Tall, Dark & Reckless

by Heather MacAllister

  “But still.”

  A man who endured this, a man who survived this, was not a man who would waste time worrying about whose turn it was to make travel arrangements or wondering if his partner’s feelings were hurt because he’d spoken abruptly. Conflict resolution style? Deal with it and move on.

  When he was given an opportunity, he took it. He didn’t lose it by thinking about all the things that could go wrong. He acted. If he made a mistake, he dealt with it and didn’t look back.

  Piper should be more like that. She was doing nothing while she waited for the perfect man and the perfect moment.

  Mark couldn’t stand doing nothing and had the scars on his wrists to prove it. He’d had no way of knowing when, or if, he’d ever be freed. As the months passed, he must have thought he’d been forgotten.

  Surprising herself, Piper bent and softly kissed his wrist before smoothing his cuff back into place. When she finished fastening the button, she looked up, but he didn’t speak or move away. Neither did she.

  The breeze blew hair into her face again, but this time, when Mark raised his hand to brush the strands away, she let him.

  His fingers moved against her cheek making her yearn for more of his touch. And if she didn’t step back and stop gazing into his eyes, he’d know it.

  Mark slowly looped the hair behind her ear. He left his hand resting against the side of her neck, his thumb brushing the sensitive area beneath her earlobe.

  He was going to kiss her unless she moved away. And he was making sure she knew it. No dazzling smile—with or without dimples—no cheesy lines, no suggestive body language. Just Mark. And that was plenty.

  Here was opportunity waiting for her. Was she going to grab it or let it go?

  His thumb brushed against her earlobe, sending shivers racing over Piper’s body. She tilted her chin up. Mark lowered his head and his lips gently met hers.

  For a few seconds, that’s all it was—two pairs of lips saying “hello.” Then Mark moved his hand to the back of her neck and drew her close and it became, “Well, hellloooo.”

  Mark brushed his lips against hers in a tender exploration that completely undid her. She’d expected a practiced kiss, meant to quickly excite her. Quick and to the point—wasn’t that how he normally operated? No subtlety?

  But Mark was taking it surprisingly slow, his lips barely parted, seemingly just fine with soft movements that tickled awake all her senses. His lips were warm and soft without being mushy. He smelled faintly of Friezen Burger, but then she did, too. And beneath that, his scent was appealingly male, all warm and rich. No sharp tang or mustiness. She opened her mouth a little wider and pressed closer, tasting him.

  “Piper,” he breathed and she inhaled his breath. She wanted more.

  How long had she waited to find a man who made her want more? Since her college boyfriend. She remembered the hours and hours they’d kissed and touched and stared into each other’s eyes until she wanted to climb into his skin with him.

  And she remembered how she’d known when she’d lost him. He’d smelled and tasted different. No longer warm and rich, but cool and metallic. Wrong.

  Mark cradled her head and deepened the kiss just the slightest bit. When his fingers stroked her nape, Piper wound her arms around him and tried to avoid melting into a little puddle.

  She was barely aware of voices approaching before Mark shifted them away from the sidewalk, twisting so her back was against the live oak, all without breaking their kiss.

  Piper smiled against his mouth because it was such a smooth Mark Banning move. She tightened her arms and he settled against her, pressing their bodies together.

  He was warm and solid and he wanted her. Piper felt a rush of feeling and opened her mouth, inviting him inside. When his tongue gently stroked hers, a tiny sound escaped. Closer. She wanted him closer. She rolled her hips forward and brought her hands underneath his jacket to stroke his back.

  This slow, deliberate build wasn’t at all the way she thought he’d kiss. She’d expected him to take the lead and, well, attempt to seduce her with dazzling technique because that was the Mark Banning way. But he’d kept his hands cradling her face and occasionally stroking the side of her neck, while he simply kissed her, only deepening the kiss when she initiated it.

