“Only one way to find out,” Teddy smiled.
Diana made a guttural noise in her throat and lifted the phone to her ear. “This is Ms. Greer,” she answered formally. “How may I help you?”
“I apologize,” Scott replied.
Diana expelled a long breath. If she was honest with herself, she’d admit it wasn’t all his fault. Maybe Teddy was right and he was no longer the bane of her existence as he had once been. To punctuate his point the jackhammering outside flared loudly.
“Apology accepted,” she said. “Is that all?”
“Not exactly.”
“Well, what else is there?”
“Have dinner with me tonight?”
“Dinner?” Diana glanced at Teddy, who leaned forward in her chair, her head bobbing up and down in agreement. “I don’t think so. We only seem to rub each other the wrong way.”
“That’s just it. I want to prove all the hostility is behind me.”
“And you think dinner will do that?” Diana didn’t try to hide her skepticism.
Teddy was grinning now. Say yes, she mouthed silently. Diana turned away from her.
“It may not be the total answer, but it’s a start.” His voice sounded sincere, but she wasn’t convinced.
“Are you trying to get me to go to dinner so you can bring up the offices?”
“I would not do that. This is purely a friendship dinner.”
“We’re not friends,” she told him.
“But we could be.”
“I have too much work that piled up while I worked on the Embry wedding. I don’t think—”
Teddy came around the desk and took the phone. “She’d love to go to dinner,” Teddy answered. “What time?”
Diana grabbed for the phone, but Teddy eluded her. “Seven o’clock will be fine.”
“I can’t go,” Diana said through clenched teeth.
“You can pick her up—”
“—at the office.” Diana grabbed the phone, but Teddy held on tightly. She could only speak loudly into the mouthpiece. She didn’t want Scott in her home. After the kiss in the church this morning, she didn’t trust herself alone with him and in private.
“I’ll see you at seven.”
“Bye,” Teddy said and replaced the receiver.
“Why did you do that? Why did you set me up with the one man I don’t want to see?”
“Because he’s the one man you do want to see.” She gave Diana a pointed look. “And as my mother used to say, face the issue and get it out of your system or get it in your system.”
“I don’t have time for him. We’ve got weddings in the works. And that’s where my attention should be.”
“Learn to multitask,” Teddy said.
* * *
The noise in the parking lot ceased around 4:00 p.m. Diana’s headache kept going. Teddy usually worked late, but today she thought she’d leave early. Diana insisted that she remain until Scott arrived. Since she’d gotten Diana into this mess, she could well stay until the last possible moment. If this was a Victorian wedding, Diana could insist she act as chaperone. But they were more than a decade into a new century, and Diana and Scott already knew each other. A chaperone wouldn’t be necessary. Maybe a referee was what they needed.
Both women watched from the office window as Scott got out of his car at two minutes before seven. He’d been impressed with Diana’s Porsche. The car he got out of was a sleek red Lexus with vanity tags bearing the word FLYYBOY.
“He’s punctual,” Teddy said.
Diana’s throat went dry. She watched him walk toward the glass doors. He wore khakis and a dark blue shirt, open at the neck. Even from here, the man was devastatingly attractive. He no longer sported the boyish steps of an emerging adult. He was all male, confident, sure of himself, and Diana knew how she could melt in his arms. Tonight she had to keep a lock on her emotions and make sure this morning was not repeated.
“All right, I’ve fulfilled my part. I’m going home.” Teddy had her purse on her shoulder and was ready to leave. “Have a great night,” she said. “Tell me all about it tomorrow.”
“I will, and one day I hope to return the favor.” Sarcasm tinged her voice.
She could hear Teddy’s laugh as she headed down the hall toward the rear entrance. Her car was parked next to it, and she always said good-night to the guard who was stationed there.
Diana didn’t try to stop her. From this point on, she was on her own. She could either act like a professional or she could fall over Scott like a lovesick schoolgirl. She was determined that the former happened and the latter was held in check.
Meeting him at the door, Diana unlocked it and slipped through. “I’m ready,” she said. “Where are we eating?”
“I didn’t know you’d be that hungry, or I’d have made the reservation for earlier.”
She wasn’t hungry at all. She didn’t want to go to dinner. She didn’t want to be in Scott’s company, but she was committed.
“You look great.” His eyes swept her up and down, looking admiringly at the white skirt and green off-the-shoulder sweater she wore. Unsure of their restaurant, she wore something that would work at most places in the area.
“Shall we go?” she asked.
He nodded. Diana locked the office door and they took the elevator to the ground floor. He’d parked next to her Porsche, but opened the door to his Lexus and helped her inside before walking around the hood to get in himself.
“About this morning,” she said as soon as he was seated.
“Let’s not talk about this morning,” Scott said. “Let’s enjoy the night.”
Diana wasn’t sure if she should press the point. She didn’t know what she really wanted to say, only that something needed to be said. Some explanation needed to be rendered to set things straight. She decided against trying to find the words. The air between them was already heavy.
