and as he stood, as though mesmerised, the coffee started to spill from his cup in a slow, inevitable drip, drip onto his papers.

  ‘Tyler, your coffee—’

  He came to with a snap, putting his cup down and muttering something incomprehensible under his breath.

  ‘Here, let me help.’ She hurried forward, pulling some clean tissues out of a box on the table, but he put up a hand and warded her off.

  ‘No...don’t help me...don’t do anything...please.’ He gritted the words through his teeth. ‘Just stay away...I can manage. Thank you.’

  She didn’t understand his rejection, and seeing his irritability she backed away from him, feeling hurt and awkward. Why could she never get anything right? Or, rather, why was nothing ever right for him where she was concerned?

  ‘You know, Tyler,’ she said carefully, ‘you should start to think about what’s most important in life. You can work towards making an awesome presentation, and you can live your life in a beautiful show house, but none of those things are important in the grand scheme of things. People are what matter...people who care for you and make it so that you want to come home to them. Perhaps you need to take some time to work out what it is you really want.’

  He stared at her, straightening up from mopping up his damp papers. ‘Saskia—’

  ‘No, please don’t say anything. I think you’ve already said enough. I’m going to leave you to get ready for your trip to the mainland. I hope everything goes well for you.’

  She went back to the kitchen and tidied up, doing anything she could to keep busy and avoid him. She made sure that the children gathered up their belongings and returned the house to the way it had been when they’d arrived.

  The power came back on a few minutes later as they left the house.

  CHAPTER NINE

  ‘WILL MUMMY AND Daddy be coming home soon?’ Becky sat patiently on the edge of the bed on Sunday morning while Saskia brushed her hair. Her golden curls gleamed in the sunlight that filtered through the curtains.

  ‘I hope so,’ Saskia answered cautiously. ‘Your mummy is feeling a lot better, so that’s good news, isn’t it? Perhaps we should get her some flowers and magazines, and maybe take some books in for your daddy to read?’ Though whether he’d be feeling up to reading was up for debate at the moment.

  ‘Yes. He likes detective stories.’

  ‘Okay, we’ll sort some out for him.’

  Becky went off to play and Saskia sat for a while, thinking about everything that had happened in these last few weeks. It was as though she’d been caught up in a whirlwind that had tossed her this way and that.

  And through it all there had been Tyler. She sighed. Did he even know how much he was missing out? Was it so important that everything be organised and carefully structured?

  He’d been under stress yesterday—it had been the culmination of a long tense previous day and he’d been up into the early hours, getting things just right. It was no wonder he’d lost his cool. When he was under that kind of constant tension something was bound to give way. Even so, it hurt that he couldn’t seem to get his priorities right.

  Pulling herself together, she made her regular call to the hospital. Perhaps Sam would be feeling a bit better today. She could really do with some good news.

  ‘I’m afraid he’s taken a turn for the worse and we’re really quite worried about him,’ the nurse told her, and her spirits sank. ‘We’re doing everything we can to make him comfortable, but he’s finding it difficult to get his breath. The doctor’s coming in to see him some time this morning—fairly soon, we hope.’

  Saskia cut the call after a minute or so and tried to think what she should do. She needed to go and see Sam, but it wouldn’t be right to take the children with her when he was so ill. It would worry them too much.

  There was only one thing to do...she would have to ask Tyler for help. She didn’t want to do it, but she really didn’t see any other way out. Rosie wouldn’t be able to look after the children today and there was no one else she could call on.

  She went downstairs to prepare breakfast for everyone and then left Caitlin in charge while she hurried next door.

  ‘Saskia—it’s good to see you.’ Tyler invited her into the house, obviously a little puzzled because she was on her own. ‘Have you left the children to their own devices? Are you sure the house is going to be safe from them while you’re out?’

  She managed a rueful smile. ‘I’m sure everything will be fine for a few minutes.’ She walked with him to the kitchen but turned down his offer of a cup of coffee. ‘No, thanks. I can’t stay.’ She looked around. The place was spotless as usual.

