Elizabeth had a feeling that she took after her father when it came to romance. If she fell in love, it would be forever. Consequently, she really couldn’t let her guard down, couldn’t afford to allow herself to fall for Jared, no matter how much her heart yearned for him. The risks involved were just too great.
“Well, that would be nice,” Elizabeth hedged, not wanting to get into any complicated explanations about why she actually didn’t want any long-term relationship. “But—”
“You can show that off, too,” Amanda assured her. “For a girl who doesn’t work out, you’ve got a very nice derriere, but first we’re going to capture him using your frontal assets, so to speak.” She smiled broadly at her adroit imagery.
“I’d really rather that you didn’t speak,” Elizabeth told her, but even as she made her request, she knew it was falling on deaf ears. Once Amanda became focused on a goal, God help the world.
Now, apparently, was no different.
“Tough. I can’t just stand by on the sidelines and watch you toss away what is clearly the opportunity of a lifetime.” She saw Elizabeth about to protest and talked more rapidly. “Oh, I know that they say you have all the time in the world and there are dozens of matches for each and every person, but hell,” she declared with feeling, waving away the previous statement, “it’s a really big world and you and your perfect mate may never get together.”
Elizabeth was trying her best not to show her impatience. “And your point is...?”
“My point is that when fate hits you over the head with the opportunity of a lifetime, you don’t just shake it off and keep walking. And, in case you haven’t noticed, Liz, fate all but pushed this man into your life.” Amanda gave her a penetrating look. “Now do something about it.”
“I am,” Elizabeth insisted. “I’m giving him more than his money’s worth.”
She could see by the light that had just come into Amanda’s eyes that the woman was not interpreting her response the right way. She was quick to set her friend straight.
“I usually charge a higher rate per hour, but since he’s also hiring you and the others I recommended for this ensemble—plus he put himself out to fix my car that evening it died in the studio parking lot—I decided it was only fair to lower my rates.”
But Amanda shook her head. “You’re talking about business. I’m talking about pleasure.”
Elizabeth lifted one shoulder in a vague shrug. Yes, she and Jared were getting along well, and she thought that there might even be a strong possibility that he was interested in her. But it was only temporary. This was definitely nothing to build her hopes on. Besides, that route only led to greater disappointment.
“Pleasure’s not the point,” she told Amanda evasively.
Her friend just pushed harder. “You’re wrong, Liz. Pleasure is the only point. It’s what makes the music in you happen. Now, we’re about the same size, and I’ve got this really slinky dress—”
It took Elizabeth only a minute to realize which dress Amanda was talking about. “You mean the one that looks like someone stitched five small handkerchiefs together?”
“Four,” Amanda corrected, clearly getting a kick out of the description. “That’s the one. Why don’t you wear it tonight?” she prodded, then looked at her knowingly. “I’m assuming that the two of you are getting together tonight, seeing as how the anniversary celebration is not all that far off now.”
“Jared did mention something about stopping by...” Elizabeth said vaguely. She didn’t quite pull off the disinterested pose she was trying for.
“Your place, huh?” Amanda paused significantly, then asked, “Have you been to his, yet?”
“No...I—” And then she realized where Amanda was going with this. Closing her violin case, she snapped the locks and picked the case up, more than ready to leave. “He doesn’t have a wife, Mandy.”
Amanda fell into step beside her. “How do you know for sure?”
There was no way around this one, she thought. Lying, cleverly or otherwise, had never been her strong suit. She knew she was leaving herself open with what she was about to admit, but she really didn’t have a choice. “I looked him up.”
Amanda’s eyes sparkled and her grin was practically blinding. “Aha!”
“No ‘aha,’” Elizabeth insisted archly. “I was just curious about him—” That admission, she realized, just got her in deeper.
The expression on Amanda’s face said she knew exactly why she had gone trolling through the internet. To prove her point, she asked innocently, “Did you ever look up Mr. Tannenbaum?”
That was the name of the man who had hired them to play at another playhouse last fall. “No, but—”
“And the fact that Mr. Tannenbaum looked like a lizard having a bad hair day had nothing to do with it, right?” Amanda pressed, not bothering to hide the triumphant smirk on her lips.
“No, it didn’t,” Elizabeth fired back, knowing that she had already lost this round.
Amanda patted her shoulder. “You just keep on telling yourself that, girl. And in the meantime, follow me to my apartment and take the dress,” she urged.
She knew Amanda. She was going to continue pushing this dress on her every time they were within hearing range of each other. “You’re not going to give me any peace until I do, are you?”
Amanda grinned, knowing she’d won. “Nope.”
“Okay, I’ll follow you home, and you can give me the dress.”
Amanda eyed her suspiciously. “Promise you’ll wear it.”
Elizabeth suppressed a sigh. “I’ll wear it.”
“Around Jared when he’s in your house?”
Amanda knew her too well. Enough was enough, Elizabeth thought. “Mandy—”
“Say it,” Amanda pressed. “I know you. If you say it, you’ll have to do it. Otherwise, you’ll be lying to me and Elizabeth Stephens doesn’t lie.”
