by Francis Ray
“What are you going to test-market?”
She choked on her tea that she’d picked up again. The tall glass hit the wooden table with a plop. She blinked those big beautiful brown eyes of hers at him, then bit on her lower lip. He had the strangest urge to bite it for her.
“Test-market?” Her voice sounded strained.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
Her eyes went wide again and he knew without a doubt he’d been right. Brooke didn’t appear the shy type and Lorraine was too sophisticated. Claire, on the other hand, had probably led a very sheltered life.
“Ah, no.”
For some reason he didn’t want to let it go. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”
She opened another package of crackers. Her salad was almost gone and she still had two crackers left on her plate. “It–it’s kind of complicated.”
“Claire,” Gray said, putting his hands on her to stop the nervous motion and giving into the need to touch her. Her skin was smooth and soft. Her hand jerked, then stilled. “Men are going to come into the shop to buy gifts for the women in their lives. You’ll have to talk to them.”
She twisted in her chair and slowly withdrew her hand. “You probably think I’m terribly naïve.”
“I think you have a whole world out there waiting for you and it’s going to be interesting to see you discover it.” He picked up his fork and was glad to see her do the same. He didn’t speak again until she’d finished her meal. “When is the grand opening?”
She placed her napkin on the table and settled back. “We’re aiming for mid-September.”
“From what I saw today, you’ll be ready.” He shoved his empty plate aside. “Would you like dessert or coffee?”
She shook her head. “No. The food was delicious. Thank you.”
“My pleasure. I enjoyed being with you,” he told her, then placed a bill on the table.
She flushed as warmth radiated through her. She’d never met a man as complimentary or as caring as Gray.
He stood. “Shall we go?”
Claire reached for her purse, but couldn’t make herself pick it up. Gray had more confidence in her than she had in herself. She had to stop running from life. She was a grown woman. Talking about sex shouldn’t embarrass her. She stared up at Gray. “Before we go I’d like to tell you about the marketing plan we were discussing.”
“All right.” He sat back down.
“We propose that using certain Bliss products on a woman’s skin is BTS. Better Than Sex. For many women this will be a moot point as they lead very satisfying lives without men, but for others it presents an intriguing possibility and a challenge to the men in their lives. We believe that these men might take exception to our claim and try to prove it false.”
Gray didn’t appear shocked. What he looked like was interested. Claire’s body heated.
“Is that what the test-marketing talk was about?”
She refused to look away. “Yes.”
“Interesting concept. I hope you know I’m available to help in any way I can.”
Claire didn’t know if he meant what he said as a come-on or if he was just being concerned. “Thank you.” She stood and picked up her purse.
“Excuse me.”
Turning, she saw three women sitting at a table behind theirs. “Yes?”
“We overheard what you just said and wanted the address of the store and the name of the product,” one of the women said.
Claire took a business card from her purse. “It will have the trademark BTS.”
The woman laughed. “My husband will have a fit.”
“And you’ll both reap the benefits,” Gray commented with a smile.
The women whooped, then the one who had spoken looked at Gray and said, “Looks like you’ll be reaping your own benefits.”
Claire didn’t blush, just walked out of the restaurant with Gray, hoping the woman’s prediction might come true.
* * *
“John, it’s your mother on the phone.”
John straightened from beneath the hood of the car to see the receptionist standing in the doorway connecting the garage and the waiting room. Concern knitted his brow. His mother didn’t call during the day unless it was important. “Tell her I’ll be there as soon as I wash up.”
With a wave, Samantha disappeared back inside the office. Quickly washing his hands, John followed and indicated to the receptionist that he’d take the call in his office. “Hi, Mama. Everything ok?”
“Well, baby, that’s what I called to ask you.”
Since his mother only called him “baby” when only she and his father were around and when she was in a good mood, the tension trying to knot his shoulders disappeared. “Mama, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You should have told me and your daddy,” she chided gently. “Seems everybody knew but us. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself. Of course it kind of shocked me for a minute.”
Frowning, John took a seat behind his desk. “Told you what?”
“Your picture with that woman for Bliss.”
He came to his feet. “You saw that picture?”
“Me and a lot of members at the church,” she told him. “Sister Brown’s daughter, Mary, works down the street from the store and was passing on her way to work this morning and saw you. That girl’s the worst gossip. She probably spent the next hour calling everybody she could think of.”
John closed his eyes and thought of his hands around Brooke’s beautiful little neck. She’d scammed him.
“You know Mary likes you. She was probably jealous it wasn’t her even as she told everybody who’d listen that the pictures were shameless.”
Maybe he’d hang Brooke up by her toes first.
“Well, after Sister Hopkins called and said what Mary said, I got my hat and had your daddy take me down there myself. I had to drag the old rascal away from the picture of that woman of yours over to the other side to look at your picture.”
