More Than a Fling? by Joss Wood Read Free Book Online Page B

her feel
self-conscious and far too exposed. She’d caught the glances he gave her and
been very glad she’d recently hit the salon for her monthly waxing and
defoliating session. Imagine sitting there with hairy legs, fuzzy underarms and
an untidy crotch—how mortifying that would have been! Ally felt herself blush
and told herself not be ridiculous.
    Business, Jones. Try to act professional,
you moron.
    Ally rolled her shoulders... It was back to business now and
she would be all and only business. Ross had reluctantly agreed to take her back
to RBM, where he would listen to her whole proposal for the campaign, sit
through her presentation and seriously consider Bellechier’s offer. She didn’t
know if his about-face was because he was embarrassed about his behaviour last
night or because he’d rethought his position, but she didn’t care. All she cared
about was that she’d got a second chance to do her job—a job that she was good
at—and that after this meeting she’d be able to go home to Geneva and tell Luc
that she’d given it her best shot.
    If Ross said no she could go on to the next candidate feeling
utterly guilt-free—she’d tried. Luc would be disappointed—and that sucked—but he
wasn’t unfair. He knew that there were some horses—asses?—that were too ornery
and too stubborn to drink when they were led to water.
    Ally stepped out of the lift and her heart bumped when she saw
Ross standing by the indoor fountain. His black shorts hit his knee and he wore
a checked orange and white button-down shirt over a white T-shirt. He hadn’t
shaved. She suspected that he left his beard to grow for days until it started
to annoy him and then he shaved again. She wondered what he’d look like in a
suit and tie. Gorgeous, she decided. He had that tall, broad-shouldered,
slim-hipped frame that would make a hessian sack look good.
    Ross turned as she approached him and immediately took her
laptop bag off her shoulder and gripped it in his hand. Lazy eyes started at the
tips of her feet and ended on her face.
    ‘I really, really prefer the
bikini, Jones.’
    Ally twisted her lips in annoyance but her skin flushed with
pleasure. ‘Can you at least try to be businesslike, Bennett?’
    ‘But it’s so much more fun making you blush.’ Ross placed his
hand on her lower back to guide her to the lifts that would take them to the
underground parking lot and Ally sucked in her breath at his touch.
    Concentrate, Alyssa.
    ‘Are you always this serious, Jones? Do you ever cut loose,
have some fun?’
    No, but she’d never tell him that, she thought as Ross jabbed
the button of the lift.
    ‘Well, do you?’ Ross pressed.
    ‘Of course I do,’ Ally lied. ‘All the time. I work hard but I
play harder.’
    Ross’s thick eyebrows rose in surprise. ‘Really? And how, pray
tell, do you cut loose?’
    Damn , Ally thought, thinking fast.
‘I dance. Latin American mostly.’ It wasn’t a complete lie—more like a very
stretched-out truth. She had taken dance classes when she was a teenager and
she’d been pretty good. Until her dance partner had declared that he couldn’t
dance with someone who couldn’t communicate and had dumped her for a tall
redhead who never shut up.
    ‘Okay, dance. What else?’ Ross said as they stepped into the
open lift.
    Okay, now she had to flat-out lie so that he didn’t realise
that she did nothing but work. She fiddled with her watch and thought hard.
Dammit, what did normal people do?
    ‘I go clubbing, meet friends for supper, go to the theatre.
Movies.’
    ‘What was the last movie you saw?’ Ross leaned his shoulder
into the wall of the lift, half smiling.
    ‘Why are you interrogating me?’ Ally demanded.
    ‘Why are you lying to me?’ Ross countered.
    ‘And why would you think I’m lying?’
    ‘Because a person who sends e-mail messages at ten-thirty on a
Saturday night and leaves voice messages with me on a Sunday morning, Sunday
evening and at nine p.m. on Tuesday