Unbuttoned by the Boss: Unbuttoned by Her Maverick Boss / The Far Side of Paradise / Rub It In

‘Hello.’ Sophy smiled, ultra bright and polite. She was not going to get evil over this.

‘Hi, Sophy.’ Kat looked up and beamed. ‘This is Jemma, who’s here to help you out.’

Oh, right. Help her out. Like she needed helping out? Like she needed a pretty, petite thing to do the work for her? Oh, please. After she’d just spent the last week giving the place a complete overhaul? She didn’t need help now. No, it was more like now the hard stuff was done she wasn’t needed any more.

Now he’d slept with her he didn’t want her around at all.

It wouldn’t be awkward at all then, would it?

The jealousy kicked in, the resentment swirling around, the energy building in her until she had enough fuel inside to launch a rocket to the moon.

‘Are you okay showing her some stuff for a while longer, Kat?’ she barely managed to ask nicely.

Kat nodded.

‘Great.’ Yes, she wasn’t needed at all. She gripped her bag all the more tightly. ‘I’ve just got to see Lorenzo.’

Kat nodded. ‘He’s about. I saw him earlier.’

Oh, good. Sophy briskly walked the few metres along the corridor to his office—it was empty. She checked the other office—the other staff were back now, having done their bit for Vance. But Lorenzo wasn’t in with them either. She walked faster—she refused to let him avoid this one.

She went downstairs but he wasn’t out in the yard. She went into one of the darkened rooms where they stored the cases of wine—all on pallets ready to be shipped. He was bending down by one, checking the dispatch label by the looks of things. He straightened when he saw her. Watched as she walked towards him, the heels of her shoes rapidly clicking on the concrete floor.

‘You’ve got a temp in,’ she said briskly.

‘Yeah.’

Even though she knew already, she had to take a second to absorb the hit from the casual dismissal in his tone.

‘I thought you were all about keeping Cara happy and not getting some clueless temp in?’ Sophy cringed even as she bitched at him; she was quite sure Jemma wasn’t clueless, but it had been his point originally. ‘Do you have any idea how hard I’ve worked here? I’ve fixed the whole mess.’

‘I know you have. A five-year-old could work the filing system you’ve put in place. It’s perfect for a temp now.’

She reeled. Was that supposed to be a compliment? To make her feel okay about it? ‘You mean it’s the perfect time to get rid of me.’

He walked towards her. ‘What are you so mad about? I thought there were other things you wanted to be doing anyway?’

That wasn’t the point. The point was his shabby treatment of her. ‘You just don’t want me to be here any more? You’re embarrassed. You’re the one who’s feeling awkward.’

‘That’s not why I got a temp in.’

‘Yeah, right. Can’t handle it, can you? Anything remotely personal going on in your precious little domain.’

‘What happened with us is not why she’s here.’

‘That’s rubbish, Lorenzo. At least be honest and admit it. You want me gone.’

He swore right back at her—only worse. ‘Quite the opposite. Come with me.’

Given he now had hold of her wrist in a clench that threatened to break the smallest bones in there, she didn’t have much choice.

‘Lorenzo!’

He didn’t listen. Didn’t stop. Stormed out of the store room and up the stairs, past the offices until he got to the empty room at the back.

He let her go and she was still moving so fast from being dragged along with him she half ran into the middle of the room. He strode back to the door and slammed it shut, whirled to face her, his arms flung out. ‘This is why.’

She stared around the big empty room. There was a large table in the middle, a few chairs around it. ‘I don’t follow.’

Clearly fuming, he enlightened her. ‘You can set up in here. Work the rest of the day, half the night if you need to. To get your jewellery done for the show. This can be your workroom.’

She stared at him. ‘You’re kidding.’

‘No.’ He walked further into the room, turned his back to her so she couldn’t read his expression. ‘I’m vaguely useful. If you need to use power tools or something, I can help.’

‘You mean you can plug them in?’

He grunted then—almost a laugh. ‘Yeah.’ He faced her, his hands on his hips, still looking like a warrior about to launch an offensive any minute. ‘I just thought you could work here in the afternoons. You’d be around if the temp needed help but you’d have the time to work on your own stuff. You can stay later. You don’t have to pack it up at the end of the day, just spread out and get it done.’

Calm descended over her, her earlier anger soothed by a new suspicion. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

He looked even grumpier. ‘It was supposed to be a surprise.’

