“Drew? What are you doing here? I thought you were going to Lake Mead today?” She looked around again, although it was obvious that unless she was hiding under the table curtain, Lanie was definitely missing. “Where is Lanie?
This wasn’t the time to see Drew. She’d planned it all out during her break. They’d have a quiet dinner, just the two of them, in her room. She’d order champagne, chocolate and serve it herself in a sheer negligee. And she’d tell Drew all about buying Sensual Supports, all about her plans and hopes. Then she’d seduce him, and while he was reveling in the afterglow of their lovemaking, she’d let him know she planned to make regular visits to Auburn.
But she didn’t intend to put her plan into action until tonight. And she wasn’t prepared to ad-lib.
Drew hopped down and Natasha had to roll her eyes. Leave it to him, she thought as the chemises he’d been sitting on slid to the floor in a puddle of pastel satin. Oblivious, he took the two steps necessary to reach her and slid his hands down her arms in a smooth, shivery light caress that sent Natasha’s mind into overdrive. The fabulous touch of his ever-so talented hands, and the way they felt on her bare skin hadn’t been far from her mind all day. It had been an incredibly long ten hours since she’d been naked beneath those fingers.
“Hey, Babe. How was your nap? All rested up?” He leaned close to brush a soft kiss over her mouth. It might have passed for casual and friendly if not for the quick slide of his tongue over her bottom lip. “If I’d known you were gonna slip away, I’d have hung out instead of going sightseeing.”
“Since I needed to catch up on some sleep, its probably just as well that you were sightseeing,” Natasha said with a laugh as she leaned into his body. She loved the feel of him. His broad shoulders, hard but welcoming chest and the delicious length of his legs. How was she going to wait until evening to be with him again? Her body was definitely ready right now.
With that in mind, she ignored the fact that there were people milling around and that Drew’s sister was probably in the booth across the way snickering at them. Instead, she leaned in to take his mouth with hers, doing her damnedest to give him a kiss so hot, he’d be able to think of nothing but her. More a wild promise than the fulfillment of lust, she nibbled at his lower lip then soothed her tongue over it before pulling away.
And suddenly, she was lost in the rich depths of his chocolate-hued eyes. Lust gave them an extra gleam, and his wicked grin quirked up on one side. The ultimate temptation. Natasha might have given in if she hadn’t caught sight of the puddle of lingerie he’d knocked to the floor. Instead, she squeezed his hand and moved around him to pick up the chemises.
She quickly smoothed out the wrinkles and started returning the pieces to their place on the display before looking over her shoulder to see Drew admiring her backside. With a smirk, Natasha tried to put as much shake into her hips as she was giving the garments. From the way Drew’s eyes glazed over, it seemed to be working.
“So,” she said, waiting until his eyes left her hips and met hers before continuing. “You didn’t tell me why you’re here and Lanie isn’t.”
“She had to go to the bathroom. She did a crazy little ‘have to pee, have to pee’ dance for about fifteen minutes before I was able to convince her to let me watch the booth while she took care of business.”
Natasha started to laugh at the image, then frowned as she looked at the display table.
“What? Is it a problem that I told her to go? I swear, I watched over things. I even got you a few more business cards for your mailing list.”
Barely listening, Natasha bent down to look under the table. Nothing. She started shifting lingerie, carefully at first, then grabbing each piece one at a time to shake it before making a discard pile.
“Tasha? What’s up?”
“It’s missing.” Ignoring the fingers of panic moving through her belly, she scooted across the booth to shuffle through the lingerie on the opposite table. It had to be here. It had just been moved, that was all. Natasha forced herself to go slowly, to make sure she checked everything.
“What’s missing? What are you looking for?” Drew stood by helplessly, obviously having no clue about what had happened.
“A bra,” Natasha said quietly as she slid the suitcase she’d just checked back under the back table. Her jaw aching from the effort not to scream, she turned her gaze to Drew. “One of my bra designs. It’s missing.”
