Lyle thought of Frontier as more of a big family than anything else. A patriarchy, with himself as the undisputed head. His boy had needed a spanking but now he thought he was ready to be reasonable.
“Now, son, I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate what you have to offer.” Lyle spoke in a kinder, gentler tone and drew another taste of Cuba. “I know without a good man in marketing this company will never realize its potential. That’s where you come in. Your solid business sense will help us capitalize on our assets and guide our growth.”
He paused again for effect.
“Now that means working together with everybody in a team effort. Anna’s a key player and I want you to get along with her. Understand?”
“Yes, I think I do.” Jay nodded.
“Good. Now get going and go bury the hatchet. And not in each other.”
“Yes, sir.” The other man headed out the door with an air of determination that had Lyle smiling at his departing back.
Whitman was working out perfectly.
He’d meant every word he said. He wanted Anna happy. He didn’t call burying herself alive and working all hours happy. Not by a long shot.
What she needed was some romance. Passion. Fireworks of a different kind. Jay was just the man for the job. There’d been enough sparks flying between them last night to create a fire hazard.
It couldn’t have gone better.
Yes, he mused, bringing Whitman in was a good move, all the way around. He was the kind of man Frontier’s marketing and financial management needed. If that same man wasn’t also just what Anna needed, he’d eat his cigar.
Lyle eased his chair back, propped his feet on his desk and puffed in quiet contentment.
Until a telling cloud of scarlet smoke came from nowhere and filled the office.
Chapter Four
Jane deposited one cup of tea on the desk and challenged, “Talk.”
Anna glanced up from behind her stack of books and tried an innocent, befuddled expression. “About what?”
That got her an impatient look from her fuming assistant. Jane started tapping her toe expectantly.
Anna gave it up. When Jane started tapping her toe, it meant she was going to drag it all out of her one way or another. Besides, for once she really had something juicy to gossip about.
She threw up her hands as if to ward off Jane’s evil eye.
“Okay, okay! I went to the party. I wore the most fabulous red dress you’ve ever seen or heard of. I told Lyle I wanted a better parking spot, without mud, and this morning there it was!” Anna sat back, glowing with pleasure. As a matter of fact, he’d done even better than she’d asked. He’d put up a nice little placard with her name on it to mark her space.
She’d been glowing since the night before, actually. Her new attitude suited her. A little bit of badness was good for the soul, evidently. When she’d looked in the mirror to do her makeup, she’d seen violet eyes sparkling with life. Even her hair seemed to crackle with vibrant energy within the confines of the practical braid she wore.
Speaking of being bad, Anna decided she’d better warn Jane about the little trick she’d just pulled.
“Oh, and I detonated a little smoking something in Lyle’s office a little bit ago, so if he comes down here hollering and lecturing, you’ll know why. Be sure he doesn’t bring a cigar with him into the lab, though.”
Jane gasped. “No. You didn’t. You did! I can’t believe it.” Laughter bubbled from the dark-haired girl at the thought of the demure and dignified head of research running amok and playing mad scientist. “I always knew you had it in you!” she cheered and jumped up to offer a victory hug.
“Thank you, Jane, you’re a true friend.” Anna was fairly bouncing in her seat. She really couldn’t remember when she’d had as much fun.
“I guess you were right about the shrink,” the brunette admitted.
“No, actually, you were. I decided I didn’t need one,” Anna answered solemnly.
“Ah ha! So what’s all this, then?” Jane waved at the pile of books on Anna’s desk.
“Books.”
Jane rolled her eyes in exasperation at the evasive response.
“Okay, okay. Books on communication, assertiveness and the differences between men and women. Relationship stuff,” Anna replied.
Jane’s eyes widened further.
“You’re kidding. I don’t believe it! You’re reading up on men and women stuff? As in, getting ready for dating stuff? As in, plunging into the world of romance?”
Anna grinned back at her friend. “Well, I thought it was about time.”
“Ha! I thought you weren’t interested in time. Not your field and all that.”
Anna put on her best serious, studious expression.
“Time is a dimension, not a field.”
Jane groaned in mock agony at the poor joke.
“That’s really bad,” she accused.
“Well, so am I. As of yesterday. The new me is bad, bad, bad and I couldn’t be better,” Anna announced. The satisfaction in her voice spoke volumes.
Jane took a closer look at the books. “A guide to being bad?” She raised a brow in appraisal, folded her arms across her chest and inquired, “Okay, now what gives? What did you do, Anna?”
“Yes, what did you do, Anna?” A mocking, masculine voice chimed in, startling both women.
The source of the voice leaned casually in the doorway in a pose that would have done GQ proud. It artfully displayed the gray wool suit to advantage, which in turn displayed a long, tall male body to advantage.
Unfair, really, Anna thought. That body had enough natural advantages without the model pose and stylish suit.
Her eyes traveled up to the dark eyes that set off the too-handsome face under jet-black hair.
It was him.
Anna sighed inwardly. Just her luck. Then again, she’d just known he’d be back to try and get the last word. No doubt he’d spent the night thinking up new and better insults.
Well, maybe the best defense was a good offense, in this case. She loaded her verbal ammunition and fired the first shot.
