It was the hardest thing to turn away from him and rush into her office building but she managed somehow. The clock in the main lobby let her know that she was five minutes late for work and she was never late.
Harriet made her way into the bank office and through the jungle of cubicles until she reached her own. She hadn't stopped to pick up coffee like she normally did and she'd pay for that shortly. It was only by luck that she'd remembered her briefcase and she hauled it up on the desk, knowing it was a futile effort. Everything was thrown in there from Friday evening. Not once over the weekend had she thought about going through her the contents and getting things ready for today. Normally she did that every Saturday morning. Damn it!
"So, Harriet?" Kelly's smiling face peeked around her cubby wall, her blonde hair swept up perfectly. "Did you have fun Friday night?"
There was a certain something about the other woman's tone that led her to think she wasn't all that sincere in her question.
"Yes," she answered, wishing Kelly would go away until maybe tomorrow. "Thank you for inviting me. I had a good time."
"Did you hear what happened to Rachel?"
So that's why she was there.
"No, what?" Harriet tried to sound interested.
"One of the dancers slipped his phone number into her purse Friday night." Kelly's face split into wide grin. "They're going out this weekend."
Harriet smiled back but her insides began knotting at that bit of news.
"Which one?" Harriet asked.
Please don't let it be Alejandro.
"The guy dressed up as the fireman? Remember him?"
She nodded, her smile genuine at that news. Not her matador. The fireman. It wasn't Alejandro. Good.
She could really care less about Rachel and her fireman. She just didn't want to find out on top of everything else this morning that Alejandro made the rounds with the women who came to the club. It could be true for all she knew, but she didn't want to know. Not today with him sitting outside in his car. Not right now.
"Hey, you got to dance with the matador," Kelly pointed out. "I'll bet you had some sweet dreams Friday night."
"All weekend, actually," Harriet admitted.
"I'll bet. That must have been enough excitement to get you through the rest of the year."
Harriet nodded at the sarcasm Kelly had to stick in there. She was used to the little remarks from the women she worked with, though she'd never understood why they enjoyed being so snarky to her at times. She kept to herself, didn't ask them for anything.
So she didn't get out much and spent her time on her career since she had nothing else to do. Were they jealous of her success? Did they think it should just be handed to them for little effort?
"I'm sure you're right," Harriet finally decided on as a response. She could have told her what she really did Friday night. She could have told Kelly she did a hell of a lot better than having a phone number slipped into her purse. Hell, now that she thought about it, she was surprised that one of them hadn't seen her give Alejandro a ride, little gossipy things that they were.
Satisfied, Kelly left the entrance of her cubby and Harriet tried to get a hold of herself. She had to focus or she wouldn't get a damned thing done today. Worse, she'd screw up something really important. She worked with client bank accounts, so everything was important.
"Harriet!"
Now Rachel dashed into her cubby, hissing her name. Great. Were they going to talk about the fireman all morning? Did she really have to get the recap from Rachel herself?
"You have a visitor," Rachel told her with a conspiratorial wink.
Harriet watched her motion for someone to come in her direction and her heart threatened to beat its way out of her chest. It wasn't him, was it? It couldn't be.
Something about Rachel's overly bright smile made her suspect it was Alejandro. She knew for certain when he walked around Rachel to make his way into her cubicle.
"Thank you," he tossed over his shoulder at her coworker as he made himself at home in the chair on the other side of Harriet's desk. He looked so damned good in the tight jeans he wore with a brown leather jacket.
Rachel's expression while she gazed from Harriet to Alejandro was one of complete bewilderment. Harriet thought she meant to keep standing there and that wouldn't do. Not when the man who'd upended her entire life in a single night was sitting in her office and she had to know why. But she'd be damned if she'd talk to him in front of the gossips in the office.
"Thank you, Rachel," she told her, letting the other woman know she wanted her to leave.
And she did, but not before Harriet heard her faint, "Oh, my God." No doubt she was on her way to one of their coworker's cubby to discuss it.
Alejandro was more beautiful in the light of day. His black hair was tied back and gleamed under the fluorescent lights. His ebony eyes picked apart her attempt at a business woman façade before the first word came out of her mouth. His handsome features were a study in concentration as he sat silently staring at her.
"Good morning," she threw out because she really didn't know what else to say. "How did you find me?"
"One of my friends has a date with one of your friends here. He found out for me."
That figured.
"Why did you do that?" The direct approach. And in that sexy Spanish accent that had been whispering in her mind since Friday night.
"Do what?" She thought she knew what he meant but she always got in trouble when she assumed anything.
"I woke up and you were gone. Just like that. No word, no note. Nothing. What was that all about?"
There was an underlying anger in his words and she inwardly cringed in guilt behind her desk.
"What was supposed to happen, Alejandro?" She kept her voice low because her coworkers were probably listening just outside her cubby wall now. "What was I supposed to do?"
He leaned forward, placing his elbows on her desk. The light scent of his aftershave reached her and its spicy smell was wonderful. He was so close now that she could have leaned forward and kissed his lips. She could have...
