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‘How are the photos coming?’ Though Rick’s question was calm and sensible, the expression in his eyes as he glanced at her still held remnants of yesterday evening’s interest.
Marissa’s pulse fluttered. ‘I’m almost done. Every digital camera is different but I think the shots I’m getting will be fine.’
‘Good. That’s good.’ Rick gestured to the businessmen. ‘Perhaps a group shot of all of you?’
He made the suggestion in the deep, even tone he’d used when Marissa had stepped into his office suite this morning and found him already immersed in a deluge of paperwork at his desk. A tone that said they were all about business. But his gaze had contradicted that.
The man had probably invented the term ‘confusion’. For anyone near him, that was. And she hadn’t wanted him to kiss her last night. She’d simply lost her focus for a moment.
‘Hold the pose, gentlemen.’ She forced a wide smile as she changed cameras again. ‘I need another two photos yet.’
Ozzie the koala didn’t seem to mind being held and oohed and aahed over. He sat quietly, his keeper at the side looking on. Ozzie looked utterly adorable with his thick fur and blunt nose and fluffy ears, though his claws were sharp and strong, made for climbing the eucalyptus trees he fed from.
Fortunately the koala was tame and well-behaved. If Marissa could tame her hormones around her boss in the same way, that would be helpful. She took a moment and tried not to think of Rick’s presence close beside her, or the fact that more than simply her chemical composition seemed interested in him.
She had to see him as her boss and nothing else, and with that in mind, she switched her attention to work. ‘Here’s hoping this visit ends in a successful outcome.’
‘The team seemed pleased with our talks. They’ll meet with at least two other major companies before they leave Sydney and then there’ll be a period of time before they make a decision, but I’m hopeful.’ Rick lowered the final camera and turned his gaze to their visitors.
He smiled towards the group. ‘That’s the last photo.’
Mr Qi spoke quietly to the keeper and then gestured them over. ‘We’d like one of our hosts with Ozzie. Miss Warren will hold him, please.’
To refuse in such circumstances would be out of the question. Instead, Marissa pasted a smile on her face and came forward to hand over her share of the cameras. She drew one long uneasy breath as Rick approached her.
His head bent close to hers. ‘Are you okay with this? All the animals here are trained to sit placidly.’
‘That’s not …’ She refused to admit the thought that being close to the boss, not the furry animal’s manners concerned her. ‘I’ve never held a koala but I’m not worried he’ll hurt me. I just hadn’t expected them to ask for this.’
‘Sometimes we overlook our own tourist attractions,’ he murmured and his gaze roved over her. For all the world as though he felt he’d overlooked her?
Well, she wasn’t much to notice today, in any case. She wore a drab navy cardigan buttoned to the neck over a soft white blouse. A long, ordinary, unadorned navy skirt completed the outfit, so there wasn’t a whole lot worth looking at.
Covered from neck to calves in the most unappealing outfit she had? And mostly as a deterrent to herself? To help her not to think about her boss? Who, her?
‘Keep the cardigan on while you hold him.’
His comment didn’t make a lot of sense, but she gave a small nod to indicate her acquiescence before she turned to face their guests.
They all waited expectantly with cameras poised.
‘This will be a thrill for me. Thank you for the opportunity.’ It cost nothing to be positive, right? At least Rick hadn’t realised the real reason for her unease.
That depressing, confusing, annoying, irritating and wholly aggravating thought disappeared when the keeper put the koala into her arms and another feeling altogether swept through her.
Ozzie cuddled into her like a baby, a warm soft weight with one arm draped over hers and his head turned to the side beneath her chin. Her arms closed around his warmth and a wealth of completely unexpected emotions clogged her throat before her thought processes could catch up with her reaction.
For one long aching moment as Rick stepped behind her, put his arm about her shoulders and she looked up into those intense grey eyes, she longed for the completion of a child. A baby to love and nurture, care for and protect, and the feelings that she’d suppressed over recent months—even longer—all tore through her.