He almost got hung up on “that woman of yours” before he realized he had a more critical matter—that of his sixty-five-year-old conservative father seeing Brooke in one of those provocative poses. So many conflicting emotions ran through John’s mind he couldn’t sort them all.
“I have to tell you, I just about hung my head.”
John’s own head fell. His parents had always been so proud of him. “Mama—”
“Then I heard what a woman beside me said and I have to tell you I had to hold tight to my religion.”
“Mama—”
“That woman said you were probably gay and the whole thing was faked.”
“What!”
“You better believe I set her straight. I told her you were my son, you were not gay and even if you were, it was none of her business. I told her you were a widower and had two beautiful children and owned your own business. Your daddy added that he was your father and proud of it.”
Worse and worse. His parents had to defend him.
“You’ll never imagine what happened then.”
He was afraid to ask, but didn’t have to.
“Women started giving me their phone number for you to call them,” his mother said cheerfully. “You know I loved Linda, but we both know as sweet and loving as she was she wouldn’t want you and the children to be alone. After women start seeing that picture you’ll have more women than you can shake a stick at. Hold on, baby, your daddy wants to say something.”
“Mama—”
“Hello, son. I know you’re grown, but if I were you, I’d stick with your first choice.”
“My first choice?”
“The woman in the picture.”
Brooke’s life was definitely in imminent danger.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
By the time John rapped hard on Bliss’s door he was angrier than he had ever been in his life.
The pictures of him and Brooke prominently displayed in the window, the st
ares and whispers of the women standing around him, didn’t help. Seeing Brooke behind the counter, cool and calmly sipping bottled water, laughing with Lorraine while she had single-handedly screwed up his life sent him over the edge.
A red haze filled his vision. The glass rattled under his knuckles.
Brooke glanced up. The frown beginning to form on her beautiful face was replaced by shock. She slowly lowered the bottle of Evian from her red lips.
That’s right, sweetheart. Time to pay.
Lorraine followed the direction of Brooke’s gaze, said something to her he couldn’t understand, then started for the door. Brooke’s hand on Lorraine’s arm stopped her and she came around the counter instead.
If he hadn’t been so angry he might have given her points for facing him. At the moment all he wanted to do was get his hands on her neck.
“Hi, John. Come to congratulate us on the success of our marketing campaign?” she said sweetly as she opened the door.
“You—”
Ignoring him, she spoke to the women gathered outside the door, “Ladies, as you’ve probably already guessed, this is the man in the picture.” She gave him a thorough once over and John clenched his teeth tighter. “What do you think? Was it the Bliss products or him that put that smile on my face?”
Amid the laughter and suggestive comments that made the tips of his ears burn, John took Brooke’s arm and pulled her inside. “You—”
“We still have an audience,” she said through clenched teeth, her smile never wavering. “We can talk in the back.”
John slanted a look at the women with their noses practically pressed against the glass, and at Lorraine who was warily watching him, and he started toward the back of the store.
“Brooke—”
“Don’t worry, Lorraine, I have a black belt in karate,” she said when she passed as she allowed John to pull her along.
The swinging door closed behind them. John glanced down at her, felt the softness of her skin and scoffed at the idea. Brooke barely came to the middle of his chest. “You have a lot of explaining to do. You told me the photo was going on a Web site.”
“If you think I’m going to discuss anything with you while you’re manhandling me, you’re mistaken.”
John released her arm. He’d forgotten he held it. “Talk.”
Brooke straightened the turned-up collar of her yellow sleeveless blouse while John tried to refrain from shaking her. “The contract you signed gave Bliss use of the photos in any way we saw fit to promote the products. It was in the contract.”
“You know darn well I didn’t read it,” he shot back.
Her eyebrow lifted regally. “As a businessman, you know better than to sign anything you haven’t read first.”
“You conned me.” The fact that she was right only added fuel to his anger. “People at my church are talking about that picture. My parents have even been down here.”
Uncertainty flashed in Brooks eyes. “They have a concern about the pictures?”
“Wouldn’t your parents?”
She glanced away before he could read any emotion in her face. He was about to press another point when he heard a sound that was suspiciously like stifled laughter. He couldn’t believe it. “You think this is funny?”
She stopped laughing, but her mouth twitched. “My father and uncles would probably take you out on my uncle’s fishing boat and use you for bait, but I’ll explain that it’s just business. I’ll be happy to talk to your parents and tell them the same.”
“I don’t want you anywhere near my parents or my children.”
Brooke took an abrupt step back from him, the hurt in her face unmistakable.
Impulsively John reached out for her to apologize and seconds later found himself flat on his back. When the stars cleared he saw her standing over him, her hands braced on her hips. “You’re the nastiest man I’ve ever met and I feel sorry for your parents, and for Mark and Amy that they have to put up with anyone like you.” She stuck her nose in the air. “No man puts his hands on me unless I want them there. Remember that.”
