Compromising Positions (Invested in Love)

by Bayley-Burke, Jenna

  “Smudge proof?”

  She grinned as her wits returned to her. “To the average man, but I’m not so sure it will work with you. Feel free to try. I have lots more.”

  He smiled and shook his head. “I hate the taste of lipstick. Vile stuff.” He reached past her, opened the door, and ushered her down the stairs.

  “Not to worry. This is completely kissable. Flavored, too.” He didn’t respond, just urged her across the parking lot.

  “I don’t even get to see it?” he asked once they were in the car.

  “See what?”

  “The dress I bought.” He maneuvered the car through the streets as smoothly as if they were on water.

  “You didn’t buy it. I did.” She smiled smugly, pulling his credit card from her pocket. “You can have this back.”

  He kept one hand on the steering wheel, the other on the gearshift. “What good is having money if you won’t let me do anything for you?”

  “I told you, I don’t want your money. I don’t want to owe you anything.”

  He took the corner so sharply she had to grab on to the seat to keep from toppling out. “Let me do something nice for you. Something to remember me by.”

  So that’s where this was going. “Don’t leave, and I won’t need memories.”

  He pulled the car effortlessly in front of the hotel and removed the keys for the valet. “I won’t leave you, Sophie. You’ll leave me. Everybody does.”

  The man didn’t have a brain in his head if he thought she’d ever be able to walk away. She wanted to argue, but it was all she could do just to keep up with his pace as he dragged her up the staircase and toward the ballroom, obviously forgetting she took almost three steps to his one.

  The tension in his body tried to snake its way into hers, but she wouldn’t let it. He’d told her he didn’t want to come to the party tonight. She guessed it was because things were tense with his father. She wanted to make sure he enjoyed himself a little, so she stayed calm and hoped to distract him. She got her chance when they paused before entering the ballroom.

  He stood stock still as she placed her coat on top of his on his arm. “Aren’t you going to check them?” she asked sweetly.

  He nodded and retreated to the coat check while she looked around the ornately decorated room. Green and gold—the company colors. There was a long bar at one end of the room, circular tables in the middle, and a stage at the other end, where a screen cycled through photos. Sophie’s heart melted as the pictures changed. There was David, about age three, and his father pulling him on a sled.

  She felt him return, though he hadn’t touched her. She turned, watching as he threaded a finger beneath his collar, tugging at it as if it were a noose.

  “Doesn’t your shirt fit?” He hadn’t had that problem earlier.

  “It fits fine,” he ground out, his jaw clenched.

  She batted his hand away. “Then leave it alone. You’re ruining the effect.”

  “What effect?”

  “You must know. Women love a man in a tux. That’s why we make them dress up for weddings. You need to get a new shirt.”

  He shook his head. “It’s not the shirt, it’s your dress.”

  Worth every red cent. “You like it?”

  “Every man in this place likes it, a little too much.”

  “Now you know how I feel.” Everywhere they went, women looked at him from the corners of their eyes, sizing him up like a dessert tray. It made her feel possessive and proud. Dear God, please let this dress have the same effect on him.

  He rolled his eyes. “That slit is too damned high. Every time you take a step, I can almost see…you know. You are wearing underwear, right?”

  She waved him off. Stepping closer, she pulled his head down so she could whisper in his ear. “I wanted something that would make you think about how great I’ll look out of it.”

  “It’s working.”

  “Took you long enough.”

  …

  Where is he?

  He tried to scan the room, but his gaze kept falling back on Sophie and that dress. Every time he let her out of his sight, some jerk came up and tried to ogle her. He’d had to kiss her four times already to keep the trolls at bay—not that he was complaining. She’d found lipstick that tasted like pumpkin pie.

  He hadn’t expected her to look this way. Not that he should be quite this surprised, but still. She was beautiful with her face scrubbed clean and her curls running wild. With her face made up and her hair done and her body presented like that, he couldn’t blame the other men for looking. She was flawless. And those pale blue eyes pulled him right in. If only he could go there.

