Making her Smile - EPUB

by Elizabeth Lennox

  “Okay, you enjoy them. I enjoy them. Your salary is adequate. You’re not working too many hours. What’s the problem? Why do you feel the need to run?”

  She huffed a bit and he looked at her breasts underneath that shirt, his body tightening with the way her breasts jiggled enticingly underneath the material. Damn, she was beautiful!

  “Because you’re…you!” she said, her arms waving in the air, out of patience finally. “You’re handsome and nice and strong and…” she huffed a bit. “And you call me every morning to make me laugh! You do all those nice things and you have stupidly broad shoulders! No man should have shoulders like yours! Why? Why couldn’t you just be a jerk or something? Why do you always have to say the right thing? Why are you so nice and funny and responsible and caring and…”

  She paused, looking up at him with startled eyes. Almost as if she hadn’t meant to say all of that.

  He looked down and, sure enough, her nipples were pressing against the thin material of her shirt. He tried. He really did. But Phillip simply couldn’t pull his eyes away from those interesting indentations.

  “Stop it!” she whispered, then crossed her arms over her shirt. It was the only thing that could have pulled his eyes upwards. Only then did he see the hurt in her eyes. The wounded, scared expression.

  “You like my shoulders?” was all he could ask.

  One of her delicate shoulders went up, as if she might be trying to dismiss everything she’d just blurted out to him.

  “And you don’t think I’m a jerk.”

  He loved it when she turned those angry eyes on him. He couldn’t help it. She looked too delightful. “Phillip, you know that you’re the kind of guy every woman fantasizes about.”

  That was news! Good news! “Do you?” he asked softly.

  She shifted her bare feet, digging her toes into the carpet. “Do I what?”

  “Fantasize about me?” he asked, moving closer.

  She didn’t answer, but her lips softened. He pulled his eyes away from those soft lips that he wanted to taste, looking into her hazel eyes. There! The vulnerable look in those eyes told him what he wanted to know. Looking lower, he saw the pulse pounding at the base of her neck. It was barely there, but he’d noticed it months ago and had been fascinated by it.

  Stepping closer, he stopped when he realized that his movement only increased her nervousness. She was almost cringing from him.

  “Where’s your passport?” he asked, thinking that the best plan of action was to get away from here. No work. No deadlines. Nothing but sunshine, good food, and conversation. They could work this out. They just needed to get away from here where she could relax a bit.

  And he could already see her in a red bikini.

  Marie breathed a sigh of relief when he stepped away from her. But his question about her passport threw her off. “It’s uh…”

  She stopped when he flipped the top off of the box containing all of her important documents. She wasn’t going to let that box go with the movers, so she’d set it onto the kitchen counter, right next to her purse and laptop. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

  He didn’t answer her, just lifted the plastic bag containing her passport and other vital documents, then stuffed her passport into his pocket.

  “Okay, we’re set. Let’s go,” he told her, then dumped her purse into her arms and put his hand to the small of her back, pushing her out of the apartment. He grabbed her laptop as well, but wouldn’t let her carry it, swinging it over his shoulder as they walked out of the apartment.

  “Where are we going?” she demanded, worried now.

  “Aruba.”

  She couldn’t speak for a long moment, just followed stupidly along to his car. He nudged her into the passenger seat and she watched his long legs carry him around the front of the car. Was his butt as tight as it seemed? She knew that the man went for a run every other morning, going something like five or six miles each time he went out. The other mornings, he worked out with weights. He had a complete gym in his house. A completely drool worthy gym. Or maybe it was just the man who was drool worthy?

  It was too early in the morning for this, she thought and pressed her lips together as he slipped into the driver’s seat. “Phillip, I’m not going to Aruba with you.”

  “As I see it,” he said as he started the engine and backed out of the parking space, “you still work for me. Am I wrong?”

  “Yes. For two more weeks,” she replied stubbornly, ignoring his grunt of disagreement.

  “Well then, as your employer, I’m telling you that we have meetings scheduled in Aruba in a few hours.” He pulled out of the parking lot of her apartment building and glanced over at her. “Put your seatbelt on,” he warned, then peeled out of the lot into the morning traffic. It was still too early for most of the New Orleans residents to be out and about. It was too early for her to be out and about. It was Saturday! She normally slept until nine or ten o’clock on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Sundays might be a bit earlier since she went to church but Saturdays…yeah, when she wasn’t working with him on a deadline or important issue, she slept in until she was good and ready to get out of bed, then enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee for another hour or two. Apartment cleaning, getting her nails done, and picking out her movie for the evening was normally all she had on her agenda on her free Saturdays.

  It occurred to her that she could have been going on dates during those free Saturdays. But how could a man compete with someone like Phillip? He was tall, handsome, kind, considerate, sexy as hell, and just…darn it, he made her shiver with awareness whenever he walked into a room. Or when she walked into his office. Or conference room. When he touched her back as he led her through a restaurant or whatever they were doing together, she’d always been painfully conscious of that touch.

  “What was that sigh for?” he asked as he sped down the highway.

