My Sexiest Mistake

by Kristin Hardy

  “Oh, ain’t that sweet,” Ryan gushed in honeyed tones.

  His eyes narrowed. “Skip the sarcasm. The assistant is effective.”

  “And probably as annoying as Microsoft’s obnoxious paperclip assistant. You know there are entire chat rooms devoted to people who loathe Clippy?” She reached out to take a sip of the iced tea the waitress set before her. “Cute is annoying. Unsolicited tips are annoying. Treat people like intelligent adults and put the information out where they can access it if they choose or ignore it.”

  “Don’t spare my feelings. Tell me what you really think, Ryan.”

  “Isn’t that what you’re paying for?” she shot back at him.

  He couldn’t help baiting her just a little. “I don’t know,” he said consideringly. “What else do you have to sell?”

  She flushed. “Stop it. You agreed to be professional about this.”

  “But you’re so entertaining when you’re feisty,” he said, his eyes unrepentant.

  Now it was her turn to glare. “I don’t know why you’re even bothering me,” she said impatiently. “Most of what you want is on videotape. Barry’s big plan last year was making a mint selling educational videos. We taped about four of the general skills classes before he decided it wouldn’t fly. Mona can send you copies,” she added.

  Tapes or no tapes, he wanted to see her in the classroom, Cade thought as he watched her make notes to herself, clearly annoyed at being pushed into a corner. She brought animation and conviction to everything she said. Nothing by halves. When she was riled, you knew she was riled. When she was aroused, well, you knew that too. He glanced away just as the waitress appeared with their meals.

  Ryan shook out her napkin and laid it on her lap. “So why online training? I’d have picked you for the high-powered financial shark type.” She pulled her crock of soup in front of her.

  Cade shot her a quick look as he picked up a French fry. “That sounds a lot like an insult.”

  “Just an observation.”

  “Well, I did my time in finance. I was head of mergers and acquisitions for Shearson Lehman a few years back.”

  “Didn’t feed your soul, huh?” Her voice was dry.

  His eyes narrowed. “Now you’re definitely busting on me.”

  “Such a fragile flower.” She took a sip of her iced tea. “Seriously, what made you switch?”

  Cade gave her a skeptical glance. “I’m not sure I want to bare the tender little morsels of my soul to such a cynical audience.”

  “Really? You seem like the type who’d love to talk about himself.” She ducked her head to take a quick spoonful of soup, trying not to enjoy his look of ruffled dignity.

  “Now I’m definitely not going to tell you.”

  “Me? I’m harmless.” She patted her lips with the napkin. “I swear. Come on, spill it.”

  He looked at her for a moment. “Well, I’d been doing the mergers and acquisitions job for about four years. In the beginning, it was fun. I liked the wheeling and dealing part of it, you know? Looking for the angle, swooping in for the kill.”

  “The swooping in for the kill part I can see. I bet you were good at it.”

  “Another insult, but I’ll ignore it,” he said mildly. “Actually, I was very good. I wound up as the youngest head of mergers and acquisitions they’d had in the history of the company.”

  Head of mergers and acquisitions? This was the job that his in-laws had disapproved of, Ryan remembered in surprise, studying the polished man across from her. Sitting on their family money, they’d had the nerve to look down on him when they should have been impressed by his accomplishments. It hadn’t seemed to bother him when he’d told her, but suddenly, illogically, it bothered her. She took a swig of iced tea. “So what happened then?” she prompted, shying away from thinking about the sudden wave of protectiveness that had hit her.

  Cade shrugged. “Somewhere along the line the fun went out of it. It all started seeming the same. I felt like I was just marking time.” He shook his head at the memory. “I was making money, but wasn’t involved anymore, you know? It was like I was detached from it all.”

  Ryan nodded. “That’s when you know you need to leave a job, when you get to where you just go through the motions. So what happened after that?”

  Cade dragged his eyes up from her mouth. “Patrick and I were buddies from college. We hooked up for dinner one night. He was working for a local Web page designer and wasn’t any happier than I was.” He pushed his hair back off his forehead absently. “We both needed a challenge. This was about the time that dot-coms were starting to be the hot thing.”

