How to Live with Temptation

by Fiona Brand

  The slam of JT’s car door and the cough of his car starting echoed through the cavernous space.

  For a weird moment, Tobias’s face looked like thunder, and she actually got the impression that he was going to argue with her, then his expression cleared.

  He glanced at her left hand, which was, of course, bare. “I didn’t know you were engaged.”

  Allegra still had the fingers of her right hand crossed behind her back. She had lied, and she never lied. But, even though she hated having to do that, she had to continue with the charade now. “Why would you? We’re not exactly friends.”

  JT’s car cruised toward them, heading for the exit. Tobias stepped out of the lane, closer to the vehicle they were both standing next to, and lifted a hand as JT went past. When he produced a key, a small shock went through Allegra, because she realized they were standing right next to his black truck. Somehow, he had managed to find a space just two down from where her convertible was parked.

  The lights of the truck flashed as he unlocked it. “Strange that Esmae didn’t mention your engagement.”

  Allegra kept her cool, professional smile on her face, but her mind was going a million miles an hour. She was going to have to find an actual fiancé now, which was problematic, since lately she’d been so busy with plans for the new retreat property she had even stopped dating. She didn’t know if she even knew anyone who could fill the role.

  “Esmae didn’t know,” she said smoothly, “because it’s...only just happened.”

  Tobias’s gaze seemed to laser through her. “Interesting. So when, exactly, did you get engaged? At the funeral?”

  Allegra suppressed the urge to snap that it was none of his business. But now was not the time to lose her cool. Besides, she was struck by how irritable Tobias was, even more annoyed than he’d been in Phillips’s office. He had been short with JT, now he was needling her, as if her engagement had somehow added to his aggravation, which didn’t make sense.

  He should be dancing in the street. Unless it mattered to him that she was engaged.

  Unless he was jealous.

  She instantly dismissed the notion. There was just no way, because, if Tobias was jealous, that meant he cared for her, and pigs would fly before that happened.

  Thinking quickly, she tried to come up with a believable date for getting engaged. “We got engaged—the day before the funeral.”

  “You worked the day before.”

  Her gaze narrowed at his knowledge of her schedule and the way he kept questioning her, as if he didn’t believe she could be engaged. With an effort of will, she kept her smile in place. “I’m a woman,” she said flatly, “I multitask. Besides, I don’t work twenty-four hours of every day. When the spa closes I have...a life.”

  His gaze pinned her in place, before dropping to her mouth, sending tension zinging through her. She was even getting a weird feeling low in her belly, as if she were actually just the tiniest bit turned on, which couldn’t be.

  “So, who’s the lucky guy?”

  Her phone rang. Talk about saved by the bell, because her mind was utterly blank on the subject of who could possibly be her fiancé.

  She extracted her cell phone out of her handbag just as the call, which was from one of her suppliers, was transferred to voice mail. But the fact that it was a work call provided her with the inspiration she needed.

  She had recently employed a gym instructor and personal trainer, Mike. A part-time model and actor waiting for his big break, Mike was tall, muscled and blond, and looked like a Norse hero. He wasn’t exactly the brightest person on her team and he had an offbeat humor and a narcissistic streak that could be challenging, but he was gorgeous. He was also cash-strapped and had recently asked her for more hours.

  That, along with his acting training, made him perfect for the part.

  Allegra tried to look as if she’d just remembered Tobias’s question. “His name’s Mike, uh—” she was so used to calling Mike by just his first name that, for a second she had trouble remembering his surname “—Callaghan. You’ll meet him soon enough. Although,” she said smoothly, “I shouldn’t have said anything, since we haven’t announced it yet.”

  She checked her watch, as if she was suddenly in a hurry, which she was, now that she had an engagement to organize. “How soon do I have to move into the house?” She could not quite bring herself to say your house.

  Tobias crossed his arms over his chest. “Today, if you want.”

  “Great. The sooner it’s over the better, because I’d like to have some privacy to be with my fiancé.”

  Something heated flashed in his gaze. “I’ll be moving in this afternoon, as well.”

  She busied herself sliding her phone back in her bag. “Naturally, Mike will be helping me. Maybe he can also give you a hand if you need it? He’s really strong.”

  A glint of humor surfaced. “I don’t need a hand. It’s not as if I’m staying out there more than the month.”

  She offered him the kind of distant smile she used to end conversations with people she had not wanted to talk to in the first place. “Just one month and we’ll both have what we’re entitled to, and then we can go our separate ways.”

  The amusement disappeared from Tobias’s gaze. “Spoken like a true Mallory.”

  The way he said it stung. Of course, he had known that Esmae had backed her financially, but her assistance hadn’t been necessary. “For your information, I tried to buy back those shares from Esmae four months ago.”

  “I’d believe that if she hadn’t written her new will around the time she went into partnership with you.”

  “So you think I made the offer already knowing Esmae was giving me the shares?”

  Something snapped. Before she could stop herself, she stepped close enough to Tobias that she could feel the heat blasting off his body and smell the clean scents of soap and whatever that cologne was, and jabbed a finger at his chest. “You make it sound like I’m dishonest, which is entirely your business, but it’s a fact that I’m entirely capable of raising my own finances, which is what I would have done if Esmae hadn’t been so set on wanting an interest in Madison Spas.”