"I know it started out like a one-night stand, Harriet. And I know just because you hook up with someone and it's really, really good that it doesn't mean you have to have a relationship with them."
Harriet nodded, still trying to get past the part where he'd said it had been really, really good because she'd felt the same way.
"You just...felt so good to me, Harriet. I wanted more. I wanted you to be there Saturday morning. I don't know what the hell I would have said to you but I would've figured something out."
Her thighs shifted together beneath her desk, juices gathering within the heating flesh between them. Her heart pounded just the way it had in his arms Friday night.
"Why did you take off like that?"
His dark gaze locked with hers and panic gripped her. What did she say to that? Her brain worked frantically to come up with something slick and sophisticated to say, but nothing came and she just ended up silently gazing at him.
"I thought we had a connection, you know?" he whispered. "Didn't you feel it?"
There was a tiny hint of desperation in that question and it broke her control. She grabbed one of his hands in hers, hanging onto him.
"I did. I just panicked," was all she could say. It was the truth.
"Why?"
"We're in such different places in our lives, Alejandro."
His jaw tightened at that.
"I'm in grad school, Harriet. If you're worried about what your friends will think because you're going out with a male stripper--"
"No!" Harriet lowered her voice. "No, I didn't mean that. I don't care what you do for a living or what type of education you have. I meant something else."
The intensity of his gaze made it hard to continue. She wanted to shrink back into her chair. She wanted to straddle him in his chair and fuck his brains out there and then. So many emotions assailed her that it was hard to cut through i
t all and try to explain herself to him.
And had he just said something about them going out?
"You're young and gorgeous," she began. When he didn't react to her flattery at all, she knew he was serious. "You're in grad school and you're just figuring out what you want to do with your life."
His expression didn't change.
"So?"
Harriet took a calming breath.
"We didn't get a chance to talk," she started, loving the small smile playing about his lips at that. "I'm divorced, Alejandro. I'm out of school, I've found a career. I have an apartment and a cat. That's about it. I lead a very boring life. Don't you see? We're in different places."
"So basically you want me to get lost. Is that it?"
She didn't like the hint of bitterness in his voice. No, she didn't want him to get lost. Had he heard what she'd just said at all? But ending it now was the best thing. She was doing him a favor really. She was also protecting herself from another hopeless relationship.
Yet her heart rebelled at the idea of letting the most beautiful man she'd ever seen, who she'd had wonderful sex with, out of her life. Her body burned for him, longing for what she knew he could make her feel.
"No, I'm not brushing you off," she tried. "I'm saying this won't work."
Alejandro shook his head, his gaze steady.
"Harriet, I met a beautiful woman Friday night, you, and I took you home. You got to me, you know? I thought I got to you, too."
Oh, God, you did.
"What else do we need?" he went on. "Why are you trying to shut this off without even giving it a chance? What difference does it make what we're doing or who we are? Can't we just enjoy what we've found and go from there?"
Harriet's heart was pounding so hard she was sure he could hear it while she considered his words.
"I wish it were that easy, Alejandro." Experience and a bitter divorce had taught her otherwise.
Alejandro yanked his hand out of her grasp and pulled it down over his mouth in frustration. He started to rise from the chair but stopped.
Then those sinful dark eyes fastened on her and alarm raced through her like an electrical current.
"I won't debate this with you, Harriet. I want you. You'll either have me or you won't. Where it will go? I don't know. But I refuse to write off any part of my life because I'm afraid it will end badly."
So he'd known all along what the real problem was. That she was afraid. His understanding only made everything harder.
"Here's the deal," he told her, rising from the chair and moving to stand in the opening of her cubby. "Come to my apartment. Tonight. I'll make dinner."
He could cook, too? That figured.
"What if I don't show up?" she asked quietly.
Alejandro nodded as if that was exactly what he expected her to say.
"I'll know we're done, Harriet."
With that he left her cubicle area. He left her sitting there in a great trembling heap behind her desk. There was no way she'd be productive today. She just wanted to go home and go back to bed and pretend none of it had happened.
When her chest tightened, she knew she really couldn't fool herself. It wasn't relief that she felt now that he'd left. She wanted to go to his apartment. She wanted to rush over there the moment the work day was over.
"Harriet," she heard him approaching her cubby and her breath caught when he again stood in the entrance of her cubby. "Just in case I don't see you, I wanted to return these. You left them at my apartment."
Right there in plain sight of at least three of the little gossips in her office, he pulled her thigh-high stockings out of the pocket of his jacket. They were neatly folded until he let them unfurl, holding them high in his hand for all to see.
Damn. She had forgotten something.
The smile he flashed her was devilish and triumphant as he draped them over the chair where he'd been sitting and left again.
Harriet stared at them while the sounds of loud whispers and giggles from beyond her cubby reached her ears.
