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‘She’s very pretty and very young,’ his senior PA, Mel, commented at his elbow as she looked in the same direction.
Ari tore his gaze from Cleo, faint colour edging his high cheekbones as he registered the throb at his groin, and shifted uneasily. ‘She talks too much.’
‘Yes, but she’s very good on Reception,’ Mel countered. ‘Friendly, helpful, welcoming. In my opinion, she’s a big improvement on that frozen fashion doll out on maternity leave.’
Ari gritted his even white teeth. ‘She dresses badly.’
Mel frowned and gave him a surprised look. ‘So, let someone give her the advice to tone down the colours a little and look more...er...professional.’
Tiring of the conversation, Ari tipped back the whisky brought to him without savouring the vintage. ‘I’m going to turn in now. It’s been a long day.’
Cleo didn’t spend the whole evening with Lily and her pals, just an hour to be friendly. She went to bed smothering a yawn, wondering where Ari Stefanos had disappeared to, because she hadn’t seen him. She woke and went down to breakfast alone because Lily had gone to the yoga class. Clad in a long-sleeved top and cargo pants, she ate and then followed the signs to the wooded, fenced area that held the paintball operation. She was a little embarrassed to see that only one other woman had chosen the activity and she was an athletic former soldier, whom Cleo had met the night before in the bar, and she was jogging on the spot with eagerness. Cleo put on her mask, helmet and protective vest and grasped the gun after it had been demonstrated for her benefit, and then she tried to strike a fit pose as if she too were fizzing with pent-up energy.
Ari Stefanos strode into view with a small group of other men. His black hair was tousled and in need of a cut. Cleo curved back into the shadow of the wall the better to watch him before he disappeared into the equipment shed. She wondered what it was about those features of his that continually locked her attention to him. The dark deep-set eyes, the rawly masculine hard jawline and faint shadow of stubble? The thin aristocratic nose? That beautiful mouth, which she had never seen smile? With the recent death of his father, she supposed he didn’t feel he had much to smile about. He was very tall, spectacularly well built, all lean muscle from his wide, strong shoulders, flat stomach and narrow waist to his long, powerful legs.
The group was split into two teams and the game began. Cleo was ambushed behind a tree when she was least expecting it. Three of her own team, young and boisterous types, cornered her and literally sprayed her with paintballs, laughing uproariously as they did it. As the balls struck and spattered over her, she was startled by the force of each hit and by how much it hurt. She cried, ‘Stop it!’ as she felt the stings of pain and the pressure that would surely bruise her, but they were still laughing hysterically as they ran off again.
When they were gone, Cleo was left in a rage. Her own team members had attacked her, presumably because she was a temp, a safer target for a prank than a permanent staff member and an easy mark! And she was hurt, aching all over from the assault as she began clumsily picking herself up again, furious tears blinding her.
‘You’re out... Take yourself off to the dead zone,’ a curt voice instructed.
‘I’m not out! My own team ambushed me!’
‘Got witnesses? If not, you’re out,’ the voice told her without sympathy.
‘I’m going to get my own back,’ Cleo countered furiously, recalling how turning her back on unkind behaviour aimed at her at school hadn’t won her any favours. When anyone deliberately set out to injure Cleo, she had learned to always fight her corner in self-defence. It didn’t pay to let people walk over her. If she allowed such treatment, it would be more likely to reoccur.
‘That’s against the rules. Neither is that attitude in the spirit of proper gamesmanship,’ her unwanted companion informed her in a lofty tone of superiority.
‘Oh, shut up!’ Cleo said sharply. ‘If they can ignore the rules and attack me, I can do it back!’
Below Ari’s disbelieving gaze, Cleo shimmied up the tree behind her like a miniature ninja warrior. ‘They won’t even see me up here. I’m going to get them!’ she hissed.
‘Did you listen to anything I said?’ Ari enquired drily. ‘Did you even read the rules? You’re not supposed to climb the trees or attack from above. Once you’re hit, you’re out and you should leave the field immediately.’
‘A lot of good it did me reading the rules when nobody else is following them!’ Cleo shot back, unimpressed. ‘Go away and leave me alone. You’ll draw attention to me and that’ll wreck my plan.’
‘Get down and I will see you get off the field safely,’ Ari breathed impatiently.
‘Like I need your help!’ Cleo snapped. ‘Anyone ever told you to mind your own business?’ Reaching up to a higher, sturdier branch, she clutched the gun awkwardly below one arm. ‘I’m about to teach those guys a lesson!’
Ari had never had an employee simply ignore his commands before. Undoubtedly, the helmet and the mask were a better disguise than he had appreciated. Ari was a stickler for rules, and while he understood her burning desire for retribution, he could not condone it. Stretching up, he closed his hands around her small waist, and from that angle, he really could not avoid noticing that in the close-fitting pants her derrière jutted out like a particularly ripe and luscious peach. Disconcerted by the instant swell of arousal against his zip, he tugged her down from the tree and brought her carefully down to ground level again. Of course, he knew who she was. Cleo was unique amongst the top-floor staff. She was too tiny to be mistaken for anyone else.
‘What are youdoing?’ She gasped in disbelief.
As she staggered, he bent down to steady her and the faint scent of strawberries emanated from the golden hair curling out from beneath her helmet: he was tooclose. Ari took a sharp and deeply conservative step back from her as he spun her round to face him. The cornflower depth of blue that distinguished her eyes was distinctive. He tensed while he censured himself for his overt physical reaction.
‘I’m taking you out of here,’ Ari told her curtly. ‘BeforeI lose my temper with you.’
‘Just because you have a different take on how to play games—’
‘Breaking the rules could lead to the game being stopped for everyone,’ Ari warned her curtly. ‘There are safety concerns here. Please...’
And it was his accent, roughening the edges of his vowel sounds with a growl that made her steal a longer frowning glance at him. In one fell swoop she rose above her rage sufficiently to recognise the clothes that he wore and the dark golden eyes flaring like a shower of sparks behind the mask.Oh. My. Word.She was fighting with the boss, the great rule upholder!
‘I’m so sorry, Mr Stefanos,’ she murmured flatly. ‘I didn’t realise it was you.’
‘Maybe I should have worn a warning label,’ Ari riposted as he retained a controlling hand on her shoulder and steered her towards the boundary fence and the area marked out for the paint-spattered losers.
