“Can you imagine?” Jessie laughed at the incredulity in his voice. But, to be fair, she had spent most of the past two days not dressed. She tugged up the black zipper of her new favorite sweater and added, “Sorry, but it’s almost five on Sunday afternoon, Cade. I have to go home and get ready for work tomorrow.”
Cade rubbed the beginnings of a late-afternoon shadow that darkened his cheeks even though he’d shaved that morning. Jessie had perched on the side of the tub and watched, an act almost more intimate than any of the things they’d done to each other’s bodies over the past forty-eight hours. Which, she had to admit, had gone way past intimate.
“I don’t suppose we could both call in sick.” He grinned at her. “Might raise some eyebrows.”
“Yeah,” Jessie agreed. “It might. Because, as you noted a few days ago, I’ve never once called in sick.”
“Me neither.” He leaned against the doorjamb and studied her with a slow, hot gaze, his sexy mouth curled up in a smile. “But this is just cause.”
Laughing, she turned to the vanity to put away the few items of makeup she’d taken out of her purse. As she picked up the toothbrush he’d bought her, his hand closed over hers.
“You can keep that here.”
She looked at his reflection in the mirror. His smile was gone. “Are you sure?”
“Of course.” He held her gaze. “I told you, Jessie, this is not some quickie office affair.”
“It was anything but quick,” she said, attempting a breezy chuckle.
“I mean it.” His eyes narrowed and his hand tightened on her wrist. “I want you to come back. A lot. Often.”
For a moment, she couldn’t speak. A million thoughts warred for space in her head. How could they be an item and work together? How would they keep it quiet? How could she keep her hands off him at work?
“What about Fin?” Somehow, of all her mental questions, that was the one she let slip out.
“I’ll handle Fin,” he told her. “Anyway, I told you, there’s no rule about dating co-workers.”
“But you…” They covered this last night, but the question still nagged her. “You don’t make mistakes, Cade. That much I know from watching you.”
“I try not to, that’s true. But this isn’t a mistake. It just might be a little complicated.” He managed to slide the toothbrush out of her grasp and placed it next to his. “But we can manage our way around the complications.”
Could they? There were complications he hadn’t even dreamed of. “This could be difficult.”
In a second, he turned her from the mirror, to look at her face instead of her reflection. “This could be wonderful.” His voice was husky, but not from desire or arousal. “You are so different, Jessie.” He pushed her hair back from her face, his gaze sliding from her eyes to her mouth and back up to her eyes again. “I’ve never met anyone like you. I’m willing to take a risk and face some complications.”
“I’m the same girl I was last week,” she said. “You just got behind my glasses.”
“And I like it back there.” His lips hitched up in a knowing smile. “You do know this is real, don’t you?”
She sighed, the idea of real making her dizzy. “I know, Cade.”
“Good.” He kissed her forehead gently and pulled her against his chest.
Jessie closed her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder. “I don’t know how you do it, Cade,” she whispered, “but you’re really good at making me not care about…other stuff.”
“You have the same effect on me.”
The buzzer from the lobby reverberated through the intercom box on the wall. “Cade? It’s Fin. Are you home?”
Fin? A surge of adrenaline propelled Jessie out of his arms as she stared at the intercom. Fin?
Surprise sparkled in his eyes. “Speaking of complicated…Guess who’s in the lobby?” He reached over and pressed the button to talk. “I’m here, Fin. What are you doing?”
“I was on my way to the office and thought I’d drop by and leave some updated spreadsheets for you to study before you meet with Liam. Can I come up?”
He closed his eyes for a second, and gave his head a quick shake. “She never stops working,” he mouthed. As he leaned back to the intercom, Jessie slipped out of his arms, certain he would feel the hammering of her heart.
Fin was there. In Cade’s apartment building. On her way up to his front door. With shaking hands Jessie finished packing up her makeup, left the toothbrush, and slid by Cade as he buzzed Fin up.