  ‘How did the presentation go yesterday?’ she asked. ‘It must have been good—you put a lot of work into it.’

  He smiled. ‘Yes, it went well, thanks. I think some changes will be made regionally now, based on our model for cardiovascular services.’

  ‘A success, then.’ Her mouthed tilted a fraction. ‘I expect Imogen is pleased.’

  ‘Yes, she is. She put a lot of effort into getting things right.’

  ‘With your help.’

  ‘Well, yes...we’re friends, after all, so when she asked me for advice I did what I could for her.’

  ‘You’re just friends?’

  Perhaps something in her voice implied she thought otherwise, because he said quietly, ‘Yes, that’s all. There’s nothing going on between us.’ He gave her a probing glance. ‘Saskia, about yesterday—’

  ‘It’s all right. You don’t need to explain.’ It was a huge relief to have her mind put at rest on that score, but things had moved on and now she doubted she and Tyler could ever get together in the way she wanted. They were way too different in their outlook. As much as she loved him, she doubted it would ever work between them.

  She said carefully, ‘You were under a lot of stress. It was difficult for you, having us all invade your space, and then it seemed as though your hard work might be ruined at the last minute. I do understand.’

  He shook his head. ‘I don’t think you do. I try to do my best, but somehow when I’m with you things never go according to plan.’ He frowned. ‘The trouble is, I can’t think straight when I’m around you. I get distracted and I’m not usually like that. I’ve always been clear-headed and on the ball and it’s frustrating not being in control any more.’

  Her mouth quirked. ‘So I’m to blame for your mistakes? Sorry, but it won’t hold up in court.’

  He laughed. ‘You know what I mean.’

  ‘I think so, yes.’ She gave a rueful smile. She was glad he couldn’t think straight around her—but it still worried her that they were miles apart in the way they lived their lives, and there was nothi
ng on earth she could do to change that.

  She frowned. ‘Tyler, the reason I’m here... I came to ask a favour. I’m worried about Sam—there’s been bad news from the hospital and I need to go and see him. The only thing is, I don’t think it’s a good idea to take the children with me, so—’

  ‘You want me to look after them for you?’

  She nodded anxiously. ‘I know it’s a lot to ask.’

  ‘That’s all right. They can come round here and hang out.’

  She breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Thanks. I didn’t know what else to do. They could watch DVDs if you want to make life easier on yourself...and Becky and Charlie can bring their colouring books. Those usually keep them quiet for half an hour or so. Caitlin’s no trouble, of course. She’ll sort herself out.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it.’ He studied her face. ‘Have you called the number I gave you to arrange a boat ride over there?’

  ‘Not yet. I had to sort this out first.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll give Tim a ring for you. I’m sure he won’t mind taking you over there and picking you up again later. He’s Nicole’s husband—he owes me a few favours.’

  ‘Thanks. That’ll be a great help, if he really is okay with it. I’d better go and organise things.’ She made to turn away but he stopped her, laying a hand gently on her arm. For a second or two her heart gave a staccato beat, but he didn’t take her into his arms or try to kiss her, and despondency made her shoulders droop a little.

  ‘Have you taken your seasickness tablets?’

  She pulled in a quick breath. ‘No...I didn’t give it a thought.’ She winced. ‘They won’t work in time, will they?’

  ‘I’ll give you an injection. It’ll make you a bit sleepy for about an hour, but you can curl up in a chair until Tim arrives, and he won’t mind if you doze off on the boat. I’ll explain things to him.’

  She frowned. ‘How is it that you have the right medication to hand? You can’t keep everything in your medical bag, can you?’

  ‘This is an island community, and people use boats quite a lot to get around. We’re used to islanders and tourists having problems, so now we’re prepared.’ He waved her to a chair. ‘Make yourself comfortable while I go and get things sorted out. I’ll organise the children so all you need to do is rest and let the injection do its work.’