  “So you decided to launch one of your own?” She propped her chin on her hand, her lunch forgotten. Somehow, she’d been drawn into his story, drawn into finding out just who he really was.

  “I was having problems with a couple of my managers. They desperately needed training but we were having a hell of a time with the scheduling.” And with her green eyes staring at him so intently, he was suddenly having a hell of a time keeping his mind off of getting her alone somewhere. “Anyway, Patrick and I started comparing notes at dinner that night. I don’t know who came up with the idea first, but we decided to go for it.”

  “Are you glad you did?”

  He nodded. “I can’t imagine doing anything else. It’s like one of those times when you don’t know that you’re missing something until you have it, and then you wonder how you ever did without it.”

  His eyes darkened, mesmerizing her, pulling her in against her will.

  Someone cleared their throat. “Um, excuse me, Ryan?”

  The sudden intrusion of the woman’s voice made her jump. “What?” Ryan’s head snapped around.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll just go…” Fran stood by the table, holding on to her notebook anxiously. She started to turn away.

  “No, please, come back.”

  “I didn’t want to bother…”

  “It’s no bother, really.” Ryan gathered her wits. “What’s up?”

  “Well,” Fran hesitated and Ryan gave her an encouraging nod. “I was just wondering if you had a few minutes to help me review some of the scripts before the afternoon session starts.” She swallowed. “I want to try this out on my problem employee, but I want to practice.”

  Under normal circumstances Ryan would have felt triumph, but now, with her emotions in a blender, she could barely manage a smile. “Um, sure. Give me just a minute and I’ll meet you in the classroom.” She watched Fran walk away and turned back to Cade, eyes cool. “Well, thanks for making me look like a professional in front of my students,” Ryan said brightly. “You bully one, you make me look like an idiot in front of another.” She closed her planner and slid out to stand by the booth. “I hope you got your money’s worth out of the meeting, Douglas. Next time, let’s follow the rules and do our business over the phone.”

  Before she could turn away, his hand snaked out to grab her wrist. Heat licked up her arm.

  “You know, when you get that tone to your voice, I get this urge to show you how quickly I could get you to forget all about those rules,” he said. His voice was amused, but his eyes blazed at her.

  Ryan’s heart thudded in her chest. “Don’t threaten me,” she managed. “You know what I’m talking about makes sense.”

  “It’s not a threat. Just reality.” He held her wrist a moment longer. “You know, I can feel your pulse beating awfully fast. I wonder why that is?”

  She was snared in the web of his gaze, tuning in to the staccato beat of her heart for long seconds before he released her. Without saying a word she walked away on legs that weren’t quite steady, with a mouth suddenly gone dry with lust.

  No, annoyance, she thought moments later in the classroom, not lust. And it was only the air conditioner that was trembling slightly when the afternoon session started just as Cade walked in and sat down in the back. It had nothing to do with nerves, certainly.

&nb
sp; CADE SAT in the afternoon session and watched her move in front of the class. She was extraordinary, he thought. It was less teaching than performance, entertainment. She was a riveting flash of color caught up in connecting, and the students responded.

  Oh yeah, she was good at connecting. It was just a matter of time, he thought. One of these days he was going to catch her when they were off the clock. And when he did, he was pretty sure that those rules of hers were going to go right out the window.Finally, the afternoon wound to a close. Ryan stood at the front of the room, packing up books and notes, flipping through her evaluation forms. She gave him a wary glance as he approached. “What do you think? Did you find out what you needed?”

  “I think you’re very, very good at what you do. This puts a whole different spin on our strategy at eTrain.”

  Ryan shrugged, and he saw her unsuccessfully fight a smile. “It’s just a class. We’ve got a dozen more just like it.”

  “No. Maybe you don’t realize it, but it’s the way you teach these classes that makes them memorable. I’ve got to talk with Patrick about a couple of options, and then I want to hook up with you again. What’s your time like tomorrow?”

