Cinderella And The Ceo. SUSAN MEIER

himself he had already acknowledged he found this woman dangerously attractive. He couldn’t be noticing things like how generous and sweet she was, and he also couldn’t be lingering on his own unexpected male need to please her. That would be pointless and absurd. Since he knew he was being tested, he had to be on his toes at all times, not constantly distracted by a woman he hardly knew.

      When he entered the kitchen, he felt normal again. But in spite of the lectures he’d given himself, when Laurel joined them at the table, he found himself stealing glances at her.

      She was the strangest woman he’d ever met. Not strange as in weird, but strange as in different. She wasn’t the pampered professional he saw during his stints in the corporate office. She worked in a manufacturing plant, in steel-toed boots and a hard hat. Yet, she still looked, smelled and baked like a woman. A really feminine woman. Someone who cared for and catered to her family. Someone who made him feel like family, too.

      Deke was accustomed to getting special treatment, but Laurel wasn’t treating him well because he was the son of the people who owned controlling interest in the stock of the company she worked for or even because he’d been voted Pittsburgh’s most eligible bachelor three years in a row. She didn’t know any of those things about him. She’d baked him a pie because she was a nice person, someone grateful to him for what he had done, not who he was.

      The feeling that inspired was so appealing and so seductive he could have savored it all night. But he didn’t because it once again undermined his control, making him vulnerable to saying something that might actually give away his identity.

      And he couldn’t say or do anything that would cause Laurel to guess who he was until he passed his test. He didn’t doubt that he was sent here to figure out the reason for the audit discrepancy, that was the test. But as it stood right now, he didn’t have a clue if he was looking for a thief, an accounting error or an embezzler as the answer to the riddle created by his parents. And his biggest worry was that it might take him more than the scheduled three months to figure it out.

      But when he realized he might be here for more than three months, it didn’t bother him as much as it had back at softball practice. The truth was, he sort of felt as if he had fallen into heaven. He had a challenge that would stimulate him for eight hours each day. When he left work, he drove to a ball field and literally got to play like an eight-year-old for two hours. And when he was done, he got a reward. Spicy, melt-in-your-mouth stew with dumplings and homemade apple pie.

      Unable to help himself, Deke surreptitiously reached down and grabbed about a quarter inch of skin on his forearm and pinched. When it hurt, he knew he wasn’t imagining this. The only problem was, he wasn’t exactly sure he should enjoy it so much, either.

      He expected Laurel to argue when he volunteered to help with the dishes, but she readily accepted his offer, because she needed to spend time supervising Audra’s homework and getting Sophie ready for bed. While Judy filled the sink with warm soapy water, Deke cleared the table and found a dish towel. In fifteen minutes he and Judy had the kitchen cleaned and then Deke drove Judy to her home across town. He discovered that Laurel’s mother was a widow, had been since Laurel was four, and that she had a slight heart problem that precluded her from working, so she baby-sat Laurel’s kids after school and on their days off. Sometimes she came to Laurel’s to care for the girls, though she preferred it when the girls came to her house. But the four of them always ate dinner together because they were family, and that was what family was supposed to do.

      On the return trip Deke wondered if he’d landed on some distant planet where everything that happened was good and pure. Lost in thought, he nearly bumped into Laurel in the downstairs hall, the little alcove where the doors of the three bedrooms converged.

      He caught her by the shoulders to steady her. Because she was wearing a sleeveless robe, the velvet touch of her naked skin against his palm ricocheted through him, and he remembered this situation had its peril after all.

      “What are you doing here?” she whispered, her eyes huge because she had been frightened.

      “I’m sorry. I promised Audra I would say good-night.”

      When Laurel took a step back, trying to shrug out of his hold, Deke realized he still had his hands on her shoulders and quickly dropped them to his sides.

      “Okay,” she whispered. “But just peek in the door and say good-night. If you actually go into her room, she could talk for hours. And she needs her sleep.”

      “I’ll just peek in,” Deke agreed, lowering the volume of his voice, too. He didn’t know what it was about this woman that got to him, but she had something that could make him forget to do the simplest, most logical things like lower his voice, almost as if he couldn’t think in her presence. Or maybe it was more that when he was in her presence, he couldn’t think the way he was accustomed to thinking. All his habitual thought processes slipped away as if everything was new. Her lack of pretense and artifice, her treating him nicely when she didn’t know who he was, her appreciation for things he did actually made him feel differently about himself.

      But he also recognized something more. Something physical that defied description. The woman was so attractive to him that wanting to touch her was instinctive. The most normal, most natural urge in the world.

      And he had to struggle to control impulses he could normally quash with one rational thought.

      He made a move to go around her, to get to Audra’s room, but Laurel stepped in his path. He stopped, thinking she’d done that accidentally, but when she didn’t move out of his way, Deke glanced down at her. She licked her lips and Deke’s breath froze in his lungs. The woman was going to kill him if she didn’t stop doing things like this.

      “What?” he whispered harshly, desperately seeking any act of self-preservation.

      She licked her lips again. “Look, I don’t know how to say this, but…but Audra’s very special.”

      “I know. And if you’re worried that I’m somehow going to hurt her, don’t. I’ll keep the relationship centered around softball.”

      She stopped him just by catching his gaze. “I know. I trust you.” She combed her fingers through her thick silky hair. “That’s what bothers me. I seem to be able to trust you very easily. Very naturally. What I’m trying to say is thanks.”

      Again Deke was hit with a strange surge of emotion that completely defied description. It was warm. It was fuzzy. But it was deeper and more intense than a mere surface sentiment. He recognized the pride that filled him knowing he’d done something that obviously pleased Laurel, but that pride was edged aside by stronger, more potent, more important things. From what she’d said about trusting him easily and the way she seemed uncomfortable with it, he knew that she felt this instant attraction, too, and wasn’t sure how to handle it either. He wasn’t imagining this. He wasn’t crazy.

      “So, thanks,” she finished, bringing him out of his reverie.

      The soft feminine tone of her voice warmed him all over, even as it filled him with need. He swallowed.

      “You’re welcome.”

      Another minute ticked by with Deke unable to do anything but stare at her, wondering what the heck he was supposed to do with all these brand-new feelings. Laurel was different from the women he knew. Very different. At home, she was also very different from the tough drill sergeant who ran the Shipping and Receiving Department for Graham Metals. He liked her. She liked him. But he didn’t have a clue what he should do right now.

      Pittsburgh’s most eligible bachelor three years in a row absolutely, positively, definitely thought he should kiss her. But the guy who was supposed to become chairman of the board when his stepfather retired thought he should run like hell in the other direction. He had a big job ahead of him and Laurel Hillman was the kind of woman who could steal a man’s soul. She was already distracting him from his purpose for being at her factory. He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that getting involved with her would ultimately distract him from his destiny. She would change his life. And he didn’t want to change his life.