Her underwear joined his pants on the toppled lamp, and his briefs followed a second later. He moaned when they met skin to skin, his length to her curves on the bed. “Are you hungry?” he whispered in her ear as he took her.
She responded with a sound of utter satisfaction. “Ah…oh, God yes, I’m starving.”
“Should I make this quick, then?” He was halfway there already. Just the thought of her practically stripping in his living room had made him rock hard in an instant. He’d never wanted anyone more than he wanted Emerson, and he proved that to her in the next few breathless minutes.
“No…go slow. I mean, oh, God, yes…go fast, now go fast!” The wildcat dug her nails into his back and moved in ways he’d only imagined a woman doing. He actually let out a growl like some feral beast as he came harder than he ever had in his life.
Beneath him, she writhed, setting a rhythm that took full advantage of every pulse of his orgasm. She let loose with a cry that someone who’d never known this kind of passion might have mistaken for one of pain. A moment later she lay panting under him, sated, her skin shimmering with sweat.
“Fast, slow—I wish you’d make up your mind,” he managed after his heart slowed down to a normal pace. “I didn’t know if I was coming or going.”
“From where I was standing, you were definitely coming.” She covered her face with her hand to hide the gorgeous blush that spread from her nipples upward. “Oh, my God, did I say that?”
“You did. Bad pun.”
She giggled and rolled over, her back to him. “I have honestly never done that before.”
Jared pushed himself up on one elbow and peered over her shoulder. “What, made an embarrassing pun?”
“No, literally jumped a man the second I saw him. I was out of my mind all day, and I would have just died if I hadn’t had you right now.”
He kissed her shoulder and ran his hands up the sumptuous curve of her waist. “Tell me more.”
She rolled back to face him, her eyes wide and face golden in the dim light of the overturned lamp. “Have you ever felt like that? Out of control for someone?”
“Not until now.”
“Maybe we should slow down.”
“It’s a little late for that, don’t you think? We’ve already crossed the finish line.”
She smacked his shoulder. “I mean overall, in general. I don’t want to burn out.”
“Okay. That makes sense.” Jared rose up and pulled her under him. “Emerson, I know this all happened fast, but I don’t think we should doubt ourselves. We don’t have a timetable here. Let’s just take everything as it comes or goes or whatever it does, okay? Don’t overanalyze anything.”
“That’s what I do. I analyze things for a living. Plus I’m a girl. We analyze things as a hobby. It’s hard for me not to worry about the ramifications of everything, and I think if we…smoke?”
“Smoke what? I’m not really into mood altering—”
“No! There—is that smoke or is my head still in the clouds?”
Jared looked over his own shoulder. “Yah!” Sure enough, a wisp of smoke drifted lazily up from the pair of pants he’d tossed over the lamp. He vaulted off the bed, flung the pants onto the floor, and beat at them with a magazine he grabbed from his bookshelf. A tiny pinhole appeared in the fabric as the smoke dissipated. “Oh damn, these were my favorite pants.”
Emerson sat up in bed, laughing. “Well, they were certainly your lucky pants. Now, not so much.”
“You were saying we should be careful not to burn out.” He glowered at her, though he wasn’t the least bit angry. With the heat they’d just generated, he was lucky his pants were all that had caught fire.
“I changed my mind. I like your approach better. Let’s see how things go.”
Jared dropped the pants and joined her back on the bed after righting the lamp. “Any way you want it, m’lady. I’m at your service.”
“Ohh, good. There was talk of lasagna?”
“It’s still heating up, so we have time.”
“Time for what?”
“To set something else on fire.”
Chapter Eight
Jared tried to hide his yawn as his boss approached his desk the next morning. Emerson hadn’t spent the night, but she might as well have. It had to have been after two a.m. when she’d left his place, sneaking out so Max wouldn’t be disturbed. She hadn’t wanted to leave her cat alone all night, at least without giving him fair warning, she’d said. Jared wondered if her concern for the cat was only a smoke screen to cover up a desire not to move too quickly into spending whole nights together, but that was something he’d have to worry about later.
Eddie Reese, son of the company founder, Edward Reese III, didn’t look overly pleased this morning. Jared couldn’t imagine why. He took a fortifying sip of his coffee and straightened his tie. “Ed? Something up?”
“I just got a call from the Corporate Image Division at TCL.”
Emerson. Jared refused to let his upper lip curl in a knowing smile. “And?”
“It seems we have a call-back audition.”
Jared raised a brow. “What does that mean?”
“They would like their VP of Sales to look at our presentation, which is fine. I expected that, but apparently we’re in a bit of a competition with Metro Ads.”
“Oh.” Emerson had told him she liked his presentation hands down over Metro’s, but to deflect any possibility of favoritism, she was planning to bring both companies in for a meet and greet with her boss’s boss. “I don’t think we have to worry about it. We blew them away.”
“So you said, but Metro isn’t known for playing fair. I don’t like the way they do business, and I never have. I’m not happy about having to go up against them.”
Jared shrugged. “I think it may just be a formality.”
Ed pulled up a seat and sat in front of Jared’s desk, concern wrinkling his old-before-his-time features. “Why do you say that?”