  But he couldn’t, not until he found the old man and got him to explain the game he was playing with him and SGI. Lance had to show for his own party. Maybe he should check with the hotel’s front desk, to see if he and Tessa had a room to get ready in.

  Circling back, he found Sophie seated at the bar, people-watching. He’d warned her about these things. He sidled up behind her, placed a hand on her hip, and leaned in to kiss her temple while staring down the pipsqueak who’d been ogling her for the last three minutes. Thankfully, the imp scampered away before David had to open his mouth.

  “You don’t have to keep doing that.” She used the straw of her diet cola to stab at the cherries at the bottom of her glass. There had to be at least six. Is the bartender hitting on her, too?

  “I’m not doing anything.” He knew it was a lie, but he needed to focus on the task at hand, not have an argument.

  “You’re marking your territory, and you know it.” She finally speared a cherry and lifted it out, plopped it in her mouth, and tugged the stem off.

  “If he’s not here in ten minutes, we’ll bail, I promise. I need to straighten out a few things with him, and he hasn’t been returning my calls.” He watched as she swallowed and then put the cherry stem in her mouth.

  “What are you doing?”

  Her wicked grin made her eyes flash as she pulled the stem back out of her mouth, now tied in a knot.

  “Is this what you’ve been doing?” He swallowed hard. Maybe they’d leave in just five more minutes. “No wonder you have men lined up in droves.”

  She leaned closer, resting her hand on his knee and gifting him with an excellent view of her ample cleavage. “And to think, you already know you’re coming home with me.”

  Tilting her chin up, he tasted her—the cherry and the cola and the sweetness that was all his. His Sophie, at least for now.

  “I’m glad you could make it.” David jumped at the sound of his father’s voice. Why had he closed his eyes? He felt like a teenager caught necking in the closet.

  David caught Sophie’s hand, squeezed it, hoping to reassure some of her blush away. “Where the hell have you been?”

  “I should greet my guests.” Lance spun on his heel and stepped away.

  He caught the older man’s arm and angled him away from the crowd. “You will not avoid me for another minute.”

  Lance froze. “Here?”

  “There’s a balcony. Now.” He imagined his father’s smile was as fake as his own as he followed him out the doors and into the cold night. “Talk.”

  Lance dug his hands into the pockets of his tuxedo pants. “About?”

  “No more games, Dad. What are you up to?”

  Steely blue eyes stared through him. “You should know I changed my will.”

  David felt his face contort. This was like a bad movie. “To write me out for firing you?”

  Lance’s smile was genuine as he shook his head. “The old one followed the stipulations of the prenup, but things are different after the buyout.”

  “Do what you want with your money. Give it all to her now, for all I care. I want to know what you were thinking, jerking me around like a puppet on a string. You created an elaborate scheme to make me think you were embezzling. That’s insane. I should have you committed to a mental hospital.”

 
Lance shrugged. “I didn’t see another option. You wouldn’t buy me out, and I knew you wouldn’t slow down until you had majority ownership. I wasn’t sure you had enough capital to do it on your own.”

  “I did. I closed my trust and wired the money you took into Kelly’s trust fund. I’ve removed your access to her account.”

  Lance laughed silently, looking upward. “To keep it from Tessa. She’s not after the money.”

  He felt the anger flash behind his eyes. “Would you wake up! The woman blackmailed you into marrying her.”

  The idiot had the nerve to stand there smiling. Never would David become such an ass over a woman. Lance pinned him with his gaze. “I wish you’d give her a chance.”

  “A chance to sue me, too? No, thanks.”

  “It was a means to an end. She’s not intimidated by anything. Not the money, not you, not your mother. Tessa knows how special your mother was to me, and she doesn’t ask me to put her aside, or you. Even as beastly as you are to her. She accepts you both as a part of me.

