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‘Well, we’re just sitting eating dinner, so how practical does it have to be?’ Apparently oblivious to his struggle, Emma stroked her hands over her hips. ‘It’s not at all what I would have chosen, which is half the fun if I’m honest. It was clever of her to find something at short notice. I have no idea how she knew my size—’ Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. ‘Ah. You must have told her.’ And if she were embarrassed about that, then there was no sign of it.
Lucas ground his teeth. Wasn’t she supposed to be blushing and shy or something? Instead she seemed aware of her femininity in a way she hadn’t been only days earlier. Or maybe he was the one who was suddenly aware of it. Watching her hands stroke her hips made him think of the way she’d touched him and suddenly he wanted to get her out of the damn dress and into the silk sheets of his bed. But if there was anything more dangerous than sleeping with this woman once it would be sleeping with her twice.
‘If you don’t feel comfortable wearing that to dinner then I can ask the hotel to send something else.’
‘What would be the point of that? And I don’t want to risk offending Avery when I’m finally about to meet her in person. I know I’ve only ever spoken to her on the phone but we get on really well.’ She closed her hand around a slim purse. ‘It’s just a dress, Lucas. I hardly think a dress is going to bother you if it doesn’t bother me.’
It bothered him.
It seriously bothered him but he couldn’t tell her that without taking the conversation into areas he was determined to avoid. Given that fact, he had no choice but to accept the fact that the red dress was her chosen outfit for the evening.
The tension in him mounted. ‘If you’re too tired to join me for dinner I quite understand.’
‘Tired? Don’t be silly. I can’t wait to see the restaurant. I remember it on the model and the plans and I’m so excited. I can’t remember when I last went out to dinner. I mean, I know this is work,’ she added, throwing his own rule right back at him, ‘but I’m ridiculously excited to eat something I haven’t had to cook myself.’ Her enthusiasm was genuine and charming but he didn’t want to be charmed. The feeling unsettled him in a way that was new to him.
Deciding that keeping his hands off her might well turn out to be the biggest challenge of his life, Lucas gestured to the door of the suite. ‘In that case we should go. We have a table reserved. Can you even walk in those shoes?’ They were clearly designed for sex, not walking. Before last night he would never have been able to imagine Emma in shoes like that, but now they formed an erotic addition to those incredible legs.
‘Of course I can. I’ve been practising in my room. That’s why I was late. Watch me.’ Grinning, she walked up to him, a look of triumph on her face. ‘See? I don’t even wobble. It’s all to do with putting your weight on the right part of your foot.’
She was different, he thought. Her skin glowed, her eyes shone, she sparkled.
And then she lost her balance on those heels and tumbled against him. With lightning reflexes, Lucas caught her. His hands closed over her shoulders, his fingers biting into warm flesh. Just that simple touch took him back to the night before and suddenly he wanted all of it again. Her lips, her warmth, her incredible body.
His mouth was dangerously close to hers and he was dangerously close to doing something about that. Furious with himself for being so weak-willed, he gave a growl of frustration and was about to pull away when she calmly detached herself.
‘Oops. Sorry about that. Clearly your first assessment was right. I need more practice in the shoes.’ Not looking at him, she tightened her grip on her purse. ‘Shall we go? We don’t want to be late.’ And, with that, she walked towards the door, the wicked red dress swirling around her gorgeous legs.
* * *
Dropping two phones into her bag, Avery Scott kicked off her shoes and curled up on the soft sofa in the private dressing room of the exclusive boutique. ‘You’ll have to excuse me, but I’ve done enough of these parties to know that I’ll have blisters by ten o’clock if I don’t rest now. This is my last chance to sit down so I’m taking it. So—spill. While we’re waiting for them to bring clothes, tell me all.’
‘Do you seriously have time for this?’ Trying to ease the pain in her feet, Emma flopped down next to her, thinking how nice it was to have female company. Her life was so frantic she’d let her friendships slip. Apart from the occasional exchange at the water cooler, she rarely chatted with anyone. ‘Those shoes were gorgeous but it was a bit like walking round with my feet in the jaws of a crocodile. It’s really kind of you to help me shop, but don’t you have a million other things you should be doing before tonight?’
