by Addison Cole
“Josh told you that, did he?” Claudia held Riley’s gaze.
Riley hurried to her side, feigning a worried glance around the room, then whispered, “Yes, and so I just thought…well…that it would be best to learn directly from you. You obviously know what you’re doing.”
“Of course I do.” Claudia lifted her chin. She tapped her pen on the desk, then shot to her feet. “Okay, but I don’t have much time, so pay close attention.”
Riley followed Claudia into another room, this one stocked with banners, brochures, and various racks and displays. Claudia pulled a binder from a shelf and leafed through it.
“These are photos of our previous displays. Results from each show are noted behind the images. Obviously, the designs must change from show to show, and the setup needs to be fresh as well, but I use this and pull ideas from each to create something new. Whatever you do, do not ever duplicate a display. Buyers are smart, and they have great memories for details. You have to be on top of your game. Memorize every item we bring to the show as well as our stock on hand.”
“How can I possibly do that in two weeks?” Riley asked.
“You’ll have to study the line sheets day and night until then. All of them. I always make sure to read through the tech packs, too, so I know what stitch is used on each garment.”
Of course you do. “Oh, you are so smart. Okay, I’ll do my best.”
“Your best?” Claudia turned stern eyes on her. “You cannot do your best. You have to be perfect. There’s no room for flustered newbies at the trade shows.”
Then why am I going? “Of course. I won’t let you down. I’ll stay late and study them.”
“Why don’t you take them home tonight? I always find it easier to concentrate at home,” Claudia offered.
“Really? I’m allowed to take them out of the office? I figured this stuff was proprietary.”
“Oh, don’t worry. If I say it’s okay, it’s okay.” Claudia smiled and touched Riley’s shoulder.
Riley tried not to bristle against her touch. “Thanks, Claudia. I really appreciate your help. I won’t let you down.” Why hadn’t she thought of being a kiss up before today? Worked like a charm. Unless…Was this a setup of some sort? Was she going to get in trouble for taking them out of the office? She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and tried to will it away.
Riley studied the books for the next two hours, taking copious notes of the details she’d need to remember. As she headed back to her desk to review the line sheets, she saw Josh coming toward her, Mia by his side.
“Hey, Riley. How’s it going?” Mia asked with a wide smile.
“Great. I’m really excited about the trade show.” She tried not to make eye contact with Josh, but she felt his alluring eyes on her, drawing her in, and she couldn’t remain evasive. She lifted her eyes. Oh great, now I want to kiss him. “Good morning, Josh.”
He smiled, and she felt a rush of excitement all the way to her toes.
“Riley,” he said easily. “Have you found Claudia unusually wicked today?”
“Wicked? No. In fact, she’s been nothing but pleasant today. It’s been a nice surprise.” And a shocking one. I don’t trust her.
Mia’s eyes darted between the two of them, and Riley realized she was staring at Josh with a girl-crush smile on her lips. “I’ve got to get to work,” she said and rushed past them. Mia’s voice hung in the air behind her.
“A little skittish today?” Mia asked.
Riley slowed her pace to catch Josh’s response.
“Aren’t all new employees?” he answered.
Thank you. She breathed a sigh of relief. Back at her desk, she sat down with the line sheets spread out before her for the Bliss line as well as the previous two seasons. She opened her desk drawer and reached for a pencil without looking. Something pricked her finger. She brought her bloody finger to her mouth and looked around before glancing in her desk. She wished she knew what Claudia was up to now. She did flip on the nice switch awfully quick. Riley wanted to believe that Claudia was just being nice after her suck-up act, but could she change her tune that fast—or at all? If she’s playing a prank after being so nice, I’ll—She looked into the drawer, then quickly rolled her chair to block the view from her officemates. She reached into the drawer and withdrew an orange rose. Josh. Her heart skipped a beat. She opened her purse and stuck the flower inside. As she was closing her purse, she found a note. She hid it in her fist and headed to the ladies’ room. She wasn’t going to be caught blushing at her desk.
