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Joe was torn. He wished he could help her out, but not for all the money in country music was he going to touch her. Not that he didn’t want to. He’d be pleased to. But he didn’t dare, not without informed consent, which this scenario did not imply—
“Sweetie, what are you doing back there? See if you can get the zipper unstuck. I don’t want to have to take off the dress, and my underwear along with it, so I can work on it myself. How embarrassing would that be?”
“More so for you than me,” Joe said.
The woman tensed, her head came up, and she apparently stared straight ahead. Suddenly, she swung around, her eyes wide, her hands covering her mouth as she stared at him in shock.
“Don’t scream.” Joe already had his hands out in front of him in a stop-right-there gesture. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you—”
She moved her hands about an inch away from her mouth. “You don’t have on a shirt.”
“You’re absolutely right. I do not have on a shirt.” A lucid corner of his brain—one not involved in this debacle—noted that her front was every bit as hot as her back. This woman smoldered. Wide brown eyes. Bedroom eyes. He flicked his gaze over her fine nose, down to her sensual, rosy lips, then her slender neck, to her full set of breasts—and right back up to her eyes. “I had just pulled off my shirt and was getting ready to try one on when you knocked on the door. I can show it to you if you like. The shirt, I mean.”
“No. Not necessary. I believe you.” She sounded breathless, apologetic. “I am so embarrassed. I thought you were someone else.” She tucked a stray lock of her thick, shiny, reddish brown hair behind her ear. “She was here a minute ago, I swear.”
“She?” Joe’s interest level ratcheted up significantly—a purely male response to a hot, possibly unattached and half-dressed woman.
“Yes. My friend Wendy,” the woman said distractedly as she blatantly checked him out. “Okay, I just have to say something, and it’s very politically incorrect. But all of this—” she waved her hand up and down him, indicating his bare chest “—wow. On the other hand, I am so sorry. How uncool am I? I’ve never even seen you before, and I just stick my booty right in your face.”
“Well, it wasn’t exactly…in my face.” Still, Joe’s testosterone-soaked brain created some really nice images of that. Really nice. But he probably shouldn’t linger there. Say something. “What, exactly, are you doing in the men’s fitting rooms, anyway?”
Wrinkling her nose, which only made her cuter, she sighed. “It’s a long story that involves women in line scratching and shoving, and I don’t come off very well in it. So, really, it’s not worth retelling.” She backed up a step and, hands behind her, clutched at her dress. “Anyway, I should just…go. Again, sorry. I really did think you were my friend.”
Though acutely aware that he shouldn’t say what he was thinking, given his situation with Linda, his would-be fiancée, Joe nevertheless shrugged. “I could be your friend, if you wanted me to be.”
Awareness flared in her eyes, but then she chuckled and shook her head. “I’m sorry, but a guy like you? If all you wanted to be was my friend, I’d have to kill myself.”
Amused and self-conscious, Joe swept his gaze down and away before recovering enough to face her again. When he did, he was trapped. He couldn’t look away from those mesmerizing brown eyes. “So…what do we do now?”
“Do?” She raised her eyebrows. “We don’t do anything. In fact, we pretty much never see each other again because this is the most embarrassing moment of my life.”
A stab of disappointment surprised Joe. “Are you sure?”
She frowned. “Well, unless we count that time in high school when my swimsuit bra came up as I jumped off the high dive—”
“No, I mean, are you sure that we can never see each other again?” He couldn’t believe he’d said that. He had no right. And yet, here he was flirting—and maybe wanting this chance encounter to go somewhere.
“Oh God,” she said, covering her face with her hands again, but not before he saw her turning red. “First I talk about my butt and then my boobs.” She was talking through the web of her overlapping fingers. “Can you just go back in that fitting room and forget about all this? Just pretend you never saw me and that this didn’t happen?”
His voice ringing with as much regret as humor, Joe said, “Sure. I can go back in the fitting room. But I have to tell you, it will be damned hard to forget this ever happened.”
1
“IT’S FRIDAY EVENING, Meg,” she said to herself, “you’re alone in your apartment, your date tonight is with a department store, and—wait for it—you’re talking to yourself. How sad is that?” She grabbed up her handbag, turned the light off in her spacious bedroom, and walked down the narrow, carpeted hallway toward the living room. At least she lived in a great place. The Mediterranean-style courtyard apartment complex, with over two hundred units, was the address for young singles in Tampa. “Okay, so maybe I’m not totally pathetic.”
