The Seduction Game

by Maltezos, Anastasia

  Gary made a gesture with his hand as if to say that wasn’t necessary, but Kate brushed it aside. “I insist. In fact, it’s safe to say your son should definitely think about a career in information technology.”

  Pete hung his head. “That’s not going to happen. No one would want to hire someone like me.”

  Kate and his parents stiffened and were about to brush Pete’s thought aside when a deep voice broke the thick silence.

  “If you’re as good as the doctor says, I’ll hire you. Providing you pass the entrance exam, of course.”

  Kate gasped and shot a surprised look at Adam filling the entrance. What was he doing here? Her confused gaze ran quickly over his charcoal gray suit, black shirt, silver tie, and rested on his face. He looked tired around the eyes and mouth and her heart swelled with concern.

  “I’m Adam Tyler, Dr. Moore’s friend,” he said easily as he strode into the room and shook Gary’s and Linda’s hands. His dark gaze rested on Pete.

  The boy looked hopeful. “I don’t mind an exam. In fact, I’ll pass with flying colors.”

  Adam smiled. “I’m sure you will. I’ll get your number from Dr. Moore and give you a call tomorrow. Do you think you can come in for an interview this week?”

  Pete’s face broke into a huge grin. “Sure.”

  “Great.”

  The Weathers shot Adam a silent look of gratitude and left.

  Kate couldn’t sort her confused thoughts. What did car sales have to do with computers? How was Adam in the position to hire him?

  “Can we go into your office?” he asked.

  She recovered quickly. “Of course,” she said, leading him into the adjoining room. “Can you really land Pete a job?”

  “Provided he’s as good as you say he is. It would have to be entry level, of course, but my guess is Pete won’t mind.”

  His aura, his authoritative stance, a mere look from his dark, compelling gaze still managed to unnerve her. She looked away, trying to gather her scattered thoughts.

  “We have to talk,” he began, his voice hard.

  “Yes,” she said, pretending to arrange the taupe-colored cushions on the couch.

  “I can’t talk to you if you don’t look at me.”

  She lifted her gaze and held her breath as he made his way towards her. She inhaled his male, earthy scent, and tried hard to appear calm.

  “How did you find my office?” she asked.

  “I have a friend who’s a private investigator. It seems the fates have deemed to cross our paths again.”

  Something in his gaze made her draw back. “I don’t understand.”

  “First things first,” he began, pulling out two business cards from his breast pocket. “What’s Pete’s number?” She gave it to him and he wrote it down on the back of one card. Slipping it back into his pocket, he said, “And this one’s for you.”

  Kate looked down at the card in her hand. Her breath caught. It read “Tyler Enterprises,” with an address and Adam’s name in bold letters, “CEO” printed below it.

  She lifted a confused gaze to him, taking in the grim set of his mouth, his dark, impenetrable eyes, and frowned. Tyler Enterprises sounded vaguely familiar to her. It was situated downtown. From what she recalled, it was a large corporation that developed and customized software for businesses.

  A few years back, Gail’s husband, Mark, had been talking about an article the Times had done. Apparently, the owner of Tyler Enterprises was not only the creator of Easy Business Works, software that generated everything from payroll to inventory, but he was also a stock market genius who had the Midas touch. At the time, Kate hadn’t been paying too much attention to Mark’s glowing review on Adam because she had been too busy nursing her broken heart. In that same paper was a wedding announcement on Simon’s marriage to Miranda.

  “As I said,” he continued. “We have to talk.”

  The truth was there in his eyes. “You…you lied to me.”

  “Dana lied to you, with good intentions. She placed the ad without my knowledge.”

  “You led me to believe you were a car salesman.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “It’s no different from what you did. You lied to me to complete your research, with the good intention of helping women with their quest to find Mr. Right. Dana lied to you with the good intention of making sure you weren’t after my money. Irony in itself since you’re a very wealthy woman.”

  He made a valid point, she reasoned, but it didn’t make her feel any better. “Yes, but I didn’t violate your privacy by hiring a private investigator.”

  “It doesn’t take a genius to know a woman who has sold over fifty million books the past four years is wealthy.” He flicked a sharp glance at his watch. “Do you have any more appointments?”

  “I don’t know why that would interest you.” She didn’t know what irritated her more: his detached and impersonal air or how her heart raced. “And how did you know I was Katrina?” she asked abruptly.

  He looked momentarily surprised. Then his brows came down and hooded the dark, brilliance in his eyes. “You’re a psychologist, Kate. Surely you know there’s more to a woman than the color of her hair and eyes, and her attire. There’s her scent, the way her body feels, her kiss.” His gaze flicked to her mouth.

  She tensed. “What do you want?”

  “I have a proposition for you.”

  “I…I don’t think I’m interested in anything you have to propose.”

  “Ah, but I think you will. I can give you what you need. And you can give me exactly what I need.”

  Kate paused. “And what do you need?”

  “I need you.” He paused, frowning, as though he was momentarily disturbed. “Do you have any plans this evening?”

  “No.”

  “Good.”

  Kate was bewildered. “Would you mind telling me what this is all about?”

  “Ellie McKintyre.”

