Once Upon a Kiss

by Sara Jane Stone

  Anything for you, Mr. Burke. She pushed back her chair and headed for the stage. And later, I hope you’ll still call me Ivy.

  Right now, with the high of victory pumping through her, she believed in happily-ever-after endings. And in hers, she won the funding and the man.

  Chapter 26

  “Nice lab coat.”

  Carter met Ivy at the side of the stage. She’d pulled her long hair into a tight bun and skipped the makeup this morning, but she still glowed. Her lips sparkled under the conference room’s bright lights. She looked like the woman who’d marched into his office Friday afternoon.

  But happier. She was ready to fight last week. Now she’s won.

  He’d done the right thing. Reaching out to his shareholders for support, planning to keep the lab open, even listening to his mother. Whatever happened next, it was all worth it.

  “I’m underdressed,” she murmured. “If I’d known I was giving a speech at our ‘coffee’ meeting, I would have changed.”

  He shook his head. “Whoever told you princesses don’t wear lab coats didn’t know a damn thing. As soon as you start talking about your research, as soon as they hear your passion, no one will care what you’re wearing. Your work is what matters. So go up there and tell them all about it.”

  He turned to take his seat. Her hand wrapped around his forearm and he paused, looking back at her. “Stage fright?” he asked.

  She stole a glance over her right shoulder at the tables. The room buzzed with conversation and the clink of dishes. “Maybe a little. I usually prepare notes before giving a speech.”

  “Sorry—”

  “Don’t be.” She squeezed his arm. “But you sure went to great lengths for a second date.”

  “This is important to you.” He met her gaze. “And it was the right thing to do.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face the podium. “Now that I’ve done my part, you need to go up there and wow them with science. Tell them how close you are to finding a cure for the disease that took your father. Tell them how you’re going to make the impossible possible with your work. I know you’re brilliant, Ivy.” He gave her a nudge in the direction of the microphone and released her. “Go show them.”

  Chapter 27

  “What do you mean he left?” Ivy demanded. She had finally escaped the room full of shareholders. But instead of finding Carter waiting outside the ballroom, she’d come face to face with her boss’s assistant.

  “Mr. Burke returned to the office.” Mrs. Lindsey placed her hand on Ivy’s arm. “I’ll take you to the car. The driver will bring you back to Westchester.”

  She pulled her arm free. “I thought he would wait…”

  And what? Claim her as his prize for championing her research? Tell her “You have your money, now come back to my place”?

  No, that wasn’t the man she’d fallen for Friday night. He might trick her into a makeover, but he’d never manipulate his way into her bed—or her heart.

  “Mr. Burke is a very busy man,” Mrs. Lindsey said.

  And a good one, Ivy thought. He’d granted her a miracle without asking for anything in return.

  “He wants me to stay for him, not his money,” she murmured. She’d need to show him how much she cared for him.

  “Mrs. Lindsey.” Ivy turned to the woman who’d been thrust into the fairy godmother role kicking and screaming. “I need to ask a favor.”

  “I work for—”

  “Carter.” She reached out and took the other woman’s hand. “Yes, I know. Will you clear his calendar for five p.m.? And will you give him a message?”

  Mrs. Lindsey cocked her head. “Why wait until the end of the business day?”

  “I’m going shopping first.”

  The faintest hint of a smile appeared on her lips. “What is your message?”

  Ivy released Mrs. Lindsey’s hand and opened her purse. She needed paper. A pen. She rifled through her wallet and found an old Starbucks receipt.

  Sugar.

  “Here.” Mrs. Lindsey held out a pad of Burke Initiative stationery and a ballpoint pen.

  “Thank you.” Ivy turned, rested the pad against the hotel wall, and began writing. Then she folded the note and handed it to Mrs. Lindsey. “Just so we’re clear. This is more important than ball gowns and fancy shoes.”

  Chapter 28

  “For your wildest adventure to date, meet me at five p.m. by the greatest carnivore to ever walk the earth.”

  Carter read out loud the slip of paper his assistant had placed in his hand an hour earlier. He made damn sure his voice carried over the buzz of tourists and locals in the famous hall of fossils. Two women pushing strollers glanced at him. One man lowered his camera, took one look at Carter’s suit, and turned his attention back to the display.

  Then the woman waiting beside the glass case met his gaze. He headed for her, weaving his way through the crowd.

