CHASING TROUBLE

Nicholas had thought about Caroline long and hard over the weekend, finally deciding that if Caroline Anderson wanted to play games then he was happy to oblige her. With that in mind he had called her to his office that morning and demanded to speak to her personally. After a short delay there had been a more or less one-sided conversation during which Nicholas had informed her that he needed her in his office without any further complaints or excuses from her. Her only answer had been to end the call abruptly, causing Nicholas to chuckle wryly as he slowly placed the phone down.

“You’re unusually quiet today,” he remarked, lifting his dark brows mockingly as he watched her after she came into his office.

Oh, Caroline had plenty she wanted to say to this man. She was just erring on the side of caution-for the moment.

She had realized after the party on Saturday-that it probably hadn’t been a wise move on her part to antagonize a man as powerful as Nicholas. Unwise and not a little childish, she now accepted reproachfully. As if it would really matter to a man like Nicholas if some assistant chose to snub him!

Except, having seen her leave with Glen on Saturday evening, it obviously did matter to him. It didn’t help, having arrived at his office, that she was now totally aware of the way in which Nicholas managed to exude a predatory air-despite the expensive elegance of his tailored dark gray suit and paler gray silk shirt, with matching tie knotted meticulously at his throat.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Did you and Glen enjoy your ‘ride home’ on Saturday evening?” he prompted softly.

Caroline’s mouth tightened at this reminder of the time she and Glen had spent together in his car after leaving the party. Several minutes during which she had desperately tried to pay attention to Glen and what he was saying, but instead she had been comparing his features to the hard and chiseled features of the man now standing in front of her.

Months ago, Caroline had been convinced that she was destined to be a woman who wouldn’t ever be stupid enough to fall under the sensual spell of lethal charm and charismatic good-looks. Which only went to prove what an arrogant fool she had been.

Because Caroline now knew she only had to be in the same room as Nicholas to be aware of every single thing about him. She could feel the tug of that desire even now, causing her hands to tremble slightly, her breasts to feel hot and swollen, and a dampness between her thighs. She could see the same desire reflected towards her in the warmth of those dark eyes. It was a physical attunement that seemed to make the very air between them crackle and dance.

“It was fine,” Caroline dismissed abruptly. “Now, if you could-”

“Have you and Glen been together long?”

Caroline frowned slightly. “I’m not sure that it’s any of your business, but we haven’t “been together” at all.”

Caroline had gently but firmly refused Glen’s suggestion, before they parted on Saturday evening, that the two of them might go out together this week.

Nicholas raised questioning brows.” Yet…?” he probed.

“Really, Mr Connelly-”

“Nick,”

“Nicholas.” She gave a brief, meaningless smile of acknowledgement. “I really didn’t come here to discuss my personal life with you-so if we could we just get down to why you called me to your office?”

Nicholas settled more comfortably against the front of the desk and folded his arms across his chest. He considered Caroline with narrowed but appreciative eyes. Her features really were extremely delicate: those blue eyes, high cheekbones, slender jaw, those full and sensuous lips glossed a deep peach today. With her hair secured at her crown it was now possible to see the slender arch of her delicious throat, with skin as delicate as pale china.

It was a delectable delicacy that Nicholas found himself aching to taste.

Presumably that wasn’t completely out of the question, if Caroline and Glen really weren’t together.

He straightened slowly. “That’s a pity, because the only thing that I’m in the least interested in talking about this morning is your personal life.”

Those blue eyes widened warily. “I don’t understand.”

“No?” Nicholas found himself watching intently as she moistened those peach-glossed lips before speaking again.

“I understood from our conversation on the phone that you wanted me here and I assumed that it was something about work,”

Nicholas smiled slightly. “I don’t remember saying anything about work when I asked you to come here,”

“Well…no,” she conceded slowly, after a few seconds’ thought. “But what else was I supposed to assume you wanted to talk about?”

Nicholas nodded slowly, his interest well and truly piqued by the woman standing in front of him. More than piqued, if he were honest. Nicholas had no idea why it should be, but he found everything about Caroline Anderson intriguing. From her lippy conversation to her desirable hourglass figure. “I didn’t call you to talk about work. I was honestly wondering why you went out of your way to leave the party with Glen when it was obvious that you didn’t want to. Unless you obviously felt an urgent need to have someone warm your bed and too self righteous to admit what you want or who you really want, ”

Those blue eyes widened in blank shock, her cheeks filling with color as she gasped her indignation. Nicholas chuckled at her expense. And that chuckle developed into full-throated laughter as he saw that he really had succeeded in rendering this complicated woman speechless. “My God, Caroline, you should see your face!” he finally managed through his laughter. “Or maybe not; you look a little like a fish out of water at the moment.”

Probably because Caroline felt like a fish out of water at that moment. Mouth opening and shutting, her chest rapidly rising and falling as she gasped for breath, her eyes wide and staring. “I can’t believe you just said that!”

“Actually, neither can I.” He sobered. “My Aunt Beck would consider my conversation most ungentlemanly. Unfortunately for you, I’m more than happy to risk her disapproval if I’ve succeeded in rendering you speechless for once!”

“Really?”

“Really,” Nicholas confirmed teasingly, aware that Caroline was still having trouble regaining her usual spiky confidence.

She gave a disbelieving shake of her head. “Your Aunt Beck would be perfectly correct in her assessment of your behavior just now.”