by Lisa Childs
A grin tugged at his mouth with the memory. “I won, too,” he said.
“She didn’t,” Miranda murmured. “And neither would any of the members you might date if I were to let you join Liaisons International.”
“You’re serious?” he asked. “You won’t let me join your matchmaking service?” He’d had no intention of joining it...until she’d told him he couldn’t. That was usually what made him want something—being told he couldn’t have it.
Like her...
She hadn’t told him he couldn’t have her, but the way she reacted—or didn’t react—to him said it for her. He would never try to coerce or force a woman into being with him if she didn’t want to.
But Grant had never actually had the experience of wanting a woman who hadn’t wanted him.
Miranda Fox was a novelty in every way—always had been. She posed a challenge he’d never faced before. Could he make her fall for him?
CHAPTER TWO
MIRANDA DIDN’T LIKE the way Grant Snyder was looking at her. But she sure liked the way he looked—too damn much. Her skin tingled yet from the contact with his, so much so that she curled her fingers into her palm. Maybe she should have swung that fist at him to get him out of her office and out of reach.
Because she wanted to reach for him again. But this time, instead of holding him back, she wanted to curl her fingers into his shirt and jerk him up against her. She wanted to slide her other hand around the back of his neck and pull his head down to hers, to kiss him...
Deeply.
Passionately.
To thwart that temptation, she moved quickly around her desk so that, strategically, it was between them again. Keeping them apart...
Keeping her from reaching for him...
What the hell was wrong with her?
This was Grant—Grant Snyder—who’d always treated her like nothing but trouble. That had been so damn hypocritical of him since he was actually the worst kind of trouble—the heartbreaking kind of trouble. His prom date hadn’t been the only girl who’d cried over him. And the way he was looking at her, it was like hers was the heart he wanted to break next.
“No,” she said. “I won’t let you join the service.” Although maybe she should, because then he would definitely be off-limits to her since the company rule was No Dating Members. Miranda had determined long before even buying the business that she was not going to be her mother, but to make sure that her sisters wouldn’t become Mother, either, she’d implemented the new rule.
“I’ve already joined the service,” he said.
A pang of panic struck her. “No, you haven’t.” She’d made certain neither of her sisters could sign up a member without her approval.
“The navy,” Grant said with a wiggle of his reddish-blond brows. “They took me.”
“The rumor is that they didn’t keep you,” she said. “Or so your sister told me.” Blair suspected there was more to the rumors she’d heard about her brother, though. That those rumors could be covering up something else he’d done or was still doing for the US Navy.
What the hell was Grant Snyder? And why was she still so damn curious about him? Curiosity had done nothing but get her in trouble in the past, like when she’d gotten suspicious about where one of her creepy stepfathers sneaked out of the house to go to and followed him to a strip club. If she hadn’t taken pictures, Mother probably wouldn’t have believed her. Her mother was not a good judge of character; Miranda was. To stay out of trouble, she could not risk being curious about Grant.
“So you and my sister have talked about me?” he asked, and he moved closer and leaned over the desk she’d put between them. Amusement glinted in his dark blue eyes, letting her know that he was entirely aware that she’d purposely put that barrier between them.
Did he know why? Did he realize that she was really attracted to him?
He’d teased her about having a crush on him. But how could he know?
She’d always been so careful to keep it from him, and to keep it from Blair, too. She hadn’t wanted her best friend thinking that she was using her, like so many other girls had, to get closer to Grant.
Only her sisters had discovered the truth when they’d discovered where she’d hidden her diary. Damn them.
Damn him...
And that knowing grin curving his mouth—that mouth she still wanted to kiss. She wanted to know how his beard would feel against her skin, how his lips would taste.
Damn him...
“You know Blair and I are best friends,” she said. “We talk about all our problems.”
His grin widened. “I am not a problem.”
He was for her. “Maybe not for your sister...”
“Come on, Miranda, you and I haven’t seen each other in years. You should be happy I’m here and that I want to patronize your business.”
“Oh, you patronized me enough over the years,” she assured him. “I don’t need you doing it now. In fact—” She glanced at her watch again. “A potential new member should be arriving soon.” And she didn’t want the young woman to think she could date him.
“A potential new member is standing right in front of you now,” he persisted. “What’s the deal, Miranda? Why won’t you let me join? Are you really hanging on to some grudge from the past? You have to realize that whatever I said or did back then was just because I was trying to protect my sister.”
Blair was a former fighter pilot. She was strong and tall and fierce. She didn’t need protection from anyone.
“From me?”
He arched a reddish-blond eyebrow over his left eye. “Uh, damn right. You always got her into trouble.”
Heat rushed to her face. “I—I hadn’t meant to...” There had just been so many things she’d wanted to do, and she hadn’t wanted to do them alone.