  “I knew you didn’t approve of the relationship, and I’d promised myself never to let another woman come between us. Vicki kept you from coming home all during college, and Gretchen—”

  “Spare me the recap of your poor choice in women.”

  “Tessa wouldn’t stand for me sacrificing our happiness for yours when you are determined to be miserable. Suing me was the only way to get my attention. I’m glad she did.

  “I want that same kind of happiness for you now. I knew you wouldn’t make the time to have a personal life until your professional goals were met, and you refused to buy me out. You didn’t leave me any choice but to get creative.”

  David held up his hand. “Whatever. You’re setting yourself up for a fall, but I can’t stop you. No more games. Just shoot straight with me from now on.”

  They stood there, trapped in the uncomfortable silence. The longer he waited, the worse it got.

  His father cleared his throat. “Now what?”

  “Now I leave.” He turned away.

  “With Sophie?” Lance called after him. “I like her.”

  “You’ve barely met her.” He did not want to be baited into this conversation.

  “I like the effect she has on you. You’re happy, and not just because you have SGI.”

  He took another step for the door.

  “Now what?” Lance said, more forcefully this time.

  From where they stood, David could see the images flashing on the screen inside. The African safari from his sixteenth birthday faded into a picture of him sitting on his father’s lap behind his desk. He couldn’t have been more than four.

  “You always wanted to run SGI.”

  “I wanted to be you. Hell, I am you.” His head suddenly felt very heavy. Until the sound of his father’s laughter spun him around. “What’s so funny?”

  “You may look like me, but you are not me. I jump headfirst without looking, and you have your ten-year plan mapped out in stone.”

  True. Except his ten-year plan had been to get control of SGI. He needed to rework it. “I still don’t understand the need for the charade. You could have done it differently, threatened to sell to one of the shareholders. Why make me think you were stealing?”

  “Nobody makes decisions for you. It had to be your idea. We thought of it when you said you’d never buy my shares until I divorced Tessa. And it worked brilliantly. I had to stop you from working yourself into an early grave like my father did. Sophie tipped you off, didn’t she?”

  David nodded, pressing his lips together. She was none of his father’s business. “She doesn’t know, if that’s what you’re worried about. And even if she did, she’d never tell.”

  “You didn’t tell her, and she didn’t ask?”

  “She’s interested in me, not my business.” The revelation stunned him, even as he said the words with complete confidence. No one had ever been interested in him outside of what he could do for them. Even his friends took advantage of his status when they needed to.

  “You love her.”

  Did he? Not that it would matter. “It’s not what you’re making it out to be, Dad. Sophie and I don’t want the same things. She should have kids, lots of them. She’ll be great at it. Warm-cookies-after-school kind of great.” He sucked in the cool air, hoping it would ease the tightness in his throat. “I can’t give her that.”

  Lance’s fist came down hard on the railing behind him. “What the hell is wrong with you? It’s as if the world is right there dangling at your fingertips, and you’re too scared to grab on.”

  That did it. “I’m not scared. I’ve learned how it ends. It used to tear me up when Kelly would have to go home after a weekend, and she’s just my sister. I don’t have it in me, Dad. I’ve been through enough of your divorces. I don’t need to have any of my own.”

  Lance stepped forward, took David’s arm and spun him toward the windows. He could just make out Sophie, still at the bar. Thankfully, a woman had her attention this time.

  “If you don’t marry her, don’t ever get married. Or you will be like me, punishing every woman who comes after for not being her, for not loving you the way she did. Hiding away that part of you that will always belong to her. And you’ll hate yourself for it. I didn’t have a choice but to let Natalie go. It kills me you are willing to just walk away.”

  He shook his head, his eyes refusing to focus as he stared into the soiree. “I won’t leave. She will.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure if you push hard enough, even love couldn’t make her stay.”

