“I want to thank you again for everything you did last night.” He took a breath, trying to think of something to add, but the right words escaped him.
She walked to the bathroom door in the corner of the room. “I handcuffed you to the bed, so I sort of owed you.”
“Cary, despite what happened, I would like to get to know you. I think we work well together and I like being around you…as a friend.”
She placed her hand on the bathroom doorknob, but did not gaze back at him. “As a friend; sure, Hunter.” Her voice sounded flat and bereft of its usual life. “I understand.” She stepped into the bathroom and quietly shut the door.
As Hunter walked out of the bedroom, a stitch of regret caught his insides. He had wanted to reassure her, but he sensed all his words had done was add to the tension between them. He needed to find a way to keep her whimsical smile and soft brown eyes from affecting him. But he wasn’t sure exactly how to go about it. After all, it was easy enough to shut out people who made him uncomfortable, but how did he rid himself of someone who had finally made him feel content?
* * *
The next day Hunter kept his distance from Cary. Avoiding his office, he spent the morning with his accountants, going over a budget for the new erotica line. Then, he went to visit with Jesse Hart, his IT guy, wanting to update the website.
When Hunter exited the elevator on the basement floor he entered a hallway filled with metal shelves lined with laptop computers, hard drives, monitors, telephones, printers, fax machines, and a whole host of other IT paraphernalia. Making his way toward Jesse’s office, he wondered how the man kept his sanity working in the cool, windowless basement all day.
“Jesse? You in here?” he called when he came to an open area at the end of the hallway.
“Hey, Hunter,” a baritone voice returned from the corner.
Leaning over a worktable with several laptop computers spread out before him was a dark-haired man. When he stood from the table, his massive shoulders and thick arms towered over Hunter. At six-foot-five, Jesse Hart was a tree trunk of a man, with bulging muscles poking out around his short-sleeved shirt, a square face, and deep brown eyes. His coffee-colored skin glistened beneath the harsh fluorescent lights, and when he smiled at his boss, his bright white teeth shined.
“What you doing down here?” Jesse asked. “You hate the basement.”
Hunter nodded, glancing around the dimly lit workroom. “Yeah, but I have to go over a new website design with you and I figured this was better a place than doing it in my office.”
Jesse’s deep chortle bounced about the compact basement. “Oh, I get it.” He shook his head and waved Hunter to his desk. “The new girl driving you nuts, huh?”
Hunter walked over to a long wooden desk with two desktop computers on top of it. “Not exactly.” He briefly massaged his left shoulder.
“Not exactly?” Jesse chuckled once more. “If I had to be in the same room with her every day, it would drive me crazy. She’s cute as hell, and those eyes….” He let loose a low whistle. “Better you than me.”
Hunter pulled out a wooden chair next to the desk. “So you think she’s cute?”
Jesse’s brown eyes were all over Hunter. “And obviously so do you…that’s why you’re here, right? There are only two reasons why a man avoids a woman: he’s either fed up with her and wants to bolt, or he can’t get enough of her and he’s scared to death.”
Hunter snorted with incredulity. “I am not scared of her.”
Jesse knitted his black eyebrows. “Uh, huh. Scuttlebutt is your brother tried to take her out and you two fought over her. Which personally pleased the piss out of me, since I think your brother is a piece of shit.”
Hunter flopped back in his chair, his features furrowed in amazement. “How in the hell did you hear about our fight?”
“Man, how many times do I have to tell you, ain’t nothing secret in an office. Your girl told those two blabbermouths in accounting about your fight with Chris at some art gallery. Everyone was already talking about your face, so Cary filled in the details. I’m sure the FBI already knows the rest by now.” Shaking his head, he took his chair at his desk. “You know how women talk.”
“What else have you heard?”
Jesse arched one eyebrow at him. “Why, you want me to ask around?”
Hunter anxiously rubbed his left shoulder again. “No, forget it.” He motioned to the desk. “Pull up the website and let me show you what changes I want to make.”
“This is about the new line?”
Hunter gave him a wary side-glance. “Cary told you about it?”
“Didn’t have to.” Jesse shrugged his impressive shoulders. “I made that new book cover for her. It wasn’t what we usually put out, and I got the impression that wasn’t going to be the only one.”
“What does the final cover look like? I never saw it.”
Jesse punched up the desktop on the right and then turned the monitor to Hunter. “Here it is. Pretty racy, huh?”
On the computer screen was a blindfolded woman on a bed, wearing only black lace panties and a bra, with her hands tied behind her back with rope. A faceless man was leaning over her shoulder and had his muscular arm wrapped about her slender waist. The title was done in blood red across the top of the picture.
“Your father’s going to shit on himself when he sees it,” Jesse declared.
Faced with such a provocative cover, Hunter suddenly realized keeping The Bondage Club a secret from his father was going to be a lot harder than he had originally anticipated. “Let’s not spread this around too much, all right?” he proposed to Jesse. “I’ve got to keep my old man in the dark for as long as possible.”
“Smart move.” Jesse nodded his approval. “If he finds out before the launch, he and that idiot brother of yours will probably try to shut it down.”
