Bad Behavior

by Kristin Hardy

  “So the truth is that it’s all about saving limo fare?”

  “That’s just a perk.” She could hear the laughter in his voice. “If you want to take me in your car, that’s fine with me.”

  “It sounds inconvenient. Maybe you ought to skip the reception.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said. “You can find my office address online, I assume. What time’s the reception?”

  “Seven.”

  “Then I’ll see you about six-thirty?”

  “But—” she sputtered.

  “Great. Hey, look, I’m at my meeting. Wish me luck.”

  “Break a leg,” Delaney muttered.

  “SO IS ZACH NERVOUS about his first show with his new band?”

  Delaney and Paige sat in the Middle East, one of their favorite lunch haunts. The walls bore murals of caravans winding their way through the desert. Etched glass lanterns in red and blue and gold threw cones of color down from above. It might have been in a strip mall, tucked between a nail salon and a dog grooming parlor, but it still had the best falafel in town.

  Paige considered Delaney’s question. “I think he’s more excited than nervous. He’s played too many shows to be spooked, and he’s already been onstage at McCalls. The night we got back together, remember?” Her mouth curved.

  “Look at you, all misty eyed.” It was hard to believe that it had been only four months since Paige’s world had completely changed. She was as ordered and practical as ever, but her life had opened up. It was impossible to think of her dating any of the tedious men she’d insisted on hanging out with before she’d fallen for Zach Reed, the blues guitar player from nowhere.

  “It’s funny.” Paige picked up a piece of pita. “I can remember what things were like without Zach, but I can’t think of why I wanted to live that way.”

  “It made sense at the time?”

  “I suppose. It sure doesn’t make sense to me anymore.”

  Delaney waggled her eyebrows. “Funny how getting laid good and proper will do that for you.”

  “You’re supposed to tell me it was the love of an honorable man,” Paige objected.

  “You want that, talk to Trish. Besides, it wasn’t the love of an honorable man, it was the lust of a bad boy that got you going.”

  “He’s not really a bad boy,” Paige objected. “He loves his grandmother.”

  Delaney raised her glass. “To bad boys with hearts of gold.”

  “That’s better.” Paige tapped her glass to Delaney’s.

  Delaney took a drink of her Coke. “I’m glad you finally saw the light. I think it’s good for you. And I think it’s great that you two can be involved without doing the whole marriage or living-together thing.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with getting married or sharing a house,” Paige objected.

  “Nothing wrong with being independent, either.”

  “It’s not about dependent or independent, at least to me. I like hanging out with Zach—he makes me happy. It kind of all flows from there.” She scooped up some hummus with a piece of pita bread. “So anyway, the gang’s going to get together at his show. You going to be there?”

  “Definitely.”

  “You can bring Dom, if you want.”

  “Dom?” Delaney scowled. “The last thing I need is more of Dom.”

  “I don’t see why you’re on the warpath about him. He’s put you in a good spot at work, he’s coming to the reception. You know you’re hot for him. What more do you want?”

  Dom, naked, against her. Dom, miles away. Delaney scowled. “I don’t like being trapped into things. That routine about me being his date…” She made a noise of impatience. “He’s a grown man. He’s perfectly capable of driving himself. He only threw around the airport thing to yank my chain.”

  “And you’re yanking his, when all either of you really wants to do is yank the other one’s clothes off. Why are you playing hard to get, anyway? You usually go right after what you want.”

  “And the fact that I’m not isn’t telling anybody anything?”

  Paige gave her a pitying look. “Don’t even tell me you’re not into him. I’ve seen you two guys together.”

  “Just because I’m into him doesn’t mean that I want to move on it.”

  “I don’t get it. What’s bugging you about it?”

  “I don’t know,” Delaney said aggrievedly. “I’m just…”

  Scared, she realized.

  “This isn’t the person I know,” Paige protested. “You never let guys get to you. Then again, you never get involved enough to let them get to you.”

  “Dom’s not getting to me.”

