Nanny and the Professor (12 page)

He moved so close his warm breath brushed across her wet skin.

"Joshua," she
said,
her voice sounded very faint even to her own ears. "I don't think this is a good idea."

"What?"

She blinked away the pool water that had gathered on her eyelashes. "You know." And when the words to describe what was going on escaped her, she added, "
This
."

He moved closer even though she hadn't thought it was possible.

"This?"

"Yes!" she whispered.

"What
is
this, Cassie?"

She could see his pulse throbbing just beneath the skin at the base of his throat. "I don't know."

"If you don't know what it is," he whispered, giving her a gentle smile, "how can you be sure it isn't a good idea?"

Cassie knew there had to be at least half a dozen answers to that question, but for the life of her she couldn't think of any of them. Her mind went completely blank.

"It just isn't," she said, her innate protective instinct refusing to allow her to totally surrender to the sensual mood encompassing them, no matter how loudly her body screamed at her to.

He'd been on her mind too; there was no denying it. Hadn't she felt the urge to take a tiny tour of his bedroom? Hadn't she had to literally shut out temptation by closing the door of his room? Hadn't she thought and wondered and imagined? Yes, she'd spent too much time thinking about him.

He traced a finger along her cheekbone and then his delicate touch tickled the outer rim of her ear. Instinctively, she closed her eyes as a shiver of delight shimmied through her.

"I can't explain it," he said silkily. "But I am so attracted to you. I know what I'm feeling isn't logical, but I simply can't help myself." He gently caught her earlobe between his index finger and thumb. "I've never wanted a woman the way I want you."

Something about his confession didn't seem right, but enveloped as she was in this luscious haze of sensuality he conjured, she couldn't quite come up with a reason why.

"At first," he continued, "I thought what I was feeling was purely physical.
That age-old, man-woman sex appeal.
I was quite certain that if I could only get the chance to kiss you senseless, then I'd exorcize you from my system."

Bending his head toward hers, he planted the barest of kisses on the corner of her mouth. A liquid heat eddied inside her, languidly filling her to the brim with… something… something she didn't dare put a name to.

"But as the weekend progressed," he said huskily, "I realized that my thoughts of you were based on more than just the physical."

She wanted to speak, but then he kissed her again, his lips scarcely touching the opposite corner of her mouth. The question she'd wanted to ask was
gone,
splintered into a dozen broken fragments in her passion-fogged brain.

He ran his fingers along her jaw and tipped up her chin so he could gaze into her face. His dark eyes were heavy-lidded now, and Cassie felt mesmerized by them and the intimate aura he conjured.

"Would you mind if I conducted a little experiment?" he murmured.

"An experiment?"
Her voice seemed thin and far off.

"
Mmm
-hmm.
You see, I came up with a hypothesis." One cheek muscle twitched with an appealing smile. "The one I told you about just now, that kissing you would expel you from my mind." He chuckled with a throaty rumble. "I don't believe it will work," he admitted, "but I
am
a scientist. And proving and disproving theories is my life."

She closed her eyes when his palm cupped her jaw.

"So, what do you say?" he whispered. "May I kiss you?"

She answered him with an almost imperceptible nod of her head. Then she softly added, "Please."

His lips pressed to hers, velvety warm and moist. The firm, gentle pressure of his mouth sent currents jolting through her. She felt his tongue play lightly across her lips, not intruding or demanding, but testing, tasting.

Her muscles seemed to melt yet tense at the same time and she relaxed against his hard chest. His soft, springy hair brushed against the flesh left bare by her bathing suit. It tickled in a way she found delightful.

When his arms encircled her, she felt his palms slide across her still-damp back. She wanted to sigh contentedly, but her breathlessness made that impossible– the electric charge shooting through her did too. Once again Joshua was causing her emotions to go to war inside her.

He smelled of chlorine and the dark, musky aroma that was his cologne. She relaxed enough to inhale deeply and she reveled in his scent.

His lips and tongue became more ardent and she realized that he wanted more. She gladly parted her lips and her tongue met his in a slow, tentative dance of welcome.

Far in the back of her brain, she heard tiny whispers of objection echoing, prodding for her attention. But she shut them out; she completely ignored them. She wanted this kiss, this closeness, like she'd never wanted anything before.

But this man is your employer!
This time the voice was louder, most insistent, forcing its way to the forefront of her brain.

She pulled back, ending the kiss abruptly. Staring at him wide-eyed, she made a halfhearted attempt to pull herself from his embrace.

"Joshua," she protested.

"I knew it," he said in a hoarse whisper, his gaze heavy and filled with desire. "My analysis of the data disproves the hypothesis."

"It does?" Cassie couldn't keep the question from slipping past her lips. The look in his eyes made her heart begin to race.

