Between The Sheets (6 page)

She smiled reassuringly. “I was really scared, but I knew my mom would come to get me. So I tried to remember exactly what she'd told me to do if I ever got lost. She'd said to find a policeman or someone with a name tag that worked close by. And she told me not to talk to strangers. Did your mom tell you something like that, too?”

He blinked, which April interpreted as a yes.

“Great. Well, since I'm a stranger, you don't have to talk to me, but how about if I ask one of the airport people with the name tags to call your mom and tell her where you are so she can come get you. I'll bet she's looking for you right now.”

He managed a small nod.

April kept smiling and stood, hoping to flag down a passing airport employee. She had no intention of leaving this little guy alone and wouldn't traumatize him any further by forcing him to leave his hiding place to go in search of help. She turned to find Rex right behind her.

“Oh, Rex. I'm glad you're here. Would you mind—”

“I'll take care of it,” he said, indicating that he'd overheard the exchange. He parked her roll-on beside her and headed back into the crowd.

“That's Mr. Rex,” she explained to her new charge.
“He's a friend of mine so he'll go get someone who can find your mom.”

The little guy kept his hands jammed tightly in his pockets but April noticed the
Star Wars
light saber attached to his belt. John's grandson had one like it, so she struck up a one-sided conversation about how she and little Joel liked to play Jedi knights.

She hadn't yet heard a page over the intercom system before a woman burst through the crowd. “Jake!”

One glimpse at the petite blonde and the little guy dissolved into tears. So did the panic-stricken mom.

Rex appeared a second later with an airport security officer and a man who was obviously the dad, judging by the two other towheaded children hanging on to him.

It turned out that Jake's family was on their way to a vacation in Hawaii—a fact corroborated by their matching Hawaiian shirts. While Jake was still too traumatized to smile, his mom and dad offered profuse thanks.

“Glad we could help,” April said, grabbing her roll-on bag, afraid to look at her watch because the chances of making their flight after this delay were slim. “You all have a nice time on your trip.”

She wasn't quite sure what she could say to Rex that might make up for causing so many delays, so she just held up the Pleasure Pearl and said lamely, “Got it.”

Turned out no explanation was necessary. Rex led her to the gate, explained the situation to the agent, grinned that killer grin and managed to make arrangements for the standby list on the next flight to Atlanta.

“We've got an hour to burn,” he said. “Let's get coffee.”

He didn't come out and say he needed a cup, but April got the distinct impression he did, especially when he stood at the counter and ordered five additional shots of espresso.

She had the most amazing effect on people. It was a gift.

After receiving her own decaf cappuccino—heaven knew
she
didn't need any caffeine—she sat across from him at a table, used a stirrer to swirl the foam and contemplated what she wanted to say. This morning had not gone according to plan. She'd needed to slip smoothly into this man's life, not convince him he'd been saddled with a total idiot for an assistant.

April knew she'd be okay if she could just get a grip on her nerves. Unfortunately, Rex Holt was exactly the kind of self-assured man who made her a nervous wreck. He was just too personable, too charming…. She should have stood up for herself and insisted that John send Sherry on this case.

“You handled that boy very well,” Rex said.

“Oh, thank you.” She glanced up into dark chocolate eyes that studied her curiously. “The poor little guy was terrified.”

Rex nodded and reached for his coffee. He had long, tanned fingers with neatly trimmed nails, and she followed them as he tipped the cup to his lips.

“Sorry we missed the flight,” she added.

“We have some breathing room.”

“Thankfully.”

She must have sounded too relieved because he arched a dark brow. “You don't go out on assignment often, do you, April?”

Definitely the last question she wanted from him. “Actually there's another assistant who does most of the out-of-house work, but she's…on maternity leave,” April lied, seeing a pregnant woman walk by and spouting the first thing that came to mind. “Why do you ask?”

He sat back in his chair. The grin was twitching around
his mouth and she was struck again by what a handsome man he was.

She
really
didn't need to be testing out her field skills in front of this man.

“You seem nervous,” he said. “I'm trying to figure out if it's you, me or the situation that's making you feel that way.”

He was much too gallant to come right out and say that it would be a long few weeks of working together if she couldn't relax. He didn't have to. April had known that from the instant she'd laid eyes on him.

“I assume all the responsibility,” she said with forced lightness. “I'm pretty high-strung on the best of days.”

“So you're okay with the logistics of us working together? I can get you a separate hotel room. We'll manage.”

She was so tempted to accept. The absolute last thing she needed was to be sharing a suite with this utterly attractive man. She'd never maintain her composure having conversations about the kinds of items that had been rolling all around the airport today.

But accepting Rex's offer wasn't even an option. She needed to be close to see what he was up to. She couldn't get much closer than sharing a suite.

Unless she was sharing his bed.

That thought appeared totally out of the blue and April squelched it as images of the broken vibrator and the leather restraints popped into her head. She had enough against her without letting her imagination run wild. “The logistics are fine, Rex, but thanks for the offer.”