“I don’t want to be here when she comes in,” Jessie said when he found her in the living room. As Cade started to argue, she held up her hand. “Please, Cade. I’m an intern. You’re the boss.” And Fin’s my real mother.
Jessie buried the thought, concentrating instead on getting out of there. Her gaze darted around the room and she practically pirouetted in a desperate search for her handbag.
“God, I hate this,” she murmured, frustration and guilt bubbling through her. “It feels…” Spotting it, she scooped up the bag and started toward the door.
Cade grabbed her shoulder with one firm hand. “Jessie, stop. I want to take you home myself. I don’t want you to run off like this.”
“I’m not running off. I don’t want to see her, Cade.”
“Jessie, there’s nothing wrong with this. We’re both single and free and we like each other. A lot.”
She eased away, backing toward the door. “It’s just that…”
He regarded her closely, pinning her with his gaze. “Would you tell me why you always avoid her?”
“I don’t avoid her.” Liar, liar. “Is it so hard to imagine that this intern would rather not run face to face into the editor-in-chief when it is painfully obvious that I am sleeping with the executive editor?”
“But you always have avoided her.”
The doorbell rang and Jessie didn’t know whether to curse or thank God for the interruption.
“Let’s get something straight,” Cade said quietly, stilling her with a gentle grip on both shoulders. “I am not ashamed of how I feel about you.”
The words touched her, as honest and affectionate as his fingertips. This had nothing to do with being ashamed of Cade or the fact that they liked each other, and she knew it. He didn’t, but she did.
For one crazy minute, Jessie thought about confessing everything. About opening the door and standing in front of Fin and saying “I am your daughter.”
But something told her that if she did, her whole world would fall apart. And right now, for the first time since she’d come to New York, her world actually felt together.
“Come on,” he said, guiding her toward the door. “You can leave if you prefer, but I’m not going to hide you like some back-door quickie. I’m too proud of you.”
Buoyed by the words, Jessie squared her shoulders and stood next to Cade as he opened his front door.
Fin’s green eyes widened as she stared at Jessie. “Oh,” she said with a soft gasp. “Hello, Jessie.”
“Hello, Fin,” she said, offering her warmest smile. “I was just on my way out when you rang.”
Cade opened the door wider. “Come on in, Fin. Jessie, feel free to stay. Fin’s just dropping off some papers.”
She pulled her bag higher on her shoulder and inched toward the door. “Thanks, but I really have to go. See you tomorrow, Fin.”
Fin was processing the whole scene, Jessie could tell. But she was too much of a lady to say anything but goodbye as Jessie walked out.
“I’ll be right back, Fin.” Cade walked with Jessie to the elevator, slipping his hand into hers. “I really would prefer to take you home in a cab.”
“Maybe next time.” She tapped the down button. Twice.
“No maybe about it,” he countered. “And there will be a next time.”
“Of course there will be. I left my toothbrush.” She reached up and gave him a quick hug as the elevator doors opened, and whispered, “And thanks for making me s
o comfortable.”
She heard him chuckle as the doors closed and it wasn’t until that moment that she realized he still had her glasses in the pocket of his suit coat.
When Cade returned to his apartment, Fin still waited in the entry, amusement dancing in her expression.
“Well, color me astonished, Mr. McMann.”
“Glad I can still surprise you, Fin.” He didn’t close the door behind him, fighting an undercurrent of irritation that she’d interrupted his last few hours with Jessie. “Do you have the files?”
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “If I had known you were, uh, preoccupied, I wouldn’t have stopped by.”
He crossed his arms and gave her a warning look. Everything in him wanted to protect Jessie and her reputation. “It’s not casual.”
Fin met his gaze. “That’s fine. Except that she’s…”
“She’s what?”
“Whoa.” Fin held up the file folder in mock defense. “No need to get all testy about. But, honestly, she’s an intern at Charisma. And quite a bit younger than you are.”
