Annie rolled her eyes and rose. “Enough of this nonsense. Time to get to work. Are you coming?” she asked Helen.
Helen pushed out of her chair.
“You’re going somewhere?” Nick asked.
“Just over to Annie’s Attic.”
He whistled. “Does Luke DeVries know he’s going to get lucky tonight?”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Helen warned him. “It’s only the second date.”
And before Nick could think of some zinger to irritate her, Helen made her escape.
Annie’s Attic was on the Damen Avenue side of the triangular building, right below Nick’s business. Helen gazed at the front window—Annie was famous for her sexy displays of her product. Today, her mannequin couple stood on what looked like a darkened elevated platform, the man behind the woman. He was pressing himself up against her and her low-rise jeans and half-open blouse revealed glimpses of jewel-tone undergarments.
Uh-oh, what had Annie and Nate been up to lately? Helen wondered, knowing the window often followed their sexual exploits.
She followed her friend into the store, a deep rose cave whose corners were draped with gold-shot cream swaths cascading from rings on the ceiling. Midnight-blue and vanilla-cream satin sheets filled the shelves on one wall, bottles and pots of potions and creams the other. She stopped to check out the racks of teddies and other delicate garments in jewel tones like those in the display. But she’d seen all these before.
“So what’s new in the store?” Helen asked.
“Mood underwear,” Annie told her, indicating another display. “The material starts out in one of these nice pastel colors, but if you get…well…in the mood…it becomes transparent so it looks like you’re nude.”
Did she dare? Helen wondered. Second date, second stage. Nearly anything went. Or would with Luke in charge. He had a creative style that she couldn’t resist. And why should she? Their fling would be over soon enough. She considered the mood underwear. He’d play within her rules, but he would drive her crazy.
And she would love it and want more.
Her turn to have the upper hand, she thought. She could only imagine Luke’s reaction if she allowed him to get far enough to see these flimsy garments.
Or not see them, as the case may be.
Contemplating the consequences was delicious, Helen admitted.
And highly irresistible.
SEEING HELEN in a different light the night before had Luke in a mood. He hadn’t slept well, but not because he’d been horny. Once he’d backed off on the fantasy, his sexual excitement had faded fast, replaced by more serious considerations. Serious considerations about Helen Rhodes.
Ridiculous. He hardly knew the woman. Hadn’t even slept with her yet. So what was his deal? What was making him stop and think about her at odd moments in the day when he should have been totally focused on his grand opening?
He looked around the office guiltily, as if someone would be watching him and realize he hadn’t been working. Thankfully, he was alone for the moment.
Except for Helen-in-his-head, of course.
Why did he want to climb inside her head?
She was a real knockout on the outside and, despite a sometimes prickly nature, equally lovely on the inside. She was passionate, but she was also vulnerable, and as much as he liked the idea of making love to Helen, he wasn’t sure he liked the idea of being vulnerable. He’d always opted for safe, never staying in one place long enough to do damage, and he wasn’t about to start taking chances now.
But he didn’t want to avoid Helen.
And what kind of damage was he worried about? he asked himself. Was he actually afraid of hurting a woman who wore her ridiculous dating rules like a protective skin?
Or was he afraid that he would want more this time and she wouldn’t let him have it?
Luke recognized something of himself in Helen, something he didn’t usually think about. But he was thinking now, mostly about how he avoided relationships to avoid disappointment later. He was more than thinking about it, thanks to her. He’d taken a first step toward a relationship with Peggy. He’d actually called her and made plans to see the little sister he’d otherwise only remembered at Christmas and on her birthday.
Helen’s siblings didn’t even recognize her as being one of them. Their loss, as far as he was concerned. And he didn’t want Peggy to feel abandoned as Helen did.
But Helen had friends in plenty, and maybe that drew him to her, as well. He wanted to know the secret of her success in that department—having people stick around because they really liked her, not because she provided them with a job or service. He was woefully lacking in that department. His father’s military career had made it impossible for him to keep up long-term friendships, and he’d never learned how.
“Photo op time,” Flash said as she swung into the office, startling Luke to sit up straight and take notice.
“Here? Now?” he asked.
“Tonight.” The woman’s red hair practically sizzled with electricity when she said, “A political fund-raiser for the mayor,” as though it were some fabulous opportunity.
“How in the world do you get that’ll be a photo op for us?” Luke wanted to know.
Not that he was interested. Not tonight.
Flash parked herself on the edge of his desk and crossed one shapely leg over the other. “Everyone who is anyone will be there.”
“Except for me.”
“No, no, you have to be there. I was planning on picking you up at nine. The party starts at eight so we’ll be fashionably late—”
“Or would be if I didn’t have other plans.”
A statement that stopped her dead in her tracks. Her eyebrows shot up. “Other plans? Doing what, may I ask? No one told me.”
“I didn’t think I had to check with you before going out with a friend.”
“A date?” She pronounced the word with contempt. “You’ve got to be kidding. We’re opening on Sunday. That’s forty-eight hours from now.”
“No one is more aware of that than I am, Flash.”
But he’d been living and breathing business for so long that he was getting sick of it being his whole life.
