“What about a birthday party?” Ryan suggested. “Moms, dads, and kids can relate to birthday parties. The tagline could be chips for everyone’s special occasion.”
“That’s better,” Stu cut in. “Work a few ideas up, and we’ll meet again tomorrow, come up with a few ideas to send out to the focus groups. But make them better than the ones you sent out last week.”
“Got it, boss,” the men said in unison.
“I’m going to head out,” Carrie said, standing.
“Carrie…” Stu smiled. “Wait for me.”
She waited while the others filed out of the room. Stu closed the door then turned back to her.
“I know that could have gone better,” he said.
“Everyone is stressed.” Not a state of mind she wanted to go back to. “I’m sure they don’t appreciate a new team member at this stage in the game.”
“I’ll tell you what, most of the guys head out to Oysters down the street after work for a beer and to relax while they wait for the traffic to die down. Why don’t you come by, and we’ll join them for some team building?”
She’d rather poke herself in the eye with a sharp stick. Instead, she said, “I don’t know, I really don’t see what difference it will make.”
“You love a challenge. What better challenge is there than these guys?”
She stared at him. Was he for real?
“Ryan is a bright guy. He’s the outside consultant I hired. In fact, he lives right next door to you.”
“We’ve met.” She didn’t want to talk about Ryan. He didn’t look at her. Not once, and it bothered her more than she cared to admit.
“Come by. Meet them on their turf. I probably shouldn’t have thrown you at them the way I did.”
“All right,” she relented.
Maybe then she could get Ryan to talk to her.
…
Ryan tensed the moment Carrie walked into the bar. Why was she there? Wasn’t it bad enough that she had to haunt his thoughts, but now she seemed to show up everywhere he went? If this kept up, he’d never get her out of his head. It was bad enough that Carrie was all the guys had been able to talk about since they’d arrived at happy hour at their favorite little haunt. Wings, beer, how much better could it get than that? And instead of talking about the game or the hot babes at the bar, they were obsessing over Carrie. In fact, they were on quite a rant. And now she was there and walking toward them. Oh, yeah. This ought to get interesting.
“You guys were a little hard on her, don’t you think?” Ryan said, trying to diffuse the situation before she reached their table on the far side of the room. “Maybe we should give it a rest.”
“Not hard enough,” Chuck said.
“Yeah, who the hell is she that Stu would bring her in to head-up this campaign now?” Mike asked.
“His ex-wife,” Paul answered, unaware of the twinge his words brought to Ryan’s gut. “She and Stu built the company, made it what it is today.”
“Yeah, from what I heard when she was running things the company was doing a lot better,” Ryan piped in. “So why don’t we give her a break?”
Give her a break and forget about her. Hard to accomplish when she was all he could see. She was about halfway across the room and would soon be within hearing distance. He needed to leave, to get up and go before she got there, but he sat frozen, unable to keep his eyes off her, along with every other man in the room’s eyes. She walked with an air about her, as if she owned the place. As if this was her world and they were players moving the pieces. It was an attractive trait. Attractive and annoying.
“If she’s so great then where has she been?” Chuck asked.
“New York,” Paul answered. “One of our big competitors.”
The table went silent for a nanosecond.
“Carrie—” he started to stand, hoping to warn the others.
“So why is she back?” Mike blurted before Ryan could finish his greeting.
“Because this is my home,” Carrie said from behind him. Everyone looked up. Stu stepped behind her, his hand possessively moving to the small of her back.
Ryan felt an urge to pry his fingers off her and break them. Were they getting back together? What if they were? He didn’t care. He looked away. He had no hold on her. He didn’t want a hold on her. In fact, it didn’t bother him at all.
He gritted his teeth.
“Gentlemen,” Stu said, his mouth turned down in a frown, “I thought we could take advantage of this little powwow to get to know Carrie better. She is doing me—doing us—a huge favor helping us with the Costas account, and I think we got off to a rocky start.”