He nodded and his hair caught the light overhead, drawing her attention to the glimmers of rich russet in brown hair not quite as dark as his eyes. Such an unusual color. Such an attractive color.

“You're okay with our topic of study?” he asked.

“Of course. What's not to like about dual-temperature vibrators and nipple clamps?”

He chuckled. “I'm going to take the Fifth. Given the responses we've gotten today, I'm hoping this isn't indicative of the consumers' reactions to all the lines. Amusement and shock don't translate into high-gross sales and I don't want to be called a dirty old man again.”

“Which part bothered you—the
dirty
part or the
old
part?”

Her question earned a full-fledged laugh and April felt the sound straight down to her toes, another example of the way this man was affecting her. And shouldn't be.

“Both.”

“Forget it. That guy had to have been blind. We look like businesspeople, certainly not a couple having a May–December romance. You're not old enough for one thing. And I'm not young enough.” She frowned before adding, “That's a dismal thought.”

He cocked that brow again, as though not quite willing to debate the point, and set his cup on the table. Leaning forward, he closed the distance between them. “I found your impromptu consumer study very interesting. We got some varied reactions.”

She only nodded, thinking him very gallant to find something positive in that debacle.

“We've got our work cut out for us trying to figure out how to market this product. If what I saw today was any indication, establishing a baseline about who'll be receptive to the sexier sheet sets isn't going to be easy. There was a middle-aged woman nearby who couldn't stop laughing. I'd have pegged her as the one to call me a pervert.”

“The guy who did the honors couldn't have been much older than you are. His younger girlfriend probably just left him.”

“I hope he didn't offend you.”

“At least he didn't call me old, but I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed.” That was saying something. April Accidentally was
very
familiar with embarrassment.

“I'm surprised you brought along the whole collection. The literature wasn't enough?”

“I suppose it would have been if I'd have thought about it. But I didn't want to forget anything so I just stuffed everything in my bags.”

“You'll do just fine on this job, April. Try to relax.”

She'd heard
that
before—from John just a few days ago, in fact. She forced a smile, but there was something about Rex, a perfect stranger—a
suspect,
for heaven's sake—making the effort to reassure her that touched April someplace deep inside.

As deep inside as Rex seemed to see with his melting dark eyes. He'd seen right through her to recognize she was completely nerved out about doing her job, even if he didn't know exactly what that job was.

It wasn't enough that this man was so gorgeous she couldn't forget she was a woman who would never have a normal relationship or a mind-blowing orgasm or a happily-ever-after. No. Rex Holt also had to be so nice that he made it difficult for her to remember that he was a suspect.

So she sipped her cappuccino as the million-dollar question roared through her head: just how was she supposed to conduct inside surveillance when observing the suspect made her think about what they could be doing between the sheets?

R
EX PLUGGED
the last surge protector into the wall outlet and stood back to survey his handiwork. He'd transformed the suite's formal dining area into a work center to rival his high-tech office in Chicago with an array of computers, peripherals and telephone/copy equipment.

He made it his practice to ship his office equipment ahead so it awaited his arrival in each scheduled city—a trick he made a mental note to share with his inexperienced new assistant before they moved on to Tampa. Given that she'd brought what must have been half her house to the airport today, she clearly didn't appreciate the terms
drop
and
ship.

Glancing at the closed bedroom door April had disappeared behind an hour before, he smiled. The suite at Atlanta's exclusive Bancroft Hotel seemed uncharacteristically homey today with its plush sitting room, spacious dining area and small kitchen where he could cook, a hobby he enjoyed whenever time permitted. No doubt the prospect of seducing a very lovely lady accounted for the change.

There would be a seduction—
if
he could figure out what was making her so nervous. She was wound way too tight and it was a problem he intended to make every effort to handle because he found April an interesting woman and a study in contrasts.

He liked her ability to laugh at herself. She'd blushed furiously while people had commented about her suitcase
of sex toys, yet she'd exhibited a calm, take-charge compassion that had managed to reassure a frightened child.

He'd wanted to know more about her and got her talking on the plane. She wasn't currently involved with anyone—a good thing—but given her hesitation to discuss her love life, he questioned whether her experience included casual affairs, which was all he could offer.

His mobile lifestyle made the logistics of conducting long-term relationships ugly at best, so he avoided them at all costs and contented himself with casual affairs when mood and time permitted, which definitely wasn't often enough. But he intended to go for it with April if she was interested.

The opening bedroom door dragged his attention to the lovely lady herself who appeared with a laptop case slung over a shoulder. She still wore her traveling clothes, jeans and a sweater, which alone was nothing more than a comfortable outfit. Yet on April, casual clothing clung to her every slim curve as though it had been poured on. The woolly pink sweater molded her full breasts in staggering detail.

“Wow! You've been busy.” She gave a low whistle, her gaze skimming over the equipment. “Got any room for me in here?”

She patted her laptop case absently, but there was nothing absent about the way Rex found himself taking in her appearance from the top of her soft brown hair to the tips of her manicured fingertips. His powers of observation were on in full force.

