Page 126 of Boss of the Year

It really wasn’t fair.

The latter group always seemed to know they were hot, which is why they used their forties, sometimes following the demise of a first marriage, to hook up with women far younger than themselves. I’d seen plenty of them at the Lyonses’ dinner table and parties.

But Lucas, looking around the garden, seemed to have no awareness of his appeal. No understanding of how the moonlight glinted off the bits of silver at his temples. No clue about the way the hair on his chest and the trail down his stomach emphasized the column of muscle I was suddenly desperate to climb. No thought for how much better he could do than the tiny wallflower staring at him from the pool’s edge.

When his eyes landed back on me, though, I didn’t feel like a wallflower at all.

I felt like the jewel of the whole garden.

A fair amount of my anger evaporated with the steam.

“Get in here,” I said with a resigned sigh. “There’s plenty of room for us both.”

He slipped into the pool a few feet from me, then extended his long arms along the stone rim and tilted his head back to look at the night sky.

The stars were gone again, obscured by light pollution, just like in New York and São Paulo. I missed them, I realized. In Japan, we’d spent every evening looking up at constellations. It hadn’t been something I’d noticed in Paris, since I’d never grown up with stars. But now that I knew what it was like to gaze at them every evening, I wanted more. I wanted the peace that came with the true dead of night.

“Thank you,” Lucas said, as if to the sky more than to me. “I didn’t want to miss our ritual now.” One side of his mouth curved up, like he was privy to an inside joke. “Do you think I should build one of these at home so we can keep it up?”

I laughed. I had to, or else I might cry. “I don’t think I’ll get away with private soaks with the boss once we’re back at Prideview.”

Lord, just imagining the look on Ondine’s face was enough to make me want to get out now. Or, come to think of it, the face of Lawrence, the driver.

Carlos, the gardener.

The housekeeper, the butler, or any of the other staff who would love nothing more than to gossip about me and Lucas.

Odd how the prospect of their chatter hadn’t even crossed my mind when it came to Daniel. But the idea of Lucas receiving that kind of derision bothered me. A lot.

I was a towel. Lucas was a napkin. Back home, we didn’t mix.

Here, though, it didn’t seem to matter.

“You’re different with your family, you know.”

I tore myself from musings. “I suppose most people are. More relaxed.”

“You are in some ways.” He paused, and I could see him choosing his words carefully. “Obviously, you love them a lot. It’s clear you and your sister are close.”

“Our whole family is close. Too close, maybe.”

He nodded with some understanding. “You’re quicker with your words. Tighter, on guard. Maybe even a little defensive. Not shy, but ready to fight.”

I digested that thought while I toyed with some of the bubbles in the water. “I…I didn’t always like who I was around them. They always wanted me to do things I wasn’t ready for.”

“Like what?”

I shrugged. “Stupid things like making me walk to the bodega by myself or play with some auntie’s kids I didn’t know. It was worse when I was in high school. Joni was always nagging me to dress differently or find a boyfriend or do more than sit at home. And when she got critical, I guess I got a little mean.”

“But you did get different clothes, and?—”

“And I got a boyfriend?” I suggested sardonically. “I think we both know I will never beyourgirlfriend, Lucas.”

For that, I received a long stare that eventually forced me to turn away. He took several deep breaths, the kind when he was trying to manage his temper.

Apparently, even the suggestion that we were together made him mad.

I really should have known better.