already for her to risk a dance with the prince of the evening.
‘I’d rather dance with you.’ Before she could argue, he led her onto the dance floor.
She belatedly realised that she had imagined something quite different to the reality. All over the floor, people were grooving down to a fast-paced song from a 1980’s movie. This would be no smoochy, mouth-watering moment, and she felt momentarily chagrined by the turn of her thoughts.
Yet the dance moves, that felt natural in the privacy of her living room or when she went out with the girls to a club, seemed quite different with Zach’s gaze locked on her.
Every move she made felt sensually charged. Every move
he
made seemed designed to make her more aware of him. Nobody around them was taking the slightest bit of notice, yet she felt so conscious of the tension between them that it was a physical sharpening down her spine.
And he felt it, too, all of it. She knew it, because he didn’t bother to hide the heat in his eyes when their gazes locked. That blatant barrage of sensual interest stole her breath.
Almost at the end of the number, he moved close, his hands firm on the swell of each of her hips as he drew her in. He wasn’t watching her body move. Not now.
Instead, he looked into her eyes, and his
burned
, and she knew she was going to melt, utterly, and she wouldn’t be able to do a thing to stop it. Not one thing, despite all her determination and her need to watch out for herself. And her memories, and the hurt, and all the things she couldn’t trust herself to remember any more.
A smattering of applause indicated the end of the song. Zach lowered his hands. She realised hers were on his waist, let go and stepped back.
‘You make shaking your hips an art form.’ He smiled, making light of it, but his eyes didn’t. They smouldered with dark feelings that showed her she hadn’t seen past the first edge of this man. Not really, even though she had worked with him for three weeks and been aware of him for every moment of that time.
‘Why don’t you ask my brother to dance while I take Mum onto the floor? Dan’s a bit shy about girls, but it would do him good to get out there with someone pretty and confident about herself.’
Zach’s arms were locked to his sides, as though he didn’t trust himself not to haul her back to him.
Confidence had been hard won in the last twelve months, but Lily thought:
you make me feel as though I am those things
, then turned and saw Daniel standing at the edge of the floor tugging at that collar again.
He was just a boy. Not yet in high school, probably. Without realising it revealed her own insecurity, she said, ‘Will he let me that close, if I ask him?’
CHAPTER FIVE
‘Yeah.’ Zach answered Lily’s question in a tone gravelled by the suppressed need inside him. ‘I don’t think Daniel will be able to do anything else.’
Lily didn’t hear his words. She had already walked away, and that was probably just as well, because Zach really wasn’t himself. He hadn’t been himself since she’d walked into his office that first Monday and started to reorder his working life, as a matter of fact. And his comment hadn’t been about Daniel, but about himself.
He had kissed Lily. Madly, deeply, in front of a room full of people. He wanted to do it again, in private, and never, ever stop. He couldn’t convince himself to let it be. So he’d sent her away to dance with his brother, but so far separation didn’t seem to be helping.
Lily headed straight for Daniel, hips wiggling, one arm stretched out to the boy as her finger beckoned him forward. It had the desired effect.
Daniel broke into a grin and was soon on the floor, laughing and showing her a few moves that weren’t too bad for an eleven-year-old whose feet tended to get in his way. Zach closed his eyes on a familiar ache.
He was so proud of that kid.
With the need to whisk Lily out of the party and straight to the nearest available
‘I’d rather dance with you.’ Before she could argue, he led her onto the dance floor.
She belatedly realised that she had imagined something quite different to the reality. All over the floor, people were grooving down to a fast-paced song from a 1980’s movie. This would be no smoochy, mouth-watering moment, and she felt momentarily chagrined by the turn of her thoughts.
Yet the dance moves, that felt natural in the privacy of her living room or when she went out with the girls to a club, seemed quite different with Zach’s gaze locked on her.
Every move she made felt sensually charged. Every move
he
made seemed designed to make her more aware of him. Nobody around them was taking the slightest bit of notice, yet she felt so conscious of the tension between them that it was a physical sharpening down her spine.
And he felt it, too, all of it. She knew it, because he didn’t bother to hide the heat in his eyes when their gazes locked. That blatant barrage of sensual interest stole her breath.
Almost at the end of the number, he moved close, his hands firm on the swell of each of her hips as he drew her in. He wasn’t watching her body move. Not now.
Instead, he looked into her eyes, and his
burned
, and she knew she was going to melt, utterly, and she wouldn’t be able to do a thing to stop it. Not one thing, despite all her determination and her need to watch out for herself. And her memories, and the hurt, and all the things she couldn’t trust herself to remember any more.
A smattering of applause indicated the end of the song. Zach lowered his hands. She realised hers were on his waist, let go and stepped back.
‘You make shaking your hips an art form.’ He smiled, making light of it, but his eyes didn’t. They smouldered with dark feelings that showed her she hadn’t seen past the first edge of this man. Not really, even though she had worked with him for three weeks and been aware of him for every moment of that time.
‘Why don’t you ask my brother to dance while I take Mum onto the floor? Dan’s a bit shy about girls, but it would do him good to get out there with someone pretty and confident about herself.’
Zach’s arms were locked to his sides, as though he didn’t trust himself not to haul her back to him.
Confidence had been hard won in the last twelve months, but Lily thought:
you make me feel as though I am those things
, then turned and saw Daniel standing at the edge of the floor tugging at that collar again.
He was just a boy. Not yet in high school, probably. Without realising it revealed her own insecurity, she said, ‘Will he let me that close, if I ask him?’
CHAPTER FIVE
‘Yeah.’ Zach answered Lily’s question in a tone gravelled by the suppressed need inside him. ‘I don’t think Daniel will be able to do anything else.’
Lily didn’t hear his words. She had already walked away, and that was probably just as well, because Zach really wasn’t himself. He hadn’t been himself since she’d walked into his office that first Monday and started to reorder his working life, as a matter of fact. And his comment hadn’t been about Daniel, but about himself.
He had kissed Lily. Madly, deeply, in front of a room full of people. He wanted to do it again, in private, and never, ever stop. He couldn’t convince himself to let it be. So he’d sent her away to dance with his brother, but so far separation didn’t seem to be helping.
Lily headed straight for Daniel, hips wiggling, one arm stretched out to the boy as her finger beckoned him forward. It had the desired effect.
Daniel broke into a grin and was soon on the floor, laughing and showing her a few moves that weren’t too bad for an eleven-year-old whose feet tended to get in his way. Zach closed his eyes on a familiar ache.
He was so proud of that kid.
With the need to whisk Lily out of the party and straight to the nearest available
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