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“No, you let David offer you up like a sacrificial lamb to save his own sorry skin and you slunk out of D.C. with your tail between your legs.”
“My reputation was shot. No one would have hired me after that fiasco.”
“That’s an exaggeration.” Sarah held up a hand to keep her from interrupting. “It doesn’t matter now. It’s over and done with and you’ve established yourself here. You’re older and wiser and you have a sterling reputation. I don’t see any reason why you can’t explore a possible romantic relationship with an attractive man—”
“Whom I just happen to work for?” Had Sarah lost her mind completely this time?
“This is a bit different. David was your boss. Will Harrison is your client.”
“You’re splitting hairs. And any way you look at it, it still leads to the same disastrous end.” Gwen closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I just need to start dating again. Got anyone in mind?”
“You mean other than Will?” she smirked.
“Sarah, please.”
“I’ll think about it. Meanwhile—”
A flash of ice-blue caught her eye and she turned. “Evie!” How long had she been standing there? She searched Evie’s face for a sign she’d overhead their whispered conversation, but Evie seemed to be fully focused on twirling in front of the mirror.
Sarah shot her a look that said the conversation wasn’t over, and Gwen made a mental note to screen her calls for the next few days. She had enough on her plate without adding Sarah’s overromanticized matchmaking.
But Sarah was right about one thing. She wasn’t the same naive girl she was five years ago. Last night’s odd moment with Will could be—would have to be—forgotten. She’d just needed a reminder of how far she’d come.
Will knew he should be more concerned about the fact Nancy was ill and less irritated because it threw his life into disarray, but it was increasingly hard to do so when the temp sent up from HR was next to worthless. Maybe “worthless” was too harsh of a word; Nancy spoiled him with her efficiency and her ability to know what he needed without him having to spell it out. The only task the temp, Jenni, managed to complete in the last five hours was ordering flowers for Nancy. Everything else lay in various stages of completion on her desk.
He sincerely hoped Nancy got well quickly, because, damn it, he wanted his secretary back.
Now Jenni wasn’t answering her intercom. This was ridiculous. Cursing, he made a list of everything that absolutely had to be done today, carried it to Nancy’s desk and stuck it to the computer screen. When Jenni came back from wherever the hell she’d disappeared to, she’d have no reason not to see it.
A folder labeled “G. Sawyer” caught his eye. Why would that be on Nancy’s desk? He opened it and found copies of the contract and nondisclosure agreement inside, as well as a check from his personal account for the full amount of Gwen’s services. Nancy must have written the check the afternoon before but not had time to give it to him for his signature. He removed the check and left a sticky note for Nancy explaining he would deliver it personally. He placed the folder back in Nancy’s in-box, and went back to his office.
It was three-thirty on a Friday afternoon. Without Nancy, much of his normal daily business had come to a complete halt, and it made zero sense to try to work on anything important. The late summer sunshine streamed through the wall of windows.
What the hell. His e-mail in-box was empty. The silence from the offices surrounding his meant most of the executive staff had left early. He should give himself a break and cut out early as well. He could take Evie and Gwen out to dinner.
Whistling, he packed up and called it a day. His receptionist stuttered as he walked by and wished her a good weekend. The security guard in the lobby checked his watch, confusion evident on his face. How long had it been since he’d left the office early?
He called home only to be informed by Mrs. Gray that Evie and Gwen weren’t back from their shopping trip yet. He gave her the evening off and tried Evie on her cell phone.
“Did you have fun shopping?”
“It was amazing, Will. I found the most awesome dress for the Med Ball, and Sarah and Liza had like the entire store in my size in the dressing room and all I had to do was try stuff on.”
Evie bubbled over with excitement. Something else he owed Gwen for: making Evie smile. “Sarah and Liza?”
“Sarah’s Gwen’s sister. She’s great, but not as great as Gwen. Liza’s my new personal shopper.”
Personal shopper? “Remind me I want my credit card back.”
“Oh, no problem. Liza set me up my own account.”
Gwen laughed in the background, and Evie kept chattering away. When she paused for breath, he interrupted. “Are y’all done for the day?”
Evie relayed the question to Gwen, and he thought he heard an “Oh, definitely” before Evie replied, “I guess so.”
“How about I take you to dinner tonight? I gave Mrs. Gray the night off, and maybe we could catch a movie afterward.”
