by Dani Wade
He glanced back and forth between her and Rosie, as if he still couldn’t catch the connection between his earlier behavior and having a baby in his office. But then he slowly shook his head. “No. I don’t want to cancel our contract.”
She wanted to ask why, but figured she’d pushed her luck enough for today.
“Maybe we should reschedule?” Royce said, staring down at them with a frown.
“Why?” Jasmine asked. “I’m here now. Your schedule appears to be free at the moment, which it hasn’t been for the last two weeks. Let’s talk.”
When he hesitated, she prompted. “If we don’t get started soon, we’ll miss your window of opportunity. I can’t work miracles in two months. And neither can the vendors I hire.”
Royce’s careful expression returned as he took his seat. “I’ve found most people have a price that will motivate them.”
“And that’s the difference between the two of us.”
Surprise momentarily replaced his serious expression. “What do you mean by that?”
“Just that I prefer to endear myself to people,” she said, keeping her tone even and calm, not accusing. “I find they’re much more willing to work hard, which makes life easier and the results quicker, if I’m nice.”
“As opposed to employing coercion?” His smirk reminded her of exactly how they’d gotten into this situation.
“Sometimes other tactics are necessary,” she conceded, “but it definitely makes things messy and uncomfortable for everyone. Confrontation might be a necessity at times, but I don’t like it.”
They shared a look of mutual understanding. Royce agreed with a nod. “But it is interesting.”
Interesting, indeed.
* * *
Royce studied the woman in front of him, carefully avoiding looking at the raven-haired child in her lap. The sight of the little girl in his office brought too many mixed emotions.
He’d never been so far off his game that he wasn’t sure where to begin...until this moment. But he wasn’t about to let Jasmine Harden know that. She was proving her point...he wasn’t about to help her.
For a moment, he second-guessed his decision to continue with this conversation. Heck, this whole project. But it wasn’t just her connection to the Jeffersons that kept him from calling a halt right now.
Deep down, as uncomfortable as this entire incident made him, his instincts told him a woman who was this passionate about people was perfect to create the event that would connect him to others who were just as passionate.
“So, what do you have for me?” he finally asked.
The twitch of her lips suggested she knew exactly how uncomfortable he was. She shifted the baby into the crook of her arm with the ease of an earth mother, despite her power suit, and started her pitch.
“I want to do a masquerade.”
Masquerade? “Like a dance?”
A half smile formed on her elegant red lips. Why did they have to be shaped so perfectly? He’d promised himself he would keep his thoughts on business...not on the woman. And he’d succeeded until the minute he’d seen her in person again.
Then she’d had to insist on him seeing her as a person. This wasn’t helping him with his perspective at all.
“Sort of. A masquerade includes dancing. The key focus is the anonymity. Each participant wears a mask, which lends itself to a mysterious atmosphere.”
“Isn’t the point for people to know me?” He had to admit, he wasn’t an imaginative kind of guy. At least, not in this area. Give him a logistics problem with his shipping company and his brain went into overdrive. Fantasy? Not really.
“Oh, they will,” she assured him. “There will be announcements throughout the evening of the money being raised so everyone will be aware of the sponsor. But for the participants, the atmosphere is key.”
She reached into her oversize bag to pull out a tablet. Flipping the cover open, she deftly pulled up what she was looking for. “As you can see, this gives us a theme to work with—a theme our target audience will find very attractive.”
Without missing a beat, she set the device upright on his desk and flipped through pictures on the screen of lavish decorations and food and costumes. The only thing Royce saw were dollar signs.
“This looks awfully expensive.”
Jasmine raised her brows at him. “Is money a problem?”
How could she make him feel like a schoolboy with a single look? “It isn’t unlimited,” he insisted.
“I wouldn’t think so, but you said you wanted to make an impression.”
Royce studied the last photo. A woman in a fitted dress and feather mask was laughing up at a man in a black tux. The woman’s dark hair reminded him of Jasmine’s... No—she was an employee. An employee with a baby.
Totally off limits.
“Why can’t we just do a dinner?” he asked.
Of course, she had to counter with, “Why would anyone want to come?”
He studied the picture, realizing how totally out of his element he was. Maybe she’d been right to get him more involved. He had no idea how to attract people to anything other than a business deal.
“The draw at a charitable event isn’t even the charity,” she said, “which is a shame, but true.”
A shuffling sound had him looking up. The baby’s chubby cheeks and pale round face surrounded by a halo of inky black hair made her look like a cherub. She stared at him with her eyelids at half mast, thumb firmly held between her lips. When had the cooing stopped?
Jasmine leaned over to reach into the back of the stroller. When she straightened, she held a bottle that the baby eagerly reached for. Royce couldn’t help but notice that there wasn’t a ring on Jasmine’s ring finger. No wedding band? He should have been even more upset by this situation, given his own childhood. Instead, a relief he was ashamed of snaked through him.
