She smiled, and candlelight danced in her eyes. “But he had a baby.”
“Yeah.” Now that he thought about it… Jeremy reached for his phone with a smile. “Want to see?”
Vanessa’s eyes sparkled. “The baby?” When he nodded, she reached for the phone. “Hand it over.”
Vanessa practically wriggled in her seat as she lifted the glowing screen to her face, looking at the picture of Jeremy holding his goddaughter. Just as he’d suspected, she was endearingly mushy about the whole thing.
She looked up at him with a wicked smile. “Uh-oh. Fatal mistake.”
“What’s that?”
“You just gave me blackmail material. Proof that even Jeremy Glass has his weak spots.”
Family was his weak spot, it was true. He’d never considered if he wanted kids of his own, though. He’d been too fucked over by his own upbringing, by sterile, cold dinners, or—worse—the absent ones with just him and his mom left behind like they were worthless. All he’d wanted was to be wanted, to feel strong.
Vanessa misread his frown. “Don’t be so upset about it,” she said, handing back his phone. “It’s a good look for you. And I won’t tell if you don’t give me a reason to.”
He slid the phone back into his pocket. “I’m glad that makes you so happy. Joy is a good look for you.” She blushed, but it was true. So much better than the tears from earlier. And maybe if Vanessa were softened up, she wouldn’t kill him for what he was going to say next. “So back to my problem.” Jeremy cleared his throat. “I took the liberty of putting Ramon’s ticket in your name.”
Vanessa dropped a hand on his arm to stop him. He liked this—that somehow after today they were allowed to touch. He’d been aching for this since the moment he first laid eyes on her.
Vanessa held his eyes, and her fingers heated his arm, the warmth radiating outward through his whole body. “Jeremy, no independent woman ever likes to hear a sentence that starts with, ‘I took the liberty of,’ unless it ends with ‘buying you chocolate’ or ‘drawing you a bath.’ And maybe not even then.”
He brushed a hand over her fingers, and she shivered. “Not even, ‘I took the liberty of pulling out all your favorite sex toys so you can have orgasms all night long?’ Not ‘I took the liberty of buying us plane tickets to Paris just to French kiss you in France?’”
She gasped. He could tell she’d never considered those things for herself. She didn’t allow herself to indulge in selfish fantasies, which is exactly why he wanted to give them to her.
Vanessa’s chin quivered as she tried to keep a stern face. And last she leaned back in her chair. “At the very least, not for a work trip.”
So, she still saw this as work and not play. He’d have to change her mind about that.
“I mean, what if I had an obligation?” Vanessa continued. “What if I had a dog?”
“Do you have a dog?”
“No. My apartment won’t let me have pets. But that’s not the point.”
“I know.” He held up his hands in defense. “I’ll ask you first next time.”
Vanessa’s lips twitched as she fought a smile. “When is this all happening?”
“We’d leave on Thursday and return on Friday.”
She sighed, and with that rush of air, he knew he’d won.
“I always wanted to travel,” she said, light sparkling in her eyes. “Okay. I’ll go.”
Chapter 25
X Enterprises at six p.m. in May was almost too pretty to handle. The first rosy streaks of sunset stained the sky, and golden lights shone in every window of the tall buildings downtown. Vanessa pushed the elevator call button and looked out the window of the fifty-sixth floor while she waited. Glimpses of Lake Union peeked between the glassy exteriors of the other skyscrapers, and the water reflected back the pink and orange of the sky, capped with the white foam trails of seaplanes landing on the lake.
Tomorrow night she’d be taking in the view over the Pacific Ocean. How would it compare? For all her desire to see the world, she had barely started. She’d only made it as far as Vancouver, and while the city was in a different country, it was so close it almost didn’t count.
The City of Angels, with all its glittering lights and wishes, called to Vanessa like a siren. She could lose herself in the magic of it all, become another one of the city’s millions of dreamers.
She hoped Los Angeles would blow her mind.
