“By the age of three most children have developed a firm sexual identity. When they attend school, their classmates further enforce these identities. When they enter adolescence and adulthood, people learn what is expected of their own sex and the opposite sex at work, at play and when they are with their own gender or with mixed genders. Would you agree, Mrs. Summers?”
“Yes,” her voice was cold, exact. Seth stole another glance at Kate and watched her try to fight the smile teasing the corners of her mouth. He had a sudden and unwanted urge to plant a big, fat kiss on her lips and coax that hint of a smile into a full-blown grin.
“Good,” Seth continued. “Since the 1960’s, sex roles have become more flexible. For instance, when a man shows fear or sheds a tear, this is no longer considered unmanly. And a woman can be more assertive, more competitive and still be completely feminine. Still very much a woman. Such as your job for instance.”
“My job?”
“Yes. There was a time when women weren’t allowed to become lawyers or doctors. These were professions considered only appropriate for men.”
She exhaled a deep breath. “What’s your point, Dr. Fallon?” Her voice rang with irritation.
Time to soothe the feathers he’d ruffled.
Seth turned his head slightly and skimmed his gaze over Kate’s face. Something settled inside him. The fear and anxiety was gone from her eyes, and he relaxed. He also felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
She trusted him. Why did that mean so much to him? He smiled at her, then turned his attention back to Kate’s mother.
“My point, Mrs. Summers, is that Kate is very much like you.”
Elizabeth Summer’s face paled. She lifted her chin and gaped at him as though he’d just kicked dirt on her perfectly polished shoes. “I beg your pardon?”
“You look at the big picture, Mrs. Summers, and ignore the fact that you and Kate are both in relentless pursuit of your goals. You’re cut from the same cloth. It’s a known fact that people who are alike tend to clash. So what if Kate has chosen to pursue a career in lingerie design. This path may not be the one you would have selected, but it is a respectable and appropriate profession for her. Lingerie is an item for women.
“The process of designing the garments, finding a sub-contractor, arranging a marketing strategy, opening and running a shop, are quite worthy pursuits for either gender. This not only flexes Kate’s creative muscles, but expresses her intelligence, her sense of humor and also celebrates the fact that she is a woman. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Mrs. Summers frowned and shrugged her shoulders in a very elegant manner. “I suppose, but I still think--”
“Have you ever purchased something from Kate’s shop?”
She tipped her sculpted nose in the air. “Certainly not.”
“Why?”
“I don’t see that it’s any of your business.”
He wanted to blast the woman for being so narrow-minded, but he held his temper in check. Now was not the time to blow a gasket when he had her in the palm of his hand. “It’s just that in the past few days, I’ve seen many professional women such as yourself come into Kate’s shop.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Really? Yesterday, two local news anchors and a senator came in and made purchases.”
She laughed. “You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not. They obviously know something you don’t, Mrs. Summers.”
She threw him a cultured, indifferent look, one that a person of noble birth might bestow upon a servant. “And what might that be, pray tell?”
“That there is more to a woman’s life than just business. The elements that make her a woman should be explored and celebrated along with her intelligence and her professional drive.”
“Well, maybe, but I--”
Seth reached over and lifted a low-backed pink satin short nightgown with matching kimono style wrap from a rack. “Good. Then you won’t object to trying this on.”
Kate yanked on his arm and leaned forward until he felt her breath flow over his neck. A shimmer raced down his spine. She smelled incredible. “What are you doing?” her tone barely audible against his ear.
Seth swiveled his head and stared into Kate’s worried eyes. “Making a point.”
“If you don’t mind, I need to get back to the office.”
Seth pushed the garment into Mrs. Summers’s hands. “The dressing rooms are in the back of the store.”
She tossed the garment over a rack of clothing, but not before Seth watched her test the silkiness of the fabric against her fingers. “I really have to be going.” She nodded at Kate and glanced once more at the gown she’d idly flung away. An expression of uncertainty shadowed her face before she headed for the door.
Chapter Nine
Kate closed and locked the door of the shop as soon as the last customer departed. Her feet and legs hurt; tension bunched the muscles of her back into knots, but she couldn’t keep the smile from her lips. She’d wanted to leap into Seth’s arms and plant a wet kiss on his sexy mouth for the way he had stood up for her with her mother.
She shook her head. Over the last few days, Kate had become shameless in her quest to seduce Seth. She was doing it for the money, for the opportunity to take her designs to the national level. Wasn’t she? Deep in her heart, she knew the answer. Her original goal of seducing Seth to win the prize money wasn’t turning out as well as she thought. Not because she still didn’t want to seduce him, but because the national backing she’d wanted so badly didn’t mean as much now.
Kate had decided in the beginning that she would let nothing stand in her way. But something had. Seth. Seth stood in her way. He not only stood in her way, but her own emotions, her own deep-seeded need to be accepted for who she was stood in her way as well. She’d let herself go and hoped she hadn’t been too open and intimidated Seth. Perhaps that was the only reason he had responded to her. Intimidation and not real desire?