At least she looked good, dressed in her new V-neck, white T-shirt and stretchy, hip-hugging khaki pants. She wished Wendy could see her in them, but her friend had left today for a wedding in Dallas. On the other hand, school was out for spring break. Finally. That meant no precious little third-graders to teach for a whole week. Bless their hearts. And tomorrow night she had a date-that-wasn’t-a-date. A date who also wasn’t Carl “the high school football coach and big, fat cheater” Woodruff. So, life was good.
However, it would be even better if, instead of going out with Maury’s great-nephew tomorrow, she’d see Mr. Hot and Shirtless from the dressing room debacle two evenings ago. That man was causing her to toss and turn at night with torrid dreams of anonymous sex in a fitting room. Meg felt the tightening of desire tense her tummy muscles. “Great. One look from the guy in the tight jeans and the oh-my-God chest and I’m signing up for sex with him in elevators, airplanes and swimming pools.”
Sighing over what could not be, Meg sorted through her designated junk drawer in the tiny wet bar in her living room. Spying what she was looking for, she grabbed up the small can of pepper spray—blame Wendy’s talk of serial killers—and dropped the defensive weapon into her purse. “Wait. Car keys.” Rooting through her purse for those, Meg grimaced in sympathy for Wendy, who was at her younger sister’s wedding. “Younger. That hurts.”
It didn’t especially fill Meg with joy, either. Here she was, already twenty-five—practically middle-aged—and she had yet to fire some guy’s jets to the point of a white dress and ring.
Meg found her keys and zipped her purse closed, wishing she could do the same thing with her bridal and hormonal thoughts. Apparently there was nothing like a wedding to make a woman rethink her whole love life. “What love life?” She checked her wristwatch. “Yikes. Nearly seven. Time to shop.”
Holding her purse by its straps, like a bunny by the ears, Meg made for the sofa, where earlier, she’d stashed the department-store bag that held the new red dress she intended to return. Somehow, it hadn’t looked quite as stunning at home. As she reached for the bag, though, she caught her reflection in the large, framed mirror behind the sofa. Straightening, she checked out her “studied casual” look. After all, a girl never knew who else might be at the mall on a Friday evening. Like maybe some exciting man exchanging a shirt he’d just bought?
Meg turned this way and that checking her makeup…her teeth…her outfit. She fluffed her hair—and stared in shock. “When did my hair start sticking out on the sides like that?”
She tossed her keys and purse onto the sofa, tucked her long, layered hair behind her ears and checked out the effect. “Sucks.” She freed her hair and ran her fingers through it, muttering, “It’s not my hair. It’s my ears. Dad’s ears. God, I could fly with these things, like Dumbo—”
The phone rang, cutting off her words. It was probably Mom, who had telepathically heard her daughter say something mean about her bank president father’s ears. Meg reached over to the end table to retrieve the phone and hit the talk button. “Hello.”
The voice at the other end of the line—definitely not her mother’s—raised Meg’s hackles and reminded her she really needed to get caller ID. “Hello, Carl. What do you want?”
She listened for a moment, and decided that was all she could take. “You know what Carl? It’s a little late to say you miss me. What happened to your other friend? You know, the one you had that nice little date with the other night? Yes, I am still mad. And no, I don’t think I’ll forgive you. In fact, I don’t even want to talk to you….” She paused for a minute, waiting for it to sink in. It didn’t. “No, Carl, you can’t come over and discuss this with me,” she said, trying again. “There’s nothing to talk about. Besides, I have plans.”
Shopping by one’s self could certainly be called plans. “No, Carl. Do not come over. I will not be here. I swear I won’t. What? Yes, you actually are that easy to get over. Shocking, isn’t it? Oh, but I do mean it—I’m over you. No, I won’t be here. Do not come over. And now I’m hanging up. Goodbye.”
