“Well, really,” the blonde said again, and Tess opened her mouth but Nick was already speaking.
“It’s the only way,” Nick said and picked up his own roll. “Don’t you think, Park?”
Park was still looking at Gina’s plate in puzzlement, but he caught on gamely. “Absolutely,” he said, looking around the table for a roll.
“Oh, no,” Gina said faintly, dropping hers.
“She’s right,” Welch said from the end of the table. “Good for you, kid. I like a woman who knows how to eat.”
Gina’s smile was so weak it barely existed.
The blonde looked up from the bread on her plate to glare at Tess, clearly not sure where she stood on the roll question but definitely sure where she stood on Tess.
Tess ignored her and turned back to Welch. “I like you,” she said. “I apologize for the morally bankrupt part.”
Welch grinned at her, and she felt Nick relax with a sigh beside her and begin to speak to the blonde across the table, smoothing her ruffled feelings as only Nick the snake-oil salesman could.
Tess leaned toward Welch. “You know, I didn’t get that woman’s name,” she whispered to him. “Who is she?”
Welch lowered his voice so the blonde wouldn’t hear him. “Tricia Sigler.”
“Sigler?” Tess said, taken aback.
“Yeah,” Welch said, watching with interest.
Tess felt her stomach sinking. “Any relation to Alan Sigler? The Decker Academy?”
“Husband. He couldn’t make it tonight. She came alone.” Welch looked at her with calculation. “What’s the Decker Academy to you?”
“I was thinking about getting a job there,” Tess said. She felt like kicking herself. Nick had warned her. Gina had warned her. Hell, even Park had warned her. It was her own fault that she’d antagonized the wife of the only ally she had at Decker. Dumb. She sighed and then realized Welch was watching her and smiled brightly at him to distract him. “So tell me,” she said, “exactly where did you get Henderson? My first thought was Sears, but after watching him in action, I’ve switched my guess to Nieman Marcus.”
Welch’s roar of laughter beautifully covered Nick’s groan, but it didn’t do anything to dim Tricia Sigler’s basilisk glare.
Five
Two hours later, Nick stood in the doorway to Tess’s bedroom in his pajama bottoms and tried to forget the dozen different times during the evening that Tess had teased Welch with animated banter, and the way Welch’s eyes had followed her around the room even when she wasn’t saying something outrageous to him. It would be ridiculous and petty of him to be jealous of Welch. He should be grateful to Tess for so obviously captivating the man, but every time he thought of Welch growling at her in evident appreciation, it was hard to remember why he wanted the contract, or why he wanted anyone as undignified as Tess, especially since she had now draped herself in about thirty yards of pink-flowered flannel nightgown and was sitting on the bed watching him warily.
“This is not how I’d pictured this night,” he said.
“Oh? And how had you pictured it?”
“Well, to begin with, you weren’t wearing flannel,” Nick said. “But forget that for now. Did you have to argue with Welch the entire night?”
“He started it,” Tess said. “And besides, I think he liked it. You know, I don’t think he’s healthy.” She frowned as her train of thought switched tracks. “I don’t think this dieting is enough. Maybe I should say something to Henderson about cutting off his booze, too.”
“No,” Nick said, moving toward her. “Absolutely not. You will not say anything to Henderson.”
“Well, not tonight, anyway.” Tess crawled into bed and flapped her hand at him. “You may go now. I’ve got a big day of fighting with Welch tomorrow, and then there’s the reading in the afternoon. I need my sleep.” She slumped down under the covers and switched off the bedside light, and then she turned her back to him.
“Right.” Nick sat on the bed and switched the light back on. “Come on, Tess. We need to talk.”
WHEN HE SAT next to her on the bed, Tess debated ignoring him, but knowing Nick, he wouldn’t quit. He leaned on the pillow next to her, and she rolled over to talk to him and then regretted it.
His arms were even better close up than she remembered, the swell of his bicep neatly cleaving into the long lovely line of his shoulder, the hint of his tricep promising—
She rolled away from him, trying to get her breath back, vaguely wondering why, for her, it had always been arms, and why he had to have such great ones.
“Tess?”
“Go to sleep.”
“I think we should talk.”
“Go to sleep.”
“I mean it,” Nick insisted over her shoulder. “We have a lot of history that needs sorting out. You’re still mad about that parking-lot thing. I’m still confused about why you won’t go out with me. I think—”
Tess rolled over and ended up against his chest. “You necked with me in a parking lot until I was insane with lust and then you said you didn’t want to sleep with me, but you don’t know why I won’t go out with you? And just for the record, I’m spending the weekend with you, so don’t try that just-give-mea-chance garbage on me. I’m helping you, you ingrate.”
“See, I think we should talk,” Nick said, and she was momentarily distracted by the backlighting on his deltoid and how warm his chest was against her cheek, and her breath went again.
“Put on a shirt, and we’ll talk,” Tess said and rolled away from him again.
“Fine.”
She felt Nick get off the bed, then come back a few moments later. She checked over her shoulder. The shirt was on. It wasn’t buttoned, and he did have a nice chest. Well, actually he had a great chest, but chests were resistible. It was arms that made her weak. “Okay,” she said, sitting up in bed and propping a pillow against the headboard behind her. “Talk.”
