by Ally Blake
Then Jeff bounced off as quickly as he had arrived. Cara hastened her ablutions, then headed upstairs.
She knocked on the door for Suite 44 and a butler escorted her into a gorgeous suite five times the size of her own room.
The room opened up into a sunken lounge with a bar, and assorted gym equipment scattered across a raised platform by the ceiling-to-floor windows. The carpet felt so soft beneath her feet she itched to reach down and run her fingers through it. It would have been a great location for the underwear shoot she had been set to style for Fresh magazine, but she had to bite back that idea. Too late now. She had made her bed. She would simply remember the location for next time.
‘Hello,’ she called out. ‘Anybody home?’
She stopped peering around corners and stood bolt upright when Adam Tyler, in his ubiquitous suit and tie, sauntered out of one of the opened doorways off to her right.
Her face warmed instantly under his unexpected gaze. Whatever for, she had no idea.
‘Oh, I am sorry,’ she said, backing away. ‘I must have the wrong room.’
‘You’re looking for Chris?’ he asked, his deliberate, sexy voice stopping her short.
‘I am.’
He kept walking her way and she just stood there, rooted to the spot, as his personal magnetism washed over her in waves. She wondered if Chris would be such a terrible force. If so, it would make for a suffocating atmosphere.
‘He won’t be a moment,’ Adam said, veering off towards the bar. ‘Why don’t you take a seat? Would you like a coffee?’
Cara shook her head. It took enough effort to keep her balance, mentally and physically, in the presence of this guy; she didn’t think she needed caffeine to make it worse.
From behind Adam came a man of about the same age, mid-thirties or so. It had to be Chris. And Cara was infinitely glad to see that he was nowhere near as intimidating a figure as Adam: he was sweet and sandy-looking, like a day at the beach. He gave her a little finger wave then drew a finger to his lips, hushing her from alerting Adam to his presence. Cara bit her lip and drew her amused gaze back to Adam.
Sensing at once she had an ally, she felt her confidence return tenfold. She walked over to Adam, keen to keep his attention on her and not his silent friend.
‘So, Adam, now we have established I am where I am meant to be, may I ask what you are doing here so bright and early? Don’t you have somewhere else to be? Sponsorship deals to wangle? Million-dollar ad campaigns to oversee?’
Sensing Adam was about to turn and find Chris behind him, Cara dug deep for something that would make him stop. ‘Or don’t you have some buxom blonde to dump?’ she asked.
That did it! Adam turned back her way with his usual slow grace. He watched her carefully, like a tiger who was not quite hungry enough to chase her down, but who saw her as a possible morsel for later just the same.
‘Now where did you get that idea?’ he asked.
‘Oh, I don’t know.’ Cara flitted a hunted gaze to Chris who gave an encouraging two thumbs up. So on she went. ‘Isn’t that what you are most famous for? Blondes first, billions second?’
After a few watchful moments, he shrugged. ‘No blondes to dump right at this moment, so here I am.’
He turned away and for some reason it irked that he didn’t seem to mind her comments in the least. She breathed deep, fortifying herself against his nonchalance.
‘You really don’t need to be, I’m sure. You’d think your friend couldn’t tie his shoes without you.’
‘Well, maybe he can’t,’ Adam said and Chris doubled over as though he’d been stabbed in the heart.
‘Well, maybe you should give him the chance to try,’ Cara said.
‘Well, maybe it’s best for him to keep his mind on more important details like running a multibillion-dollar business.’
‘Well, maybe he thinks there are more important things than money.’
‘Well, maybe your real concern is, with me here, you don’t get to tie his shoelaces and that puts you out of a job. So who has the real money concern here, do you think?’
Electricity flickered across the room. She could feel it in every nerve ending. She was pretty sure she would be able to fling him across the room with a bolt of lightning shot from her fingertips if she really wanted to.
Then she pulled herself up. What was she doing baiting the guy like that? It had all begun as a little joke. All she’d wanted to do was keep him from finding out his friend was listening in.
