Ruthless boss boyxboy

Chapter 8

With one last brush against his lips, he dropped Li’s hand into his lap. “Don’t lay it on too thick, Hawk, or they’ll really start to wonder.” Cormac turned back to his papers, completely unruffled, while Li sagged against the seat.

Lord help him. What the hell had he got himself into?

Somehow he managed to get through the next half hour as Cormac droned on about the basics of what they needed to know. Li felt frozen, numb. Afraid.

He wasn’t sure he could do this after all. At that moment he was more afraid of Cormac than the press. More fearful for his body – his heart – than his career or reputation.

He’d had no idea he would react this way to Cormac, to his touch, his look; he was leaning into it, craving it. Craving him. Adventure was one thing; abandon was quite another. His mind danced with possibilities he had no business entertaining. This was a charade, Li told himself fiercely, not the real thing. Never the real thing.

Help.

Cormac irritably tapped his pen against the sheaf of papers. “You haven’t been listening to a word, have you?”

“Sorry,” Li flinched guiltily. “It’s just so much to take in.”

Cormac capped his pen and gestured to the flight attendant to take their empty cups. “I don’t suppose it really matters,” Cormac said with a shrug, “No one will be expecting a deceit, so no one will be looking for one.”

“No one will think it strange that you’ve suddenly switched the team you swing for?"

“Well it will explain my difficulty finding a life partner,” he replied with a shrug. “People will expect a new couple, very much in love, and I don’t think it will take much to convince them that’s what they’re seeing.” He paused, his gaze dipping down to Li’s fingers- the fingers he’d touched. Tasted. “I’m rather confident of your acting abilities.”

Li tried for a laugh; it came out like a wheeze. “At least it’s only for a few days.”

“A few memorable days,” Cormac agreed. His smile turned languorous, his gaze heavy-lidded. All intentional Li knew, and yet he wasn’t immune. He felt his stomach clench, prepare for an assault of the senses, the flood of damning desire.

Cormac’s smile deepened. “Who knows what might happen?”  

The cabin lights flickered and darkened. Cormac leaned over, his arm brushing Li’s chest-intentional again, Li was sure- and he eased Li’s chair into a reclining position. Prone, supine before him, Li clutched the armrests. Hated feeling vunerable. “Sweet dreams, Hawk,” he whispered.

Li lay there and watched as he adjusted his own seat, settled a pillow under his head and promptly fell asleep. If only it were so easy for him. He lay in the dark, eyes wide-open, his body thrumming with fear, excitement and unfulfilled desire. It was a heady mix.

“We’ll arrive at our destination in just under forty minutes.”

Li tilted his seat forward, his eyes gritty from lack of sleep, although he’d finally fallen into a restless doze only to be jerked awake by the bright Caribbean sunshine streaming in through the window and the chirping voice of the flight attendant as she pushed the breakfast cart down the aisle. His damp hands curled around the metal buckle of the belt. Next to him, Cormac sat relaxed, calm, smiling.

His boyfriend.

Li smiled, a small stretching of his lips. In little over an hour they would exit in Bonaire, take a small chartered plane to Cormac’s family’s private island, and the charade would begin. He would be Cormac’s boyfriend. A thrill of terror rippled through him in an icy wave. He couldn’t eat any of the breakfast, although Cormac was calmly drinking a cup of strong black coffee. Once the dishes had been cleared away, they prepared for landing. It was too late for regrets, Li knew. Far too late for second thoughts. He’d agreed, he’d let Cormac seduce him with his words, his touch, his promise. Who knows what might happen?

Nothing, Li told himself. Absolutely nothing.

It was too dangerous. Too tempting to believe. The plane landed with a bump. Cormac stood up, slinging his attaché case over his shoulder. He handed Li his own hand lounge and Li started in surprise. “Here you are, darling,” Cormac said, and Li stiffened.

Cormac smiled over his head at the attendant who’d been ogling him for the entire journey. “He always forgets his things on planes.”

The attendant titterd, and Li’s cheeks burned. “Ridiculing me to the staff before we’ve even stepped off the plane?” he hissed. “What a loving boyfriend you are...honey.”

“Just teasing,” he murmured, but Li saw a new flintiness in Cormac’s eyes and realised he’d scored a direct hit. Pretending to be a loving boyfriend – a loving anything – was going to be difficult for Cormac.