After locking herself in a stall, she opened the note.
Beautiful Riley, please forgive me, but I have a conference call tonight. Can we move our date to 8? Can’t wait to see you. I’ll pick you up at Savannah’s. Wear something scruffy. Yes, scruffy, not nice, not designer, not pretty.
—J
Scruffy? What does that mean? Do I even own anything scruffy?
FIVE O’CLOCK FOUND Riley hovering over line sheets. In her mind, she saw a blur of sizes, colors, and stock numbers running like a pattern on repeat.
“How’s it going?” Claudia asked.
Riley started at her pleasant tone. “Great. It’s a bit hard on the eyes, but it’s going well. I’ve got some great ideas, and with another two weeks of studying, I think I’ll have this information ingrained in my mind forever.”
“Good. Remember, it has to be perfect.”
“Perfect. Got it.” Riley saw Josh heading their way, and she trained her eyes on the paper once again.
“Claudia, how’s our newest employee coming along?” Josh asked.
“Oh, she’s coming along,” Claudia answered.
Claudia’s seductive tone caught Riley’s attention. Claudia touched Josh’s arm and fluttered her lashes.
Oh no, you did not just do that. Riley tightened her fist around her pencil.
“I’m giving her a few extra pointers,” Claudia said.
Riley clenched her jaw against the green-eyed monster that had snuck into her mind, but she could feel the heat creeping up her neck, the tightening of every muscle in her body. She dropped her eyes back to the line sheets and stewed.
“Thank you, Claudia. I knew you’d step up to the plate,” Josh said.
“Always,” she replied in that bedroom voice again.
I bet you do.
“Josh, I wanted to talk to you about a few things. I’m tied up for a bit, but will you still be here in an hour?” Claudia asked.
At that, Riley pushed from her chair, sending it skittering a few inches backward. In the most casual voice she could muster, she said, “Excuse me. Nature calls.” She brushed past Josh, sure she was leaving a trail of smoke in her wake, but she was too annoyed with Claudia to care.
Chapter Fourteen
JOSH SPENT THE afternoon dealing with buyers, meeting with his accountant, and taking phone calls. He watched the minutes tick by, the phone pressed to his ear.
“There’s just one more thing I want to say,” Peter Stafford said.
Josh had been on the phone with Peter for the past twenty minutes, and he was anxious to wrap up their conversation.
“Josh, I’m sorry for appearing forward with Riley Banks. I wasn’t myself that evening,” Peter said. “And I’m afraid I embarrassed myself.”
It had been Peter’s interference that had sprung Josh into action. He was glad for the push, but he wasn’t about to let Peter know that. Never let a business associate have the upper hand—another of Treat’s lessons.
“I thought something was a bit…off,” Josh said.
“You have my sincerest apologies, and if I made Riley uncomfortable, I am truly and deeply sorry. I will apologize to her when I see her at the meeting after the New Year.”
Josh waited for Peter to elaborate on why he’d gone down that road with Riley, and when he didn’t, Josh let it drop. He accepted Peter’s apology, and by the time he came up for air, it was six forty-five.
He went to the design
studio and was surprised to find that Riley and most of the staff had already left for the evening. With fifteen unspoken-for minutes before his conference call, he headed back to his office and called Riley’s cell.
“How’s my secret girlfriend?” Girlfriend. He liked that.
“Tired and cranky,” she said.
“Too tired to see me?”
“No way. You can take my crankiness away,” she said.
He loved her honesty. “Does your crankiness have something to do with Claudia’s pawing me this afternoon?”
“I must sound like a whiny, jealous girlfriend, don’t I? I’m really not. I swear. But there’s something about her that I just don’t trust,” she said.
“That makes two of us,” Josh said. “Do you trust me?”
Riley waited a beat too long to answer.