“Missing? Like gone? Misplaced? Do you think Lanie did something with it? Maybe she set it somewhere and...” His words trailed off as his eyes took in the mess Natasha had made in her search of the booth. It was pretty obvious anything misplaced would have been found. “Maybe you didn’t bring it back with you?”
Natasha shook her head. She’d brought it back. She had each day’s display solidly planned out, and today’s was to include the pink-ice satin and lace demi-bra. She’d personally put it on display this morning when she and Lanie had set up. Natasha felt her stomach churn.
“Tasha, maybe you should sit down. You don’t look so good.”
She didn’t feel so good. Natasha dropped into the folding metal chair Drew held out for her and let out a shuddering sigh.
“Lanie will be back any second now,” Drew assured her in a male ‘please don’t think about crying when I’m here’ tone. “She probably knows what happened.”
Sick to her stomach at the idea of her design being in some stranger’s hands—or worse, a stranger who was also a designer—forgotten, Natasha glowered at Drew.
“Lanie didn’t lose anything.”
“I didn’t say she lost it,” Drew said quickly, his tone placating.
“Lanie is as careful as I am about watching the booth. I trust her implicitly. There is no way she’d lose a bra. Women don’t just go around losing their bras, for God’s sake.” She flew to her feet so she was right in Drew’s face. Hysteria put a slight edge on her words, but Natasha didn’t care. Nor did she care that Drew was looking at her like she had three heads and a Mohawk. So he’d never seen her upset before. What? The man expected her to be calm and together at all times except bed?
“Then someone lifted it.”
“A bra thief?” That sick feeling returned to her stomach and Natasha dropped back to the chair so hard it clanked as the legs scraped the cement floor.
“Whatever, it’s gone. Don’t get all freaked out over it, okay? I’m sure it wasn’t personal. Audra mentioned she’s had a few things stolen, too. People around here seem to think the undies are like grapes in the grocery store. Sampling a few is part of the game.”
“My bras aren’t a bunch of grapes, Drew. Dammit, this one is a special design and I have a patent pending on it. I don’t want it out there, available for someone to copy.”
“If you have a patent pending, what’s the worry?”
Natasha shot him her you’ve got to be kidding look. “This is a huge market, Drew. Whoever took it could sell it out of the country. Or they could make minute changes to the design and sell it here. Heck, if someone wanted to, they could sell several bras based on the design on the Internet and make beauucoup bucks before anyone realized what they were doing.”
“Huh, so why don’t you sell it on the Internet and make beaucoup bucks?”
Natasha wanted to hit the man. She’d just lost one of the prototypes. The prototype design she’d based her little shoot-for-the-moon pitch to both Ruf and C.C. Crews on. The prototype that was supposed to launch her newly committed-to design career and save her newly purchased boutique. And he decided this was the time for jokes?
“It’ll be fine,” Drew said. He moved closer to rub her shoulders. “I’m sure it was some panty-happy dork boy who is collecting underwear and stuff for cheap thrills. There’s no pointing overreacting. Report it to the convention hosts, make a note of the design and keep an eye out for it.”
As he worked at one of the stubborn knots in her shoulder, Natasha let his words sink in. As much as she hated to let it sli
de, Drew was right. There really wasn’t a damned thing she could do about it.
“Tasha?” Lanie sounded out of breath as she entered the booth. From the bits of confetti in her hair, she’d obviously been caught in the same kind of booth-celebration Natasha had been in earlier. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you got back, I really had to tinkle. I figured you wouldn’t mind if Drew watched your panties for a while though,” she added with a giggle.
Then she got a good look at Natasha’s strained face and frowned. “What’s going on? Tash?” Her gaze shot from Natasha to Drew’s face and back again and her eyes rounded in concern. “What happened?”
Before Natasha could answer, Drew squeezed her shoulder in a warning gesture. She was about to berate him for trying to keep her from talking to Lanie about the theft when she saw Ruf Randall approaching. With a quick shake of her head, she murmured, “I’ll tell you later,” to Lanie. She rose swiftly and shook out her skirt before pasting on her best society mask. Then she moved to greet the self-professed Perfect Passion man.
