Close to Perfect

by Tina Donahue

  “Not for a very long time,” Josh murmured.

  Tess smiled, and then she cried a little, too, because the truth of that statement was in his eyes; she felt it in his touch. They wouldn’t be through for a lifetime.

  It was more than she had ever hoped for and exactly what she needed.

  Someone to watch over me.

  The title says it all!

  Tempt Me, Tease Me, Thrill Me.

  Here’s a look at Tina Donahue’s story in

  BAD BOYS WITH RED ROSES,

  available now from Brava...

  Until tonight Cait Campbell had no idea that a black tie dinner could be even more disturbing than an aerobics class filled with a bunch of leering guys.

  Of course, as the junior member of Chicago’s esteemed Maples & Weiss law firm, she was the sacrificial lamb for tonight’s event, which included a charity auction. In no time at all, the leering guys in here would be bidding on one dinner date with her in order to raise funds for a good cause.

  God. For this she had graduated first in her class at Harvard Law, then clerked for a powerful Federal judge and now worked eighty-hour weeks that left little time for dates she might actually want. Not that she had had any of those recently, or even wanted to after what she had once experienced with Sean.

  Cait closed her eyes and ordered herself not to think about him again. Okay, okay, so she would think of him only until she was auctioned off. You are hopeless.

  For the last four months she had not been able to forget the man. Memories of Sean Logan flooded Cait’s mind before, during, and after just about everything she did with tonight being no exception. How could it be? This dinner was being held in the same ballroom that had hosted the reception for Cait’s cousin Julia, who had married Sean’s younger brother Tim.

  It was at that wedding reception, or rather after it, that everything had changed for Cait.

  Uh-uh. She really couldn’t think of that now. She really shouldn’t think of—

  Too late. That night came back with such startling clarity, Cait’s breathing picked up. That night, as the other wedding guests were gathering around the lavish buffet and open bars that had been set up in here, Cait recalled holding back. There hadn’t been a thing on those tables that would have satisfied her hunger. She wanted Sean. It was a need that was soul deep and one Cait had not been able to deny.

  Because of that, she had forced herself to wait. She watched the others eat and drink, then regarded the newlyweds, who were sharing a playful kiss that quickly turned breathless. Before they embarrassed themselves or anyone else, Julia smacked Tim’s butt, then pushed him into the hall for some privacy. Cait glanced from that closing door to another bridesmaid who had cornered one of the young servers with her soft voice, sultry look, and billowy gown.

  Cait knew that whatever the girl was offering him wouldn’t come close to what she would give to Sean.

  Just a bit longer, she told herself, until she was aching inside. At last, she gave in to her heart and glanced past the crowd.

  Sean’s gaze was already on her.

  Liquid heat poured through Cait, making her feel deliciously weak and completely female.

  It was a stunning desire she had never really known, and yet experienced the moment she first met Sean only days earlier during the wedding rehearsals. It was as if she had known this man all her life.

  His clean scent was welcome and familiar, his confident bearing an unexpected comfort, while his masculinity—wow—made all the other crud in life bearable.

  Oh, he was something. Tall, with deliciously male features, dark hair that was silky and thick, and a build that was lean yet muscular.

  No way was anyone gonna mess with this man.

  Even his pierced ear, a souvenir from his work as an undercover narcotics officer with the Chicago Police, made him seem wild, like a pirate, and aroused Cait beyond reason.

  As did his approach.

  He moved through the crowd that night as if Cait were his only reason for being.

  How she adored that.

  When he was finally so close that Cait could feel his heat, Sean leaned down to her and asked, “Enjoying yourself?”

  Her skin tingled. There was nothing like his rich voice and luscious scent. Turning her face to his, all caution drifted away. The only thing that mattered was tonight with him. “Not yet,” she murmured, “but I hope to.”

  Sean’s eyes grew hooded as he took her hand, his firm grip saying he had no intention of letting go.

  This was a man who knew what he wanted. He was not going to be denied.

  Minutes later they were upstairs in Suite 854. What happened after that was deliciously wicked, achingly tender, and something Cait just couldn’t think about again.

  Her time with Sean was beautiful, but over. She had to get real. Heavenly sex, stimulating conversations, shared laughter, unyielding desire, and a man who seemed to really want her did not necessarily make for a lasting relationship.

  Just look at her mom and dad. Twenty years they had given each other and for what? Immediately after their own divorce, they started marrying and divorcing just about everyone else.

  Those romances always started off good until the great sex wore off, loyalties were broken, and the nasty prenups kicked in. And that was an eventuality Cait couldn’t face with Sean. From the get-go, she had wanted him too badly. To have him for a time, only to lose him in the future to another woman—uh-uh, no damned way. It was better to simply forget their one night, move on from that fantasy of Forever After and focus on the godawful date she was about to get.

  Please, just make it go fast, Cait prayed, ignoring the persistent yearning in her heart as she looked around this table to her boss, his senior partner, and her colleague, Billy Price.

  They were all staring at her.

