Strictly Confidential Attraction

by Brenda Jackson

  She sighed so deeply it was almost a moan deep in her throat. She would always remember the taste of him, a taste she was dying to sample again, but knew there was no way that she ever would.

  She would have to be satisfied with her memories.

  Seven

  Mark walked into the kitchen the next morning in a much better mood than he’d been in the night before. Immediately his eyes lit on Alli. She was standing in front of the high chair, showing Erika how to hold her spoon properly, and was dressed in a T-shirt that advertised Hartman’s Self-Defense Studio and a pair of black walking shorts.

  He shook his head and smiled. Even now, she was trying to keep her attire modest and professional. He had discovered a long time ago that it didn’t matter what type of clothing Alison Lind placed on her body—she would still look delectable. The red-and-white T-shirt was tucked inside her shorts and emphasized her small waist and curvy hips. And her shorts showed enough of her long, slender legs to remind him of the visions that had taken over his dreams last night. In all his twenty-eight years, he had never dreamed about a woman taking a bath.

  His dream had alternated with visions of her bath and of him kissing her. He had kissed her so much that she had begged him to make love to her. And he’d been about to do just that when his alarm had gone off.

  Sighing deeply, he forced his gaze from Alli to his niece. Erika seemed to be enjoying Alli’s instructions. He couldn’t help but notice how his niece was dressed. Since Alli’s arrival two days ago, Erika’s hair was combed differently, in a cute little style, and she wore ribbons and bows to coordinate with whatever outfit she had on that day, not to mention the matching stocks.

  As he leaned against the wall, he had to admit that the way Erika was dressed was just one of many noticeable changes Alli had made in less than seventy-two hours. His niece seemed to smile even more. She ate home-cooked oatmeal instead of the instant kind, and Alli had no problems cooking a full-course breakfast whenever his niece muttered the word egg.

  Then there was the scent that always emitted from Alli’s bedroom whenever he passed it. It was a feminine scent. A woman’s scent. More than once he had paused in the hallway outside her door to get his bearings and to remind himself that a woman was now in residence…as if he really needed reminding. There was no way he could forget that Alli was in his house.

  “Da-da!”

  He couldn’t help but smile when two pairs of eyes lit on him. From Alli’s expression it was plain that she was surprised to see him. Had she forgotten that he lived here? “Good morning,” he said coming into the room.

  “Good morning. I thought you were gone,” Alli said still eyeing him strangely. “When I got up and looked out the window I saw your truck driving away.”

  He nodded, now understanding her confusion. “John is using my truck to pick up supplies. His is in the shop getting repaired.”

  “Oh.” She then turned her attention back to Erika. He felt dismissed and ignored when she began talking to Erika and telling her how good oatmeal was for her.

  He walked across the room and his niece’s attention switched from Alli to him and she extended her arms for him to pick her up. “Da-da.”

  He gently tweaked her cheek, then said, “No, sweetheart, I’m Mark. And Alli needs to feed you so you can grow up to be big, strong and healthy like your daddy was.”

  “She won’t understand the name thing until she gets a little older, Mark,” Alli said, standing beside him. He glanced at her. Instead of looking back at him, she kept her gaze focused on Erika, but he didn’t miss the guarded look on Alli’s face, as if she were protecting herself from something. He couldn’t help wondering just what that something was.

  She walked toward the sink. “I’m taking Erika with me on an outing today,” she said over her shoulder.

  “Oh? Where are you ladies going?”

  She turned around. The guarded look had been replaced with a bright smile. “Car shopping. I thought I’d take the time to look around today so that when Jake meets with me tomorrow I’ll have an idea of the type of vehicle I want.”

  He nodded. “That’s a good idea, however there’s a problem with that.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “What?”

  “I spoke to Jake earlier this morning about TCC business, and he mentioned all the things he has going on this weekend. It seems that someone has pulled up his campaign signs and he and his workers are going to be busy tomorrow going around town replacing them.”