  …

  “You intrigue me,” a deep, breathy voice said from behind Sophie as she leaned on the bar, waiting for another diet cola. She turned slowly, not sure what to expect.

  She did not anticipate the exotic beauty who stood before her. With waist-length black hair, wide almond eyes, and a neckline plunging to her navel, the woman was stunning. And I intrigue her?

  “You are not what I anticipated.”

  “Just what were you anticipating?” And what was she talking about?

  “His usual.”

  She leveled her gaze at the woman. Just who do you think I am? Sophie turned away, facing the room once more. She wanted to have fun tonight, not deal with some catty woman.

  “I’m impressed you got him to teach the class with you. David is usually very private.”

  This woman didn’t seem to get the hint. Sophie blew a few stray curls off her face with a puff of air from the corner of her mouth. She gave a half-smile to the woman and surveyed the crowd. Just where had that man escaped to?

  “He works too hard. We were relieved to find out he had other interests.”

  “We?” Sophie asked, curious but still leery as to where this mystery woman was taking her.

  “You don’t know who I am, do you?” As Sophie shook her head, the woman continued. “Tessa Strong. Lance’s wife.” Sophie’s felt her mouth form an O as she tried to recall the bits David had relayed about this woman. She’d been the one David had suspected of stealing, and there was some kind of sexual harassment suit that didn’t make sense.

  Tessa smiled. “I see you know my reputation. David thinks me a barracuda, but I promise I don’t bite.” Her teeth shone like pearls against her dark red lips.

  “Sophie Delfino,” she said, shaking Tessa’s outstretched hand.

  “Yes, I know. David is very tightlipped about you. He seems to want to keep you all to himself.”

  She smiled at the idea. “I intrigue you?” she asked, bringing the conversation back to the beginning.

  Tessa nodded. “As much for your effect on David as for the class you teach. Kama Sutra is a passion of ours. I wish I’d thought of designing a class around it.”

  “My sister came up with it, actually. David and I are filling in while she’s pregnant. I still need to talk him into helping with next month’s class.”

  “I’m sure you can convince him. Which positions do you focus on? Do you s
tick to the Kama Sutra or do you also reference Ananga Ranga or Positions of the Tao?”

  Sophie’s eyebrows rose at the woman’s knowledge. “I don’t have the passion for it that my sister does. When she comes back from maternity leave, she’s planning on developing an advanced class. The class I lead is mainly yoga. We throw in a few positions at the end that complement the stretches.”

  “So the focus is on touching.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Now that Lance is retired, I need to find ways to keep him busy. We’ll look into the class once your sister comes back.”

  She grinned. “I think David would melt into the floor if the two of you walked in.”

  “Then I shouldn’t suggest the sexual reflexology class we’re teaching at the chiropractic college. Your students might be interested, though. It combines massage and the touch points of Tao.”

  Sophie’s mind sparked to life. Finally, a problem she could solve. “That sounds fascinating. David mentioned you used to be an aerobics instructor?”

  …

  He had to leave. Now. Before his father’s psychobabble really started to sink in. He shouldered his way through the crowd, keeping his eye on Sophie. He needed to get out of here, get her home and out of that damned dress. Needed to do to her things the men hanging on her all night hadn’t even thought to dream about.

  His pulse quickened, pounding in his ears as he neared her. Maybe they wouldn’t wait until they were home. She was so small they could just—

  “David.”

  He shook his head and kept moving. He didn’t have it in him to make nice with people.

  “David.”

  Feeling a hand on his arm, he jerked back like he’d been stung.

  He fixed his eyes on Kia, a stewardess who liked to set him up on dates with her friends. She’d been calling incessantly, no doubt hoping he would pick up the tab for some of her extravagant nights on the town in exchange for a few introductions. He furrowed his brow. Maybe Kelly was right; Kia really was his madam.

  “I haven’t heard from you, but I guess now I know why.” The leggy redhead tilted her chin in Sophie’s direction. “I thought you only did blondes.”