  She glanced at his speedometer and cringed when she realized he was going about eighty miles an hour. “What’s the rush?” she asked, ignoring his question.

  “We’re late. You weren’t ready to go, as instructed.” He glanced at her for a moment, heat in his eyes as he said, “You know you’re in trouble for that, right?”

  Now, why did that excite her so much?

  She cleared her throat and pulled her eyes away from him. “I’m not going to Aruba with you. I don’t have any clothes and there’s no way I can work down there. So just…”

  “We’ll get everything you need when we land.”

  “Not my files.”

  “For what I have planned,” he pointed out as he turned right, heading towards the private air field, “you won’t need files or your laptop.”

  She didn’t want to ask. She shouldn’t ask. It was pointless to ask! He’d just tell her something that she didn’t want to know. But…

  “What do you have planned?” she asked.

  He turned, the heat still in his eyes, but this time, there was also a leer curling his lips that sent her pulse into overdrive and tightened every muscle in her stomach. Anticipation hit her. Hard!

  “Oh, you’ll just have to wait and see,” he promised.

  A moment later, he pulled into the parking lot of the private airfield. Turning off the engine, he twisted so that he was looking at her. “Ready?”

  She looked down at her purse. “Obviously, I’m not. I don’t have any clothes!”

  “Not a problem. There are stores.”

  She gritted her teeth. “Phillip, I’m not buying…”

  “Of course you’re not. I am.”

  With that, he stepped out of the vehicle and moved to the trunk of his car. She didn’t see anything since she was still sitting in the passenger seat, biting her lip as she looked at his plane. It was sitting on the tarmac, ready and waiting for them to board. She’d done this many times in the past. Working with Phillip meant a lot of travel. She’d been to some amazing places, but it had always been business. And she hadn’t just told the man that
he had sexy shoulders. Or broad shoulders? She couldn’t remember and it was too early in the morning to figure things out. Also, she was tired, not having slept all night because of the craziness of the last twenty-four hours.

  Phillip was…different now. More relaxed than she’d seen him in months. He was smiling more, there wasn’t that tension about him, and he was….

  The door opened and she turned to look at him. “Ready?”

  “No!” she snapped.

  “Too bad,” he replied and took her purse, tossing it over his shoulder along with his duffel bag. “The pilot has started the engines. We’re wasting fuel now.”

  Marie gasped and jumped out of the car. If there was one thing guaranteed to get her moving, it was waste of any kind, she was just too efficient to ignore that.

  “You’re an evil man,” she snapped as she walked across the parking lot, her flip flops snapping against her feet. She followed, but only because she wasn’t sure what else to do. He was right. He was her boss. And yeah, they’d often worked and relaxed on his trips.

  This was different. Yes, he still had her computer. But she knew that this was different. Dangerously different!

  “Phillip?”

  He turned to her, looking into her eyes and she wanted to melt into all of those yummy muscles, have his arms wrap around her. She wanted him to tell her that this wouldn’t change their relationship in any way. Maybe if she promised to stay with him, things wouldn’t change. Maybe if…

  “Trust me, Marie,” he said softly, his hand reaching up to cup her cheek gently. His thumb rubbed against her skin. With just that small movement…she was a goner. When he touched her like that, he could order her to fly to the moon and she’d start flapping her arms.

  She loved his touch and pressed her cheek against the warm palm of his hand, enjoying, for just a moment, the way it felt to be touched by Phillip.

  But only a moment. With a sigh, she pulled away. “I trust you, Phillip,” she told him. She didn’t necessarily trust herself though. And that was the bigger problem.

  “Good. Then let’s just get on the plane.” He paused, that thumb rubbing underneath her eyes gently, “You can get a bit of sleep, and by the time you wake up, we’ll be in Aruba. Okay?”

  She didn’t inhale, because she would have only filled her lungs with the incredibly wonderful scent of Phillip. So instead, she nodded. “That’s fine.”

  “Good. Let’s go,” he said and took her hand. He only released it when they climbed the narrow stairs that led to the plane.

  Once inside the plane’s cabin, she curled up in one of the large, leather chairs, shook her head when the flight attendant asked if she wanted anything to drink, then pressed the chair back, and closed her eyes. It took her a long time to finally fall asleep since too many thoughts were flying through her mind. She didn’t want to think about being in a warm, tropical island with Phillip. She didn’t want to think about anything. But her mind kept flitting from one scenario to another where she revealed her secret feelings for the man.

  Chapter 7

  “Marie, wake up.”

  Marie grumbled and pulled the blanket higher, trying to stay warm. She heard laughter but ignored it.

  “Honey, you need to wake up.”

  “No,” she grumbled.

  More laughter. She didn’t like the laughter since she suspected it was directed at her. She wanted to sleep. Too tired.

  “Why are you so tired, honey?”

  “Worried. ‘Bout you.”

  “About me? Why are you worried about me?”

  “Go ‘way.”

  More laughter and she swatted at the source. “Love you. Hate you. Go away,” she mumbled, trying to get warm again. But someone kept pulling her blanket away and she wanted to go back to sleep.