Why had he said that? Oh… “Well, this is their national campaign, so I’m sure they don’t want to appear to their stockholders like they made any kind of hasty decision, right?”
Ed leaned back in his chair and sighed. He rubbed his brow thoughtfully for a minute. “I hope you’re right. We need this campaign. TCL is looking to go global in five years, and if we can take them that far, they’ll be our biggest client. You’re our lead on this. Do you know what that’s going to mean for you?”
“Believe me, I do, Ed.”
“I know.” Ed smiled wanly. “I do see how hard you work. In fact, maybe too hard. You look like you didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“I didn’t.” That was no lie. “Lots of things on my mind.”
“Well, our meeting is set for tomorrow, so until then, I don’t want you to blink. But if we get the account, the first thing I want you to do is take some time off and rest up before we start production. If you think you’re not getting any sleep now, wait until you’re dealing with a film crew.”
Jared rolled his eyes in sympathy. He’d thought DenMar Reese was a shoe-in for the campaign, but now he had doubts. What if Emerson’s bosses didn’t like his ideas as much as she did? Maybe they doubted her decision and wanted to see for themselves what she’d thrown out as second best.
He really wasn’t worried about Metro Ads. They were slick and shiny, and they’d lured a number of national accounts to their territory and had even premiered one of their ads during a Super Bowl timeslot, but in his opinion, they lacked heart. Emerson had said the same thing. They got the job done the way an assembly line put together cars, but TCL’s campaign wasn’t an assembly line type of job. Her company needed craftsmen, someone who would give the campaign personal attention.
DenMar Reese had to get the account.
“Ed, it’s going to be fine. Our presentation knocked their rep’s socks off; it’ll do the same for the VP.”
“It has to. Your job isn’t the only one on the line here.”
Jared stiffened a little. He didn’t doubt he’d be on the chopping block if TCL didn’t come through, but why did Ed look so nervous? His father owned the company. “What do you mean, not the only one?”
“We’re counting on TCL, you know that. If this falls through…well, our existing client base is dwindling. The economy has hit everyone hard, and people are spending a lot less on advertising and doing more of it themselves. TCL is our cash cow, without them, half this office could be shut down. We just won’t need the manpower.”
Jared’s spirits sank. Not only had he been under the impression DenMar was doing well, he’d been expecting the company to expand regardless of the TCL account. Apparently the top brass was good at keeping the company’s financial woes a secret. Cutting half the office staff meant more than a dozen people out of work. All if Jared didn’t nail this account. He hadn’t given any thought to the idea that Emerson would play favorites until she’d mentioned her fear of what someone might think if anyone discovered they’d shared a room in New York. Now he had to wonder if she would be forced to give the account to Metro just to prove she wasn’t playing favorites. Would their liaison actually hurt DenMar’s chances?
“Ed, don’t worry about it. We nailed it before. We’ll nail it again.”
“Let’s go over the presentation now and see if we can do any tweaking.”
Jared sighed. “Sure, there’s always room for improvement.”
“Meet me in the conference room in ten minutes, we’ll pull together a think tank to make sure we’ve covered everything.”
“Will do.”
Ed left Jared’s desk and started herding together employees to sit in on the conference room meeting. Jared stared at his phone. He could call Emerson quickly and see if she could offer him any advice…or he could just go with his instincts which had been spot on up until now. No second guessing her or him. His presentation was the best, and TCL’s VP would be just as impressed as Emerson had been, their sensual liaison notwithstanding.
* * * *
Wednesday morning Emerson sat in the conference room at TCL, nervously tapping a pen against her coffee cup. Jared hadn’t been able to see her last night. His boss had made him work late refining the presentation for today. She only hoped they hadn’t overworked the concept or managed to strip it of its grass roots appeal in an effort to out-flash Metro Ads.
Frank Eckert and George Todd walked in, putting an end to her tapping. Her stomach churned as the men greeted her and took their seats. She rose and addressed her audience, never more aware that this was the most important project of her career. She had to pull it off without anyone thinking her decision had been influenced inappropriately or no one would ever take her seriously again.
She greeted Eckert and Todd and launched into her well-rehearsed speech about how important the choice of their advertising team was, and how honored she was to have been given the opportunity to make the decision. Then she added a little flattery, saying how Eckert’s and Todd’s opinions mattered to her and their input was necessary for her to make the right choice to TCL.
Fortunately they ate it up.
When she invited Metro Ads’ team into the conference room, her stomach calmed a bit. It was all over but the applause now. She had no doubt her boss and his boss would like Metro Ads’ sleek, futuristic-themed campaign, but when they saw Jared’s more thoughtful presentation, they would have to be blown away.
Dan Archer gave Emerson the once over as he took point at the head of the room. He even winked at her, and she pretended not to notice. In the bright fluorescent lights of the conference room, he looked more plastic and less charming than she remembered. Maybe it was just her fear that after all was said and done, Mr. Todd would like his presentation better, but there was just something about Archer that turned her off.
He seemed oblivious, though, to her lack of interest, and gave his presentation as though he were speaking directly to her.
