Saying 'Yes!' to the Boss: Having Her Boss's Baby / Business or Pleasure? / Business Affairs

The “this” being their marriage. “You’re not interested at all?” she asked, a little surprised by how disappointed she felt.

“You’ll have fun choosing things like china and sheets.”

Not by herself, she thought glumly. Maybe Rachel or Crissy would want to help. But that wasn’t the same as having Dev doing with it her. After all, he would be eating off the plates, too.

“I did have something I wanted to ask you,” he said, setting down his fork and looking at her. “I should have brought this up before. Do you want to speak to a grief counselor about Jimmy?”

He wouldn’t pick out china but he was offering her therapy? “I’m okay,” she told him.

“I can get you some names. I wasn’t sure, what with you having the baby and all.”

“Thank you.” She sipped her water. “I know Jimmy and I dated for a while and we, well, you know. He had talked about getting married and all, but…” She cleared her throat. “I don’t think we were really in love with each other.”

Dev stiffened in his chair. “We don’t have to talk about that,” he said gruffly.

He seemed uncomfortable. But why? Because she was being realistic about her relationship with his brother? Did that upset him? Did he want to believe they’d been madly in love? Or was he judging her for sleeping with a man without being sure she loved him?

“Dinner was great,” he said as he rose and carried his plate to the counter. “I brought some work home, so I’ll excuse myself.”

And with that, he was gone. She didn’t think she was going to see him again that evening.

Separate lives, she thought. That’s what they were living. While she hadn’t considered what their married lives would be like, she’d never thought she would be so…lonely. She felt lost in this big, beautiful house, living with a man who didn’t want to have much to do with her. Lost and alone and not sure what to do about it.

Chapter Six

Dev arrived home nearly two hours early to find loud music filling the house. He walked into the family room and saw Noelle sprawled across the sofa, a large text book propped up as she slowly flipped through the pages.

Instead of the conservatively dressed woman he’d seen last night, today his wife of less than a week wore a tank top and shorts. Her feet were bare, her hair piled up on top of her head in a ponytail and she was chewing gum. She was, he acknowledged wryly, a teenage boy’s dream. Which meant he had no excuse for what he was feeling—he was old enough to know better.

Still, the information didn’t seem to have any impact on the sudden rush of blood south or the desire to cross the room, pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless. He imagined her yielding and aroused, straining to get closer, reaching for him as they—

He forced the erotic images out of his mind. This was a marriage of practicality, he reminded himself. Nothing more. Besides, he’d been enough of an ass last night. He should take a break from that kind of behavior.

Pushing her to talk about Jimmy had been out of line and now that she’d admitted she didn’t think she and his brother had been in love, he, Dev, felt even more like a jerk. He’d only done it to find out if she was in mourning or not. Knowing she wasn’t overwhelmed by the loss of his brother meant, in a twisted way, that she was more available to him. Maybe he was the one who needed professional help.

He crossed to the CD player and turned down the volume. Noelle jumped. She sprang to her feet and the textbook hit the floor.

“Dev!” she said, obviously startled. “You’re home early.” She touched her hair, then fingered the hem of her tank top. “I’m not ready.”

“You live here,” he reminded her. “There’s nothing to get ready for.”

“Dinner,” she said as she folded her arms over her chest. “I was going to get changed.”

“You don’t have to for me. I think you look charming.”

She tried to smile, then failed. She reached up and pulled a band from her hair so that it tumbled loose around her shoulders.

The instant disarray was too sexy by far. Despite the steady hum of the air conditioner, he had the sudden need to unfasten his collar button and pull off his tie.

Instead he walked over to the large wrapped package he’d left by the entrance to the family room and held it out to her. “I brought you something.”

Her gaze locked on the box and a her mouth curved into a wide grin. “Really? For me.”

She tucked her hands behind her back, as if to keep herself from lunging toward the present.

“I felt badly about missing your birthday,” he admitted. He started to apologize for the previous night, then stopped, not wanting to get into all that right now.

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” she said politely, even as she practically quivered in anticipation.

“You’re not very good at this,” he said, then set the package down on the coffee table. “You’re saying all the right things, but I can tell you want to jump on the box and rip it open.”

She looked at him and smiled. “I love surprises. I was always the first one up on Christmas morning. Even now, my parents have to set a time limit so I won’t be downstairs, shaking boxes at five in the morning.”

“No one is making you wait but you.”

“If you’re sure,” she said even as she dropped to her knees in front of the coffee table and tugged at the wrappings. In a matter of seconds, she had the box open and was staring down at the sleek, silver laptop computer he’d bought her.

Dev perched on the edge of the overstuffed chair. “It’s lightweight, so you can take it to classes, and wireless. We have wireless high-speed in the house, so you can be online just about anywhere. Even out by the pool.”

She opened the top and ran her fingers over the keyboard. “Right. Because everyone wants to do e-mail poolside.” She turned to him. “Dev, this is really, really nice. I don’t know what to say.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t think you had one already.”

“I don’t. It’s terrific. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I thought later we could go online and register somewhere. You know, for gifts.”

Her eyes widened slightly and her lips parted, even though she didn’t speak.

“I know you were disappointed last night,” he admitted, feeling uncomfortable. “You surprised me. I hadn’t thought about things like showers and parties. I shouldn’t have left it all up to you.”

A warm, happy smile blossomed on her face. She left the laptop and shifted to him, crossing the few feet of area rug still on her knees. Then she put her hands on his thighs, leaned in and kissed him on the mouth.

“Thank you,” she said again. “In case no one has told you recently, you’re a pretty great guy.”

The soft pressure of her mouth lingered long after she’d pulled away. Desire exploded and he instinctively pulled away to help keep himself under control.

“Oh,” she breathed as she stood and took a step back. “Sorry. I was just saying thank you. I didn’t mean anything by…” She waved her hand vaguely in his direction.

Guilt ground into him. He swore silently. “Don’t apologize,” he told her gently. “We’re married. Kissing is allowed.”

“But you said you didn’t want that for us. It wasn’t part of the deal.”

Sex. She was talking about sex. Something he wasn’t going to experience again for a very long two years.

“I said I wasn’t marrying you to pressure you into sleeping with me,” he reminded her. “I didn’t want you to feel obligated. We’re living in the same house. We’re going to run into each other. We need to get comfortable with that, and with kissing. As far as the world’s concerned, we’re newlyweds. We have to act like it.”

“So my thank-you kiss was practice?” she asked.