She blinked. Well, it had been a surprise. But he’d meant it as a nice surprise. ‘Why did you want to surprise me?’

He looked away. ‘I don’t know.’

Yes, he did. She waited.

‘You’ve done a lot for the fund,’ he muttered. ‘I thought it was a way of saying thanks.’

And that was all it was? She didn’t think so. She walked right into his personal space, her heart hurtling inside but trying to keep her efficient cool look on the outside.

He stiffened but didn’t move away.

‘Did you want to do something nice for me, Lorenzo?’

He looked to the side but still didn’t step back.

She smiled and took another pace closer. And closer still.

His hands were suddenly on her arms. ‘What are you doing?’

‘I thought I’d say thank you,’ she breathed oh-so-innocently.

His gaze dropped to her lips. His fingers tightened that extra notch but the rest of him stayed rigid.

Bingo.

The guy still wanted.

Well, the guy would get.

But not yet.

She reached up on tiptoe, brushed her lips ever so gently against his jaw—that inch too close to his lips to be purely platonic as he had once done to her. She stayed there a second longer, whispered in a way she’d only ever fantasised about, ‘Thank you, Lorenzo.’

She tried to move back but his hands were keeping her there now. ‘Sophy.’

Part warning, part what? Sophy couldn’t decide. But the whisper seemed to have gone down quite well.

He sighed—part groan—and his fingers softened, smoothing over her skin. ‘You smell good.’

‘Do I?’

He nodded. ‘I smell you everywhere.’

‘Cheap shampoo. Everyone uses it.’

‘No,’ he half laughed. ‘It’s you. Only you. And you don’t use cheap shampoo.’

Oh, that was nice. She let her weight rest against him a little more.

‘If we do this again, and I mean if, then no one knows,’ he said firmly.

‘What, it’s our “little secret”?’ She pulled back to look at him. She wouldn’t have thought he’d be one to care.

‘I’m not having gossip on site. No one is to know.’

‘So we remain professional through the day and meet up for rabid sex at night? Is that it?’

His whole body tensed.

She stepped closer, her confidence blossoming despite his obviously conflicted feelings. At least it meant he had feelings. ‘Let’s get one other thing straight, Lorenzo. If we do this again, and I mean if, then it’s for more than one night.’

He swallowed.

‘We’re not done until it’s finished,’ she told him quietly. She was not having another couple of days like this. She’d work him right out of her system. She’d had a taste of danger and she wanted to take it all until there was no danger left.

‘But it will finish.’

‘Sure.’ She nodded. It was serious physical chemistry, that was all. She’d get her stuff done for the exhibition and be able to walk away. A week or so would be enough to neutralise it. ‘Deal?’

He nodded. ‘Come upstairs with me now.’ His hands were seeking already, sliding beneath the hem of her clothing, hunting for bare skin.

‘I thought you didn’t want to have sex here?’ What about gossip onsite? Hell if any of them came looking for either of them now they’d be in trouble.

‘I’ve changed my mind.’

As his hot gaze drank her in she could read his thoughts and she struggled to stay calm.

She put her palm on his flushed cheek. ‘What about Kat? And Jemma and the others?’

He closed his eyes. ‘Sophy.’ He sounded so tormented.

She reached up. ‘I want you.’ She kissed him. His arms tightened and he didn’t let her free of the kiss. But his tension eased, his hands stroking with care now. So that had been what he needed. How surprising—so the neediness wasn’t all her? She could feel his heart pounding against her. Maybe they could go upstairs—sneak up there now just quickly.

Her phone rang. And rang and rang.

Sophy broke the kiss. ‘I have to get that,’ she muttered.

He looked at her, bitterness flashing on his face. ‘Of course you do.’

She scrabbled in her bag to find the phone at the bottom, smoothed her hair behind her ears, quickly inhaled to cover her breathlessness and put a smile on her face so her greeting would sound friendly. ‘Sophy speaking.’

He watched her, his face as readable as a stone. She flashed a wider smile at him.

‘Hi, Ted, what’s up?’ She swung away as she listened. ‘And you need me to pick it up? Sure. No problem. Give me the address.’ She dug back into the bag for a pen—no point asking her brother to text the details; he would say he didn’t have the time. Sophy repeated the address back to him, glanced up in time to see Lorenzo walking out of the room. Two minutes later the call was dealt with. Sophy stared at the door, wondering why he’d gone.