  Seeing her disappointed look, he added, “I told him you would understand and that since I was free tomorrow I’d be glad to go with you.”

  “But, but I thought that—”

  “For me to go car shopping with you is perfectly fine,” he rushed on to assure her. “No matter what, we still need to maintain a friendly working relationship, right?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Then it’s settled. I’ll go with you tomorrow and I don’t want you to worry about a thing. All right?”

  Reluctantly she nodded.

  “Good. Now I hope you ladies enjoy your day.”

  He smiled as he quickly walked out of the kitchen, not giving her the chance to say anything.

  Mark looked at the sporty SUV and then at Alli. He raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure this is the vehicle you want?”

  She smiled brightly. “Yes, I’m sure. Erika and I saw it yesterday and the man was nice enough to let me give it a test drive and I love it. I know it doesn’t look like me but this is what I want.”

  She was right. It didn’t look like her. He hadn’t pegged her as the sports-utility-vehicle type. She looked like someone who would drive a car similar to the one she had now—a low-key four-door sedan. The vehicle she had selected, with its leather seats, sunroof, state-of-the-art sound system, just to name a few of the features, was definitely sporty.

  Sighing, he turned to the salesman who’d been waiting patiently. “This is the one she’ll take. And I want you to work up the best deal along with the best payment terms. Understand?”

  The man smiled eagerly. “Yes, Mr. Hartman. Mr. Cross said you were a personal friend of his and to make sure we take care of you right.”

  Mark nodded. He and Stan Cross had gone to high school together and Mark had been glad when Alli had mentioned the vehicle she wanted was at this particular dealership. “Now we have two reasons to celebrate and I would like to invite you to dine with me and Erika at the Royal Diner.”

  “I thought you and Erika ate at the Royal Diner yesterday,” she said, placing Erika back into the stroller. Alli had stayed at her own house last night to do some more packing, and had been glad to see Erika when she had arrived at the ranch this morning. And although she didn’t want to admit it, she had been glad to see Mark as well.

  “No matter how often you eat there, the food is always good,” Mark said grinning. “So how about it? After spending so much fun time with you, I believe Erika is beginning to peg me as a bore. Whenever I look after her, she goes to bed early.”

  Alli held his gaze and her pulse quickened at the teasing warmth she saw in his hazel eyes. She would love go to out to eat with him and Erika but she didn’t want to cause problems regarding their working relationship. “Are you sure it will be okay if we were to go to dinner together?”

  Mark nodded. A part of him regretted he’d ever had that conversation with her. “Yes, I’m sure. So how about if we finalize the paperwork for your new vehicle and then we can meet up at the diner?”

  Alli smiled. “All right.”

  The tinkle of the little gold bell that hung over the entrance door of the Royal Diner signaled Alli’s arrival. The diner was your typical family café that didn’t serve alcoholic beverages. The waitresses wore pink short-sleeve polyester dresses with well-above-the-knee hems and tailored collars and small white aprons.

  The diner wasn’t the best-looking place in town, with its worn and cracked dull-gray linoleum floor and the faded red plastic booth seats, as well a
s the scratched chrome strips that edged the tabletops, but the food—thanks to a cook by the name of Manny Reno—was mouthwateringly delicious.

  Alli could almost smell his famous coconut-cream pie the moment she walked through the door. She glanced around and saw Mark waving to get her attention. She couldn’t help but grin when she saw Erika following her uncle’s lead and waving as well. Alli made her way around the long Formica counter toward the booth in the back.

  The jukebox was playing a Ray Charles tune and, as expected, the diner was packed. It seemed that regardless of whether you were rich or poor, the Royal Diner was the place to be on Saturday evening and Manny’s sinfully juicy hamburgers and coconut-cream pie were the hot items on the menu.

  As Alli glanced across the room at Mark, she thought he was hot off the menu. She may not know a lot about the intimacies men and women shared, but she could recognize sexual tension and it seemed that whenever the two of them were together the air was full of it.