  “Can’t do it,” she said in satisfaction. “I’m leaving for a conference in Manhattan. I’ll be gone through Friday.” She’d fought all afternoon not to let his presence affect her teaching, with little luck. No matter how hard she’d tried to throw herself into it, when she looked up his blue-black eyes were on her, reminding her of that moment at lunch when they’d clicked and she hadn’t been aware of another person in the room. The thought that he could pull her in that much was somewhat frightening. She felt a little pulse of alarm—and adrenaline—at the thought of seeing him again.

  “What’s the conference?” Cade asked, his eyes on her.

  She busied herself stacking her supplies into a box. “It’s a meeting for training instructors.”

  “Training for the trainers?”

  “Something like that. Building courses, organizing curriculum, classroom techniques and what have you.”

  Interested, he did a quick mental run through of his schedule. “It sounds like something I should be at. I need to do a quick study on this content stuff.”

  She slid her viewgraphs into a folder, checking to be sure they were in order. “Don’t you have someone at the company who manages content?”

  “We did, but he left two months ago and we haven’t been able to replace him. I’m filling in until we can find the right person. Are you planning to fly or drive?”

  Something skittered around in her stomach. “I’m driving down. It’s a good excuse to get out of the city.”

  “Good,” he said briskly. “We can go together. I can drive.”

  “No,” she blurted, with a quick flicker of alarm. “I mean, I’m going to be leaving in the middle of the day. I’m sure you have meetings.”

  “Nothing I can’t clear. If we go together, we’ll save gas and money. It makes sense.” His smile was mocking, his eyes challenged her. “Unless it makes you nervous to be alone in a car with me.”

  “Of course not,” she said hotly, stung that he could tell what she was thinking.

  “Great,” Cade said in satisfaction. “I’ll have my secretary take care of hotel arrangements. What time do you want to leave?”

  She was trapped. “I was planning on about noon. It’s the only way to beat traffic all the way down.”

  “Sounds good to me,” he said, enjoying the frustrated look on her face. “Write down your address and phone and the name of the conference for me. I’ll pick you up at your house.”

  Ryan jerked her pen out of her planner. It was ridiculous to feel uneasy about the idea. There was the matter of his little challenge at lunch, but she’d put him in his place. They were professionals. They could be in each other’s company without letting things get out of hand. And spending the next three days in his company wouldn’t be a problem either. It was just business, that was all.

  God help her.

  “PATRICK, I’VE GOT IT.” Cade breezed into the eTrain offices, completely unsurprised to see Patrick still at his desk at 8:00 p.m. “I’ve got the perfect hook.”

  “What hook?”“Ryan Donnelly, the one who spoke at the meeting. She’s hot in the classroom, absolutely hot. She has ’em eating out of her hand.”

  Patrick stopped typing and turned to Cade. “Is this the little dark-haired number in the purple suit?”

  “Yeah. You should see her in the classroom.”

  The puzzlement in Patrick’s eyes bloomed into suspicion. “When did you see her in the classroom? I thought you had a facilities meeting today.”

  “I’ve been trying to hook up with her for a week and she was teaching right out by my morning meeting.”

  Patrick gave him a level stare. “So you just happened to drop in.”

  “Yeah, I did. You got a problem with that?”

  “Only the same one I had the other day.” With a click of keys, Patrick saved the file he was working on. “You’re looking to me like you’re mixing business with pleasure, buddy, and with seven million dollars on the line we can’t afford to do that.”

  “Patrick, this is work,” Sure it is, said a mocking voice in his head that he ignored. “Stop being paranoid and listen to me for a minute. I mean, her students get completely caught up. I’ve been to a couple of management seminars myself, but she’s different. She makes it interesting and more to the point she makes it fun. She’s the key to the whole thing.”

  “Well we can adapt some of her patter for the training assistant.” Patrick hit a key and an animated blob bounced onto the screen. “Here’s the newest incarnation.”

  Cade snorted. “You’ve got to be joking.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t think it worked either.”

  “Too cutesy.”