  Her heart stopped. “What do you know of Ellie?”

  “I know she’s your patient, and I know her grandfather worships the ground you walk on.” His words were clipped. “Believe me, I wouldn’t be here if I could avoid it, but as it stands, I need your help.”

  “I see.” His comment hurt. So he hadn’t come here because he wanted to see her again. He’d come here because he needed her help. “What is it you think I can do for you?”

  His expression was hard. “I want you to pretend you’re my girlfriend for one evening. Ed’s computerizing his resorts, and he wants to go with my company,” he explained coldly. “We’re signing tonight at dinner, and he wants you to be there. At our meeting this morning, Dana called and I mentioned to her you and I weren’t going to see each other anymore. Ed was present, heard your name, and wants us to kiss and make up before six-thirty. Will you do it?” He asked abruptly. “Will you pretend to be my girlfriend until he signs on the dotted line?”

  Kate couldn’t believe it. Was he serious? “And what do I get out of it?” she asked.

  His lips curled derisively. “Always the consummate entrepreneur.”

  She bristled. “Hardly. You’re the one who mentioned you had something to give me.”

  “You get me.”

  Kate blinked. “Excuse me?”

  “I’ll allow you to complete your experiment on me.”

  “I…I don’t understand. I mean, you can’t. You’ll know you’re being observed and the experiment will have no meaning.”

  “Perhaps I should have been more clear. I didn’t mean you would be employing your feminine wiles on me. You’d be exercising them on other men, and I would be observing you from the sidelines.” He raised an eyebrow. “And you couldn’t have a more suitable observer than me.”

  “Meaning?” His comment on using her feminine wiles stung.

  “Meaning I’m a man, and what better observer than a man who’s dated many bad girls? I can even help you perfect your bad girl persona. I can tell you what men like, what men don’t like. I can also
gauge another man’s interest in you more accurately. If there’s anything I know about men and women, it’s that our language is completely different, from speech to body. What you may see as a man’s indifference may actually be his wariness to get involved because he doesn’t want to get hurt.”

  Kate had to admit her curiosity was piqued, and it must have shown on her face because Adam’s shoulders relaxed. “I thought we could go to a nightclub on two separate evenings. On the first night you could go as the simple school teacher, and on the second evening you could go as the sexy Katrina.”

  Kate felt an involuntary smile to her lips. “You seem to have given this a lot of thought.”

  “I have.” His expression hardened and her smile disappeared. “Getting Edward’s business is my ultimate goal in this.”

  “You’ll even go as far as allowing him to believe we’re…we’re…”

  “Lovers. Surely a woman who would stop at nothing to get what she wants could appreciate that? Or have you forgotten how you flaunted yourself at me in the gym?”

  Kate cringed, the heat of shame on her cheeks. “I don’t know if this is such a good idea.”

  “Think about it, Kate. A night club is notorious for being a pick-up joint. What better way to prove your theory that most men respond to the nice girl if you get more attention as Kate, the school teacher? And you’ll have me, a man who dates bad girls exclusively, observing and confirming your theory from the side.”

  Said in that way, he certainly made a lot of sense. She did, however, ignore his comment on dating bad girls exclusively. She didn’t need to be hit over the head to know that, even if he’d been interested in her schoolteacher guise as a novelty, he preferred bad girls.

  “It might work,” she murmured, her mind going over the two scenarios.

  “It will.”

  “And all I have to do is have dinner with you and Ed tonight?”

  “Yes. Do we have a deal?”

  She let out a small breath. “Yes.”

  “Good. I’ll pick you up at six.” Without waiting for another word, he strode to the door.

  “Wait.” Things were going too fast and she had the oddest feeling she was the one being experimented on now. He turned around and raised a questioning brow. “You don’t have my address. That apartment in the city where we had the pizza is Barbara’s place. I don’t live there…” her voice trailed away helplessly, still ashamed.

  “I know where you live,” he replied curtly. “Be ready at six.” And he left.

  * * * *

  Kate was home by five, collected her mail from her mailbox, and let herself into her home. She placed her purse and keys on the hall table, dropped the shopping bag that contained the dress she would wear tonight on the floor, and wearily leafed through the mail in her hand. Her hand froze on a big, brown envelope. She fingered it as hope swelled in her breast, realizing a photograph was enclosed. Dropping all her other mail on the table, she ripped open the brown envelope, praying, and pulled out the picture.

  Waves of disappointment washed over her. It wasn’t the right painting. After all these years, she should give up hope. She stared at the nice picture with the note clipped on the corner.

  “Is this your father’s painting?” it read. “If it is, attached is my phone number. I will be willing to negotiate a price.”

  A part of her understood the odds were that she would never find it, but another part of her wasn’t ready to give up. She needed that painting in her life. It was symbolic of who she was and where she came from. Her chin quivered. More importantly, it held a deep, sentimental value that made her feel closer to her father.

  She went upstairs to her bedroom with a heavy heart. Adam would be arriving soon and she had to get ready.

  At a few minutes to six, she was slipping her on her black strappy sandals.

