The Playboy & Plain Jane

by Leanne Banks

  I should have known, he thought, resisting the urge to grind his teeth.

  “He was just as good as she said he was. He recommended a complete makeover, hair, makeup, clothes. I haven’t quite perfected the eye-makeup techniques yet.”

  “That probably takes practice,” Nicholas said in the most neutral tone he could muster.

  “But Henri also recommended this dress. I had nothing like it in my wardrobe. What do you think?”

  “It fits,” he said. “It fits like a glove. And the color is good on you.”

  “Thanks,” she said with a smile. “I love my job as nanny, but it just recently occurred to me that guys perceive me as, well, asexual partly because of my job. I’m already everyone’s favorite buddy, so I thought I might need to counter the nanny image.

  “Henri also recommended a magazine called Goddess,” she continued. “It sounds kinda silly, but the idea is to unleash your inner goddess, so I’m trying some of the suggestions from the magazine.”

  He nodded, but he had no earthly idea what she was talking about.

  “But some of the suggestions,” she said, shaking her head, “I just can’t see myself doing.”

  “Like what?”

  She shot him a doubtful look. “Are you sure you’re interested?”

  “Trust me. This is a helluva lot more interesting than the article I was just reading about the economy.”

  “Okay, I can get used to wearing thong underwear and learn how to walk in heels even though it may kill me, but one of the articles featured suggested pickup lines for women to use with men. I can’t imagine myself saying some of them.”

  Nicholas felt his neck tighten with an inexplicable tension. “Give me an example.”

  “I can imagine going panty-less for one evening, but I just can’t imagine going up to some guy I don’t know very well and saying, ‘Oops, I forgot my panties.’ Is it just me or is that a little over the top?”

  Nicholas couldn’t prevent his gaze from skimming down over her hips. No panty lines. Was she naked beneath that man-eater dress? His neck tightened again. “I guess it depends on what kind of man you’re trying to attract.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean some men prefer understated, natural beauty. Some men are attracted to modesty,” he said.

  “Really?” she said, tilting her head to one side as if considering the notion. She bit her plump lip, then shook her head. “But don’t you think most men like that are in their sixties or seventies?”

  Nicholas’s head began to throb. “Not necessarily.”

  “Well, think about it. If a woman came up to you and said, ‘Oops I forgot my panties,’ you must admit you wouldn’t forget her, would you? I’ve been forgotten and passed over by men my entire life. I think it’s time that stopped. Do you think if I stand in front of the mirror and practice, I might eventually be able to say it?”

  “Say what?”

  “Oops, I forgot my panties,” she said, getting her coat from the closet.

  God, I hope not, he thought. He was saved from responding by the ringing doorbell. A dozen warnings and cautionary statements raced through his head as she put her hand on the doorknob. Wear your coat the entire time. Slap him if he touches you. Keep your legs crossed. He swallowed them all except one. “Be careful.”

  She glanced back at him and met his gaze for a long moment. “I’ve been careful since the day I was born. A goddess is wild and wise.”

  Watching her whirl out the front door, Nicholas instinctively made the sign of the cross. What had gotten into his daughter’s sweet, innocent nanny? If her date tried to act out half the scenarios that had raced through Nicholas’s head, then she wouldn’t be home until February.

  Pacing the den, he swore under his breath. He should have hired the middle-aged woman in orthopedic shoes. That woman wouldn’t have given him acid indigestion. She probably wouldn’t have allowed Molly to nearly pull her hair out by her roots like Gail did, either, though, he reminded himself.

  Pushing his fingers through his hair, he told himself he needed to remember that Gail might try to be wild, but underneath the sexpot trappings, she was sensible and careful. She would never use that crazy pickup line about panties. Never, he told himself, and wondered why he felt jumpy.

  He forced himself to sit down and pick up the paper. This was going to be a peaceful evening. A relaxing evening, he told himself, and began to read the article he’d put aside.