‘I employ good people and I delegate. Now forget the shoes and tell me how that red dress looked.’
‘It looked great. Too great. Lucas acted as if I’d chosen it on purpose to try and seduce him, which was pretty unfair given that I had nothing to do with it.’
‘So did you? Seduce him, I mean.’
‘No, of course not.’
‘Ah.’ Avery’s beautiful eyes sparkled. ‘Want to talk about it?’
‘No. Let’s just say that tonight I’m wearing a grey sack.’ She was joking about it, but inside it didn’t feel funny. It felt hopeless. It didn’t matter what she did, things between them were never going to be the same again. They couldn’t undo what they’d done. ‘I work for him and I really need the job and now I’ve...I’ve messed it up.’
‘How have you messed it up?’
Emma rubbed her fingers over her aching head. ‘It’s not really something I should even be talking about. Just make sure I pick out a boring dress so that I blend into the background tonight.’
Avery shuddered. ‘I’ve never intentionally picked a “boring dress” in my life. I’m not sure I could even if I tried and I don’t intend to try. Tell me what is going on.’
Emma was surprised by how badly she wanted to confide. ‘You don’t need to hear my problems.’
‘Yes, I do. I’m fantastic with other people’s problems. It’s just my own I can’t solve. And you’re not the first woman to sleep with her boss.’
Emma gave a groan but didn’t bother denying it. ‘It’s such a cliché.’ And before she could stop herself she was blurting it all out. Everything. From the loneliness of living alone in London in the week, to the row with her sister and sex on the rug. The only thing she didn’t mention was Lucas’s daughter or the fact that his father had never acknowledged him.
That information was private. His secret, not hers to tell.
‘Wow.’ Effortlessly elegant, Avery uncurled her legs and sat up. ‘You’ve led this life driven by duty and responsibility and then suddenly on one snowy night it’s all blown apart. That’s so romantic.’
‘It’s not romantic. It’s embarrassing and inconvenient. And my life hasn’t been driven by duty.’ Emma shifted uncomfortably. ‘It isn’t like that. I adore Jamie.’
‘I never said you didn’t adore him, but that doesn’t change the fact you’ve always put him first. And you’re so different from Lucas’s usual type of woman.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘You’re the home and hearth type that Lucas usually avoids like a non-alcoholic cocktail.’ She gave a slow smile. ‘And you spent the night together. How interesting.’
‘It’s not interesting. In fact I think it’s fair to say he was appalled. He thought it meant I would automatically fall in love with him.’
‘Whereas you were already in love with him.’
‘No, absolutely not! I don’t love him.’
‘Probably why you slept with him,’ Avery said helpfully, ignoring Emma’s denial. ‘Let’s just hope he doesn’t figure that one out. So—you’ve freaked him out. Lucas Jackson is Mr Cool so I’m looking forward to meeting the freaked-out version.’
‘He is so freaked out he spent all yesterday making sure I knew it was never going to happen again. And he was really angry about the whole thing.’
‘Definitely freaked out,’ Avery murmured, ‘which would explain his reaction to the red dress.’
‘No, that was just because he thought it was too frivolous for work.’
‘You think so?’ Avery gave a cat-like smile and pulled her phone out of her purse as it rang. ‘Excuse me for one moment while I get this—’
While Avery solved some problem that involved lighting and fireworks, Emma brooded on the grim reality of her situation. She wasn’t in love with him. It would be madness to fall in love with a man who would never love her back. Even greater madness to be in love with her boss.
After his initial response to the dress, Lucas had returned to his detached, slightly intimidating self. Their evening had been starchy and formal. Their whole relationship had changed. They couldn’t go backwards and it seemed they couldn’t go forwards either.
‘Right—where were we? Ah, the dress—’ Avery came off the phone and looked at her. ‘You were saying that he found it incredibly sexy.’
‘I didn’t say that. I said he was angry.’
‘Presumably because he found you attractive and didn’t want to.’