He tamped down more irritation. “I’m familiar with the EPH employee handbook, Fin, and there are no rules against employees dating each other. And she’s twenty-three, which makes her seven years younger than I am. Hardly a generation gap.”
“And she’s your choice for the shadow intern.”
He latched the door behind him and strode past Fin into the living room. “Not yet.”
She stayed on his heels. “When this gets out, and she’s been chosen as my shadow, there’ll be talk of favoritism.”
“Then she shouldn’t be your shadow.” He walked to the galley kitchen and yanked open the refrigerator. Beer or water? “I’ll pick a different intern.”
“But she’s the best candidate.”
He grabbed a beer. “You want something to drink?”
When Fin didn’t say anything, he flipped the twist-off cap into the trash and returned to the living room. Fin stood in front of the picture window, the file discarded on a table, her attention riveted on the expanse of Central Park and the New York skyline that filled the view.
“There’s something very…special about her,” Fin finally said.
He snorted. “No kidding.”
As he took a long pull on the bottle, Fin turned, an expression of determination on her face. An expression he knew well. He never fought that determination; it was a waste of time.
“I want her to shadow me,” Fin declared. “We can fend off claims of favoritism with the truth: I’m making this decision, not you.”
His chest tightened. He didn’t know why, but Jessie really didn’t want that assignment. Would he be betraying her by agreeing to this?
“Fin, this isn’t about suspecting her of spying on the magazine, is it? Because she’s not. I’m sure of that.”
“Are you?” She lifted a dubious brow. “I mean, she got in pretty tight with you in a hurry.”
He slammed the bottle on an end table. “I’ve known her since April.”
Fin held up both hands. “Stop it, Cade. I am not accusing her of anything. And who you sleep with is your business, as long as it doesn’t impact the magazine.”
“Oh, of course.” A healthy dose of bitterness colored his tone. “That’s the only thing that matters to you.”
“Cade!” Her eyes darkened in disappointment, the color and shape suddenly reminding him of the woman he’d just spent the weekend making love to. Everything was going to remind him of Jessie; he might as well face that right now.
He blew out a disgusted breath, angry with himself for making the snide remark to Fin.
“It’s true,” Fin admitted softly. “The magazine may be the only thing that matters to me, but I want you to be happy. You know, you’re like a brother to me.”
Her declaration only deepened the guilt that nipped at him for the comment. “Sorry, Fin. I’m just not thinking straight.”
She smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve heard love can do that to you.”
“Love?” He choked at the word. “This was our first date.”
Her eyes sparkled. “The one that started on Friday night and ended on Sunday afternoon?”
He grinned. “Yep. That’d be the one.”
“Mmmm. Okay. Then let me put it this way, I’ve heard lust can mess with your mind, too.”
He picked up the beer bottle and rubbed the label, thinking about how to respond. “I don’t think it’s lust, either.” Although there was plenty of that, too.
“Listen,” she said. “While you figure out exactly what it is, I’d like to get to know that girl better.”
“Woman.” Cade glanced up from the label of his bottle. “She’s not a girl.”
Fin smiled. “Young lady. I have no problems with you dating Jessie, but I still want to know what she’s all about. Even more so, if you’re dating her. Think of me as the older sister you never had.”
He rolled his eyes. “I have enough sisters, thank you.”
“Too bad. I have plenty of brothers, too. You can always use more. And listen, Cade, she’s the sharpest and most qualified of the interns for the job, so not picking her would be a disservice to the magazine.”
He took a sip of his beer, eyeing her. She was right, damn it. “Well that’s a typical strategy-driven Fin Elliott decision if I ever heard one.”
“Good. Then you agree. She starts tomorrow morning as my shadow intern from 8:00 a.m. to noon, every day.”
He tried to swallow the beer, but it got stuck in his throat. Jessie wouldn’t like it, and he still didn’t know why.
But come tomorrow morning, he was sure he’d find out.
