by Unknown
Mistake. The warning went off in his mind like a Klaxon the instant he felt her plastered against him, all slim curves and yielding flesh. He drew in a breath, but that was a mistake, too, as her scent filled his head, a faint trace of exotic flowers and something that was exclusively, erotically Mallory.
Like a bomb going off, temper exploded into something much, much hotter.
He tossed the money to the ground. Fisting his hand in the heavy silk of her hair, he tipped back her head and claimed her mouth.
If she resisted, it was for the barest second. Then with a shaky little sound that made every muscle in his body tighten, she crowded closer, wound her arms around his neck and hungrily kissed him back.
God, those lips. Sleek, plump, soft, so soft. How often over the years had he wondered how she’d taste, how she’d feel?
Now he knew. And he, who prided himself on always being in control, wasn’t.
He wanted to plunder, possess, eat her up.
And touch. Limited by their layers of clothing, he settled for sliding his hand out of her hair to cup the curve of her jaw, trail the pad of his thumb down to the shallow notch at the base of her throat. Her skin felt like satin, and his breathing sped up as he imagined her naked. He knew with a certainty he didn’t question she’d be silk soft all over.
He raked his teeth against her bottom lip. She shuddered, then the damp tip of her tongue strafed his upper lip and every Y chromosome in his body stood up and howled.
Bending his knees, he slid his arm from her waist to the firm undercurve of her ass, boosting her up to give himself better access. With another needy little sound she clamped her thighs against his hips.
It was all the encouragement he needed to slide his tongue into the hot sweetness of her mouth. She widened her lips, inviting him deeper, meeting each thrust of his with a welcoming one of her own until he felt as if the top of his head was going to blow off. And still the kiss grew hotter, more demanding, an act of possession that had some primitive part of his brain calculating the number of feet to the SUV’s wide backseat.
Yet even as he pictured himself laying her down, stripping away her clothes, the protector in him registered the sound of a door opening somewhere up the street. It was followed by a chorus of adolescent male voices raised in a mixture of taunts and laughter that was slowly drifting closer.
As a former military officer, he knew all about young men, rampaging hormones, the pack mentality. Add in that these youngsters were more likely to be gangbangers than Boy Scouts and he had to wonder—
What the hell was he doing? Since when did he forget his surroundings to make out on a darkened sidewalk in a bad part of town?
A week ago the answer would’ve been never. But not anymore.
Not since Mallory had somehow managed to turn him inside out and upside down.
That was no excuse for him behaving like a hormonal teenager himself, however. Much less acting in a way that could draw unwanted attention her way, jeopardizing her safety.
He brought his head up, breaking their contact, and abruptly set her on her feet. “Mal.” His voice was harsh with the cost of his reacquired restraint.
“Hmm?” She stared blankly at him.
He steadied her as she swayed. “Come home with me.”
“What?” Although her voice was still a velvety rasp, her passion-dazed eyes were starting to clear.
“It’s late, it’s cold, you shouldn’t be here by yourself.” He ignored the little voice that urged him to just shut up, throw her over his shoulder and cart her back to his cave. “Come home with me,” he repeated. “We can sort things out in the morning.”
“I—” She took a jerky step back. “No. I—” She dampened her lips with her tongue and to his chagrin it was all he could do not to groan out loud. “Ohmigod. I can’t believe I just did that. That I let you…” She made a strangled sound and retreated another step, nearly tripping over her forgotten handbag, which at some point she’d dropped on the ground.
He reached out to catch her and she wrenched away. “Don’t,” she said sharply, scooping the purse from the snowy slush and clutching it to her breasts like a shield. “I…I need to go.”
The hell of it was, unless she was going to miraculously change her mind and get in the car, she was right.
Not that she appeared to require his permission. Turning on her heel, she fled toward her building, wrenched open the main door with its useless lock and disappeared out of sight inside, leaving him alone in the night.
He waited until the lights in her unit went on, standing his ground as the small group of teenagers finally sauntered by, jostling and talking trash to each other, yet giving him a wide berth. Intuitively they seemed to know it would be an extremely bad idea to tangle with him.
Not until the boys rounded the corner and the street was quiet once again did he turn and start for his car. He was almost to the curb when something on the ground caught his eye.
Bending down, he saw it was the money Mallory had tossed at him. He picked it up and straightened. Smoothing the bills out, he saw that in her anger she’d only managed to hurl about half of the cash he’d returned to her back at him.
He supposed he ought to be glad she hadn’t tossed the whole damn purse at him.
The errant thought brought a faint smile to his mouth. It grew nominally wider as he considered the implication of the dazed look that had been on her face when he’d had to set her away from him. No matter what she might say in the future, she wanted him.
And he wanted her. Not for forever, he thought as he folded the cash and slipped it into his breast pocket. Forever was a very long time, and at this stage in his life, after devoting most of the past twenty years to his brothers’ welfare, he didn’t see himself signing on for more than right now with anyone.
But that didn’t mean he was just going to walk away from what he wanted, either.