“Sweet Thing, it’s good to see you,” Ruf said stridently. He slapped hands with Drew and gave Lanie a wink. “Time to party, my friends. Definitely time to party.”
Her nerves, already stretched taut, jangled at the insinuation that he had a reason to celebrate. He’d told them he’d make contract decisions before the end of the convention—which was tomorrow—and now he was talking about a celebration? Had he made up his mind already?
“So,” Ruf continued heartily, “I have a stellar evening planned. We’ll talk contracts at dinner, then I’ve arranged a little end of convention party.”
Okay. So he’d decided. But God, she couldn’t take any more dancing and hedging. The man had been driving her crazy with it all week. And now he expected her to wait hours to hear what his decision was?
“Who is the alliance with, Ruf?” she heard herself asking. From the ‘o’ of surprise in Lanie’s face and the odd look Drew shot her, maybe her tone had been a smidge abrupt. But Natasha just raised a brow to accompany her inquiry. “Did you consider my proposition?”
Ruf guffawed. “You’ll find out at dinner, Sweet Thing. Six o’clock, the Mirage. The party is poolside afterward. Bring your friend.” He nodded to indicate Lanie.
And with that, he sauntered out of the booth. Natasha resisted the urge to throw something.
Chapter Nine
Drew stood at the hotel room door, his fist raised to knock, and hesitated. He didn’t know what he was going to say. He just knew he had to talk to her.
He puffed out his cheeks and knocked. Thirty seconds later he knocked again. Then he growled and knocked again. Leave it to Audra to piss him off before he even saw her face.
“What?” Audra snapped as she pulled open the door. “I’m busy.”
“Got a guy in there?” Drew asked, only half joking. Even though he knew he should expect anything from his sister, his mind stubbornly held the image of her as a ten-year-old tomboy informing him and their father at dinner that ‘boys were gross’. The image gave him odd comfort.
“Yeah, right. Three guys and a donkey. We’re playing Russian roulette, sexcapade-style.” Audra slapped a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. Drew gave her a blank stare. It didn’t pay to let her know she’d pissed him off, or she’d start doing it all the time. Finally, she made a face at him, then shrugged and stepped aside. “I’m on the phone, you’ll have to wait.”
He waded through the mountains of clothes and the landmines of spiky looking shoes to settle into the armchair. Staring out the window, he tried to ignore his little sister’s phone conversation. He winced as she described the ‘fine ass’ of the dancer she’d met the night before, then wished like hell he was anywhere else when she started comparing packages. God, he hoped she wasn’t talking about what it sounded like.
Then, even though he really wasn’t listening, he heard her mention a ‘sure thing’. She finished up the conversation by informing her caller that she’d buy drinks when she got back home to celebrate her nailing this account. Then she tossed the phone on its cradle.
Damn.
“That was Bea. I’m heading out on a road trip with her and Suzi when I get back.”
“Road trip? Audra, you’ll have just arrived home. You need to work. You’ll have orders to fill, contacts to follow up on.”
“Nah, I’ll let Ruf know that I’ll take care of things when I get back. I need some girl time. And they are my family, ya know. I need to spend some time with them before I get all serious into the job scene.”
Family. Drew scowled. What the hell did that make him? Oh, sure, he knew Audra had been close to the other women for years, but they were also most of the reason she was such a pain in the ass.
“What’s up?” she prodded. She’d changed out of her idea of conference attire-—which meant opaque fabrics--and was clearly planning on finding a major party, if the layers of paint and lack of fabric she was wearing was any indication.
“You’re not really going out looking like that, are you?”
“What’s it to you?”
“You look...” What? Trampy? That wouldn’t score him any points. “Okay, I guess. Just a little tired. Maybe it’s all the black you’re wearing?”
Audra sneered, but her gaze shot to the mirror across the room. Triumph flickered. Aha. Maybe she’d change. See, he could handle his sister. What had he been worried about?
“So you came by to see if I’ve been getting enough sleep, or what?”