God, but she made her sound so boring, Elizabeth thought. Was she really that predictable? “Amanda, he’s going to think I’m trying to seduce him.”
“And why’s that a bad thing?” Amanda purred. “Now, c’mon, swear to me that you’ll wear the dress around Jared.” She caught Elizabeth’s hand, holding her hostage. “I’m not letting you go anywhere until you say it,” she warned.
Anything to get this over with, Elizabeth thought. “I’ll take the dress, and wear it around Jared Winterset. Happy?”
Amanda released her hand and grinned widely. “Very.”
Elizabeth shot her a dark look as they reached her car. “Well, I’m not.”
“But you will be,” Amanda promised with a wicked grin. “With just the tiniest bit of luck, Lizzie, you will be.”
* * *
“Wow.”
Jared stood stone still in Elizabeth’s doorway, suddenly finding himself in the clutches of temporary memory loss.
More simply put, he’d forgotten how to walk. Not only that but he had to remind himself—after his chest all but imploded—how to breathe.
He’d thought of Elizabeth as being exceptionally lovely from the moment he’d first seen her on the studio soundstage, surrounded by other musicians, but definitely in a class by herself. This, however, was a whole new level of attraction he was experiencing. The woman was downright gorgeous with physical attributes he hadn’t been conscious of until just now.
Actually, in view of her present appearance, he decided that he must have been relatively unconscious prior to this moment.
The light blue spandex dress brought out her eyes and showcased her curves, making him damn glad to be alive and a man.
“That is really one sensational dress,” he told her after he’d found his tongue again and had miraculously regained the ability to move his feet so that he could finally make it over the threshold.
“Thank you,” she murmured. There was no denying that she felt rather self-conscious in this abbreviated dress she had on—but she had to admit that she really liked the way he was looki
ng at her: as if she were a woman, not just a violinist. “It’s not mine,” she heard herself blurting out.
That was her, she thought almost in despair, honest to a fault.
“You stole it?” Jared teased.
“No, I mean it’s Amanda’s.” Appalled at herself for the admission, she felt herself sinking further and further into the mire without having her feet touch bottom. “She seemed to think that I should wear it.”
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. “Remind me to send Amanda a thank-you note,” he murmured. “She has excellent taste. You sure this belongs to her? The dress looks like it was made for you.”
Elizabeth turned to face him, the dress whispering along her hips as she moved. He felt his gut tightening in a way that had nothing to do with anniversary parties or music—except, perhaps, the kind that two people might make when they were alone.
She lifted her shoulders in what was supposed to be a careless shrug, but the movement caused the straps on either side of the dress to slide down her shoulders almost at the same time.
As he watched the twin pieces of material sink seductively down the slopes of creamy-white shoulders, Jared felt his gut tightening even harder. Tightening so hard that for a moment, he thought he was going to need an oxygen mask.
Her self-consciousness increasing a hundredfold, Elizabeth pushed the errant straps back up where they belonged and murmured, “I’m just going to go upstairs and change into something a little more me—”
But as she started to turn away, she felt Jared catch hold of her arm.
“Why don’t you do that later?” he said huskily. “I don’t have much time and I’ll have even less if you go and change. I mean, changing takes time and—”
This was just not coming out right at all, Jared silently upbraided himself. Since when did he come off like some ungainly teenager? He’d never thought of himself as being this suave lady killer, but he certainly wasn’t some fumbling dolt, either. He’d never lacked for female companionship and talking to the fairer sex had never been a problem for him, not since the moment he’d learned how to string five words together.
Moreover, in his professional life, talking was his lifeline and he did it with flair and aplomb. So what was it about this woman that seemed to throw all his skills out the window?
Granted, Elizabeth was bright and vivacious, but she certainly wasn’t a femme fatale. And he was no simple-minded bumpkin.
So why did he sound like one?
“That’s okay, I’ll be really fast,” she promised.
This dress really wasn’t her and the longer she had it on, the more alien it felt on her. She felt as if she were pretending to be something she wasn’t, trying to sell a product that had nothing to back it up.
“All I have to do—” In her hurry to make her escape as quickly as possible, somehow she managed to bump into him and wound up making contact so hard she accidentally threw herself off balance.
A flash of embarrassment shot through her, along with the realization that she was going to fall right at his feet.
As if she hadn’t humiliated herself enough already.
But just when she was certain that she was going to wind up sprawled out in front of him, Jared came to her rescue, just as he had that first night in the studio parking lot. He caught her before she ever came close to making contact with the floor.
He managed to keep her upright by pulling her up so close against his own torso that he could actually feel the tempo of her rapid heartbeat.
As she savored the sensation of their bodies fitting together so succinctly, it felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck him.
Several bolts, actually.
He certainly felt a jolt going through his entire body, momentarily wiping out his mind.
That would have been as good an explanation as any why he did what he did next. Why one second he was just focused on catching her, the next he’d branched out and found himself capturing her lips with his own.