  She glared at him. “And, for the record...neither is my family, either past or present, dishonest. The Mallorys have had their share of luck, good and bad, just like the Hunts. And, before you say it, I know the story about Jebediah and Alexandra and, quite frankly, I’m over it. If you ask me, the reason Jebediah went so sour on Alexandra wasn’t because he ended up with a piece of land that didn’t have an oil well on it. It was because Alexandra rejected him and found someone else. Someone who was probably a whole lot nicer.”

  She could say more. The way Tobias’s family told the story about Esmae’s marriage to Michael Hunt was equally objectionable. As far as Allegra was concerned, the implication that Esmae had been a scheming gold digger was utterly ridiculous, because Esmae Mallory had been gorgeous enough to marry anyone she chose. What’s more, Allegra had the pictures to prove it. “And let’s talk about the elephant in the room. The Hunt family is hugely successful and rich. You could buy and sell the oil well Alexandra ended up with, out of sheer good luck, a million times over and still have change. So why don’t we just park the whole story and move on!”

  “This is why,” he muttered.

  Tobias’s hands landed at her waist, his head dipped and his mouth landed on hers. As kisses went it was light, almost tentative, or would have been if she hadn’t swayed off-balance and gripped the lapels of his jacket.

  His arms came around her waist, and all the breath went from her lungs as he pressed her close enough that she could feel the hard wall of his chest, the pound of his heart and the riveting fact that he was aroused.

  At that point, a hot little pang shot through her, and her knees went as limp as noodles. Dimly, she was aware that the strap of her handbag had
slipped off her shoulder and the bag was now on the concrete floor. But she couldn’t worry about that, it was all she could do to hold on to Tobias’s shoulders, as she angled her jaw to deepen the kiss.

  Tobias muttered something else under his breath, that sounded suspiciously like a swear word. His hands cupped her bottom and she was hauled even closer, then upward, so that her feet were left dangling. She wound her arms around his neck and hung on. A split second later, she felt the cold solidity of metal behind her, as he settled her against the cold steel of the truck.

  The sound of the elevator doors opening made her stiffen. Heat flushed through her as she realized what she was doing, what she had allowed. They were practically making love against the side of Tobias’s truck. Embarrassed at the way she had clung on to him, she wriggled free and smoothed her dress, which had hiked up, back down around her thighs.

  Dragging in a breath, she stepped back, then had to grip the edge of the truck because her legs still felt unsteady. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

  Tobias straightened his tie, which she must have dragged loose. “Because you’re engaged?”

  Allegra’s cheeks warmed. She had almost forgotten that part. “Yes.”

  A middle-aged man with a briefcase walked past them, an interested gleam in his gaze.

  It was at that point she realized that a button on her bodice had popped open, exposing more than just a hint of cleavage. Fumbling in her haste, she rebuttoned the bodice, then bent down and retrieved her gorgeous Messena handbag, which was now covered in dust smudges. Tobias retrieved a lipstick and a vial of perfume that had rolled beneath the truck. Feeling flustered because she had kissed Tobias back, she snatched back her personal items.

  She rummaged in her bag and found her car keys. “That can’t happen again.”

  “You’re the boss,” he growled.

  She sent him a fiery glance. She wasn’t sensing any regret, in fact, just the opposite. There was still a heated gleam, right alongside the bad-tempered attitude, and then she finally figured it out. There was no way a guy could fake arousal, and she had been plastered against Tobias, so he hadn’t been able to hide the fact that he was aroused, either.

  Tobias wanted her.

  The problem was, he wanted her against his will, which was more than a little insulting, and brought back the hurt and humiliation of Tobias ditching her two years ago.

  As far as she was concerned, in behaving that way, Tobias had committed the cardinal sin: he had trivialized her.

  She didn’t need a crystal ball to know that he had bought into the fake news propagated by Halliday and Fischer on their toxic social media pages.

  He was probably, even now, making some kind of superficial value judgment about her but, thankfully, because she had such a kickass attitude, what Tobias thought would absolutely not affect her. One of the reasons she hadn’t dated a lot in high school or college, and had made the mistake of going to an executive dating site, was that very reason. Usually, she could spot the kind of guy who was going to make shallow assumptions about her a mile off. The second she figured it out, she walked because, newsflash, she was just not interested in spending time with a guy who only saw her as a cliché.

  Turning on her heel, she stalked toward her car. She needed to think, and fast, because now she had to figure a way to get through a whole month with a Tobias who wanted her.

  Then she remembered Mike. Duh.

  Opening the driver’s-side door, she placed her bag on the passenger seat, slid behind the wheel and closed her door with an expensive thunk. She was just about to start the car when Tobias walked around the rear, leaned down and placed both hands on her door, preventing her from backing out of the space.

  “Just so we make one thing clear. Your fiancé can help you move in, but that’s where it ends. He can’t stay.”

