Sam eyed her watch and nodded. She needed to finish eating and head back to the office. “I will take all that under consideration.”
Amanda smiled. “Keep me posted on the hot seksi times. I want every detail. I haven’t dated anyone in months, and I need to live vicariously through someone.”
They wrapped up lunch and Sam went back to work. The afternoon was busy, with Brody sending her multiple emails with tasks that kept her mind on work and off their situation. When she finally got the chance to glance at her clock, she realized it was time to go home for the day.
Yesterday after their kiss, she’d slunk away with her tail between her legs, too embarrassed to say goodbye. She wouldn’t do that today, but she probably shouldn’t initiate a lot of conversation as much as she wanted to.
She slung her magenta peacoat over her arm, scooped up her brightly colored Dooney & Bourke purse and knocked gently at his door.
“Come in.”
Sam turned the doorknob and stuck her head inside. Brody was seated at his main monitor, but he stood up when she entered so she could see more than his eyeballs over the top of it.
“Sam,” he said with a smile she was getting rather used to seeing. “Do you have plans tonight?”
Her eyes widened, her jaw falling open. He was asking her out. It was Friday night. Was he asking her out? He talked to her, gave her a rose and now he was asking her out.
“Plans?” she repeated, not sure what her answer should be. “Not really. I was going to repaint my toenails and watch a sappy movie on the Hallmark channel. Why?” she added, unable to turn off the flirtatious response that was certain to get her in more trouble. “You got a better offer for me?”
Brody didn’t respond right away. Any other man she knew would give her a sly grin and ask to take her out for a drink. He didn’t seem to know how to react to her boldness. “Not really,” he said with a frown. “I’m going to be working late tonight and I was wondering if you could stay for a while and help me with this briefing I’m presenting next week. I know it’s Friday night and probably not your idea of a good time, but I could really use your help.”
“Oh,” Sam said, not sure if she was relieved or disappointed. “I thought you were asking me to dinner or something.” She said the words without thinking, immediately regretting them the moment they left her mouth. Why would she even bring up the idea of them going on a date when he hadn’t suggested it? Stupid.
Brody didn’t notice her mental chastisement, as he seemed too busy trying to connect the pieces that would make her think such a thing. His eyes widened. “Oh, Sam, I’m sorry. I, uh…don’t go out to dinner.”
“Forget it,” she said, wishing they both could.
“If you can stay tonight, I’ll order Chinese for us. How about that?”
It wasn’t the most romantic offer she’d ever received, but the overtime she’d be earning made up for it. “Sure.” Sam tossed her things back onto her desk and returned to his office with the tablet he provided her to take notes.
About an hour later, the security desk called to let them know the Golden Dragon delivery guy was in the lobby. Sam didn’t even know they had ordered yet. Brody hadn’t asked her what she wanted. She could feel the heat of irritation at the back of her neck. She hated those arrogant men who ordered for a woman without thought to what she might actually want. “I’ll be right back,” she told him, leaving the office before she said something smart.
She returned a few minutes later with an increasingly poor attitude and a heavy sack of food. It was a good thing they weren’t on a date. “What did you order?” she asked.
Brody had moved over to the living room sitting area so they could eat at the coffee table. He had already poured each of them a drink. “Kung Pao chicken, beef and broccoli, fried rice with no peas, hot and sour soup with extra wontons and vegetable eggrolls. Is that okay?”
Sam had been on the verge of telling him she didn’t appreciate a guy choosing her food, but she had no complaints. He’d ordered everything just the way she would want it, down to no peas in the rice. Stunned into silence, she nodded, pulled a few cartons from the bag and set them on the glass table. They settled in and ate for a few minutes before she worked up the nerve to ask.
“How did you know what I wanted?”
“I looked it up,” Brody said casually before crunching into an eggroll.
“Looked it up? My Chinese food preferences?”
Brody shrugged. “Everything can be found on the internet if you know where to look.”
“Did you get it from that report you were running on me yesterday?” She’d been so flustered by his anger and the passionate kiss that followed that she forgot about seeing her own name on his computer. She wanted to know what that was all about. “Are you running a background check on me?”
Brody laughed. “Not yesterday. I ran a background check on you about a week before you even interviewed. Yesterday was merely a query to soothe my curiosity about you.”
Sam stiffened slightly in her seat. How much did he know about her? Would her mistake with Luke show up in his file? It was a little unnerving to think about someone digging up every detail of her life from her credit score to her favorite foods. “You know, normal guys take a woman on a date and then ask her questions if they’re curious. Running a background check is creepy.”
“Creepy? Really?” He shrugged. “I see it as practical. Your way seems inefficient to me. The information I can find on my own is far more detailed and likely accurate than what I might get in person.”
“Accurate? You think I’d lie to you about what kind of Chinese food I liked?”
“That’s a bad example, but you could say you liked something you didn’t just to be nice.”
“But asking someone questions when you’re on a date is more fun. And the street runs both directions,” she added. “They get to know things about you, too.” It would never occur to her to look on Google for information about Brody. Even if she didn’t know there was nothing to find.