  Paige patted her hand. “I’m sure he’s not, dear, but a person who didn’t know better might think so.”

  Delaney scowled and stabbed at a piece of falafel. “You’re not funny.”

  “Neither are you, which is an anomaly in and of itself. What’s going on?”

  “It’ll sound dumb.”

  “No.”

  It even sounded dumb to her thinking about it, and it was infuriating that she couldn’t get it off her mind. “I know it was like forever ago when we broke up, but it was still crummy. I felt lousy for a month.”

  “A whole month.”

  “When you’re fourteen, a month is forever. And now, poof, he’s back. So, what, he can do it again? And Mexico was so perfect, like this magic thing. I don’t want to mess up the memory. I know, I know, it’s dumb.” She shredded a piece of pita. “It’s all dumb. We’re totally different people now. I mean, having a boyfriend at fourteen was kissing and talking on the phone, walking around holding hands. I know I can’t compare it to this but…”

  “But you like being in the driver’s seat when it comes to relationships.”

  “Damned right I do.” She could stay, she could leave, as she wanted. Good times, but nothing that would last. Nothing intense.

  Nothing that put her at risk.

  Delaney shook her head to ward off the thoughts. “I don’t want to try to do it for real and find out we drive each other crazy.” And she didn’t want to find herself watching him walk away.

  “Do you actually see that happening? He seems like a pretty low-key guy.”

  “I don’t know if he is or not. That guy I had a blast with down in Mexico, that guy you saw, isn’t him. Up here, he’s a suit. And that is so not my kind of guy. I like the bad boys, remember?”

  Paige threw her head back and laughed, a deep belly laugh that went on much longer than it needed to, in Delaney’s opinion.

  She glowered at Paige. “What?”

  “I seem to remember saying the opposite to you about Zach. You don’t do suits, I didn’t do bad boys. Funny how I wound up changing my mind.”

  “Real funny,” Delaney said sourly. “But think about it. You wanted to be settled down. You’ve always liked settled. That’s not me. That’s not my life.”

  “Then don’t get settled. Just have fun. See how it goes. You’ve never had any problems doing that before. If you decide he’s boring or you don’t like it, then leave.” She gave Delaney a penetrating look. “Or are you afraid that he won’t be boring and you won’t have an excuse to leave?”

  Delaney flushed. “I don’t have a problem with commitment, if that’s what you’re implying. I’ll get around to getting serious about a guy eventually. Someday.”

  “Someday being the operative word.”

  “What is it with you people who get paired off?” Delaney challenged. “You do it and suddenly you want everyone else to do it, too.”

  Paige shook her head. “I don’t want you to do anything. Except maybe be honest with yourself.”

  What was the problem? Delaney wondered. Yes, she wanted him. Yes, they’d had fun. So why did the idea of having an affair feel like walking out on a limb? She was always the one who took risks, she was always the one who did what felt good. This shouldn’t have been any different. If it got to where it wasn’t working out, then she’d jus
t walk away, the way she’d done so many times before.

  That wouldn’t be a problem here, right?

  10

  IT WAS ONE THING TO READ about Gordon’s Auto Centers on paper. It was another thing to see it. Sure, Delaney had done her homework. She knew what to expect. She’d seen G.A.C.’s garages with their distinctive red doors and their street corner locations. Three hundred and twenty-seven of them, to be exact, ranging from San Diego to Seattle, San Francisco to Denver. It stood to reason that the headquarters were not simply a backroom operation.

  It was still a surprise to pull up before the sleek, midrise office building and see the G.A.C. logo on the sign out front.

  “Wait here, please,” she murmured to the driver and dialed Dom’s number on her cell phone.

  It rang only once before he was on the line. “My limo service, I presume?” he said without preamble, his voice amused.

  Delaney’s brows lowered. “We’re down here in visitor parking.”

  “You’re not coming up to my office to get me?”

  “No, and we couldn’t get litter bearers on such short notice, either.”

  “Five minutes,” he promised.

