Designed for Love (10 page)

Merging with traffic on the highway, I
remembered what it was about Florida
I didn't like– the constant flow of traffic. It didn't seem to matter what time
of day. Like rush hour at home only continuous. It was worse today than
yesterday. I picked up my speed and watched for the exit. I never much liked
driving on freeways, especially when I didn't know the area. If I had talked to
Nick personally, I would have asked for an alternate route. Oh, well, not much
I could do. I braked as the flow of traffic almost came to a stop.

Another reason I avoided highways– I
hated traffic jams. I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel as we crawled
along.

Finally, it started moving again. It
figured, a fender-bender on the side of the road, and everyone had to gawk.
Thank goodness, my exit was next. I pulled into the exit only lane and slowed
down to get off. Right turn if memory served me correctly. If not, I was in big
trouble. Why hadn't I thought to write down the directions? I wasn't usually so
impatient. Okay, it should be on the left about a half mile down the road.

"Good deal, there it is." My
voice startled me. Great, now I was talking to myself. I shook my head. What a
ditz. I pulled into the parking lot and found a spot. Okay, here goes nothing.
I took a deep breath and opened the car door. Hopefully, Nick wouldn't mention
anything about last night.

The hostess smiled at me when I walked
in. "I'm with the Donatello party." I said.

"Ah, yes. They're already here.
Follow me, please."

I spotted Nick and Gladys. "Thank
you," I said when the hostess stopped next to their table.

Nick stood up and pulled out my chair.
"Wendy, how are you today?"

Nothing, no hint at all of our dinner or
the pass he made. "I'm fine, thanks." I sat down and pulled my chair
closer to the table.

"Mrs. Gilmore, how are you?"

"Call me Gladys, dear." Gladys
waved her hand and took a sip of her drink.

I thought Gladys's chair seemed a little
close to Nick's. I also noticed a place setting with a drink in front of the
fourth chair. Before I had a chance to ask about it, Bill walked toward us from
the back of the restaurant. Heat crawled into my cheeks. What was he doing
here?

He stopped next to me and seemed just as
surprised to see me. What was going on here? How did Nick or Gladys know Bill?

"Ah, good you're back. Wendy this is
William Johnson, the architect we hired," Nick said.

Bill worked for Nick? This was too much.
Bill recovered quicker than me. He leaned down and kissed me full on the lips.
The vibration from the small chuckle deep in his throat tickled me.

"Don't tell me this is the Bill you
talked about last night?" Nick leaned back and laughed. "I had no
idea."

"Whatever are you talking
about?" Gladys covered Nick's hand with hers and leaned closer to him.

So close, she'd be in his lap in a
minute.

Nick brought Gladys's hand up to his
mouth and brushed his lips across it. "It seems Wendy and Bill already
know each other. Very well, if I recall."

I winced at the look Nick threw me over
the top of Gladys's hand. Too knowing, too something, I wasn't sure what. Talk
about coincidences. What were the chances? If I was a betting woman, I would
bet the odds of this happening were a million to one. From the chance meeting
at the airport to Bill being in the next room, now this, no way would I have
believed it. Nope, not in a hundred years.

Bill put his arm around me and nibbled my
ear. Shock waves sped through my body starting at my toes. Lord, I was never
going to survive these meetings. Not with Bill doing things like that to me,
and there was no way to stop him. After all, I was almost engaged to him in my
boss's eyes. Still, I couldn't keep from stiffening just a bit under his touch.

"Relax," Bill whispered.
"We have to make this look realistic, don't we?"

I pulled a small distance away from Bill
and smiled at him. A smile I hoped projected love.

What I felt like doing was gritting my
teeth and knocking him off his chair. How dare he take advantage of the
situation like this? He didn't have to be that attentive. When he put his hand
on my thigh, it was too much. Definitely going overboard. I lowered my hand on
top of his and dug my nails into him. That ought to let him know he'd gone too
far.