  Allegra could feel the color rising in her cheeks, not just at Tobias’s dictatorial manner, but at the way he had said fiancé, as if he didn’t really believe she had one.

  She pressed the starter button of the car. The engine purred to life, which was a handy way of letting Tobias know that the conversation was over.

  The fact that he clearly didn’t believe her, besides being insulting, made her all the more determined to employ Mike for the role. She didn’t know what she would have to pay him, but if she had to empty her personal bank account, she would do it.

  It was bad enough that she was going to have to live in Tobias’s house for a month, but his high-handed manner in laying down the rules about her seeing her fiancé—even though Mike wouldn’t really be her fiancé—burned.

  By the time she moved into Esmae’s—Tobias’s—house, her fake engagement had to be fully operational.

  Tobias released her door, but she wasn’t quite ready to leave.

  Tilting her head back, she gazed at Tobias from beneath her lashes. She had practiced that look in the mirror and while doing selfies until she had perfected it, and she knew it was crazy hot.

  Maybe goading Tobias at this point wasn’t the smartest choice, but the last time she had taken orders she had been three. And, even at that age, she had known that last order had been reasonable, because if she had eaten all of the cookies in the cookie jar she would have been sick. “Are you trying to tell me that I can’t have sex with my fiancé?”

  Something dangerous flashed in Tobias’s eyes, as if she had finally pushed him over the edge of a precipice she hadn’t known was there. Out of nowhere a hot thrill shot down her spine.

  “Not in my house,” he said softly.

  Their gazes locked with a laser intensity she was having difficulty breaking, probably because Tobias’s eyes had a magnetic, mesmerizing quality, which, somehow, made all brain function stop.

  Approximately ninety seconds ago, she had figured out that Tobias wanted her. Now, she had another vital piece of information.

  He didn’t want Mike to have her.

  Which meant he was jealous.

  Another hot thrill, this one going all the way to you-know-where, practically welded her in place. “Oh good,” she said, injecting a brisk, businesslike note into her voice. “For a moment there I thought you were saying I couldn’t have sex with my fiancé at all!”

  Before she could become completely paralyzed from the hypnotic effect of Tobias’s gaze, and agree to sleep with him again, she put the car into Reverse, backed out of the space, then shot toward the exit. She was almost at the turn into the exit ramp when another vehicle reversed into the lane.

  Braking, she waited, fingers tense on the wheel. A faint tingling at the back of her neck had her checking the rearview mirror. Tobias’s truck glided in behind her, once again dwarfing her small car.

  She should have waited for him to leave first, because now she was stuck with Tobias behind her until she could get out of the building. Like the drive in, his big black truck was making her feel distinctly herded, which was a feeling she had never experienced until Tobias.

  In the past, there had been occasions when guys had deliberately followed her to get her attention, but the most she had felt was irritation. She had literally batted them off like flies.

  The SUV in front finally achieved some forward motion. Relief washed through Allegra when she finally turned onto the city street. The little café where she was buying lunch was on the coast, and Tobias’s office was in the center of town, so he would have to turn in the opposite direction.

  When he did so, she relaxed a fraction more, but the feminine tension that had spun out of control when they had kissed was still keeping her on edge.

  Annoyed at the way she was still reacting, she shifted in her seat and rolled her shoulders to try and relax her muscles, but vivid flashes of what it had felt like to kiss Tobias and be pressed close against him, kept ratcheting up the tension.

  She braked for a light, then checked her mirror
. Another hot pang shot through her when she spied the rear of Tobias’s truck, even though it was at a distance.

  A car horn blared. Depressing the accelerator, she drove through the intersection and, just in time, remembered to take the lane that led toward the beach.

  The problem was that, for reasons she couldn’t fathom, she was turned on. The feelings had sneaked up on her, but this time she would not be caught off guard.

  After months of therapy and graduating from a series of online relationship empowerment classes for women, she was now equipped with a degree of emotional intelligence she hadn’t possessed when she had made the mistake of sleeping with Tobias.

  Despite still wanting him, she now knew exactly what she was coping with: a fatal attraction. What’s more, she had the tools in place to resist Tobias.

  She was forewarned, forearmed and she was “engaged.”

  The fact that Tobias had kissed her after he had learned she had a fiancé made her frown. The only reason that explained his total lack of respect for the fact that she was pledged to another man, was that he hadn’t believed in the engagement.

  Just like he hadn’t believed her when she had told him she wasn’t trying to trap him into marriage.

  That meant that, despite her efforts to prove that she didn’t want him, he was still convinced that she did.

  That meant she definitely had to have the engagement visible, and in Tobias’s face, by this afternoon.

  Five

  Tobias strode into his downtown office and lifted a hand to Jean, his indomitable, indispensible PA, before stepping into the inner sanctum of his office.

  Tossing his briefcase on a leather chair, he walked to the huge wall of glass that offered spectacular views out over the cityscape, with glimpses of Miami Beach, and out to sea. Although, for long seconds the view didn’t register at all, because he was back in the darkened underground garage, with Allegra Mallory winding her arms around his neck and stretching her taut, curvy body against him as the first kiss had turned into a second and then a third.