A Touch of Notoriety(27)
Beth had two choices at this point in the conversation. She could deny all knowledge of Raphael—which, considering he would no doubt approach and talk to her when she left the building later on today, making it obvious the two of them knew each other, probably wasn’t the best move!—or she could admit to knowing him, if not the real reason he stood outside watching the comings and going into the building so intently.
She went with the second option. ‘He’s waiting for me, actually,’ she announced casually, wincing slightly as the other three women immediately all turned to look at her with wide, incredulous, and envious eyes, respectively. ‘Raphael drove me into work this morning, and we’re having lunch together, so he decided to hang around until then rather than drive home and then come back into town again later.’ All true—apart from the bit about the two of them having lunch together!
‘Raphael?’ Emma prompted breathlessly as she turned back to look out of the window.
‘Raphael Cordoba,’ Beth supplied reluctantly, wondering if she hadn’t just made this situation even more difficult. If that was possible, of course. ‘He’s Argentinian.’
‘You only spent a week in Argentina and you still managed to bring that hunk back with you?’ The forthright Kathy stared at her.
‘Well...yes.’ Beth winced. ‘We met through mutual friends, and he decided to—to come back to England with me for a while.’ Again, all true—apart from the one little fact Beth hadn’t mentioned, which was that Raphael was here as her bodyguard and not her boyfriend.
Not that the words ‘boyfriend’ and ‘Raphael Cordoba’ could ever be put together in the same sentence anyway!
Raphael might only be ten years older than Beth in calendar years, but he was years older than that in sophistication and experience. Most especially physical experience...
The latter was something that Beth had definitely been made fully aware of the previous evening!
‘He drove you into work this morning?’ Tall, blonde, beautiful, and extremely nice Amy was the one to latch onto that comment.
Beth’s cheeks instantly coloured self-consciously at what that obviously implied. ‘Yes, he did.’
‘And do the size of his feet— Ouch!’ Emma complained as Kathy dug her in the ribs with her elbow. ‘I was only going to ask!’
‘I believe we all know what you were going to ask.’ Kathy chuckled softly. ‘And I think it’s bad enough that we’ve all been standing here drooling over Beth’s boyfriend, without making the situation worse by asking her highly personal questions.’
‘I agree.’ Amy nodded briskly even as she gave Beth an apologetic glance. ‘Coffee break’s over, ladies, time to go back to work.’
Beth breathed an inward sigh of relief as they all turned and returned to their respective desks.
At the same time as she realised that her explanation for Raphael’s presence outside meant they might not have been going to have lunch together today but that they certainly were now!
* * *
‘I thought you said it was your intention to have lunch at your desk.’ Raphael’s comment was cut short as Beth, having linked her arm with his, now rested her hands against his chest before moving up on tiptoe and lightly brushing the softness of her lips against his.
She moved away abruptly. ‘Would you just walk?’ she instructed between the gritted teeth that were obviously meant to resemble a smile.
Raphael’s feet remained firmly planted on the pavement. ‘Walk where?’
‘This way,’ Beth hissed even as she waved to a tall and beautiful blonde woman on the other side of the street. ‘Just start walking and I’ll tell you when to stop.’ She dragged him along beside her as she stomped off down the street.
‘It is too much to ask for an explanation as to your strange behaviour, I suppose?’ Raphael prompted dryly as he fell into easy step beside her.
Brown eyes flashed Beth’s irritation as she spared him an impatient glance. ‘Do you have to wear those sunglasses all the time? The sun isn’t even shining today!’
Raphael reached up and removed the offending glasses before placing them in the breast pocket of his jacket. ‘Better?’
‘Much!’ Which was a total lie, when Beth found being the sole focus of those piercing blue eyes so totally unnerving. Just as she was desperately trying, after Kathy’s risqué comments earlier, not to glance down and admire Raphael’s size-twelve feet...