Her Alpha CEO

Chapter 11

Nina woke slowly, not sure at first where she was. The sun wasn’t up yet, but there was an indistinct golden glow dancing at the foot of her bed whose origin she couldn’t quite figure out, so groggy was she from sleep. She felt blissfully happy for no reason she could name and snuggled more deeply into the covers.

Why was her bed so much more comfortable than usual? She wondered blearily as she pulled the covers higher. So much warmer? So much more welcome? And why did she want nothing more than to stay here like this forever? Usually, the moment she awoke, she awoke completely, then immediately shoved back the covers and rose to face the day. She was even one of those people who immediately made the bed, so finished with it was she until nightfall came again. But today…

She sighed deeply, purring a little as she exhaled. Today, she just wanted to stay in bed until nightfall came again. Because something about the prospect of nightfall coming once more made a shudder of delight wind through her. She was about to sigh again when her brain finally started to function — albeit none too

quickly. It did get enough momentum going for her to finally realize what the light at the foot of the bed could be.

Fire. Her bedroom was on fire.

She jack-knifed up to a sitting position, prepared to flee for her life, then was shocked to discover she was naked. Why was she naked? In moving so hastily, she jostled the person next to her — why was there another person in her bed? — who, with a muffled groan, turned over and, with a muffled thump, landed on the floor. And she realized there was something very familiar about that groan…

That, finally, was when Nina remembered. She wasn’t in her bed. She wasn’t in her

house. The fire in the room was the light of candles. It was perfectly safe. Perfectly lovely. Perfectly romantic. And the reason she felt so good was because—

Oh.

So that was why there was someone else in the bed.

She felt more than saw Brian throw an arm up onto the mattress, but she definitely heard another soft groan as he pulled himself up off the floor. Then she heard a sound of exasperation as he crawled back into bed beside her. And then in a voice full of concern, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Oh, there were so many ways she could answer that question. Too many ways. And even so, none of them seemed quite right. Going to bed with Brian last night had been the wrong thing to do, Nina told herself. He was her prospective employer again, and she was too smart to get involved with an office romance. But being in bed with Brian this morning felt so wonderfully right. She would have been an idiot not to make love with the man last night, feeling the way she did about him.

Okay then, her feelings for him were wrong, she told herself. Falling in love with her future boss? How stupid could she be? But then, only a brainless ninny would be immune to a man like him. How could she not love him?

And that was when it hit her full force. She was in love with Brian. Probably had been for weeks. She just hadn’t let herself admit it, because she’d been convinced he would never love her in return. And maybe he didn’t love her, she thought. Just because they’d made love…more than once…with utter abandon…and not a little creativity…

Oh, God, she thought. Nina had no idea what to think just then. So she did the only thing she could do. She lied.

“Nothing,” she said, hoping Brian didn’t detect the note of alarm she heard in her voice. “Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s wonderful. Fabulous. Marvelous. Stupendous. Couldn’t be better. In fact, everything is so perfect that I want to leave right now, before anything happens to change it. I’ll see myself out. Call me when you get back to work. Goodbye.”

Okay, so she lied and panicked. It was a perfectly justifiable response. Thankful for the darkness, she shoved the covers aside and started to rise from the bed. Until Brian clapped a strong hand around her wrist and pulled her back down again. Then he levered his body over hers and kissed her. Hard. Long. Deep. And then some of the tension in Nina’s body began to drain away.

Oh, all right, all the tension in her body drained away. In fact, by the time Brian raised his head, she was pretty sure it was going to be hours before she moved again. Unless, you know, he kissed her like that a second time, in which case she would probably start moving a lot.

“Going somewhere?” he asked, his voice a velvet purr in the darkness. Not sure she could get her tongue to work — well, not for talking, anyway — she only murmured, “Mmm-mmm.”

“Good,” he said. “Because we’re not even close to being finished.”

Oh, my, Nina thought.

He chuckled softly. “First we have to have breakfast.”

Ooooh, Nina thought. Breakfast. Right.

“And I’m in the mood for something light, delectable and sweet.”

Nina was in the mood for something dark, delectable and spicy. They were going to need a smorgasbord for this.

No! she immediately told herself. They weren’t going to have a smorgasbord. In fact, they couldn’t have breakfast at all. They probably never should have had dinner last night. Or the dessert that had come after. Or the dessert after that, either.

She found her voice and softly said, “Brian, we need to talk.”

“Nina–”

“Brian.”

He expelled a quiet sound of resolution, then rolled back over to his side of the bed. Enough light flickered from the candles to enable her to make out his expression. But where she might have expected him to be annoyed or unhappy, or even angry at her having halted his advance, instead, he looked kind of dejected.