Though she could still hear him talking, Meg angrily pressed the end button and plunked the phone back onto its base. “Take that, you cheating—”
An abrupt knocking on her front door cut off her unflattering sentiment. Instinctively, she headed for the door but stopped after one step and stood there, thinking. She looked at the phone and then the door. Could Carl have been standing right outside when he called on his cell phone? A cutesy trick like that was just like him, she decided, now striding stiffly toward her entryway. “Well, I’ll give him an earful he won’t soon forget. A real tongue-lashing, by God. And not the good kind, either.”
Muttering, her anger building, she stepped onto the tile squares of the minuscule entryway. Why it couldn’t be the nice, gorgeous, shirtless guy from the department store standing on the other side of the door when she opened it, she’d never know. Talk about your six feet of hunk with blue eyes and sandy-brown hair. Yeah, right. In my dreams. But who do I get? Stupid Carl and his little cell-phone trick.
Meg twisted the dead bolt and jerked the door open, already talking as it swung wider. “Look, I don’t think you’re one bit funny. I told you not to come over here, you big—” She came to an embarrassed stop as her disbelieving eyes and brain got together and made the connection. This wasn’t Carl. “Oh my God, I thought you were someone else—again!” she cried out. “What are you doing here?”
The six-foot hunk from the fitting room incident stared at her in shock. “You!”
“I know!” This was just too bizarre, and Meg’s mind wouldn’t process it. Feeling weak, as if she might faint, she jerked back and slammed the door in his face.
“NO, DON’T—” Too late. Joe knocked hard on the freshly slammed door. “Hey, are you okay in there?” He waited. No answer. Well, now what? He stood in the breezeway, feeling the warm evening air wash over him. “Hello!” he called out again, concerned. “Are you all right?”
While he worried, another part of his brain worked on the fact that it was her—the really hot woman from the dressing room. Man, she certainly hadn’t lost anything in the translation. But this couldn’t be right. Hell, if he played these odds in Vegas, he’d own the town.
Looking for help, Joe turned around and peered over the iron railing to the pool, four floors below. He glanced at the lush, tropical landscaping with its lighted walkway meandering through the generous grounds and the park benches set at intervals throughout. There wasn’t a soul in sight. He turned to the door again and knocked. “Listen, if you don’t answer me right now, I’m going to get the manager to open this door. So if you can hear me—”
“I can hear you” came a muffled voice from the other side of the closed door. “And I’m all right. I just wasn’t expecting you to be here. I thought you were stupid Carl.”
Joe weighed that for significance. “Carl must have really messed up.”
“Oh, he did. Big time.”
Acutely conscious of how their semi-shouting match might appear to the neighbors, Joe stepped in closer and said, “Look, I think I can explain this if you’ll just open the door. You already know I’m not Carl, and I swear I’m not a stalker. Maury Seeger sent me.”
A moment of silence ensued. “Are you a hit man?”
Uncle Maury had obviously been spreading his Mafia stories. “No.”
“Would you tell me if you were?”
“Probably not. But, look, think about it for a minute. Didn’t Maury tell you to expect a visitor, one who isn’t a hit man?”
“Yes and no. What’s your name and where do you live?”
This was a test. “Joe Rossi, and I live in Denver.”
“What do you do there?”
“I’m a construction foreman.”
“Okay, what’s my name? And, yes, I know what it is. I want to see if you do.”
“I figured.” He extracted a piece of paper from his pants pocket and consulted it. “Meg Kendall?”
“Right. So, what are you doing here, Joe Rossi?”
“We have a date at seven.”
The door opened and the sexy brunette stood there, frowning. “We do not. It’s tomorrow night. And it’s not really a date. It’s just an outing. So to speak.”
“No, it’s tonight…whatever it is.” He could not get enough of looking at her. She just oozed an appealing mix of humor and sleepy sensuality…like a lazy Sunday afternoon spent in bed teasing and laughing and making love. Joe exhaled loudly. “Are you all right? I mean, you looked so shocked a minute ago—”
“Yeah, I’m okay. It was just such a surprise. But our…outing is still tomorrow night.”
Just as she had in the fitting room, she roved her gaze up and down his length, making Joe feel like a stud in the show ring. Far from offended, he had all he could do not to strike a manly weightlifting pose and flex his biceps for her. “And yet, here I am. Tonight.”
“I noticed. And you’re Maury Seeger’s nephew? Really?”
“No. I’m his great-nephew. My grandmother was his late wife’s sister.”