  She ended the call and turned to survey the glossy, high-end offices of the fledgling G.A.C. empire. And to realize Dom was at the head of it.

  Forget about the mechanic she’d imagined Dom to be, the guy who changed brakes by day and did the books by night. That had been the father. This was the son, the son who’d taken Stan Gordon’s business from a handful of garages to a miniempire. She’d read the SEC prospectus as she’d prepared the advertising proposal she’d sent to Dom, she knew the growth curves. He’d made it happen. He wasn’t at all the guy she’d imagined in Mexico. He wasn’t the kind of guy she got involved with and yet she couldn’t help but admire him.

  And she couldn’t help but want to strip him naked and write out the Gettysburg Address over every inch of his body with the tip of her tongue.

  Of course, she hadn’t a clue what he wanted. Somehow, she couldn’t quite believe it was as simple as a good time in the sack. He was getting too much fun out of having her on the hook over the work thing. He struck her as the kind of guy who liked to be in control. And that wasn’t how Delaney played the game. She liked the choices to be hers, including whether to be in or out, as she pleased. If she did that with Dom, would things get ugly when she was the one who wanted to end it? Did she want to take a chance on that?

  Or on the possibility that he might walk away first?

  Then the front door of the building opened and her thoughts scattered completely as Dom walked out. He was in shirtsleeves and suspenders, a computer slung over one shoulder, his suit coat draped over his arm. With his free hand, he pulled a roll-on suiter, looking like some magazine spread of a rising executive. She’d never been one of those women who went gaga over guys in suits—guys in leather jackets and motorcycle boots were more her style—but there was something about the way he looked, square shouldered, narrow-hipped, that had her watching him.

  Bad boys didn’t wear suits. Then again, bad boys didn’t tend to take companies public. Bad boys, in her experience, were mostly good for sex, adrenaline rushes and surprises. There had been all she’d ever looked to men for, before Dom.

  When it came to Dom, she’d already had sex, adrenaline rushes and surprises. Plenty of surprises. She wasn’t sure what she expected now.

  Or what she wanted.

  DOM HEADED DOWN THE walkway toward the sleek, black limo that waited for him. She might not have been happy about it, but Delaney had come through. Not a town car, either, but an honest-to-god stretch limo complete with a black-jacketed driver who bounded around to open the passenger door with a flourish.

  And that was when Dom’s world tilted a little on its axis.

  A pair of long, sleek, golden-brown legs appeared as the door swung back. The driver stepped in to offer a hand, blocking Dom’s view for a moment, and then stepped back to reveal Delaney.

  And Dom’s mouth went bone-dry.

  She wore a gold dress made out of some soft, shimmery fabric that looked like liquid metal as it flowed over her slight curves. The neckline was high, the sleeves long. It would have looked demure if it hadn’t stopped in the middle of her thighs. Heavy links of gold and copper dangled at her ears, matching the loose spill of her hair. Her eyes looked dark and mysterious.

  He covered the ten or so paces to the limo in a kind of a daze, grateful that he wasn’t face-to-face with her because just then he couldn’t have said a word if his life had depended on it. All he could do was look and want.

  Then he came to a stop before her. This close, he could catch a hint of her scent, something that started out light and flowery and became more complex, more intense the longer you experienced it.

  Kind of like Delaney herself.

  She reached for him before he knew what she was about, taking his wrist and turning it so that she could see his watch. Her fingers felt quick and cool against his skin. “Four minutes, fifty-five seconds,” she said, releasing his hand. “Another half minute and I’d have been out of here.”

  No way was he letting her go. “We had a bargain,” he reminded her.

  “We had extortion,” she countered.

  “I think that’s overstating the case. Kind of seems to me like it’s an exchange of favors. You get a boost at work, I get a boost to the airport.” And if he didn’t stop noticing how that soft fabric draped over her body, he was going to get a boost somewhere else.

  The trunk opened with a soft popping noise and the driver appeared behind him. “May I get that for you, sir?”

