Not Just the Boss's Plaything(67)

"I'll be certain to bring that to Mr. Vila's attention," she said, in    that smooth and capable voice of hers that, now he knew what lay behind    it, made him burn. "But in the meantime, I think we need to take   another  look at those figures before we jump to any conclusions."

Maybe it was that he could see her, when the rest of the people on the    call could not. No doubt they pictured the usual Dru, in her sleek  suits   and dangerous heels, her hair tamed and twisted out of view. But  he  saw  the real Dru. Wild hair and that hint of color on her pale  skin,  the  dusting of freckles across her nose and shoulders. Bare feet  and a   turquoise sarong wrapped around a hot pink bikini. Not in the  least bit   professional, not that anyone could have told that from her  cool  voice.

She was magnificent. She was his. And she was going to leave him.

He didn't know what he was going to do about that, he only knew he couldn't allow it. He wouldn't.

But he also knew he'd run out of options.

She propped her head up with one hand as she listened to the call, the    various executives talking over each other, all of them completely    unaware that Cayo was listening to them dither and bicker. He'd found    that it could be highly educational to use Dru in this way, to make them    think they were talking to someone far more approachable than Cayo   ever  was. He'd found it helped ferret out all manner of truths.

He wished the same could be said of Dru herself.

"Mr. Vila prefers to be offered potential solutions when presented with    problems, Barney," she said into the speaker. "I can certainly raise    your concerns to him, but I suspect he's going to give you a similar    reply. Only he won't be quite as polite."

There was some laughter, and she glanced over to smile at him, her gray    eyes sparkling nearly silver. Real, he thought with satisfaction. Not    one of her work smiles she trotted out to placate or soothe him from    time to time, all of which he'd come to hate. But even so, he knew she    was still hiding from him. He didn't know what, or why, but he could  see   the secrets in her eyes. Even now.

Perversely, it only made him want her more.

He'd told her that she was the only person he'd ever had any kind of    close relationship with, and the stark truth of that haunted him. She    was the only person alive that he had ever trusted. He had allowed her    unparalleled access to all parts of his life. To him. No employee had    ever been so entrenched in his personal life before and he had  certainly   never allowed one of his women anywhere near his business.  Only Dru   bridged those worlds. Only Dru.

And his time with her was almost up.

Giving in to an urge he hardly understood, as if it might ease the    sudden heaviness in his chest, Cayo reached over and took her hand. Her    eyes flew to his, but he concentrated on the slide of her fingers    against his. The way they fitted together so well, even here. He brought    her hand up to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it. She    curved her palm to better fit against his mouth, his jaw, as if she was    holding him too, and something shifted inside him. A wall he hadn't    known was there tumbled down, and he knew, then, what he must do.                       
       
           



       

There was one way to keep her. One strategy he hadn't tried. It would    keep her close. With him. And so what if it wouldn't be precisely as it    had been? It was good enough. He might even like having her as his    family, whatever that word really meant. She was the closest thing to it    he'd ever known.

He just had to get her to say yes.

* * *

"The helicopter will be here in two hours," Dru said the following    morning, careful to sound calm. Matter-of-fact. "The plane will be ready    to go once we get to Tahiti."

Cayo stood at the end of the pier, with his back to her. He looked    remote, forbidding and still, she wanted to lean into all of that broad    strength, rest her head against his shoulder blade. She wanted to let    the pure, male scent of him surround her. She wanted to soak in his  heat   like the sun. Her bare toes curled into the smooth, warm wood  beneath   her feet and she told herself she was fine. That she felt  nothing but   relief that it was all almost over, with only the long  plane ride left   to survive. Perfectly fine.

They had woken up at dawn, wrapped around each other in Cayo's huge bed.    He had pulled her over him before she was wholly awake, sliding into    her so smoothly she'd wondered whether it was real or a dream. Or    goodbye, a harsher voice in her head had suggested. She'd ignored it,    leaned down to him and kissed him.

Slowly, they'd explored each other. Long, drugging kisses and endless    touches, building a different kind of flame. One that burned long and    sweet. One that danced and seduced and drew out the perfection of each    caress. One that made them both sigh out their pleasure when it turned    white-hot and wild all around them.

Dru felt the glowing embers of that same fire inside her, even now.    She'd almost been afraid to track Cayo down after she'd confirmed their    arrangements-as if she thought he could see straight through her to   that  place that would never stop burning for him. That place he could   ignite  with so little effort-a look, a touch. Would that ever fade?   Would time  without him dim it? Somehow, she doubted it.

"I suppose no one can stay in paradise forever, can they?" she asked    brightly when he didn't turn to face her, trying to make    conversation-anything to cover her own nervousness. Anything to pretend    it didn't hurt.

"Don't." It was hard. Fierce.

"It's so lovely here." She felt helpless. Unable to stop. "But it's not real, is it?"

He turned then, so dark and ruthless, dressed in no more than a pair of    white loose trousers and still, so dangerous. She almost took a step    back to keep him from looming over her, but she restrained herself. His    eyes slammed into hers.

"But this is?" His accent was more pronounced than usual, and she felt    it inside, like an echo. "Your deliberately inane chatter? Surely you    know by now that it won't work on me."

That might have stung-it did-but Dru couldn't let herself fall into that    trap. There would be no fighting that led to kissing, no explosions  of   temper or passion or anything else. No shoes. No jumping from the   pier.  She wouldn't let him sabotage her departure. More importantly,   she  wouldn't let herself do the same.

"You are far too busy to spend any more time hiding away from the    world," she said, and that wasn't idle conversation or flattery. It was    the simple truth. He was who he was. "Even here."

"As you pointed out to me only last night," he said gruffly, "the point    of hiring the best people in the world is occasionally to delegate    responsibilities to them."

"I did say that." She smiled, but it felt hollow. He didn't return it.    And last night felt so far away now. As if it belonged to other people.    "Cayo..."

She bit her lip and watched his dark amber eyes turn nearly black with a    mixture of pain and passion, and her heart seemed to squeeze tight in    her chest. If she started crying now, she worried she would never  stop.   She tried to shove that dangerous ache away.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be," she whispered.

Still, he only stared back at her, as if he were hewn from stone. He    looked powerful beyond measure, ruthless and fierce and she thought it    might kill her to leave him. That thing inside her that had no pride,  no   respect, no boundaries whatsoever, might physically take her down  as   she tried to walk away. Her little masochist within, who wanted him  and   only him, however she could have him. Whatever that meant.                       
       
           



       

However much it hurt.

"It doesn't have to be hard," he said then.