Judith McWilliams - The Boss, The Beauty And The Bargain

He clenched his teeth against the burgeoning need that shot through him like a pain. Fat chance he had of that, he thought grimly. He couldn’t even convince her to go out with him, let alone go to bed with him. Patience. He repeated what had become his mantra during the long months Livvy had worked for him. Sooner or later he was bound to find a chink in her armor. If he was ever to convince Livvy to see him as her lover, he absolutely couldn’t do anything to scare her off. As long as he remained on friendly terms with her, he would be in a position to take advantage of it. In the meantime he would tell her the good news.

“I got a phone call from Grandma Betty’s Soup Company.”

Livvy sat up in sudden interest. As far as she knew, it was the first time they’d been approached by a subsidiary of one of the large multinational chains.

“And?” Liwy prodded him.

“And they want us to submit a proposal for a new line of soup mixes they’re developing.” He offered the words like a gift.

“That’s fantastic!” Liwy enthused.

“It sure is. To paraphrase someone or other, this could be the start of something big.”

But not too big. Livvy instinctively rejected the thought of Conal expanding his small agency. She loved working closely with him and wouldn’t want to lose that intimacy.

“There’s just one thing,” Conal added slowly as he reached the part that he knew was going to be tricky.

“As long as it doesn’t involve bikinis, I can deal with it.”

“It’s the time element. From the deadline they set for our first presentation, I think they originally tried another ad agency and it didn’t work out.”

“How tight is the timing?”

“They want a presentation in six weeks.”

“Six weeks! It’s impossible. Have you forgotten my vacation starts Friday?”

“Take it later,” Conal suggested.

“This is later. I was supposed to go in August and had to postpone it when we had that rush job for the record chain. Besides, I’ve already made reservations in Extaca.” Livvy stiffened her resolve not to give in. She had deliberately planned her vacation in Mexico, hoping that being so far away from Conal would allow her to get her obsession under control. But even so, Conal was right. This really was a great opportunity. An opportunity she would normally have grabbed with both hands.

“You’re tense.” Conal watched the line between her eyebrows deepen in indecision. “That fool Larson has upset you. You have to learn to ignore people like him.”

“That comes under the heading of easier said than done.” Livvy made no attempt to correct his misapprehension. “I...”

Her thoughts scattered like dry leaves in a gale-force wind when Conal stepped behind her and placed his large hands on her shoulders. She could feel the weight of them pressing against her.

“Relax.” Conal’s deep voice was a soothing murmur that lapped seductively against her tense muscles. “Just blank out your mind and allow yourself to drift.” His fingers closed around the slim bones of her shoulders, and he rubbed his thumbs over her silk-clad skin.

Livvy instinctively took a deep breath, sucking in the provocative fragrance of his cologne. He smelled delicious. Like—She shivered as he suddenly slipped his fingers beneath her collar and massaged the base of her neck. A heavy weight seemed to be pulling her eyelids down. His touch felt so good. So right.

Feeling greatly daring, she leaned her head back against his chest. It felt hard. Intriguingly hard.

“There.” Conal’s voice sounded deeper than usual as he stepped back, and she wondered if it was a result of him touching her. Could he have found it exciting? It was a heady thought, even if she had her doubts about it.

Liwy watched as Conal began to pace. Not an easy thing to do in her small office. His face was set in hard lines, and there was a determined jut to his square jaw. A wave of tenderness at his purposeful expression shook her.

“Why don’t you do the proposal yourself?” she suggested. “You don’t really need me.” She ignored the quick flash of pain her words caused.

Conal shoved his long fingers through his short brown hair in frustration. “I can’t do it. They were very specific about wanting a light touch for the campaign. Along the lines of that whimsical thing you did for Ebbings Bakery. I simply don’t have your humorous flair.”

Despite her misgivings, Liwy was unable to resist the glow of pleasure his compliment gave her. They really did make a great team. They each had a skill the other lacked. Which was all the more reason not to ruin the ideal working relationship with a short-term personal one, she reminded herself. Because while an affair with Conal would be fantastic, it wouldn’t last. Relationships held together strictly by sex never did. And while she might love Conal with all her heart, he certainly didn’t love her. Eventually the pleasure of making love to her would become commonplace for Conal and he would end their affair, leaving a lot of memories and possible resentments between them that would be bound to interfere with a working relationship. She would have no choice but to leave. And then she would have nothing. Not Conal and not her job. Nothing but memories, and she was far too young to be living on memories.

“But I’ve already made reservations,” Livvy repeated doggedly, hoping she sounded more enthusiastic than she felt. The prospect of two weeks in Mexico paled next to the thought of spending the time working closely with Conal on the proposal.

“Cancel them. Think of the agency. Think of the future.”

I am, Livvy thought grimly. The future of my peace of mind. And the very faint hope that if she weren’t around for two weeks Conal might suddenly realize how much he missed her. Might begin to question his aversion to marriage.