She whirled to leave and he came off the floor in one controlled rush. She might know karate, but he’d been wrestling since he was Mark’s age and he hadn’t always fought fair. An instant after he grabbed Brooke around the waist, the pointed heel of her sandal speared the top of his foot.
She didn’t fight fair either.
It took all of his strength to control her without injuring her or letting her injure him. He finally managed to pin her to the wall with her arms over her head. After she tried to make a eunuch out of him, he stepped between her legs to protect himself. It was the wrong move to make.
He knew it.
From her sudden intake of breath, she knew it.
He stared down at her. Her warm breath fluttered across his mouth with each breath, and each time her lush breasts stroked his chest. There was nothing he could do to prevent his arousal or her from feeling it. He might have been able to extricate himself if her gaze hadn’t gone to his mouth. He lost it.
His mouth crashed over hers. She met him with the same fierce desire. She was fire and passion in his arms, burning him up and he was gladly consumed. His tongue mated with hers in the boldly erotic way he wanted his body to mate with hers. He greedily searched her mouth’s sweetness as his hands boldly roamed over the soft curves of her body.
He’d die if he didn’t touch her skin. His hand slipped under her blouse. He moaned when his hand closed over her lush breast. It lovingly filled his hand and emptied his mind. He had to taste. His head bent.
“Brooke?”
Claire’s hesitant voice was like a bucket of cold water. Still, it took long seconds for him to control the wild hunger racing through him. He stared down at Brooke. Her eyes were closed and he didn’t know if it was from embarrassment or if she was still fighting the need clawing through her.
“She’ll be out in a minute.”
“John, I—”
“Please. Claire.”
He heard the louvered door swing shut, then took a deep, shuddering breath and straightened. He groaned on seeing Brooke’s blouse hitched up over her tempting breast in a flimsy piece of cloth imitating a bra. Swallowing, he reached out and slowly covered up the temptation with hands that refused to stop trembling.
Why should they? She had almost blown the top of his head off. If he ever got inside her … He stepped back from the lure of her body.
John knew he should just leave, but somehow he couldn’t. She looked vulnerable with her eyes closed, her hands clenched at her sides. He didn’t manhandle women.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” He rubbed his hand over his head. “I’m not sure how it happened.”
Slowly her eyes opened. Passion still shimmered in their depths. “I think it best if we don’t see each other again.”
She had drawn first blood again.
“Fine by me.”
Picking up his baseball cap from the floor, John plopped it on his head and strode out. Claire and Lorraine stood just outside the door. He didn’t know quite how to excuse his bad behavior. “I didn’t mean for that to happen. I’m sorry.” He left, knowing he was going to be a lot sorrier if he ever saw Brooke again.
She was nothing like the women he was used to, and he had never wanted any of them the way he wanted her.
Bad. Very bad.
The moment John left, Claire and Lorraine hurried into the back. Brooke was on the floor, her arms wrapped around her updrawn knees. The two women knelt in front of her.
“Are you all right?” Lorraine asked gently.
“I wouldn’t have come in, but Lorraine said he was angry and we heard the noise,” Claire said. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
Brooke finally lifted her head and leaned it against the wall. “I’m a disgrace to the partnership.”
“Nonsense,” Lorraine said. “You’re two attractive, single people.”
“All you
did was kiss him,” Claire soothed.
“And proved without a shadow of doubt that our products might be good, but they can’t make my body burn the way John just did. And I could just kill him for that.”
* * *
The Livingston distribution plant in Columbia was a little over an hour and a half drive from Charleston. Gray had planned the inspection for next week, but Claire had changed his mind. His fingers tapped on the steering wheel as the Porsche ate up the road.
Claire had changed his mind about a lot of things. Her innocence, her vulnerability, her sense of fair play drew him to her. He enjoyed being with her. Seeing her made him forget to be cautious. He liked seeing those tell-tale blushes on her beautiful face.
She was beautiful, not pretty as he’d always thought. That beauty came from within as much as it did without. And he’d bet his portfolio that she had never been intimate with a man.
So where did that leave them? He could control his zipper, but he had healthy desires.
Flicking on the turn signal he pulled onto Gordon Livingston Drive, named after his grandfather. Buying up the ten-acre tract for the second distribution center and making sure he had room for expansion allowed him certain privileges.
His grandfather had blustered about the name, but Gray had seen the shine of tears in his eyes. On the other hand, his grandmother had wanted to know why her street, Corrine Boulevard, was in the back since she was the one who actually sold the products when he’d been stationed in Korea. Gray had explained to her that her street would wind through the entire complex and link everything one day, just as she was the link that held the family together. She’d asked for his handkerchief to blot her own teary eyes.
The guard on duty stepped out of the white gatehouse even before Gray rolled to a stop in front of the double white steel bars. No one was going to crash through his gate.
“Good evening, Mr. Livingston. Good to see you again.”
“Good evening, Cecil.” Accepting the clipboard, he signed himself in. He never made exception for himself or his family. He handed the clipboard back. “Everything all right with security?”