‘I’ve no idea. I work for him and I want to carry on working for him. But I have to stop feeling this way.’
Avery shrugged. ‘A man like Lucas Jackson comes along once in a lifetime. My advice? Take the sex and get a different job. Problem solved.’
Emma gaped at her. ‘I could never pick sex over job security. You don’t understand—’
‘I’m the child of a single mother. A strong single mother, so believe me I do understand about the importance of job security. And I’m not really suggesting that you throw in a job just for sex, but it seems to me that this isn’t the job for you anyway. You need to find something closer to home so that you can have a life. Maybe this is the trigger you need to make you do that. You’ve had far too much responsibility and not enough fun but we’re going to fix that.’
A job closer to home? ‘Even if I were prepared to look for another job it wouldn’t make a difference. He isn’t interested in a relationship. And I made a total fool of myself last night because when he invited me to dinner, just for a moment I thought he meant dinner, if you know what I mean.’ She thumped her forehead with her fist and Avery looked amused.
‘Yes, I know exactly what you mean. So the first thing you have to do is find out whether or not Lucas is interested. Wear a really knockout dress tonight.’
‘He’ll think I’m trying to seduce him.’
‘Not if you don’t try to seduce him. Wear the dress but be businesslike.’ Avery narrowed her eyes. ‘If you dance, you dance with other people. If you talk, you talk to other people. Any connection with him should be brief and businesslike. If he really doesn’t want you then he’ll be fine with that. If he does—well, we’ll see.’
‘No, we won’t see! He’s my boss. He pays well and he’s a good employer.’
‘I pay well and I’m a good employer. You could always work for me and I don’t care where you’re based as long as the work gets done. Now let’s get started on these clothes.’
Unable to summon up any enthusiasm, Emma slipped off her shoes. ‘I thought after his reaction to the red, we’d better go for something a bit more muted. Maybe beige?’
‘Sure. Let’s just put you in a canvas sack and have done with it, shall we?’ Avery shuddered. ‘Emma, you are never wearing beige again. Your beige days are totally behind you. I’ve earmarked a nice boring navy dress for you to wear in your meetings this afternoon because it will make the contrast all the more startling when you dress up tonight, but your days of dressing like a nun are over. They’re fetching me a selection of dresses and while we’re waiting you can tell me something about Lucas, apart from the fact he rocked your world. What’s going on behind that handsome face?’
‘He’s a clever man. Very talented. I’m really lucky to work for him.’
‘I love a bit of moody, cerebral introspection as much as the next girl, but that isn’t exactly what I was asking. I want to know why the man has never settled down. You do realise that of all the women he’s ever been with, his longest relationship is with you?’
‘I’m not a relationship. I’m his PA.’
‘And before you he was getting through a PA every six weeks. But you’ve stayed the course. That has got to mean something.’
‘It means I need the job too badly to resign.’
‘Or that you’ve become important to him.’
Her heart skipped. ‘Only in the sense that I make his work life run smoothly.’
‘Really? So why did he bring you here?’
‘Because he and Tara broke up and he needed someone with him.’
Avery gave a womanly smile. ‘And you don’t think Lucas Jackson has a million replacements waiting in the wings? Come on, Emma. He wanted you. And I’m so pleased he finally dumped that awful Tara.’ She poured two glasses of water and handed one to Emma. ‘Tara got horribly drunk at one of my parties a year ago and we had to tactfully remove her before she stripped on the dance floor. I’ve been wishing her bad karma ever since.’ She frowned as the personal shopper in the exclusive store arrived with a selection of clothes. Within seconds she’d dismissed them all. ‘I saw this bright blue dress at one of the shows in fashion week that would be perfect.’ She named the designer and described it and the girl hurried off while Emma looked on in amazement.
‘Do you know every dress in every designer’s collection?’
‘No. Only the ones that catch my eye. The others I forget—’ Avery drank the water and looked longingly at the bowl of fresh dates that had been put on the table. ‘I am starving, but if I eat that I’ll never get into my dress for tonight. Ah—’ She sprang to her feet as the girl returned carrying a sheath of midnight-blue silk. Avery took the dress from her with a crow of triumph. ‘This is the one. I would have bought it myself if I hadn’t already picked one out for the party. It’s going to look perfect on you.’
