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She squirmed slightly on her seat, his words conjuring images in her mind that her imagination had no business creating. For the entire day she had been trying to think up ways of getting out of this charade. But Tara had been having so much fun with it all, and in a small way it was flattering to have people stunned by her transformation. Even if the majority of them were family and the other was the one person on the planet who irritated her most.
‘Well, we’ll never know, will we? Because this isn’t a real date.’
They drove on in silence for several long minutes, each of them alone with their thoughts. Adam caught her squirming again in the seat beside him and smiled with sudden realisation. ‘You’re uncomfortable as hell with how you look tonight, aren’t you?’
Great. Insight. When had he developed that?
‘I’m not exactly dressed as me tonight, am I?’ The words spilled out. She really shouldn’t have drunk all that red wine while Tara got her ready.
He shrugged. ‘Not as the anally retentive you that I work with every day, no.’
‘Anally retentive?’ She turned her head to frown at his words. ‘You think I’m anally retentive?’
Adam glanced at her and grinned. ‘Hell, yes. You think you aren’t?’
Was she? She mulled his words over in her mind as the car sped towards their destination. The Dana of old would never have been described as anally retentive. Far from it. She’d been wild back in the day—a practical joker, a live wire. But back then she’d been carefree. Life had changed that. Now she was a single mother, and responsibility came with that title. Maybe she was a tad anally retentive in her working life—when Adam saw her. It was the only part of her life she’d ever allowed him to see. She’d been careful about that. Even Jess, her daughter, had never been brought to the office. So he really had nothing else to base his assumption on, did he? She shouldn’t actually have cared that he thought it. But somehow she did. It ruffled her feathers.
‘I like things at work to be organised.’ She tilted her head slightly as she said the words in a sharp tone. ‘And you can’t tell me that that office didn’t need some organisation. You couldn’t even find a pen when I first arrived.’
It was true. But that hadn’t stopped the business from being successful. They’d always got the important things done on time. It might have meant a night or two of burning the midnight oil to get there. But they’d always managed it. Just.
He wasn’t so pig-headed that he wouldn’t admit that her need for neatness and systems had helped. Now the place ran like a well-oiled machine. But in a small way that had taken some of the fun out of it for Adam.
‘You could loosen up a bit and it wouldn’t kill you.’
‘I’m loose.’ She blushed at her own words and he grinned across at her.
‘I don’t need to know about your personal life, Dana.’
‘You don’t know anything about me!’
Not beyond what she wanted him to see. He knew that much. Had known it for months. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t known Jack’s sisters before, but Dana was as much a mystery to him now as she’d been when he’d first set eyes on her. Elusive, almost. It was another one of the many things that bugged him about her.
‘You’re right. I don’t.’ He focused his gaze back on the road as they approached the turning to the hotel where the reunion was being held. ‘Any more than you know anything about me. But that doesn’t stop you from judging me, does it?’
She snorted quietly. ‘And you’re going to tell me you have some hidden side to you, are you? It’s well hidden, isn’t it?’
He screeched to a halt in front of the large building, yanking the handbrake with superfluous force before silencing the purr of the engine and turning to scowl across at her.
‘You don’t want to get to know me, Dana. That’s your problem. You’re so bloody uptight that you prefer to just place people in safe little boxes and never look any deeper than what you see on the surface. Makes everything very safe and secure for you, doesn’t it?’
Her heart beat a little faster as her anger grew. ‘And this is precisely the reason I didn’t want to bring you to this damned reunion. We’re not even inside the building and already we’re having an argument!’
Adam took a deep breath and looked out of the windscreen. He watched several people in evening dress filtering in through the hotel’s glass doors. They were here now. And, as much as he wanted to turn the car around and take her right back to where they’d come from, he was a bigger man than that. He wouldn’t let her off that easily. She was just so determined to be right all the damned time. Well, not this time. He’d make the evening convincing if it killed him.
‘You need to pretend you like me for this to work.’
‘I’d win an Oscar for that.’
He turned to look at her again. ‘Give it a try. Pretend I’m someone else, if you like. Because that’s what I intend doing with you.’
‘Pretend I like you?’
He nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Forget who you are?’
‘Yes.’ His jaw clenched. ‘Just for a few hours. Try looking at me as a man, and not as something you picked up on the heel of your boot. I can do it if you can.’ Though it would take some effort. ‘All we have to do is forget about real life for tonight. Make like we’re two people who just met and are still getting to know each other. No preconceptions, no false judgements. Live for the moment and all that.’
He made it sound so simple. She blinked across at him. Was it? Was it just that simple? Forget that he was Adam for one evening and get to know him as if he was just some guy? Like a blind date of sorts? She took a breath. It would be a stretch.
The old Dana would have pulled this off with her eyes shut. The old Dana would have found it all hilarious, a great joke—a challenge, even. Was there any of that girl left any more? Or had reality squashed her down too much?
Another deep breath. She would try. It was a college reunion, for crying out loud. If that couldn’t remind her of the girl she’d used to be then what could? She was walking into that room completely made over, ? la Cinderella. And with a ridiculously attractive Prince Charming type at her side, too. What the hell else did she need to pull it off?
