Mom for the CEO's Daughter Read Free Page A

ocean were beautiful, but he didn’t get the thrill of seeing it for the first time that he realized she felt.
    She faced him. “Thank you for bringing me.”
    Her genuine gratitude kicked him in the gut. She was a wonderful person. Not just a good assistant, but a nice woman.
    A beautiful woman…
    â€œYou’re welcome.” Temptation deepened his voice to a husky whisper.
    He would have been embarrassed but she smiled.
    The urge to kiss her snaked through him. He controlled it by reminding himself that she was an employee, a valuable employee, whom he couldn’t live without.
    She stepped closer.
    â€œThis place is so beautiful I could be in a tent,” she gazed out over the ocean again, “and be every bit as happy as I am in your beach house.” She shook her head. “Maybe happier. I love my tent.”
    â€œYou camp?”
    â€œYes. Woods mostly. I love the fresh air and the sense that I’m not confined.” She shrugged and her eyes lit with amusement. “I have this thing about being free.”
    He had a thing about being free, too. Pressure to be perfect fueled everything he did, and some days it was a prison. “I get that.”
    â€œHere I always believed you thrived on the excitement of being part of everything.”
    â€œI do.” He leaned against the railing. “But I’m human. It’s good to have a retreat sometimes.”
    She said only, “Hmm,” then assumed the same position he had. Forearms on the deck railing, staring out at the black ocean.
    The breeze whipped her long red hair over to him. The desire to catch it teased at him. He imagined grasping a strand and using it to bring her closer.
    Closer so he could kiss her.
    Need whispered through him with the same rhythm as the swooshing surf.
    Catch her hair
.
    Pull her close
.
    Kiss her
.
    Temptation bubbled up again. He’d looked at her soft pink lips for an entire year but had never really seen them until today. He hadn’t known she wore bikinis, or that she’d never been to the ocean and loved kids. Until today. Today everything was different.
    He faced her just as she turned to him. Moonlight played over her face, bathing her pearly skin with pale light. Her hair drifted to him on the breeze. His body tingled with anticipation.
    Desire took over, kicking his common sense off the deck. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.
    Fire flashed through his veins when his mouth met the soft curve of hers. He raised his hands to her shoulders and found smooth skin, and the fire became hot ice. His breath stilled in reverence of the perfect feel of her, then his instincts took control and his mouth moved over hers. Easily at first. But he’d never kissed anyone who was so soft, so supple, and before he could stop himself he was devouring her.
    His lips nipped and sucked, and when that wasn’t enough he coaxed open her mouth. With the swish of the ocean providing dramatic background music, their tongues twined and pure unadulterated lust exploded inside him. In twenty seconds, he could have that tank top over her head. In thirty, he could probably lure her to the big comfortable bed in his room.
    Before he could put the idea into action, though, she pulled away. Stepping back, she smiled shyly. As if it were a first date, she quietly said, “Good night.” Then she slipped into the beach house.
    With his blood racing through his veins and his hormones popping as if they were preparing for the Olympics, he cursed.
    Not because she wouldn’t sleep with him but because he knew eventually she would.

Chapter Four
    The next morning, excitement pushed Kara down the steps on a wave of happiness.
    Gabe had kissed her! He no longer saw
her
as just an assistant. He actually saw her, as a person, as a woman. And he liked her enough to kiss her!
    When she reached the kitchen, she flicked on the light, only to find Gabe sitting on one of the tall stools by the