thinking.
“Can’t come up with a good lie fast enough?” he teased, but she saw the truth in his eyes and sighed.
“No. I was thinking about how you’re grumpy sometimes and…well, I just…?” she wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence. No way would she admit that she enjoyed teasing him out of his bad moods, making him smile or, when he was being overly grumpy, silently demanding that he be more polite.
“And you tease me until I get so annoyed that I threaten to fire you?”
She laughed. “You’ve never threatened that, Josh,” she said and stood up. “I’m going out to the pool. Will you join us? Or are you going to stay inside and work some more?”
Josh hesitated and Sloane wondered what he was thinking about. “You go ahead. I have some phone calls to make.”
“I’ll stay,” she replied, moving back to the couch.
“No, there’s nothing you can do to help. Go outside and enjoy the sunshine. We’ll hit the casino again tonight, do a bit more sight-seeing tomorrow and see how we all feel about flying home after that.”
She hesitated again, and he lifted one of those darkly sardonic eyebrows again. “Fine!” she grumbled. “I’ll leave you to your hermit-like existence and go outside to revel in the sunshine, thinking about you holed up in the dark hotel suite making another billion dollars.”
With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the room, smiling at his laughter which followed her out.
Chapter 10
Josh watched Sloane as she walked gracefully along the edge of the pool towards her sisters, the revelations of earlier today hitting him hard. No one. No other man had ever touched her! It wasn’t so much that he wanted to be her first, it was more that he wanted to be her last. The thought of being her first lover hadn’t even occurred to him, but now…knowing that no other man had made love to her humbled him.
Those soft blushes had startled him. Plus the way she’d leaned into him over and over, the long looks, the intensity that was thick in the air whenever they were alone…or when they blocked out the world…all of it added up to interest. Intense interest, he realized. Apparently, he wasn’t alone in his desire for something more than just a working relationship.
Not that they were merely co-workers. He considered her a friend and loved teasing her. She was a bit of a control freak and, although he understood her control issues, he still loved to tease her about them. She also loved herbal tea, refused to purchase anything at a clothing or shoe store unless it had been marked down several times, ate healthy foods until she couldn’t stand them any longer and then binged on something unhealthy, loved M&Ms and ate them one color at a time, then move on to the next color – and the browns were always the first to go. Oh, and she loved her sisters intensely.
And that was just the superficial stuff. He knew that she loved taking care of people, but didn’t let anyone abuse her. Some of the employees he’d hired over the past eight years had tried to take advantage of her generous heart and she’d easily put them in their place. Josh had gotten rid of those people pretty quickly, not wanting abusive personalities in his company, no matter how much profit they brought in.
Josh also knew that she was concerned about Jefferson and Wilma, treating them like her grandparents and visiting them whenever she could. She ran errands for Wilma, played chess with Jefferson, teased the old man about his drinking, and helped Wilma with the dishes whenever she ate at the main house.
As he contemplated her finer qualities, Josh watched as she lifted the sundress up and over her head, revealing a two piece bathing suit. Her figure was stunning! She was slender, but what she had was…perfect! Small breasts, tiny waist, and legs that seemed to go on forever. As he watched her spread the towel out over the lounge chair beside her sisters, Josh was dazed by her curves, his hands tightening on the concrete bannister of his balcony. His eyes burned and he realized that he hadn’t blinked in too long. Rubbing his eyes, he groaned at the ache just looking at her produced.
Turning away, he walked back into the suite…but couldn’t get the image of Sloane’s perfect, slender curves out of his mind.
Chapter 11
“This is…amazing!” Pepper whispered, her eyes wide as