Hunter chuckled at the big man’s disclosure. “I should have known nothing would get by you, Jesse.”
“Only you would say that, Hunter. Everyone else thinks that just ‘cause I lift weights that I’m not smart enough to know everything that goes on around here.”
Hunter took in Jesse’s herculean profile. “Still don’t know why you took the job with me. With your credentials you could work for any top five hundred company.”
Jesse squinched up his face with a sour grin. “You know I hate busy offices with a lot of nosy people. With your company, I get to take off early every afternoon to hit the gym. No other boss would give me that kind of flexibility. And I like the creative side here. Not only do I get to do all your IT, I get to make book covers, and run your website, too. Not a lot of jobs give you that kind of variety.”
Hunter had always considered Jesse one of his best employees, and over the years he had come to value the large man’s advice. “Well, I’m lucky to have you.”
“You’re lucky to have Cary, too. Sweet girl.” Jesse’s eyes swept over Hunter’s face. “Are you going to ask her out?”
“Hell, no,” Hunter loudly proclaimed. “She’s an employee.”
“Then you won’t mind if I take a stab at it?”
Hunter nervously cleared his throat. “I don’t think she would be interested. She’s, ah…mentioned a boyfriend.”
Jesse slapped his back, sending Hunter forward in his chair. “You’re a crappy liar, Hunter. You know, it’s all right if you like her.”
Hunter shook his head. “I can’t like her.”
“Yes, you can. You’ve got what…fifteen employees here. It’s not like you would be creating some big scandal if you took the woman out. Other bosses have dated their employees and it never ended up in court. Ask her out, see where it goes. If things turn to shit, then you can be friends, but you’ll never know until you give it a try.”
Hunter directed his attention to the computer screen with the book cover still glaring back at him. He thought of his two previous encounters with Cary, and wondered if he could survive a third. But as he recalled mom
ents of their time together, he began to forget the awkward feelings she had aroused in him and lingered over the intense desire she had awakened. With many women his desire had been short-lived and satisfied almost as soon as he was reaching for his clothes, but with Cary his hunger only intensified with each encounter.
Pulling his mind back to the job at hand, Hunter concentrated on the computer monitor. “Why don’t you pull up that website and let’s see what we can do to give it a little more sizzle…like that cover.”
Jesse’s hearty laugh echoed about the cold basement. “Sizzle? Now you’re talkin’!”
* * *
After ordering in lunch and spending most of the afternoon in the basement, Hunter finally made his way back to his office. But as he stepped into the open door, he discovered his brother hovering about Cary’s desk, and drooling like a jewel thief over a rare diamond.
“Hello, asshole,” Hunter said as he walked to his desk. “What are you doing here? Didn’t think you would have the balls to show your face at least until Thanksgiving.”
“Lovely to see you, too, little brother.” Chris swerved around to Hunter. “But I didn’t come here to talk to you. I came to speak with Cary.”
Hunter leafed through a few yellow message notes left on his desk. “What? Came to ask forgiveness for making an ass of yourself the other night?”
Cary stood from behind her desk. “Boys, why don’t you two play nice for a change?”
Chris held up his hand, wanting to allay her concern. “No, it’s all right. I’m used to dealing with my brother’s temper tantrums.”
Hunter dropped the messages on his desk. “Temper tantrums? Who’s the spoiled brat who had a fit at Mom’s funeral when he was left off the program?” Hunter sat down in his chair. “The middle of our mother’s funeral service and all he can think of is that his name isn’t mentioned on some stinking piece of paper.”
Chris turned his cold blue eyes back to Cary. “We can’t talk here. Why don’t we go down the street for that drink?”
“She’s got work to do, Chris,” Hunter growled.
“Actually, I’m all caught up on everything,” she professed to Hunter. “I can afford to leave a few minutes early for—”
“What about our dinner plans?” Hunter edged in.
Cary stared at him. “What dinner plans?”
“We’re supposed to meet that new author tonight. The one I’m considering for the romance line.”
“We are?” Her eyebrows went up.
“New author?” Chris perked up. “Anyone I can handle?”
“No.” Hunter’s eyes never left Cary. “This is an author Cary knows who has written a stunning book about man and a woman trying to find balance between their working life together and their secret affair. I haven’t read the ending yet, but I’m real damned interested in finding out what happens.”
“That sounds pretty lame,” Chris snorted. “Is it sellable?”
A crafty smile eased its way across Cary’s heart-shaped mouth. “I guess I did forget about our dinner plans.” She turned to Chris. “Sorry, it looks like I won’t be able to join you for that drink, after all.”
“What about tomorrow night?” Chris persisted.
“She’s busy then too, dickhead,” Hunter declared in a thunderous tone.
Cary frowned at Hunter and then slipped around her desk to Chris. “Why don’t I call you when I’m free?” She took his arm while smiling sweetly. “Things are just getting so busy around here and we have a lot of late meetings planned for this week.”
Chris allowed her to walk him to the office door. “Don’t let my brother work you too hard. The bitter recluse has no life, but don’t let him do the same thing to you.”
“I heard that,” Hunter shouted.