She was a conciliator. She was a diplomat. She was the one to stop an argument, not to hold up her fists and shout, ‘Bring it on!’ Especially to a guy who looked as though he could wipe the mat with her. But there was just something about him that rubbed her the wrong way. He made her squabble muscles itch.
‘Well, maybe you two should get a room!’ Chris finally shouted.
Adam spun to face him and Cara was able to stand down. She unclenched her fists and rolled her shoulders, feeling ridiculously like a prize fighter. But there was no prize to be had from taunting Adam Tyler.
‘I couldn’t let you guys go on for a second longer or I would have had to put out a fire.’ He slapped Adam on the back, then approached Cara with his hand outstretched. ‘You must be Cara. I’m Chris Geyer.’
‘Hi, Chris,’ she said, pumping his hand. ‘I’m your stylist for the duration of the show.’
‘Fantastic! I’m colour-blind and fashion unconscious so my life will be in your hands. Though watching you handle my bodyguard here is such a treat, even if you had no function I would ask to keep you on for that reason alone.’
She flicked a glance to Adam, who had relaxed enough to lean against the back of the couch, watching them.
‘Aside from that, you just saved me from a pack of monsters in the other room,’ Chris continued, rubbing at his chest. ‘I just had my chest hair waxed to prepare me for the microphone I’ll be wearing. I didn’t plan on torture being part of the deal.’
‘So why did you let Adam tag along?’
‘Ooh! She got you there again, buddy. This one’s sharp. We’ll have to be quick around her.’
Cara adored Chris in a heartbeat. He was a teddy bear. With his sandy hair, his sightly pink cheeks, his not-so-hard body, his slightly rumpled suit, he would be a dream. A nice guy who would take to her plans like a duck to water. Whereas she knew that in the same position Adam would fight her tooth and nail. Though she also knew Adam would never put himself in the same position. He was the type of guy who kept his heart for pumping blood and nothing else. Just as she did herself.
Maybe that was why she felt so strange around him—they were like two north poles clashing and repelling over and over again. Whereas Chris was a definite south pole, easily compatible with both of them.
Adam watched over Chris like a hawk and Chris seemed to take it with good humour and the occasional roll of the eyes. She could sense the camaraderie between the two in an instant.
‘So, Chris,’ Cara said with a decisive clap of her hands. ‘Let’s go shopping.’
‘Rightio,’ Chris said. ‘I’ll just grab my key card thingy…’
Adam stood and held the key card up, showcasing the fact nobody was going anywhere without him.
‘Great,’ Chris said. ‘Let’s go.’
‘Is he coming too?’ Cara asked over her shoulder, loud enough for Adam to catch the words.
‘It looks that way.’
She leaned into Chris and whispered rather loudly, ‘Is there some way you can get him to lighten up? Otherwise it will be a long day.’
Chris whispered loudly back, ‘Tell him our stock price has hit an all-time high. That ought to do it.’
‘Your stock prices have hit an all-time high,’ she threw over her shoulder, but Adam didn’t even flinch. At the door to the room, Cara turned and faced him down. ‘Just don’t get in my way, OK? I’m the best at what I do and if you want your friend here to be the best that he can be, you’ll need me on his side.’
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Adam just stood there. And she found herself faltering under his steely glare. She fought the urge to bite her lip, which was a bad habit and a dead give-away when nerves hit.
Finally he spoke. ‘I’m not planning on fighting any professional decision you might have to make. Put the guy in head-to-toe pink if that’s your bag. But I am here to stay, sweetheart. So get used to it.’
Adam watched as she fought to contain herself. He could see the strain building within her: the quickening of her breath, the flare of her dazzling green eyes, and the shoulders squaring back. She was itching to deck him. He was shocked to find himself preparing to block a swinging fist.
She was like a firecracker and he knew it took very little to light her fuse. She certainly had some temper lurking just below the surface and he was pretty sure that something about him brought it out in her. Though it was probably nothing more than the fact that he pushed buttons for a living and did it in his day-to-day life without even meaning to.
