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For their next meeting in the conference room, Lyla sat trying hard to concentrate and pay attention to Stella. Stella had an extremely attractive figure and was the only other woman in the team. She was presenting the initial analysis on the project and relayed the difficulties that they had encountered, not mincing words.
For Lyla, one month on this project was going to seem like an eternity. Alex was going to make this project difficult for her and she hadn’t yet come up with a plan for handling him. She tugged down at her skirt and squirmed on her seat. Damn! How was she going to survive a month of working with him?
His non-stop gazes already set her nerves on edge. She sighed. If only she was brave enough to ask him to stop staring, so she could have a proper look at him herself. She jerked at her own thoughts. Why would I want to take a look at him properly? Focus! She chided herself, wondering when Stella finished her presentation and Carl took over. She mentally kicked herself for her distraction.
Carl, who looked like a former football type, explained the various duties and the people they had to meet during their trips to Paris and New York. As Carl held the attention of the room, Lyla snuck a peak at Alex and froze. Her stomach tensed as she met a pair of ice blue eyes trained on her in an intimate way. Lyla jerked her head back as her heart lodged in her throat. There was only one way to save her job – talk to Alex. Lyla wasn‘t excited about it.
***
“Can you check with the New York hotel again? Less than a day to travel and we still don’t have rooms.” Alex said to Matt loosening his tie further.
Matt shuffled through the papers for the hotel numbers when Lyla walked in. She walked up to Alex and stood silently next to him.
She could feel his strong male presence and suppressed a chuckle as memories of their intimacy flooded her. Memories of how she’d tease him to nakedness. How she’d remove one piece of her clothes at a time until she was stark naked for him. And then when he would claim her, she’d –
“Lyla...” called Alex softly.
Lyla turned to him startled, focusing hard on a fully clothed Alex. What’s wrong with me? Why does his presence make me so insane? After all that he made me go through? Get a grip, Lyla. She frowned as the fog of her daydream was cleared. She hadn‘t noticed that they were now alone in the room.. Her frown turned to anger now as the past crept into her again.
Alex had noticed every bit of change in Lyla’s expression since her entrance and looked on amused. Lord, her face is such a give-away.
“Well, I wanted to talk to you...I wanted to talk to you about the project,” Lyla blurted out.
“What about it, Lyla? Do you have questions on the presentation?”
Lyla swallowed as she allowed the sexy sound of her name on his lips sink in.
Control Lyla, she reminded herself weakly.
“No, no. It’s not about the presentation. It’s about the whole project. We need to set some ground rules here. With our history, I think we should display a lot more caution and stay as far away from each other as possible. You don’t approach me for anything other than work. The moment I feel that you are back to your lying or trying to get me to forgive you, I’ll walk out of this project. This is my last project and I don’t want to ruin it. I hope you would cooperate.” Lyla exhaled finally.
She hoped she made sense because all she could feel was his eyes on her lips. To her utter dismay, she felt very aroused.
Alex still hadn’t spoken after her rant. He was clearly taking his time to think. He walked back to the conference table and gathered all the papers neatly while Lyla shifted uncomfortably. Every additional moment with him was bad news. Once he was done with the papers, he put them on top of the laptop. He then turned around to face her. “Take a seat.”
Confusion hit her. She pursed her lips, suppressing the urge to ask why he couldn’t just say yes and get done with it! Instead, she had to sit there, looking at him and risk losing herself in his eyes again. One cannot fall for someone so easily. She sat facing him with her elbows on the table. Alexander Knights was going to pronounce her fate for the next month. She gave her full attention to him.
“First of all, how are you Lyla? It’s been a long time...” The pain was very evident in his voice and made her flinch.
She found herself replying rather softly. “I’m fine,” she said biting down sarcasm.
A moment passed before Alex apparently satisfied with the reply, continued. “What do you mean by saying ‘we stay as far away as possible’? How can we work on this project if we are not together? Unless of course you prefer to do a video conference with us sitting in the next room...which would still have the same effect. Don’t you think so?” asked Alex throatily.
As his eyes seared through hers, her stomach turned into a boiling pit and her cheeks flushed. What does he mean by having the same effect? How am I affecting him? Brushing aside the disturbing thoughts, she fumbled, “I mean that we shouldn’t be socializing after office hours.”
“What will happen if we do?” His voice was soft and he looked deep into her green eyes. His eyes were lit dangerously with hope, which engulfed Lyla with helplessness. Alex sensed the struggle within her and for the second time that day, he wondered if there was a chance that she still wanted him as badly as he did.
He hoped she would just stop struggling and fall into his arms. Her face looked pained and yet controlled. Right then, he would have given anything to know what was going on in her mind.
Thoughts of kissing his soft, sexy lips blinded her as his need for her was written in large print on his face. She was dangerously close to losing her battle against giving into his pleading eyes when Alex’s blackberry rang harshly.
Alex took a few seconds to remove his gaze from her lovely face. The moment was lost.
Lyla sat back and reclaimed her breath. Her eyes lingered on the sharp angled cut of his jaw, and shaved taut skin while he talked.
Thank God this is over! That call saved me. Why do I always have to get lost in those stupid, entrancing, sweet blue eyes? Arrghh...I need to stop being so weak and instead concentrate on my work. She clenched her fist and crossed her hands across her chest.
Her face crunched in determination, finally emerging from her train of self-abasing thoughts. So, what if he’s my boss now? I still have a lot of work to do which will keep me extremely occupied. Why am I worried whether he’s around or not? I should simply stop acknowledging him!
A triumphant smile rose to her cheeks but she stopped herself in time. There was no telling how Alex would interpret it. Thinking, she walked over to the window. The bright morning sun cast infectious, cheerful warmth on the city. She smiled easily and was congratulating herself on her resolve. All she had to do was to ignore him.
“Ignoring me?”
“Wh...What did you just say?” Lyla jumped startled.
Alex was right behind her, with his face almost touching her hair. Shivers ran down her spine as his warm breath caressed her neck. “I asked if you were ignoring me.” Amusement lit up his eyes as he watched Lyla fumble with her words.
“Of course not...you were on the phone.” Good. Now I feel angry. That’s better. I don’t want to notice his smile lighting up his blue eyes. Shit! Stop it! “I’ve got to go now. I’ve got all the documents. I will let Matt know if I have any questions. By the way, when is the flight tomorrow?” asked Lyla walking farther from him and closer to the door, to escape as fast as she could.
“The flight is at eight in the morning. So you better not forget to set your alarm...you always forget that.”
Lyla felt her heart lodge in her throat as she noticed how his eyes turned soft.
“And if there are any questions, you should ask me, not Matt. I’m his boss and I’d like to assume I know more than him. Would you like to have some coffee now? I’m going down to get one for myself,” offered Alex with a smile.
Lyla smiled weakly. As her resolve to stay away tickled her memory, confusion changed to determination. “I’m sure we‘ll have more occasions when we’ll be forced to drink coffee together. So, let’s leave this for later...” Saying thus, Lyla closed the door without a noise and walked back to her office determined. I won’t let this Casanova get under my skin again.