“Ri?” Josh had been so young when his mother died, and he’d watched his father remain true to her year after year, both of which had driven him to be more careful with his emotions. He’d craved the same powerful love as he’d watched his father harbor, believing that if he did all the right things, then one day he’d have that same amount of love for a woman. Even as a teenager, he’d been able to control those urges, to analyze his feelings, and if he hadn’t felt something bigger than lust for a girl, he hadn’t taken her to bed. Josh knew he was different in that way, but he always imagined that when the right girl came around, she’d respect that about him and appreciate it. It was time for Riley to get to know him better and understand the man he’d always been.
“I do trust you, Josh. But I don’t know much about your life in New York, so I have no idea what things were like before me.”
Josh took a deep breath and sat on the leather couch facing a wall of windows behind his desk. He stretched his long legs out and leaned back, glancing at his watch. They had only minutes; it was not nearly enough time to say the things he wanted to say. Instead, he simply replied, “Don’t believe everything you think, Ri, okay?” He wished she were beside him, snuggled in beneath his arm so he could kiss the top of her head and explain his past.
“How do you know what I think?” she asked.
“I know what people think. Trust me, Ri. Tonight we’ll talk.” A knock on his door caught his attention. “I gotta run. I’ve got a call at seven, but I’ll be there at eight, okay?” The door opened slowly and Claudia came in.
“Have a sec?” Claudia asked.
Josh held up one finger. “Eight?” he said into the phone, feeling a bit like a bug caught in a spider’s web. He really wanted to tell Claudia about him and Riley, just to remove the secrecy and tension. The knots in his shoulders were nothing compared to the wrath Claudia could unleash once she found out about them. Maybe I should have terminated her ages ago. His loyalty to Peter was like a noose around his neck that he’d never minded until Riley came back into his life.
“Sure.” Riley’s voice was almost a whisper. Then the line went dead.
Josh stood and ran his hand through his hair. Running on little sleep had left him fatigued, and he needed a hot shower—and time with Riley.
“I’ve got a call in two minutes. Is it quick?” he asked.
Claudia flashed an unusually warm smile, sending a chill of worry up his back.
“I’ll come back. I have some work to do anyway.” She closed the door on her way out, and Josh breathed a sigh of relief—for the moment.
Twenty minutes later, he was reaching for his coat and keys when there was a soft knock at the door and Claudia pushed it open.
“I saw the line light go off. Have a minute?” She didn’t wait for an answer.
Josh leaned against his desk and glanced at his watch. “Just one,” he said.
She sat on the couch, her leather skirt hiked up to the top of her thighs. She swung her long legs out and crossed them at the ankle. “Riley’s making strides,” she said.
Josh let out another relieved sigh. “That’s great.”
“She’s got a long way to go, but I think she’s really working hard to find her way.”
“She’s very talented. I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
Claudia leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. Her blouse bloomed open, revealing more cleavage and the edge of a lacy cream bra. Josh averted his eyes.
“You’re making me nervous,” Claudia said. “Can you just sit for a minute? I don’t bite.”
He half expected her to say, Unless you want me to. He didn’t budge. “What’s up, Claudia?”
She pursed her lips. “I just thought we should catch up a bit. We haven’t really spoken about anything…special…you wanted me to do lately. You know, designs, or any special preps for the Bliss line. I just wanted to be sure I was prepared for whatever you might need.”
Josh swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. Claudia was an attractive woman, and there was no denying her seductive ways, which might strike a powerful hold on a different sort of man. But Claudia’s blatant abuse of Josh’s loyalty to her uncle repulsed him, and as he watched her playing out her seductive ruse, he wondered if his loyalty to Peter was worth it.
She dug around in her enormous Louis Vuitton bag. “I met someone the other day, an editor for Vogue. Someone new.”
“Someone new? I haven’t heard of anyone new coming to Vogue.” Now he was interested. Surely his publicist would have the details before Claudia.
“He’s not there yet. But he will be.” She looked up quickly, and the contents of her purse dumped over her legs and onto the floor. “Oh, shoot. I’m so sorry.”