“But like I’m saying, that’s all in the past,” Grant continued. “I’ve let it go. Why can’t you?”
She narrowed her eyes and studied his handsome face. “I was warned that you weren’t very happy with me over Blair joining the service.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “That was back when she was upset about it, about dating, but she’s happy now. That’s what I want, Miranda. To be happy.”
Suspicious of his claim, she narrowed her eyes even more until she could barely see him through the thin slits. “You’re not happy now?”
He shrugged again. “Sure, the business is good. Life is good. But you know...sometimes you just want someone to share all that with.”
She knew. Occasionally she felt a twinge of loneliness herself. “And you need help finding someone?” she asked skeptically.
He grinned. “Are you saying that I’m too good-looking to have to join your dating service?”
She snorted at his arrogance. “You’ve met Matteo Rinaldi, right?” He was the billionaire she’d set up with her friend, which had caused an issue with her sisters. Setting up their most eligible member with a nonpaying member...
But Miranda had just known that they were meant to be together. Soul mates...
She swallowed a sigh. She never let anyone see her romantic side—although it had probably slipped out from time to time with her friend. It wasn’t something she was proud of, though. And having inherited that from her mother made her think she’d probably inherited other bad traits, like her taste in men and her penchant for getting married many times.
Grant snorted now. “I guess he’s all right...”
“If you like tall, dark and handsome.” A wistful sigh slipped out now.
Grant leaned farther over her narrow desk. “I don’t,” he said. “I actually prefer petite, blonde and beautiful.”
Her mouth dried out so much that it was as if her tongue was stuck to the roof of it, trapping her words inside so that she couldn’t come up with a snappy reply to his comment. Was h
e flirting with her?
Her heart pounded wildly at the thought of any of her teenage fantasies about him coming true. Was it possible?
But until he’d walked into her office, he hadn’t known what she looked like now, so he probably hadn’t come here to ask her out.
“Just what the hell are you up to, Grant?” she asked him point-blank, refusing to be drawn into his games.
He played for stakes much higher than she was willing to pay anymore. She wasn’t the rebellious teenager she’d once been. She was a woman trying to turn around a business. She had her sisters relying on her.
Maybe not all that much had changed, because she’d always had her sisters relying on her. They hadn’t been able to rely on their mother, who’d always been chasing her next great romance.
Miranda had learned young that there was no such thing as a great romance; any romance was too risky. And nobody was riskier than a flirty Grant Snyder.
* * *
Just what the hell was he up to? Grant wasn’t sure himself. But he knew that he wanted to see more of her, and not just as a member of her damn dating service. He’d really had no intention of joining.
But just as he committed to a bluff, he committed to the lie, persisting, “I want to join Liaisons International.”
She snorted again, which somehow turned him on that she looked all elegant and ladylike but could still snort like that. She was so damn sexy...and sassy.
Her silvery-blue eyes glittered with all that sass as she patronizingly remarked, “I had no idea you had so much trouble getting a date.”
“I don’t,” he said.
“Then you have no reason to join.”
He had every reason to join. She was every reason.
“I saw what you did for Blair and Teo,” he said. “Don’t you think you’re good enough to get those results twice?”
“I’m saying you’re not good enough,” she replied, as blunt as she’d ever been.
It used to annoy the crap out of him when she’d talked to him like that; now he found it intriguing for some damn reason, just as he found every single thing about her intriguing.
He pressed a hand to his chest, which still tingled from where her palm had touched him. “Oh, you’ve wounded me. I had no idea you thought so little of me.”
“I know you, Grant.”
“You know I ditched a prom date to gamble with the chaperones,” he said. “That was a long time ago. I would never treat a woman that way again.”
“One of the most important promises I make to the members is that everyone will be open and honest with each other,” she said.
“I won’t be giving a false name,” he said. Like his sister had given Teo Rinaldi. He knew, though, that Blair had had no intention of falling for anyone. It was Miranda pushing her to go out with the billionaire that had gotten her into the awkward situation, which had been just the latest of all the awkward situations she’d gotten her into over the years. And, like in the past, Grant had had to help her out of it.
Miranda sighed.
“Give me a chance,” he said. “Give me a trial run, see if I meet your dating standards.” His heart began to pound as he considered what he was about to do. This might prove one of the greatest gambles he’d ever taken.
“What kind of trial run?”
“Let me take you out and show you that I am the perfect date,” he said.
She laughed and shook her head.
“And here I thought nothing scared Miranda Fox...” He clicked his tongue against his teeth and sighed. “I’m so disappointed.” He turned for the door.
“You don’t scare me,” she said. “My sisters and I have a policy. We don’t date members.”
“But I’m not a member,” he reminded her. “You won’t let me join.”
He reached for the doorknob. But he had no intention of opening it yet. If she wouldn’t give him a chance to have another talk with her, he would have to have it here; he would have to warn her to stay away from Blair and Teo and just let them be happy without her continued interference.