Then from nowhere, with a heck of an effort, she collected herself, rolling her shoulders and physically slowing her breaths. Then she licked her lips, drawing his rapt attention to her shapely mouth, which was withdrawn from his sight all too soon as she spun away from him and headed out the door.
Chris shot him a big grin. ‘She’s a keeper.’
Adam shut the door behind them, pocketing the key card. ‘We’ll see,’ he said, finding the very idea a dangerously appealing one.
When Adam realised it was going to be a day of barbers, beauticians and boutiques, spent under the watchful blinking red eye of a camera crew, he was ready to throw himself from the moving car. The only thing that kept him along for the ride was the fact that he knew Cara was waiting for that exact reaction. She was waiting for the complaints. She was longing for them. She all but begged for them.
During Chris’s manicure, her expression all innocence, Cara offered Adam the chance to join Chris, to make his friend feel more comfortable. Adam almost agreed, if only to wipe that cheeky smile from her face. Though when he turned down the invitation she sent him a saucy shrug and joined Chris herself. The movement was rattling enough to have him keep his mouth decidedly shut for the rest of the day.
The women he knew didn’t rattle him as this one did. They were blissfully predictable. Yet he couldn’t predict a step Cara would make from one moment to the next. It was disconcerting to say the least.
Later, when Cara had been choosing some appropriate underwear for Chris to put on under some fairly fitted trousers, one of the crew made a comment about Cara’s known predilection for white cotton. News travelled fast in a small community and Cara’s grand entrance the night before must have done the rounds and back again.
The whole room froze, waiting for Cara to fade away into embarrassment or fly into bossy hysterics, either of which would have been understandable. But she merely turned, hand on hip, pierced the boom operator with a steely glance, and said: ‘Well, now you bring that up, since you’ve all seen mine, I think it’s only fair I see yours too.’
Then she took one quick step his way as though she was about to chase him about the room with the intent to ‘debrief’ him. The boom operator flinched, his eyes wild with panic, and that was all it took. The crew lost it, erupting into loud fits of laughter that kept up for the rest of the day. Suddenly he was the one under the microscope. He was the one they would talk about at dinner. And Cara was instantly one of the gang.
Adam could have watched her work all day. In fact he quite happily did, even though the whole point of him being there was to keep Chris from the clutches of an unknown woman, and the last thing he needed to be doing was setting a bad example by obviously favouring one himself. But favour her he did. More and more every moment he was with her.
There was just something about her. Something in the way she managed to keep five guys doing her bidding without raising her voice. Something in the way she took care to keep Chris smiling all day. Something in the way her green gaze skimmed his way when she thought he wasn’t watching.
So somehow it wasn’t the most exasperating day of his life. Somehow with her impudent smiles and her teasing and her vivacious attitude, Cara made the whole day fly.
They hopped back into the limo a few hours later in good spirits.
‘How are you holding up?’ Chris asked and Adam glared him down. ‘Don’t look at me like that. I have never seen you look so morbid. You look like somebody died.’
‘My friend Chris the man has gone. He has been replaced with Chris the dandy.’
‘Anything for my little Cara,’ Chris gushed. He took a hold of her face, squishing her cheeks between fingers and thumb, and remarkably she took the abuse. ‘You just can’t say no to this sweet face. You, who can charm anybody when you set your mind to it, were totally outclassed by this little lady today. If only we could headhunt her.’
‘To do what?’ Adam asked, his gaze lingering on the lady in question, who was hooking one foot beneath her in her seat, her companionable grin settled entirely upon Chris.
‘Whatever she wanted.’
‘This is plenty for me to handle just now, thanks,’ the lady in question said.
‘Have you worked for Jeff before?’
‘Nope. First time for me too. But so far I like it and so far he likes me and I would like to keep it that way.’
‘And by that you mean…?’
‘They have enough faith in me to know that my work will be perfect. But that doesn’t mean they can’t sack me for any other reason they choose.’
‘That’s pretty tough.’