  “Honey. Wake up.” The urgent voice plus the inkling that something was wrong tugged her out of deep sleep. She sat up with a rush, but then looked around, trying to figure out where she was.

  “What time is it?” she asked, blinking and trying to figure out if she’d been dreaming or…had she really just said those things to Phillip?

  A cup of coffee was placed on the small table beside her. Marie stared at it, willing magical hands to lift the cup to her mouth. They didn’t appear and she glared at the cup, cursing it for being so dependent on her to bring the happy juice to her lips.

  “Are you going to drink it?”

  Marie turned to face Phillip, glaring at him for the amusement she heard in his voice. “Go away.”

  He only laughed and she vowed that she’d hurt him. Soon. As soon as those magic hands appeared. Damn hands. Hiding from her! Why didn’t magic work when one really needed it?

  “I don’t think glaring at the coffee is going to help as much as drinking it.”

  Another glare. Another chuckle. Yeah, she was going to really hurt him. Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell him that because she was too busy yawning. She tried to politely cover her mouth with her hand, but her hands were…heavy. Hence the need for the magic ones.

  With enormous effort, she pushed the blanket away, fumbling with the material. It took all of her very limited concentration to finally lift the cup to her lips and take a sip of the hot, wonderful liquid. When the caffeine hit her system, she sighed with happiness and leaned back against the leather chair. Some part of her mind wondered who had put the blanket over her. And who had lifted her seat back up. She wasn’t sure, and at the moment, she didn’t want to speculate.

  “Is it working?”

  She mumbled something that could have been “yes” or maybe “no”. It might have even been along the lines of “shut up for a few more minutes” but she wasn’t going to worry about it. Not yet.

  More laughter, so she supposed it was the third possibility. Then again, Phillip seemed to be amused by a lot of things lately…ever since he’d broken off his engagement.

  Phillip continued to watch Marie as she slowly roused from a deep sleep. She was cute when she woke up. She looked like an angry kitten, all soft and fluffy, her cheeks still flushed from sleep and she purred. Yeah, the woman might be growling, but he preferred to call it purring because, well, she was sexy, cute and pretty irresistible.

  He called her most mornings during his workouts, ostensibly to check in with her about work issues, but mostly because he just wanted to hear her voice. And he wanted to hear her wake up, hear her soft laughter every morning as she slowly roused from sleep.

  However, this was the first time he’d ever witnessed her waking up. And for the life of him, he couldn’t think of anything amusing. He was so turned on, he was aching. Every ounce of his brain power was focused on keeping his hands to himself. Otherwise, he was likely to lift her into his lap and kiss her.

  Oh, he had no objections to kissing her. Not even slightly! But it was too early for that. He needed to get her to his house. And clothes.

  Hmmm…maybe no clothes would be a good thing.

  No. That’s just…rude. Besides, he liked the idea of dressing her, buying her things.

  Damn, he shifted in his seat. Just the thought of her dressed in something he’d bought her made his body throb with the need to bury himself in her heat, to bring out all of those sexy sounds she was making simply because she was drinking coffee.

  “When do we land?”

  It took him several moments to figure out what she was talking about since he was so wrapped up in his fantasies about dressing her. And undressing her.

  Plane. Flying. Landing in Aruba in a few minutes.

  “About fifteen minutes,” he finally told her.

  He watched, fascinated, as that news sank in. Slowly, she nodded her head, took another sip of coffee. And then the news truly hit her brain. Jerking upright, she looked around, pushing her hair out of her eyes and peering out the window. “Fifteen minutes?” She looked down at the blanket he’d draped over her, protecting her from the cool, pressurized air. “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?”

  �
�Why would I?” he asked softly, shifting once again.

  “Because we could have…” she stopped, looked around and shook her head. “Where’s my hair tie?” she asked, distracted by all that lovely hair, which was falling into her eyes.

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out the band she’d had in her hair. “Here you go.”

  She took it with trembling fingers, still not sure what had happened.

  “I took it out to make you more comfortable,” he explained, answering her unspoken question.

  “Oh.” He laughed again when she looked down at the rest of her clothes, trying to determine what else he’d taken off.

  “Only the hair tie,” he vowed. He could really get used to this, he thought. Phillip was the kind of person who slept easily, and woke up alert almost instantly. Seeing her wake up slowly and confused, he thought of all the things he could do during her waking up process. All the different ways he could help her with that process.

  Yes, life with Marie as his wife was going to be endlessly fascinating.

  The flight attendant stepped into the cabin. “May I take your coffee?” he asked.

  Marie pulled her cup closer and the man smiled. “I’ll put it into a cup with a cover so you can take it with you.”

  Only with that promise would she relinquish her coffee. The man disappeared and she pulled her hair into the band, pulling it up and containing the silky locks back up on top of her head.

  “I feel frumpy compared to you,” she grumbled. “You should have given me time to shower and change into something more appropriate.”

  He smiled, pausing while the flight attendant handed her a disposable cup with a lid, obviously having filled it all the way up again. “You should have listened to me yesterday when I told you that we were leaving for Aruba this morning.”

  Marie took a long sip of coffee, slowly becoming more alert. “You’re annoying in the morning.”