Keeping her eyes off his hunky male body in those revealing trunks had been impossible. Lord, but he was one well-built man!
Hopefully, she’d hidden her feelings from him, feelings that she hadn’t experienced in years. Not since Jason, who admittedly had stirred her female hormones somewhat. She’d been very attracted to Jason, but this thing with Sebastian was on another level entirely. This was nothing but sheer lust, as opposed to just attraction.
Ruby accepted ruefully that lust wasn’t one of the seven deadly sins for nothing. Talk about tempting!
The only plus to the weekend was having Sunday off. She would have spent it visiting her brothers but they had both been having a weekend away at some hotel in the Blue Mountains, information she’d gleaned from Facebook, so she’d driven out to Parramatta where she’d spent the day in the mall, attempting to do some Christmas shopping. But not very successfully. She’d had trouble making up her mind so in the end had bought nothing. After that she’d gone to a movie, not arriving back at Mosman till late. Fortunately, Sebastian had been in bed by then.
Monday morning had come as a relief with Sebastian gone to work. Out of sight was out of mind! Though all that lying over the phone had put her boss firmly back into Ruby’s thoughts again. After finishing with the phone calls, she had just put some coffee on when her phone rang again, her heart jumping when she saw it was Sebastian.
‘Good morning, Sebastian,’ she said, determined to act normal and not like the uptight creature she was in danger of becoming around him. After all, he couldn’t hear her heart thumping away inside her chest, or see the X-rated images running around in her head, the ones that had plagued her after that incident by the pool.
‘Hi,’ he said. ‘Everything okay with you?’ he asked sharply, perhaps picking up some kind of vibe.
‘Yes, of course. Everything’s fine.’ That word again. ‘What’s up?’
‘Zack Stone will be coming over for a while this evening,’ he announced. ‘We’ll need dinner.’
‘Of course. What would you like?’
‘Seafood. Half a dozen oysters each followed by barramundi and salad.’
Whilst Ruby admired a man who knew what he wanted, she was irritated by her boss’s ongoing brusqueness. For a while there at the weekend he’d been nice and apologetic, but that hadn’t lasted for long. ‘What about dessert?’ she asked.
‘Something chilled. The weather’s still damned hot and we’ll be eating outside. Zack likes fresh air. Oh, and get a bottle of white wine from the cellar to complement. Actually, make that two bottles of white wine. I know I can trust you to pick well. I saw from your résumé that you’ve worked in plenty of restaurants and bars.’
‘Indeed I have,’ she said, thinking she’d met lots of men like him too. Talk about arrogant! But that was what came with men who were too rich, too good-looking and too successful. They simply couldn’t help themselves. She supposed Zack Stone would be just as obnoxious.
‘Anything else?’ she asked archly.
‘No. Oh, yes. I’m off to Surfers Paradise next weekend. I leave on Friday and won’t be back till Monday so that leaves you free to do as you please over the weekend.’
Thank goodness, she thought. Now I won’t have to secretly ogle you all weekend. Or want to slap your face every five minutes.
Unrequited lust, she’d come to accept, could make the sufferer extremely tetchy.
‘Actually, that’ll be great,’ she said brightly. ‘I have some studying to do. What are you doing in Surfers Paradise?’ she couldn’t resist asking. ‘Business or pleasure?’
His hesitation to answer told her what she needed to know. People rarely went to Surfers Paradise for business.
‘Just relaxing,’ he said at last. ‘Zack has an apartment up there which I use occasionally. It’s not far from the casino. I enjoy playing Blackjack.’
Possibly he was telling the truth but Ruby doubted he’d be alone for long. Casinos were notorious pick-up places.
Ruby knew she had no right to be jealous, but she was all the same. She’d known instinctively that a man like Sebastian wouldn’t do without sex. It wasn’t natural.
A fantasy zoomed into her head in which he asked her to go with him...to spend the whole weekend with him. In bed, of course.
Just the thought excited her.
Not that he would ever ask her. Lord no! It was just a fantasy. Or possibly wishful thinking. It was obvious Sebastian was not the sort of man who did that kind of thing. Which was just as well. She’d come to Sydney to make an independent life for herself, not to fall into bed with her boss.
Get a grip, girl!
‘Is Mr Stone going with you?’ she asked, pleased to have herself under control again.
‘That chick magnet?’ he scoffed. ‘Thankfully no. I’m just there for the gambling.’
‘Of course,’ she said, her comment having a decidedly dry edge to it.
He didn’t say a word for several seconds. But when he spoke his voice sounded amused. ‘I fear my new housekeeper is a cynic.’
‘I fear you could be right,’ Ruby retorted before she could think better of it.
‘Good. Then you won’t fall for Zack’s charms.’
‘Like I said before, Sebastian, I’m not a fan of that show, or its anti-hero.’ Her voice was extra cool, a habit of Ruby’s when a man assumed she was a pushover.
‘Unfortunately, it’s required viewing for all my staff,’ he insisted. ‘I get the best market research that way.’
‘Really.’ Thank goodness he didn’t produce erotica, then, otherwise she might volunteer for more in-depth market research.
Ruby flushed at the way her mind kept going. Yet was it a flush of shame, or excitement? There was no doubt she was enjoying their repartee.
‘What about your other shows?’ she asked him.
‘I’ll give you a list tonight. They are all required viewing for employees of Harvest Productions.’
‘That’s a bit draconian, don’t you think?’
‘It’s just for feedback,’ he said.
‘Oh, all right, then. Give me the list tonight and I’ll look them up.’
‘I’ll do that. And I will appreciate your opinions, Ruby. You’re obviously a very smart woman. Bye for now.’
Ruby hugged the compliment to herself as she hung up. Compliments about her intelligence had been in short supply in Ruby’s life so far. Yet she was intelligent. She knew she was. Okay, so she hadn’t covered herself with glory at school after her mother was diagnosed with cancer, and all her jobs so far had been on the menial side. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have a good brain.