When Archer’s team concluded, both Frank and Mr. Todd applauded enthusiastically. The VP appeared especially impressed. He liked things glossy and clean, and Emerson began to fear Jared might not be able to win him over with his simpler, more straightforward approach.
She thanked Dan and his people and escorted them out of the room. “I appreciate you coming to see us. We will be in touch with you by the end of the week with our final decision.”
Dan let his fingers brush hers. “Good,” he whispered. “Then maybe we can get to that dinner we were discussing.”
She ignored him, not because she wanted to lead him on but because Jared and his team were just coming up the hallway toward the conference room, led by Mr. Todd’s secretary. She offered Archer a polite smile and headed back into the conference room to speak with her bosses before the next team came in.
“We love it,” Frank said. “That was outstanding. I can’t imagine you could have anything better to show us.”
* * * *
Jared couldn’t help but notice the guy from Metro Ads leaning in awfully close to Emerson to whisper something in her ear. She seemed to ignore him, but her gaze followed him as he led his team down the corridor past Ed Reese, Jared and the two junior account managers they’d brought along. Ed stopped to speak to Metro Ads’ team leader, and the short exchange was only friendly on the surface. Old rivalries ran deep. Apparently Metro’s CEO had been a student of Ed the Third and had stolen a few clients years back, so the gossip went.
Jared nodded to the Metro people and kept his eyes on the guy who had been chatting up Emerson. As he passed, he spoke over the shoulder of the man in front of him, just loud enough for Jared to hear. “Don’t worry, Len. We’ve got this all sewn up. Did you see the brunette? She’s their Corporate Image rep, and she’s hot for me. I’ve been warming her up a little, if you know what I mean.” Jared whirled around, anger flaring, but Ed Reese called him, and the Metro people had already turned a corner in the narrow corridor and were gone. He’d have followed the guy and demanded an explanation, but now wasn’t the time.
He followed Ed into TCL’s richly appointed conference room, and they greeted Frank Eckert and George Todd. Emerson introduced herself and Ed and Jared to her bosses.
“Jared Barton?” Eckert said.
Jared immediately noticed Emerson’s face begin to redden. “Yes, sir.”
“That name sounds familiar. Have we met?”
“No, sir.” He wanted to add, not in person, but that would all but give away the connection.
“Hmm. You sound very familiar.”
Jared only shrugged. How could he say they’d spoken on the phone when Eckert had called his room looking for Emerson?
“Why don’t we get started with the presentation?” Emerson interrupted. “I think you’re going to see why I prefer DenMar’s campaign to Metro’s. I hope you’ll share my vision.”
Ed nodded, and Jared began the presentation. Their mock-up commercial played on the overhead screen, and both he and Ed read the voiceovers they’d prepared and talked about the direction for a dynamic ad campaign that would grow as the company went from national to global in the years ahead.
When they finished, both Eckert and Todd sat in silence. Jared’s heart pounded so hard he was certain everyone in the room could hear it. If one more second went by with no one speaking he was sure he would burst.
“Thank you all so much for coming today,” Emerson’s voice broke the silence, then a loud noise followed her words.
Everyone turned to look at George Todd who had clapped loudly. He did it again and again. Frank Eckert seemed uncertain at first, then he joined in. Soon both men were applauding.
“I’m very impressed gentlemen,” Todd said.
Ed looked like he was about to faint. Jared picked up the slack. “Thank you, sir. I hope you’ll consider us for the account.”
“I think now you see why I had a hard time choosing,” Emerson said. “It’s a matter of style over substance.”
Todd nodded. “I’ll a
dmit I’m torn. Ten minutes ago I would have said hands down Metro, but now… Gentlemen, thank you. I’d like to speak to my people, and we’ll be in touch.”
Emerson jumped up to lead them to the door. Jared would have given anything for a moment alone with her, but the look in her eyes told him not to say or do anything that would tip the scales, which he knew were precariously balanced at the moment. The last thing he heard before Emerson shut the door of the conference room was Frank Eckert saying, “George, if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak to Emerson for a moment, in private. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The tone of his voice told Jared he’d finally made the connection as to where he knew Jared from.
Chapter Nine
Emerson followed Frank Eckert into his office on shaky legs. She’d seen the look on his face about halfway through Jared’s presentation and realized he knew he’d spoken to Jared on the phone in New York.
She held up a hand the moment Frank shut the door. “Before you say anything—I met Jared Barton in New York before the presentation. There was a mix-up with our rooms because our names are similar.”
“And that’s all?” Frank sat heavily in his chair.
Emerson debated. She could lie, but how did she know Jared hadn’t told his own boss that they were involved? “We’re…we’ve been seeing each other since then.”
“So he’s your boyfriend?”
“Not…officially.” What was he? Her lover? Her midnight obsession? She was head over heels for him, but they still hadn’t decided if they had anything serious.
“You came to me and recommended DenMar above everyone else.”
“Yes, because I think they’re better.”
“Metro was damn good. Todd loved them.”
“You heard him. He liked DenMar too. Which one would you choose?”
Spring River Valley: The Winter Collection (Boxed Set) Page 22
