Tawny shrugged. “We’ve always balanced each other out. I guess I wanted to keep it that way.”
They had always balanced each other out. From the moment they’d met in college, they’d been there for each other, keeping each other’s lives on track. At least, they used to be there for each other. These last years Jillian obviously hadn’t been there for Tawny. If she had, she would have known that the vivacious woman her friend acted like was nowhere near to her true character, just as Tawny had known the truth about her.
“So what do you plan to do now?” Tawny asked.
Become the person she used to be. Take the time to pay more attention to those around her. Focus on the job she had instead of the one she’d convinced herself she wanted. Tawny had been right about the job, as well. She hadn’t wanted it; she hated managerial-type work. Somewhere along the way she’d convinced herself that attaining the high-up position would bring her absolution from her past mistakes. If Larry’s reaction to her wardrobe and hairstyle change was a sign, she’d been absolved long ago. At least, by everyone but herself. “Be happy with who I am and what I have.”
Tawny smiled. “Good for you, but I actually meant about Brendan. What happened there, Jilly? Was it just about the job? He got it, so you gave up on him?”
Jillian stared at her in stunned silence. Was this the same woman who’d warned her that Brendan wasn’t the kind of man to want long-term and that she should never care about? “I figured you’d be happy I quit seeing him.”
“I might have been once, but that was before I had a chance to get to know him past his reputation. The rumors are wrong. He loves you, and it’s obvious to anyone who looks beyond his bogus smile that he’s miserable without you.”
Jillian’s breath caught. Brendan was miserable over her? It seemed impossible, but Tawny wouldn’t make up something like that. “I don’t know what happened. I did blame him for my not getting the job. He told me it was my own fault because of the way I acted. I didn’t want to believe it, but…”
“You do.”
“Larry’s been treating me so differently this week. Almost everyone has. For the first time in years I feel like a part of this company, of its people. I feel happy. Almost.”
“I hate to say it, but you’re the only one keeping that almost from becoming a completely.”
She was right. It was something Jillian had been slowly accepting. Because of his reputation and because of how much her feelings had been wrapped up in things, she’d jumped to conclusions with Brendan and had been too quick to accuse. She’d screwed up, and in doing so had lost the best thing that ever happened to her, the man who’d made her see the truth about herself whether she wanted to or not.
Only, if what Tawny said was accurate and Brendan was miserable, then maybe she hadn’t lost him yet. Maybe he was just waiting for her to make his fantasy come true.
Brendan laughed at the remark made by the woman in his arms. It was a hollow sound that anyone who knew him would know was feigned. This woman didn’t know him enough to suspect anything was wrong.
Something was wrong. Jilly hadn’t come to the costume party.
He was willing to accept her coolness toward him at work and do his part by keeping his distance in return. He couldn’t accept her risking her job to avoid him. Larry had ordered that all account specialists and higher-ups attend this party for the Wild Side. That she hadn’t come wouldn’t go unnoticed.
“This party is a marvelous idea. What a wonderful way for everyone to have a chance to mingle and get to know the faces behind the names.”
He smiled down at his dance partner and nodded his agreement. As concerned as he was over Jilly’s absence, he couldn’t let it show, particularly to this woman, the senior manager for the Wild Side. “I’m glad you’re enjoying—”
“Forgive my rudeness, but I need to cut in.”
Brendan stopped short at the sound of Jilly’s voice. He wouldn’t miss that husky yet authoritative tone anywhere. The woman in his arms stepped back to look at Jilly. Brendan swiveled to take her in as well, and the air came to a standstill in his lungs.
A sparkling silver band pulled her hair back from her face. Her cheeks were speckled with matching silver sparkles, her eyelashes coated in a dark green that matched her short green, strapless dress perfectly. Wings sprouted from her back. Fairy wings tipped in shimmering silver and green. “You look…”
She smiled. “Like a fantasy come to life?”
Like he wanted to take her home and show her exactly what happened when Captain Hook got Tinkerbell alone. His cock stirred to attention. “Yes,” he said thickly.