“Can Gwen come, too?”
“If she’d like.”
Evie’s voice muffled as she invited Gwen to join them for dinner and a movie. He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until Evie came back on the line.
“She says yes, but not any place fancy. She didn’t pack any dressy clothes.”
He was oddly pleased at the way this was working out. “That will work. I’m on my way home now, so I’ll see you in a little bit.”
“You’re on your way home now?” Evie sounded shocked.
“Well, yes. Is that a problem?”
“No, you just never leave work early.”
She made him sound like some kind of workaholic. Maybe in her eyes he was.
Traffic was light and he made it home in record time. The doorman looked surprised to see him and asked if everything was all right. Okay, he really was working too much.
The quiet of the apartment felt unusual now, whereas in the past he’d never noticed the silence. He turned on the TV for background noise—first to the twenty-four-hours news channel, then changed his mind and scrolled through the channels for something else. He settled on a bio-documentary on John Lennon and grabbed a beer from the fridge. He tossed his tie on the coffee table before propping his feet on it, sipped his beer, and waited for Evie and Gwen to get home.
He didn’t have to wait very long. Evie burst through the front door still talking a mile a minute to Gwen about something called espadrilles before interrupting herself to shout, “Will, we’re home! Come see what I got!”
Hard on the heels of her words, Evie and Gwen turned the corner into the living room, weighed down by what had to be a large portion of Neiman Marcus’s stock. Ricky, the doorman, followed, his arms also overflowing.
Will flashed on a memory of Evie’s mother returning from marathon shopping in the early days of her marriage loaded down in much the same way. Evie must have inherited the gene from Rachel. “Did you leave anything at the store?”
“Just the stuff that needs to be altered. It won’t be ready until next week.” Evie was already headfirst in one of the bags, pulling out clothes and shoes for him to see.
Gwen’s smile was tired as she off-loaded bags and boxes and took bags from Ricky’s outstretched arms. “Thanks for saving us another trip.”
“My pleasure, Miss Sawyer. Miss Evie must’ve really enjoyed herself today.”
“I think she did.” Gwen graced Ricky with a smile that had Ricky blushing behind his freckles.
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“So am I,” Will added, as Ricky pocketed a hefty tip and left. “But you look worn-out.”
Gwen sank to the couch and toed off her shoes. “Evie is a power shopper. I’m not. I’m never doing that again.”
“From the looks of it, she’ll never need to shop again.”
Gwen closed her eyes and leaned her head back. “Just wait until the new spring lines come out.”
Evie continued to rifle through bags, and clothing piled up around her.
“Evie, start taking all this back to your room.”
“Okay. Gwen, do you—? Never mind. I’ve got it. You just stay there and…and…relax.” She scooped up an armload and disappeared.
Gwen opened one eye. “What was that about?”
He sat next to her. “Remorse, maybe?”
“Trust me, the shopping elite care not who they exhaust in their quest.” Her eyes slid closed again, and the corners of her mouth twitched. “My sister says she has a good eye for style. She’s going to be a sensation.”
For the first time since he’d met her, Gwen seemed fully relaxed. Since her eyes were closed, he allowed himself to study her, his eyes roaming freely over the arch of her dark eyebrows, the curve of her cheek, and the line of her jaw. Her hair fanned behind her, the loose curls snaking along the back of the couch toward his hands. She had a beautiful, elegant profile, and he mentally traced the line down her face, over a soft neck until the chain of her necklace drew his eye to a pendant nestled at the top of gently sloping cleavage.
He had no business ogling the woman, but she intrigued him and stirred his blood in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time. Unable to stop himself, he reached for the lock of hair that fell across her shoulder. He rubbed his fingers over its silkiness before tucking it gently behind her ear.
“My sister says you’re the best. I think I might agree.”
Gwen’s eyes flew open at the quiet statement and a shiver slid down her neck from the touch of his fingers on her ear. She turned to meet his gaze, only to see a heat there she didn’t expect.
Déjà vu. Same couch. Same desire pooling in her stomach, same fluttery feeling in her chest. As much as she’d tried to write last night off as an aberration, she couldn’t deny the repeat of sensations that rippled over her when Will’s eyes lit like that and the room shrank until there seemed to only be enough oxygen for one.
Will’s hand slid down her jaw until his fingers cupped her chin. Heat moved over her skin, and she wanted nothing more than to curl into his hand.