  “I didn’t think you would be able to resist,” Ivy said as he approached the glass case containing the massive T. rex skull. The full fossil loomed behind her, poised for the hunt.

  “I thought about it. But my assistant practically pushed me out of my office.” Carter stopped within an arm’s reach of Ivy. She wore the same well-loved lab coat and black slacks that she’d had on at the shareholders’ meeting. “Mrs. Lindsey hinted you’d gone through a great deal of trouble. She mentioned something about shopping.”

  “We’ll get to that.” She stepped forward and pressed her hands against the front of his suit jacket. Her fingers toyed with his lapels, but she stopped short of running her hands underneath and guiding his jacket off his shoulders.

  “Thinking about tossing my clothes to the T. rex again?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “Not this time.”

  Then why are we here? Surrounded by sightseers?

  He’d left the shareholders’ meeting while she was still answering questions. He didn’t want to know the answer to the one haunting him—was she only interested in his funding? His gut told him she’d stayed Friday night for him. But what if he was wrong? What if he’d fallen for a fantasy? He’d set out to wine and dine her Friday night. Instead, he might have walked into his own trap.

  And he left believing the illusion was real.

  “I owe you a kiss beside a carnivore.” She rose up on the balls of her feet and touched her lips to his.

  He cupped her jaw in his hand. “You don’t have to do this, Ivy. A simple thank you—”

  “I’ll thank you for the funding in the morning.” Her lips teased his as she spoke. “At your office. I’ll make an appointment. But right now, I want to finish what we started in front of this dinosaur.”

  Her mouth claimed his and the rest of the world vanished. The ancient history spelled out on these walls. The dinosaurs. The tourists. The man demanding that they “get a room.” None of it mattered. His world narrowed to the feel of Ivy’s breasts pressed against his chest. The way her hips rocked against him. And her mouth, pressing onto his.

  I could kiss her forever. Her mouth, her breasts, her thighs, her—

  “Ivy.” He broke the kiss, breathing hard as he touched his forehead against hers. “This isn’t a just you, me, and the dinosaurs situation. We’re not alone.”

  “Not yet,” she murmured. She stepped back and reached into the shopping bag at her feet. “I visited the gift shop before you arrived.”

  He laughed. “I think Mrs. Lindsey was hoping you’d stopped by Barneys.”

  “They had what I needed right here.” She pulled out a strip of fabric covered in red, orange, and blue dinosaurs.

  “A new tie?”

  “They don’t carry blindfolds,” she said simply. “Now, if you’re ready for the next part of your adventure—”

  “I’m in.” He reached for her cheek and ran his thumb over the soft, smooth skin. And I’m yours, he thought. If this is a fantasy, a spell designed to keep me at your mercy, funding your work for eternity, I’m not fighting it.
I’m staying with you.

  “Turn around and let me blindfold you.”

  “My pleasure.” He turned and scanned the crowd of curious onlookers. “Typical New York,” he said as she covered his eyes. “They’re not even watching.”

  “They’re here for the fossils, not the blindfolded billionaire,” she said as her fingers teased his hair. Then she pulled and the fabric drew tight against his eyes. Her hands ran over his shoulders and down his back. “But I’m here for you, Carter.”

  With his world plunged into darkness behind the tie, he couldn’t read her expression. “Ivy, say that again,” he demanded.

  “I’m here for you, Carter Burke. Not your company or your funding,” she said. “I want you.”

  He grinned. He probably looked like a fool, smiling beneath the T. rex with a ridiculous, dinosaur-printed piece of silk covering his eyes. But he didn’t give a damn right now. “You’re my wildest adventure, Ivy Grant. I knew it the moment you walked into my office.”

  “And you’re mine.” Her fingers entwined with his. “Come with me. I think you’ll love our next destination.”

  I love you, Ivy Grant.

  But the words could wait until they were alone. No tourists. No dinosaurs. And when he told her, he wanted to study her face. He had to see for himself if she’d fallen for him, too.

  Chapter 29

  “Before I take off the blindfold, you should know I don’t have a plan for what comes next.” Ivy guided him through the door, allowing it to close behind them. Skyscrapers surrounded them and a bridge loomed in the distance.

  “The wild adventure ends here?” he asked, turning his head as if he could somehow sense their location.

  “I hope not.” She stepped in front of him and slipped her hands underneath his suit jacket. Running her fingers up beneath the fabric, she guided the jacket off his shoulders.

