Chapter 6 #3
She gasped against his mouth, clearly taken by surprise but then almost immediately her hands were going up to his face too, her palms pressing against his jaw.
He felt her body softening and her lips starting to move with his, and the pleasure surged up inside him until he couldn’t think or see. He leaned forward even more until both of them tumbled backward onto her chaise.
He didn’t let the awkward move stop him. He needed this so much that it was like his body had a will of its own. He moved over her more securely in the chaise and claimed her lips again.
“James,” she gasped, breaking off the kiss but clearly not trying to make the embrace end yet. She moved one hand up to clutch at his hair and the other down to stroke his back.
She’d always called him Mr. Harwood, and something thrilled inside him at hearing her say his name like that. Her body was rocking against his, and he couldn’t get enough of the feel of it.
He ran his lips across her smooth cheek until he’d reached her lips once more.
He slid his tongue over the top and then bottom lip before he slipped it into her mouth.
She opened for him readily, everything about her passionate and eager.
His body throbbed with urgent need as their tongues tangled together.
She was soft and warm and feminine, and his hands started to move over any of the curves he could reach. He’d never felt anyone like her before, and it spurred on his desire.
He was completely out of control, devouring her mouth and rocking his growing erection against her middle. He needed a release badly, and he needed it to be in her body.
Maybe he’d always wanted this. Maybe he’d just never known it until now.
There was no telling what he would do, how far he would go, if they hadn’t heard a noise from the backyard gate.
It sounded like the latch clicked, and both of them jerked as the sound broke through their passionate interlude.
James was panting as he looked over toward the gate. He caught a faint glimpse of someone leaving—like they’d come to the gate and then turned around.
“Who is it?” Rose asked breathlessly as if she’d seen too.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. A different kind of urgency compelled him to heave himself to his feet, his erection still throbbing and every muscle in his body tight.
He walked stiffly over to the gate and looked out. A car had just pulled out of the driveway and was racing down the street with squealing tires.
It wasn’t Marta. He was sure of that, because she drove a silver sedan and this car was red.
The only person he knew with a red car was Genevieve, but surely she wouldn’t…
He wouldn’t put it past her to come unannounced, but she wouldn’t have left without a confrontation. Not if she’d seen him kissing Rose like that.
Rose was standing up when he returned, and she was pulling on a cover-up. “Who was it?” she asked, looking flushed and confused.
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “It looked kind of like Genevieve, but I don’t think she would have…” He trailed off.
The truth was, he had no idea what Genevieve would do, especially after what Marta had just told him.
“Oh.” Rose cleared her throat. “I meant to tell you earlier, but there wasn’t a good time. My sister said that Genevieve was at a party a couple of days ago, claiming that you two were still engaged.”
He almost groaned, realizing this was going to be a big deal, no matter how much he wanted to push it under the rug.
“Yeah. Marta told me the same thing. Evidently she’s gotten everyone thinking that I’m just hesitating about the marriage because I feel guilty about moving on after Melissa has died. ”
“But that’s crazy! Surely she doesn’t think she can trick you into marrying her that way.”
“I don’t know. She doesn’t think like you and me.”
“I guess not.”
He looked at Rose and suddenly remembered he’d been close to making love to her just a minute before. He would have too if someone hadn’t interrupted them.
She was his nanny. His nanny. There was absolutely no way he could give into his feelings for her—not if he wanted her to remain his nanny.
His little girls would be lost without her.
So would he.
He couldn’t lose her, which meant he could never really have her.
He had to do something to make it better. Right now. Before everything started to fall apart, before his world really turned into chaos the way it had after Melissa had died.
Rose was looking awkward and a little embarrassed, and he knew she was wondering what was going on.
So he told her. “I’m sorry about that. Before.”
Rose blinked. “Oh. Okay.”
“I mean, I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
“I didn’t mean for it to either.”
He didn’t really like the sound of that, but he knew it was for the best. He gave a curt nod, avoiding looking at her face because she looked so much like what he wanted. “Good. So we’ll pretend it never happened. Okay?”
There was a longish pause before she answered, “Okay. It never happened.”
James tried to be happy that it was resolved and nothing that occurred would get in the way of their working relationship.
But he wasn’t.
He wasn’t happy at all.