  She stood in front of her mirrored armoire and gave herself a critical look. The dress was a sleeveless, wine-colored sheath that accentuated her small waist, flat tummy, and shapely hips. It fell just below her knees, displaying her shapely legs in her stylish sandals. She admitted she looked nice, but she told herself for the hundredth time that she was not trying to impress Adam Tyler. Besides, she sincerely doubted a nice dress would do it. The last look he had given her could have frozen the Nile.

  She drew her brows together in consternation, thinking about the interest he had displayed in her when he thought she was the school teacher, but she quickly clamped down on that thought.

  He may have been interested in her nice girl persona, but that didn’t mean if push came to shove he would have chosen her over Katrina.

  She clasped a gold bracelet around her wrist and dabbed some perfume behind her ears. Her hair had been pinned up at the office and now it hung loose and free down her back. God, she was nervous.

  As nervous as a woman going out on a first date. But this wasn’t a first date, she corrected herself. It wasn’t even a real date.

  She looked at her face and sighed as she picked up her mascara and applied two liberal coats along with a wild plum-colored lipstick. She would never be the great beauty her mother and sisters were, and for the first time, it bothered her. “Your face has character,” her mother used to tell her.

  Back in her youth, Kate had always been more focused on excelling in school than following the latest fashions in hair, make-up, and clothes. As for boys, she hardly realized they existed until she met Simon in college.

  Yet today, here in her bedroom waiting for Adam, she felt an attack of insecurity and wished someone, anyone, had called her beautiful. Even once in her life.

  She didn’t want to walk in a room and have conversations halted and forks dropped as people stared at her. All she wanted was a man to love her as much as Ben loved Barbara, and Mark loved Gail.

  The door bell rang and her heart flipped.

  Who am I kidding? she thought wryly. If it wasn’t for her long hair no one would look twice at her. Not that it bothered her. It really didn’t. She’d established two fabulous careers where she helped people, and volunteered at the hospital for all those children. What was on the inside mattered. Caring for people mattered.

  Your face has character. Kate smiled. Her mother had been right. Character was what counted. It was inborn, long lasting, something that didn’t change with wrinkles or time. It stayed with you and shone through your eyes, your voice. Kate had made that point very clear in her third, wildly popular book, A Makeover from the Inside Out.

  Downstairs, she opened the door and her heart jolted at the sight of Adam. He looked handsome in a dark suit and a tie the same color as her dress. She was about to make a comment about them at least looking like a couple, when she noticed the expression on his face and stilled.

  “You look…perfect,” he said, his tone gruff.

  Pleased, she offered him a polite smile. “Thank you. Come inside.”

  She walked a few paces when she realized he wasn’t following her and turned around. She saw him standing next to the hall table, staring down at the picture she had received.

  She recalled telling him about her search for the painting that first night in Barbara’s apartment. “Another dead end,” she said, trying to sound casual. “I’m…I’m ready to give up.”

  He gave her a deep look. “Don’t. You’ll find it, Kate.”

  She was uncomfortable under his gaze. She felt he could see right through her and knew how disappointed she really was. She motioned him into the living room.

  He looked around appreciatively. “You have a nice place here.”

  “Thank you.” She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was different about him tonight. “I thought we could go over our game plan first before we set out. We need to have the same story. Where we met, how long we’ve been together, that sort of thing.”

  “Right. Game plan. You’re the expert at these games.”

  She felt a sudden chill in the room. “Would you prefer Ed knew what we were up to?”

/>   “No.”

  “Good. Then how did we meet?”

  “Through Dana,” he replied with a mocking glint in his black eyes. “She owns Expressions, the art gallery on Pine. She invited you there three weeks ago. We met in front of Carlo Pantolino’s Deception. Are you familiar with his work?”

  Who didn’t know Carlo Pantolino? He was only the biggest up-and-coming artist in town. Everyone was scrambling to buy his art, and Deception was his latest piece of work depicting a nude couple with a third man in the background. The artist had been very vocal about his personal life, and how his wife had run off with another man. All his paintings illustrated his pain and humiliation with her deceit.

  Kate bit her tongue, refusing to rise to his jibe. She needed him, too. She’d weighed the pros and cons of his proposal after he’d left her office that afternoon and realized he was right. Her research would be more authentic if the observer was a man who dated bad girls. That’s why he’d seemed confident she’d go along with him.

  “How long have we been dating?” she asked stiffly.

  “Three weeks.”

  “Why did we break up?”

  “You deceived me,” he replied calmly.

  Kate tensed. This time she couldn’t ignore his jab. “I’ve already forgiven yours and Dana’s deception. Can’t you offer me the same courtesy?” She pursed her lips. “Furthermore, before you pass judgment on me, I suggest you read my books and tell me some woman who has lost hope wouldn’t benefit from my professional advice.”

  His brows came down, hooding his expression. “Perhaps I should read your books.”

  His comment took her by surprise. “You would?”

  “Yes.” He looked at his watch. “We should get going.”

  She was still surprised as she made her way upstairs to her bedroom to collect the black sateen purse she’d bought to match her outfit. She wondered about the man downstairs. Her own brothers-in-law had never offered to read her books, and Kate always understood why. Men didn’t want to read books that told them what they were doing wrong. Yet, Adam offered to.