He honestly could not recall, when he tried to go over it step-by-step later, how he’d seamlessly gone from catching to kissing, but he had.
And the second he had, his entire biological composition seemed to change. From rugged he-man to a towering mass of feelings, emotions and very hot responses.
She made his head spin, his blood rush, and myriad other scintillating reactions were also swirling through him, born in the fire of this completely unplanned kiss.
Without thinking—he really couldn’t think—Jared tightened his arms around her and deepened the kiss that was already sending him in a free fall down into the mouth of a fiery volcano.
When his brain finally managed to reconnect again, the thought “this was crazy” telegraphed itself through it over and over again.
It might be crazy, but he didn’t care. Whatever he was going to have to do at a later date to make amends for this blatant transgression, it was worth it. Really worth it.
Especially when he felt her kiss him back.
Thank you, Amanda. I owe you. I owe you big-time! Elizabeth thought even as the shock of what she was doing penetrated.
Had he initiated this kiss or had she?
She honestly didn’t know.
Elizabeth felt her toes curling and her inner core tingling the way she knew she’d never felt before.
Any second now, he was going to stop, but until he did...she was going to enjoy this incredible sensation for all she was worth.
Because this was far better than anything she could have ever imagined.
He made the entire world disappear until there was nothing left of it.
Nothing except for this fiery kiss.
Elizabeth rose a little higher on her toes and disappeared into the kiss a little further.
There were even bells ringing.
Insistently.
Chapter Eleven
At first Jared thought he was just imagining it. He couldn’t be hearing bells.
But he was, because there it was again.
Strange, high-pitched bells.
And then, as the ring continued, tearing holes in the rising sense of euphoria that was embracing him, Jared realized that he wasn’t imagining things. The sound was real.
And very close by.
His pocket.
The ringing was coming from his pocket.
Then suddenly it dawned on him, clearing away the smoldering haze. Those weren’t bells he was hearing ring, that was his cell phone.
He stifled an inward groan. Talk about awful timing.
For a split second, he debated ignoring the call, but even as he wavered in his resolve, Elizabeth was already withdrawing, taking a step back from him.
The moment had ended.
He forced himself to look into her eyes, to see if he could detect any signs of either anger or shock. Both were absent, but there was a strange look on her face, one he couldn’t read.
“Elizabeth—” he began, not knowing just what he was going to say. He was spared the indecision. She cut him off.
“You’d better answer that. Whoever it is is obviously anxious to talk to you,” she surmised since the cycle had already repeated itself three times. The cell phone would ring four times, then whoever was calling obviously hung up when Jared’s voice mail kicked in, only to immediately call again, beginning the whole process all over again.
“Yeah, you’re right,” he reluctantly agreed. Resigned, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, pressed the green band enabling him to take the call and blew out a long breath, “Hello?”
Even as he placed the phone against his ear, he dragged his free hand through his hair, as if that would somehow help him pull himself together and wipe the fog from his brain. His brain was taking its own sweet time to reengage.
He honestly couldn’t remember a kiss ever doing that to him, ever making him feel as if he were trying to remain upright as he stood at the epicenter of a 9.5 earthquake.
“Jared? Is that you? You sound strange, dear. Are
you all right?”
He recognized the voice instantly. His mother was on the other end of the line.
Of all the times for her to call...
“I’m fine, Mom.” As if by reflex, he slanted a glance at Elizabeth. She looked somewhat flustered that the caller who had interrupted their kiss was his mother. “You just caught me in the middle of something.”
“Oh?” He could tell by her tone that he’d made a mistake. His mother sounded instantly intrigued. “Anything interesting?”
He decided that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to look at Elizabeth as he tried to regain his footing on a foundation in the midst of liquefaction.
“It could have been,” he said, more to himself than to answer his mother’s question.
“Well, I’ll be quick,” his mother promised, “and then you can go back to your project.”
He laughed shortly. “Not exactly an option, Mom.” After all, he wasn’t about to drag Elizabeth back into his arms, flippantly muttering something along the lines of “Where were we?” before he locked lips with her again. No, this was an opportunity that had slipped through his fingers.
Maybe it was all for the best at that. He’d never felt this disoriented before from just a mere kiss. “Go ahead, Mom. What can I do for you?”
“You can tell me that you’ll come by and feed Mrs. Mittens for me.”
He became instantly alert as an uneasy suspicion began to creep through him. He noticed the inquisitive look on Elizabeth’s face, and then realized that he’d accidentally hit the speaker button on his cell. Elizabeth had heard, too.
“Why am I feeding Mrs. Mittens?” he wanted to know, hoping his suspicions were wrong. He took the phone off Speaker again. “Why aren’t you feeding her?”
“Really, dear, I would have thought you would have put two and two together by now. Because I won’t be here,” she explained. “Your father and I are going away for a couple of days.”
He saw his plans begin to fall apart, leaving him with a choice he would have rather not had to make, especially since either way could lead to disaster. “What do you mean you won’t be here? Where are you going?”
A Perfectly Imperfect Match (Matchmaking Mamas) Page 11