A hand landed on her arm, dissolving the image.
“Where are you going?” Jeremy dropped his hand and stepped back. Too bad; his touch had almost made her purr.
“Home.”
“Can you help me out on a report for Yessir Unlimited? I need you to put together a status of every product they’ve ordered, along with preorders.”
That would take more time than she had. “I’m sorry, Jeremy. I can’t stay late tonight.”
He rubbed a hand over that stubble beard of his, the one she’d imagined brushing between her thighs more times than she cared to admit. Only the expression she’d pictured on his face, in those heady moments, was nowhere near the look of grim determination he wore now.
“I need this.” What was his problem? She’d already said yes to going to Los Angeles. Had he only brought her to that fancy restaurant to butter her up?
She knew that no matter what had happened between them outside of work, inside the glass-and-steel facade of X Enterprises they needed to be professional. But she hated that Jeremy still had his walls up—that he could just demand things from her and ignore their friendship. He acted like it didn’t mean anything that he had held her, that she knew what his heartbeat felt like under her palms. How could he let last week go so easily?
She frowned at him. “Then you should have told me before the last minute. Remember our chat about obligations?” Jeremy nodded, and she continued. “Well, I’ve got one tonight. And if I miss the next bus, I’m not going to make it across town in time.”
His fingers flexed. “Where are you going?”
“A concert at The Neptune.” Not that it should matter. She and Bea had bought these tickets months ago. Sia was performing in a small show, and she was one of Vanessa’s favorite artists.
“That doesn’t sound like an obligation.”
“It’s for charity.” The Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, to be exact.
“Of course it is.” Jeremy said it like it was so reproachful instead of this good thing. “I’m assuming you already bought tickets?” She nodded. “So the charity has already received your generous contribution.”
Vanessa glared at him. “That’s not the point.”
“The point is, you owe me this.” Just when she thought they were friends and maybe more, he had to throw last week in her face? It was true he’d done more than just help find Lainey—he’d held her together when she was falling apart. He’d held her and fed her, and—for an instant—she believed that maybe all those ideas of his about taking care of her were more than just talk. It looked like she’d thought wrong. She sure as hell didn’t owe him anything.
Jeremy’s jaw tightened. “I’m paying you more than generously to do a very specific job. We’re leaving for Los Angeles tomorrow, and that report needs to go with us.”
“Then maybe you should do it.”
She knew at once she’d crossed a line. Her skin burned and she bit her lip. It was one thing to deny him her help—it was another to suggest he do the work himself.
Jeremy straightened, his voice hard. “I have other business to discuss with Yessir. You are the customer account manager. You need to manage their account.”
She’d been so excited for tonight, and now it was going to be like this? Jeremy sure as hell acted like an ass sometimes. But he wasn’t one, not deep down. Total assholes didn’t drop everything to run across town and save lost girls. Total assholes didn’t take the whole Sales team to lunch just to have an excuse to be close to the woman they wanted, the way he’d done yesterday. And Jeremy did want he
r—nothing had changed since he’d given her the approval to act on the chemistry building between them. And she maybe—okay, definitely—wanted him, too. She’d even forgiven him for not kissing her the other day. But it was a heck of a lot easier to overlook when he wasn’t being an ass.
She stabbed at the call button again. Was the elevator stopping on every single floor before it got to her? She needed to get out of here.
“Stay.” Jeremy uttered it as such a crisp command that she froze. Who did he think he was? Jeremy Glass may have passed as the paper-thin excuse for her boss, but he didn’t get to boss her around. No one did.
Jeremy took in her rigid posture and sighed. “Stay, please.” At least he had the decency to soften his voice for the second request. “That didn’t come out right. What time do you need to be at the concert?”
“Seven-thirty.”
“And the bus probably doubles the normal commute time, right?” Vanessa nodded, and he gave her a placating look. “Please stay and finish the report. I will get you there on time. I promise.”