Instead he took his hand off my thigh and
caressed my neck. My blood raced with the heat of it. Better I would have left
his hand where it was. The way he ran his fingers along my neck and across my
ear, drove me insane.

I couldn't control the shiver that went
up my spine. I leaned forward, trying to prevent the tremor that shook my whole
body. I closed my eyes and had a sudden vision of his hands all over me,
caressing me, driving me wild with desire. I picked up my napkin and fanned
myself.

Finally, I stood. "Excuse me."
Without another word, I hurried off to the ladies room as fast as my trembling
legs could carry me. This wasn't going well.

Not at all what I planned.

Once inside the ladies room, I leaned
against the door and let out a breath. How the hell was I going to handle
lunch, not to mention dinner? Somehow, I had to get the message across to Bill
that he was coming on too strong and to cool down.

He didn't need to benefit from our little
charade, and I had no doubt he was enjoying himself immensely. That silly,
little grin, every time I looked at him, gave him away. Oh, yeah, he was
thoroughly enjoying himself.

He took pleasure in seeing me squirm. If
you asked me, that certainly was payment enough, and I intended to tell him so.

Yet, his touch didn't exactly repulse me.
Ha, repulse was the farthest thing his touch did to me. Finally calmed down, I
freshened up and returned to the table feeling a bit more confident. I'd endure
Bill's antics and maybe even enjoy them a little. Okay, more than a little. For
whatever it was worth, I had no doubt that Nick bought my story hook, line and
sinker.

I leaned down and kissed Bill's cheek
when I got back. Two could play the same game. "Miss me?" I almost
burst out laughing at the surprised look on Bill's face. I'd just turn the
tables on him and show him who was boss.

"I ordered you a cola, is that
okay?"

"You got it, sweetie." Thank
goodness we spent enough time together for him to know that was my drink of
choice. Sure, I had an occasional alcoholic drink, but not often, and certainly
not when I was working, which hadn't been mentioned yet. From the looks of Nick
and Gladys, it just might not be brought up.

The woman couldn't seem to keep her hands
off Nick. Not that he seemed to mind. Mind, hell, Nick was eating it up. Didn't
seem to matter to him in the least, that the woman was almost double his age.
Okay, not double, but she had to be in her mid forties and Nick was only
thirty-four, maybe thirty-five. Attractive, though Gladys was, I found their
display rather disgusting. The woman actually licked his ear. It took every bit
of control I could muster to keep from gagging. Didn't matter how old either of
them were, they were going overboard in public for any age.

"So, Gladys, I thought we settled on
everything for your living room." I said. Time to get her to focus on
business. They could get a room later for all I cared. Right now I'd seen
enough.

Gladys didn't even look up. She moved
from Nick's ear to his chin. Probably working her way to his mouth. I shot Bill
a look to see how he was handling this disgusting display. His grin said it
all– looks like they're having fun. Ugh, men. I couldn't believe it.

"Nick!" I tried to get his
attention. Damn it, this was supposed to be a working lunch. I'd never get home
at this rate.

"What?" Nick pulled away from
Gladys long enough to look at me.

"I said, I thought we'd settled
everything before Gladys left." Try as I might, I couldn't keep the
impatience out of my voice.

The look on Nick's face scolded me. I
knew better than to speak that way in front of a client. Not that Gladys seemed
to notice, she was still focused on Nick. She darn near sat on his lap.

Nick rubbed Gladys back and looked like
he wanted to eat her alive. Why the hell didn't they get a room? I shifted in
my chair and looked at Bill for help. Not that he seemed willing to offer any.
Traitor. I glared at him.

I looked around the restaurant. Did
anyone else notice Nick and Gladys? Apparently not. Fortunately, our table was
off in the corner, and no one else was really around us.

Figures, Nick would ask for an isolated
spot. He had done the same thing with me last night. I held back a giggle as I
thought about what he wanted from me. Was the man insane? Surely he couldn't
have expected me to put on this kind of a show in a public place. Could he?
From the looks of them, he certainly didn't seem to think there was anything
wrong with it.