She hadn’t impulse-bought that baby wool to make socks for herself. A part of her had reached from way deep down inside for something she wanted, had tried to ignore—how could she want such a thing? It was so foolish to long for something that might never happen for her.
It took two to produce a baby—two willing people and a whole lot of thought and commitment and other things. She should only allow herself hopes and dreams and goals that she knew she could achieve. She certainly did not want to have her boss’s baby. It would be absolutely beyond the point of ridiculousness to imagine such a thing.
Even so, Rick’s eyes locked with hers and something deep flickered in his expression, something more than curiosity or simply a man noticing a woman.
Maybe he’d read all those thoughts in her face before she’d been able to mask them? Panic threatened until she assured herself he couldn’t possibly have done so. She hadn’t realised they were even there until they’d hit her so unexpectedly. Why would he realise such things about her?
‘All right?’ His gaze was steady as he looked at her, and she managed a shaky breath before the tension fell back enough so that their surroundings came into focus again and she felt in control of herself once more.
‘Yes, thanks.’ She let her fingers stroke over the koala’s soft fur, let herself come back together. ‘He’s unexpectedly light for his size.’
‘A wombat would be far heavier to hold—the compact steamroller of Australian wildlife.’ Rick’s quip helped ease the moment, they both smiled at long last, and then they smiled for the cameras.
When the photo session ended Rick’s arm seemed to linger a moment before he dropped it, but he strode purposefully forward and with due ceremony invited the men to enjoy another hour at the zoo. ‘I asked the keepers to save a surprise, and we hope you’ll enjoy the opportunity to feed some wombats and kangaroos and other animals while you think over our lunch discussion. There’ll be coffee and cake waiting at the restaurant for you when you’re finished.’
He left them with smiles and bows and swept Marissa away, who had now pulled herself together. That reaction earlier … It was just some crazy thing that had happened.
She removed her cardigan, rolled it into a ball and wiped her hands on it and warily acknowledged that perhaps biological ticking and the Big 3-0 did appear to have somewhat of an association inside her after all. What to do about that was the question.
When they climbed into Rick’s big car, she set the cardigan on the floor behind her seat.
‘They smell a bit, don’t they?’ Rick watched Marissa dispose of her cardigan and tried not to think of that moment back there when she’d first taken the koala into her arms and seemed so surprised and devastated, and he’d wanted to hold her, just scoop her up and take her somewhere and cuddle and comfort her.
‘Yes, Ozzie smelled of eucalyptus and warm furry animal.’ She buckled her seat belt and sat very primly in the seat, her back stiff enough to suggest that she didn’t want to delve too deeply into her reaction to holding the animal. ‘His coat was a little oily. Thanks for the hint to keep my cardigan on.’
She’d seemed empty somehow, and he’d wanted to give her what was missing, but his response had been on an instinctive level he couldn’t begin to fathom. Well, it didn’t matter anyway because she was his secretary, nothing more, and since that was exactly how he wanted things to be … ‘You’re welcome.’
He glanced at her. She was dressed conservatively, but the prissy white blouse just made her hair look fluffier and made him think all the more about the curves hidden away beneath the shirt’s modest exterior.
So much for his vow not to think about her as an attractive woman after having his arms around her for those brief moments last night.
‘You seemed well prepared for the koala experience.’ Her voice held a deliberate calm and good cheer. ‘Have you—’
‘Held one? Yes. Once.’ It hadn’t left any notable impact on him, unlike watching her experience today.
Perhaps his instincts towards Marissa weren’t entirely dissimilar to those he felt towards his sisters and nieces—a certain protectiveness that rose up because his father had failed to be there for them.
Rick tried to stop the thoughts there. Stephen Morgan was a decent enough man.
Except to Darla, and unless any kind of genuine emotional commitment was required of him. Then Stephen simply dropped the ball as he always had.