  “Way too cutesy,” Patrick agreed. “That’s what we get for having Scoonie design it. You’ve got to wonder about a guy who honeymooned at Disney World.”

  “I thought it had a certain cartoon quality, now that you mention it,” Cade said dryly, studying the blue blob. “At any rate, forget about the training assistant. You don’t need that. What you need is her. Think about it. We could be the first online training site to offer streaming video.” He remembered the sheen of her hair, the depths of her green eyes, the violet suit that was purple one minute, blue the next. Vivid, indeed. She made everything else look washed out by comparison.

  “Streaming video,” Patrick said thoughtfully. “It could work.” His eyes began to light up the way they always did in the face of a technical challenge. They’d met when Cade was at Harvard and Patrick was a skinny MIT computer nerd who had infiltrated the university to play a prank. Coming home late one night Cade had seen the suspicious shadow slinking along the gaming field. Catching Patrick had been easy.

  Ever the dealmaker, Cade offered the terrified freshman a choice—free calculus tutoring for the rest of the year or face the school authorities. The friendship that sprang up between the two had lasted long after the calculus final. Going to Patrick’s home for the holidays had given Cade the first sense of family he’d ever had.

  “So, can we do it?” Cade watched Patrick’s face.

  Patrick stared into space for a few minutes and then began nodding, a slow smile spreading over his face. “Oh yeah, baby, we can do it.”

  “Great. See you tomorrow.” Cade turned to walk out of the room.

  “Hey Cade?” Patrick called, turning once more to look at him. “I’m not trying to bust on you about Ryan. I know you’re always looking out for what’s best for the company. But there’s something going on there with you and her, man, I know you too well.”

  “There’s nothing going on I can’t handle,” Cade returned. “I know what the priorities are.”

  Patrick studied him for a moment. “I just don’t want to see you do anything that either of us will regret, you follow me?”

  Cade’s eyes didn’t waver.
“Trust me, I won’t.” He stepped out into the hallway and headed for his office, stopping in the break room for a cup of coffee along the way. Unbidden, his mind filled with an image of Ryan. Maybe he knew what the priorities were, but his personal agenda had somehow undergone a shift. Two weeks before, he’d gleefully invented scenarios in which he’d had Ryan Donnelly squirming and at his mercy, seducing her in a public park, handcuffing her to a bench, touching her until she was begging him to take her over the edge, then leaving her to stew. Now, somehow, the urge to watch her squirm had been replaced by the drive to have her hot and eager against him.

  Which Ms. Donnelly was likely to find as objectionable as any of his other scenarios, Cade thought, the corner of his mouth twitching up in a wry grin. Even if keeping hands off was the smart thing to do, it might be entertaining to crowd her a little, just to see what happened.

  9

  A FLOOD OF GOLDEN LIGHT flowed in through the bay windows of her bedroom as Ryan packed for the trip to Manhattan. Sheer curtains stirred in a soft, balmy breeze that blew through windows she’d opened for the first time all year. She felt a flush of spring fever, an antsy feeling that went all the way through to her bones. The earth was coming to life around her. Too bad she had to drive to Manhattan with Cade; she itched to be out running along the Charles River, feeling the sun on her shoulders and the breeze in her hair.

  On the bed lay a cobalt blue suit, and atop it, the vivid magenta slash of a two-piece outfit that she’d bought on the way home the night before. Only because it was a good buy, she thought, smoothing her hand over the soft raw silk. The fact that it was sexy as all get out with its pencil skirt and snug bolero jacket was incidental. And if she grabbed her garter belt and stockings instead of practical panty hose, it was just her little indulgence. It certainly had nothing to do with Cade. She laid her clothes in the garment bag and zipped it closed with unnecessary force.It was ridiculous to feel nervous about going down to Manhattan with him, she told herself, rummaging in the back of her closet for the shoulder strap to her garment bag. Being in the car with him didn’t mean she was responsible for making conversation the entire time, and once they got to Manhattan, they could go their own ways. Work was work and she wasn’t about to let an irritation like Cade Douglas get in the way of it.