by Ginna Gray
"Yeah. From where we sat, it sure looked like something was perking between the two of you." Dorothy cast a look around at her cohorts. "Didn't it, girls?"
"That's right," Jolene confirmed. "And we saw that business with Jack, too. So don't try telling us that Dirk asked you to dance out of duty, either."
"All right, I won't." Alissa stopped in front of the double mahogany doors and looked at her friends. "Look, ladies, I have to go to work, and if I'm not mistaken, the four of you do, too. So could we do this some other time?"
Annie sucked in a sharp breath and put her hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wide as she stared at Alissa over the top. "He did overhear us that day at the restaurant, didn't he? That was why he asked you to dance, wasn't it?"
"Of course!" Margo smacked her forehead with the heel of her hand. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"Yeah, it makes sense, now that I think of it," Jolene mused.
"Wait a minute." Dorothy looked back and forth between her friends. "You mean, he figured since Alissa has the hots for him, he might as well take advantage of the situation?"
"Either that, or he decided to embarrass her as payback," Margo drawled.
"Why, that—"
"Ladies, please. You're letting your imaginations run away with you."
Just as she had, Alissa thought. However, she was not ready to admit to her curious friends that she had gone out to dinner with Dirk. It was too soon in the relationship.
If there even was a relationship. At this point, anything could happen. By now, Dirk could have changed his mind about her. "It was simply a dance, and a holiday kiss under the mistletoe. An impulse. That's all. One Mr. Matheson, no doubt, regrets in the clear light of day. He had probably had too much wine. Now I really do have to go."
Mr. Battle kept Alissa hopping all morning, for which she was grateful. The busier she was, the less she had time to think about Dirk.
She typed a long and complicated environmental study and a proposal Mr. Battle had dictated for restructuring their West Coast Branch, based on the report that Dirk had turned in after his trip there the week before. Then she went down to the copy machine on the floor just below and ran off six copies of each document for a meeting scheduled for one o'clock.
At noon, when Margo called to ask where she wanted to go for lunch, Alissa had to beg off. She grabbed a candy bar from a vending machine in the employees' lounge and ate it as she worked.
The meeting was held in the conference room. As usual, Alissa attended to take notes. Dirk and the others were already there when she and Mr. Battle arrived, and his silver eyes homed in on her the instant she walked into the room.
Alissa darted a glance at him as she took her seat beside her boss and met that silvery stare. Her insides quivered at the memory of how he had kissed her the night before, and just as quickly, she looked away.
The intensity of his gaze made it difficult for her to keep her mind on her work, and that bothered her. No matter what crisis occurred or what kind of stress she had been under, either personal or businesswise, she had always handled her job with poise and efficiency. She prided herself on doing a good job, and it was upsetting that one look from Dirk could rattle her so.
Luckily, Alissa's hands and ears seemed to work independently of her emotions. Although she wasn't consciously listening to the discussion, her pencil flew over the steno pad, recording every word by rote. Though she told herself not to look at Dirk, now and then she could not resist a peek, and each time she found that he was still watching her with that unnerving intensity.
By the time the meeting finally ended, she felt as though a swarm of butterflies had taken up residence in her stomach.
Mr. Battle returned to his office through the door that connected it with the conference room. As the other men trailed out the main door, Alissa stayed behind and spent a few minutes clearing the conference table of coffee cups and crumpled wads of scratch paper. Performing the mundane chores also gave her the breather she needed to calm herself.
The effort was wasted. When she left the conference room, Dirk was waiting in the hall, and her heart gave a little leap. "Oh. You startled me."
"Sorry," he said, and fell into step beside her. He followed her into her office and closed the door behind them.
It was ridiculous to be so nervous, Alissa told herself. Nevertheless, she took refuge behind her desk. "Was there something you wanted?" she asked, trying to infuse a businesslike tone into her voice as she smiled pleasantly up at him.
"Yes." He braced his palms flat on her desk and leaned over it, bringing his face close to hers. "Ever since you walked into the conference room I've been wanting to tell you how beautiful you look today," he murmured.
Alissa stared at him, losing herself in the crystal depths of those silvery eyes. "Thank you," she whispered.
He studied her intently, his gaze skimming over her features one by one. "This is going to be more difficult than I thought it would be."
His black eyebrows were drawn together in a frown. Whatever he'd meant by the enigmatic statement, he didn't look pleased.
"Wh-what is?"
"Us. I thought I could keep you and work separate, but I've been thinking about you ever since I woke up this morning. And when you walked into the conference room looking so damned delicious, all I wanted was to carry you off somewhere private and make love to you. I don't think I heard ten words the whole damned meeting for thinking about what I wanted to do to you."
Alissa blushed scarlet, from her toes to her hairline. In her entire life, no man had ever talked to her that way, and the images his words brought to mind set pulses clamoring in some very intimate regions of her body.
She did not believe him, though, about missing the meeting. Dirk had a mind like a steel trap. He was perfectly capable of operating on several different levels simultaneously without ever missing a beat.
