by Inez Kelley
Frannie glared at him but the shivering robbed her body of any real emotional expression.
“This isn’t difficult, dollface. It’s just dessert, not a wedding reception.” Jinx’s voice was like hot chocolate, warm and soothing, rich and sweet, coaxing her to believe him. How she wanted to.
“It’s against the rules, wacko! People will stare, they won’t seat us and we’ll look like fools! You can’t seriously want to go through that.” Nervously, she glanced around at the finely dressed restaurant patrons entering the building. She used to dine at places like this all the time, a lifetime ago. She did not belong here, not dressed like this. Glancing down at her jeans and plain jacket, her ex-husband’s words leapt to her mind.
“God, Frannie, is it impossible for you to buy a dress that makes you look like anything but a ‘before’ picture? I realize you aren’t working with much but couldn’t you at least try?”
Once again, she was out of her element. And it was all Jinx’s fault. Snow began to fall in earnest and topped his ebony hair like fairy dust.
“No, I don’t want to go in. And I’m cold. Let’s just leave, okay?”
“Lighten up, will you, Frannie?” Having lost the feeling in her lips, she simply glared at him. “Frannie.” Her name was a sing-song in the air. His one arched brow mocked her, calling her a coward. Her tightly controlled patience snapped.
“What is it with you and those damn eyebrows? Do you practice those moves in the mirror or something?”
A loud laugh split the night as he pecked her cold cheek and asked, “Are you coming in or do I carry you?”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
Before the last syllable faded to silence, he scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“Put me down, you Neanderthal!”
“Keep yelling, Frannie. That’ll just draw more attention to your sunny-side-up but incredibly adorable backside.”
He patted the aforementioned body part and stepped into the bustling lobby with a jolly whistle. Frannie drew on all her willpower not to scream, wishing the floor would open up and swallow them both. She contented herself with burying her face in the small of Jinx’s back and sinking her nails as deeply as she could into his side. He never flinched.
“Table for two.” Jinx’s voice rumbled against her upside-down ear. Every pair of eyes in the elegant dining room followed the odd denim-clad couple, one of whom only had her rounded rump visible. She squeezed her eyes shut but could feel the astonishment and speculation from everyone zeroing in on her ass like a laser beam. When they reached a secluded booth, he put her down and she scrambled as far back into the seat as she could.
Hunching her shoulders, her eyes darted around the softly light ballroom. “I hate you. Everyone’s staring.”
“You’re imagining things.” His smile was sly and amused and thoroughly maddening. Fuming, she tried to make the old phrase “killing with a look” a reality.
“Would you care for menus, Mr. Sullivan?” The crisp-looking waiter seemed to find nothing odd about their dramatic entrance and behaved as professionally as if they were dripping with diamonds rather than melting snow.
“No, I don’t think so. Just bring the dessert cart and a bottle of champagne. Do you want anything else, Frannie?”
“A gun. Or a noose. Even poison darts.”
“Coffee will have to do.” With a wave, Jinx dismissed the stoic waiter and turned to her, a satisfied look on his face.
Thawing on the outside from the heat and on the inside from the mouth-watering aromas, Frannie shed her thin coat before she crossed her arms and shot daggers at him with her eyes. “Well, they certainly know you around here. Bring all your girlfriends in here caveman style, do you?”
“Jealous?” he teased, leaning closer to her.
“Of course not. Mortified is more like it. Jinx, no one waltzes into a restaurant like this in street clothes, carrying a woman on his shoulder and orders champagne.”
“I just did.”
“Yeah, well, lunatics don’t count.”
The single candle bathed the snowy white tablecloth in a soft glow. Frannie watched Jinx as he excused himself to answer his vibrating cell phone. Since he stayed seated in the horseshoe booth, it was hard not to eavesdrop. It sounded like he was talking to his mother.
What kind of man interrupts dinner, or whatever this dessert treat is supposed to be, to talk to his Mom? He was making travel plans for the upcoming holidays. Who would sleep where, who was bringing what, yes he had enough towels for everyone, things of that nature. Frannie smiled. A family man. A wrinkle of concern blossomed in her soul. That didn’t mesh with the playboy image.