But if she would agree to date him, he could keep her busy and out of their lives. And he knew just how he’d like to keep her busy...
He would run his hand over her shapely legs and push up that dress, and then he would...
“Grant?”
Was she waiting for him to leave? Or had she changed her mind?
He was going to assume the latter—to his benefit. So he turned back and grinned at her. “You won’t regret it,” he said. “I’ll show you a good time. The best time you’ve ever had...” He reached for the door now. “I’ll pick you up at six thirty. Bring your passport.”
“Grant—”
He didn’t stop this time, just walked out and closed the door behind him to shut off her protest. Her sister, the receptionist, was on the phone, but she’d covered the mouthpiece to laugh. So she’d obviously overheard most of their conversation. “See you later,” she whispered to him. “And good luck!”
Miranda might refuse to go with him when he returned to pick her up. But that was just one of the chances he was taking...
The biggest risk was her actually going out with him. What was he going to do then?
He knew what he would like to do—to her, with her—but he was worried that she was going to get him into even more trouble than she always had his sister. More trouble than he’d even gotten himself into.
And that would be a hell of a lot...
CHAPTER THREE
“WHAT ARE YOU going to wear?” Tabitha asked the minute Miranda wearily closed the door on the reception area after her last potential client.
She wouldn’t be signing up the woman who had wanted proof that Miranda had other billionaires available for her to date. For one, Miranda didn’t want a client like that—like her mother—who wasn’t looking for a match but for a meal ticket. And for another, she wasn’t going to show the woman anyone else’s financial information. She did require that information, though, just to make sure that she didn’t sign up women or men who weren’t gainfully employed. She didn’t want any freeloaders in Liaisons International.
It was bad enough having one working for her.
Confused, she stared at her sister and asked, “What do you mean?”
“For your date with Grant Snyder,” Tabitha replied. “What are you going to wear?”
“Nothing.”
Tabitha laughed. “Guess you’ve waited for him too long to play hard to get, huh?”
Heat rushed to Miranda’s face, but she ignored her embarrassment and glared at her sister. “I meant nothing because I am not going out with him.”
“She can’t,” Regina said, startling Miranda with her presence in the open doorway to her office, which was on the opposite side of the reception area from Miranda’s.
Miranda was startled that Regina had come into the office at all. Usually the IT expert worked from home. Miranda glanced from one sister to the other, amazed again at how different they all looked from one another. Tabitha was willowy with brilliant red hair and bright green eyes, and Regina was tall with dark hair and dark eyes. But then, they each had a different father, only three of Mother’s many husbands.
Putting together why Regina had joined them, she accused Tabitha, “You called her.”
Tabitha nodded. “Of course I did. This is huge! You’re going out with Grant Snyder!”
“No, I’m not,” she insisted.
With that last appointment running longer than she’d thought, she needed to get the hell out of the office before he actually showed up, if he really intended to at all. He’d probably just been messing with her.
Regina released a shaky sigh. “That’s good. I thought you were returning to your old ways.”
Miranda narrowed her eyes and studied her dark-haired sister. The siste
rs were all as unalike in personalities as they were physical appearance. While Tabitha was easygoing, Regina tended to be uptight and judgmental.
“What do you mean—my old ways?” Miranda asked, and her temper began to spark.
“Your rebelliousness,” Regina continued disapprovingly. Regina had always followed the rules. Since she’d rarely left her room except to go to school, it had been easy for her, though. “I thought you were going to violate our partner agreement about not dating any members.”
“He’s not a member,” Tabitha said. “She wouldn’t let him join—probably so she could date him without breaking any rules.”
Miranda hated it when they talked about her like she wasn’t there; they often did that to her.
“You need to stop listening at my door,” she chastised Tabitha.
Too bad the young actress had been fired from her latest play. Hopefully she would find another role soon, so she would stop playing at being a receptionist.
“And the reason I didn’t let Grant join has nothing to do with dating him and everything to do with not trusting him to date any of our clients. The last thing we need is him breaking the heart of every female member we have.”
Regina sighed again and nodded. “Of course. That makes sense, especially after you already broke their hearts by giving up Teo Rinaldi to your bestie. That interview he gave is all over the news.”
Tabitha was too focused on Miranda to listen to their sister now. “So you have no reason to not go out with him,” she said.
“What?” Miranda asked, her head beginning to pound from their onslaught—coming so soon after the applicant’s unreasonable demands.
“Grant is not going to break your heart,” Tabitha explained.
Regina actually smiled at the remark, as if the thought amused her. “He can’t break what doesn’t exist.”
“You’re calling me heartless?” Miranda asked.
“It’s a compliment,” Regina said. “It’s much better to be like you than like Mother.”