“Then what are you thinking? You need as much exposure as possible to make this new venue a success.”
“We both know how grueling the opening will be.”
But going to a political fund-raiser or a fund-raiser of any kind wasn’t going to get him the customers who would be drawn to his business. What was Flash thinking? She was seriously bent out of shape. For a moment, Luke wondered if she had plans for herself that required her to be at that fund-raiser. If so, he wouldn’t stand in her way.
“If you think you can work this party to our benefit, be my guest,” Luke said. “But, personally, I need a break. I need some downtime.”
What he needed was Helen, not that he would say that to his public relations director.
“I know you’re a man and you need certain…distractions,” Flash said with forced good humor, “but this is not the time to go gooey-eyed over some blond airhead.”
So Flash knew he was seeing Helen. He hadn’t been aware that she’d noticed.
“Helen Rhodes is no airhead,” he said, keeping his temper in check. “Don’t underestimate her.”
“Don’t you underestimate her, Luke. She staged that protest, remember. How do you know she isn’t using you? She’s probably seeing you to get information to ruin the Hot Zone opening.”
“The subject is closed,” Luke said, trying to ignore his irritation.
Flash slid off his desk. “Not as far as I’m concerned, it’s not.”
“Who I choose to see privately is no concern of yours.”
“Hot Zone is my concern,” she argued. “It’s my priority and it should be yours, as well.”
“Get off my back!” Luke finally snapped.
Flash went pale and her eyes rounded. Apparently she got the message, because she didn�
�t continue the argument. Instead, she turned on her spiked heel and stormed toward the door and past a bemused Alexis, who apparently had been standing there for some time, taking it all in.
His assistant glanced back, as if to watch Flash for a moment.
“Convinced?” was all she murmured to him before going to her desk and getting to work.
Alexis had warned him about Flash’s proprietary attitude, but this was the first time Luke had experienced the seriousness of the problem for himself.
HELEN FELT like she’d tried on every possible item in her wardrobe before settling on a sari skirt that hung low on her hips—a gold-shot patchwork of magenta and teal—and an embroidered teal silk top that stopped just below her breasts. Both wrists were heavy with bracelets—some inset with sparkling gemstones—that jangled when she walked.
Her goal was to look like a prettily wrapped present that Luke couldn’t resist unwrapping….
She was just slipping into a pair of strappy sandals when her doorbell rang. Her pulse shot up and warmth flushed her face. Grabbing her bag—a sparkly little number that didn’t hold much more than her lipstick, keys and ID—she raced down to the first floor.
The bell rang again and she forced herself to slow down, to take a moment to compose herself so that she wouldn’t look so eager. Feeling more in control, she opened the door.
One look at Luke, however, and Helen’s insides flew out of control. Dressed in khaki pants and a white knit T-shirt topped with a navy blue sports jacket, a Rolex around one wrist, Luke was so gorgeously GQ that it almost hurt to look at him.
“Wow!” she gasped at the same time his eyebrows shot up and his lips puckered into an admiring whistle.
Helen laughed.
“What’s so funny, darlin’?”
“Us. We’re a regular mutual admiration society.”
They stood there, staring at each other for a moment, the connection between them thick with a tension that Helen couldn’t put to anything but pure lust.
If it weren’t for Nick’s video they wouldn’t be going anywhere.
“We’d better get going,” she murmured, pulling the door shut behind her and locking it before she could weaken further.
When she turned, it was to see a cell phone in Luke’s hand.
“I walked over here. Didn’t want to drink and drive, so I thought a taxi was in order.”
“To go four blocks? We can walk it in ten minutes.”
“If that’s your pleasure…” He tucked the cell into an inner pocket of his suit jacket.
“We’ll get back to the pleasure part later,” Helen murmured as she glided past him.
“Promise?”
BUMPER-TO-BUMPER cars lined this stretch of Milwaukee Avenue, their drivers searching for those elusive parking spaces. Most of the shops were closed, but the ones that were still open—an ear-piercing and tattooing parlor, and a comic-book store along with the restaurants and bars—were all overflowing with customers. And the closer they got to Club Undercover, the more the sidewalk became crowded with people.
He’d chosen the right neighborhood, Luke thought, knowing foot traffic would bring him enough customers to make this newest Hot Zone a success. He looked around at the people on the street, from young men and women of various means holding hands or flirting with each other…to an older man and younger woman alighting from a limo…to the homeless Streetwise vendor hawking his newspaper to people with more guilt than money to burn.
Aware of the woman at his side, Luke decided he’d chosen the right neighborhood because it was also hers.
He slid a hand around Helen’s waist, his fingers meeting bare flesh above the low-hung skirt. She glanced up at him with a smile on her lips and a yearning in her gaze, and for a moment he forgot to breathe.
“We’re here,” she said, passing through the cave-like opening to stairs that led to the subterranean-level entrance. “Nick said to enter from the VIP door.”
“Ah, I love a woman with clout.”
A bouncer guarded the door. Probably six-five, head shaved, coffee skin glowing with the humidity, he was a force to be reckoned with. But when they approached, his dark face immediately lit with an easy smile.