“As you can imagine, I don’t date much. I’m far more comfortable with computers.”
Sam set down her plate and leaned into Brody. “Do I make you uncomfortable?”
Brody swallowed hard, the thick cords in his neck moving up and down. He nodded. “A little. I’m not that good with people. Especially face-to-face.”
Sam was such a people person, she could hardly imagine living a secluded life like his. By the age of two, she was chatting up strangers in grocery stores and making friends with every kid on the playground. To her, computers were the complicated and unreasonable ones. “Well, the best way to improve is to practice. The more you’re around me, the more comfortable you’ll be.”
His dark blue eyes focused on her for a moment, and then he shook his head. “You say that, but I don’t find that to be entirely true. At least, with you.”
Sam knew exactly what he meant. The more she was around Brody, the more restless and intrigued she became. He didn’t think or react the way most men did. Everything he did was so calculated. Even when they kissed, she could tell he was stuck in his own head. He seemed to overthink everything, hesitating when he wasn’t sure of the right course.
In a way, he reminded her of the boys in junior high who couldn’t decide if they wanted to kiss the girls or yank their ponytail. If a girl they liked actually spoke to them, they’d totally freeze up. Only this boy was thirty, in an expensive suit and had shoulders as broad as a Greek statue.
“That’s normal,” she admitted, “when you’re getting to know someone new. Especially if you like them.”
Brody diverted his eyes quickly back to his food, silently chewing and pondering her words. Sam did the same. She was nearly finished when he spoke again.
“I do like you, Sam. Would you be interested in having dinner with me t
omorrow night, as well?”
Sam looked up from her plate of chicken and rice with surprise. More overtime? Well, she supposed she could put it into the bank in case it took a while to come across another job. Or she could get that new leather bag she’d drooled over in the window display at Saks Fifth Avenue. “Okay. What time do I need to be here?”
“Here?” Brody frowned and then nodded when he understood his mistake. “I’m not asking you to work over the weekend, Sam. I’m asking you to have dinner with me tomorrow night. A real date, like you suggested.”
Had she suggested a date? “You said earlier that you don’t go out to dinner.” It was a stupid response, but it was the first thing that came to her mind.
Brody smiled. “I don’t. That’s why I’d like you to join me for dinner at my house.”
Five
“I should’ve said no. What was I thinking? I should’ve told him I had plans.”
Sam sat muttering to herself in the back of the town car Brody sent to pick her up. The man behind the wheel paid no attention to her neurotic rambling. He’d hardly even spoken. He’d knocked on her door, introduced himself as her driver, Dave, and escorted her to the car. She told Brody she could drive herself, but he insisted it was difficult to find his house. To be honest, she’d never been in this area, so it was a good call. But that didn’t mean she had to like it.
She couldn’t change her mind and drive home, she thought with a sigh. If she chickened out in the driveway, it would be a long walk back. It was the right thing to do, wasn’t it? As tempting as her handsome, brilliant, millionaire boss was, he was her boss. This couldn’t end well.
And yet, Brody was nothing like Luke.
Sam had fought this battle with herself since she left the office Friday night. It might be the wrong choice, but the part of Sam that wanted to go on this date won. She wanted to see Brody outside of the office and all his barriers. To know what he was really like. She would be very disappointed to find retinal scanners in his home.
Sam had spent two hours getting ready. Half her closet was lying on the floor of her bedroom from going through her parade of options. She had finally decided on a champagne-colored pencil skirt with a black lace overlay, a black silk tank and lace shrug. She pulled her hair back into a clip to showcase her glittering gold chandelier earrings. Every inch of her body was scrubbed and painted and sparkled. She put on her most expensive perfume and her Sunday-go-to-meeting panties. These weren’t the actions of a woman that didn’t want to go on this date. She needed to silence the negative voice in her head and enjoy her night.
The car slowed and turned onto a narrow neighborhood street. Sam looked out the window at the houses they passed. They were huge. Each one was more of an estate than a home, on a plot of land big enough to fit nearly fifty of her apartments on their lawns. They’d passed about ten homes before they turned into a long, circular driveway. “We’re here, ma’am.”
This was it. The moment she’d looked forward to and dreaded all day. Her heart started racing in her chest, but she had to get out of the car when the driver opened the door. She took a deep breath, grabbed her clutch and stepped out onto the cobblestone drive. “Thank you,” she said.
The driver nodded and pulled away before she could turn back. She faced the sprawling home, admiring the lighting that made the shrubs and trees glow golden. It was multileveled and L-shaped with a three-car garage at the end of the driveway. A covered patio ran along the front, sheltering a few rocking chairs. It wasn’t at all like she expected except for the tiny surveillance cameras pointing to the front door and to where she was standing. That was more like the Brody she knew.
She hadn’t taken a single step when the front door opened and a big yellow dog charged straight for her. The animal was at least eighty pounds, and Sam had nothing but a beaded purse to defend herself. Running was impossible in the four-inch Stuart Weitzman heels she’d chosen for tonight. She could only close her eyes and brace herself for the mauling.