Cary’s light giggle sounded so fake that Hunter could not help but flash a smug grin as she escorted Chris into the hall. After she had shut the office door behind them, Hunter sat in his chair and waited for her return.
Several minutes passed before Cary re-entered the office. As she stood just inside the doorway, she folded her arms over her chest and glared at Hunter.
“Was that bullshit about dinner or were you being serious?”
He flipped up his laptop. “Do you think I’m honestly going to stand by and let my depraved brother ask you out?”
“This has got nothing to do with Chris.” She hurried to his desk. “Were you asking me out on a date?”
He pretended to be distracted by his e-mails. “I was asking you to dinner. Do you have a problem with that?”
She leaned over his laptop, demanding his attention. “No, but I thought you wanted to be friends. You acted pretty adamant about it up until a few minutes ago.”
Hunter pushed back in his chair, skeptically eyeing her frown. “Well, maybe I want to try something else. Get to know you away from the bondage clubs and without the handcuffs.”
She stood from his desk, and her frown quickly dissolved into beaming smile. “How about you pick me up at seven?”
He took a moment before he spoke, trying not to return her infectious smile. “Why don’t you let me choose a time?”
“Oh, yeah right.” She cleared her throat, attempting to be serious. “What time do you want to pick me up?”
The wide grin that spread across Hunter’s lips accentuated the irresistible dimples in his cheeks. “Seven o’clock.”
“That sounds great.” Seeming unsure of what to do next, she scurried back to her desk. “And I wanted to let you know I set up the photo shoot for the twentieth of this month,” Cary stated in a businesslike manner. “I’ve got a photographer Jesse Hart knows and we secured the club room in The Hole for two hours. I’ve already contacted Smut Slut about the date and time.”
He nodded his head, impressed with her progress. “You were busy while I was out.”
“You did seem to be out of the office most of the day. I was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong.” She sat behind her desk. “By the way, how’s the shoulder?”
“Still sore.” He directed his eyes to his laptop. “I was downstairs working on a new website with Jesse. I want to get something going for the launch.” He paused as he typed something on his keyboard. “I saw the new cover, by the way. Very…enticing.”
“Does that mean you approve?”
He never raised his eyes from his computer. “Where are you on editing? We need to get that done.”
“I’m going to start reviewing the manuscript later this week.”
He frowned at her. “What about sooner, like today?”
“I can’t today. I have to go home and get ready for a date.”
“Maybe we could make it a working date.”
She shook her head, appearing obstinate. “No, no work tonight. I think we need to try and make this a real date.”
“A real date?” Hunter refrained from chuckling. “I think it’s a little late for that…considering.”
She rested her elbows on her desk, pensively gazing over at him. “Just because we’ve gone to bed together doesn’t mean we can’t have a date. A date isn’t about sex or the eventuality of it; it’s more about getting to know each other and sharing your stories with someone. Sort of like sex for the mind.”
“You have sex on the mind, if you ask me,” he teased.
“What makes you think that women don’t think about sex just as much as men?”
“Aw come on, Cary.” This time he did not hold back and let loose a loud chortle. “If women thought about sex just as much as men, there would be a lot more of them having it.”
“You don’t get it, do you? Sex for women has always been determined by the society they live in. Get too aggressive and you’re a whore; too afraid of sex and you’re frigid. I don’t see men getting those kinds of labels.” She shifted her eyes to her laptop. “That’s what I like about all those clubs I go to. There are no labels. Sex is sex.”
“Can you imagine what the world would be like if all
women were like the ones in your clubs?”
“Yes, I can.” Her features were hard and steadfast. “It would be equal.”
He went back to his computer. “You’d better not talk like that in front of my father or brother; they’ll want me to fire you.”
“They’ve just never met anyone like me before. There are a lot more women like me than you think.”
“One of you is about all I can handle right now,” he muttered under his breath.
Cary glared at him. “What was that?”
Hunter just shook his head, smiling innocently. “Nothing, dear.”
“Now you develop a sense of humor.” She rolled her eyes. “Great.”
Chapter 13
Standing before his closet, Hunter could not make up his mind about what to wear for his date with Cary. It had been a long time since he had been confounded by something as simple as choosing an outfit. In the past when he had taken women out, he had been more concerned about taking his clothes off, and not so much about how he looked in them. His confidence with women had never been a problem before now, but with Cary he felt inexperienced, confused, and completely insecure.
“Someone please shoot me.”
Giving up, he chose his usual pair of khakis, a pale blue dress shirt, and then eased on his favorite brown loafers. Checking his image once more in the bathroom mirror, he waved his hand at his reflection and turned away. It was good enough.
In the car on the way to her apartment, he analyzed his feelings for Cary. Every time they had been together ended in disaster, but despite the dire warnings of his head, Hunter’s heart was warming up to her. He was not sure if it was her vulnerable looks, determined attitude, or just the way she lit up a room, but something about Cary was definitely unique. Unlike the other women he had bedded and abandoned, Cary had somehow endeared herself to him. At this point in his life, he wasn’t sure if that was a blessing or a curse, but since meeting the assertive editor, Hunter had become painfully aware of how lonely he was. It was as if her existence shone a harsh light on the reality of his emptiness.
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