Still holding onto the doorknob, she said, “Sounds complicated.”
“What hasn’t been so far?”
“True. But just so you know—” she narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms “—I have pepper spray in my purse, and I’m not afraid to use it.”
That slowed Joe down for a second. “Okay. But you should know I carry a small Swiss Army knife, most of the functions of which I have no idea.”
While she digested that, Joe flicked his gaze up and down her, deciding she looked damn nice in pants. Long legs. She also filled out her T-shirt admirably. And her hair looked like she’d just climbed out of bed…and not in a bad way, either.
Because the silence between them was getting long and awkward, Joe said, “Tried on any good clothes lately?”
Her expression crumpled in amused embarrassment. “I cannot believe I did that. I am still absolutely mortified.”
Instantly charmed, Joe grinned. “It wasn’t all that bad, was it?”
She wagged a scolding finger at him. “Yes, it was. And I told you we couldn’t ever see each other again.”
“I don’t remember agreeing to that.”
“True. But then you have to promise you will not, under any circumstances, ever bring up that incident again.”
Still feeling devilish, and pretty sure she could take a joke when it was on her, Joe replied, “You mean the part where you were half-naked in the men’s fitting rooms and poked your booty in my face?”
Crying out, she slapped at his arm—and missed because he danced back just in time. “I said don’t bring it up.”
Joe held up both hands in surrender. “Okay, it’s in the vault. I swear.”
“Good.” She relaxed enough to lean against the doorjamb and again cross her arms under her excellent breasts. He wished like hell she’d quit doing that and drawing his attention there. Or maybe he didn’t. “Seriously, what are you doing here tonight?” she said, drawing his attention back to her face. “Maury told me Saturday night.”
“And he told me tonight. He gets things wrong sometimes.”
Her expression radiated fond affection. “I know. But he’s such a sweet little man. Other than that, I don’t know what to say, Joe. I can’t really show you around Tampa tonight.” She turned just enough to look back inside her apartment before facing him again. “Or maybe I can. Or should. I don’t know. I don’t want to be here if…”
“Are we talking about Carl?”
She wrinkled her nose as if the man’s name smelled bad. “Yes. I told him not to come over, that I had plans—”
“Which didn’t include me.”
“Right. I have to return a dress. Which means I don’t have anything to wear right now. And that means we can’t go out tonight.”
Joe made it a rule never to try to understand or argue with feminine logic. Still, he stopped short of saying that she could go naked, for all he cared. “Well, if it makes any difference, you look great to me just as you are.”
She glanced down at herself. “I don’t know. I was going to wear—I mean tomorrow night—this little red, sleeveless linen sheath with tiny rows of embroidered stitching all around the hem that I bought. But then I decided I didn’t really like it and should take it back—” She cut off her own words. “You don’t care, do you.”
Joe shook his head apologetically. “It’s not that I don’t care. It’s just that, like most men, I’m genetically programmed to understand only football rules and beer commercials. All I heard of what you said was la-la-la-linen, la-la-la-stitching.”
She laughed. “You poor Neanderthal. It’s lonely out there in the cave, isn’t it.”
“It is. And it’s cold. But we have great hopes for something called fire.”
Certain they were now on better footing, Joe added, “So, here’s a plan. We go out tonight and tomorrow night. That way, neither one of us has it wrong. Or has to admit it. Or will be here should Carl show up.”
“He’d better not.” But still, she stood there as she looked up at him with those big, brown bedroom eyes.
“So, what’s Colorado like? Lots of cowboys and snowmobiles?”
All right, she was still undecided and this was a stall tactic. Joe wondered, though, if she felt the same subtle force he did, the one that urged him to step closer to her. “Let’s see…Colorado. Well, it’s rocky, like you’d expect. Mountainous. Trees everywhere. And cold. Lots of snow. A few cowboys. Now it’s your turn. Where are you from? Uncle Maury didn’t tell me much about you, except that you are beautiful and have a great personality.”
A tinge of pink stained her cheeks as she shook her head. “Maury exaggerates.”
“Not in this case.”
“And now you’re just being nice. I’m a native Floridian, from Gainesville, where my family still lives. And I teach third grade.”
“Gainesville, huh? Go ’Gators. But third grade? Suddenly, I understand your need for pepper spray.”