Rick forced the thoughts aside. There was nothing he could do about any of that, no way to change a man who inherently wouldn’t change. No way to know if Rick himself would be as bad or worse than his father in the same circumstances.
‘We often take our overseas business contacts places like this.’ It didn’t matter what he’d felt for Marissa—or thought he’d felt. By choice he wouldn’t act on any response to her, and that was as much for her good as anything else. ‘They have a good time and happy businesspeople are more inclined to want to make deals. Those deals mean money and building the business.’
He relaxed into this assertion. It felt comfortable. Familiar. Safe.
When Marissa turned her head to face him, her gaze was curiously flat. ‘You’re a corporate high-flyer and success means everything to you. I understand.’
She made it sound abhorrent. Why? And success wasn’t everything to him.
No? That’s not what you’ve been telling yourself and the world for a very long time now.
He did not need to suggest she got to know him better to see other facets of him—all the facets of him. Instead, he agreed with her. ‘Success is very important to me. You’re quite right.’
CHAPTER FIVE
MARISSA hadn’t meant to offend Rick. Surely she hadn’t? And he was a great deal like Michael Unsworth, only more so. She didn’t hold that against him, but she had the right to protect herself by remembering the fact.
She didn’t want to think about Michael. It was best if she didn’t think about Rick in any light other than as her employer. And she certainly didn’t want to dwell on that hormonal whammy that had hit her back at the petting zoo.
If she wanted something to cuddle, she probably needed a kitten or something.
Do you hear me, hormones and non-existent clock? This is my destiny and I choose what I want and need and don’t need.
She refused to be dictated to on the topic by any internal systems. With that thought in mind, she worked hard for the rest of the day, and cursed the stubborn part of her that insisted on admiring Rick’s business acumen as she came to see more and more of it in play. Couldn’t she ignore that at least?
Maybe she should simply admit it. She liked his drive and determination. With a frown, she shoved another file away in the room dedicated to that purpose just off their suite’s reception room.
More files were slapped home. Not because she was fed up with herself. She was simply being efficient.
Yes. Sure. That was the truth of it. A pity she didn’t seem capable of the same single-mindedness when it came to finding Mr Right through Blinddatebrides.com. She’d yet to initiate any kind of invitation to a man, had cancelled that second drink yesterday, and hadn’t looked at those ten profiles as she’d told herself she would. She’d been bored by all the candidates she’d met so far.
Grace had dated a man straight up on joining the site, even if she had panicked about it at the time.
Dani remained tight-lipped so far about dates but she sure seemed to have her head together about the whole process, right down to the site’s efficiency and how it all worked. Why couldn’t Marissa follow her plan there, and stop fixating on the boss?
Marissa had logged on in her tea break, anyway. It wasn’t her fault she’d run out of time before she could do more than read some of the contact messages.
Shove, shuffle, push.
‘I’ll be on the top level for the next hour.’ Rick spoke from the doorway in a tone that didn’t reveal even the smallest amount of any kind of sensual anticipation he surely should feel in the face of yet another ‘meeting’ with the mysterious Julia, who seemed to have a place reserved for her almost daily in his diary.
That was something Marissa had discovered today as she’d scanned ahead further in the BlackBerry to try to gauge the kind of workload they might have ahead of them.
Well, good on him for seeing this Julia. With such a knowledge foremost in her thoughts, Marissa simply wouldn’t look at him as an available man, which was all to the good.
It was just as well the woman didn’t mind being slotted in like a visit to the dentist or a board meeting or teleconference, though.
Marissa shoved two more files away and forced herself to face him. ‘You won’t mind if I take a short break myself? I’ll just talk on the Internet with friends. There’s nothing in the diary—’
Marissa broke off a little uneasily, but Rick wasn’t to know those friends were on an Internet dating site with her. Not that she cared who knew she had a subscription to a dating website. She could do what she liked. It was her life and just because she hadn’t even told her parents she’d joined Blinddatebrides.com didn’t mean she felt uncomfortable about it or anything.