Finally, the waiter brought our drinks.
"Are you ready to order?"

Order, ha, all I wanted was to get out of
here. If they weren't going to discuss business, I saw no reason to stay.

Could I feign illness? Better not. Okay,
I'd suffer through it and hope we got around to business eventually. Surely
Bill didn't want to sit here and watch them either. One look at him, told me he
understood, but we were in it for the long haul.

I decided on the chicken scampi with a
side salad and ranch dressing. The delicious smell of grilled onions, garlic,
and tomato sauce made me hungry. Bill ordered the Shrimp Primavera, my second
choice. I didn't pay attention to anyone else's order because Bill started
massaging my neck and sent my emotions sky rocketing.

"Loosen up, you're too tense,"
he whispered in my ear. "Try to relax and enjoy yourself. There's plenty
of time for business later."

The massage helped to relax me, but it
didn't stop me from being annoyed that we weren't discussing business. I wanted
to get this over with, wanted to go home. And I sure as hell didn't want to sit
here watching Gladys and Nick making out with each other.

Where were that woman's morals anyway?
Was she that desperate for a man in her life? I knew Mr. Gilmore died a little
more than a year ago. Was she that lonely? If so, why didn't she join a singles
group? Better yet a senior's single group. With all the elderly men here in Florida, surely she
could find someone closer to her own age.

"To each his own," Bill
whispered as if he read my thoughts.

"I know, but I just can't help
it."

"Not jealous, are you?" Bill
grinned at me.

"Are you serious? Of what?"

"From what I understand that could
be you instead of Gladys."

I chuckled. Lord almighty, that's all I
would have needed. No thanks. I grinned back at Bill. "And if I was, would
that mean you'd be the object of Gladys's affection? Maybe you're
jealous."

Bill laughed– a big hearty laugh that
caused Nick and Gladys to look up. At least something broke their
concentration.

"Care to share that with us,
Johnson?" Nick asked.

Heat flamed in my cheeks.

"Sorry, private joke." Bill
leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Play along with me here."

I pasted a smile on my face. I hated the
whole idea of Bill posing as my boyfriend. Okay, so it was my idea, but still.
Bill slid his hand around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him, and darn
near pulled me off the chair.

His thigh brushed against mine and the
smoldering heat started in the pit of my stomach and spread outwards. Crap, I
wasn't handling this well. Try as I might to resist, my body betrayed me.

I wanted him. Wanted him like I'd never
wanted a man before. I couldn't control the urge to touch him. I dropped my
hand to his thigh and rubbed gently. I wanted to feel bare skin against my
thigh, not pants. The look on Bill's face showed his surprise at my action.
Surprise, but pleasure.

God, what was I doing? I pulled my hand
away as if I stuck it in a fire pit, and it was on fire. Hell, it was. My whole
body was.

I wanted him. Wanted his hands all over
me. I had to put a stop to this. "Excuse me, ladies room." Before Bill
or Nick could stand, I hurried off. I didn't like this. What the hell was wrong
with me? Never, ever had a man turned me on like this.

I flew into the ladies room, washed my
hands, and sat down on the couch to catch my breath. I needed to take stock of this
situation. I was way too attracted to Bill. A dangerous situation in itself.
The fact that we both worked for Nick didn't help. No way to avoid him. I had
to put him off. But how? The way I reacted to him sure didn't help. What
possessed me to put my hand on his thigh that way?

Felt darn good, too. His muscular leg
tightened under my touch. Bet something else tightened too. I giggled. What was
the matter with me? I was enjoying this way too much. Damn it, I wasn't a
tease. But I was definitely sending signals to Bill.

Signals I didn't want to send. I had no
intention of acting on this physical attraction. And that's all it was. Purely
physical. Sure, I enjoyed his company and conversation, but this couldn't go
anywhere. Nope, this had to stop and now.