The fact that she was available shouldn’t matter to him.
Settling back into the chair, Jasmine cuddled the sleepy child against her chest. The juxtaposition of working woman and mother unsettled him. His own mother had never seemed that at ease. Royce had always felt like he hindered her work whenever he was around.
“People want to be entertained,” Jasmine said. “You have to sell an experience in order to get people to show up and spend their money. Build something that intrigues them and they’ll tell all their friends and soon you’ll have people begging for tickets.”
The brief flicker of her thick lashes as she looked down at the dozing child in her lap had him holding his breath until she looked back up. But then she narrowed her gaze on him, giving him the uncomfortable feeling that she saw more than he wanted her to. “The more people who talk about wanting to attend, the more likely the buzz will get back to the Jeffersons. The name connected to the event matches the name on the newest bid they received. Mission accomplished—or at least you’ll have made progress.”
Royce was far more comfortable talking strategy than entertainment. “I wondered how we would make that connection.”
She seemed to pull the baby a touch closer in her arms. He didn’t want to notice, didn’t want to think about the child. Royce had never attended a business meeting that gave rise to this many emotions—unease, lust, surprise, irritation. How long until this meeting was over?
“Besides being the talk of the town?” she asked. Her smile turned as mysterious as the woman in the photograph. “I may have a few tricks up my sleeve. After all, we need to get the word out in certain circles...so I thought I would use a few exclusive invitations I receive to introduce you around, talk it up.”
“You want me to make social appearances...with you?” As if social appearances weren’t awkward enough for him.
She nodded. “Including at the Jeffersons’ Sunday Salon.”
&nbs
p; “You get invited?” So, she hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d claimed a connection.
“About every other month.”
The Sunday Salon was a coveted invite that didn’t come around that often for most people. The Jeffersons must adore Jasmine Harden, which told Royce he’d made the right choice of event planner—even if he didn’t feel all that comfortable with it.
“All right,” he said. “Tell me more.”
He couldn’t complain that Jasmine wasn’t thorough. In ten minutes, he knew more than he really wanted to, but he had no doubt she was the best woman for the job. Before she finished he was convinced she would oversee every detail and nothing would be missed. She addressed every aspect of the planning, including quite a few things he never would have thought about.
“So what do you think?” she asked.
A lot of things he couldn’t say at the moment—because they were completely unbusinesslike. Luckily she wasn’t looking at him as she efficiently laid the baby down in the stroller. Was it terrible of him that he didn’t know the child’s name and was afraid to ask?
“Sounds good,” he said, eager to be away from all the churning thoughts this meeting had raised. “Send the mock-up and budget projections to Matthew. Let me know when you need me for anything.”
Her brows rose at his short tone, but she didn’t question him. “I’ll do that.” She gathered her bag and tablet, then faced him once more. “When you look at the budget, remember that successful events involve getting all the details right, and that takes a lot of people.”
“While logically I understand that—” and he truly was getting on board with the concept “—I still have to look at the bottom line.”
Jasmine stared at him a moment; he detected the barest hint of an eye roll before her thick lashes swooped down. “Let’s put it this way—is the time and money worth it to gain the new contract?”
Her words registered, but instead of thinking about business, Royce found himself holding his breath, waiting to see if she would look back up and show him those intense blue eyes once more. Then the baby let out a big sigh and broke the spell.
As Jasmine leaned over to look into the stroller, he forcibly pulled himself back to reality—and the knowledge that this woman was off limits in more ways than one.
“Yes, it is,” he said. “You may proceed.”
“Okay—we will need to start with the charity.”
“I’ve told you it doesn’t matter to me. Pick whatever you want.”
“I have. You’ll be helping raise money for a new building for the City Sanctuary homeless mission.”
Royce nodded even as he tuned her out—though it wasn’t as easy as he would have liked. He didn’t care about the details—didn’t want to care. He also didn’t want to care about her thick hair and expressive face or the curves highlighted by the black power suit she wore.
“Also, we need to pick a venue right away. What dates would work for viewing possible locations?”
Her sharpened tone caused Royce to snap back to attention. She hadn’t been kidding about the participation thing. Her long stare reinforced her message.
“Check with Matthew. He’ll know what’s available.”
Smartly she stood up and pointed the stroller toward the door.
Royce had the sudden conviction that he couldn’t let her walk out the door without making himself clear, as well. “I realize my point of view isn’t a popular one these days, but as the child of a hardworking single mother myself, I have a strong opinion about children in the workplace,” he said.
Glancing back at him, she asked, “What’s that?”
“My office isn’t a day care but I do apologize for my rudeness on the phone.”
She gifted him with a sexy smile that had no place in his office, as much as he wished it did. But then came the sass. “Remember that and we will work together just fine.”