“Ahh, yes, Mr. Whitman, the not-so-missing link. Why are you here?”
His glowing eyes warmed further, if that was possible. “I came to see if you missed me. Did you miss me, Anna?”
Anna stared back at him in silence.
Jane’s eyes silently begged her for details.
Casually, Jay unwrapped himself from the doorjamb and strolled over to take a look at Anna’s reading material. He perused the titles, then slanted a look at her.
“Honey, if you want to do a little research on the differences between men and women, I’ll be happy to volunteer as your star subject.” He winked and added naughtily, “I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.”
Anna scowled at her unwanted visitor. “I don’t want to see yours.”
“Are you sure? That isn’t what you said last night when you blew in my ear,” Jay observed.
At that, Jane’s eyebrows shot up and vanished beneath her bangs.
Her look of amazement deepened when Jay turned his gleaming black eyes on her and informed her, “She’s crazy about me.”
Anna rammed his side with her elbow, since it was conveniently within reach. “That would make me just plain crazy.”
“She likes to play rough, too,” the irrepressible scoundrel continued in a voice that plainly said he liked it that way. “She’s dangerous. She already has me limping.”
“Is that what’s keeping you from leaving?” Anna asked, sweet as poison.
He turned back to her and shook his head in mock dismay.
“Come on, you can’t try to hide something like this. An office romance never stays a secret and in our case it’s likely to make headlines. So be nice and give me a kiss.”
The outrageous flirt dared her with his wicked eyes while he offered her his sexy mouth.
Anna stared back and refused to respond.
He poked through her books some more and pulled out the guide to becoming a bad girl.
He tutted and wagged a finger at her. “Now here’s something you don’t need. But if you do want to be bad, little girl, I’m ready, willing and able to help.” The innuendo in his voice was heavy enough to fell a bull moose.
Anna pushed him back and peered around him to catch her assistant’s eye. “Jane, would you mind excusing us for a minute?”
“Make that at least ten. Maybe fifteen.” Jay thoughtfully eyed the desktop, then the counter space as if considering the amorous possibilities. “Better yet, let’s go to a little hotel I know.”
Anna glared. “We’re not going to a hotel.”
Jay looked deeply disappointed. “A real bad girl would. A really, really bad one would suggest it.”
“I’ll just go run those copies down the hall,” Jane offered. She scooped a sheaf of papers off the photocopier by her desk to corroborate the excuse. As she left, she mouthed, ‘I want to know everything’ behind Jay’s back. She disappeared and closed the door behind her.
“Nice girl,” Jay observed. “Thoughtful, too.”
Then he turned back to her and moved closer until he had Anna pinned in her chair.
“You didn’t answer me. Did you miss me?”
“If I say yes, will you go away?”
“I don’t know. Say ‘yes’,” Jay suggested as he pretended to consider the question. “I think I’d like to hear that, anyway. The way you said it last night.”
“Yes.”
The clipped, sarcastic tone was a world away from a breathy, impassioned moan of sensual longing.
He gave her an impatient look. “No, that won’t work. You’ll have to kiss me, instead.”
His lips closed over hers with warm persuasion and Anna felt a distinct tingling sensation that spread from her lips to a point low in her belly, leaving heat and a hunger for closer contact in its wake.
Soft, tempting nibbles tasted the full curve of her mouth in a slow, thorough exploration. With a low groan, Jay wrapped her long braid around his hand and used it to pull her closer. Then he stroked her lips with his tongue.
Anna partly opened her mouth to protest and he took advantage of the moment to swirl inside and taste her deeply.
So this was a French kiss, Anna thought in shock. He had his tongue in her mouth and was coaxing hers to play.
It was research, after all, she reminded herself. He’d offered to be a subject himself.
She gave him her tongue.
Then she wasn’t really sure what happened but somehow they were on her desk and he was laying half on top of her. His deep, wet kisses were getting hotter and hotter and her books fell to the floor with a crash.
The sound penetrated the sensual haze clouding Anna’s mind and startled her to awareness. This experiment had clearly gotten a little out of hand. She started to struggle under his weight.
Dazed, Jay recognized her withdrawal and lifted his head. Impassioned black eyes bore into amethyst depths. “My God,” he grated in a hoarse whisper, “I knew you were good.”
Anna didn’t know what to say to that, so she didn’t say anything. Instead, she touched a tentative tongue to suddenly dry lips.
Jay groaned at the sight and took her mouth again in a thoroughly seductive kiss, penetrating her velvet lips with his tongue in slow, thrusting strokes.
Anna didn’t know what might have happened next if Jane hadn’t come back in and cleared her throat.
She looked up in shock at her amused assistant.
“Uh, maybe I should have made it twenty?” Jane asked meekly, trying to suppress the smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth.
Anna turned her blank, somewhat wild stare on Jay. What had happened? Had she actually been passionately necking with the mouthy man for fifteen minutes? On one level, Anna decided it was good to know that his mouth was good for something besides verbal skirmishes.
Jay stared just as blankly back at her. Then he helped her up.
“I’ll be back to pick you up for lunch,” he stated in a flat voice.