“Of course.” Paul got up and offered Carrie his chair.
“Why don’t we start with introductions again,” Carrie suggested as she took Paul’s seat with a grateful smile. A smile that shouldn’t rock Ryan’s world. “I’m afraid I can’t remember everyone’s names.”
“Chuck. But then I’m sure you remember me.” He laughed then took a large swig off his beer, his gaze narrowing in challenge over the rim.
“Yes, Chuck,” Carrie agreed. “You’re a hard one to forget.” Her words brought a laugh to the table and lightened the mood, everyone’s except Chuck’s. They all said their names and not much else as they went around the table. Including Ryan. No reason to let on that they knew each other. Intimately. Very intimately. In fact, it didn’t take much for him to remember the feel of her touch on his skin, or her taste on his mouth, the tickle of her curls against his chest, the smell of her shampoo. Even as he fought the images, he had to hand it to her—she gave nothing away. It was as if she’d never met him before. As if they hadn’t seen and kissed every inch of each other.
As if she wasn’t the only thing he’d been able to think about since he’d spent the night in her bed. No matter how much he tried to stay away from her, to stop thinking about her…he couldn’t. And now here she was. With his team. Working on his account. How had his life gotten to be so complicated?
“Hey, isn’t Carrie the gal you were staring at during the wedding the other night?” Mike asked, leaning in close to him.
“You’re kidding, right?” Ryan said, hoping her business clothes, her long lush curly hair pulled back tight, and the amount of alcohol everyone had consumed in the last half-hour would keep their secret.
“Yeah, you’re right. Don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Yep, no way,” Ryan agreed. He looked back at Carrie, seeing her exactly the way he remembered her. Hair down, curls caressing her shoulders, a slight flush to her cheeks, and a hint of moisture on her lips as she reached nirvana. “No way at all.”
This job couldn’t end soon enough.
Chapter Fourteen
Wednesday morning, Ryan stood drinking his coffee in the kitchen, thinking about the day ahead. It was the bottom of the ninth with only two days until their big presentation and they still had nothing. Was Stu right? Was Carrie their answer?
There was definitely something going on with her and Stu. The man was so protective with her, always finding ways to touch her. Either she didn’t notice, which Ryan found hard to believe, or she didn’t mind. Which ate at Ryan more than it should.
If Stu wanted her back, then Carrie was definitely off limits. He knew that. He’d already told himself to steer clear. Move on. Keep it professional. He’d chanted that to himself all day and all night until he finally accepted it and fell asleep, only to hear her several hours later right through the wall. She apparently wasn’t sleeping any better than he was. Riley heard her, too, and started whining and pacing. Ryan didn’t know how she’d done it, but she’d totally and completely stolen the poor guy’s little heart.
It must have been that awful singing, he thought with a grin.
“Well, boy, I have to go back to work today. Can I trust you not to pee in the house if I leave you inside?”
Riley didn’t even bother to lift his head from his spot on the floor.
“I know yo
u hate being left alone here all day, but you hate the doggy hotel even more.”
Suddenly Riley perked up, jumped to his feet, and ran to the window. Ryan followed him, just in time to see Carrie come into the front yard wearing those yoga pants again. He tried to look away but couldn’t. He sure liked the look of her in those pants. They were tight and shiny and left nothing to the imagination. He moved to the side of the window so she wouldn’t catch him watching. She stood on the front lawn, grabbed her foot behind her and pulled, stretching her muscles.
Riley let out an excited whine.
“I know just how you feel, boy.”
The dog looked up at him, his tail wagging.
“Looks like she’s going for a run,” Ryan commented.
Riley barked, and did a funny little dance in front of the couch.
“What? You want to go for a run, too?”
His tail beat the furniture, and he ran excitedly for the door. He couldn’t, Ryan thought. He shouldn’t. He waited a beat. “Why the hell not?”
Riley barked again.
