“We all are. How about today before dinner. Say at six?”
“Wonderful.” Cathy rose to her feet and walked toward her office. “I’ll see you there.”
She closed the door behind her. Stone found himself unable to return his attention to work. Not only had Cathy started dressing differently, but also she now wore perfume. The soft, feminine fragrance lingered in the room and taunted him.
Just being close to her, even in a working situation such as this, left him hard with wanting. No, Cathy hadn’t fallen for him, but he was having a difficult time controlling his unexpected needs. Sometimes he wished things were different, thathewas different so he could approach her. But he couldn’t. For one thing, it would be dangerous to her. For another, he had a goal and that didn’t include a passionate affair with his new assistant. Besides, Cathy would never want him that way. She saw him as a combination of older brother and benefactor.
He pushed away the desire flaring inside of him and ignored the hardness throbbing between his legs. Just as he ignored the real reason he couldn’t get involved with Cathy. That hadn’t changed. He couldn’t because of Evelyn.
* * *
“Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time,” Cathy muttered as she climbed the stairs to the third-floor exercise room. It was at the east part of the house, over the garage. She’d had to go into the kitchen and ask Ula where it was. The housekeeper’s expression had remained impassive as always when Cathy had told her what she wanted.
So here she was, climbing yet another flight of stairs on her way to work out with Stone. The bad news was she knew the pounding of her heart came solely from nerves. She’d been working out so much that a couple of flights of stairs didn’t affect her at all. Which wasbothgood and bad news. After all this time, she hated that Stone still got to her.
Or maybe it was just to be expected, she thought. They spent part of each day together. They were co-workers, they shared lunch and usually dinner. They discussed world affairs, read the same books, occasionally watched television or a movie together.
“Just like being married without all the hassle,” she told herself cheerfully. They were also missing all the good points, too, she thought. No loving, or lovemaking. No commitment.
She’d reached a point of confidence where she felt that Stone liked her. They were friends. He thought she was smart. But she wanted more than that. She wanted to matter to him. Because he mattered to her. He had for a long time, and working together had only increased her feelings. But she was determined that he would never figure that out. It would all be too humiliating. What if he felt sorry for her? She shuddered. Better to keep things the way they were.
So she would never tell him that her feelings had changed. That she thought about him all the time and wished they could be more than friends. She never told him about her daydreams for their future or how the fantasies sustained her through long nights when she couldn’t sleep. She never mentioned how often she thought about that kiss they’d shared.
As she reached the third-floor landing, she heard rock music coming from down the hall. She followed the sound and ended up in a large mirrored room. Several pieces of weight-lifting equipment sat on the hardwood floor. There was a treadmill and stair climber. In the corner was a cross-country-ski machine. No wonder Stone was in such great shape.
He was already in the room, crouched down in front of a stereo system. He’d exchanged slacks and a shirt for shorts and a cropped T-shirt that exposed his flat, muscled belly. Cathy tugged on the hem of her T-shirt. It was over-size and fell nearly to the hem of her bicycle shorts. Over the past month, she’d been swimming on the weekends, so her legs were faintly tanned. She was the size she wanted to be, and with all the aerobics, she was in decent shape physically. But this was Stone, and she knew no matter what the circumstances, or how she was dressed, he had the power to leave her feeling breathless and inadequate.
He glanced up, caught her reflection in the mirror and grinned. “You made it.”
She laughed. “This room is so far away, it’s practically another country. I had to leave breadcrumbs to make sure I made it back.”
“I can show you the way,” he promised.
“Hah. Like I’d trust that.” Her voice was teasing.
He rose to his feet and crossed to her. “Come on, kid. Let me show you how the big boys work out.”
She glanced at all the gleaming equipment. “Don’t hurt me or let me hurt myself.”
“Never.”
Oddly enough, she trusted him. At least in that.
“We’ll start with light weights,” he said, approaching a machine that looked like a medieval torture device. “The trick is to work big muscles first, then smaller ones. Here’s what you want to do on this machine,” he said, and described the mechanism.
She slipped into the seat and took the position he told her. “I think the trick is not to get maimed.”
But it wasn’t as hard as it looked. They took turns, with him going first, showing her what the exercise looked like. Then he would adjust the weight and the seat for her. They worked slowly. Cathy felt her muscles awakening, then protesting the unfamiliar activity. Stone was a patient teacher, guiding her slowly. She knew she should be grateful…and she was…if only the man would stop touching her.
A hand to her arm, fingers on her knee, a pat to her shoulder. He was driving her crazy. How was she supposed to concentrate on what they were doing? And he was so darn close to naked! Again and again she caught herself staring at his long legs or his firm belly. More than once she admired him as he bent over. The man had the best butt she’d ever seen. It just wasn’t fair.
They took a break after about thirty minutes. Stone crossed to a small refrigerator in the corner of the room and pulled out two bottles of water. Cathy took one and gulped down half of it. Then she walked to the windows and stared out at the grounds.
She’d never seen the view from this side of the house. The ocean was behind them, but she could see trees and well-manicured grounds. In the distance was another large property.
He came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t know whether to groan or swoon.
“How are you holding up?” he asked.