  He’d be shocked if she told him these simple, slow, deliberate kisses were much more effective because they were much more intimate. But Mark Banning avoided intimacy and embraced the shallow. Piper felt sorry for him because he would never experience a connection with another person like this. It was strange how she thought of Mark Banning as a completely separate person from the Mark she knew. From the Mark she was currently kissing.

  She was kissing the real Mark. The realization shook her. He was opening himself up to her, letting her connect emotionally. Bonding with her. Making her care.

  How could he do this to her? He knew, he had to know connecting emotionally would make her fall for him. Why would he do it? To prove he could? Didn’t he care that she’d be hurt when he left? And he would leave. He worked alone. She got that. He’d told her often enough.

  Yeah, he was a loner, wild and untamed. Undomesticated and destined to remain so. The stuff of legends. Daring and brave, with dashing good looks. A romantic fantasy come to life. And so on and so forth.

  He was good for heart-pounding thrills and exciting memories, not for everyday life.

  She’d forgotten how powerful good chemistry could be and had become impatient with women who made poor choices because of it.

  Like her mother.

  Piper yanked her hands from beneath his jacket and pulled her mouth away abruptly.

  What was she doing? Standing against a tree next to a public sidewalk in front of business establishments and sending “kiss me” signals to a client, that’s what. And Mark had very politely obliged. Sure, the kiss had lingered, but who’s to say he couldn’t enjoy being polite? Especially when she’d been so very enthusiastic.

  Even now, as he stepped back and let his arms fall away, he was polite and restrained, all the things she hadn’t been. How could she have forgotten where she was? And who she was with?

  Cringing, she remembered lecturing him about flirting and manipulating women. And he hadn’t. No, this was all Piper’s doing. Every step, every wiggle, every moan. How mortifying.

  He gazed at her questioningly and she noted that he hadn’t protested or suggested they continue elsewhere. Not that she would have.

  Or, at least she hoped her sense of propriety would have kicked in. No guarantees, though.

  “That was…” she began.

  “Great?”

  Well, yes. “Unprofessional.”

  “Are you saying I kiss like an amateur?”

  “No!” She darted a glance at his amused face. She was so glad he was enjoying himself at her expense. The mighty had fallen and all that. “I meant—”

  “I know what you meant,” he interrupted, saving her the embarrassment of saying the words. “But we’re not in your office and you’re still undercover.” He tugged gently on her wig. “Call it staying in character.”

  Mark was offering her a face-saving out and Piper was almost desperate enough to take it. “That’s no excuse.”

  “Cut yourself some slack.” He dropped a hand on her shoulder and squeezed briefly as though she were a team member who’d made a bad play. “You were trying to get to know me and you can learn a lot from a kiss.”

  That’s what she was afraid of. “True, and you know what? I’ve learned enough that it’s not necessary for you to walk all the way to my office. Besides, your car is back there.” She gestured vaguely.

  “I don’t mind the exercise,” he said.

  “Yes, but the questionnaire I told you about is way too basic. We’ve covered most of the information already, so we can skip that.” She couldn’t look at him. “I have a pretty good idea of the type of woman you need.”

  “But what about the woman I want?” he ask
ed lightly.

  “Uh…” She nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. “It’s up to you and Travis to send me qualified applicants. I’ll screen them and send my recommendations on to you. You interview them and if you find someone, great. If not, we’ll keep looking.”

  She felt him staring down at her. “Do I need to schedule any follow-up appointments with you?” he asked.

  Piper forced herself to meet his eyes. “No. We’re done.”

  9

  Step nine: If you haven’t already, introduce him to your friends and listen to their opinion. If they don’t like him, why do you?

  “TRAVIS SENT THESE OVER.” Dancie dropped a stack of résumés on Piper’s desk.

  “Thanks.”

  Instead of leaving, Dancie planted her hands on either side of the résumés, her newly straightened hair swinging forward. Piper didn’t know if she would ever get used to a Dancie with straight hair.

  “Did you make a deal with Travis?”