  Cait stopped stroking her champagne glass. Had she just spoken her thoughts of Sean aloud? “What?”

  Walter Maples, the firm’s founder, tapped the linen napkin against his aristocratic lips, which complemented his aquiline nose, silvery hair, and pale-as-death skin.

  The man was so purebred Cait was always surprised by his startling bluntness, which she knew was coming. Come on, she thought, feeling vaguely annoyed, just spit it out.

  Walt made her wait as he folded his napkin. At last, he said, “You can resume breathing, Cait. We do understand how you feel.”

  Oh hell. What in the world had she said when she was thinking about Sean? Did these people actually know how his rich laughter stirred something deep within, and how her heart whimpered at the sight of him asleep, his dark hair tousled, his sensuous lips parted in a quiet sigh, his bristly cheeks betraying his utter masculin—

  Will you just stop? “You do?”

  “Of course. That’s why Billy knows to get the ball rolling.”

  Cait looked at the man. He was thirty-one, the same as her, just as slender, and blushing at the sudden attention, which was no surprise. As much as Cait enjoyed a court battle, Billy had always preferred a behind-the-scenes, non-confrontational role.

  Leaning toward him, she asked, “What ball are you planning to roll?”

  The skin around Billy’s receding hairline turned pink.

  Walt answered for him. “The bidding on that dinner date with you.”

  Ah. She sighed.

  That was not lost on Abbie Weiss, the firm’s senior partner. “Well, we certainly don’t want you standing up there looking like a fool.”

  As if Billy’s bid could change all that? Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Cait looked at the Princess of Darkness.

  In her day, Abbie Weiss had probably been considered handsome, or spooky, what with her penetrating gaze and prominent features. It was her platinum pedigree, however, that got Walt all hot and bothered.

  Go figure. Cait made her voice nice. “I certainly wouldn’t want to disappoint you.”

  Walt leaned forward in his chair. “Then don’t.”

  “Especially when it com
es to getting that associate judgeship,” Abbie said.

  Walt put up his hands. “That possibility shouldn’t even be considered. Not being appointed would make the firm look bad.”

  Abbie looked at him. “Everyone would think we made a mistake in bringing her on.”

  “Exactly.” He frowned at Cait. “That has never happened with any other member of the firm. I would hope you don’t want to be the first.”

  She stopped pressing her fingers against her temple and shook her head.

  “See that,” Walt said to Abbie. “She has no intention of screwing us.”

  Abbie’s dark eyes grew even more intense as if she were as aroused by Walt’s bluntness as he was by hers.

  Cait wasn’t about to consider what happened when the two of them got together.

  Abbie tapped the table in front of her. “Doing well tonight will only help your candidacy.”

  Uh-huh. Cait bet none of the other judicial candidates had a section in their resumés about being auctioned off to the highest bidder.

  “Now, you,” Walt said, tapping Billy’s cufflink with a dessert fork, “remember to start the bidding low. If we can get away with a thousand—”

  “Or less,” Abbie offered.

  Surely they were joking or giving her a way out before she humiliated the firm. Slipping on her reading glasses, Cait scanned the program for tonight’s event. As Walt and Abbie kept lowering the bid, she finally interrupted, “What you’re proposing won’t work. The bid has to be twenty-five hundred—at the very least.”

  Walt frowned. “By whose authority?”

  Cait suspected the sponsors of this loony event. Lifting the program, she pointed out the obvious.

  “It is tax deductible,” Billy offered as he looked up from the icing that Walt’s fork had left on his tux.

  The man leaned back in his chair and pouted. “Keep it as close to the required bid as you can.”

  “There’s no need to worry,” Abbie said. “Once Billy makes the opening bid it’ll be over.”

  Cait arched one slender brow. Nothing like these two to make her feel attractive and in demand.

  Realistically, Billy didn’t have much competition tonight. Many of the guys here—and there were attorneys, civic leaders, industrialists, and physicians—were too old to bid on a dinner they wouldn’t be able to digest, while the others were currently involved in so many divorces, remarriages and extramarital affairs, their dance cards were already full.

  Just like mom and dad’s.

  They had been divorced a scant twelve years, but already Cait’s father had remarried three times, her mom twice and there seemed to be no end to their lunacy. The older they got, the younger their spouses and lovers.

  Cait wouldn’t have been surprised if her mother was currently dating one of the male servers in this room since she owned the Livingston on the Lake along with most of the other luxury hotels in Chicago. It was how Cait’s parents had met. Her dad owned the real estate beneath this building, at least until after they split.

  That divorce had been so nasty it was tailor-made for a Donald Trump reality show, and it was definitely something Cait would avoid in her own life.

  Sighing, she looked at Billy as he gently tapped her wrist. “What?”

  He glanced at Walt and Abbie who were whispering as they plotted their next rendezvous or coup. Turning back to Cait, he kept his voice low. “The MC’s on the stage. It’s show time.”