Scott drove through the narrow streets. At this hour a long, dark line of late-model cars was parked along the curb. Even for a Monday the population of the tiny hamlet was out in force. After circling Palmer Square, Scott pulled into a garage and shut down the engine. When he helped her out of the car, Diana immediately dropped the hand she held, but not before an electric current went up her arm.
The night was warm, and they walked the short distance to the center of town.
“I suppose if we don’t talk about this morning, we have nothing to talk about,” Diana said. “What happens when we get to the restaurant? We sit there looking at our food until the meal is over and we can go home?”
Scott stopped on the square leading up to Nassau Street, which was relatively empty. The small park in the center acted only as a causeway allowing cars to make a U-turn without traveling the full distance around the square.
“You want to talk about this morning?” His voice was harsh. “I’ll tell you about it. The kiss was unintentional, but I enjoyed it. I thoroughly loved having you in my arms, having my mouth on yours, feeling the softness of your skin and smelling your morning soap and perfume. It was tantalizing, and despite the fact that we stood in a church, I wanted to take you right there and then.”
Diana’s back was to a wall. Scott was close enough for her to smell the minty toothpaste he’d used. She could move sideways in either direction, but his words pinned her to the spot.
“Is that what you wanted to hear?”
She swallowed. She didn’t know what she wanted to hear, but his words had her heart singing. Did she really have that much of an effect on him? And so fast. How long had it been since they reconnected in person? A few weeks. In that time they’d shared two kisses, but they were constantly thrown in each other’s path.
“Don’t you have anything to say?” Scott asked. His voice wasn’t as strong as
it had been.
“Truthfully, I don’t know what I wanted to hear. I wanted to know why you kissed me. We both know we have no future, yet twice now you’ve kissed me.”
“Twice now, we’ve kissed each other,” he corrected.
He moved in even closer to her. Diana tried to move back, but she had no place to go.
“Don’t think I don’t know you enjoyed it, too. You were right there, clinging to me, giving as good as you got.”
Diana dropped her eyes for a moment, then looked back at him. “I admit it. I did like being kissed.”
“By me,” he challenged.
“By you,” she said. “But don’t take it to mean this is the beginning of anything, because it’s not.”
For the longest moment he stared into her eyes. She challenged him, refusing to look away no matter how much she wanted to. Scott was too close. Diana hoped he wouldn’t move the half inch that would meld their mouths together. Her heart hammered in her head, and she battled her lungs to keep her breathing even. After what seemed like a century, Scott took a step back. She forced herself to exhale slowly. She didn’t want him to know how long she’d been holding her breath and how hard she was trying to control her heartbeat. And, worse, how much she wanted him to kiss her again. Yet she was afraid he might.
They were only steps away from the entry gates of Princeton University and the expansive knoll of grass and walkways where Scott had first kissed her. It was a prank, a dare, and she knew it, but the result was the same as what had happened in church that morning. She was putty in his arms. He’d nailed her on it. She had no control when it came to him.
“Why don’t we go on to dinner or you can take me back to my car? It seems our evening is ruined.”
“One question.”
She waited, again holding her breath at whatever Scott planned to say.
“What did you feel this morning?”
Diana pursed her lips and stared straight into Scott’s eyes. He looked at her steadily. She wanted to know what he was thinking, but he gave her no clue of his expectations. Searching for something to say, she came up with nothing.
“I spend a lot of time working,” she finally said. “It’s been a long time since anyone kissed me or held me.”
Scott let out a slow breath.
“I already admitted that I liked being kissed.” She paused, taking a moment before going on. “Hate me now, but you could have been anyone. It wouldn’t take much for me to find comfort in a man’s arms.”
She raised her eyes expecting him to be angry, waiting for the color to flood or drain from his face. Knowing his eyes would darken and he’d walk away, leaving her alone on the sidewalk. Secretly, she wanted it to happen. She could already see him going.
But it didn’t.
Scott’s eyes darkened but with need, not anger. He stepped forward. Her back was already against the retaining wall of an office building, and she found it solid and unmovable. She was trapped, both by the environment and by the man. Scott leaned close to her, so close his lips were only a millimeter from hers. She could taste his toothpaste. Emotions, wild and passionate, rocketed through her, and it took a superhuman effort for her to remain still.
She felt his mouth move on hers as he uttered one solitary word.
“Liar.”
Chapter 6
The only good thing about their meal together was entering the restaurant. Because Diana worked with many caterers, she knew most of the restaurateurs in the area. They loved to see her, and she always got the best cuts of meat and the best prepared meals.
But while the food was excellent, she tasted nothing. Both she and Scott spent the meal avoiding looking at each other. Their conversation was stilted, cloaked in an atmosphere as thick as a white sauce. Diana was relieved when it was over. All she wanted was to get back to her car and away from the strain of a situation that should never have existed.