"I … I'm sorry. If you want to change your mind about us—"
He leaned forward and kissed her, hard, cutting off her words. When he raised his head, he gave her a wry smile. "Too late. I couldn't stop thinking about you now if someone held a gun to my head."
"Oh," she said in a breathless voice.
"Yes, oh. I told myself I was going to take it slow. Later in the week I was going to ask you to go out with me on Saturday, but I can't wait that long. Have dinner with me tonight."
Alissa stared helplessly at his chiseled features, her heart pounding. Excitement skittered through her. It probably wasn't wise to plunge into this thing with Dirk so fast. But with him her normal caution seemed to go right out the window.
"I'd like that." She could not hide the pleasure in her eyes. He stared at her for several seconds, then leaned down and kissed her again.
"I'll pick you up at seven."
After he'd gone, she was so keyed up she couldn't concentrate, and her hands shook as she tried to catch up with her routine filing.
Wise or not, it looked as though she had become Dirk's latest romantic interest.
The thought sobered her. His women rarely lasted more than six months, many even less. She wasn't foolish enough to think that she would be any different.
Apparently she had only two choices: She could break it off now and walk away only slightly bruised, or she could enjoy their relationship while it lasted and accept that he would eventually break her heart.
She looked at the telephone for a long time. She even went so far as to punch in Dirk's extension number, but in the end she knew it was too late. She was already in too deep.
* * *
Chapter 5
« ^ »
Except when Dirk had a business dinner or was out of town, Alissa saw him every evening over the next couple of weeks. In the beginning he either took her out each night or showed up on her doorstep with take-out food. After a while, however, Alissa insisted that he allow her to cook for them at least now and then.
Dirk was hesitant at first. "You've worked all day," he argued. "Wh
y should you come home and slave over a stove?"
"Don't be silly. It isn't slaving. I love to cook. Especially for a man with a hearty appetite like yours. Please, Dirk, let me do this," she pleaded. "It's been a long time since I've had a chance to cook for someone. It's no fun preparing a meal for just one person."
With reluctance, he acquiesced.
Being a homebody at heart, Alissa was good at domestic pursuits of all kinds, but cooking was her forte.
She went all out, preparing a sumptuous meal of fried chicken and gravy, light-as-air biscuits and an assortment of fresh vegetables, followed up by apple pie. After that, she had no trouble at all convincing Dirk to have dinner at home.
Most of the time, Alissa was deliriously happy, but she tried to be realistic. Common sense and Dirk's reputation as a confirmed bachelor convinced her that nothing permanent could come of their relationship. Therefore, she tried to hold her emotions in check and regard her time with him as merely a lovely but temporary interlude.
The strategy was doomed to failure. With each passing day, she fell a little more in love, and there didn't seem to be a thing she could do to prevent it.
She was beginning to suspect that the attraction she felt for Dirk, which had surfaced only a few months ago, had been simmering just beneath the surface for years, held in check by her love for her husband and the solid marriage they'd built together. Now, however, Tom was gone, and her feelings for Dirk were growing stronger the more she was around him.
Sadly, Alissa accepted that, come what might, she was going to be left with a broken heart. All she could do was enjoy the time she had with Dirk while it lasted, and brace herself for its inevitable end.
Often she did feel as though she were living out a fantasy. In his own take-charge way. Dirk was charming, affectionate and flatteringly attentive, and he seemed to be devoting all of his free time to her.
He was a fascinating man—intense and utterly masculine, with an innate, careless grace that made even the most casual action sexy. There was an aura of smoldering passion and mystery about him that she found unbearably exciting. One look from those pale eyes made her heart pound and sent delicious shivers skipping down her spine, and his touch turned her knees to water.
Alissa expected any day for Dirk to try to take their relationship to a more intimate level. She wondered what she would do when that time came, but no matter how much she thought about the matter, she could not seem to make a definite decision. Her upbringing had been strict and old-fashioned, and she wasn't comfortable with the idea of an affair. She had never had one before, not even with Tom, and she wasn't certain she was emotionally equipped to handle that sort of casual intimacy.
There was also the question of self-preservation. She loved Dirk and yearned to share the pleasure and closeness of physical intimacy with him, but she knew that an affair would make their parting even more difficult.
Alissa agonized over the decision constantly, vacillating back and forth, but all her fretting appeared to be for nothing. As the weeks passed and Christmas rapidly approached, their relationship remained platonic.
There was nothing platonic, however, about Dirk's kisses. When he drew her into his arms each evening, his good-night kisses were hot and steamy and so sensual Alissa went weak with longing. All she could do was cling to him helplessly, while her heart pounded and her body burned. At those times, he could have picked her up and carried her to her bedroom and she would not have uttered a word of protest.
But Dirk did not push, or even suggest that they deepen their relationship, even though she could tell that he was as affected by their kisses as she.
In the end, she accepted that he simply wasn't interested in having an intimate relationship with her. Most likely, she decided, he, too, had realized that an affair between them would make their working relationship awkward, especially when it ended, as all his relationships eventually did.
Though a little hurt, Alissa accepted his decision. It was probably for the best.
Dirk didn't know how much more punishment he could take.