“But I need to go home and change. So we’d need to leave by six-thirty. That won’t leave me enough time to get everything done.”
Jeremy’s eyes swept over her body, heating her skin as they traveled from her hips to her eyes. “You don’t need to change. You look gorgeous.” Under her blazer, she wore a bodysuit tucked into black high-waisted trousers. She’d swept her hair into a high ponytail and thrown on some dangly earrings. A pair of heels completed the look.
She pursed her lips. “I can’t dance in a jacket.”
“So take it off. Then you can stay until at least seven.”
Her head reeled. Jeremy always seemed to be either trying to seduce the pants off of her or trying to boss her around. It was hard to balance in the middle of both.
Vanessa turned from the AWOL elevator and threw her hands in the air. The man was not going to back down, and the more time she spent arguing with him, the less time she’d have to create the report if she was actually going to leave on time. Anyway, she probably shouldn’t provoke him too much before their trip. She’d have to deal with him for the next forty-eight hours without a home court advantage.
“Fine,” she relented. “Now get out of here so I can finish.”
An hour later, Vanessa sailed into Jeremy’s office. “Time to leave.” She pushed a sheaf of papers into his hands. “I already emailed you a copy of that report and printed another four copies to hand-carry to Los Angeles. Let’s go.” She had texted Bea to meet her at The Neptune, but every minute Jeremy delayed was another minute closer to being late. He was not going to take this from her.
Jeremy filed the report in his briefcase and stood to leave. He produced a set of car keys and jiggled it for effect. “Thank you. Your chariot awaits. As promised.”
The front seat of the Jag welcomed Vanessa like a lover, with an embrace and a sigh. The soft-grain perforated leather seats positively hugged her body, buttery and soft. If it was possible for a car to feel like sex, this one did.
Despite her comfortable surroundings, she squirmed. She’d been in this car too many times since she’d met Jeremy. Maybe she needed to suck it up and pay the stupid parking fee so she could bring her car to work with her. Or at least on the days when she actually needed to get somewhere.
Jeremy glanced at her as he guided the car out of the parking lot downtown. His black button-down shirt was opened at the collar and he wasn’t wearing a tie. He was the picture of relaxed control, his strong hands lightly caressing the steering wheel. “True or false,” he said, “it’s a bad idea to listen to a band’s music on the way to one of their concerts?”
She smiled despite herself. When he wasn’t being an ass he could be fun to be around. “I mean, the purist in me wants to say hell yeah it’s a bad idea. Because it’s kind of like cramming for a test.” She raised her shoulders. “But the kid in me just wants to have fun.”
“Good. I like to have fun too.”
Jeremy tapped his phone and the car filled with the sensual sound of Sia singing about cheap thrills.
“Oh my god.” Vanessa almost moaned as the notes vibrated in her chest. “This sounds better than real life.”
He grinned at her. “There are twenty speakers in the car.”
Of course there were.
They drove in comfortable silence, Sia’s voice serenading them from downtown to the U District. Still, as they exited 5 freeway, Vanessa reached for her purse in anticipation of dashing out of the car. They were cutting it close. She took advantage of a stoplight on 45th to wriggle out of her blazer and drape it over her arm. Jeremy had said to lose the coat, after all.
She caught the way his eyes bugged out of his head.
“You look…” Jeremy’s voice trailed off. He must not have known what he was getting himself into.
Under her jacket, the halter-neck top had looked sleek but conservative, completely office appropriate. But the jacket concealed the bodysuit’s true merits. The moment Vanessa slipped off her outer layer, she could have just as easily walked into a club.
The straps at the neck of the bodysuit crossed over an open back, exposing the long line of her spine and an expansive swath of skin. The blazer had hidden the fact that she had gone braless, but without her outer layer, the thin material of the bodysuit did little to hide the way the car’s air-conditioning hardened her nipples into peaks.
Jeremy was still staring at her. “I’m pretty sure the line was gorgeous,” she supplied.