Guts, possibly? She’d had those once.
‘What’s wrong, Dana?’ His voice dropped to a deep, intimate note. ‘No guts, no glory. If you’re too chicken for this, or if you’re not woman enough to walk into that room in that dress…you just say the word.’
Damn, damn, damn. Why did it have to be him?
It was as if the room went still when they walked in. To the outside view they made one hell of a couple.
Dana couldn’t tell if the assembled company had actually done the whole silent thing, due to the band playing on stage at one end of the large area, but heads certainly turned and conversations were certainly interrupted.
Dana smiled. It was actually a nice feeling. She couldn’t remember the last time people had looked at her as if—well, like they were doing right that second. With a sense of awe, almost. With maybe a touch of ‘wow’ in their expressions. It felt good.
Adam noticed her smile and smiled himself, moving his hand up to touch her back, to guide her into the room. He was reminding himself to play the game. He only remembered when his hand touched soft skin that her dress had no back.
His hand jumped away as if burned before he forced himself to set it back in place, moving his long fingers in an unconscious caress as he ushered her into the crowd. Her skin felt good, his mind recognised, silken and warm to the touch—and that was only on her back. Being male, his mind wandered to other areas where a woman’s skin was softer still. If she was this soft where his hands were now…
He cleared his throat, suddenly noting how warm the room was for so early in the evening.
Dana had jumped too when his hand touched her. Surprise, she told herself. After all, it wasn’t as if Adam made a habit of touching her naked skin on a daily basis. When his hand settled the second time, and those long fingers of his began their smooth caress, she felt her pulse beat erratically. She’d always known he had quite an effect on women. And she’d always wondered why. But if the simple touch of his hand had that kind of effect then she now had a pretty fair idea of the ‘why’. TMI, as her daughter would say. Too much information.
She glanced up at him with a tilt of her head, her blue eyes exploring his profile for signs that he’d noticed her reaction. After a second he glanced down and their eyes locked. He moved his hand along her back again, his forefinger tracing a line along the ridges of her spine, downwards to the inward curve of the small of her back.
Her eyes grew heavy. He was good at this make-believe stuff.
Adam watched her reaction to his touch. She was quite the little actress. Pretend she was someone else. That was what he’d said he’d do, right? Well, hell, it wasn’t going to be tough. The woman in front of him was a complete stranger—as far removed from the Dana he knew as…as Godzilla from Brigitte Bardot.
This woman was hot. Hot to the touch, hotter than hell to look at—and, had an alarm bell not sounded at the back of his head to remind him occasionally of who she was, Adam would have wanted her. Big style.
As she flicked the edge of her tongue across her mouth he leaned towards her ear. ‘I think we got their attention.’
Waiting until he raised his head slightly, she looked into his eyes and smiled. ‘I’d say so.’
His eyes wandered from hers to a lock of curled hair that brushed against her flushed cheek. He reached out to turn it between his fingers, his other hand still continuing its caress against her spine. ‘So, do you want to mingle, get a drink, dance? Or maybe…’ His eyes met hers again. ‘Maybe we should just find a corner to continue convincing them in.’
If he did much more convincing Dana was fairly sure she’d explode. Her poor pulse would just beat its way right out of its little passageway. The nerves she’d had about attending the stupid reunion and all that red wine were obviously making her react in ways she wouldn’t have under normal circumstances. Yeah, that was it. It was a form of stage fright, that was all. This acting thing was a toughie. But she wasn’t going into any corner to convince anyone of anything when Adam was looking at her like that.
It was as if she’d stepped into a different reality. But she could deal with it. She could make it through—somehow…
‘I think I’d like a drink.’
His smile widened, awarding her a glimpse of those perfect white teeth and those dimples of his. ‘I can arrange that.’ He suddenly leaned down. Dana tilted her head at that exact moment to listen to what he was saying. The two movements in the same split second caused his lips to just barely touch across the sensitive skin below her ear, and his voice tickled against the goosebumps the touch had created. ’Chicken.’
She watched him as he walked away from her, his broad shoulders stretching the material of his jacket as he moved. About six steps away he looked over his shoulder at her and winked. Dana laughed as he turned away again. He really did have enough arrogance to fill the room. Reluctantly she had to admit inwardly that it had a certain element of charm about it. Wild horses wouldn’t drag the words from her lips, though.
Even as she laughed at his departing figure she was suddenly surrounded by arms, and lips kissing her cheeks. When she was finally freed she glanced round at the four grinning faces of her friends from the old days. The ones who had known the old Dana best.
‘Oh, my lord, Dana, where did you get that hunk of man from?’
‘How long have you been seeing him?’
It was Lucy who eventually stepped forward to silence them all.
‘Now, girls, give Dana time to catch her breath.’ She winked sideways at her. ‘And after seeing you in action I’d say you need a moment or two to catch your breath.’ She flapped a hand in front of her face before smiling a warm smile. ‘I never knew you two were an item. I thought you just worked together.’
Tracey McKenna blinked at her. ‘You know that man?’