Had her unconventional views and blatant efforts to get him to take her to bed threatened him somehow as a man? Was that the only reason he had responded to her?
Seth was so adorably meticulous, so unaware of his overwhelming looks, that he made her want to muss his hair, loosen his clothes and jump his bones. Not necessarily in that order. She was drawn to him in a way she had never been drawn to a man. He touched her heart. What he had done today touched her in a way that made her afraid. He shook her from the safety net she kept around herself.
The safety net of her sexuality.
She didn’t want Seth to want her for how she looked. She needed him to want her because she was Kate. But she really hadn’t shown him the real Kate. She’d held back because she was afraid he might not like what he found inside.
Like the others.
Like her own family.
Today had been a revelation for her. The way Seth acted made her feel that it would be safe to love him. That scared her. She’d had men in her past do the same, and then when she allowed herself to care, they dumped her. She was no expert at seduction of the body or the heart. Had she overdone it already?
What would happen after they made love? Would she really win the bet? Would Seth turn and walk away? Would she be left behind again?
Kate sighed. Who was she kidding? They were both after the money. She needed to remember that and not let it cloud the issues. He had given her no reason to believe he might stick around if they consummated their relationship. He’d made it perfectly clear that he would go back to his life and leave her to her own.
Seth had stood up for her today, and she needed to know why. Disbelief still made her giddy. Why had he done that? He could have easily agreed with her mother. Why hadn’t he? That would have been the perfect time for him to drive his point home. He could have used her mother’s opinion and her status in the community against her. He could have made a major leap in proving his point that a person’s mind and intelligence were most important. After all, her
mother had said almost the same thing--that she thought Kate’s business was some sort of hobby, something she thought Kate should have outgrown years ago.
She rolled her head to relieve the clawing tension, when she felt Seth’s masculine fingers knead the back of her neck.
“Are you okay?”
The feel of his skin permeated into her neck, easing the stress of the day. “I’m fine.”
She stepped away from him, away from the distraction of his touch. Kate reached for the cord on the blinds that hung over the windows. She closed them almost completely, until the slivers of the sun’s dying rays trickled through and painted golden bars on the floor.
“You don’t sound fine.”
A trembling filled her chest. A deep need. A need for Seth to touch her, but she forced it down. This need would have to wait. There was something she needed to say. She swallowed and turned to face him. “I want to thank you for what you did today.” She wanted to thank him with more than words. She wanted to take her measure of him, by pleasuring them both. But Seth would appreciate another kind of thanks. Tonight, no matter how much she wanted to, she would keep her hands and her lips to herself.
“What did I do that you need to thank me for?”
Kate smiled and looked at him. He looked so handsome in the afternoon light. Desire nearly overwhelmed her, but she held it in check. His eyes glowed with sensuality and caring. Did Seth really care about her? “My mother. You stood up for me. Thank you.”
He smiled slightly. His gaze held hers; he licked his lips and adjusted the glasses on his nose. Her heart tumbled in her chest. Seth’s gestures had become familiar to her. Familiar in a way that made her uncomfortable. She didn’t want to feel that familiarity.
“Your mother is an interesting woman. Even though I still intend to win the bet, I’m sorry that she hasn’t given you the support you deserve.”
The sound of his voice wafted over her skin, stroked the yearning inside her then settled around her heart. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“I always say what I mean.”
“What about your family? Have they always supported you?”
He smiled. “Yes, no matter what. They were proud when I graduated from college, when I got the job at the university, and they even cheered when I appeared on the talk show.”
Kate felt a stab of pain around her heart, a brief but intense feeling of disappointment and regret. Disappointment that she had yet to live up to her parents’ expectations, and regret that she had never experienced the joy of total parental support. How would she be able to keep her heart from falling for Seth while keeping her head straight on her shoulders? How would she keep her mind focused on the goal she’d been working toward for far too long? She had never wanted a man as much as she wanted Seth, and she feared she might not live up to the expectations she had set for herself in and out of the bedroom.
Kate stared at Seth. He was the first man who had truly listened to her ideas. He was the only person besides Aunt Pandora who had ever encouraged her or stood up for her in the wake of her parent’s objections. “You’re lucky to have such a supportive family. I’ve been fighting a long time to prove to them that my business is viable. When I found out about the talk show, I knew that would be a big opportunity for me. I wanted them to be proud.”
Seth tilted his head and peered at her. “Maybe they’re more proud than you think.”
“What do you mean?”
“Gut instinct. I think her attitude’s changing.”
She couldn’t help it. Hope bloomed in her heart even though she’d felt that hope before when her mother had relaxed her rigid stance long enough to say she thought the shop looked adequate in design and color to entice shoppers. That one positive comment from her mother had given Kate encouragement that had lasted for months. “Do you really think so?”
“Yes, I do. Do you have any siblings, Kate?”
Kate leaned against a rack of lingerie and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah. They’re both doctors. They never understood me either. My parents put a lot of their focus on them because they understood them. Me, I was the black sheep of the family with my head in the clouds, going off on adventures with Aunt Pandora.” She smiled. “I remember the looks on their faces when I told them I was taking up yoga. I was all of nine years old.”
