Australia: In Bed with the Boss: The Marriage Decider / Their Wedding Day / His Boardroom Mistress

“From the look of it I could have saved myself the trouble,” he went on, the sneer in his voice needling Amy beyond bearing.

She whirled through the archway in a rage of pride, coming to a stage-stop as she took in the scene, Jake by the table he’d set for their dinner, brandishing a bottle of champagne, Steve standing by the kitchen counter, keeping his distance, obviously put out by her luxurious living area and Jake’s presence.

His carefully cultivated yuppie image—the long floppy bang of hair dipping almost over one eye, the white collarless linen shirt and black designer jeans—somehow looked immature, stacked up against the raw male power so casually exhibited by Jake, and for once Amy was pleased Steve came off second-best in comparison. She fully intended to rub it into her ex-lover’s ego. Let him be flattened this time!

“Good heavens! How on earth did you get here, Steve?” she trilled in amazement.

He gawped at her, making her extremely conscious of her nakedness under the silk and lace bit of froth, which, of course, he recognised as part of the seductive and sinfully expensive lingerie she’d bought herself for her last birthday, intending to pepper up their sex life. The outcome had been disappointingly limp, undoubtedly because he’d been bedding the blonde.

“Mmmh…” The sexy purr from Jake was meant to inflame. “I love your idea of comfortable.”

“I’m so glad,” she drawled, seized by the reckless need to prove she wasn’t a downtrodden cast-off. Abandoning all caution, she ruffled her squeaky-clean hair provocatively as she sauntered towards Jake, knowing full well the action would cause a sensual slide of silk over her curves. “Champagne poured?”

“Ready to fizz into your bloodstream, darling.”

The wicked wolf eyes were working overtime as he handed her a brimming glass. One thing she could say for Jake, he was never slow on the uptake. Right at this moment, his response was positively exhilarating. In the hunk stakes, Jake Carter was a star.

“Darling!” Steve squawked.

Hopefully he was feeling mortifyingly outshone! And very much the odd one out in this threesome!

“I’ve always thought she was,” Jake tossed at him. “I should thank you for bowing out, Steve. It freed Amy up for me, got rid of her misplaced loyalty, opened her eyes…”

“I didn’t do it for you,” Steve chopped in, furious at finding himself upstaged by her boss.

“Which reminds me, where is your bride-to-be?” Amy asked silkily, having fortified herself with a fine slug of alcohol. “Lurking outside to see that you don’t stay too long?”

“No, she’s not!”

“Well, if I were her, I wouldn’t trust you out of my sight. Not after working so hard to get a ball and chain on you.”

Let his free spirit wriggle on that barb, Amy thought bitterly. She sipped some more champagne to dilute the upsurge of bile from her stomach.

Steve’s face bloomed bright red. To Amy, it was a very satisfying colour. Much better than the pallid white he’d left on her face a week ago.

“She knows I’m here. I told her…”

“And just how did you know where to come, Steve?” she inquired with sweet reason. “I haven’t given this address to anyone.”

“Except me,” Jake popped in, shifting to slide his arm around her shoulder in a man-in-possession hug. “We’ve moved so much closer in the past few days.”

Amy snuggled coquettishly, getting quite a charge out of the hip and thigh contact.

Steve looked as if he was about to burst a blood vessel. Which served him right, having thrown a blonde and a baby in her face. He clenched his jaw and bit out his explanation.

“I went to the Bondi apartment this morning and saw our stuff being carried out to the removalist van…”

“Our stuff?” She couldn’t believe he was backtracking on the division of their property. How crass could he get in the circumstances? “It was agreed this was my stuff.”

“Mostly, yes. But there were little things I left behind. Overlooked in…well, not wanting to make things worse for you.”

“Worse for whom?” she demanded with arch scepticism. “The great evader couldn’t get out fast enough. That’s the truth of it, Steve.”

He flushed. “Have it your way. But I still want my things. And since you’d obviously packed up the lot, I followed the van here, then gave you time to unpack…”

“How considerate of you! What things?”

“Well, there were photographs and mementos…”

“I threw them all out.”

“You…what?”

Amy shrugged. “Unwanted baggage. What’s gone is gone,” she declared and proceeded to drain her glass as though to celebrate the fact.

“One never enjoys being reminded of mistakes, Steve,” Jake remarked wisely.

“You could have called me first,” Steve spluttered accusingly.

“Sorry.” She slid a sultry look up at Jake. “I’ve been somewhat distracted this week.”

He instantly brushed his mouth over the top of her hair, murmuring, “Amy, I’ve got to tell you that scent you wear is extremely stimulating.”

She wasn’t wearing any scent. Unless he meant her shampoo and conditioner. It occurred to her she was playing with fire but the warmth coursing through her felt so good she didn’t care.

“Goddammit! I did my best to be decent to you,” Steve bellowed.

“Oh? You call getting another woman pregnant being decent?” Amy flared.

“I bet you were already sneaking behind my back…”

“Amy sneak?” Jake laughed at him. “She is the most confrontationist woman I know. Sparks and spice and all things nice.”

Steve glared furiously at her. “And I was fool enough not to believe Brooke when she told me you just couldn’t wait to have it off with him.”

“Well, sometimes Brooke does get things right,” Amy fired back heedlessly.

“I feel exactly the same way,” Jake declared with fervour. “In fact, I can hardly wait for you to leave.”

“And you do have Brooke’s party to go to,” Amy pressed. “Apart from which, I’m sure your wedding will supply more suitable photos and mementos for your future.” She lifted her glass in a mock toast. “Happy days!”

Unfortunately there was no champagne left in it to drink.

“Darling…” Jake purred “…let me take that empty glass.” He plucked it out of her hand and set it on the table. “Bad luck you didn’t get what you came for, Steve,” he burbled on as he swept Amy into his embrace. “But as my girl here says, what’s gone is gone. And it’s well past time you were gone, too. Would you mind letting yourself out?”

“You know what she called you, Carter?” Steve yelled at him, his face twisting in triumphant scorn. “Jake the rake!”

“Well, fair’s fair,” Jake said, totally unperturbed. He whipped off his T-shirt and spread her hands against his bare chest. “You can do some raking, too, Amy. I’d like that. I’d like that very much.” And his voice wasn’t a purr anymore. More like the growl of a wolf with his dinner in view.