She went back into her office—found Kat had left Jemma figuring out stuff on her own.

‘It’s great you’re here.’ Sophy smiled, meaning it this time.

But Jemma’s attention wasn’t on her. She was looking out of the window.

Thud, thud, thud.

Sophy didn’t need to look to know what it was but she did anyway. He was back out there already bouncing his damn ball. Well, she wasn’t going to go running after him, not this time. She looked across and frowned at the fence. It was covered in even more graffiti now.

She didn’t see him the rest of the day, didn’t expect to see him until the next. But when her doorbell rang she wasn’t surprised.

‘Have you eaten?’ she asked as she opened it to let him in.

He was leaning against the door jamb. Dressed entirely in dark clothes—black trousers, a charcoal V-neck tee. ‘That’s not why I’m here.’

She deliberately leaned against the opposite side of the door frame. ‘No? Then why are you here?’

‘Don’t play games.’ His glare blistered. So he was still brooding.

‘You’d better come in.’

He crossed the threshold into the hall, stopped as he saw the black-clad sylph standing at the other end of the hall.

‘Lorenzo, you met Rosanna the other night. Rosanna, this is Lorenzo, my boss.’

His frown super-sized up.

Rosanna moved swiftly down the hall, her case rolling behind her. ‘I’m off, darling. Back in a few days. Be good.’ She grinned wickedly.

‘You too,’ Sophy tried to coo, but it was a squeak.

She heard Rosanna’s chuckle.

Lorenzo was still frowning long after the door had closed behind Rosanna.

‘She’s very discreet,’ Sophy said to reassure him. ‘She won’t say anything.’

He jerked his head to the side. ‘I’m not your boss.’

Oh, was that the problem? She smiled. ‘Yes you are.’

‘Not really.’

She knew what he meant and this was different from the usual office affair. In truth she was doing him a favour working for Whistle. The balance of power wasn’t so weighted towards him—at least not in respect of that. Sophy wanted to smooth it even more. ‘Tell you what, why don’t you let me be the boss in the bedroom—that’ll even us out.’

‘Never.’ The fire in his eyes burned from ice-cold to hot.

‘But it’s my bedroom.’

He shook his head, chasing off the last of the threatening storm clouds.

‘You just see if you can stay in charge, then. Boss.’ She threw down the challenge. Knew she didn’t have a hope in winning at all—but shrieked with laughter as she turned and ran as fast as she could to her room.

He caught her before she got there and went completely caveman. And she was quite happy to be his woman of the moment.

The days couldn’t pass fast enough. He was on her doorstep before she even got home some nights. But he didn’t suggest she ride home with him and nor did she offer to take him. The boundaries might be invisible but they were there.

But as the evenings lengthened and their physical need was temporarily tamed she turned and talked to him. About nothing. About everything. But never about anything personal. She didn’t want to talk about her family, sensed he never would talk about his. But one night she got some courage and steered the conversation slightly towards him. ‘Why the Whistle Fund?’

He lifted his head off the pillow. ‘Why at all?’

‘No, why the name?’

‘Because that’s what you do when you need help. You whistle.’ He pursed his lips and gave a short whistle.

‘And you whistle so you’re not afraid—there’s a song about that.’

‘Yeah, and when you’re doing something you shouldn’t, you have a mate keeping lookout—who’ll whistle if you need to make a run for it.’

She laughed at that. ‘Did you need to make a run for it often?’

‘All the time.’ He grinned.

She laughed with him but wasn’t at all sure how much he meant it as a joke. ‘And you whistle at pretty women, right?’

‘Oh, no,’ he said mock soberly. ‘That’s not pc.’

‘You’re not pc.’ She rolled onto her tummy. ‘Have there been many women Lorenzo?’

‘Are you sure this is a conversation you want to have?’

The coolness was almost visible. Damn it, why shouldn’t they talk about their pasts? Couldn’t they have a laugh about the mistakes they’d made before? Why was he blocking her from getting to know anything more about him? She’d heard the little there was to hear. So his childhood hadn’t been a picnic, okay, she’d gathered that. But he’d gone to that great school hadn’t he? Someone had cared enough to pay for that. And he’d become amazingly successful.

‘Why not? Tell me about your first and worst, I’ll tell you about mine.’

