“Oh.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what to do with you.”
“Me, neither.”
“I keep thinking the best thing is to leave you alone. Go back to square one, and focus on the research. Get possessive around Owen, then back the hell off.”
“That sounds right.”
“But then we’re alone, and I can’t think about the research at all.”
“I have no thoughts to spare. I have two more days of this campaign, and I can’t let down my guard. It’s everything I’ve worked toward and my future is tied to the outcome. So what do I do? I spend every free second thinking about you.”
“It’s a problem.”
“No kidding.”
He turned onto his side, propping his head up on his hand. “What are we going to do?”
“I have no idea.”
“We could try again. Going back to the original deal, I mean. Look, but no touch. Questions, answers.”
She nodded. “It won’t be easy.”
“Granted. But we’re both adults. We should be able to curb our animal instincts for a couple of days.”
“Right. Especially now that we’ve, uh…”
“Yes. Gotten our ya-yas out, so to speak.”
“Well said.” Jessica grinned. “So that’s that. We’ll be grown-ups. You’ll sleep in here, I’ll sleep in there. We’ll talk. It’ll be great.” She turned onto her side, facing him, mimicking his posture exactly. “We’ll be models of decorum.”
“Platonic.”
“Yet caring.”
He frowned. “But you know, we’ve already kind of ruined tonight.”
“Technically, you’re right.”
“So what I’m thinking is, let’s just get all this sex business out of our systems. You know, boogie till we drop. Then it’ll be easy to be paragons of virtue.”
“I can see why you’re so successful in business. You look at the big picture.”
“Right. The kit and the caboodle.”
“I figure,” she said, “after I get a little water, maybe have a piece of fruit, we could meet in the bedroom.”
“Ah, a change of venue.”
She grinned. “Well, we wouldn’t want to leave out anything.”
“Wise, wise woman.”
“Okay then. I’m going to drink and eat.”
“I’m going to go to the bathroom, then join you.”
She leaned over and kissed him. “Oh, goody.”
“Amen to that.”
HE WOKE UP to a note on the pillow instead of Jessica.
*I’ve gone to Rockefeller Center to get ready for the Geocaching. I should be back by one.*
That was it. Short and sweet and no mention at all of the night that had ended when the sun peeked over the skyscrapers.
He lay back down, debating the merits of really getting up, deciding in the end to stay put and order room service.
He knew Owen would be with Jessica at Rockefeller Center, but given the shape Dan was in, he wouldn’t be much help until he got his act together.
Jessica had told him about the all-day stunt that would begin just after eight this morning. All the winners from a write-in campaign, almost a hundred of them, would be given portable global positioning systems and a map. Their task was basically a treasure hunt. Locate one Manhattan landmark by the longitude and latitude, find a clue to the next location, then the next, finally ending at the Central Park Pond, where one lucky winner would receive a full makeover, using New Dawn cosmetics, of course, a new wardrobe and a cruise for two to Jamaica. All of which was going to be recorded by as many entertainment-news organizations as Jessica could entice to be there.
It was quite a brilliant idea, really, but the logistics had been a daunting task. He knew for sure that all the clues were in place, and had been since last week. The grand prize had been buried last night.
At least the whole publicity monster would be over in a few days. He’d promised Jessica he would be there as her arm candy until it was finished, and he would. As for his own research project, he was more confused about women than ever. What was worse, none of his prepared questions seemed the least bit germane. He had no idea what to ask her, what would help him understand her. It seemed an unbridgeable chasm, his feelings, her feelings, their relationship, if he could even call it that. Perhaps if he knew what he wanted from her, it would help, but he didn’t.
Okay, he knew some things: he wanted to see her again. To see her often. To pursue this—whatever it was. To make love to her. To see where she lived, how she lived, to learn about her past.
Shit, he wanted a lot, and almost none of it was directly related to his project.
Bottom line? No way he could walk away from her. She’d become important to him. Vitally. When he thought about a future without her he felt indescribably bleak.
Jessica had awakened something inside him that had been dormant. No other woman had affected him this way, and he had a sinking feeling that no other woman ever would. She was the spark that lit his fire. Maybe that was the whole thing about love. That you wander around until your dormant heart is awakened by the one other person on earth who matches some very specific requirements.
He winced as the full impact of his thoughts hit home. Love? He’d only known her for less than a week. Not enough time, surely, to go out on that limb. And yet, if it wasn’t love, what was it? Lust didn’t cover it. It was involved, but not the whole of it. He’d lusted often before, sometimes to the detriment of his health, his sanity. But that was child’s play compared to his feelings now. He couldn’t abide the thought of Jessica moving through life without him. But he had the distinct and uncomfortable suspicion that she didn’t feel the same way.
Which basically meant he was screwed. Unless he could figure something out. In the next two days.
Right.
“ON YOUR MARK, get set, go!”
