Slow Burn: Seducing Mr. RightTake Me

by Cherry Adair

  Offhand, he could think of several very good reasons why it would be a bad idea.

  The promise to his dad.

  The promise to Cat.

  The promise to himself.

  His—thus far contained—all-consuming lust.

  On an “official date” he’d feel as though there was a chance of having more. And the reality was that this was Cat’s time to shine. To get what she wanted. To get what she deserved.

  She’d spent years cloistered in that big old house taking care of his father. Without complaint, without a murmur as life passed her by. She deserved every good thing there was.

  A promise was a promise. It wasn’t in him to renege, and he’d rather jump off a cliff than hurt her. Yeah, Luke decided, feeling sanctimonious, the least he could do was keep a low profile, and give Cat what she wanted.

  * * *

  VAN BUREN AND Stratton owned an immaculately restored 1860s Italianate Victorian on the Avenues. It not only housed their flourishing business, it was a shining example of their talent as architects and restoration specialists. Every inch had been lovingly restored, then intricately painted.

  There were memories for Catherine in every room of this house. There was a photograph of the three of them in Luke’s office the day they’d opened their doors for business. She was proud that it was thanks to her skills as a day trader that Nick and Luke had been able to afford the house when they’d gone into business five years ago. She’d just begun day trading, and despite her show of confidence, wasn’t sure at all whether she could make it in that volatile roller-coaster world. But she’d flourished. By trading with the trends, she’d made steady profits, never making a huge killing but never getting wiped out, either, like other traders she knew.

  She and Nick sat in the beautifully appointed reception area, which had originally been the ladies’ parlor. She’d gone with Luke to buy the faded Aubusson area rug. She’d been with Nick when he’d found the camelback sofa in an out-of-the-way antique store.

  “What I want,” Catherine told Nick, “is for Luke to give some indication he sees me as more than someone making his socks magically disappear.”

  “Unless my friend has cataracts, I can’t see how he can miss the obvious,” Nick assured her, head down as he searched for something in the receptionist’s antique cherrywood desk.

  Catherine had decided to drop in on Luke to see if he’d take her to lunch before she went shopping. He’d been out. But Nick had assured her he wouldn’t be long.

  A perfect opportunity for a little strategizing.

  Nick dumped a pile of file folders on Christy’s desk. Catherine winced. “What are you looking for?”

  “The Stockton bids.”

  “It’s in the file room in the blue file cabinet.”

  Nick glanced up. “It is? How’d you know that?”

  “Because all bids go in the file room in the blue file cabinet. Nick? Could you stop scrounging around for a sec?”

  Catherine tucked one foot under her and eased back on the stiff horsehair sofa, spread her soft skirt over her knees and picked up the cup and saucer from the table beside her. She’d acquired a slight tan at the beach a couple of days before, and the scoop-necked, butter-colored linen dress showed it off to advantage. The linen jacket hung neatly over a nearby tapestry chair. She cradled the saucer.

  “In the last three weeks Luke’s interrogated every single guy I’ve gone out with as if he’s Don Corleone,” she told Nick, exasperated. “He’s still acting like my brother. I want him to see me as a sexy, desirable female, not his kid sister. I don’t know how to make him see me as an adult woman.”

  “You look all-woman to me, Catherine. Trust me,” Nick said dryly. “There wasn’t a guy at the party who didn’t sit up and take notice.”

  Catherine shot a wary glance at the etched glass panels in the oak front door before turning back to Nick. “I don’t care about other men, Nick. I want Luke to love me.”

  Nick gave her a searching look, then said softly and with regret, “Will that really be enough for you, Catherine? Having him return your love? Luke’s a great guy, but we both know he’s got some serious hang-ups about commitment. Those fixed ideas he has about tying up his emotions too tightly. Can you accept that he’ll never marry you?”

  “Having him reciprocate what I feel will be enough.”

  “For how long?”

  She looked him dead in the eye. “For as long as it lasts.”

  “Really?” Nick asked skeptically. “Then why did you ask him to find you a husband?”