  He shrugged it off and tossed it aside. Then he cocked his head. “No alarms this time.”

  “Not here.” She reached for the buttons on his dress shirt. “Thank you for what you did this morning. I know it wasn’t easy to stand up there and ask for help. If I was in your shoes, I’m not sure I could have done it.” She released the first button and moved to the second.

  “You marched into my office Friday and demanded my attention,” he said.

  “I was ready to fight for my cause.” She freed two more buttons. Her fingers brushed his bare chest as she worked her way lower, revealing his perfect abdomen.

  “So was I,” he said softly.

  Her hands stilled. “Carter—”

  “I thought we were saving the thank yous for regular business hours.” He took over where she’d left off. Four buttons later, his dress shirt hung open.

  “We are.” She ran her fingertips over his chest, down his abs to his belt buckle. “I’m just here for your muscles.”

  He shook his head. “I fall for a smart, beautiful woman and she only wants me for my body.”

  “No.” She loosened his belt. “It’s not just your abs.”

  “You’re damn right it’s not.”

  He stepped closer, but she released her hold on his pants and slipped out of his reach.

  “I’m taking off the blindfold now.” She moved behind him and loosened the knot. The silk tie fell to his neck and hung like a multi-colored piece of jewelry.

  He turned in a slow circle, blinking as he absorbed their location. “We’re on my terrace.”

  “Your favorite place,” she said. “Or was that just another one of your lines?”

  “Not a line.” He ran his hand over his beard. His loose shirttails flapped against his hard body. He glanced at her. “You broke into my apartment?”

  “Is it breaking and entering if I have the owner with me?” she asked, allowing her gaze to flirt from his face to his bare chest.

  “How did you get past my doorman?”

  “Mrs. Lindsey,” she said with a shrug.

  He reached for the tie. He loosened the knot and slipped it off his neck. “But why the blindfold? To bring me home?”

  “You thought we were headed for a Fifty Shades–style adventure, didn’t you?” she teased.

  “I hoped you would be naked when I took it off,” he admitted.

  “I thought the blindfold would make it easier.” She looked past him to the Brooklyn Bridge. “Easier to hide behind excuses when you came to my lab. Your power. Your place in the world…”

  “That I would be bored of you after a few dates.” He stepped in front of her, blocking her view of Brooklyn. His fingers touched her chin, guiding it up until her gaze linked with his.

  “That’s a legitimate concern. I’ve never met anyone with your thirst for adventure.”

  “Every date doesn’t need to be break-ins and blindfolds, Ivy. I would be content to hear about your day. Listen to you talk about your work.”

  She let out a laugh. “You want me to bore you with science?”

  “I want you.”

  “I let you believe that I slept with you for the funding. When you came to see me on Sunday.”

  “I saw through your bluff,” he countered.

  She raised her eyebrows. “You stormed out of my lab. You said—”

  “Not immediately. But I suspected you were afraid. I was, too.”

  He lowered his forehead to hers and placed his hands on her hips. She waited for a kiss, for his fingers to move around to her front and slip beneath her clothes.

  “I’m still wearing my lab coat,” she murmured.

  “And you’re standing in my world. On my terrace. As if you belong here.”

  “Even if I don’t, it doesn’t matter. I can’t walk away now. I don’t want to walk away. I’ve fallen in love with you, Carter Burke.” She pressed her hands to his bare chest, covering his heart. “It shouldn’t be possible. Love takes time. It doesn’t happen one Friday night dancing with fairies or under the stars at a castle—”

  “Ivy.” He pressed his mouth to hers. He took his time, exploring her mouth. Tasting her as his tongue touched hers. He drew her deeper and deeper into hope and lust and seduction. As if he could make her believe with his lips and his body that love happened in the blink of an eye.

  He broke the kiss and she looked up at him. Her fingers dug into his skin, seeking purchase. She needed a firm hold on this man who’d upended her life on impulse. This kind, good, sexy man…she needed to keep him here, kissing her.

  “I love you, Ivy.” He released her hips and took a hold of her hands. “This is one of those happily-ever-after moments. From here, we just keep falling.”

  “Downhill?” she teased.

  “No, my cynical princess. Falling more in love every day.”

  About the Author

  Sara Jane Stone lives near New York’s Hudson River with her real-life hero, two young children, and their four-legged friends. To learn more about her sexy, contemporary romance series visit sarajanestone.com.

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