  Piper had wanted to wait until she found Mark a partner before saying anything to Dancie. She should have known Travis wouldn’t keep his mouth shut. “Yes. He agreed to let you use your old office if I find Mark a partner both he and your dad will accept.”

  Stone-faced, Dancie slowly straightened. “Without discussing it with me first?”

  “There wasn’t time. The opportunity came up and I grabbed it.” Isn’t that what Dancie was always telling her to do?

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s too crowded with you here.” Piper gestured to the doorway. “There’s no soundproofing in the wall. It’s like you and Anna are in the room with me. You hear my clients and we can hear you.” Remembering how Dancie had let Piper live with her made the next part difficult to say. “It’s just not working.”

  “Why didn’t you say something before you went whining to Travis?”

  She’s angry because you went to Travis, not because you found her someplace else to work. “I didn’t go to Travis and I certainly didn’t whine. And, Dancie, I did ask you to keep it down. More than once.”

  “And we did!”

  For about two seconds, Piper thought. “I was sitting in Friezen’s when Travis called me about helping Mark, which I was reluctant to do.”

  Dancie tilted her head, studying her. Uh-oh. “You told me he’s the most arrogant, egotistical jerk you’d ever met and you never wanted to see him again. Is that what you consider reluctant?”

  Now was not the time to go into Mark’s hidden qualities. “I know you don’t want to spend money on office space yet, so when I realized Travis was desperate, I took advantage of the situation.”

  Dancie slowly shook her head.

  “It’s just the use of the office,” Piper told her. “I stressed that you weren’t going back to work for OMG.”

  “I’m not mooching free office space from them, either. He and Dad would always claim they’d helped me get started. And they’d be right. I want to show them we can do this on our own.”

  So using her mom’s cash was different, Piper supposed. Was she going to argue about that? Not a chance.

  “The Piper Plan is going to be huge,” Dancie said. “Surely it’s worth a couple of weeks of inconvenience.”

  More like a couple of months, Piper bet. “It’s not the inconvenience. I owe my clients confidentiality and privacy. You can hear everything and, incidentally, so can they. I’m not thrilled that they’re privy to details about my new business venture.”

  “What about Anna? She’s been able to hear everything, too.”

  “But until you moved in here, I had no idea how much. So points to Anna for discretion.”

  “Thank you!” they heard.

  They caught each other’s eyes and broke into laughter, the tension evaporating.

  “Point taken,” Dancie said. “But I don’t want to blow my start-up capital on office rental, so how about this. I’ll try to be away when you have clients coming in. I can work at home or, better yet, I’ll bring my laptop to Mikey’s and work on the web interface there.”

  Piper raised her eyebrows. “Mikey?”

  “Our web guy.” Dancie tucked her hair behind her ear and avoided Piper’s eyes.

  She likes him. Piper smothered her smile. Finally, a man had caught Dancie’s interest. She’d been even worse than Piper about finding a man she liked.

  “If you were gone, that would really help. And maybe Anna can group my in-person appointments so we can have blocks of time when you know you can work here. It’ll be more efficient for me, anyway.”

  “I’m on it,” they heard.

  “Thanks, Anna.” Piper didn’t have to raise her voice.

  “That works for me,” Dancie agreed. She picked up the stack she’d brought in. “I’ll take these back to Travis.”

  “Why?”

  Dancie looked puzzled. “I know how much Mark pissed you off. And showing up at Friezen’s like that…” Dancie shook her head. “You’ve been twitchy ever since you got back yesterday.”

  Piper shifted in her office chair. Twitchy was one way to describe it.

  “The fact that you were still willing to work with him to help me is why I’m not more angry at you right now. But we’ve arranged the working situation here, so you don’t have to take him as a client now.” She turned to leave.

  “Uh…hang on.”

  Slowly, Dancie did an about-face and eyed her warily.

  Yeah, it was hard to hide stuff from someone who knew you well, but that didn’t stop Piper from trying. “I gave my word.”

