The Boss's Proposal by Cathy Williams Page A

underneath. He wondered, and this sent a little electric shock to his groin, what it would feel like to undo those prim buttons, fingers touching skin underneath the shirt, anticipation building to a frenzy. He imagined her hands loosely tied to the bedstead with silk scarves while he undressed her, taking his time and exploring each exposed bit of skin with his tongue. He would drive her wild, enjoying her uncontrolled writhing. Naturally she would plead with him not to stop, to rip aside her bra and relieve her aching breasts with his mouth.
    When he glanced her way, it was to find her looking at him as though she could read every salaciously impure thought in his head, and he flushed darkly. Good heavens! The woman was his secretary !
    â€˜Believe me now?’ he asked roughly, sounding, he thought, the Big Bad Wolf when confronted with Little Red Riding Hood. He grinned to himself at the unconscious parallel, because right now he would have liked nothing better than to eat her up, every inch of her defensive little body, starting with her pale, slender neck and moving all the way down to the patch of hair between herthighs that would naturally be daintily shielded behind granny-style underwear.
    He cleared his throat and dragged his thoughts back to meetings, calendars and business appointments. She was asking him something and he made a huge effort to concentrate and reply in a normal voice.
    â€˜I see you’re in London twice this week,’ she was saying, gazing down with satisfaction at the diary entries. Two business meetings in Temple, another in Uxbridge.
    â€˜So I am. Perhaps—’ he frowned ‘—I ought to cancel those and spend a bit more time here, until you get accustomed to the running of the office.’
    Vicky was quick to sit on any such suggestion. ‘There’s no need for that.’ She realised that his recumbent arm was too close for comfort, and she discreetly but firmly edged hers away. ‘In fact, having a couple of days on my own will be perfect for me to fill myself in on the files and the customers and also catch up with some of that backlog of typing.’
    He could see her trying very hard to look regretful and felt a sulky and childish tug on his masculine pride that the thought of spending time along with him in the office was obviously a fate only slightly better than death, as far as she was concerned. What appealing work experience lay in store for both of them at this rate!
    â€˜Well, you can’t miraculously work your way through everything on your own. I’m going to have to answer a few questions, presumably.’ Now, he sounded piqued. The cool, self-confident, self-assured, mature and winningly charming adult seemed to have been replaced by a sulking thirteen-year-old. Where that emotion had come from he had no idea as it had never been in evidence before.
    â€˜I realise that,’ Vicky said, briefly looking at him and then resuming her perusal of the file in front of her.‘Whenever I need you to help, I shall ask. I think finding my way around the business and what you do here is going to take the longest. I’ll read up all the company literature, but Mrs Hogg—’
    â€˜Ms Hogg.’
    â€˜I beg your pardon?’
    â€˜ Ms Hogg. Geraldine prefers good, healthy outdoor pursuits with her formidable sister to the company of men any day of the week.’ He grinned and she reluctantly grinned back.
    â€˜Well, as I was saying…’ What had she been saying? ‘ Ms Hogg didn’t get much of a chance to fill me in on this particular branch of your company. She mentioned that it’s a fairly new concern—’
    â€˜But growing at an almost unprecedented rate,’ he carried on for her, ‘hence my involvement. Virtually all of our customers are new to us and have to be treated with kid gloves, aside from one or two whose mother company is based in London and whose subsidiaries