Wait. He couldn’t run like this. He was already dressed in his slacks, shoes, and dress shirt. This would never do. If he was going to win the game, he had to play by the rules, and right now those rules were to get back on the winning team and play nice with the boss. He’d never lost an account and he wasn’t about to start now. He and Carrie could work together, and like everything else they did together, they could do it well.
Riley whined even louder and pawed the door.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” he said, even as he kicked off his shoes. Riley howled. “All right. Give me a second.” Ryan hurried to his bedroom, unbuttoning the shirt along the way and quickly slipping off his pants. Go for a run? Who was he kidding? He hadn’t run since…since he didn’t know when. But he had to admit, the idea of running behind Carrie, watching her pump those legs and move the muscles in that tight ass of hers, had a certain appeal to it. Since he couldn’t stop thinking about her anyway, why not indulge? Maybe it would finally get her out of his system.
Shorts and T-shirt on, he laced up his running shoes and grabbed Riley’s leash on his way out the door. Carrie, of course, was gone by the time they got out front, but he was certain Riley could find her. “Do you see Carrie? Go find Carrie,” he said, and clicked the leash onto Riley’s collar.
Riley took off at a full-out run. After only a few minutes, Ryan felt the burn. Maybe he should have stretched first. Maybe he shouldn’t have let himself get so out of shape. He spotted her up ahead, a slim, mighty fine-looking figure in the distance. He focused on her lean body, wishing he’d never seen that file on her nightstand. He’d rather liked waking up with Carrie that morning. Falling asleep in each other’s arms, waking up to some terrific morning sex, and then planning their day together. It had a sort of comfort he wasn’t used to. And he supposed having someone around to laugh at his jokes wasn’t all that bad either, as long as it wasn’t all the time. Only every now and then. Right?
But he wasn’t sure the Carrie he saw at Steinhem had a lot of laughs in her. Yeah, the guys had been hard on her, but she’d been so uptight. Why Stu didn’t step in was beyond him—he’d left her hanging in the wind. Ryan was beginning to think maybe work wasn’t Carrie’s problem, maybe it was Stu. Maybe going back to the man wasn’t the best answer for her. Maybe she should come back to him.
Whoa, boy. Stop that boat right now. He did not want to rekindle their relationship; he only wanted to fix what he broke. He wanted a friend and colleague, not a lover. No matter how nice she looked, no matter how badly he might want her. She had a life here, and what’s more, she had baggage here. The last thing he needed was to jump in with both feet, then come home one day and discover she’d taken off to help Stu. Or Steinhem. There was a connection there that could never be broken. And his working all the time, being gone from one job to the next wouldn’t help the situation. He’d already been down that road once before and it hadn’t ended well. That was why casual relationships were the only way to go. And his relationship with Carrie could never be casual.
He pushed all lustful thoughts out of his head. Focus, Burton. You have an account to win and if getting back in the good graces of this woman without getting into her pants is what you have to do, then you’re going to do it.
No Dating. No dinners. No stolen kisses. No sex.
They were closing in on her. Riley increased his speed, pulling him even faster. He was starting to get a stitch in his side. “Slow down, Riley,” he huffed, trying to catch his breath. Riley ignored him and barked. He kept barking until Carrie turned, running in place and allowing them to catch up. Thank God. If he kept this pace up, he was going to keel over right in front of her. He could see the headline now: 27-year-old man dies of heart attack while chasing tail in the park.
“What are you two doing here?” she asked as they finally reached her. Was that a hint of suspicion in her tone?
He wanted to be nonchalant, to act like this was something he and Riley did every day, but he couldn’t catch his breath enough to speak. Luckily all her attention was focused squarely on Riley.
“What a good dog,” she said, rubbing his head. Riley was ecstatic.
“He’s missed you,” Ryan said when he finally got his breath. Speaking for the dog only, of course. He hasn’t missed her. How could he? He saw her constantly. Even if she didn’t talk to him, or so much as look at him. “He’s been moping around for days.”