Instead there was the thump of heavy paws against the lapel of her wool coat and a wet glide along her cheek. The weight sent her stumbling back on her heels. She misstepped on the uneven cobblestones and before she could right herself, she and the dog toppled back into a mulch flower bed.
“Chris!”
Sam opened her eyes to find herself nose-to-nose with a golden retriever. She struggled to push aside the overly affectionate canine and get up, but she was no match for its enthusiasm.
“Christina!” A man’s voice shouted again, this time closer and more sternly.
The dog was jerked away a second later, and Sam looked up to see an apologetic Brody hovering over her. He held out his hand to help her up. “I am so sorry. Chris is harmless. She was more excited to see a new person than I expected.”
Sam stood up, dusting the wood chips from her lace pencil skirt and subtly rubbing her bruised rear. “Chris is apparently not as antisocial as you are.”
“Not at all. Are you okay? Did you twist your ankle or anything?”
“No, no,” she said dismissively. “The only thing hurt is my pride.”
Brody smiled and Sam couldn’t help but do the same. It was amazing how quickly she had been able to see past the scars. That charming smile and those soulful blue eyes made the rest just fade into the background.
And then he turned to look down the street. A car was coming toward the house. Sam watched with disappointment as his smile faded in the shine of the oncoming headlights. He was so worried about people seeing him. Sam had seen him. He was growing more comfortable with her by the second, but it appeared that she was a notable exception. Brody was far from strolling through a shopping mall filled with people, or even meeting face-to-face with his own employees.
“Let’s get inside,” he said, reaching his hand out to her.
She accepted it, a tiny thrill running through her as she walked beside Brody up the stairs to the front door. Sam was stunned the moment she walked in. The outside of his home wasn’t nearly as surprising as the inside. It wasn’t what she expected at all. The house was bright and open with light oak floors and white trim. The walls were a soft mocha color. The living room furniture was cream with plush rugs and large windows that ran nearly floor to ceiling.
Brody stopped and turned around when her hesitation pulled her hand from his. “Is something wrong?”
Sam immediately felt guilty for thinking he lived in some kind of dark cave. “No, I just…it wasn’t what I was expecting. It’s very different from your office, I mean.”
He nodded, helped her out of her coat and hung it on a brass hook inside the entryway. “Come with me to the kitchen. Dinner is about ready,” he said. “I feel a little more comfortable out here than I do in town. There’s no one that can see in.”
“No one can get into your office, either. You could paint it purple with pink polka dots and no one would see it. I mean, who even cleans it?”
“I do. I don’t trust anyone else to go in there and for good reason. The security measures and tinted windows are there because more than a few journalists have tried to hitch their careers to exposing me. My security team caught one posing as a window washer not long ago. Another tried to apply to housekeeping thinking they could get to me. Keeping my office dark and locked up is the only thing that keeps me from being exposed.”
“What about here?”
“No one knows about this place. My home is owned by a shadow holding company with no public tie to me or ESS. I, of course, own the company, but no one knows that. And no one but my immediate family and a few people on my payroll has ever stepped foot on the property, so there’s no chance of a leak.”
Sam swallowed hard. Somehow she’d managed to not only make it into the beast’s secret lair, she’d gotten into his private retreat. And this time by invitation. She didn’t know if she should b
e flattered or terrified. “I’m honored, I think, that you trust me enough to invite me over. I’d never reveal that information, of course.”
“You’ve got five million good reasons not to.” He smiled.
Sam shrugged. “I wouldn’t tell anyway.”
“I know. I wouldn’t have asked you on a date and brought you here if I thought otherwise. Come on, dinner should be done any second now.”
Sam followed Brody down the hallway, noticing as he walked ahead of her that he was wearing nicely snug jeans and a blue plaid button-down shirt that was left untucked. He was also barefoot. It was the first time she’d seen him in something other than a power suit and she liked it. It was a very sexy look for him. He appeared relaxed and comfortable in a way he never seemed to be at the office.
She rounded a corner and walked into a large, spacious kitchen with cream-colored cabinets and butcher block countertops. It was a chef’s dream, or so she imagined. Sam wasn’t much of a cook, but she got by. A place this luxurious would be wasted on her limited culinary abilities.
Dinner was in progress with several pots on the six-burner gas stove and bowls scattered around the counters. For some reason, she hadn’t expected him to actually cook, even though he’d invited her over for dinner. Given his affection for takeout, she didn’t picture him as the kind of man who was very comfortable in the kitchen.
Brody poured a glass of white wine for each of them and held one out for her. She accepted it gratefully. “You’re cooking,” she said with surprise lacing her words. Sam sniffed delicately at the air. “What are we having? It smells like cheese and…charcoal.”
Brody’s eyes widened for a moment. He quickly spun on his heel, turned to the set of double ovens mounted in the wall and frowned. A cloud of black smoke rolled out of the top oven as he quickly snatched out a charred cookie sheet with a dark crusty bundle in the center. He dropped the contents into the trash and tossed the pan into the sink to cool. “Well, it was supposed to be a chicken roulade with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes and spinach.”
A Beauty Uncovered Page 6