‘Look, we’re meeting up for the occasional screw. That doesn’t mean we’re going to swap life secrets or play twenty questions.’

Sophy flinched. Every night wasn’t exactly occasional. Jerk. Her temper flared. ‘Touchy, aren’t you? What happened? Did you fall in love once? Did she reject you—did she say you weren’t good enough for her? The poor boy from the wrong side of the tracks?’ Sarcasm flavoured every mean little word.

He sat up and pushed the sheet from him. ‘Actually I rejected her.’

‘Oh,’ Sophy said. ‘Of course. Silly me. You like to do that, don’t you? And why did you? Did she want too much from you?’

He swung his legs off the bed, turned his back to her. This time she had it right. The anger rippled through his muscles.

‘Poor Lorenzo, someone actually wanting emotional commitment? Support, honesty, love?’

‘Nothing so devastating,’ he denied. ‘She no longer turned me on.’

Sophy blinked. Ouch. There was a warning. She got out of bed too, pulled a shirt over her cold arms. She didn’t want him to be with her all night now. Not tonight.

‘You know, I have lots of work to do.’ She let her gaze slide over her desk—it was covered with designs and half-finished pieces that she’d decided weren’t going to go in the show. But he didn’t know that.

He looked at the table, then at her. ‘You want me to leave?’

Sophy forced a shrug. ‘Rosanna’s back in town, she’ll probably be home soon.’

‘And you don’t want her to know how loud I can make you come.’

She coloured. She supposed she deserved it. She was being rude chucking him out. ‘I wouldn’t be able to come with anyone right next door.’

‘Really.’ His sarcasm practically splashed on the floor. He pulled on his tee shirt and jeans.

He was angry—the way he moved totally gave it away. Well, so was she.

He didn’t kiss her goodbye. Just strode out. She didn’t speak—just slipped into the lounge and watched from the window as he jogged down to his car. But to her surprise he didn’t get into it and drive off. Instead he kept on jogging, his pace picking up to a hard-out run. In the darkened room she kept an eye on the street. It was a good forty minutes later before he returned. His tee shirt sweat darkened in patches. He didn’t look at the house, stayed too focused on his car for it to be natural as he unlocked and slid into it. The engine roared. He was at the speed limit in a second.

Sophy usually spent an hour each morning working with Jemma making sure the girl had a good grasp of the processes. She did—she certainly wasn’t clueless. Then Sophy left and went into her mini workshop. Her heart sank as she saw the volume of work she still had to do. Her confidence had dipped—none of it was good enough to go on display. She was totally fooling herself. She was going to embarrass herself completely. Her mobile went and she answered right away—glad of the excuse to turn her back on the mess. She listened. ‘Sure, I’ll come right away.’

She met him on the stairs on the way out.

‘Where are you going?’ His super-size frown was back.

‘I’ve promised my mother I’d meet her to help with something at lunch.’

‘But you’re supposed to be making your jewellery. You’ve still got several pieces unfinished.’ He climbed to the stair just below hers.

‘I know,’ she said, pausing for a second to wonder how he knew—had he been poking around in her room up there? ‘But I promised.’

He looked angrier than he had when he’d left last night. He stretched his hands out to the rails either side of the stairs so he made a wall she somehow had to get past. ‘But you’ve only got a week ’til the show.’

She knew that too. ‘I’ll work on them later.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘You don’t want to do it, do you? The exhibition.’

‘What? Of course I do.’

‘If you did you’d be prioritising it.’

She stiffened at the implied criticism. ‘Things other than work have priority in my life, Lorenzo. People have priority.’ Which was more than could be said for him. As far as she could tell he lived for work and work alone. People—relationships—didn’t feature in the equation at all. ‘My mother has asked for help. I’m pleased to be able to.’

‘No, she could get someone else. It’s just that you can’t say no when someone asks you. It wouldn’t matter if it was her or anyone.’

‘And that’s a bad thing?’ She glared at him.

‘It is when it stops you from achieving your own dreams.’

‘Like I said, people come first for me, Lorenzo. Always.’

‘Aren’t you a person? Isn’t what you want just as valid as what others want? Surely if you explained how busy you were, she’d find someone else to do whatever it is. A paid assistant, perhaps?’

She stiffened—but not because of the little jibe.

His eyes narrowed. ‘She doesn’t know, does she?’ With scary precision he zoomed in on the problem.

