Chapter 20
Brodie
Brodie couldn’t concentrate on his boss’s words. He was wondering about Jess. He was thinking about the expression on her face when he’d reminded her that he was paying her charity a substantial sum of money. He hadn’t meant it like that. As if to remind her he’d paid for her presence here.
Brodie had to acknowledge the fact that as much as he had had a good reason to ask Jess to come here with him, he might have wanted her to come anyway. And this was not a situation where he would bring a lover, way too ambiguous. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
But then he assured himself – she was different. This was different. She was here as a pretence. He glanced out the window and as he registered what he was looking at, he suddenly became fully alert. And hard.
People were milling around the pool nearby.
Partners and friends of the team. Jess stood apart from them a little bit.
She was at the edge of the pool in a turquoise one-piece.
It was a perfectly regular swimsuit, but it looked like the most provocative piece of clothing Brodie had ever seen on a woman.
Strapless, it cut across her perfectly shaped breasts and clung to every toned inch of her torso and waist. Cut high, it made her legs look longer. She was light golden as if she’d been in the sun and he immediately wanted to know with who
and as he watched she lifted her arms and pulled her wavy hair up into a top knot on her head.
She stepped down into the pool and executed a graceful breaststroke.
‘Brodie...’
The blood was roaring in Brodie’s head. And straight to his cock.
‘Brodie!’
His head jerked around. Gordon was looking at him. ‘Do you want to tell us about the plans for the charity house on Winthrop Street?’
No, he wanted to fuck Jess so hard that it would ease this ache of lust in his body.
Exerting a level of control he’d never had to call on before, Brodie put his papers on his lap to cover his wayward body, cleared his throat and said, ‘Of course. Obviously as there’s a sitting tenant, a charity called Safe Refuge, we have to allow them the requisite time to vacate, but once they do it promises to be one of the most exciting period renovations we’ve done in a long time. ..’
But even as he said that he was aware of the cognitive dissonance in his brain. Of the way this project had niggled at him from the moment it had landed on his desk. Of the way he was having doubts about his role within this company. But this was not the time or place to think about that.
His boss turned to someone else. ‘Malcolm, what about you?’
Brodie let out a breath as the focus went away from him and he studiously kept his gaze averted from the pool area outside for the rest of the meeting.