  “To throw him off the scent. Don’t look at me like that. It’s a given that marrying Luke would be a dream come true. But I know that will never happen. I know him, remember? I’m a lot more realistic than you give me credit for.”

  “Why do you love him, Catherine?” Nick asked. “Because you’ve known him almost your whole life? Because he represents security to you? Because you’re alone now that your dad’s gone?”

  “No...maybe. Possibly that’s part of it. A small part,” she added quickly. “I love Luke because he’s honest, and strong and ethical. Because he’s got a sense of humor I understand. I love him because when I’m with him I’m...a better me. Does that make sense?”

  “Yeah,” Nick said with a smile. “It makes perfect sense. Okay, gorgeous, you have a master tactician at your disposal.” He grinned, looking charmingly rakish. “Between us, he doesn’t stand a chance.”

  “I want him, but not at the risk of destroying what we have now. You understand that, don’t you?”

  “Luke’s right.” Nick smiled. “You are a little crab. You’ve got to keep advancing here, Catherine. No retreating allowed.”

  “You’re sure, positive, no doubt about it, I have a chance?” Catherine hated her own insecurity. She fought it every day, but sometimes that feeling of abandonment would creep up on her unexpectedly and she’d find herself poised for flight. “If you’re sure I’m not making a total fool of myself...”

  Nick came to sit next to her on the sofa and took both her cold hands between his. “You want Luke to see you as a woman, right? Then you have to make him stop seeing you as The Kid.”

  Like she hadn’t been trying for the last decade. “And how do I go about doing that?”

  Nick’s blue eyes lit up devilishly as he released one hand to brush her mouth with his finger. “You dare Luke to teach you the art of seduction.”

  Catherine, in the process of lifting the delicate china cup to her mouth, almost choked. Her eyes went wide. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Nope. Luke knows you don’t have vast experience. Ask him to teach you.”

  Catherine carefully set the cup and saucer on the small fern table beside the sofa. “No one is that naive!”

  “Luke thinks you are. Pretend, if you have to.”

  “I’m a lousy actress, Nick. Jeez-Louise, I’m not even a good poker player. How am I supposed to pull this off?”

  “You’ll figure it out.” Nick, still holding her hand, looked up as the door opened and Luke walked in.

  “Ah, here’s our meal ticket.” He rose, tugging Catherine up beside him, then wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “About time you made it back, old son. Catherine and I are starving, and you’re buying lunch.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THEY ATE AT a small French restaurant tucked away on a side street. San Francisco was full of small, interesting restaurants off the beaten path. Luke, who loved to eat as much as he loved to cook, knew them all.

  It was fascinating to observe how people, men as well as women, were ogling her two escorts. Luke wore bright yellow suspenders over a collarless blue-and-white pinstripe shirt, navy Dockers and boat shoes, no socks. Nick was decked out in a double-breasted charcoal suit. Both looked hunky and gorgeous. Ca
therine felt like a thorn between two roses.

  “Don’t look now, Nick.” She did an “over there” jerk of her chin. “But there’s a sultry blonde at the table near the pillar who’s about to fall out of her seat trying to get your attention.”

  “Actually—” Nick grinned without looking “—she’s had my attention. It’s Luke’s attention she’s trying to attract now.”

  Catherine’s heart pinched. “How lovely. You share girlfriends. It must make life so much easier when you can give each other insider tips.”

  Luke shot a sidelong glance across the room.

  “Want an intro, old son?” Nick murmured.

  “Maybe later.” Luke picked up his water glass, drank deeply, then turned to Catherine. “What do you have planned for this afternoon?”

  To see you in the middle of the day. “Shopping.”

  “What kind of shopping?” Nick asked. “If it’s clothes, I’ll go with you.”

  “Would you? That would be terrific, Nick, I’d lo—”

  “You have an appointment at two, remember?” Luke reminded him. Nick looked blank. “You told me you were seeing...can’t remember who it was, but someone.”

  “Huh? Oh. Yeah. Someone. Right.”