An irresistible smile eased over his mouth. “I bet you were a very precocious nine year old.”
“To say the least. After yoga, I started mountain climbing, then Aunt Pandora taught me about aromatherapy and astrology. After that I was hooked. When I became a teenager, I even made my own clothes. I refused to shop with my mother. Her tastes were far too conventional for me. I had my own ideas.”
“What made you settle on lingerie?”
“I always liked it. Even when I wore jeans or cutoffs in the summer months, I wore some kind of lacy panties underneath. I like to try out my creations before putting them in the shop. I wear them, wash them, and test them to make sure they achieve the right male reaction.”
“Do you have something like that on underneath your dress now?”
Their gazes locked. Her heartbeat thrummed in her ears. “I promised myself I wouldn’t touch you tonight.”
Surprise, tenderness, and need swept over his face. Without taking his eyes from hers, he walked slowly toward her. The light from the setting sun moved over his face in stripes of golden light that shone in his eyes and on his beautiful mouth.
Kate sucked in a breath. “What are you doing?”
Not saying a word, without touching her, Seth walked to within an inch of Kate until she felt his aura sweep over her like a soothing cloak. She almost drowned in the intensity of his eyes. He licked his lips, and she grew wet. Her breath hitched.
“You never said anything about me touching you.”
Seth’s intense expression filled with desire and sensual promise of delights to come. What was he thinking? What was going through that mind of his? Was he actually going to make love to her?
His tangy scent teased her senses. Kate wanted to pull him close, caress him with her lips and tongue, but to keep from reaching for him she raised her hand and brushed a strand of dark hair from her eyes.
“I want you to keep your promise and not touch me. Okay?” he murmured to her. The sound of his beguiling voice resonated like a primal drumbeat through her body.
She nodded. Since they’d met he’d been trying to avoid her seduction because he wanted to win. She had been attempting to seduce him not just for the money, but to validate her own female allure.
Or so she thought.
It seemed that Seth’s beliefs in sexuality were changing. Was she responsible for that change? She liked to think so.
More importantly, Kate needed him to want her not because of her looks, but because of the woman deep within her soul. Her image as a woman designing sexy lingerie for the express purpose of helping women enhance their sex life, had shielded her from the world, from becoming too involved and revealing the real Kate inside.
The frightened, insecure Kate who believed she wasn’t accepted. That’s why there weren’t any men in her life. Men never tried to look beyond the physical and poke holes in her sexual armor. They never threatened to expose what she had fought for years to keep secret.
Seth traced the tip of his finger over her cheek and lower lip. Unable to resist, Kate opened her mouth and bit the soft pad of his finger. Her heart clamored in her chest. “Seth?”
He leaned toward her, opened his mouth slightly, and sucked on her bottom lip. “Hmm?”
Kate started to reach for him, but he pulled back. “Uh, uh. You promised.”
Kate felt the pulse quiver in the side of her neck. He lowered his head again, bit gently into her flesh, and soothed the bite with a sweep of his tongue.
“Seth, the relationship I have with my family is ... complicated.” Her voice sounded hoarse and aroused even to her own ears. “You haven’t really told me what your fam
ily is like or how they feel about you being here.”
He kissed the corners of her mouth. She listened to his ragged, unsteady breath as he continued to kiss her with soft, little nips of his mouth. “Mother is a homemaker, Dad is retired. He owned a sports equipment store. On weekends, they spend a lot of their time outdoors, hiking, riding bikes, that sort of thing. I’ve always been the brain in my family. Kind of the odd duck, but at least they have always accepted me.”
He had no idea how lucky he was. Acceptance was always just behind her reach, an elusive piece of her life that she could never quite grasp.
Seth brushed her lips with his, slicked his tongue over her upper lip, and then suckled the flesh into his mouth. He stopped and lifted his mouth from hers. A moan of disappointment slid up her throat. “Don’t stop.”
“You want more?”
“Yes, please.”
Seth held her face in his hands and tilted her head toward his. “Okay, but remember--no touching.”
Seth stroked his lips over hers in a slow, even undulation. Her pulse thrummed erratically through her veins. He sucked and nibbled. Hunger for him nearly overwhelmed her as a raw sound of need scraped from her throat. Seth whispered her name and enticed her to open her mouth for him by rubbing his tongue against her teeth.
Helplessly, she parted her lips. He swept his tongue inside, tasting, demanding. Kate fought for her dwindling self-control while her heart quickened in her chest.
Seth made emotions rise inside her, feelings that made her almost believe that loving him would make her feel accepted. His tongue tangled with hers in a gentle assault on her mouth. Kate responded in kind, taking the kiss deeper to a more sensuous level. His scent swirled through her mind, coated her skin, and made her believe anything was possible.
Gradually, he lightened the kiss and slid his tongue from her mouth. But he didn’t stop.
She couldn’t allow him to stop.
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