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THE GALLERIA MALL in Dallas was a shopper’s paradise. And Nick soon found out that Jessica was an expert at the sport of shopping and could cull choice merchandise off every sale rack like a pro.
He’d discarded his suit jacket an hour ago outside the dressing room of Macy’s. Now, slouched in a chair outside yet another dressing room—Nordstrom’s this time—he loosened the knot of his tie and punched in another number on his cell phone. The reception inside the store was the pits, and after being cut off for the third time, he switched it off.
He’d made a huge mistake by letting Jessica goad him. His pride had gotten in the way and look where he was. She kept sauntering out of the dressing rooms, wearing outfit after outfit, asking his opinion as though they were girlfriends instead of business partners. A bag sat at his feet filled with lingerie she hadn’t modeled for him—thank God. The images his mind was supplying made him sweat.
Toeing the bag a little farther away so it would quit antagonizing him, he looked up and nearly dropped the phone in his hand and his senses to boot.
She wore a siren-red dress that clung to every sweet curve of her body and made him think of hot sex and endless nights.
“Well?” she asked, and executed a pirouette.
He cleared his throat. “Not exactly office attire.”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. His heart slammed against his chest. He wondered if she’d done it on purpose, if she knew how sexy that pose was, the way her raised arms pulled the material over her breasts as she lifted her hair off her neck, piling it on top of her head.
“Too much, hmm?”
“I didn’t say that.”
She turned to face him. “Then what do you say?”
“It’s very…nice.” Total understatement. He’d gone from zip to hard in two seconds flat. No way could he stand up at the moment without embarrassing himself. And damned if he’d give her the satisfaction of knowing she’d gotten to him. The imp was having too much fun as it was. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was deliberately being seductive.
“I probably shouldn’t get it. I don’t know where I’d wear it.”
“What about that hot and heavy social life you were talking about?”
She gave him a smile that nearly knocked the breath out of him. Not the put-on smile of a seductress. A sweet smile. An easy smile. “To tell the truth, my social life’s not as hot and heavy as I might have led you to believe.”
Just that simply, with that easy honesty, Nick felt his guard drop. About the time he thought he had her figured out, she did an about-face and said something that blew his perception of her out of the water.
Despite his best intentions to keep his distance and his control around Jessica Coleman, her innate charm was too much to resist.
“That dress was made for you, Red. You should get it.”
She gave him a grin. “Okay. That’s about all the arm twisting I need to…yikes!”
“What?”
“Did you see the price tag on this thing?” She flashed it in front of his face, then shook her head and whirled around. “Forget it.”
Dumbfounded, Nick watched her disappear back into the dressing room. The woman was a mass of contradictions. She could afford to buy ten dresses and pay double what the price tag said. The fact that she wouldn’t intrigued him. He’d always thought Jessica Coleman was pampered and spoiled, with nothing more pressing on her mind than shopping and parties. Lately he’d had to rethink quite a few of his preconceived notions.
And how many of those notions were his own defense mechanisms kicking in? Was he intent on finding fault in hopes of diluting the sexual sizzle he felt every time she walked into a room?
He didn’t know the answers. He did know, however, that the “come and get me, baby” red dress had her name written on it.
After summoning the salesclerk, he said, “The red dress the young lady was just trying on? Put it on my charge, gift wrap it and mail it to this address.” He handed her a business card, along with his credit card.
“A surprise?” the clerk asked.
“Yes.”
“I’ll be the soul of discretion.”
“YOU KNOW, I usually prefer to shop alone,” Jessica said, glancing up at the Galleria’s dramatic glass atrium above them. “And frankly, I was dreading you tagging along today. I couldn’t believe you actually volunteered.”
“I only did because you were so sure I wouldn’t.”
She bumped her shoulder against his. The silky material of the summery dress she’d bought at the first department store felt good against her skin, made her feel like herself again. A trip to the makeup counter and a complimentary makeover had her skin glowing and her eyes and mouth enhanced to where she felt the score between them was a bit more even. It had been torture walking into a mall with a gorgeous man when she was wearing oversize clothing and her face was naked.
“Well, now you’re in it for the duration.”
“You mean you’re not done?” He looked toward one of the exit doors on the mall’s lower level. Sunlight pierced the glass ceiling overhead, splashing rainbows over the gleaming floors.
“I need shoes, Grayson. Lots of them. Where is your shopping spirit?”
“I think I lost it back between the Levi’s and Guess jeans.”
“I don’t know why you wouldn’t tell me which pair looked better on my butt.”
“Don’t start, Red. I do have a healthy amount of self-preservation.”
“Well, see if I ever take you shopping with me again,” she huffed dramatically.
“Please don’t.”
She laughed and bumped his shoulder again. “You’re being a pretty good sport. I’m surprised.”
“There’s probably a lot about me that would surprise you.”
“Give it a try. Tell me something about you—schooldays, let’s say.”
“What, like a truth-or-dare kind of thing?”
“Hmm, that could get interesting.” Though not what she’d had in mind. “I’m game if you are.”
He shook his head. “Forget it. You scare me.”
That tickled her. Even though she doubted that anything scared Nick Grayson.
“What were you like in high school?”
“Like any other kid, I guess. I was a football quarterback in high school and college, and had a chance to go pro.”
“You passed up the opportunity for fame and fortune?” He was a good four inches over six feet and had shoulders that filled out his suit jacket without the benefit of padding.
“I’ve got the fortune. And I used my mind to get it, rather than beating up my body. Figured I’d leave the fame for Chase.”
“Ah, driven even as a young man.”
“Thanks,” he said dryly. “I needed to feel ancient today.”