Six
Jessie hadn’t even tried to hide the truth from Lainie, confiding enough about her new romance to satisfy her roommate’s curiosity, but not so much that Jessie felt she’d betrayed the intimacy she shared with Cade.
This was too new, too special, too wonderful to be chatted about like a mild flirtation. And it was too all-consuming for Jessie to concentrate on anything at work on Monday.
Cade had stopped by her cube early in the morning with a cup of coffee mixed exactly the way she liked it with extra milk. His gaze was just as warm as it had been over the weekend, and he looked even more breathtaking in a suit…now that she knew what he looked like out of one.
Before he went to his office, he’d quietly set her glasses on her desk, without a word, and she donned them the minute he disappeared. An hour passed where Jessie managed to get through e-mails, but mostly she gave in to the full-body tingles every time she relived the sensation of taking Cade inside her, of watching him lose control, of his sincere expression when he asked her to leave her toothbrush.
“It must be love.”
Jessie jerked around from her computer screen to see Scarlet perched on the only chair in the cube, her long legs crossed lazily, her hands behind her head.
“Excuse me?”
“I’ve been sitting here for five minutes,” Scarlet said with a sly smile. “And you not only didn’t hear me, but, for the entire time I’ve been here, you’ve been reading the same four-sentence e-mail about a new mail-room procedure.”
“I have?” Jessie felt the blood rush to her face. “I mean, I have. Because, you may not know this, Scarlet, but an intern has a very close relationship with the mail room. I make it my business to know every piece of mail that comes in and out of the editorial department. Their procedures down there are critical to our success up here.”
Scarlet grinned and flipped one of her springy curls over her shoulder. “Cut the kiss-up, Miss Clayton. You got the job.”
“The what?”
“The brass ring of internships. As a matter of fact, you’re late for your meeting with…” Scarlet consulted a page of the notebook she carried. “The ad sales manager.”
“Why would I be in a meeting with the ad sales manager?”
“I believe a review of the January spreads is on the a
genda, but Fin wasn’t specific.”
At the mention of Fin, Jessie’s stomach contracted. It couldn’t be. He wouldn’t do this to her. “What are you talking about, Scarlet?”
Scarlet’s teasing expression morphed into one of pure joy as she reached over and gave Jessie a hug. “Congratulations, you are Finola Elliott’s shadow intern and, sweetie, you have earned the honors.”
All the blood that had warmed her face drained down to a puddle in her toes. “Her shadow intern?” She’d asked him not to. She’d asked him. Did she need to tell him why?
“Are you sure?” she managed to ask Scarlet. “Because there are a few other really great—”
“Here’s the memo.” Scarlet held a piece of paper and all Jessie could see was From: Cade McMann on the second line. So he’d made the decision, drafted a memo and released it without even coming over to tell her.
The creamy coffee she’d been sipping suddenly turned metallic in her mouth.
“Don’t worry,” Scarlet said reassuringly. “Cade told me you didn’t want to lose the Spring Fling layout, and you won’t have to. You only shadow Fin from eight to noon every day. In the afternoons, you can still work on our projects.” Scarlet’s face lit with excitement. “It’s perfect. And almost guaranteed to end in a job offer. A paying job.”
Jessie couldn’t process this. He’d talked about her schedule to Scarlet? And not to her?
“Jessie? What’s the matter?” Scarlet asked. “You don’t want pay?”
Jessie couldn’t even laugh at the joke. “I don’t feel good.”
Scarlet’s green eyes filled with concern and she touched her fingertips to Jessie’s forehead. “Do you have a fever?”
Oh, yeah. That was one way to describe it. “I just…I think I have to go home.”
Scarlet’s expression registered a mix of worry and shock. “Are you sure?”
Jessie nodded. She had to get out of there. If she didn’t, she’d march into Cade McMann’s office and demand to know why he said all sorts of things about this being real and how he’d handle Fin and complications and…Oh!
Dynasties:The Elliots, Books 7-12 Page 36