Five
“N ow let me see…” An insincere smile on her flawlessly made-up face, Nikki Victor-Volpe looked away from Mallory to contemplate her immaculately manicured fingertips. “You worked on Bedazzled in some capacity for how long…?”
“Nine years,” Mallory replied steadily, even though she knew perfectly well that Nikki already knew the answer. Both of them had volunteered to work on the event during their junior year at the exclusive private prep school they’d both attended, where a public service stint was a graduation requirement.
But even if Nikki had suffered a temporary brain lapse—not, Mallory supposed, completely out of the realm of possibility considering the amount of empty space in the blonde’s expensively coiffed head—the information was also in the extensive application she’d had Mallory fill out.
The one visible in the opened folder on Nikki’s lap.
Mallory reminded herself that being made to jump through Nikki’s little hoops didn’t matter, not compared to how much she wanted this job. The Bedazzled Ball was the most prestigious of Denver’s charity events, a mammoth black-tie affair that raised a huge amount of money each year for a worthy local cause.
While most of the work was done by volunteers, the job of event coordinator was a paid position. And though the coordinator put in mostly part-time hours up until the months directly preceding the event, the job came with a prorated salary since it was normally filled after the previous year’s ball.
Now, with only six weeks to go until the big night, the position had suddenly become available. While that was unusual in itself, the fact that someone on the steering committee had thought of Mallory as a potential replacement and had instructed Nikki, the committee secretary, to call and ask if she’d be interested, was a miracle.
One she intended to try her best to capitalize on. That’s why she’d spent hours at the library yesterday reading everything she could about the charity. It was the reason she’d changed clothes six times this morning before settling on exactly the right outfit and shown up at Bedazzled’s downtown offices for her interview fo
rty minutes early.
Because not only did she really, really want this job, she needed it. For the obvious reason—she was desperate for gainful employment—but also because it would give her some much-needed experience to add to her résumé, a chance to do work that was actually meaningful, and a shot, however slim, at landing a similar, hopefully longer-term position in the future.
It was just an added bonus that it might also help her forget the blinding speed with which she’d turned into a sex-crazed nymphomaniac at the first touch of Gabriel’s lips.
His hot, hard, drugging, lay-me-down-and-do-me lips.
Oh, God. Heat twisted through her despite the chilly temperature of the conference room where she and Nikki sat. Without even closing her eyes she could recall the weight of his hand in her hair, the warm roughness of his palm sliding over her throat, the heady taste of his tongue moving against her own. And the singular sensation of the dense, steely muscles in his chest and abdomen flexing against her front as he’d lifted her up, pressing her against his—
No, no, no. She absolutely wasn’t going there. Not here, not now, not again. It was bad enough that she seemed to be incapable of purging her mind of those thigh-clenching memories. But what did it say about her character that the episode could intrude into her thoughts at such a crucial time?
Maybe that you were right all those years to fear your attraction to him? Because now you know what before you only suspected—that one touch, one taste, one embrace won’t ever be enough?
No. Absolutely not. Unconsciously sitting up a little straighter, Mallory did her best to dismiss that last idea. If she was hung up on what had happened, it was simply because he’d caught her at a vulnerable moment. Exhausted by another long day, punch-drunk from having eaten her weight in carbohydrates, she’d been feeling relaxed, a little sleepy, almost…happy. And then with a few offhand sentences he’d reduced her to some sort of obligation, demolishing her already mangled pride.
Big surprise that she’d gotten mad. Or that when he’d grabbed her the way he had, all the emotion she’d been holding in the past few months, the fear, frustration, disappointment and loneliness, had simply bubbled up, turned into a soupy sea of lust and swept her away.
Yes, it was beyond mortifying that he’d been the one to put an end to the kiss—and that to do it he’d had to practically peel her off his front.
But so what? She’d endured worse. Hadn’t her mother walked out when Mallory was nine to make a new life with a man who didn’t want kids? And then there was her darling father, who’d done what he had without a thought to her happiness, much less any concern about what would happen to her when he left.
But that’s not Gabe. He does care. That’s why he came looking for you, has tried to make your apartment safer, keeps offering to help you out. Isn’t a large part of the reason you can’t let this go because it rankles that what he seems to care about most is doing the right thing, not you specifically? And that, far more importantly, there’s a part of you that still wants to take the easy path, to lean on him and let his broad shoulders carry some of your responsibilities?
Maybe, she answered reluctantly, unwilling to concede there was any truth to what she was thinking, but at the same time unable to dismiss it out of hand.
Yet just the possibility that on some level she wanted to let Gabriel take care of her was alarming. And yet another reason she needed him to keep his distance—which she’d done her best to insure in the note she’d sent him along with the rest of his cash.
And if they did cross paths? She intended to treat him the way she once had—as a distantly amusing acquaintance, nothing more. No matter what he said or did, she intended to smile, make polite conversation and go her own way, her dignity, her virtue, her heart intact.
The reminder steadied her. Suddenly feeling back in control, she refocused her attention on the interview where it belonged. “I worked on the ball for nine years,” she said to her former classmate. “Starting in high school.”