Yet when they were on the street and walking back toward the Square, Scott stopped at the light and looked toward campus, away from the place where the night had begun.
“What are you doing?” Diana asked, her voice low and tentative.
“Let’s go for a walk,” he said. Taking her hand, he didn’t give her time to refuse but pulled her across the street and through the entry gates of the university.
“How was your time here?” he asked.
Diana slipped her hand from his. “Why do you want to know?”
He looked at the stars in the clear sky, then back at her as they walked across the pathway told the arch. “I just wondered. We kidded you a lot. I wondered how you felt about it.”
“Now?” she asked. “You want to know how I feel all these years later?”
He nodded and stopped. Diana understood where they were standing. It was almost the exact spot where he had first kissed her. Where the kiss got out of control and he ran from her. She wondered if he’d stopped there on purpose or if he didn’t remember the significance of this spot.
She moved away from it. She could see the girl she’d been, the one with the long, unruly hair and her nose in a book. The one who no one dated or even thought to ask out initially. She was a fish out of water on campus, and although she had many friends, it took a while for them to like her instead of only wanting her to help them with homework. These were people like her, smart but not part of the popular segment. Scott was a BMOC, Big Man on Campus. Everyone knew him and liked him. He always had a girl on his arm, and his crowd teased and taunted her. But it was Scott’s zingers that hurt the most.
“For the most part, I enjoyed my years on campus,” she finally answered. She felt safer talking about school than about their current relationship.
“What does that mean?”
“I know I wasn’t part of your group. But I made a lot of friends while I was here.” She looked at the university gates.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Why?” Diana stood in front of him and stared in the darkness. She couldn’t see his full features, but the moonlight and the campus lights gave her a good enough view.
“I’m older now, and I don’t like to think of the way I treated you when we were students.”
“Are you apologizing?”
“I am,” he said without hesitation. “It was the time and the group I was with.”
“You’re still with them. Wasn’t Mike at the wedding?”
“He was surprised when he recognized you.”
“Diana 4.0 or Brainiac? Although you were the only one who called me Brainiac.”
“We were young and didn’t think of how our words and deeds would affect others.”
Diana resumed walking. The old hurt came back, but she refused to let him see it. “I’m a little older, too,” she said. “I don’t dwell on the things that were said and done then.”
Scott took her arm and stopped her. When he noticed her glancing at his hand, he dropped it. “I am sorry,” he said.
Diana could see it seemed important to him that she understand. His face was softer in the moonlight, and his anticipation seemed to hinge on her forgiveness.
“Thank you,” she said.
It wasn’t exactly an acceptance of an apology, but it was the best she could do. They gazed at each other for a while. The air around them took on a charge, and Diana knew she and Scott needed a buffer. She started walking. They continued to traverse the campus, as their hands met. She moved sideways to avoid contact. The silence between them stretched, and Diana felt that she should say something.
“We should go back,” she told Scott. It was all she could come up with.
They turned and headed back toward the entrance. Diana wanted to go down a different path, avoiding the juncture where Scott had kissed Brainiac, but he steered her directly toward it. As another coup
le passed them, he entwined her arm with his and kept hold of her. Diana didn’t wrench herself free of his touch. The feeling that came over her during their dance at the wedding was settling between them when Scott’s cell phone rang.
“Damn,” he cursed softly under his breath. Dropping contact with her, he pulled the phone from his pocket and looked at the display. He apologized and answered the call.
Scott listened for several seconds. “I’ll be right there,” he said and ended the call without saying goodbye. “I’m going to have to cut this short,” he told Diana as he walked fast toward the exit. Scott said nothing about the caller or where he was running off to. “Let me get you a taxi.”
“There are no taxis at this hour,” Diana told him. They had reached the front gate. “I’ll call Teddy to pick me up.”
“Are you sure?” He stopped a moment to make sure she was all right with doing this.
“Of course,” Diana said. “Go. Do what you have to. I’ll be fine.”
“I hate to leave you like this, but it is an emergency.”
Diana took her cell phone from her purse. “Go,” she said.
“I’ll call you later,” he said and took a couple of steps. His back was to her when the traffic light turned green. Scott didn’t step off the curb. Instead, he turned back to her. In two steps she was in his arms and he kissed her. As quickly as it started it ended. He let her go and ran across the street down Palmer Square and disappeared around the corner. It was the same route he’d taken the day he’d kissed her on campus. It was night now and he was ten years older than he’d been that day, but Diana felt just as confused, uncertain and bereft as she had then.
* * *
Diana waited in the coffee shop across from the university. The place was full of jean-clad students, long-haired girls and guys with biceps the size of small trees. She looked out of place in her spaghetti-strapped dress and heels high enough to add five inches to her height. She hadn’t wanted to call Teddy, but she couldn’t walk in those shoes and calling anyone else would require too much explanation.
His Love Match Page 7