  With every other sentence, however, a question plagued him without mercy. Was she wearing panties or not?

  Gail decided to pretend that Nicholas was her uncle. It was the only way she was going to survive such close proximity with the sexiest man she’d ever met. They talked every evening about Molly, his day, her day. It would be too easy to slide into a futile crush on him.

  Since he was her theoretical uncle, she decided she would also share her quest to unleash her inner goddess with him. Talking about thigh-high stockings removed all the forbidden mystery and would further ensure that she would be able to keep her head on straight.

  “Molly’s going to walk any day,” she told Nicholas as she grabbed a soda and joined him in the den for their nightly conversation.

  He looked at her in surprised pleasure. “Really? Any day?”

  “Any day,” she said with a nod, sitting across from him on the leather sofa. “She loves it when I hold her hands above her head and get her moving.”

  He sank into a chair, loosened his tie, unbuttoned the top button to his shirt and took a long swallow from his glass of red wine. “I don’t want to miss it,” he said.

  Her heart squeezed tight and she smiled. “That’s gonna be tough. I don’t think Baronessa’s will let you stay away that long.”

  He frowned. “True. Maybe you could videotape it.”

  “It’s possible, but I have no idea when and where she’ll decide to take her first steps.”

  He took another swallow of wine. “Okay. Just promise you’ll call me the minute she walks.”

  “What if you’re in a meeting?”

  “Interrupt,” he said.

  She nodded and lifted her fingers in a quick little salute. “Whatever you say.”

  “Good. I love the acquiescence. Nice change,” he said with a sexy grin.

  “It’s temporary. Don’t get used to it.”

  “Should have known,” he said wryly.

  “Goddesses only acquiesce when it suits them,” she told him.

  He looked at her and gave a slow nod. “Ah, we’re back to that.”

  “We were never really away.”

  He raked his hand through his hair. “What’s the latest?”

  “You don’t have to pretend interest,” she said.

  “Oh, I’m dying to know.”

  “You’re making fun of me.” She stood, her feelings oddly hurt.

  “I’m not,” he insisted, also standing. “I’m interested. Tell me the latest.”

  She hesitated, then slowly sat down. “You’ve probably never had a very hard time with this because you’ve always been very—” She broke off. She refused to call him “hot” to his face again.

  “Very what?” he prompted.

  “Very appealing to the opposite sex. I’m sure you’ve never had any trouble attracting women.”

  “True, but I may not have attracted the right kind of women. Case in point was Molly’s mother. She was always looking for a bigger paycheck. In fact, the only reason she didn’t come back to me when she found out she was pregnant was because she’d found another man with a bigger bank account and she told him that Molly was his daughter. I attracted a female barracuda.”

  The bitterness in his voice was so strong she could almost taste it in the air she inhaled. “Do you still love her?”

  He looked stunned. “Hell, no. I stopped loving her the day I broke up with her.”

  “Then why do you let her continue to control your love life?”

  His brow furrowed thoug
htfully. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you’re so determined not to have a committed relationship with a woman that you could miss the chance to experience real love.”

  He turned silent and brooding, taking a sip of his wine. “I’ll take that under advisement. What about you? If you dress like a tart, what kind of guy do you think you’ll attract?”

  Gail gaped at him. “I’m not dressing like a tart.”

  “Okay, that was a slight exaggeration,” he conceded in a grudging tone.

  Gail continued, “Besides, I have different goals than you do. I’ve spent my entire life being regarded as one of the guys. I want to be…” She hesitated, feeling a flush of self-consciousness. “I want to experience my femininity. I’m younger than you and—”

  Nicholas choked on his wine. “Younger? You make me sound ancient.”

  “Well, not exactly ancient, but I think of you almost as an uncle and—”

  “Uncle?”

  “You are ten years older than I am.”

  “That doesn’t make me old enough to put out to pasture.”