Chapter 5
* * *
Harriet stood at his door as soon as she got off work. At least she hoped it was his door. That part of Friday night wasn't as clear in her mind as what happened inside the apartment. Lifting a hand she prepared to knock, but stopped before her knuckles could hit the wood.
This is it. The point of no return. Once she was in his apartment and she saw him, knowing now that he wanted her, too, it was over. For better or for worse, she was in a relationship that would either tear her down further or make her happy.
Fear whispered that there was no way she'd be made happy by this.
It didn't, however, stop her from knocking hard before she lost her nerve.
"Come in!" a male voice called. It sounded like him.
Relief flooded her when she recognized the apartment she walked into and spotted Alejandro working in the kitchen a few feet away. She could see him from the waist up and he looked so incredible with his hair tied back, wearing a tight fitting black shirt.
He didn't rush to finish what he was doing. He let her wait and she slumped against the door she closed behind her with her heart hammering in her chest.
Finally he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked out into the living room, his gaze speculative as it met with hers.
"So you came," he said in a flat tone that didn't reveal any more about what he was thinking than his calm expression.
Harriet nodded. Now what did she say?
"And you look scared to death," he pointed out. "Why?"
"I told you," she reminded him.
Alejandro took a step closer. Then another.
"No, you didn't." His black eyes gleamed at her in challenge. "You told me you were divorced and that we were in different places in our lives. Here's the thing. Half the people in this country are divorced and everybody is in a different place in their life than anyone else. So I'm wondering what the real problem is, Harriet."
"Divorce may be common, Alejandro, but that doesn't make it hurt any less."
That came out fast and thick with emotion. She didn't know whether to throw herself into his arms for comfort or run out of the apartment when his eyes lit up in understanding.
"He ended the marriage?"
Well, she'd brought it up. Harriet nodded.
"Why?"
The bitterness over the end of her marriage was still close to the surface. She swallowed hard.
"He left me for a younger woman. Ironically, she was about nine years younger than him. Just like I'm nine years older than you."
Alejandro's mouth curved up into a smile.
"Why not consider it poetic justice?"
Harriet shook her head at him.
"Are you listening to what I'm saying? I've already had one man leave me for someone younger and he was my age."
"I understand what you're saying," Alejandro said slowly, "but I don't look at it the way you do. Did he tell you he left you because she was younger?"
What kind of question was that?
"Of course that's the reason he left, Alejandro. She was this perky little twenty-two year old with--"
"But did he say that he left you for her because she was younger?"
The directness of both his gaze and the question pulled the truth from her.
"No."
"Then just maybe he found someone he felt he was more compatible with and she just happened to be younger. I just happen to be younger than you but I don't understand why that makes any difference, Harriet."
He really meant what he was saying. It was all there in the sincerity of his expression. Aside from that, he was choosing his words very carefully. If he just wanted to get laid again, shouldn't he just be feeding her any kind of flattering bullshit?
Hell, if he just wanted to get laid again, why wasn't he trying to get into the tight little panties of some twenty-something like her ex had? Why was he even there with her?
He moved closer and be
gan running his palms up and down her upper arms in a way that helped her to calm down a little.
"Harriet, let it go. Please. If I wanted to be with someone else, I'd be with her right now. I want to be with you. I want to give this a try."
She looked up into his dark eyes in question.
"Why?" she had to ask.
"Because I want a woman and you're a definitely a woman." Dipping his head, he teased her mouth with a playful kiss. "You're beautiful. You have gorgeous eyes. A great ass."
His hands slid around her to grab her butt and she giggled.
"I have a big ass."
"You have a woman's ass." He stopped kissing her long enough to look straight into her eyes. "You have a woman's body. You're sexy as hell. You don't look like one of those chicas who live on laxatives and tofu."
"Oh, I eat," she assured him. "Then I diet and give up, then I eat some more. But you know it takes more than thinking the other person is sexy for things to work out."
Alejandro pulled her closer, the hard, heated length of his erection pressing into her belly.
"But it's a great place to start." He ground gently against her causing the walls of her pussy to quiver. "Besides, you're real, Harriet. You're genuine. You can talk about your diets and your divorce and likely anything else like a normal person and that's not easy to find. I'm like that."
"You are, huh?" She pushed herself against him, enjoying the way his cock jerked beneath his jeans.
"Sí. I think unless you snore badly this will work out fine."
Two could play that game, she decided. Reaching between their bodies, she gripped him through the rough denim of his jeans, drawing a low moan from him.
"As I recall, after our last night together, you were quite out of it. I could be a career snorer and you'd never know it."
Alejandro chuckled. Neither of them had to point out that he'd slept so soundly that she'd been able to sneak out of his apartment without him knowing it.
Yet he hadn't let her escape him. His eyes turned to deep obsidian pools of desire as they gazed down into hers.
His lips caught hers before she could take another breath, his tongue teasing the curves playfully. He stared down at her while he kissed her, his eyes heavy-lidded and gleaming with sexual desire. His tongue danced with hers until she was panting in need for him, desperate for everything he had to give.
Her Private Dancer Page 5