Before he could respond, she pushed the stroller out the door. He heard her tell Matthew goodbye with that same sweet tone—this time with no steel undercurrents. She was definitely infuriating and intriguing.
Thoroughly dangerous territory.
Four
He’d thought about not showing up at all.
Staring up at the austere lines of the museum Jasmine had chosen as a possible venue, he wished he had ditched their meeting. But standing her up again was not a good option. She’d taught him that much.
Besides, his mama would have considered it ungentlemanly to simply ditch her—even if memories of his mama were what made him not want to show up at the museum in the first place.
But he had to stand firm. Today, he would take back the reins because he would not hold his event in a building he could no longer set foot in—much less play host in for an evening.
He was still staring at the building when Jasmine pulled up beside him in a pristine compact sedan. After climbing out, she smiled at him.
“Well, look at you,” she said, her voice as teasing as it had been that first night on the phone when he’d called her. He didn’t like to acknowledge the tingles of anticipation that hit him when he heard it—which were just as strong this morning as they had been then.
“I was a little unsure that you’d actually show up,” she went on, “much less arrive early.”
The tingle of anticipation grew, only this time it was for the challenge he knew was ahead of him. Still he struggled to keep any emotion from his expression.
“There’s no point in going inside,” he said, letting his tone match what he hoped was his deadpan expression.
Her frown as she shut the door and walked around the front of her car warned him that she was thinking hard about this turn of events. “May I ask why?”
“We aren’t having my event here.”
She glanced back over her shoulder at the building behind her, the multiple columns majestically holding up the austere gabled roof with its carved marble depiction of birds. When she turned to him, confusion reigned in those gorgeous blue eyes. “Again, may I ask why?”
“I don’t want it here.” And he didn’t. No need for discussion about his troubled childhood or dead mother. “Personal reasons.”
“Are they good enough reasons?” she asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
“It is when I’m signing the checks.”
Her expression told him she wanted to be offended, even when she knew he was right. But she wasn’t simply accepting his decree. “I thought you didn’t want to be involved in the decisions?” she demanded.
This wasn’t the same as dealing with any of his other business associates. When they slapped their hands to their hips, he never noticed the sway of their breasts. He shouldn’t be noticing Jasmine’s now, but somehow he couldn’t help himself.
“And you said you wanted me to be involved in making the decisions,” he reminded her. “Which is it?”
That little intake of air pushed her breasts out just a touch more. Heaven help him.
She nodded. He could tell she wanted further explanation. He wasn’t giving it.
Finally she turned away, giving him a break from that penetrating gaze. “Let me go touch base with the manager,” she said. “I need to stay on good terms here.”
“Of course.”
“Then we’ll talk,” she warned. Her heels clicked on the sidewalk as she strode away.
He waited until she went inside the museum before pulling out his phone. “Hey, Joseph,” he said when his construction manager picked up. “How are things looking today?”
Joseph filled him in on the details of the kitchen installation at Royce’s supersecret project, as well as other aspects of the restoration.
“Another day on track,” Joseph confirmed.
“Good.”
Roy
ce hung up, a spur-of-the-moment idea buzzing in his brain. He had the lucky ability to run through all the immediate pros and cons of a decision in a relatively short amount of time. This had helped him jump on opportunities that other businesses spent months preparing for. Along with his intense drive, he’d used this to build his business to magnificent proportions at a very young age.
Today this ability would certainly come in handy.
He waited until Jasmine returned down the walk fifteen minutes later. His relief at finally being able to leave the site of one of his most traumatic childhood experiences was tempered with his desire to covertly take her in.
Jasmine seemed to enjoy ultrafeminine clothing. Even when she’d had the baby with her, she’d been wearing a women’s business suit with a skirt and an undershirt with lace lining the deep V of the collar. Today, the bodice of her navy dress hugged curves that he normally wouldn’t notice. But on her they made his mouth water. An inverted triangle cut out over her cleavage added to the effect. The flowing skirt that ended right below her knees revealed just enough of her legs to be tantalizing.
Was she trying to torture him?
“All done,” she said as she approached. “What now?”
Oh, she was gonna love this. “I have an alternative. Let’s go.”
“Now?” Her frown was back.
“No time like the present. I’ll drive.”
But as they settled into the small space of his luxury sedan and the dark, sexy scent of her snuck up on him, he had to wonder whether he had made a wise choice.
Or was this self-sabotage?
* * *
Of all the things Jasmine had expected to do today, riding in the front seat of Royce’s car was not one of them. The smooth, heavy scent of well-cared-for leather and a slight hint of aftershave teased her senses, making her notice things she wished she didn’t.
This is business. This is business.
“Why don’t you have a driver?” she asked, letting the first question that occurred to her pop out in an awkward attempt at conversation.