Jilly’s smile stretched into her eyes, warmth exuding from her to an extreme she’d never before allowed around him. He started to reach for her, when he remembered they weren’t alone.
He turned back to Doreen Popple. “Doreen, this is Jillian Lowery, Neilson & Sons’ finest account specialist. Jillian, Doreen is a senior manager with the Wild Side.”
“The Wild Side,” Jilly repeated, her voice a whisper, her smile gone. She looked to the other woman and regret filled her eyes. “Oh, God. If I’d known who you were I never would have cut in like that. I’m so sorry. Please don’t let my unprofessional actions shape your opinion of Neilson & Sons. This company is wonderful. Brendan is the perfect person to see to your nee—”
Doreen’s laugh cut her off. “Relax, dear. I would never let my opinion of an entire company be shaped by one employee. Even if I was, you have nothing to be concerned about. A woman is entitled to dance with her man whenever she wants.”
Doreen made her way off the dance floor. Jilly watched her go with wide eyes and a slack jaw reminiscent of the fish-face look she’d given Brendan that first morning in the boardroom.
What the hell was going through her mind? As usual, he had no idea. “Jilly? Are you okay?”
She turned back to him. “I…I thought I did it again. I thought I lost another account for Neilson.”
“Another account? You’ve done it before?”
She nodded, her stunned expression fading. “Yes. Four years ago at the company New Year’s party. Tawny and I drank too much. When I drink, I can get very friendly. I ended up kissing this guy; it was a surface kiss, but his wife didn’t care about that. She was the proprietor of a hotel chain I was marketing a grand-scale presentation to. She was about to sign with Neilson, but…she didn’t after that. She told Larry I was incompetent, and that if he was smart he’d get rid of me before I lost him the rest of his business. I thought…”
The dread that had overtaken Jilly when she’d learned who Doreen was suddenly made sense, as did every other thing about her. The reason she’d acted the way she had for so long, why she’d believed Larry liked her better cool. Even the way she’d attempted to distance herself from Brendan. “You thought you did it again.”
“Yes.”
Relief assailed him. He grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her into his arms. “You didn’t, sweetheart, so you can relax and dance with me. Doreen expects it. I wouldn’t let her down.”
She shook her hand free and pushed at his chest. “Brendan. Please. I need to—”
“Go?” he finished, not missing the return of her anxiety.
He’d thought her behavior before had been solely because of Doreen. Now he realized otherwise. She hadn’t come here to make amends, but merely to show him what he’d never again have. His gut lurched. He pushed the sensation aside and pulled her tightly to him. There was no reason to fear she would feel his erection; that had gone the moment he’d realized he wasn’t wanted. “Let me have this one dance, Jilly. After that you never have to talk to or come near me again.”
“What?” she squeaked out, tipping her head back to reveal panic in her eyes. “But I want to! It’s the reason I came here tonight. The reason I dressed the way I did. You were right, about everything. I thought Larry hated me after what happened that last time. That I had to earn his and everyone else’s respect all over aga
in. And maybe I did have to, but I took it to extremes. I made myself so cold I didn’t even like me. It’s the reason that lately I’ve felt like I would explode at every turn, because I couldn’t handle not being me any longer. This week I came to work as the real me and it was great. I feel like I actually fit in again. I’m happy for the first time in years.”
Brendan shook his head at her rambling words, at the fact she’d admitted to his being right. At the reality she truly had come here for him. She did want him. And he wanted her, too. Wanted to crush her to him and never let go. Instead he loosened his hold. “You’re completely happy?”
“Well, almost.”
“What would it take to make you completely happy?”
Her lips curved into a naughty smile. She dropped her attention to the vicinity of his mouth and rubbed her pelvis against his. This time it wasn’t just his cock that stirred to life, but the soul-deep hunger for her he’d spent the past days doing his best to forget. “A kiss wouldn’t hurt, for starters. Then you could tell me that you love me six or seven hundred times. That is, assuming you love the real me and aren’t just infatuated with the heartless-witch version.”
