Read Online A Slippery Slope by Emily Harvale - Free Book Online Page A

count. She’d been so
drunk that she could hardly remember her own name let alone anything else, but
last night ... she could remember almost everything about last night. And she
hadn’t given Tony a second thought from the moment Josh Calder walked into the
kitchen. In fact, she’d hardly thought of Tony all day. She’d been too busy
thinking how infuriating her new boss was. Now she couldn’t stop thinking how
attractive he was.
    She was being ridiculous and she knew it. This was obviously some
sort of reaction to the breakdown of her marriage. Some sort of rebound. Her
husband had betrayed her with a young and beautiful woman, now she was
‘betraying’ him with thoughts of Josh. It was ludicrous.
    She didn’t even particularly like Josh.
    She liked the way he laughed and his deep, gravelly voice; she
liked his blue-grey eyes, his sensuous smile and his chiselled features; she
liked his tall, agile frame and his lustrous, dark brown hair. She liked the
way he seemed so sure of himself most of the time and yet, just occasionally,
gave a hint of vulnerability. She liked his hands and the way he raked them
through his hair and she wondered, once or twice, what it would feel like to
run her hands through it. She also wondered what it would feel like to have his
hands touch her – caress her …
    Apart from that, she didn’t really like him at all.
    She definitely didn’t like the way he looked at her at
times. It was the type of look that said he was thinking things he shouldn’t.
Things that involved touching and exploring; things that involved kissing;
things that involved taking and giving. Things that she instinctively knew
would make her knees turn to jelly and her insides to melted ice cream.
    Her stomach already felt like a butter churn every time he added
one of his smiles and last night, when he’d said that he wanted her to stay,
there was something in that look that almost had steam coming out of her ears.
    It was definitely her hormones. Since finding her husband and
Daniella together, her emotions had been all over the place. One minute she
hated Tony, the next, she loved him. She never wanted to see him again or she
wanted to see him immediately. She wanted him back or she wanted him to die a
very slow and painful death, without her. She alternated between tears of
sorrow and tears of anger. She couldn’t eat; she couldn’t sleep. She drank far
too much. She wanted to get as far away from him as possible; she wished he
were by her side. Her brain and her heart were in turmoil.
    No wonder she felt so confused. That was all this was. She
couldn’t bear to think about Tony, so her subconscious had focused on Josh.
That was it. That must be it. She knew there had to be a rational explanation.
And there was no real harm in that, surely?
    Now that she understood what was happening and why, she felt much
better. Relieved almost. For one dreadful, totally insane moment, she had
actually wondered if she were falling in love! And with a man she’d known for
less than a day. And more importantly … with a man she didn’t even like !
    ***
    Lucy leant back in her chair as Verity returned to the kitchen.
‘I’ve designed the menus and made a list of the things we’ll need for next
week,’ Lucy said.
    ‘Excellent, darling. And I’ve checked the bedding and towels for
the eight guest bedrooms. Did I hear Josh say that they had to be colour
co-ordinated with the rooms?’
    ‘Yeah. It said so in the information pack too.’
    ‘How quaint. I suppose I ought to read that,’ Verity said,
grinning. ‘Does it also say that staff must obey their lord and master at all
times and in all things? I’m making coffee. Would you like some?’
    Lucy nodded. ‘I don’t think he’s that bad, Mum. You two just got
off on the wrong foot but he seemed pleasant enough last night and you were
both smiling when he left.’
    Odd little goosebumps popped up on Verity’s arms as she remembered
that smile and she rubbed them