Reflected Pleasures Read Online Free PDF Page A

herself…and a hot plate to boil water for tea in the office.
    It looked like maybe she was going to get the hang of this new life after all.
    The door opened, startling her. She blinked at the interruption, then quickly straightened up when she realized it was Ty coming back, carrying a huge paper sack.
    â€œGood afternoon, Merri. How’d your day go?”
    â€œUh, just fine, sir.” She used her toes to feel around, trying to find her shoes so she could stand and move out of his chair. But she’d apparently kicked the darn things way under his desk.
    He scowled down at her and set the sack on his desk. “None of that ‘sir’ stuff. It’s Ty, remember? Come give me a hand with this food.”
    â€œFood?”
    â€œLunch. Jewel sent it over with instructions that both you and I take a proper break and eat every bite.”
    Darn those shoes. “That was very nice of your aunt. But I’m really not hungry. I don’t usually eat lunch.” When she’d been at the top of her game in the modeling biz, she’d rarely allowed herself to eat anything at all. Old habits didn’t just disappear with a new life.
    â€œMaybe you should start. You look as if a strongbreeze could knock you right over. It’s fine to have beautiful eyes and all, but you need good food and exercise to stay healthy.”
    She stopped fidgeting and forgot about her shoes. “You think I have beautiful eyes?”
    She’d worked hard to find a way to play down all her features. But she had chosen not to change her eye color with contacts so as not to irritate her eyes. They had a tendency toward allergies.
    These damn thick glasses should be doing the disguise trick. “You can’t.”
    â€œI can’t?” He laughed and put a hand on his hip. “No one has ever told you before that you have pretty eyes? You must have lived a very secluded life…or else all the men around you must’ve been blind.”
    Shut up! The man was one gorgeous hunk when he smiled. She resisted the urge to rip off the glasses and bat her eyelashes at him.
    It suddenly hit her that she wasn’t the only one to think of flirting. Tyson Steele was coming on to her—in his own backward way.
    But he couldn’t. That was the very thing she’d been trying to avoid. On top of the fact that he was her boss, he was also one of the filthy rich and appeared periodically in regional magazine spreads. If even a hint of her presence in this town got out, or if she was photographed and it leaked to the national press, her wonderful new life here would be finished.
    No. That he was interested in her was flattering. And she was most definitely interested in him. But she simply could not allow herself to get that close.
    She gave up and ducked under his desk to find the damn shoes.
    â€œWhat’s going on down there?”
    â€œNothing. I was just…” She captured her shoes and twisted around to back out of the desk’s cubbyhole. But instead of being able to escape with a little grace, she found herself face-to-face with her new boss.
    â€œOh…” Merri gulped and tried a weak smile, but he was so close that she could barely breathe. “My shoes. I was trying to find my shoes.”
    â€œYou lost your shoes under my desk? Do you always disrobe when you work?” He reached up and absently pushed a stray piece of hair back behind her ear. Then pulled his hand back as if he’d been burned. “Uh…”
    Ohmigod. His touch had sent shivers down her back, but they were forced to compete with the sweat that was beginning to pool at the base of her spine.
    This was not working at all the way she’d hoped. “Excuse me. But will you let me out, please?”
    â€œSorry. Sure.” He stood and held out a hand to help her up. “Your clothes got kind of dusty down there. I guess the clean-up crew hasn’t mopped under that desk for a while.