  Cait crossed her eyes. It got a smile out of Billy and went completely unnoticed by Abbie and Walt. They kept up that whisperfest throughout the first thirty minutes of this auction in which an Internet mogul, a female surgeon, and a male real estate developer looked like deer caught in headlights as they faced this less-than-generous crowd.

  Cait added up the bids thus far and could see that the sponsors weren’t anywhere near their targeted—

  Her thoughts paused; her head snapped up as the spotlight suddenly swung to her.

  Eww. She squinted.

  Walt whispered, “Smile!”

  Cait started to, until the MC introduced her as Carmen, not Caitlin, Campbell.

  Walt whispered during the scant applause, “Take off those glasses.”

  “Can she see without them?” Abbie asked Walt, then turned to Cait. “Can you see without them?”

  “I only use them for read—”

  “Then take them off!” Abbie ordered.

  “Do us proud,” Walt warned.

  Billy patted her arm. “Break a leg.”

  Abbie pressed her fingers to the inside corners of her eyes as if she expected Cait would.

  I wish. Cait figured a few weeks in traction might be kind of nice after working with these two. Removing her glasses, she stood, then began the long trek toward the stage with all the grace she had learned in those dumb social deportment classes that taught little girls how to behave like Stepford Wives.

  As she eased past tables, Cait’s beaded gown whispered around her, twinkling beneath the enormous chandeliers and that spotlight.

  There were a few wolf whistles with one being interrupted by a hacking cough. Cait guessed that belonged to the elderly circuit judge who was expected to appoint her to the bench. That is, if she did well tonight.

  Right. The moment she reached the stage, Cait turned and faced this crowd with the same cockiness she used when squaring off against adversaries in court.

  Some of the guys must have liked that because those wolf whistles were suddenly prolonged.

  The MC grinned so hard it had to hurt. “Now, now,” he said, flapping his hands, “let’s settle down.” When the wolf whistles were replaced by that same hacking cough, he leaned toward the microphone and read from his cue cards. “Ms. Campbell comes to us from the law firm of Maples & Winters and—”

  “That is Weiss, not Winters!” Abbie called out.

  The MC squinted as he looked into the crowd, then glanced at his cue cards. “Oh yes,” he said, “Weiss & Maples. So sorry, Ms. Maples,” he called out to Ms. Weiss.

  Cait exchanged a look with Billy, then held back a sigh as the MC went into a bio of Carmen Campbell that included everything but her age and measurements.

  At last an older man shouted, “Can we just get on with it?”

  As the crowd laughed and the MC opened the bidding, Cait’s gaze lifted to one of the chandeliers. It was a monstrous sucker that sparkled nearly as much as the engagement ring her father had given to his latest—

  “Here!” Billy suddenly shouted. “I bid twenty-five hundred dollars!”

  Bless you. Cait lowered her gaze, delicately lifted the skirt of her gown and got ready to get the hell off the stage.

  “Three thousand,” a male voice called out.

  The gown slipped through her fingers. A moment later, Cait’s gaze slowly lifted even as her heart paused. She warned herself not to look into the audience. If she did, there would be no turning back.

  It can’t be his voice. That’s just not possi–

  “Thirty-five hundred,” another man called out.

  Cait looked at Billy, who was glancing in the direction of that last voice. When she looked, a middle-aged man wiggled his fingers at her.

  Taking a cautious step back, Cait swung her head in Billy’s direction. He had to bid again no matter what Walt or the Princess of Darkness said. Billy had to win this date with her.

  Come on, damn you, bid!

  Billy looked from her to Walt who was finishing his dessert as if this had nothing to do with him. His dough was safe.

  “We have thirty-five hundred!” the MC said with the same enthusiasm reserved for a million-dollar bid. “Going once, going—”

  “Four thousand,” that first male voice called out.

  Cait’s mouth went dry, while her heart raced. Four months ago she told herself she would never forget that voice, nor a touch that caressed her soul and a scent that so effortlessly aroused. Four months ago, she knew she would not allow herself to see him again.
/>   This can’t be happening.

  Taking a deep, steadying breath, Cait’s gaze finally swept the crowd. She glanced at faces she knew and those she did not. She saw bored expressions and questioning gazes. She moved past most quickly...

  And finally lingered on one.

  Sean.

  Cait’s lips parted in a quiet sigh as his gaze touched hers. In that moment everything else, even the last four months, faded away. Her gaze hungered over him as it had that night, touching his eyes, his hair, his mouth—oh, his mouth. It welcomed, it pleasured, it comforted, and healed all the hurt Cait had ever felt, all the loneliness she had endured.

  How she had missed him.

  Without thinking or pause, Cait stepped forward recalling the last time they were in this room. Then, Sean’s hand on hers had sealed the events of the night. Then, his breath had whispered against her cheek, his gaze had demanded and she had willingly followed.

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  Copyright © 2005 by Darlene Zambruski

  “Tempt Me, Tease Me, Thrill Me” copyright © 2007 by Tina Donahue

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  ISBN: 978-0-7582-1319-8