“Half-naked.” His growl rumbled through her. Was Jeremy Glass being…territorial?
She smirked at him. “And you look like such a gentleman. Too bad your mouth gives away the truth.”
She shivered as his breath heated her neck. “No one wants a gentleman in bed.”
Her body thrilled, but she wouldn’t meet his eye. She glanced out the window just in time to see the marquee for The Neptune flash past.
“The venue’s back there,” she protested.
Jeremy gripped the wheel, guiding the car forward. “I know.”
“So what are you doing?”
“Parking.”
“What?” She looked in his direction to find his gaze glued to her body.
“There’s no way you can tuck a can of pepper spray into that outfit.”
“Again with the pepper spray.” Vanessa rolled her eyes, but a secret part of her was pleased. At least he wanted to protect her. “But what’s your point?”
Jeremy smiled and eased the Jag into a parking spot. “I’m coming with you.”
Chapter 26
Jeremy leaned his forearms on the opened passenger door. “You ready to go?”
Vanessa stared up at him from inside the car, her nose wrinkled in that cute way of hers. “But you don’t have a ticket.”
“Sure I do.”
“How?”
He chuckled at her puzzled expression. “Would you believe me if I said I already bought tickets weeks ago?” She considered the possibility and gave her head a small shake. He laughed again and held out his hand to her. “Come on.”
This woman made him rack up IOU’s faster than he’d normally allow, but tonight was an exception. He needed to come to this concert with Vanessa after he’d botched this afternoon’s request. He knew how pissed she was about staying late—especially when he had demanded it rather than asked nicely—and he couldn’t let her walk away upset. Especially not before tomorrow. He needed her sharp and happy, the perfect employee to parade in front of Amy and Piers. She would be a paragon of excellence, the icing on the cake to show Yessir that, yes, he had his company under control and in prime position to sell.
It wasn’t just the threat of Yessir’s reaction spurring him on, though. He needed to set things straight on a personal note. With Ramon gone, Vanessa was the one person who kept Jeremy in check, and he liked the no-nonsense edge to her. He needed it. It was all too easy to step over that line and let work become everything in his life. He
ll, the fact that he’d almost ruined everything between them for a stupid report just proved it.
He was glad Vanessa had called him on his shit. He owned her an apology, and maybe he could make it up to her tonight. When Vanessa had smiled at him last week from inside his arms, he felt like he could do no wrong. That was the look he wanted back on her face. He’d do anything he could to put it there.
Jeremy had made the mistake of telling Ramon about Vanessa when his friend called to wish him good luck on the trip.
“You’re not really bringing her,” Ramon had said.
But he was. The sordid details had all spilled out—how he’d had to convince her to come back to work for him, how he’d agreed to volunteer.
Ramon had whistled through his teeth. “She’s got you whipped, Jer.”
“We have a mutual understanding.” He hoped it was true. He and Vanessa both understood some things. Whether or not they were the same things wasn’t yet apparent.
“Sure you do.” Ramon had laughed. “Good luck, then. With the meeting and with the girl. It sounds like you’re about to get in trouble.”
When it came to Vanessa, at least, he certainly hoped so.
Jeremy and Vanessa strode through the doors of The Neptune, and a tall, slim redhead launched herself at Vanessa. “Thank god you made it. I thought The Beast was going to keep you locked away in that tower forever.”
Vanessa’s cheeks flushed, and she made a useless gesture to silence her friend.
The Beast, huh? Jeremy suspected she hadn’t meant it as a compliment.
The girl’s eyes widened almost comically when he stepped out from behind Vanessa and she realized her mistake.
Vanessa grudgingly made the introductions. “Bea, this is Jeremy Glass. Jeremy, this is Bea Walker.”
He grinned and held out a hand. “Pleasure to meet you. ”
“Same here.”
Vanessa turned to him. “So, Jeremy, Bea and I need to go claim our spots on the floor. Do you want to join us?”
His Distraction Page 13