No, and Sophy didn’t want her to—didn’t want any of them to. ‘The sooner I go and do this, the sooner I can get back upstairs.’

‘But you were out yesterday afternoon too. For three hours.’

What was he, her timesheet? She wasn’t accountable to him. Not on this.

‘You can’t let this opportunity go, Sophy. Your work is too good.’

That made her even more tense—she felt pressure enough without him making sweet comments like that. ‘I really have to go, Lorenzo.’ She looked past him down the stairs. ‘And it really isn’t any of your business.’ He wouldn’t open up to her at all, so why should he have the right to comment on her life?

‘Sophy,’ he said quietly, leaning forward and branding her lips with the heat of his. ‘At least be quick.’

Chapter Eight

‘SOPHY, can you come with me, please?’ Lorenzo met her as she walked into the building.

She glanced at Kat behind the reception desk, hoping the girl hadn’t picked up on the chill in his words. ‘Of course.’

Was he mad with her? She hadn’t returned to the warehouse yesterday—had got held up completely until the early evening. Her sister had come round and it had turned into a whole family gathering. She’d made excuses and gone after a while—but she needn’t have hurried. Lorenzo hadn’t come round, had left no message on her phone. It was the first night they hadn’t had sex all week. And stupidly she’d had less sleep than ever. So she really wasn’t in the mood to have a hard time from him.

He led her out the back and gestured for her to get into his car.

‘Where are we going?’ She fixed her seat belt—he already had the engine running.

‘You’ll see.’ He fiddled with the stereo and put the music up loud. What, he didn’t want conversation?

‘I had a nice night, thanks.’ She chit chatted really loudly just to annoy him. He didn’t want to talk personal? Tough. ‘Big dinner with my parents and Victoria and Ted. It’s my niece’s birthday this weekend so we were celebrating early. Rosanna sent a text. She’s in Sydney for a few days.’

He gave her a sideways look but said nothing.

Yeah, she loved having conversations by herself. So she gave up. They drove through half of Auckland and she relaxed into the comfortable seat. Suddenly she sat up. ‘Lorenzo, this is the airport.’

‘And we’re right on time.’

On time for what? ‘Where are we going?’

‘Have you ever gotten on a plane and not known the destination?’

She shook her head.

‘Now’s your chance.’

‘Lorenzo—’

‘Have you ever taken a risk? Gone with an impulse?’

‘Maybe,’ she said cautiously. Like the time she’d come on to him with the basketball.

He parked the car, crossed his arms and called her on it. ‘What are you going to do, Sophy? Play it safe or walk on the wild side? Come on an adventure.’

‘How wild an adventure?’

‘Totally legal.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Honestly, don’t make a big deal about it, you’ll end up disappointed.’

She didn’t think so. She didn’t think she’d ever be disappointed when he was offering adventure.

He got out of the car. ‘Are you coming or what?’

As if she could say no. He loaded a surprisingly heavy-looking suitcase onto a trolley and headed to the checkin. She wasn’t worried. It wasn’t as if they were going to go overseas—he didn’t have her passport, this was the domestic terminal.

‘We’re flying back tonight, right?’ She’d better check on that though.

‘No.’

‘Then when?’

‘Sunday.’

Sunday? ‘Lorenzo, I can’t. I promised my brother I’d organise the cupcakes for my niece’s party.’

‘Were you going to bake them?’

‘They’re not that hard.’ She nibbled her lower lip. ‘Oh, I can’t, Lorenzo. I can’t let him down. I can’t let her down.’ But she was disappointed for herself more than anything.

‘Do you have to be at the party?’

‘No. It’s for her little friends. I was just making the cakes. She likes the icing I do.’

‘Someone else can do icing.’

Who? Baking wasn’t something anyone else in her family did.

‘Phone a bakery and get them to deliver,’ Lorenzo said, as if he were instructing a small child. He was right, of course. It would be so easy.

‘It’s short notice.’

‘Just offer to pay double and they’ll do it.’

She laughed. ‘Is that how you get what you want? Offer to pay?’

‘No. That wouldn’t work with you. I have to come up with other alternatives.’ He grinned. ‘Like abduction.’

She chomped on her lip some more. So tempted.

‘Phone up and get it done.’ He gave her a sideways look. ‘What else did you have scheduled for the weekend?’