  Every time she saw him, no matter the time or the place, she was reminded of their kiss, the feel of his mouth on hers, and how she had returned the kiss with everything she had, becoming rocked by sensations that still flooded her.

  And she was frightened by them.

  She didn’t want to think about what might happen if those sensations continued to consume her. Now that she and Mark had had their talk, she wanted to do the right thing, which meant she needed to stop thinking about the one time they had made a mistake, as he’d put it, and crossed over boundaries that they shouldn’t have.

  Mark stood when she reached the booth. “Sorry, I’m late but I wanted to cruise awhile and try out everything,” she said taking the seat across from him. Erika was sitting in a toddler seat next to Mark.

  Mark sat back down and grinned. “And how does it drive?”

  She gave him a cheeky smile. “Like a charm. I love it and it’s so easy to maneuver. I can’t wait for Kara to see it.”

  He smiled at her. “When will she be home?”

  “I’m hoping next weekend. She’s carrying a full load this semester and has a lot of studying to do.” A few moments later she said, “I miss her.”

  Mark leaned back in his seat. He knew how close Alli and her sister were. “I may not have ever told you this, Alli, but I think you did a remarkable job raising her. I’m sure it wasn’t easy.”

  “No,” she agreed, “it wasn’t. But if I had it to do all over again, I would. Kara was such a swell kid, but that didn’t mean we didn’t have our moments,” she said grinning. “I thought I would never talk her out of getting her nose pierced.” Alli didn’t want to think of what could turn out to be her next crisis with Kara. Alli couldn’t wait until she talked to Kara tomorrow to see how her date with the hottie had gone. “But I can’t see Erika ever getting her nose pierced, do you?” she asked teasingly as she put thoughts of Kara from her mind.

  Mark’s eyes flashed with amusement as he glanced over at Erika, who was busy playing with a toy one of the waitresses had given her. “No, but I wonder what the fad is going to be when Erika reaches her teen years.”

  “Trust me, you don’t want to know,” Alli said chuckling.

  Mark laughed. “You’re probably right. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

  Alli’s heartbeat quickened. He had said it as though he expected her to be around during that time. Did he think she would still be working for him then? She didn’t have time to ponder that question when a waitress walked up to take their order.

  “Good afternoon, everyone.”

  Alli looked at the attractive waitress with the golden-blond hair and periwinkle-blue eyes who handed them plastic-coated menus. “Hello.”

  When the woman leaned over to fill their glasses with water, Alli noticed that a pendant that had been tucked inside her dress slipped out. Alli thought the piece of jewelry, a heart that was etched with two intertwining roses, was simply beautiful. When the waitress walked off, Alli couldn’t help wondering if the pendant had sentimental value like the one she was wearing, which had belonged to her mother.

  “Gavin has a thing for her.”

  Mark’s words jarred her attention. “For who?”

  He smiled. “Our waitress. Her name is Valerie Raines and she arrived in town a few months ago. Gavin has a thing for her.”

  Alli lifted an arched eyebrow. “Sheriff Gavin O’Neal?”

  Mark chuckled. “Yes. He makes sure he comes here every night for coffee. Before she arrived in town he didn’t consume it as much as he does now.” He chuckled again. “If he’s not careful he might be headed for an addiction of another kind.”

  Alli nodded. She wondered if there was a particular woman out there that Mark had a thing for. She was well aware that he dated occasionally since she often screened the phone calls he received at the studio. He’d been known to date a number of gorgeous women and just last year his name had been linked to a senator’s daughter. But all that had changed after he’d gotten Erika. His social life had practically become nonexistent.

  “Do you have any idea what you want to order?”

  She looked up from the menu. “I think I’ll get a hamburger, a peach milkshake and for dessert, a slice of Manny’s coconut-cream pie.”

  Mark set aside his menu. “I think I’m going to have the same.”

  “I think we wore her out,” Mark said as he entered his home with a sleeping Erika in his arms.