Grace and Dani knew she wanted to find a nice man. Marissa had been very open with them really.
Her online friends were signed up to the dating site, of course, so Marissa hadn’t exactly been exposing deep secrets by admitting she wanted to meet some men. And she hadn’t told Grace and Dani everything about herself by any means. She certainly hadn’t told them her plan to clinically vet those men until she found one she was prepared to fall in love with.
Well, that was her business, and it mightn’t even happen and her vetting ideas made a lot of sense.
‘Please do take a break.’ Rick turned. ‘I sought you out to suggest that.’
A moment later, after delivering that piece of thoughtfulness, he was gone.
Marissa appreciated the reprieve from close contact with him. That was what made her feel all mushy and approving, not only his consideration for her. She told herself this as she logged onto Blinddatebrides.com and scrolled through the messages she’d skimmed earlier. This time she made herself read them and follow through to look at profiles.
And she set her fingers to the keyboard and replied that she would be delighted—delighted—to arrange something with Tony, 32, computer software. Perhaps lunch tomorrow?
Marissa got off the site without checking for instant messages from Grace or Dani. She wasn’t avoiding them. She just felt guilty about giving herself the time when she should be working, even if Rick was on the top floor of the building with Julia doing she didn’t want to think about what.
When the fax machine made its warming-up sound, Marissa left her desk with a rather desperate alacrity. She’d struggled to concentrate on her typing despite her determination to plough through as much work as possible before Rick got back.
She snatched up the first page of the fax and skimmed it, and then read it more carefully while two more pages emerged from the machine. If the large ‘urgent’ stamp on the top of the first page hadn’t been clue enough, the contents were, drat it all to pieces. She’d hoped for something to distract her thoughts, but not this way.
‘I’ll ring his mobile phone and tell him he needs to get back here. It’s not my problem there’s an emergency and I’ll be interrupting … whatever.’ She walked to her desk and pressed the speed dial for his mobile number, only to return the phone to its cradle when the thing rang from on top of his desk in the next room.
What now? Try another department head? Which one? The contents of the fax covered material from all the departments.
‘Right, so there’s no choice. It’s marked for his attention specifically, and it’s urgent.’ Marissa snatched the door key from her purse and pushed it into her pocket. If she could have thought of any other way to handle this, she’d have taken it.
The trip to the top level went by far too fast. She’d never been up here before. There seemed to be a large atrium surrounded by rooms behind closed doors.
Rick’s workaday lair? A place to come when he wanted privacy without leaving the building?
She’d crossed half the cavernous expanse of tiled floor flanked with tall banks of potted ornamental trees, the fax clutched in a death grip in her hand, before she realised the sounds of splashing weren’t from an indoor fountain.
Marissa’s gaze lifted and the view in front of her cleared just in time for her to see strong arms lift a little girl out of the water and pass her to a dark-haired woman who stood beside … a swimming pool.
Rick was in the pool, his wide shoulders and thick arms exposed and water dripping from his face and down his chest.
Just the right amount of dark hair there.
What on earth is going on here?
Child. Woman. Rick in the pool and not a sensual indicator to be detected in the room.
And finally this thought:
That’s what the swimming roster that circulates by email means, the slots for before work each day.
She’d only seen the email twice, and had thought the staff took turns booking some other swimming facilities.
Marissa’s steps faltered to a stop.
‘Thank you, Unca Rick.’ The little girl waited impatiently while the woman removed her flotation devices, only to immediately lean fearlessly over the edge of the pool, arms extended, to the man who was Marissa’s boss—in a very different guise right now.
He was a specimen of male beauty and Marissa couldn’t take her gaze from him. The child would have tumbled back in if the woman hadn’t held onto her arm. If Rick hadn’t immediately caught her by the tiny waist. Big gentle hands keeping her from harm.
The little girl planted a kiss on Rick’s cheek and his arms came around her, his hands gently patting her back before he set her on her feet again beside the pool.