She laughed. “Really, Nick. You should play more. Not take life so seriously.” They were headed toward the huge ice rink in the mall. Music vied with crying children, giggling shrieks of teens and the noisy hum of shoppers. “Hey, why don’t we go ice skating?”
“I thought you needed shoes.”
“I do. But as long as we’re playing hooky from work, we might as well go whole hog. Chicken?”
“Get real. I could skate circles around you. After all, I’ve had years more practice than you.”
“Poked at your ego, did I? Thirty-three is still a young man, Nick. Funny how twelve years ago, the eight-year age difference between us was unacceptable.” She plucked a green shirt off a sale rack outside a boutique and held it to her chest. “Now it’s not an issue. Why’s that?”
“Experience.” He shook his head, took the shirt out of her hand and replaced it on the rack. “And until you’re eighteen, you’re considered jailbait.”
“Oh, like my father actually would’ve had you arrested if you’d kissed me.” She hadn’t meant to bring up this issue. It had just slipped out. The best thing, she decided, was to simply act sophisticated, as though it was no big deal.
He urged her forward with a hand at her back. “I imagine he would have. And it could have split up the business, as well. Which is why we’re not going to continue this conversation.”
“Just like that? You say so and it’s law?”
“Let’s don’t go there, Red.” He glanced at his watch. “And as much as I’d like to show you up on the ice, I think we’d better tackle those shoes. I need to make a conference call later this afternoon.”
“Ever the businessman.” She sighed and steered them around the corner, away from the ice rink. “Anything I should know about?”
He hesitated and the look she gave him dared him to put her off again. In the two months she’d been at Coleman-Grayson headquarters she’d never once complained when he’d given her little more responsibility than an office clerk. Instead, she’d taken the opportunity to learn how all the departments ran, from payroll to accounts receivable. She’d worked the switchboard and sat in on planning and investment strategy meetings.
She’d listened and learned—with very little help from Nick Grayson. She was tired of getting the runaround.
He must have read her determined expression.
“It’s a software company I’ve been looking at. According to the projections, it looks like a solid twenty percent return over the next two years.”
“Software seems so risky right now. Especially competing with the major companies. A lot of start-ups have bitten the dust.”
“This isn’t a start-up company. Lusklow’s been in business for thirty years with a great track record. The software is a virus-prevention program. They already have a handshake agreement with the Pentagon and a couple of other big players in the industry.”
“You’ve verified that?”
He glanced down at her as though surprised she’d even ask such a thing. “Yes. That’s part of what the conference call’s about.”
“Then I guess we better get cracking on shoes so you can get back in time.”
He looked so relieved that their shopping expedition had an end in sight that she laughed. “I’d like to listen in on the call, if you don’t mind.”
He shrugged. “Sure. If you want. Coming in on the tail end this way, you probably won’t understand some of the technicalities.”
One minute he made her laugh and the next he made her want to slug him. Her mood went from simmer to boil in less than a second. “Sometimes you make me so mad I could spit.”
“Jess…I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
“Oh, I think you did. One of these days you’re going to have to face the fact that I’m not a kid anymore, that I have a brain in my head and a summa cum laude degree to prove it. You’re just like every other guy—worse, actually, because you’re so darn stuffy about it. You see a big pair of boobs and you think that’s all there is to a woman.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up her hand and shook her head. Thank God his gaze hadn’t wavered from hers. If he’d looked at her chest, she’d have lost it. Big time.
“I’m not in the mood to talk to you right now. You’d be wise to go find a bench somewhere and leave me be while I find some shoes.”
Without waiting for him to agree or disagree, she made a beeline for the nearest shoe store, hardly able to see where she was going for the haze of anger that blanked her vision. Jerk.
She stewed and fumed and before she knew it, she’d bought ten pairs of shoes and was feeling somewhat better. Nothing like new shoes to set a woman’s head on straight.
She’d been handling Nick Grayson all wrong. There were going to be some changes—and soon—or the fur was going to fly. He was bossy, domineering and irritating. She hadn’t put up with that kind of behavior from her three macho cousins, and she wouldn’t tolerate it with Nick Grayson, either.
As she stood contemplating a pair of sexy little red sandals in a boutique window, a masculine hand holding an ice-cream cone reached around her.
Her heart lurched, then settled. Despite the nasty words she’d just been calling him in her mind, she smiled, let go of the bags in one hand and plucked the cone out of his. One of the reasons she got along so well with people was that she rarely stayed mad longer than it took to express the emotion.
“Are you bribing me with chocolate, Grayson?”
“Trying to. Is it working?”
She licked the creamy chocolate. “I’ll let you know in a minute.”
“Jess…” He put a hand on her shoulder, turned her to face him. He held an ice-cream cone in his hand as well—vanilla. “I apologize.”
His words and his expression were sincere. Both banished her temper faster than any frozen treat or ten pairs of shoes could.
She took a breath, let it out in a sigh. “Why the heck didn’t you say that sooner? Do you know how much money I just spent trying to cool off?”
“I would have said it sooner, but I was afraid you’d inflict harm on my person. I’ll never again doubt the cliché about a redhead’s temper.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Better quit while you’re ahead, pal.”
“Truce?” he asked.
She laughed. “How long did the other one last?”
“Let’s see. It was about two o’clock this morning.” He checked his watch. “That’d make it about twelve hours.”
“Practically a record. Wanna make yourself useful and grab a few of these bags?”
“Are we done yet?”
“Yeah, we’re done.”
“Good. I retrieved the rest of your bags at the hold desk and took them to the car. Any more, and I’ll have to rent a truck.”
“You’re such a sport. Next time, I’ll buy the ice cream.”