Her fork traced through chocolate glaze. When little girls dreamed of a knight in shining armor, he was the type of man they dreamed of—handsome, confident, smart and attentive. Longing rose in her chest before she stamped it down with firm sensible shoes. No, she was not going to fall for this. He was too good to be true and, ergo, she wasn’t good enough for him. That lesson she learned a long time ago. She should have gotten the message in high school.
Tommy Meyers was the school quarterback and captain of the basketball team. He was tall, blond and adorable. He made her heart flutter every time he walked by. With a locker right beside hers, she had plenty of heart-fluttering occasions. Countless ink pens gave their lives as she doodled his name in her notebooks.
Then he was assigned to be her lab partner. She took it as a sign from the heavens they were meant to be. So she flirted and smiled and generally made a spectacle of herself. He called her…for lab notes. And he asked the head cheerleader out. And told Frannie about their date.
Crash. Burn. Cry.
No, the painful lesson wasn’t enough. She refused to take off those rose-colored glasses. Instead, she met Mark. And married him. And divorced him. If Tommy Meyers had broken her young heart, Mark had shattered it into dust.
Once again firmly planted in the here and now, Frannie sipped her champagne and fortified her resolve. Mark had been a hard-learned lesson, but she had learned it well. She knew what she was and no crazy lunatic was going to make her forget it. No matter how much he turned her heart to mush.
“Tell me you didn’t enjoy it.”
“I didn’t, you kook.”
“Liar.” His gentle accusation made her smile in the darkness. “You nearly melted at the first bite.”
Conceding slightly, Frannie turned and watched the play of dashboard lights over his chiseled face. He was trying so hard to be considerate. It touched her heart in an odd warming way. “Okay, the chocolate pumpkin soufflé was incredible. But did you stop to think maybe I haven’t eaten dinner yet? All that rich sugary goodness is going to keep me up tonight.”
“You said you already ate.”
“I lied. I was trying to get rid of you.”
Jinx shook his head in amused affection and aimed his SUV towards the Golden Arches. Frannie laughed at his destination but the laugh was kind.
“You are crazy, know that?”
“Satisfied?” Jinx murmured as he toyed with a bit of her hair. The remnants of their slightly quirky fast food feast lay scattered around the living room floor. Hocus nibbled on a chicken nugget Frannie had thrown him to stop his hissing. Pocus lay curled up in Jinx’s jacket, emitting soft feline snores.
“Mmmhhmm.” Sitting up straight, Frannie arched her back and stretched. If she wasn’t careful, she would just curl up right here and go to sleep. “I need to go to bed. I have to work tomorrow.”
Jinx eased her back against his side and nuzzled her temple. “Call off. You’re tired and I’m much more interesting than umpteen columns of numbers.”
“And much more conceited, too. And while that may work for your boss, it won’t work for mine. Where do you work, anyway? I have no idea what you do for a living.”
Jinx was slow to reply because his mouth was tracing a lazy pattern across her brow, intent on reaching her mouth after explori
ng every line and curve of her face. Not protesting, she tilted her neck so he could reach that sweet spot above her left ear. She was getting used to this physical contact with him. It thrilled and soothed her at the same time. She felt comfortable with him, able to relax and be herself. Most likely because she knew he would be gone before too long and felt no pressure to try to hold him. She was just herself, no best foot forward, no hiding the imperfections. Just plain old Frannie Sullivan.
Once he stopped mistaking lust for love, he would hightail it away and she’d have some great memories of a dream come true. Even if the dream was based in craziness and mistaken emotions, the memories would be something to look back on when she was old and gray. She could say that once upon a time, one of the beautiful people had loved her.
His sultry voice warmed her cheek, pulling her from her musings.
“I work for myself. I own some real estate but mainly I’m trying to get Buddies’ Toys off the ground.”