“Think of the fact that I’ll owe you a favor,” he added.

A favor? Livvy stared into his gleaming eyes and felt her insides twist in sudden desire. She could think of several favors that she would like from him, starting with a long kiss and ending with her naked body wrapped in his arms. He would be—

Liwy blinked as she was suddenly struck with a blinding flash of inspiration. She sat up straighter as the idea began to gel in her mind.

She had told her mother that she was bringing home a date for the weekend. A man who had asked her to marry him. What if she were to ask Conal to pretend to be that man in exchange for her canceling her vacation and doing his soup proposal? Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Not only would it temporarily relieve the pressure of her mother’s constant nagging about finding a husband, but also, with Conal pretending to be her almost fiancé, the opportunity might well come up to kiss him. Or even make love to him. Her stomach twisted longingly at the thought. This could be her chance to explore her feelings for Conal without having to worry about repercussions, because Conal would think her every response was nothing more than an act. He wouldn’t realize how much it meant to her. Maybe if she were able to make love to him, she would realize that it wasn’t such a big deal. Maybe her fascination with him was nothing more than a variation of the “forbidden fruit” idea. Or maybe, if fortune were really smiling on her, Conal would like being engaged to her so much he would want to make it permanent.

Livvy swallowed a sigh, knowing the chances of that happening were almost nil. During that time she’d been working closely with him, his attitude toward marriage hadn’t softened one iota. Nor had she been able to find out why he was against it. It wasn’t as if he led a wild, swinging lifestyle that marriage could interfere with.

There was so much she didn’t know, when it came to Conal. A sense of discouragement weighed her down. If she had any common sense, she would quit. She would find another job and another man to love. Someone who wasn’t averse to commitment. Perhaps if she weren’t seeing Conal every day, other men would begin to look more interesting.

She placated her common sense, telling it later. She had time. She wasn’t even thirty yet. She could afford to indulge her dreams of Conal awhile yet, before she had to start worrying about her biological clock running down.

“A huge favor,” Conal upped the ante.

Livvy stared at him, torn between hope and fear of rejection. What did she have to lose by asking him? She tried to consider the situation logically. Since he didn’t know she had an emotional reason for wanting him to agree, she was no worse off than before if he said no.

But if he were to agree... She shivered beneath the sudden onslaught of sensation that blossomed in her chest. If he agreed, anything might happen.

“There is something you could do for me,” Liwy said slowly, trying to figure out the best way to say it. “This weekend is my grandparents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary, and my mother is organizing a family reunion for the event. All the relatives will be there.”

“I always wanted to belong to a big family when I was a kid.”

Livvy grimaced at his wistful tone. “Believe me, the reality leaves a lot to be desired...which brings me to my problem. While I dearly love my family, I don’t agree with the older members on a lot of issues, and one of them is about a woman’s place in the general scheme of things. They think that a woman’s first priority in life should be catching a husband, and her last should be keeping him happy. Careers are something men have.”

“Thereby assuring herself of a meal ticket for life,” he said.

“You obviously haven’t seen the divorce statistics lately.” This time Livvy tried challenging one of his derogatory comments about marriage instead of simply ignoring them the way she normally did. A feeling of satisfaction filled her as Conal blinked in surprise at her tart words. Obviously her response had caught him off guard. Now to try to keep him off guard.

“The problem is that my mother is determined to marry me off before I turn thirty next month,” she continued slowly.

Conal grinned at her. “I can see her point. It’s all downhill for a woman after thirty, while a man is just coming into his prime.”

“I suggest you keep your cracks to yourself or you’ll never live to see your prime!

“To get back to my problem, the situation has gotten so bad that my mother just called to tell me that she had arranged a blind date for me for the weekend.”

Conal tensed, trying to suppress the spurt of anger that suffused him at the thought of Livvy going out with another man.

“I told my mother no, and when she started to cry, I got flustered. I said I couldn’t date him because I was thinking of marrying someone else, and I was bringing him home for the weekend.”

Conal felt a jagged shard of some dark emotion lacerate his composure. He hadn’t known that she was dating anyone, let alone considering marriage. Although he’d known from the first moment he’d seen her that sooner or later she probably would marry. Liwy was everything a man wanted in a woman, if a wife was what he wanted. Which he didn’t, he reminded himself. Marriage and kids were not for him. He’d settled that question long ago. Or rather it had been settled for him, he thought grimly.

“Do I know him?” Conal was relieved to hear the even tone of his voice. He didn’t dare let her know that he cared one way or the other. To do so would be to run the risk of losing what little he did have of her. If she were to start to feel uncomfortable around him, she would leave, and he wouldn’t be able to see her every morning. He wouldn’t ever hear that funny little gurgle of laughter she gave when something really amused her. He wouldn’t have her around to listen to his ideas and offer insightful suggestions.