‘Mmm. As I have been told, this is a tough business.’ She waggled a finger at Chris. ‘So be good. Don’t cause me any trouble.’
Adam found her playful nature seriously attractive. Who was he kidding? Her porcelain skin, her long legs, her curling hair the colour of butterscotch, her cat’s eyes, her luscious mouth, all were seriously attractive. She was a tough little chicken with confidence to spare, but her tendency towards the accident-prone seemed to bring out a strangely protective urge in him. She had him on constant alert, ready to whip out a steadying hand in case she stumbled.
All up she was a total mantrap and he was pretty certain she had no idea.
‘So that’s it for today?’ Chris asked.
‘Yep,’ the mantrap said, mid yawn, her arms reaching across the expanse of the car as she stretched her whole body. Adam couldn’t have dragged his eyes away if a gaggle of buxom blondes had sauntered by the car. ‘And back to the hotel we go to prepare you for tonight. Are you excited?’
‘I think so.’
Adam heard the uncertainty and his attention reverted back to exactly where it should have remained. On his friend. He pounced. ‘It’s not too late to turn back, mate. We can turn the car around, give those nice people back their fancy clothes, pay the hotel bill ourselves, and leave.’
‘And why would you do that?’ Cara asked, now fully alert, her smiles fading fast.
‘Adam here thinks I am making a big mistake.’
‘And what do you think?’ Cara asked Chris. ‘Are you ready to go ahead with this?’
‘What do you care?’ Adam asked.
The look Cara shot him was pure venom. The atmosphere in the car had gone from faintly prickly to toxic in an instant. It seemed those cat’s eyes came with a matching set of claws. The faint sense of protective affection that he had been deluding himself he had been feeling throughout the day happily burst into a million imperceptible fragments.
‘I care about what your friend wants. Chris?’
Chris nodded. ‘Sure I’m nervous, but this is what I want.’
Cara turned back to Adam. ‘So if you badger Chris into giving in now, that would mean he doesn’t get what he wants. Is that what you really want?’
Adam clenched his teeth so hard his head hurt. And there he had been, feeling so clever that he knew how to push her buttons. ‘No. It’s not,’ he admitted.
‘Fabulo
us. Case closed. So let’s do this thing and do it as best we can so that it works out for all of us.’
Cara shot a hand out the window and banged it twice on the roof. The driver got the message and took off back to the hotel.
Once there, Cara picked out Chris’s clothes for the night, her movements so jerky Adam knew she was still none too happy with him.
‘So what are you wearing, tonight?’ she asked and, though she wasn’t looking his way, Adam knew by the stern timbre of her voice she was talking to him.
‘This, I guess.’
She shot him a look. Down and up, her glance travelled. Once it reached his face his whole body felt bombarded by her professional glance. If she had run a hand the length of the fabrics he wore, he would not have felt any less affected.
‘I thought as much,’ she said with a sigh and he knew that, whatever had been holding her at bay, he had been let off the hook. His relief was measurable. Substantial. Physical. Unforeseen.
She reached over and picked out one of the suit bags and all but threw it at him. He collected it in two hands. ‘Adam Tux’, written in large, strong handwriting on a white slip of paper, was safety-pinned to the outside of the bag.
‘You got this for me?’ he asked, feeling three steps behind her all the way.
‘Mmm,’ she said, with several pins poking out of her mouth. ‘I heard the whole crew are getting dressed up tonight as well, to help get into the spirit of the thing, so I thought you might need it. Though after your little rebellion in the car I almost decided not to give it to you.’
She glanced his way from beneath lowered lashes and shot him a self-deprecating smile. Whoa. It rendered him speechless. He was never speechless. Sure, he wasn’t a guy who talked people’s ears off, but that was a cultivated mannerism created to get exactly what he needed from any conversation. He usually had plenty he could say on any given subject, he simply chose to listen instead. But on this occasion he was completely at a loss for words.
‘Maybe after this you’ll try to cut me some slack.’ She winked. Just once. And he felt it travel the room and lie upon his cheek like a feather-light kiss.