Frannie’s eyes snapped open and her jaw dropped. Buddies’ Toys was the newest buzz word in the parenting world. A step back from the battery-operated, flashing-singing-dancing toys of today, the line of classic, simple, timeless toys had charmed the wallets right out of people’s pockets. The stock for the company had recently gone through the proverbial roof. Several business magazines called the founder the Midas Man but she had never paid attention to his name. Frannie herself had three of their toys in the dining room, waiting to be wrapped in Christmas paper for Steve’s nephews.
“Close your mouth, Ms. Sullivan, I know who I am.”
Frannie studied him with new interest. She’d never thought he was an airhead, but to be the founder and owner of a company like that stunned her. Maybe you have to be crazy to make a fortune. “I’m glad you know because I have no clue who you are.”
“I’m the man who loves you.”
So simple, so heartfelt, his words tugged at her heart, filling her chest with longing. “Why, Jinx? Why do you think you love me?”
Searching his onyx eyes for some glimmer of reason, she melted into the golden flecks there. Tenderness and something nameless danced behind those piercing orbs and a shudder started at the base of her spine.
A lazy smile lifted the corners of his mouth as he pressed his forehead to hers. “I don’t think it. I know it. I told you, from the minute I laid eyes on you, something struck me in my gut.”
“Airsickness?”
“Nope.”
“Food poisoning?”
“Nope.”
“My perfume?”
“Nope. Love. Cupid pulled back his bow and sank one straight into my heart.”
“Remind me to sue the little diapered freak.” She stood and ran her palms across her tired face. “Go home, Jinx. It’s nearly midnight and I need to go to bed.”
“So let’s go.” His lazy smiled turned wicked as he arched that damnable left brow and ran a large hand up her thigh.
Slapping his hand away, she frowned at him. “Stop that! I’m so tired I can’t see straight and you want to fool around? Just like a man, always thinking with the wrong head.”
With a snort, Jinx pulled her down and cradled her on his lap. It required too much effort to keep her spine stiff so she leaned back into his embrace and let him tuck her head under his chin. He felt so good she couldn’t help but snuggle just a bit.
“Okay, I’ll back off. It’s not easy, you know. You make me think about things that would shock my mother. Watching you lick chocolate off the fork tonight was damn near torture.”
“It’s just sex,” Frannie hedged, even though she knew she was wrong.
He shook his head, wiggling her bangs against her forehead. “No, sex feels good. Together, we feel incredible.”
“But sex is only part of a relationship.” She twisted her head to look at him and he leaned her back. They ended up half-lying on her sofa, her legs over his hips in a very suggestive pose. A knot jammed her throat and she struggled for words. “We’re not—”
“We’re the same, have the same chemistry, if you’d admit it to yourself.” Resting his head against his hand, he stared down into her eyes. Honesty painted his face, smoothing his brow and softening the curve of his lower lip. His dark and inviting gaze kindled a warm fire in her belly. With a deep swallow, she knew his heart was open even if his head was screwed up.
“You do something to me, Frannie, something I never felt before. I want to right every wrong in the world just to see you smile. I want hear you laugh and know that I made it happen. I want to be there when you cry so I can kiss the tears away. I want it all. I want it all with you.”
Breath stuck in her lungs and when he threaded his fingers with hers, she didn’t think to pull away.
“Even if our luggage hadn’t gotten mixed up, I’d have found you, Frannie Sullivan. I need you in my life. In forty years, I want to look across the dinner table with a dozen grandchildren under our feet and know you still make me feel immortal. Maybe a thousand lifetimes have passed and in each one we found each other. You’re my destiny.”
Frannie lay speechless, her mouth open in wonder. I am asleep already. I fell asleep and this is a beautiful dream. Hallmark needed to camp outside her door and record his words because they were more touching than any card she’d ever read.
She swallowed the knot of tenderness and tried to speak but found her words stolen by the stunning simplicity of his declaration. Slowly, tenderly, she raised her hand and stroked his tanned cheek, the hint of whiskers prickling her fingers.