  “If you want company, Cat,” Luke offered, “I’ve got the afternoon free. I can show you some good places to shop.”

  The fact that Luke, who loathed shopping, wanted to accompany her, and had outmaneuvered Nick, was grounds for celebration.

  “I’d love you to come with me, Luke. I want to look for a couple of pairs of sandals.”

  She took a sip of coffee and caught Nick’s eye over the rim of her cup. Those deep blue eyes challenged her.

  “And underwear,” she added casually.

  “Underwear?” Luke repeated.

  “Yeah, you know. Lingerie. The slinky stuff.”

  Nick rose, tossed his napkin on the table and stood behind Catherine’s chair, his hand on her shoulder. “I’m devastated to miss this shopping trip. You know I love to shop. Catch you next time, Catherine.” He squeezed her shoulder, then said to Luke, “I’m off to see Mrs. Somebody. Take care of my girl.”

  * * *

  THANK GOD SHE didn’t model any of the stuff she was looking at. Luke would’ve had a stroke. As it was he was grateful to be sitting. He was as hard as petrified wood just watching Cat slide wispy bits of see-through silks and laces through her fingers before taking them into the dressing room. Surely to God none of those teddies would fit a grown woman? There wasn’t more than five inches of fabric in the entire garment.

  “You must be bored out of your mind.” Cat emerged, a dozen satin hangers in each hand. Luke sat conspicuously on a spindly, peach-satin ladies’ chair.

  “I’m fine. Take your time.” I’m far too horny to stand or walk. Luke dredged up a smile. “Really, Cat, I’m kinda enjoying the scenery. Take as long as you like.” He’d never thought to frequent lingerie stores to troll for females. Too bad he couldn’t care less about his new discovery. Cat glanced around, as if only now noticing the store was filled with women.

  “Almost done. What do you think of these?”

  “These” consisted of a bra that looked like two smiles of pale purple satin and a stamp-size sliver of supple, lime-green silk. There wasn’t much to the top, and the bottom consisted of a short length of matching dental floss. There wasn’t a single fluff of lace or frou-frou on either garment.

  “Kinda plain, aren’t they?” Like wearing nothing at all.

  “I like the colors.”

  “Then buy them.” She’d look like a mermaid, with a sexy, slippery wisp of green covering her long sexy, slippery body. The skimpy top would barely cover her breasts. Those delectable, peach tipped— “Buy them all and let’s get out of here. You said you wanted shoes? There are a couple of reasonable places in the next block. I’ve got an appointment in a couple of hours. We’d better make tracks.”

  “But you said—”

  “Hey, a man can only stand so much of a good thing.”

  Five hundred dollars worth of intimate apparel fit into a tiny shopping bag. The smaller the garment, apparently, the higher the price.

  Luke felt much more himself when they walked into the shoe store. There was nothing remotely sexy about feet, in his opinion. His libido had taken a beating in the lingerie boutique. But now he could relax. He sat on one of the uncomfortable chairs lined up in the center of the store as Cat wandered around. That creamy yellow dress was dynamite on her; the color brought out the fire in her hair. Luke watched her through narrowed eyes. The simple style suited her; the square-necked, sleeveless dress had no waistline and gently fell to just above her knees, setting off long limbs lengthened by high heels.

  Around her throat and draped between her breasts, Cat wore a heavy, almost barbaric necklace consisting of large cream and bronze beads and hammered copper squares. He’d bought the necklace and matching earrings and bracelet for her in Africa several years ago. At the time he’d imagined Cat wearing just that pagan jewelry. Nothing else. Instead of hand delivering his gift, Luke had mailed it to her in Oregon. Then he’d turned off the phone and got blind drunk for two days.

  “Sorry. Are you in a coma?” Cat asked, giving him a sympathetic glance as she sat beside him. “I’d like to try these, please,” she told the salesman hovering ingratiatingly nearby. She gave him her size and a handful of left shoes, and he trundled off.

