her feel as though she was indispensably central to his life and yet it was a completely stupid and naïve notion. The truth was she’d never been anything to him but his PA: not his girlfriend, his wife, his lover, not even his friend.
“Are you okay, Alex?” He was looking at her very closely. She averted her look from his to avoid revealing the disquiet rumbling away inside her.
“Recently,” Alex echoed hopelessly, hating herself for the effect his news was having upon her. She was engaged to Simon and this man was her boss. How could his personal life mean anything to her?
“Strictly between you and me, the original plan was that Caroline was going to head up litigation here. I was to stay in the UK and run the London office. Somehow we were going to try and maintain a long distance relationship. The fact that we believed we could do that probably didn’t bode well for the long term. Anyway, we split up a few months ago and she decided to stay in London after all so I offered to come here to get litigation on its feet. It suited me anyway because I wanted an opportunity to work with Justin and Adam.”
“I see,” Alex whispered, nodding distractedly. “How long is Caroline staying?”
But what she didn’t ask and what she really wanted to know was whether he was about to disappear back to London and out of her life as suddenly as he’d blown into it?
“I haven’t spoken to her but I’m told she wants to join the office here permanently. She’s arriving tomorrow to discuss it with my partners and me. I had no idea she would do this, Alex. Not even the other partners knew until she phoned Justin this morning. But what I really need you to know is that my relationship with her is over, no matter what you might think to the contrary.”
“You don’t have to explain anything to me.”
“Of course I have to explain,” he replied, exasperation sharpening his tone. “There’s something happening between us Alex and denying it won’t make it go away.”
“Oh God, stop it!” Alex blocked her ears with her hands, her heart beating wildly as the tension mounted painfully at her temples. “You’ve let me know about Caroline and I appreciate it. But could you please leave now? You shouldn’t be standing here in my hallway like this with all the lights off.”
JP eyed her thoughtfully as he slipped a hand deep into one of his pockets. But then he shifted his stance and was reaching out for the door handle.
Alex could hardly breathe as she watched him. He was going to leave her, just as she’d asked. Within seconds she would be alone again, safe from the abyss of desire and temptation he’d been leading her inexorably towards. But then his hand stilled on the door handle, his eyes dark and fathomless, the hard angles of his jawline more rigid than ever. He leaned towards her a little and instinctively she drew back against the wall.
“First you have to tell me you don’t want me to stay.”
“I don’t want you to stay,” she whispered, her voice rasping as she basked in the heat of the desire burning white-hot in his eyes.
“Liar,” he declared. “Tell me you don’t want me to touch you.”
“No, I don’t want you to,” she replied, shaking her head quickly but then a gasp broke free from her lips as his warm hands slid around the cool skin at her waist. His eyes lowered then as he shamelessly drank in the curves of her figure, looking at her near-naked body in a way no man had ever looked at her before.
Her eyelids dropped shut as she desperately tried to shut JP out so that she could remember who she was, what her responsibilities were, and then act decisively to counter the path he was leading her down. But closing her eyes only deepened her confusion as fingertips drifted away from her waist to trace a sensual, suggestive trail backwards and forwards, just above her bikini line.
“JP, you really need to leave now,” she whispered and opened her eyes but it was too late. His other hand was now sliding decisively around her waist; he had no intention of going anywhere.
“I made a decision earlier tonight, Alex,” he whispered with a slow shake of his head. “I’m not backing off from this anymore because we belong together and you know it.”
Alex shook her head in