  “I wasn’t suggesting that,” she said, wondering if she’d gone a little too far with the mention of the uncle thing. She shook her head. “We’ve strayed from my original point. The whole goddess thing got started when I took a sexy quiz.”

  Nicholas went very still. “With whom did you take this quiz?” he asked in clipped tones.

  “With myself,” she said. “The magazine had a quiz to test your sexiness, and the reason I’m trying to do some of this goddess stuff is because I flunked it. I flunked the sexy quiz. I bet you’ve never flunked a sexy quiz in your life.”

  Nicholas gave a long-suffering sigh. “That quiz didn’t prove anything. The only sexy quiz worth a damn is conducted in bed with a member of the opposite sex.”

  He would know, Gail thought, feeling that assurance in every feminine pore of her body. He would know everything she didn’t know about being sexy. “Well, as I’ve previously mentioned, you’re an expert in this area, and I’m trying to become more expert, if that’s possible.”

  He nodded and took a long drink of wine. “So what’s the latest?”

  “Just girl things, like an eight-hour lipstick designed to last through marathon lovemaking. The magazine does tests,” she said, feeling a little silly.

  “Did you buy some?” he asked her, his gaze intent.

  Her cheeks heated, but she nodded.

  “Found someone you want to test it on?”

  “Not yet,” she said, lifting her chin. “But I’ll be ready when I do.”

  While Nicholas attended a managers’ meeting at corporate headquarters two days later his assistant slipped into the room and gave him a note.

  Your daughter is walking all over the place.

  A rush of pride and joy raced through Nicholas. Molly was walking. He excused himself from the meeting and put his first vice president in charge. He grabbed the car keys from his office, told his assistant he would return later and immediately drove home.

  He threw open the door and headed for the den, where Gail was holding Molly’s hand as the toddler marched around the room. Gail spotted him first.

  “Look, Molly! It’s Daddy!” she said.

  Molly’s face lit up.

  “Show Daddy how you can walk,” Gail gently urged.

  Her brows furrowed in concentration, the toddler wobbled toward him with no assistance from Gail.

  Nicholas dropped to his knees to catch her. He praised her and cherished the wet kiss she plastered on his cheek. His daughter was beaming. His heart felt so full it almost hurt to breathe. When Molly had first come to live with him, a secret part of him had feared she would remain sad and afraid for a long, long time. Just a few weeks in Gail’s care, however, had turned her around. Nicholas wondered if Gail had any idea of her impact.

  “A few weeks ago I never would have dreamed she would be walking so soon,” he said, allowing Molly to cling to his hand as she continued to practice her new skill around the room.

  “It was time,” Gail said.

  “But all she did was cry in the beginning.”

  “She just needed time to regroup. You probably wouldn’t understand it since you seem to operate on a different level,” she said with a wry gentleness, “but most of us humans need a little time to catch our breath when we suffer a loss.”

  “What do you mean I operate on a different level?”

  “I mean a lot has been expected of you and you have always risen to the occasion. You don’t appear to stumble or fall very often.”

  He filed that in a corner of his brain, determined to think about it later. Lifting Molly and holding her against him, he met Gail’s gaze. “You’ve done a great job with her. She wasn’t at all easy in the beginning.”

  “Thanks, but there’s something really special about knowing such a vulnerable little person needs you.” She smiled. “It makes you willing to do just about anything for them.”

  “Well, thank you,” he said, knowing the words weren’t adequate. “From both of us.”

  “My pleasure.”

  “Maybe we could celebrate tonight by going to Baronessa’s for ice cream.”

  Gail’s face fell. “I can’t, but you two should definitely go.”

  Nicholas frowned. “Why not?”

  “It’s my night off, and I have a date.”

  “Oh. Maybe another time,” he muttered, irritated that she had a date, irritated that another man was going to have the opportunity to be with her tonight, irritated that he was irritated.

  Nicholas returned to work and arrived home in time to watch Gail leave for her date. She wore a short black dress, more elegant than some of the others she’d acquired, and he noticed she’d improved her makeup technique. Her perfume lingered after she left, and he stood in the foyer inhaling it until he realized what he was doing and felt like an idiot.