He chuckled and allowed himself to pull her close again. The heartless-witch version of Jilly had its moments, but the warm, soft and sensual version had a whole lot more. “A kiss? In front of all these people? Do you really want to admit you’re that taken by the competition?”
“You’re not my competition anymore. I got what I needed most. I got myself back. And you got what you deserved.”
“But what about what I want?”
“What do you want?”
“You to admit that you love me.”
Her eyes twinkled and she glanced around them. “In front of all these people? But what about your reputation? Are you really ready to say good-bye to your bad-boy ways?”
“Sweetheart, just because I plan to spend the rest of my days with one woman doesn’t mean I plan to stop being a bad boy. In fact, I already have some wicked thoughts underway about how I plan to show Tinkerbell everything Peter Pan forgot to.” He accentuated the words with a playful pump of his hips.
Jilly laughed and moved her hips against his in return. “Are you going to tear off my clothes again? Because I have to tell you, I’m pretty partial to this costume. It makes me feel special, like I can do anything without having to worry about pleasing others.”
Brendan glanced down the front of her dress, at the perfect view of her cleavage his height provided. Between the thought of filling his palms with her lush breasts and the carnal way she rubbed against his aching dick, he was more than ready to rush her to a dark corner and rip off the dress. Only, if he did that, she wouldn’t be able to wear it again. As partial as she claimed to be to the Tinkerbell costume, he was even more so. “The costume stays intact, but only if you say the magic words.”
“I love you, Brendan Jordan. I was wrong and you were right. Happy now?”
More so than he ever believed he could be after hearing a woman speak those words. “Yeah,” he said teasingly, “but the magic words I had in mind were actually please and thank you.”
Jilly swatted his arm and laughed. “You drive me crazy. Now stop messing around and get to work. You owe me a kiss.”
“You’ve got it, sweetheart.” He lowered his mouth to hers slowly, thrilling in the expressions that soared across her face. He touched down on the softness of her lips for an instant, then glanced back up at her eyes and grinned. “Ar, prepare to be plundered, me pretty….”
Night Secrets
1
“Y ou really have to learn to keep your mouth shut.”
Stuffing a runaway red ringlet back into her ponytail, Tawny Madison frowned at her reflection in the bedroom mirror. Shimmering hot-pink lipstick layered her lips and a matching low-cut shirt molded to her breasts, thrusting the better part of her cleavage into prime viewing territory. It was amazing she could breathe for how tightly her jeans fit.
She looked like the brazen, wanton woman she’d built herself up to be, at least in the public eye. At home she wasn’t that woman. Only, tonight she had to be, and that’s exactly why she should have kept her mouth shut.
Considering it had been ten months since she’d shared more than breathing space with a man, she ought to be happy for tonight’s events. So her evening plans lacked the ingredients that made up a hot date—namely the hot part and the date part—but spending the night helping out a guy in need had to be more entertaining than her typical Monday night routine of a mud mask and solo scrapbooking session. Since her best friend Jilly was in the process of settling down permanently with her fiancé, most every other night was just as pathetically boring as Mondays. At least she had Wednesdays. The weekly book-club meetings offered the chance for mingling. She was even becoming friends with Joyce Donovan, the quiet bookstore manager who organized the meetings.
Tawny smiled at the thought of the petite blonde. It was a shame she wasn’t awaiting Joyce’s arrival. Helping the woman conquer whatever fears kept her from speaking her thoughts had to be a whole lot easier than helping Andrew Korben accomplish the impossible.
Andrew Korben. A recent hire at Neilson & Sons, the Atlanta-based advertising firm Tawny worked for. Andrew Korben. The information technology specialist who could talk for hours about bits and bytes and a whole bunch of other technical mumbo jumbo she couldn’t even begin to comprehend. Andrew Korben. The computer geek who expected her to work miracles.