‘Of course I do.’ Lucy nodded. ‘He’s Adam Donovan—as in Donovan & Lewis, the designers. Dana and Adam work together.’
‘You work together? How do you concentrate long enough to get anything done?’
Dana smiled. ‘Believe me, it’s tough. But I manage somehow.’
‘He’s sex on a stick, isn’t he?’
‘God, you always could get them.’ Ella Dawson blinked at her with a twinkle in her eye. ‘If there was a great-looking guy within fifty paces he always ended up chasing round after you.’
Dana searched for a hint of sarcasm in the woman’s eyes and blinked in surprise when she found none. She examined the words. Really? Ella thought that? She glanced around to see if a crowd of men had formed that she hadn’t noticed. Nope.
‘You really need to get glasses, Ella. There’s no rush of men in my general direction.’
‘Not while you have Adam Donovan with you, there’s not!’
No, and pretty much never, actually. She was a single parent who was apparently anally retentive; surely that in itself was enough to keep the men from breaking down her front door?
Lucy smiled. ‘You were always popular with the guys, Dana. And, in that dress, what warm-blooded male wouldn’t be interested? You look sensational.’
‘Doesn’t she, though? I said pretty much the same thing.’
The deep, familiar voice sounded beside her left ear, and Adam charmed all of the women as he rewarded them with a smile they each thought was meant only for them. He then handed Dana her glass with a sparkle in his eye, and immediately replaced his hand on her back, where the skin was still warm from the last time he’d touched her.
Dana raised an eyebrow as she sipped at her wine. He’d said no such thing, actually. What he’d done was gape at her from the bottom of the stairs, then steal glances at her on the trip over. And now he felt he had carte blanche to keep touching her.
‘We were just saying how typical it is of her to end up with the best-looking guy in the room.’ Tracey leaned towards Adam as she spoke. Lots of women did that, Dana knew.
Adam blinked. ‘Really? Bit of a goer, was she?’
Dana gritted her teeth beneath a smile and elbowed him hard in the ribs. ‘Isn’t he just the funniest?’
‘Just a small part of my many charms—isn’t it, babes?’
And if he called her babes again she was going to elbow him lower next time. She felt him move his hand across her back to her hip, leaving his thumb to play against her skin as he pulled her closer to his side.
‘She was just so much fun to be around.’
Adam gaped slightly at Lucy, the only one of the women he’d met before. Fun? To be around? Dana Taylor?
’Really?’
Dana glared up at him. If he was supposed to be pretending he was in some great relationship with her surely he shouldn’t look so damned surprised at the thought that she might actually be fun?
Fortunately Lucy appeared to be a couple of wine glasses past observant. ‘Oh, yeah! I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen her dance on tables or lead us all on some madcap trip somewhere. Do you remember the Twenty-Four-Hour Club, Dana?’
As his thumb continued to move along the edge of the material of her dress, over her skin and what he thought might be the minute string of her underwear, Adam’s mind worked overtime. He sincerely hoped that the Twenty-Four-Hour Club was no relation to the Mile-High Club, or he would never be able to share an office with Dana again.
Dana’s face began to flame. Not so much because of Lucy’s reminiscences of the past as the fact that she was now being completely distracted by Adam’s hand against her. The last thing she needed was for him to find his earlier assumption as to the kind of underwear a woman was forced to wear beneath this type of dress had in fact been correct. She tried to squirm subtly further away from the steel wall of his body.
But Adam was having none of it. He pressed his hand firmer against her hip and drew her closer. With a downward glance that said Oh, no you don’t, he asked the obvious question. ‘Twenty-Four-Hour Club, babes?’
She swallowed. He really could be quite intense close up, couldn’t he? She damped her lips. ‘Probably not what you’re thinking it was.’
‘Then why don’t you tell me?’
‘It was basically an excuse for drunken trips away.’
Dana grimaced at Lucy’s choice of words. They were accurate, which didn’t help her cause any. She gulped down more wine.
Lucy, meanwhile, continued. ‘The idea was to get as far away from base—which was college—as possible, and back again within twenty-four hours, on a pre-agreed budget.’
Adam smiled at the thought. ‘To anywhere?’
‘Oh, yes. We got all over the place—didn’t we, Dana?’
Dana opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again as Lucy continued. ‘It started with a boat trip to Scotland, then one to France, then some of us got a bit further afield until Dana the Master topped us all.’
His smile upgraded to a grin as he looked down at her. ‘Where’d you end up?’
‘New York.’ She finally managed to get a word in edge-wise.
‘On a budget of what?’
Lucy laughed. ‘That was the best bit. She dressed up as some kind of medical person, and carried a pig heart in a freezer case a medical student mate of hers had got from the hospital. She blagged her way onto the flight for virtually nothing because she was carrying a donor organ. Took some major flirting, from what I’ve heard, but she was famous after that.’
Adam looked at her with more respect than she’d ever seen before from him. Trust him to value her more for her immoral and irresponsible ways of old than for her ‘anally retentive’ organisation around the office. Typical. ‘I’m impressed.’