‘How much is it?’
Avery rolled her eyes. ‘Who cares? Just try it on. Every woman should own at least one dress like this. It is going to turn you from a sensible, professional woman into a wanton sex goddess.’
‘Firstly, Lucas wants sensible and professional and secondly I’m not remotely wanton sex goddess material.’
‘You will be by the time I’ve finished. Now shut up and try the dress, Emma. You’re old before your time and we’re going to fix that.’ Avery thrust it at her and waved away the saleswoman with a winning smile. ‘We’re fine here. Thanks. But some more water would be great. That’s another thing I have to do before a big party. Hydrate. Go and change, and while you’re undressing tell me how you concentrate while you’re working with Lucas. I’d be lying on his desk panting hopefully every morning saying “Take me, take me”.’
Giggling, Emma slipped behind the curtain and slid her skirt off. ‘You wouldn’t really. He’s horribly moody in the mornings. I try not to speak to him before he’s had at least two cups of coffee.’
‘I’m good with moody men. Are you dressed yet?’
‘Nearly.’ Surprised by how much chatting to Avery had lightened her mood, Emma slid the dress over her head. ‘I think it might be a bit tight.’
The curtain was whisked back and Avery stared at her. ‘Oh Lucas, Lucas,’ she purred, ‘you are in so much trouble. I almost feel sorry for you.’
Emma gave a nervous laugh. ‘You don’t think it’s too tight?’
‘That’s not tight. It’s called a perfect fit. Have you even looked in the mirror?’
‘Not yet, but—’
‘Then look.’ Avery spun her round and Emma stared at her reflection.
‘Oh my God.’
‘Yes. My thoughts exactly. And the back of it is—’
‘Non-existent.’ Emma felt a lurch of excitement and terror. ‘I don’t look like me.’
‘Yes, you do. But it’s you as you’ve never seen yourself before.’ Eyes narrowed, Avery reached forward and twisted Emma’s hair into a loose knot. ‘Hair up, hair down... Up, I think. Then he’ll fantasize about letting it down over your beautiful, bare back.’
‘I don’t want him to fantasize about me! We’re trying to get things back to normal, not make them worse! Avery, you have to stop this.’ And she had to stop it too. She had to stop thinking about that night. She had to stop thinking of him as anything other than her boss. She had to—
Her eyes met Avery’s in the mirror.
‘The man is delicious and it’s time he got together with someone decent instead of choosing shallow, brainless women who are only interested in his money and contacts. I’m going to arrange for you to have hair and make-up in your suite—’ Avery whipped her phone out and sent a string of emails. ‘Do you own any diamonds?’
‘Of course not. Nor do I go anywhere that I could wear any.’
‘Well, tonight you are. That dress needs diamonds,’ Avery murmured without looking up. ‘I’m going to arrange for one of the jewellery companies to loan you something for the evening. Smile—’ She snapped a photograph with her phone and then proceeded to email it to someone. ‘They will be able to decide what will look best with that colour and neckline.’
‘OK, stop! Now you’re going over the top.’ Emma backed away. ‘Tonight is about work. I’m supposed to be mingling and networking, not parading around in diamonds.’
‘I’ve never understood why a woman can’t look her best while she’s mingling and networking,’ Avery murmured. ‘I suspect Lucas Jackson hasn’t been so interested in a woman for a long time—maybe never. We should make the most of that.’
Emma found herself trapped. She couldn’t tell Avery that the only reason Lucas had slept with her was to get through a truly terrible night. So now Avery had totally the wrong impression and this whole situation was spiralling horribly out of control and all she could do was mutter a lame, ‘He’s not interested.’
‘He’s interested. He noticed the red dress. Men only notice what a woman is wearing when it makes them think of sex.’
‘Avery!’
‘What?’ She looked up from her phone. ‘You are very, very pretty. You deserve diamonds.’
‘I do not want to be wearing anything valuable. What if someone steals it from around my neck?’