Josh bent forward to help her pick up her belongings. With a handful of lipstick containers, eyeliner, and her wallet, he lifted his eyes to return them and came up eye to eye with Claudia, her lips an inch from his.
“Thank you,” she whispered. She ran her tongue slowly over her lower lip. “I really appreciate how highly you think of me, Josh, and if ever I can do anything for you…” She let the end of her sentence hang in the air between them.
Josh pushed to his feet at the same time she did and they knocked heads. Claudia’s lips brushed his cheek, and she grabbed her forehead.
“I’m sorry,” Josh said. “Are you okay?” This was the last thing he wanted to deal with. Freaking Claudia. Did she have to pull this right now?
“Yeah,” she whispered. “Oh, gosh, I got lipstick on you.” She rubbed his cheek with a firm stroke of her thumb.
Josh stepped back. “I can get it,” he snapped. He grabbed a tissue from the desk and swiped at his cheek. “Claudia, I know you’re willing to…go the extra mile to become a designer.”
“Yes, I am,” she said with lust-filled eyes.
“No one sleeps their way to the top at JBD. Skills will get you where you want to be. Spend some time coming up with fresh ideas; no more new takes on old themes. Give me something I can grab hold of and run with.”
She sidled up to him, pressing her hips against his. “Oh, I’ve got something you can grab hold of.”
Josh made a disgusted tsk sound and pushed her away. “Claudia, you’re an attractive woman, but this”—he ran his hand back and forth in the space between them—“is never going to happen. Let your work stand for itself.”
Her eyes caught fire. She threw her shoulders back. “You have no idea what you’re missing, Josh Braden. We could make a great team, and I don’t mean just in the design studio.”
Josh ran his hand through his hair. He was tired of playing games with her. Hadn’t he made himself perfectly clear? Claudia had worked in the business long enough to have established relationships with media, buyers, and designers. She could work anywhere, and he was about ready to have a little talk with Peter and cut her loose. This take-me-now game had gone way past a girl trying to just sleep her way to the top, but a scandal devised at the hands of Claudia Raven would be painful and humiliating—though not unrecoverable.
“Claudia—”
She held her hand up and stopped him from speaking. “It’s okay, Jos
h. I get it. I’m a great assistant, but I need to be a better designer. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m attracted to you and have been since the day I set eyes on you.”
“Claudia, you’re attracted to what I stand for, not who I am.” He had to stop this train wreck before it got any more out of hand. “I’m involved with someone.” There, he’d said it without mentioning Riley. Chew on that for a while.
The anger in her eyes faded, replaced with a shadow of hurt. The harsh line of her mouth softened. “Please, don’t play me for a fool. You’re not attracted to me. I get that. There’s no need to make up a fictitious girlfriend. Attraction isn’t everything,” she said, moving closer to him.
“Stop, Claudia. Whatever made-up game you have in your head is not going to happen.” He took a deep breath. “If you value your job, then please stop these antics.”
Claudia gritted her teeth. “Well, then, fine.” She picked up her purse and headed for the door.
“And, Claudia?”
She turned to face him with watery eyes. He almost felt bad for her. “Let’s not make anyone’s life miserable because of this, okay? We’re all professionals. I don’t need you stomping around or making things uncomfortable. I expect a professional workplace with no ulterior motives.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, and stormed out the door.
Chapter Fifteen
NOT PRETTY, NOT designer. Scruffy. Riley stood before her dresser, wondering just what scruffy looked like. She was used to trying to look good, not bad. Scruffy? Josh would be there in ten minutes, and she was stuck. She hadn’t been able to concentrate on the line sheets after hearing Claudia’s voice in the background when they were on the phone, and no matter how she’d tried to quell her jealousy, the prickling at the back of her neck would not go away. Even though she knew Josh would never go for someone like Claudia, her mind began to wander. Would he tell her if he slept with her just once? What if he had and he’d left Claudia wanting more? Could that be the driving force behind Claudia’s cattiness?