  “So ungive it.”

  “He already made an appointment. It’ll be okay.”

  Dancie walked very slowly to the desk and set the stack of résumés on it. Then she looked at Piper. “Be careful.”

  * * *

  MARK WAS NOT THE TYPE who looked back. The past was the past and he couldn’t change it. The future held no guarantees, so he concentrated on living in the present. He did allow himself to feel regret on occasion. He even, in spite of what Piper thought—and apparently most of the media world as well—considered several possible courses of action before taking one. He simply considered quickly and operated on his first impression or gut feeling most of the time. He’d found that dwelling on the problem or overthinking it either made it bigger or led him right back to his original impulse, anyway.

  So thinking about Piper and considering calling her when he actually dreamed about her—dreamed, for God’s sake—was not beneficial. His first opinion, that getting involved with her wouldn’t work and would probably result in a hugely messy complication, was the right one. No, it was the correct one. That didn’t make it right.

  Mark set down the new electronic tablet he was testing for this next assignment. Right. Testing it by cyber-stalking Piper. He drew a breath and blew it out in disgust. He told himself he was “checking her credentials.” Except for the fact that it should have been something he’d done before approaching her, it was a plausible lie. Too bad he didn’t believe it. It was a sorry day when a man couldn’t lie to himself.

  Walking over to the tiny balcony of his condo, Mark slid open the glass, and stepped outside. The night air was cool, but lacked the crispness he’d sought to clear his head. He stared at the Austin skyline and the brightly lit streets below. Faintly, he could hear laughter and the heavy bass of music being played outdoors as university students partied.

  The truth, unpalatable though it was, was that he wanted to see Piper again. Not to work, just to be with her. He didn’t like the questions she asked, or more accurately, didn’t like his answers. She stirred up bad memories and invaded his dreams. And still he wanted to be with her.

  It was that damn kiss. It had been sweet. Sweet. Not a word anyone used to describe him or anything about him. Mark Banning didn’t do sweet. So what had that been about? He’d barely touched her and she’d melted in his arms. He’d been content to keep kissing her and kissing her, even when he’d pressed her against the tree and his body wa
nted more.

  When he’d kissed her, he’d felt…things. He didn’t want to name those things, either. Didn’t want to think about them. But that one kiss had affected him more profoundly than any he’d given or received during the most passionate lovemaking. It had affected her, too, judging by her shocked expression. She hadn’t welcomed the feelings it aroused any more than he had, as demonstrated by her refusal to see him again. Not that he’d asked to see her again, but the implication was there.

  We’re done.

  Hell of an implication.

  Gripping the railing, Mark inhaled deeply. She might be able to ignore that kind of a kiss, but he couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

  No, they weren’t done. They were just getting started.

  * * *

  “ARE THOSE THE LUCKY winners?” Dancie came to stand next to her by the file table in Piper’s office.

  Piper nodded. On the long table, she’d grouped the résumés with photographs clipped to them. As Dancie watched, Piper moved one between groups, made a frustrated sound, and moved it back.

  “Piper, their rank doesn’t matter if they’re all going to interview with Mark.”

  “It does matter. This is like a chess game. I’m sending him these applicants first.” She pointed to the group on the far left. “And he’s going to reject them all.”

  “Then don’t send them to him.”

  “I have to,” Piper said. “He’s going to reject the first group no matter what because he wants to establish that he’s important and unique and complex, and that it won’t be easy to find someone worthy. He wants me to work at it.”

  “You have been working at it,” Dancie argued. “Some might say obsessively, but I’m not going to.”

  “He has to see the effort I’ve made. Trust me on this,” Piper told her. “So, I’m saving the best candidates for the second round. But if I don’t give him some pretty good ones in the first batch, he’ll figure out what I’m doing and reject those and the second group.” She tapped the résumé she’d moved. “But I hate to sacrifice this one because she’s really good.”

  “Maybe he won’t reject her.”