After three days on the West Coast, he arrived at Houston Intercontinental Airport feeling antsy and irritable, his short supply of patience stretched to the limit. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why.
He had been wooing Alissa with excruciating slowness, always pulling back before things heated up between them until they were past the point of no return. The effort had cost him dearly, taxing his self-control to the limit.
He was concerned that if he tried to rush Alissa into a physical relationship before she was ready, she would bolt, and he didn't want risk losing her.
He had not been with another woman since that day in the restaurant, and his body was screaming for release. There were many women who would accommodate him, but he had never gone in for one-night stands or even casual flings. In addition to the health issues, he had always preferred a steady relationship with one woman.
Anyway, he didn't want just any woman; he wanted Alissa, dammit!
It wasn't merely sex, either, he admitted, a little irritably, as he tossed his bags into his car and climbed in behind the wheel. These past few days, while he was in California she had been on his mind constantly, to the point that he'd had difficulty concentrating on business. During meetings, or while he was trying to go over reports, he had found his thoughts straying to her over and over.
Even worse, in the evenings, alone in his hotel room, he had missed her so much he ached with longing. He had been tempted to call her merely to hear the sound of her voice. Only embarrassment at behaving like an adolescent in the first throes of puberty had stopped him.
No woman had ever affected him that way before, and he wasn't sure that he liked the feeling. Hell, he was forty years old. What the devil was the matter with him, obsessing over a woman like a lovestruck teenager?
As he drove away from the airport, he checked his watch. It was almost quitting time. He ought to go straight home. There was no pressing business that needed his attention, nothing that couldn't wait until morning at any rate. There was no need for him to go by the office.
Even as the thought went through his mind, he turned the Mercedes onto the freeway and headed for the Tex-Con building.
"Hiya, gorgeous."
Alissa looked up from shutting off her computer in time to see Jack Hennesey hitch a leg over the corner of her desk and lean toward her with a sexy grin. She gave him an indulgent smile and covered the monitor. "Hello, Jack. What brings you here this time of day?"
"Oh, I just thought I stop by and see how my favorite lady was doing. I've hardly had a chance to talk to you since the Christmas party."
"I'm doing just fine," she said, biting back a smile at the blatant fabrication. Jack was in and out of Mr. Battle's office every day, and he never passed up an opportunity to flirt with her.
"So I see." He studied her face through half-closed eyes. "You know, you've always been a knockout, but lately you've been looking particularly beautiful. You've almost got a glow about you. Why is that, I wonder?"
I'm in love, Alissa thought, but she didn't tell Jack that. She and Dirk had been discreet, and so far they had managed to keep their relationship a secret, and she would prefer to keep it that way.
Her enigmatic smile stayed firmly in place. "I think you're imagining things."
"Mmm. Maybe. But you do seem … I don't know … different, lately. Happier. More alive, somehow."
Alissa laughed. "I don't know what you mean."
He was silent for a few moments, but she could feel his gaze skimming over her profile. "I couldn't help but notice that you seemed to be enjoying yourself at the Christmas party."
"Yes, I did. Very much. That was the first time I had attended a big social event since my husband died."
"Well then, since you're apparently ready to venture out into the world again, how about having dinner with me tonight?"
"Oh, I—"
"Forget it, Hennesey."
/>
At the sound of that deep voice, Alissa's heart skipped a beat. She twisted in her chair and her gaze shot to the doorway as Dirk came striding in, his glacial stare pinned on the other man.
"Dirk!" she exclaimed, with an unconscious joy that caused Jack's eyes to narrow.
He didn't turn a hair, nor did his lazy smile waver, but a speculative gleam entered his eyes as his gaze slid back and forth between Alissa and Dirk.
"Well, well, look who's back," he drawled. "How was San Francisco?"
"Busy. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be? We don't pay you to sit around and flirt with the female staff."
Jack grinned. "I know. That's just one of the fringe benefits."
"Well you're wasting your time with Alissa, so beat it."
"If you don't mind, old buddy, I was asking the lady, not you," Jack drawled.
"Too bad. Alissa is busy tonight."
"Oh, yeah? Doing what?"
"Having dinner with me."
Dirk skirted around the end of her desk and plopped his briefcase down on top. Before Alissa realized his intent, he cupped his hand around her nape, leaned down and kissed her, hard.
The instant his lips touched hers, her senses scattered. Sitting absolutely still, she gripped the edge of her desk with both hands, while her pulses pounded in her ears and her stomach went woozy.
When he finally raised his head, he pulled back just a few inches and looked into her eyes. His own were smoldering. "Miss me?" he asked in a gravelly murmur.
Too overwhelmed to speak, Alissa nodded.
"And you are having dinner with me tonight, aren't you?"
They had made no such plans. She hadn't even known that Dirk would be returning so soon. She had intended to heat a can of soup for dinner and have an early night.
Alissa forgot all about Jack, standing just a few feet away, taking in every word. "Yes, please," she whispered.
She could not hide the pleasure in her eyes, and Dirk stared at her for several seconds, then leaned down and kissed her again.