He propped the other pillow next to hers and relaxed against it. “Let’s get the worst over with first. The parking lot.”
“Good choice.” Tess seized on past anger to defuse present desire. “I am definitely still hostile about that damn parking lot.”
“Well, first, I never said I didn’t want to sleep with you—” Nick began.
“You said no.”
“I said I didn’t want to make love with you in the front seat of my car in the middle of the Music Hall parking lot because, among other things, it’s against the damn law.” He glared at her.
Tess glared back. “This is an apology?”
“No,” Nick said. “This is an explanation. I was more than willing, perfectly willing, extremely willing, to take you back to my apartment and make love with you all night if necessary, but you got all huffy—”
“What’s romantic about going back to your apartment?” Tess asked him, annoyed.
“What’s romantic about doing it in the front seat of a sports car?” Nick retaliated. “Hell, I’m not even sure it’s possible. There’s not that much room.”
“We could have found out,” Tess said. “But no, you had to be respectable and responsible—”
“Besides, I have a career on the line here—”
“—and dull and boring—”
“—which I realize means nothing to you—”
“—and completely unexciting—”
“—but it means a lot to me—”
“—not to mention a grave comment on how little you actually wanted me—”
“—or at least enough that I’m not going to risk it for sex in a car—”
“—which is why I see no reason in pursuing this relationship—”
“—and anyway I prefer beds—”
“—so you can just go back to your own bed!” Tess flared.
“—like this one, for example,” Nick finished.
“What?”
“I think we should make love,” Nick said.
Tess looked at him incredulously. “Did you
hear a word I just said?”
“No. I was explaining my point. What did you say?”
“Get out of my bed,” Tess ordered.
“Why? I just apologized.”
“No, you didn’t,” Tess said. “You were explaining something to me about your career. That’s not an apology. That’s a red flag. In fact, if you ever want to start a fight with me, mention how much more important your career is to you than I am. Trust me, it’ll work every time.”
Nick blinked. “Let me try again. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings that night in the parking lot. I didn’t say no because I didn’t want you. I said no because of where we were. I know you’ll never understand that, but at least believe me when I say it wasn’t you.”
Tess looked up into his face and thought about how sweet he could be and how great his lips felt on hers and how good it would feel to be wrapped around him and how hot she would be if she rolled against him and how she was going to start screaming pretty soon if she didn’t have him, and her anger evaporated. She sank back against the pillow, trying hard not to surrender. “All right. I still don’t agree with you, but I believe you, and I may have overreacted, so I’ll take part of the responsibility. You’re forgiven. You can go now.”
“May have overreacted?” Nick said. “You didn’t talk to me for six weeks because I said, ‘Let’s wait fifteen minutes,’ but you only may have overreacted?”
“Do you want to fight about that, too?” Tess asked.
“No,” Nick said, backtracking. “I don’t want to fight about anything.”
Tess tried to think of something else to fight with him about while she watched him from under her lashes. The problem with Nick was that, aside from the fact that she never knew when he was going to be Alan Alda and when he was going to be Donald Trump, it was getting harder and harder to pick a fight with him because he was right there in bed with her, and if she reached out she could have him, and she wanted him.
She really wanted him.
Getting involved with somebody like Nick was such a bad idea. He’d get mad at the things she did; she’d get hurt because he wanted a partnership more than her. She’d forget to protect his career; he’d forget her name in pursuit of it. The whole idea had Doomed written all over it.
She could see the line of his shoulder through the pajama top, which he still hadn’t buttoned. His neck curved cleanly down into his shoulder, his pectorals swelled and then flattened into the abdominals across his stomach, his biceps bulged because his arms were crossed…
Nick reached across and gently brushed a strand of her hair from her eyes with his finger. “Come on, Tess. What else do you want to throw at me?”
“Thank you for introducing me to all those people tonight,” she said, trying to keep the lust from her voice.
He blinked in surprise. “You came here to help me. You don’t owe me anything for helping you back. Besides, I want you to get the Decker job.”
“You know, just when I think you’re a valueless twit, you do something nice for me,” Tess said. “Like when you came downtown to the police station in the middle of the night last month.”
“Oh, that was because you’d been arrested for soliciting.” Nick relaxed against the pillow, his face close to hers, and moved his hand into the curve of her waist. “I thought you’d taken to the streets. I had a hundred bucks ready.”
“Very funny.” Tess shifted a little and felt his hand tighten on her, and her thoughts drifted off momentarily into a sea of lust. Then she yanked her mind back to what they were talking about. “And you know very well I wasn’t arrested for soliciting.”
“Well, I was hoping.” Nick slid his arm across her waist and pulled her a little closer. “I liked that story a lot better than the one about you taking pictures of johns’ license plates to stop prostitution in your neighborhood.” He brushed a kiss against her forehead.
“It was a good idea,” Tess said, trying to ignore him and failing miserably. Despite her better judgment, she snuggled against him.