"
Mmm
-hmm.
I've kissed you, yet you're still up here." He tapped his temple. "My thoughts are burning for you." Then he added wryly, "As are other various parts of me."

The unabashed insinuation shocked her and caused her sanity to snap into place like a rubber band, sharp and stinging. "Joshua," she repeated, keeping her tone as level as possible. "I really think–"

He cut off her words by pressing two fingers against her lips. "Before you speak," he said, "let me examine the data and form a conclusion. My thoughts of you this weekend had me feeling like a teenager. I wanted you and thought that a kiss would be sufficient. But now that I've completed the experiment,
I'm left wanting
more.
Much more."

She watched him rub at his chin and gaze off over her shoulder as he summed up their kiss. He really was analyzing the evidence. The romantic haze she'd been engulfed in cleared all of a sudden. She'd thought this "experiment" of his was quite intimate, but now she was left feeling like a lifeless utensil– a beaker or a
petri
dish. And she didn't like it at all.

"Hey," she called to him. And when she had his attention, she continued testily, "when you equated our kiss to an experiment, I thought you were being… romantic. But now I can see that you were serious, and I don't mind telling you that this isn't right. I'm not some laboratory specimen to be–"

"Oh, Cassie," he interrupted. "I'm sorry I offended you. I didn't mean to."

The honest contrition exposed on his face and in his voice helped her to relax a little, but the insult she felt was evident in the firm line of her lips.

"I wanted to kiss you," he said, "and disprove my hypothesis because I knew it was wrong. I knew what I felt for you was more than mere physiology."

His last few words made her eyes go wide.

"I knew," he went on, seeming not to notice her reaction, "because, I could see you were beautiful..."

He called you beautiful
. The realization sank in immediately. The thought alone would have sent her heart reeling, but he'd actually said the words.
Right to her face.

"And I had this tremendous urge to kiss you," he continued. "Touch your skin... and smell your hair.... but I also wanted other things."

He hesitated, and Cassie thought she'd die in the silence of the few seconds before he explained what he meant by
other things
.

"I wanted to know things," he finally clarified.
"Where you were born.
Your favorite food.
What your hobbies are."

A delightful, numbing haze slowly fogged her brain, and she felt the overwhelming impulse to tell him anything and everything he wanted to know.

But this man is your employer!
This time the silent voice of dissent was as loud as a blaring horn. She needed to put some space between herself and Joshua. She needed time to think. She barely knew the man. Yes, she needed precious time.

"Joshua, wait just a minute." She moved backward a foot. "Now, I will admit that there's some kind of... spark or something between us," she said. "But common sense will tell you that it's nothing more than physical attraction– an attraction that we really,
really
need to deny–"

"Oh, no," he said, emphatically shaking his head. "Haven't you heard what I've been saying? If it was a simple case of physical attraction alone, I wouldn't feel this desire to know your favorite color, your favorite season. Or your shoe size, or what you like to read, or where you went to college, or if you like to walk in the woods or... or... how you met Aunt Mary."

Her blood froze solid when he mentioned that dreaded 'c' word.
College.
A silent expletive shot through her thoughts. If this kept up, he'd find out the truth!

"Look," she said, working hard to remain calm. "I work for you. You pay me money to care for your son. You weren't even certain that you wanted me for the position. Don't you remember? It is not– I repeat,
not
– a good idea for us to become involved in any kind of relationship except that between an employer and an employee." As she spoke the two nouns, she pointed at him and then touched her own collarbone, as if he needed help figuring out who was who.

He scowled. "But you can't stand there and deny the fact that we–"

"That's exactly what I intend to do." Cassie turned and swam away from him toward the steps that led out of the pool.

"But, Cassie," he called.

When she reached the stairway, she turned back to face him. "I don't mean to hurt your feelings. But I need this job."

With that she climbed from the pool, snatched up her robe from where she'd tossed it on the chair and headed for the house on shaky legs.

Joshua watched Cassie stalk across the lawn and he scowled. She might deny what was between them–

The thought stopped short and he rubbed his fingers over his chin. She hadn't really denied anything, he realized. In fact, she'd admitted what she felt– the physical attraction. He couldn't help but grin, thinking that Cassie found him attractive. The mere thought of her saying so was a sensuous stroke to his ego.

No, she hadn't denied what was between them. She had renounced it. Well, to hell with that. He wanted so badly to explore the charisma... or allure... or whatever it was that so strongly drew them together!

But Cassie clearly felt that because she worked for him, they couldn't become personally involved. He did have to admit that it was an extremely logical notion on her part. A more personal relationship between them would have the potential of raising some problems for everyone concerned. He understood that, yet his brain continued to refuse to acknowledge it. Swiping his hand in a large arc under the cool water, he couldn't quite figure out why his thinking process where Cassie was concerned continued to be confused and irrational.