Jessica watched the contestants sprint across the Rockefeller Center Plaza, heading east toward the site of the first clue. The whir and click of hundreds of cameras sounded like a swarm of insects as journalists from around the world captured the moment. She’d gotten word early this morning that the sale of global positioning systems throughout the Greater New York Area had tripled in the last four days, and that all Manhattan was engaged in the largest treasure hunt in the city’s history.
By all accounts, the event was a triumph. The name of New Dawn had saturated the market on every level, print, radio, television and most importantly, word of mouth. Already Bloomingdale’s, Saks, Barney’s and hundreds of other retail stores were reporting record sales for a debuting cosmetics line. Everything Jessica had worked for over the last year was coming together in a beautifully wrapped package, and she knew that next week she was going to have to weigh offers from marketing and cosmetics firms from around the world.
She should have been floating on cloud nine. Instead, she had a king-size headache and a mad desire to steal the grand-prize cruise to Jamaica for herself.
Marla leaned against the brightly painted New Dawn pressmobile, arms crossed, a worried frown making her look younger than her twenty-four years. “Want to talk about it?”
Jessica shook her head. “I don’t think so, but thanks.”
“What time do we have to be at the park?”
“The soonest anyone can get there is four-thirty, so we’ll set up at four.”
Marla nodded. “Okay, see you there.”
She didn’t leave, however. She just kept staring.
“Marla, it’s okay. I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“Don’t let the New Dawn people hear you say that. I’m wearing all their best stuff.”
Pushing herself off the van, Marla came to her side. “It’s about Dan, isn’t it?”
She was surprised by Marla’s question. In all the time they’d worked together, Marla had never really asked her anything personal. Jessica hadn’t allowed it. She’d realized when she fi
rst came up with this plan that things were going to change, but she’d never bargained on the major earthquake that had shaken her to the core. She sighed deeply and said, “Yeah, it’s about Dan.”
Marla took her by the elbow and led her toward a coffee kiosk. “I’ll buy,” she said. “You talk.”
But Jessica didn’t. Not until they had their drinks and found a table near the exit. “I don’t know,” she said finally. “Things are getting really complicated.”
“How?”
Jessica studied her assistant, and it occurred to her that Marla could have been so much more than that. She could have been a friend. Her career wouldn’t have been threatened, the campaign still would have been wildly successful. The only difference would have been that Jessica wouldn’t have been so incredibly alone. “Obviously,” she said, “this goes nowhere, but you were right about Dan. He isn’t my old college boyfriend.”
Marla didn’t say anything. She just put her paper cup down on the table.
“He’s a friend of a friend. I hired him to act like my boyfriend. You already figured out why.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Only now, you’re kind of wishing he really was your boyfriend.”
Jessica winced. “I’m not. At least I don’t think I am. No, I’m not. I can’t get involved. It goes against all my better judgment. Every woman I know in business has had to choose between love and real success. I don’t want to have to make that choice.”
“Love?”
Jessica felt the heat in her cheeks. “It was rhetorical.”
“Right.”
“No, I don’t love him. At least, I don’t think I do. It’s just…”
“You can’t stop thinking about him? You feel like you’re a completely different person when he’s near? You want to share every new sight and taste and sound with him? The whole universe has come into focus and you didn’t even know it’d been blurry?”
She chuckled. “Something like that.”
Marla leaned forward and touched her hand. The small gesture was completely foreign to their previous relationship, and yet at this moment, Jessica welcomed the kindness so much she actually teared up.
“Jessica, jobs come and go. But to lose someone like Dan…”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It can be. If you let it.”
Jessica stared at her coffee, feelings she never would have imagined stirring deep inside, confusing her as nothing in her life had before. “I don’t know. I think I might know a way to have both him and my career.”
“Then go for it,” Marla said. “You deserve happiness, Jessica. Not just success.”
“I always thought success was happiness.”
“Oh, man,” Marla said, leaning back on her chair. “That’s, well, kinda sad, isn’t it?”
Jessica didn’t answer. Not out loud, at least.
Top 5 things men know about women:
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17
JESSICA’S PACE down the hotel hallways slowed to just above a crawl as she approached her suite. Yes, she wanted to see Dan, but she still hadn’t figured out the perfect way to ask him to be part of her grand plan.
Casual was the way to go, but not too casual; she didn’t want him to feel peripheral, as if any man could do the trick. But she also didn’t want to sound desperate and needy. If the plan was going to work, they both needed to want it. It would take some amount of coordination, and the whole scheme would crumple if Dan ended up feeling as if he wasn’t getting enough of her time, or attention, or whatever. She had to be passionate about the benefits of the intermittent affair. He could feel completely unencumbered when he went off to do research or consulting, or climbing Everest. She would never be jealous or possessive. He could do as he pleased, as long as he was careful, and when they both deemed it time, they’d come together in what she fully expected to be a mind-blowing week of unadulterated bliss. Then they’d go to their separate corners until the next time.