“Nah, I just wanted to talk to you about a few accounts I’d like you to meet with tomorrow. I’ve run into a few people that I think you’d get a kick out of working with.” He didn’t add that he’d been subtly trying to get her to meet with them all week. It was pointless.
“Why bother? I’m gonna be awarded the Passion account tonight. That’s all I need.”
“Audra, you don’t know that you’ll get the account.”
“What? You think your goody-goody girlfriend’s gonna get it over me?”
Drew clenched his teeth, but forced himself to stay on topic.
“I think you are both excellent designers, but your work is unique. You’ve got the potential to win several accounts. So why are you so damned focused on this one?”
“Why is she?”
“She isn’t, her aunt is. She’s looking after her aunt’s business, you know that. Natasha is just doing her damnedest to make things work out so her aunt can retire.”
Drew wasn’t sure what was up with Natasha actually. She’d been so upset that afternoon over the missing bra, he hadn’t had a clue what to do to help. Then Ruf had shown up flashing promises and dangling possibilities. After he’d left, Tasha had babbled something about following dreams and making preparations, then without a whole lot more explanation than that, she’d asked Lanie to cover the booth and promised to be back in an hour. Drew hadn’t seen her since.
“So what? I want this account and I’m getting it. Ruf practically promised it to me last night. I’m sure I’ve got it.”
Drew could tell from the stiff look in her face that Ruf had likely done a lot more than make promises last night. He wanted to beat the hell out of the guy. But his sister was an adult and wouldn’t thank him for interfering. Still, dammit, he’d warned the old lech to keep his hands to himself.
Drew tried to bank his fury, but it wasn’t working very well. “Audra, you’re smart enough to know that when a guy says all the things you want to hear, he’s more than likely trying to get something out of you. Or you out of something.” Like the dress she’d been wearing.
“Chill, dude. You’re not exactly Dudley Do-Right yourself. Your rep was way worse than mine.”
“That was a long time ago, and I’m not making some sweet young thing promises I don’t mean to keep.”
“Oh, sure, so like, what? You told Natasha you didn’t do relationships? That as soon as you get on that plane, the two of you are history?”
“I didn’t hav
e to tell her. She knows what we have is temporary. Just a Vegas fling.” Why did it hurt to say that? To think it? Drew didn’t have time for relationships. No way was he thinking about taking on any more responsibility. But why was he worrying? Natasha knew he wasn’t looking for anything long-term.
Too bad he couldn’t convince himself of that.
“Look, just consider meeting with these accounts, okay?”
“Nah. I’ll have the Passion account.”
Drew ground his teeth together but didn’t give in to the urge to toss something at her.
“Let’s just say you don’t get the account. Then will you meet with these people?”
“No.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because this week, I realized this just isn’t my gig. If I get that account, I’ll snag a job as Ruf’s assistant, too. I can hang out until I get a clue what aspect of design I want to stick with. But this whole selling thing, it’s not for me. I like lingerie, like the fabrics and making boring look hot. But that’s all.”
“You’re not tossing this business aside, Audra.” He stood up, signaling the end of the conversation. “We’ll deal with this when we get home. I’ve got to get ready for that party.” He returned her sneer. “And you might want to fix yourself up. You really do look washed out.”
Unlike him, who felt washed up. God, what the hell was he supposed to do now? His sister needed that account or she’d ditch her whole business, bankrupt him and destroy the last promise he was trying to keep to his father. His lover needed it so that she could follow her dreams, and settle her sick aunt into a decent retirement.
Damn, he wanted a drink.
* * *
Natasha inspected herself in the mirror and liked what she saw.
A flame red taffeta halter dress hugged her curves in sweet delight. The poofy skirt made her waist look tiny and her legs look long and sleek. Her hair was loose, but instead of its normally sleek fall, she’d gone wild with the curling iron. It waved around her face in sexy invitation. Cherry red lipstick and peek-a-boo heels completed the ensemble.
Lucky 7 Bad Boys Contemporary Romance Boxed Set Page 46