  “Hmm, it seems that way doesn’t it? I think the circus did it.”

  As they were leaving the diner, Manny had called Mark over and given him tickets to the circus that was in Midland. Since Midland wasn’t too far away, Mark thought it would be the perfect opportunity to put Alli’s SUV on the road to break it in.

  Instead of leaving his truck at the diner, he had left it in the Cattleman’s Club parking lot. It was the first time Mark had been a passenger while Alli was a driver. On the way back, he had done the driving and had made a number of positive comments on how impressed he was with the way she had handled her new vehicle.

  “Let me get her ready for bed,” Alli said, taking Erika out of his arms. They touched in the process and the sexual tension that had been humming between them all evening increased.

  “Do you need help with her?” Mark asked throatily, hoping Alli would say no. He needed to put distance between them to get his bearings. The conversation during the drive to and from Midland had been enjoyable, but he had been fully aware of the chemistry that stirred whenever they were together, and being in such close quarters hadn’t helped. The spark he’d felt just now when she had taken Erika from him was almost too much.

  “No, I can handle her all by myself,” Alli said, cradling the sleeping baby in her arms. “Thanks for going with me to pick up my truck and thanks, too, for dinner and the circus. I had a wonderful time.”

  He nodded. “And I had a good time, too.”

  He wouldn’t admit that he had spent most of his time watching her. As usual, she looked good and the skirt and blouse she was wearing emphasized her curves to perfection. The hem of the skirt was short enough to show off what he considered the best-looking legs he’d ever seen on a woman. He hated admitting it, but during the entire evening his mind had been filled with erotic fantasies of those legs wrapped around him while they made love. To his chagrin and dismay, he had been thinking about that a lot lately. Despite his effort, the fact that she was his employee was slowly fading to the background.

  “Good night, Mark. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Good night, Alli. I’ll see you in the morning as well. “

  As soon as she entered Erika’s bedroom and closed the door, he quickly moved down the hallway, desperately needing the privacy and seclusion that he would find in his own bedroom.

  Mark couldn’t sleep. He had tried counting sheep, pigs, cattle and even little lambs, and nothing did the trick. It didn’t help matters that earlier he had heard the sound of the shower in Alli’s room again, and those visions
that had played havoc on his mind two nights ago came storming back. At least the house was quiet, which meant she had settled down and one of them was getting some sleep.

  But it seemed that sleep wasn’t coming his way. He was sentenced to lie in bed wide awake and fight this overpowering physical attraction that he felt for her. Physical attraction, hell! What he was beginning to feel was need, deep-in-the-gut need that a man felt for a woman he wanted. Alli was intensely woman, seductively female. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t ignore the way his body, his entire being, was craving another taste of her. It didn’t take much to remember the feel of her mouth beneath his, soft, hot, delicious, and the texture of her skin, smooth and creamy, whenever he touched her. Then there had been the feel of her breasts, lush and firm, when they had pressed up against his chest. And last but not least, there was something about her smile. He was inherently drawn to it. The one she gave Erika was different than the one she gave him, which wasn’t as easy and open, but nevertheless, it did things to him.

  He changed positions and tried rearranging his pillows. Tomorrow was Sunday and with Alli in the house to take care of Erika, he would get to sleep late. But a part of him didn’t want to sleep late. He wanted to get up and see Erika and Alli, have breakfast with them and spend time with them.

  He didn’t want to admit it but he had enjoyed their company today, and Alli’s presence had been like a breath of fresh air. Unlike other women he’d dated, she didn’t try to impress him. She had been able to make an impact by merely being herself.

  Seeing that sleep was impossible, he got out of bed, slipped into his pajama bottoms and decided to go into the kitchen to get something to drink.

  Alli couldn’t sleep and decided to get up to check on Erika. She was easing out of the baby’s room, closing the door behind herself, when she stopped, the cool wood floor beneath her bare feet suddenly feeling warm. She tensed, abruptly turned and her gaze collided with Mark’s as he walked out of his bedroom.