“Oh, yes, that’s right.” Nikki nodded as if it was news to her.
“At one time or another, I’ve headed all of the major committees. Entertainment, venue, refreshments, publicity. I think that gives me a good overview of what needs to be done, when and by whom.”
“I suppose it does.” The other woman tapped her right index finger against her cheek. “We did make some changes last year, however. I don’t believe you were here then, were you?”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“Didn’t you resign from your committee?”
“Yes.” Although it wasn’t easy, Mallory kept her voice even. “I did.” This time last year the first rumors of trouble had started to swirl around her father. Certain that it was all just a mistake, and shocked by how quickly people she’d known her whole life had been to believe the worst, she’d decided to take a break from Denver until he got things straightened out.
Which of course, he never had.
She lifted her chin the merest fraction. “But I’ve always been a quick study, and I assume that everything I’d need to know is in your former planner’s files. And that if I missed anything—” she forced herself to smile “—you or someone else who worked on the event last year would be happy to set me straight.”
Nikki sniffed. “You’re certainly right about that.”
All right, so the conversation didn’t exactly seem to be going great. Mallory told herself not to panic. There was still a chance she could turn things around.
Swallowing her pride, she leaned forward. “If you’ll just give me an opportunity to show what I can do,” she said earnestly, “I promise you won’t be sorry, Nikki. I’ll work harder than anyone else you might be considering.”
The blonde pursed her lips, then suddenly gave the exasperated sigh of someone forced to perform a truly oppressive task. “I guess you should know that April, the former coordinator, didn’t just leave. She was fired.”
“Oh.” It was a startling piece of news simply because, as far as Mallory knew, it was the only time in the charity event’s fifty-five-year history that it had happened.
“‘Oh’ is right. When she started, we all thought we were so lucky because she seemed so efficient and organized and she kept agreeing to take on tasks that have always been handled by the volunteers. But as we recently discovered, she was in way over her head right from the start, and when things started to pile up, she just set them aside and pretended they didn’t exist.”
“What sort of things?”
For the first time in the interview Nikki actually looked a little uncomfortable. “Well…there happen to be lots of little items. Deposits and payments that were never sent to various suppliers, an incomplete list of this year’s sponsors, and it seems none of the programs or merchant flyers have been put together, much less sent to the printers. Then there’s also the fact that at present we don’t have anyone contracted to provide the music for the big night.”
Mallory considered. While it sounded as if it would be a huge amount of work to get everything back on track, so far none of the obstacles seemed insurmountable.
“There’s also a problem with the venue for the fashion show.”
“What’s that?”
Nikki shrugged. “We don’t have one.”
Mallory stared at her in disbelief. “But it’s always held at the Botanic Gardens.”
“Not anymore. Apparently they changed their policy years ago about allowing outside fund-raisers, but we were an exception because Mrs. Wentworth sat on both boards. When her health forced her to step down last year, that changed. Only April didn’t bother to mention it.”
For once, Nikki was absolutely right, Mallory decided. It was a huge problem since most of the sites that could accommodate such an event—and all of the best ones—would already be booked by other organizations.
Still, if she put her mind to it, she was sure she could come up with a solution. And when she did, it would surely improve her odds of landing a more
permanent position in the future.
She took a breath and sat up a little straighter. “I realize it won’t be easy,” she told Nikki, “but I’m sure I can handle it.”
“I take it that means if the job were offered to you, you’d take it?”
“Yes.” Mallory sat back and prayed. “Yes, I would.”
“Oh, all right then.” Nikki shut the file with a snap.
Mallory stared at her in surprise. “Does that mean…I’m hired?”
“I suppose so.” The blonde smiled humorlessly at her. “Since the board already agreed the job was yours if you wanted it.”
“They did?” She tried to take it in, too stunned to even be mad about Nikki’s apparently needless inquisition.
“Yes. Although I’m sure it’s only because they’ve been unable to find anyone else on such short notice. All the really qualified people are working on other projects.”
“Right.” She’d gotten the job. She was Bedazzled’s new event coordinator. Between this and cousin Ivan’s behest, she could finally start to look toward the future instead of expending all of her energy on just trying to survive.
It was all she could do not to leap up, grab Nikki and dance around the room. Probably not a great idea in light of the other woman’s hostility.
“So.” Nikki gave an exasperated little huff. “How soon can you start?”
Mallory didn’t hesitate. The quicker she got to work, the harder it would be for them to change their mind. “Right now if you’d like.”
“I suppose that would be for the best. Since April left, nobody seems to have a clue what anyone else is doing. Of course, you’ll have to fill out some paperwork first.” She reached out, reopened the file, riffled through it and extracted a handful of papers. She thrust them at Mallory. “Here. It’s the standard stuff, W-2, medical and emergency forms. I assume you don’t need any help?”
“I think I can manage.”
“I’ll leave you to it, then.” Tossing back her hair, she stood. “When you’re done, come and find me and I’ll show you your office, get you some keys and a current copy of the event schedule. As you’ll see, there are a lot of things on the calendar, starting with a party this weekend out at the O’Keefe’s in Lone Tree.”