  Tired from her day of walking, Molly fell asleep early, so Nicholas nixed the idea of visiting his family’s gelateria. He wasn’t much in the mood, anyway. Nor was he much in the mood to watch a Boston Celtics game or read the newspaper in front of him. The hour grew late, and his imagination went through the roof. He wondered what Gail was doing.

  He wondered if this guy she was out with cranked her engine and if she had decided to give her lipstick the eight-hour lovemaking test. He wondered if this guy would try to find out if she was wearing panties, or a thong or nothing beneath that black dress.

  His gut tensed at the images, and his skin felt too tight for his body. He should be thinking about the woman he would be seeing tomorrow night, not Gail. He was attending a cocktail party with one of the most beautiful women in Boston. It should be easy to switch his focus away from Gail. So, why wasn’t it?

  Just after midnight he turned off the television and walked toward the stairs. He heard a sound outside the front door. The door whooshed open and Gail, drenched from head to toe, stumbled inside. Her makeup was smeared and her hands were trembling.

  “What in hell?”

  She gave a short smile. “Had a little disagreement with my date.”

  An ugly suspicion seeped through him. “What do you mean?”

  “He insisted that I go back to his apartment with him and I disagreed. He got pushy…”

  Nicholas tensed. “How pushy?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “You know if you don’t want somebody’s tongue in your mouth, you definitely don’t want it down your throat. And you definitely don’t want him going fishing under your dress. He was worse than a toddler. I must’ve said no a dozen times. Maybe he was deaf. And I didn’t try any of the goddess come-on lines.”

  Fury raced through him. “What’s this guy’s name? He sounds like he needs to learn some lessons about how to treat women.”

  Gail looked at Nicholas in surprise. “His name was Jeremy, but—”

  “Are you sure he didn’t hurt you?”

  “Absolutely sure.” Taking off her co
at, she looked down at her shoes and winced. “High heels were not designed for a one-and-a-half-mile trek through Boston. I’m going to have the worst blisters in the history of my existence, and this guy was not worth it. Could you please turn around? I can’t bear to have these stockings on one more minute.”

  Nicholas turned, still infuriated. “Maybe you should let me screen your dates.”

  “My dates are screened. I ask the guys on the volleyball team, and they get the scoop. This guy was new in town, though.” He heard her sigh. “Oh, thank God, the stockings are gone. I think I really offended him when I told him to take a cold shower.”

  She seemed less shaky now. Relief trickled through him. “Did you really walk that far?”

  She nodded. “No cabs available this late in the rain.”

  “You should have called me,” he said, moving closer to her.

  She sighed. “I couldn’t do that. You’re my boss.”

  “Damn it,” he said, taking her arm. “Your safety is important to me and Molly. If you ever get in this kind of situation again, I insist that you call me.”

  She paused, her gaze meshing with his. “It’s not likely to happen again, but if you really mean it—”

  “I do.”

  “Okay. Now all I want is a hot bath.”

  “Jacuzzi?” he offered, pushing a damp strand away from her face, wanting to take her in his arms and frustrated that he shouldn’t.

  Her eyes darkened with the same forbidden desire that he felt in his gut. She shook her head, but he could read the memories of their shared passion written on her face. “The Jacuzzi is a big no-no for me,” she said. If her eyes could talk, they would have said, in the sexiest way possible, “And you’re the biggest no-no, of all.”

  Nicholas felt the growing, dangerous urge to show Gail just how pleasurable her no-nos could be.

  Six

  Nicholas was out with one of his beautiful women. It should be a long evening. Dinner and the opera. Gail told herself she wouldn’t have wanted to attend the opera, anyway.

  “You are lots more fun than any opera,” she said to Molly as she fed her SpaghettiOs.

  Molly opened her mouth and gave a pasta smile.