Then he kissed her again. Hard.
His black eyes mesmerized hers as he added, “Make it a long lunch.”
He turned and walked to the door, then suddenly came back and gave Anna one last brief, hard kiss, as if acting under some sort of mysterious compulsion.
“Nice to meet you,” Jay added to the stunned Jane on his way out.
Anna watched him go, still in a daze. Then she collapsed onto her chair and pleaded, “Tea. I need tea.”
Jane complied then took the seat across from her again.
“Okay, boss, what gives here? You obviously didn’t tell me something about last night.”
Anna waved a vague hand in her direction in a silent play for time. She had to compose herself. She picked up her cup and took a hasty gulp of the herbal concoction. She hoped it would restore her to her senses.
It did help. The chamomile blend was soothing, as always. She hoped it would work quickly to soothe the stunning confusion the obnoxious man had left behind. He’d probably kissed her just to get back at her for blowing in his ear and getting the last word last night.
They were even now. He’d definitely gotten the last word, although Anna had no idea what it was. Maybe it would come to her later.
Everything after his tongue touched hers was a kaleidoscopic blur.
She took another swallow of her tea and managed to answer Jane, who was being remarkably patient.
“Well. There really isn’t much to tell.”
Jane let out an unladylike snort of disbelief. “Not much to tell? You were inches from making it on your desk with an incredibly sexy man just minutes ago. And he says you blew in his ear last night and asked him to show you his.” The brunette paused and eyed her friend for telltale signs of heavy drinking. “You weren’t wearing a lampshade on your head or anything like that, were you?”
Anna swallowed some tea the wrong way and coughed. When she recovered, she answered, “No. I had some champagne, that’s all.”
“Uh-huh.” Jane’s doubt was evident.
“No, really. I was perfectly sober when I rubbed my body all over his and blew in his ear.”
Now it was Jane’s turn to choke and sputter.
“It was all his fault,” Anna continued her bland explanation. “He wanted to buy my body. Have me ‘at his service,’ I think his exact words were.”
Anna leaned back in her chair and sipped thoughtfully at her tea, as if trying to recall the precise details.
Having the normally unflappable Jane in shock was an opportunity that wasn’t likely to come up again any time soon. She wanted to be sure and enjoy every minute of it.
“And I didn’t ask him to show me his. I just moaned a lot and said things like, ‘yes, more, deeper’,” she added. “You know, like that movie you made me watch with you, where the woman fakes an orgasm in a diner,” Anna concluded.
Jane’s mouth moved wordlessly.
“So how was your night?” Anna went on in bright tones.
As an attempt to deflect the conversation, it failed.
Jane found her voice.
“Anna, you know I’m always telling you to get out and date but are you really sure you’ve thought this through?” Real worry colored her alto tones.
It was nice to hear, Anna decided. She had quite a support system. Good friends like Jane were few and far between.
Had she ever told Jane how much their friendship meant to her? Anna didn’t think so. But she thought her friend’s generous nature had nurtured her in a lot of ways and allowed her to grow to the point that she could take off in daring new directions.
Last night’s boldness hadn’t sprung from nowhere.
It was more the culmination of seeds of esteem planted and sprouted with care.
“Jane, did I ever tell you I love you like a sister?”
Jane blinked in surprise. “You’re not getting around me, boss, I’m worried about you.”
“I know, and I appreciate it. Who else would worry about me? You’re my best friend. You adopted me and shared your family with me.” Anna paused and frowned. “I’d share my family with you but even I don’t like them. Besides, they live on the other coast.”
She sipped some more chamomile meditatively while she struggled for words. She was learning how to communicate better, wasn’t she? She could communicate better with Jane, too.
“You really went out of your way to help out and free me up to do creative work. You’ve made my job a lot easier. And you made a real effort to draw me out.”
Jane just stared at her.
“I just did what anyone would do.”
“No, you didn’t,” Anna assured her. “Jay’s right, you are nice. And I’m lucky to have you as an assistant and as a friend.”
“He said I was nice?” Jane was startled. Then she narrowed her eyes. “No, I’m not falling for it. Give. I want to hear everything. Every word, every detail, from the top.”
She started to tap her foot again, a sure sign she was losing patience.
“That’s everything. I went dressed to kill, or at least maim, he got out of line while we were dancing—”
“Dancing? You distinctly did not mention dancing before,” Jane declared, pouncing on the detail like a tigress.
“So sue me,” Anna tossed back, grinning. “We danced. He dances like Fred Astaire, too.”
Jane made appropriate swooning noises.
“He got a little carried away, so I stepped on him, which is why he said he was limping. And he was deliberately trying to intimidate me by talking dirty to me. So I did it back. It got to him.”
The memory of that stunning victory did a great deal to restore Anna’s confidence. He might be bad but she was catching up fast.
Jane rolled her eyes in patent disbelief. “Oh, and you’re surprised at this? No wonder he said you liked him. So, do you like him?”
Did she? Anna didn’t know. She would have sworn she didn’t in spite of the unmistakable attraction she felt toward him but that was before the French kiss experiment that had left her books littering the floor.
When Sparks Fly: Love and Rockets Page 5