  Luke dredged up a smile and shifted slightly so they weren’t quite so close. “I told you, I’m fine. Although I’ve got to admit I don’t have the patience for shopping that Nick does. Man, that guy shops as enthusiastically as a woman. On the other hand, he never told me what a treasure trove lingerie shops are.”

  “Haven’t you ever bought sexy lingerie for one of your girlfriends?”

  “Hell, no!”

  Cat laughed. “Why not?”

  Luke was saved from answering by the salesman’s return with several boxes, which he placed on the floor at Cat’s feet like an offering. “I’ll be back in a jiff,” he assured her, then scurried off for more.

  Luke didn’t buy sexy lingerie for women. One, because he hated to shop, never went to malls, and frankly, it had never occurred to him to casually stroll into a potpourri-scented “pink” store. Two, because by the time he could order anything from a catalog, the woman would have been long gone, only to be replaced by someone who might not be the same size.

  He slouched in his chair. His knee brushed Cat’s bare legs as he shifted. She smelled so damn good he wanted to forget the promises he’d made and lick her. All over. Then go back for seconds. And thirds...

  The salesman knelt before Cat. “May I?” he asked, removing the shoes from the box beside him and stripping out the paper stuffing. Catherine offered her foot.

  The man slid on a high-heeled red sandal. “Oh, my. These shoes were made for you. Look how well they show off this glorious high arch of yours.”

  “Dream on,” Luke grumbled under his breath.

  The salesman cast him a wary glance as he produced the other damn shoe. Luke’s mouth went Sahara dry. His eyes glommed on, riveted to her slender, tanned foot sliding slowly, slowly into that shoe. She had the sexiest feet he’d ever seen. High instep, neat little toes, nails painted a glossy fire-engine red. His erection had merely been lying dormant. It came back to life in a hurry. Oxygen drained out of his brain, leaving him dizzy.

  Cat’s feet were sexy as hell.

  Who would’ve thunk it? he thought without humor. He wanted to slide those sandals on her himself. Luke closed his eyes. He pictured himself holding her heel in his palm, his other hand slipping the shoe slowly over her toes. Pictured his hand gliding up the smooth, lightly tanned, highly freckled length of her leg. Up. Up. To a wisp of a thong of lime-green silk—

&nbs
p; “Well? What do you think?” Cat stood, wriggling her toes and looking down at him. Luke refocused and cleared his throat.

  “Buy them in every color they have.”

  Cat frowned, then turned to the salesman. “Let me try on a few of the others.”

  While Cat and the man conferred on colors and styles, Luke congratulated himself on his fortitude and self-sacrifice. He was a prince among men to resist her under so much temptation.

  His eyes zeroed in on her sexy toes again.

  Yeah, a saint.

  * * *

  CATHERINE SANG AT the top of her voice as she walked into the living room fresh from a shower, rubbing her hair with a towel and heading for the kitchen. She screeched to a stop midnote when she saw Luke. He looked up from the book in his lap.

  “Hey. You’re home early,” she said unnecessarily.

  Grinning, he demanded, “What did you do with the money?”

  “What money?”

  “The money for the singing lessons.”

  “Ha ha. Spent it the same place you did those dancing lessons, Van Buren.”

  He wore white shorts and a tank top that had seen better days. He’d changed while she’d been in the bathroom, and had tossed the clothes he’d worn to work on the table by the front door. One of his shoes was near the bedroom door, the other under the coffee table. His socks decorated the lamp shade.

  “I had the bathroom door closed. You could have come in and changed in the bedroom, you know.”

  “Yeah, right,” Luke said dryly. His eyes skimmed down the now damp cotton jersey of her sundress and back to her face.

  They were having a heat wave. The most she could bear having next to her skin was the skimpy, bright yellow tank dress and cotton underwear. “Yeah, right?”

  “Yeah. Right. I could have. But I didn’t. Hey. Molly Cruz called. She wants you to call her back.”

  Catherine plucked his clothes off the table and lamp shade and stood with the bundle in her arms. His shirt smelled so terrific she wanted to bury her nose in it. Luke sweat. She really was losing it.