  Dom glanced over to hand him the luggage. For an instant, his attention was elsewhere as Delaney turned to get back into the limo and it was that that might have saved him.

  Because when he looked at her again, he thought for sure his heart was going to stop.

  Instead of a zipper along the back, the dress was open, hooked only at the neck and at the base of her spine. In between, the fabric flapped loose to give a glimpse of the long, smooth line of her back, the graceful groove of her spine. It didn’t reveal much and then only in flashes. Somehow, though, it was all the more tantalizing because of it.

  She bent to get into the car and he saw the shift of her back muscles and it didn’t matter that she was wearing clothing, the image his senses registered was of her, naked.

  And need exploded through him.

  It weakened his muscles, blurred his vision. It pounded through his brain as he stepped inside the limo, feeling the give of the soft leather upholstery. Then the door closed with a quiet chunk and they were alone.

  He looked over to where she sat on the seat beside him, legs crossed, her sky-high gold sandals gleaming. “You look incredible,” he said, his voice a little husky.

  “Thank you.” She glanced at him and he caught the flicker of satisfaction in her eyes. And pleasure.

  And in that minute, he knew. She hadn’t liked Janet forcing her to invite him; she’d objected even more to being cornered into escorting him. Every step, every word, every movement shouted it.

  But she’d dressed for him.

  “That outfit looks amazing on you,” he said.

  “Thanks.”

  “It makes me wonder how I go about taking it off.”

  Her eyes darkened. For a beat, she stared at him as the limo pulled away. “Have you forgotten we have a reception to attend?” she asked. Her voice trembled the tiniest bit, he was satisfied to hear.

  “I believe in planning ahead.”

  “I believe you might be a little overconfident.”

  And he reached over to trace his fingertips up the side of her thigh because he had to touch her or go nuts. “I don’t think so,” he said softly.

  She tensed, yet didn’t move. He heard rather than saw her suck in a breath.

  “We go to the reception and then you leave to catch your flight,” she said.

  “You escort me to the r
eception and then we leave for the airport,” he countered. “And we see what happens.”

  She didn’t reply, he noticed. In fact, she didn’t say a word the entire rest of the way.

  FOR THE RECEPTION, VISION Quest had chosen GallerieVizquel. Once on the edge of Venice, the gallery had relocated to the edge of Beverly Hills in a two-story building with high ceilings and a soaring entryway. It was a haunt for the cognoscenti, and since the cognoscenti in L.A. were often celebrities, Gallerie Vizquel had evolved into a place to see and be seen.

  It was closed now for the Vision Quest reception. The usual poseurs were replaced by a more focused crowd. Men in suits and casual open-necked shirts mingled with women wearing everything from designer cocktail outfits to trousers and tailored blazers. Catering staff in head-to-toe black moved through the crowd offering drinks and hors d’oeuvres, leaving trails of mouthwatering scents in their wake. Funky jazz played over the sound system.

  It was a welcome relief after the dimness and intimacy of the limo, Delaney thought as she and Dom walked into the entryway atrium. Then she looked up.

  And her mouth dropped open. Hanging overhead was a massive…chandelier, maybe, of brilliant red glass. It looked as though it were the product of a disturbed mind or a hallucination, an explosion of twists and spirals and bulbs bound together into a beehive shape about the size of a small refrigerator.

  She stared up at the enormous tangle. It was swaying a bit, she noticed uneasily. “So how well do you think they tested the cable before they hung that up there?” she asked.

  Dom looked amused. “Why, you nervous it’s going to fall?”

  “Of course not. I was just asking. Let’s go into the other room.”

  “Why the big hurry? I’m sure it’s perfectly safe.” He took a few steps away to stand directly beneath it. “Come on over,” he invited. “I dare you.”

  She flicked a glance at him. “I can see it fine from here, thanks.”

  “The best way to get over your fears is to face them.”

  “If you don’t watch out, I’m going to face my fear of leaving an imprint of my spike on your toe.”