Think of how much they would have to tell each other if they didn’t see each other day after dull day. It would be like Christmas four times a year. Everything would be new and fresh and thrilling. In the downtimes, they could enjoy the benefits of singlehood, like not worrying about what time dinner was, or having to go to mind-numbing client parties.
To her mind, the arrangement was the best of all possible worlds. She just hoped like hell she could convince him. No. She would convince him. She was in the process of getting the whole world slathering to buy New Dawn cosmetics, and according to all reliable sources, she’d done just that. If she could convince a whole country, convincing one man would be a snap.
She finally reached her door. She slipped in the key card, turning the little light green, and went inside. “Hello?”
No answer. In her note she’d said she’d be back by one, and it was almost two. Dan had probably gotten bored and gone off for lunch.
Her shoulders relaxed as she put down her briefcase. What she wanted now was a bath. A big, long soak-extravaganza that would prune her skin and ease her aches. A nap would have been even more perfect, but she’d never trust herself to get up again. So a bath it would be.
She went to the bathroom and started the water in the big Roman tub. No jets, but plenty of room to stretch out. There was even a terry-bath pillow provided, along with two lilac-scented candles.
Her robe still hung on the bathroom door from this morning, so she didn’t have to fetch that. She did, however, need to get her cell, despite the fact that if anyone had the nerve to call her, she’d cheerfully wring their necks. But she was technically on call, so…
Undressing slowly, she got all the way down to panties before pinning up her hair. She thought about applying a mud mask, but what if Dan came back? She didn’t want to look like a Kabuki dancer.
The thought of him joining her in that great big tub gave her a little shiver, although really, she needed the rest. She’d decide if and when. No need to stress about it, or anything at the moment.
Peeling down her panties and tossing them in the corner, she lit both candles, turned off the lights, then turned off the water, pleased at the billowing bubbles that she had brought forth. Already sighing, she tested the water with her big toe, then her foot. Satisfied that she wouldn’t be scalded, she climbed into the tub, letting her body adjust in stages, until she lay neck high in happiness.
It took a couple of tries to get the pillow in exactly the right position, but it was worth it. She sighed one more time as she closed her eyes, her body floating, her mind at peace. All was right with her world.
She must have fallen asleep, because the sound of the door opening woke her with a start. She smiled, sinking down a little deeper into the water. Clearly she hadn’t been out for long, because the water was still toasty and the bubbles hadn’t dissipated.
“Hello,” she said, her eyes still closed. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Dan didn’t say anything, but she could hear the soft plop of shirt and pants hit the tile.
She squirmed under the soft cover of bubbles, anticipating the wonderfulness of Dan plus bath plus soap plus her. It added up to one spectacular experience with the extra-added bonus of not having to clean up.
His feet hardly made a sound as they crossed the room. She opened her eyes languidly, focusing in on his good parts.
With a flash of horror, she realized they weren’t his good parts at all.
It was Owen, wearing nothing but a pair of way-too-tight red bikini briefs, his chubby middle sticking out over the top. He smiled at her as if he were Brad Pitt, and if she hadn’t been so damn frightened she would have laughed out loud.
She put her left hand over her cell phone and without even looking at it, pressed speed-dial five. Then, very calmly, she said, “What are you doing, Owen?”
“I know all about your boyfriend.”
“Oh?�
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He moved over to the side of the tub, and for a horrifying minute she thought he was going to climb in with her. Instead, he sat on the edge, casually crossing his legs as if they were at the Manhattan Ocean Club instead of her bathroom. “Oh, yeah. I know it all.”
“What do you know?
“That you hired him. He’s an actor. He doesn’t mean a thing to you.”
“Why do you think I did that, Owen?”
“Because you’re afraid.”
“Of what?”
He leaned slightly forward. “Of us.”
“And why would I be afraid? Because you broke into my room, and came into my bathroom while I was taking a bath?”
Owen laughed.
She blessed New Dawn bubble bath for the lasting coverage as she prayed her ploy had worked. She’d never realized Owen was this far gone. Did he actually think she wanted him? That showing up in his underwear was going to do the trick?
“I know you’ve felt this…thing between us,” he said. “I know you think it wouldn’t work because of my wife, but you have to understand. I’m in love with you. Sure, my wife is great, she’s a terrific person, but love? That hasn’t been there for a long, long time.”
“Does she know that, Owen?”
“Of course she does. She’s very happy being a mother, being at home. She doesn’t care what I do with my free time. In fact, she’d be delighted to get me out of her hair.”
“So you’ve told her about us?”
“Sure, sure.”
He stood, making her heart hammer in her chest. Maybe she should scream, but who would hear her if her cell phone call hadn’t connected? This hotel was built when walls were walls and bathrooms were private. “Why don’t we talk about it, Owen. In the living room. You go on out there, and I’ll follow in a minute. I just need to freshen up a bit.”
“You don’t, Jessica. You’re perfect the way you are.” He sat again, his hand moving below the bubbles right into the water.
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