Niki: They’re the cutest pair. Thank you for checking on him.
I want to suggest she should stay so the four of us can watch movies when I get home, but she has a life. I won’t be home for hours, and Tabi will already be in bed.
Niki: It will be good to see you this week. It feels like ages.
Rosie: I’ve missed you.
I hold the phone against my chest. It vibrates with another message.
Rosie: Like someone misses their boss—a professional missing.
I chuckle.
Niki: I’ve missed you, too.
“I need your help with something,” Senna says, yanking my focus from the woman I’m falling for and her adorable daughter.
CHAPTER 37
Niki
Ilean to the side for a glimpse of Rosie at her desk. She’s wearing jeans and a tight Coulter F1 Racing T-shirt that makes me want to stare at her breasts and imagine thumbing her nipples as she straddles my lap.
Since returning from Italy, every time I’ve seen her, it’s like arousal is injected through my skin and shoots straight to my dick. I blame racing.
We haven’t discussed the kiss again, but with the adrenaline I’ve carried over the last three days and the scent of her soap and honey combination from when she visited my house while I was away, I’m a walking hard-on. I need to deal with this now. I can’t pursue anything. It would derail my progress with my psychologist.
“Rosie, can you come in here?” Shit, I sound husky.
“Yes, sir.” She winks as she walks to the chair before me, and I get an image of her kneeling as she says those words. I shift my joggers as I stare at her.
I’ve never seen her this giddy before. Maybe she’s seeing someone.
The thought is like a kick to my dick. It’s what I needed, but it hurts so fucking much. “You’re lively. What’s changed?”
“I’m meeting my old rugby team after their game on Friday. We’re drinking and clubbing. I can’t wait.”
“That’s awesome.” I force a smile and squeeze my hands tightly against my chair so I don’t ask what she’ll be wearing. “You deserve a night out.”
“I do. My parents will pick Tabi up from preschool, and she’ll stay at theirs this weekend. I can be out all night and get some needed sleep.”
“Excellent news. While I’ve got you in here, we haven’t talked face-to-face about our kiss. The one at the racetrack.”
Her fingers brush her lips, and I wish it were my fingers. My dick judders as I imagine her beneath me.“The thing is?—”
“We shouldn’t have kissed,” she jumps in.
“Yes,” I stutter, glad we’re on the same page, even though I want to declare she’s mine. “I’m your boss.”
“And I’m a lot younger than you.”
“Yes, indeed. I’m an old man compared to you.” I cringe. “And although I enjoyed it, like really enjoyed it, you’ve got enough going on with Tabi. You’re doing it all, putting her first and ahead of your dreams and wants. I can’t imagine how hard it is to be you. And then there’s this job.”
“I love my job,” she says.
“Exactly, and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable at your workplace. So we’ll agree that it never happened.”
“Speaking of which, I’d best get back to my work,” she says, standing. All her light has gone, and I curse myself for ruining her mood.