Bad idea, remember? It would be oh-so-easy to fall into Will’s arms, and every nerve ending in her body screamed at her to do so, but she couldn’t.
Nothing good could come of this.
Oh, yes there could, her body argued.
Will’s thumb stroked the sensitive skin under her chin, causing a shiver to run over her. She followed his gaze to the rapid rise and fall of her cleavage as her breathing grew shallow, watching in horror as her nipples hardened under his stare.
It took every bit of fortitude she had to pull away.
“Will, I…I…I need to go check on Evie. Excuse me.”
Coward.
Will’s confused look wasn’t lost on her as she fled down the hallway. Music blared from behind Evie’s closed door, so Gwen didn’t bother to stop and knock.
In the safety of her bedroom, she collapsed across the bed and tried to calm her rapid heartbeat. She stared at the ceiling and mentally recited her list of reasons why kissing Will would be a bad idea.
By the fourth time she made it through the complete list, she almost believed it. But once Evie was launched and she was back in her own house, she would have to start dating again.
She wasn’t sure how long she lay there, but it seemed like only minutes later before Evie knocked at her door.
“Come in.”
“Are you okay?” Evie’s forehead furrowed when she saw Gwen on the bed.
“I’m fine. Just recuperating from your shopping trip. You nearly wore me out.”
The furrow disappeared and Evie grinned. “Sarah warned me you were a lightweight. But it was fun, and if I haven’t said ‘thanks’ already…”
“My pleasure, honey.”
“Will sent me to tell you that he made dinner reservations, and we’ll need to leave in half an hour to make it. So if you want to change or something…”
Gwen hesitated. She’d forgotten all about dinner. Considering what just happened, she should probably stay here. Better yet, she should pack and go home.
Evie picked up on her hesitation. “You are still coming, right? We’re going to Milano’s for pizza. I get to pick the movie, too. Please.”
“Wouldn’t you rather go with just Will? A little family time? You’ve been stuck with me all week.”
“It’ll be more fun if you come.”
How could she say no when Evie looked so eager and hopeful? “All right. Give me a couple of minutes to freshen up.”
“Cool. Will went to change, too, so we’ll see you in a few.”
Gwen fell back on the bed with a sigh. She was making way too much of next to nothing. She was probably no more than a blip on Will’s radar—a “she’s female, must flirt” kind of thing. She could control her hormones for dinner and a movie, and Evie would be there as a buffer.
Giving herself a hard mental slap to sort her brain out, she hauled herself off the bed and to the closet for something cute to wear.
CHAPTER SIX
“SO HOW am I supposed to eat this? Knife and fork?” Evie eye-balled the slice of pizza with everything like she’d never seen anything like it before.
“Easy. You pick it up and take a bite.”
Evie giggled. “Finally. Something I can eat with my fingers.”
Gwen put on her best Miss Behavior voice. “But you must still eat with decorum.” She winked, and Evie tore into the pizza with relish.
Will said something under his breath, and Evie erupted in another peal of giggles. He slid a piece of the pizza onto a plate and handed it to Gwen. She smiled her thanks, careful not to let her hand brush his as she took it.
So much for controlling her hormones. They’d been screaming at her when she’d run from the living room earlier, but they broke into new shrieks when she returned after changing. She’d known dinner would be a casual event and she’d heard Evie’s remark about Will changing, but she hadn’t been quite prepared when she walked in.
It was easier to remind herself of the distance she needed to keep from Will when he was in his suit and tie, but much harder when he appeared in a simple black T-shirt tucked in to body-hugging faded jeans. Her mouth had gone dry at the sight. He looked like the hero of some late-night movie, ready to peel the black T-shirt over his head and do something manly and sexy set to hard-rock music.
He was laughing with Evie, his dark hair falling across his forehead. When he turned that smile on her, she recited her mental list of Reasons This Would Be Bad until the flutters in her stomach calmed. And she kept repeating the reasons every time Will looked at her and started the flutters up again.
For the most part, it worked. Evie did make a good chaperone, talking nonstop and keeping the conversation in neutral areas. By the time they arrived at the restaurant, she felt she had it under control. As long as she avoided direct, extended eye contact with Will and kept a decent distance between them, she could act somewhat normal.
As she settled in to her second slice, Gwen realized—occasional shiver aside—she was enjoying herself.