Thanks to her ridiculous I’m every man’s wet-dream woman; hear me roar, scream and pant guise, Andrew thought she was a social butterfly with a full date book and a heavily notched bedpost. He believed it wouldn’t be hard at all for Twany to bring him to that same level of sexual magnetism by way of an extreme makeover. Tawny couldn’t perform miracles. If her lack of bad dates—let alone the ones that ended with mutual orgasms and twisted sheets—was any sign, she wasn’t even a social moth.
If it weren’t for her big mouth and inability to say no to those in need, particularly one in so great a need as Andrew Korben, she would never be in this predicament.
But her big mouth had done its usual thing, and she was in this predicament of teaching enticement skills she didn’t even possess to an honest-to-god computer geek. Judging by the ringing of the doorbell, the computer geek—er, Andrew—was right on time.
With a vow to never agree to anything so foolish again, Tawny made her way to the front door. Smiling broadly, she opened it. Light from the houses that surrounded hers in the subdivision splintered through the darkness of late fall to showcase Andrew wearing a smile of his own. Really, it wasn’t such a bad smile. For sure something she could work with.
She stepped back and gestured for him to come inside. “Great! You’re right on time. Punctual’s always a good quality.” Unlike perky. A little perky here and there had its moments. Playing the quintessential perky woman 70 percent of the time was enough to drive a person bonkers.
Andrew stepped into the entryway that connected to the living room and looked around. Long seconds passed as his gaze shifted from one corner to the other. There wasn’t that much to take in, just the standard living room setup: TV, sofa, rocker, coffee table. A slight frown tugged at his lips. Tawny’s own smile drooped. She forced it back into place. Obviously, conducting a thorough study of every person’s home he visited was part of his nerd MO.
Another few seconds and he looked back at her, all trace of frown gone. “Thank you for agreeing to do this, Tawny. I know it has to cut into your nightlife.”
“Trust me, it’s my pleasure.” Liar. But it was a whole lot better of a response than, “What nightlife?” Not about to dwell on her sad lack of a sex life when she had someone else’s to ponder over, she took Andrew’s faded tan trench coat and indicated for him to have a seat on the sofa.
She hung the coat in the front closet, then sat cross-legged in the rocker across from him. The tightness of her jeans grew with the position. Thank god
she’d opted not to wear the miniscule pink thong that matched her gaudy shirt and lipstick. The scrap of lace that made up the rear of the panties would be buried so far up her ass cheeks it would take an extra-large winch to pull them back out.
“So, how do we start?” Andrew asked.
Good question, and the answer likely had nothing to do with a thong or a winch. Tawny made a picture frame with her thumbs and forefingers and looked at him through it. “Hold still and let me take you in.”
Dark eyebrows winged together behind black frame glasses with lenses thick enough to be doorstops. “You’ve seen me every day since I started working for Neilson three weeks ago. Do you really think I’m going to look any different now than all the other times?”
“I’ve seen you, yes, but I’ve never really looked at you as a man.”
“Oh.”
She winced. His response might as well have been, “Ouch,” the injury to his pride came through so clearly. She dropped her hands back at her sides. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded. I just meant…at work my mind is on whatever job I’m doing, not my coworkers’ appearances.”
“Oh.”
This “Oh” sounded more positive, so Tawny returned to her task of taking him in sans the picture frame. What she saw wasn’t as bad as she’d feared. Maybe not even impossible to make over. He had a decent face—straight nose, clean shaven, strong jaw and, as she’d already noted, his smile was decent. His eyes were a nice shade of hazel, even if the color was a bit distorted behind his glasses. His hair was a bit long and basic brown, but, then, there had been many a day she would have killed for boring brown hair instead of the mop of bright red curls she’d gotten stuck with.
The biggest problem was his personality. Outside of computers, technology, and anything associated with the two subjects, Andrew didn’t have much to talk about—unless he was different away from the office. But if he was, he wouldn’t be here now.
After Hours Page 10