Pressing a hard warm kiss to her palm, he closed his eyes and breathed in her scent as if he was trying to cement her into his memory. They stayed like that for an eternity.
Lips pressed against her hand, Jinx squeezed his eyes closed and let her scent seep into his soul. He had to literally bite his tongue to keep a proposal from slipping out. When he saw something he wanted, he went for it balls to the wall and he wanted Frannie forever. Tonight he’d convinced her to try to believe what was happening between them but she still held back. The resistance in her heart was like a brick wall. Rather than come at her like a wrecking ball, he had to find a way to chip at the mortar and take that wall down brick by brick, slowly and easily so she didn’t spook and bolt like a filly. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
But he would do it. For her. Second chances didn’t come often and he wasn’t about to let this one get away from him. When he did finally propose again, she would say yes. She had to. Fate couldn’t be so twisted it would let him get this close to happiness twice in his life and then deny him the final bliss. Could it?
Chapter Three
“You don’t love a woman because she is beautiful,
she is beautiful because you love her.”
—Anonymous
“He sounds like a stalker.”
Tracey stirred her mocha half-soy, half-skim, light-foam latte with sprinkles. The froufrou drink sent a sickening-sweet scent into the air. With her short punky hair and nose ring, the office manager was Frannie’s polar opposite but the friendship was genuine. Being the only two women in the finance department created a bond that bypassed appearances. The bright shock of spiky neon orange hair had caused a stir when Tracey started at McGee, Thompson and Fitch, but she was an organizational whiz. Her skill made it easy to overlook her flamboyant and boisterous personality. When she came for her initial interview, the phones were ringing non-stop. Tracey walked in, sat down and started directing calls to the proper offices. Three other interviewees got up and walked out, assuming she had been hired. She’d been running the office from that minute forward.
Frannie pried the plastic lid off her own plain French Roast before replying. “He’s not a stalker. He is nuts, but in a harmless way.”
Tracey snorted. “Harmless as in total loser or harmless as in ‘Gee, Officer, he seemed like a nice normal neighbor until he hacked up those fourteen women’?”
Frannie paused with the Styrofoam cup halfway to her lips. “
Harmless as in just kind of confused. He thinks he loves me. Once his infatuation wears off, he’ll get over it and move on. This man is smokin’ hot. I’m talking downright pulse-pounding yumminess. No way will he stick around for long. He’s one of the A-list, you know? And not only is he good-looking, he owns Buddies’ Toys. Totally out of my league.”
Understanding, Tracey nodded while licking the foam off her fingers. Several times the two had discussed how normal women never got the Adonises of the world. Frannie welcomed these little girly gab sessions tucked into a busy workday. Today, there’d been no time for a formal lunch break so they shared coffees and gossip at Tracey’s desk.
“So lemme get this straight. He’s good-looking, rich, charming and he’s infatuated with you? You so gotta nail that bad boy before he gets away.”
“Nail him?”
Tracey leaned back in her swivel chair and toyed with her chunky necklace, a mischievous tilt to her lips. “You know, get a little booty. Seriously, milk this. Let him wine and dine you, grab some bling and a few multiple orgasms before he bails.”
Frannie’s eyes snapped to her. “I agreed to start dating him and see where it leads, even though it’s headed down a dead-end road. But it sounds so selfish when you put it like that. So cold and mercenary.”
Tracey shrugged. “All’s fair in love and sex.”
“This is not love. Love has absolutely nothing in it. This is pure sexual attraction.”
“Good.” Tracey bobbed her brightly colored head once. “Just make sure it stays that way. Sex is one thing but don’t go risking your heart on some centerfold wannabe. That’d be disaster with a flaming capital Ass.”
That troubling thought brewed in Frannie’s brain as she went to her office. A strange guttural noise drew her attention to the partially opened door between her office and Steve’s. The noise continued, piquing her curiosity.
As the head of the department, Steve had an office much larger than hers with its own private bath and sitting area. Frannie started to call his name when a foul odor wrinkled her nose. Steve was being violently ill in the bathroom, his retching audible even through the bathroom’s closed door.