“Hey, good to see you, baby,” he said to Helen.
“You, too, Par-Tee. I hope Nick left my name on your list.”
“Even if he didn’t, you know I would let you in.”
He opened the door, and with a flourish of his meaty hand, bade them enter.
Luke couldn’t help but feel as if the man’s intent gaze was glued to him, as if he were silently commanding him to do right by the woman he was accompanying.
Or maybe his imagination was running away with him, Luke thought, as he followed her inside and past the bar where a waitress in a sparkly blue dress lifted a tray of drinks.
Helen’s friends were already there, gathered around a table front and center. And suddenly Luke’s mouth went dry and his palms felt wet with sweat, and he only half heard the introductions.
“…Nick Novak, our host, and his lady, Isabel Grayson…and you know Annie Wilder, of course…her fiancé, Nate Bishop…”
Was he imagining it, or were they all staring at him, taking his measure, making sure he was good enough for their Helen, just as Par-Tee had.
That’s what real friends did, he thought. They circled the wagons and protected each other’s back when trouble was on the horizon.
All through the introductions, through the opening and pouring of champagne, through the toasts to Nick, Luke smiled and nodded and felt utterly removed.
The outsider pretending to fit in.
“NOT MANY MEN could get Helen all atwitter the way you have,” Nick told Luke as he refilled champagne glasses.
And Helen silently vowed to make her friend suffer for his evil ways.
“Atwitter?” Luke asked, sounding like a hollow version of himself.
“Revved up. Count yourself as the first man she’s ever picketed.”
“Oh, that.”
“What did you think I meant?” Nick asked, his expression a study in innocence.
“Nicky, honey, I don’t think he understands your…uh…brand of humor,” Isabel said.
“He’ll get used to it,” Nick promised. “He has to if he’s going to be around Helen and me.”
Isabel nodded. “True.”
And then to Luke he said, “Helen’s obviously reconsidered her opinion about the owner of Hot Zone, so we all will, too.”
“Hear! Hear!” Annie said, grinning from ear to ear.
And Helen hoped that was it. If her friends made Luke too uncomfortable, they might scare him off. After all, it wasn’t like they were in a relationship.
“Just know that we’re all behind Helen,” Nate injected, his expression serious. “Though if you passed muster with Helen without having to go through fire…well, you’re a lucky man.”
Nate’s expression was far too serious for the occasion, and his obvious concern made Helen’s cheeks grow warm. She’d given Nate such a hard time when he’d been pursuing Annie. Her suspicious nature had questioned his every move, and Annie had eventually picked up on it. The couple was solid now, and Nate didn’t hold anything against her, thank goodness.
Suddenly the deejay’s voice blasted over the speakers. “‘Yours Forever’ Enrique Iglesias, and new video footage by our own Nick Novak.”
At their table, Nick raised his glass and said, “Here we go. This new video is dedicated to the woman I love. To you, Isabel, sweetheart.”
“What? Nick, why didn’t you say something before this?”
The normally cool-looking blonde flushed at Nick’s words, but Helen could see that Isabel was pleased. And why not when the man she loved had done something so special for her?
“Because I wanted to surprise you.” Nick gave her a quick kiss.
“To Isabel,” everyone toasted as the lights lowered and the romantic song oozed through the airwaves. A close-up of Isabel’s face fad
ed in on the large screen behind the crowded dance floor, as well as on the monitors scattered throughout the club.
Normally Nick compiled and computerized video images that he’d shot around the city, images that could be run at random by computer behind any number of songs that didn’t already have a dance video. But Helen knew that this project was special and that he’d synched the footage with this specific song. She saw him reach for Isabel’s hand, saw the look they exchanged, saw Nick’s homage to his lady.
Across the table, Nate was sliding a hand out of sight. Knowing that he and Annie delighted in taking chances, in “playing” in public, Helen quickly looked away only to be caught by Luke’s gaze.
They stared at each other, and for a moment she wondered what was off. Then his gaze softened and seared her and she felt herself flush.
As she turned her attention back to the video and the images that made her ache with something she couldn’t define, Luke’s hand lightly grasped hers. Helen swallowed hard and gave him a quick squeeze in return. His fingers nudged at hers and she opened them so they could thread together.
For once she didn’t feel like a fifth wheel.
So why did that scare her so?
SHE CHOSE A SPOT where she could see the entrance, but where someone arriving would have to know she was there to spot her. Then she settled down to wait for Luke to arrive. But as fifteen minutes stretched into twenty and forty and then nearly an hour, and she began to wonder if they meant to show at all, her patience dwindled to nothing.
What they might be doing instead of clubbing didn’t bear consideration. She wasn’t going to drive herself crazy with thoughts of Luke having sex with that woman.
At least sexual satisfaction would be all their joining would mean to him, she thought smugly. He’d had enough women over the years, but none of them had ever lasted. Not like she had. She tried to take comfort in that.
Impatiently, she checked her watch.
Nearly an hour and a half now. Damn! She was wasting her time.
But then, just as she was about to get up and leave, she spotted them coming down the metal spiral staircase that led from the private VIP section to the dance floor.
Hot Zone Page 10