“I’ve missed him, too.” She rubbed Riley’s cheeks. “Do you guys run here a lot?”
“All the time,” Ryan lied.
“Great, I still want to get two miles in.”
“Two miles.” He nodded his head, trying to think of a way to get out of it and still keep his manhood.
“You’re welcome to join me. That is, if you think you can keep up.” The wicked grin on her face told him exactly what she thought about that happening. Was this her way of punishing him?
“No problem,” he answered.
“You want me to take Riley?” she asked.
He stepped closer to her, wanting to reach out and brush a stray curl that had fallen loose from her ponytail back from her face. Instead, he handed her the leash. “I think Riley would love that.”
She took the leash from him, and their eyes met; their gazes held. His heart skipped a beat and, for a second, he thought he saw regret. But as quickly as the look had come, the moment was gone and she turned and started to run again. Leaving him behind.
He took a deep breath and followed after her. He could do this. He could survive this run and get back in her good graces. After all, they were going to be working together. Yep, he thought, as the burn returned and tore through his gut. He could definitely do this. Or die trying.
…
Carrie shouldn’t be having so much fun at Ryan’s expense, but she couldn’t help it. Why was he there, trying to run next to her, trying to keep up, when he was obviously having such a hard time? It’s not like they could talk, since it was taking everything he had just to breathe. She smothered a smile.
“So what do you think of the team?” he asked, and then had to slow down a step to catch his breath.
“They’re great!” she answered with false enthusiasm. He wanted something, or else he wouldn’t be there torturing himself. And her, because the truth was it hurt to be around him. More than she’d expected. But the question was, what did he want?
“Do you do this every morning?” he asked.
“Most.”
“Do you mind if we start joining you?”
She looked at him, her eyebrows cocked. “No offense, Ryan, but you don’t look like you run a lot.”
“I’ve, uh, had to take a break. But I need to get back into it,” he said, keeping his eyes on the path in front of them.
“I see.”
They ran for a moment in silence while he paced himself. “So, why are you here?” she asked.
“Here?” he puffed.
<
br /> “Now.”
“I wanted to run with you.”
She supposed that could be true. “Why?” she pushed.
“We’re going to be working together, aren’t we? I thought we needed to clear the air, to get back on solid footing.”
“Really?” she asked dryly. “Is that all?”
“I guess I miss spending time with you.” He blinked and then frowned, as if he hadn’t planned to say that.
She looked at him, trying to read the truth in his face. “We didn’t spend a lot of time together to begin with.”
“True.” He took a few deep breaths, like he was psyching himself up for something. And then he took the plunge: “But I still miss it. We had fun together. And I wanted to apologize for totally overreacting when I saw that file, and for the other morning. I was being a jerk.”
“You were,” she said, surprised that he would admit it, and that it still hurt more than it should have.
“I was.”
They ran in silence for a few minutes. “So what’s changed?”
“It’s going to be hard to work together if we’re at odds.”
She should have guessed. This was about work. It always came first with him. As it should, she reminded herself.
“So out of curiosity,” he went on, “why didn’t you tell Stu about us?”
She stiffened, realizing how bad that would have looked for him. So was that what this was about, getting back in her good graces so she wouldn’t kiss and tell? “Like I said, it’s none of his business who I date.”
“Date?”
“Yes.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
She looked at him sideways. “Worried about your job?” she asked.
“Not in the least. I’m glad to hear you’re open to dating.”
And there came the charm, laid on so thick it was oozing out his pores.
“So?” he huffed, but a twinkle lit those devilishly blue eyes. “Are you open to dating me again? After we win the Costas account,” he clarified.
Warning bells lit through her mind. If ever she were approaching the proverbial cliff, this was it. Should she jump, or pull back and play it safe? “I don’t think so. Like you said, soon as this account is over, you’re moving on.” No reason to put herself out there, only to be smacked down again.
Going All the Way (Kiss the Bride #1) Page 11