“No, it wasn’t.” Nick moved even closer, and she felt the lovely long length of his body warm hers and the heat turned her brain to mush. “But I don’t care enough about this one to argue,” he finished.
“I don’t, either,” Tess said, fighting for coherence. “What have we got left to fight about?”
“As long as we stay away from politics, nothing,” Nick said, hope making his voice light. “The parking lot’s not an issue anymore, right?”
“Right,” Tess said. “Guess we’ll have to fight about politics.”
“Why?” Nick kissed her cheek, moving closer to her mouth. “Why can’t we just get along?”
Tess slumped down farther in the bed and shut her eyes tight so she couldn’t see his mouth and be tempted by it. “Because if we get along, I’ll end up sleeping with you,” she said, her own mouth partially under the covers. “I can’t handle that.”
“Wait a minute.” Nick pulled back, outraged. “You start fights so we won’t have sex?”
“Not always,” Tess said, both relieved and disappointed that he was farther away. Her voice began to rise as she fought not to reach out to him. “Sometimes you’re such a yuppie I have to fight with you. But a lot of the time, yes—because you really are a good person and you really do turn me on, and God knows I want you, but I know it’s no good because you do things like make snide cracks about Gina and all you think about is that damn law firm, so I just keep telling myself what a throwback you are even if you are being darling at the moment, and how if I give in to you I’ll end up barefoot and pregnant in a shirtwaist reading Marabel Morgan and wearing my hair in a Marilyn Quayle flip while you work late at the office! I can’t stand it! I just can’t trust you! You’re like Jekyll and Hyde.” She sat up suddenly and glared at him, crazed with lust and anger. “And I’ve got to tell you,” she spat at him, “I really hate Jekyll.”
“Jekyll was the good guy,” Nick said through his teeth, and then he sat up and rested his arms on his knees, looking away from her and controlling his temper with obvious effort.
“No, Jekyll was the conservative guy,” Tess said. “He always did the correct thing and he never had any emotions and all he cared about was public opinion.”
“Hyde beat an old guy to death with a stick,” Nick said, turning to glare at her. “This is what you want me to be?”
“Actually I always thought that part was sexually significant,” Tess said, momentarily distracted. “But, no, of course not. I just want you to have an emotion that hasn’t been previously approved by the Opera Guild and seven area churches.”
“You are exaggerating.”
“Oh?” Tess leaned back against the headboard and folded her arms. “Well, then why didn’t you make love to me at the Music Hall?”
“I thought we settled this already. It was a parking lot,” Nick said. “Public indecency is a misdemeanor.”
“Thank you, Dr. Jekyll,” Tess said. “I rest my case.”
Nick closed his eyes for a moment, and Tess waited for him to get out of the bed, go in his room and slam the door behind him. The disappointment that thought engendered made her weak. She didn’t want him going back to his bedroom. She wanted him coming inside her. And if she wanted him that much, maybe it was time to stop saying no. Maybe—
“Tell me something,” Nick said suddenly, rolling next to her so he was leaning over her. “Why did you agree to come this weekend, and why are you in bed with me, knowing as you must have that this would come up?”
“I came this weekend because I really want the Decker job,” Tess said, and then she slid a little lower on the pillows to peer up at him. “But I’m in this bed with you because I really want you. I guess I was hoping you’d sweep me off my feet.”
“Well, hell, I’m trying to,” Nick said. “You want to give me a few pointers?”
“No,” Tess said, but he was so close and she wanted his mouth on hers and his arms around her, and the more she thought abou
t it, the more she wanted him, and it was taking everything she had not to just pull him down to her and kiss him. Think of something else, she thought, and then she looked into his eyes and knew that she wasn’t going to think of anything else and that she was definitely going to make love with him that night.
And so she pulled him down to her and kissed him.
ANY LINGERING QUESTIONS Nick might have had as to why he was wasting his time on a bleeding-heart liberal flake disappeared when Tess kissed him. He’d been waiting for her for a year without realizing it—ever since she’d sobbed in his arms about breaking up with her latest loser, warm and round and vulnerable and still fighting mad, apologizing for crying on his shirt and then curling up against him to sob again, so nakedly emotional that he’d been blown wide open by the experience. He’d been telling himself ever since that his attraction to her was just sexual, but the relief he felt when she finally kissed him was a lot more than just pleasure that he was finally going to have her body. He realized with a sinking heart what he’d known all along and had preferred to ignore—his feelings for Tess weren’t just about sex.
It was possibly the worst revelation he’d ever had.
Then Tess traced his lips with her tongue and arched her body up to meet his, and he felt the bed move beneath him as he slid his arms around her and pulled her close.
No, this wasn’t just about sex, but for the next hour or so, it was going to be mostly about sex.
Her mouth was hot and tasted of peppermint and salt and Tess, and he lingered there, tasting her, because she was like no one else he’d ever kissed. And then she sat up and pushed him away gently, and he braced himself for an argument on Republican kissing. But she only pulled her nightgown over her head, yards of flannel flowing past his face, releasing her scent, and then she threw the gown on the floor by the bed, and he watched her stretch in the lamplight, her breasts round and full above the slope of her stomach. Without thinking, he said, “Park was right.”
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