“Of course,” he said. “What have you got?”

Slipping the case from her shoulder, April deposited it on the table. “Just my laptop. You've got everything here. I won't need to use the business center downstairs for much.”

“I'll network you to my system so you can access all the equipment.”

“Great.” She moved around the table through the small pathway between the table and the desk, her gaze darting from scanner to laser printer to fax machine.

He watched her feet skim inattentively across the cable connecting his late-model system to the power supply and made another mental note to tape down the cable before his system wound up a pile of electrical circuitry on the floor.

Too late.

She snagged the cable. Rex saw the exact moment reflected in her face, in her mouth that formed a perfectly round
O.
She stumbled and reached for the table edge.

Grabbing the monitor before it went over, he had the wild thought that it might be safer on the floor beside the mini-tower, protected from the hotel sprinkler system and his whirlwind assistant. If he could just work lying down…

The keyboard went over in a clatter and April lunged for it, catching the cord in a spectacular save just before it hit the floor.

“Got it.” She heaved a relieved sigh when their gazes met across the table.

Her eyes reflected her emotions like a window and he recognized relief and embarrassment, not only in her face, but in the way she held herself frozen in midwince. A blush stole into her cheeks, a color that made her violet eyes seem even richer in hue, her skin even more translucent.

Something about her reaction suggested this wasn't the first time she'd dealt with such accidents and her look of inevitability brought Rex to his senses. Relinquishing his hold on the monitor, he plucked the keyboard from her grasp and returned it to the table.

“Nice catch.” He smiled.

His smile had an incredible effect. April exhaled a pent-
up breath, relaxed her primed-and-ready-for-disaster stance, and he realized then that she'd been awaiting his reaction, hadn't expected him to make light of the incident.

Rex couldn't say what it was about her relief that affected him, but it did.

Then with a light laugh, she breezed away and the moment passed. But not without leaving Rex with a few new insights. The first was that April was vulnerable behind that breezy laugh and her blushes, no matter how quickly she rebounded.

The second was that she had the most curious effect on him. Technically he shouldn't be feeling anything but relief that he wouldn't have to rush to an office supply store to replace his monitor. But segueing her through that uncomfortable moment made him feel ridiculously pleased with himself.

“Let's look at your laptop and get you set up,” he said. “This is top-of-the-line equipment. The Luxurious Bedding Company issued you this?”

She lifted those big violet eyes to him again and damned if his pulse didn't step up its beat.

“No. It's mine. I need an up-to-date system to conduct adoption searches.”

More unexpected information. “Your own?”

“Afraid not. I abandoned my search years ago. I was born in a sealed record state. The woman I'm helping out now has a real good chance of tracking down a birth sister. She's been waiting a long time and I'd rather not let the trail get cold. But my search won't interfere with my work. I promise.”

She seemed so earnest that Rex had no doubt she meant what she said. Leaning back against the table, he folded his arms across his chest and pursued the topic, curious. “You
couldn't locate your family, but you help other people find theirs?”

She nodded, her gaze flicking up to high beam. “I learned so much with my own search it seemed a shame not to put the knowledge to use. I've been active in my local adoption society ever since college.”

“Really?”

Really,
he soon discovered when she launched into a breathless tale of winding, often frustrating searches into the adoption system and how some states facilitated search efforts while others used legalities to thwart them entirely. She explained how luck could play a huge role in a search and how the outcomes weren't always happily-ever-afters, although even unhappy answers were often better than unanswered questions.

Clearly these searches were her passion and he found her passion fascinating. As fascinating as he found watching her, her excitable movements drove home the fact that he had a long way to go before he could even contemplate seduction. Her nerves were making her downright dangerous, he decided while watching her sweep a hand around to illustrate a point, only to miss wiping out a table lamp by a bare inch.

“You're knowledgeable,” he said hoping to keep April in her comfort zone, now that she'd finally stopped talking long enough to draw air. “I imagine the people with the adoption society consider themselves lucky to have you around.”

She shrugged, looked slightly embarrassed. “I'm sure that's more than you ever wanted to know about adoption searches.”

“Not at all. Turns out that I'm very interested in things that interest you.”

“Oh.”

“Did you bring your cords?” he asked, deciding his best bet was to keep her off balance and reacting so she didn't have time to analyze what was happening between them. “If not, I should have something that'll work.”

She circled the table to unzip her laptop case and whipped out a tangle of electrical cords. “Here you go.”

The instant their fingers met sparks flew. April gasped and said, “Oops, sorry,” before spilling the cords into his hand, careful to avoid touching him again.

She bolted toward the sitting room and leaned against the sofa, her nerves clearly back in force. Rex watched her retreat, glancing at her sneakers with rubber soles that should have grounded her from creating static electricity on the carpet.

He had the vague thought that this woman conducted more voltage than a lightning bolt and made a mental note to call the front desk to have the hotel provide a mat for the floor of their work area. An extra precaution since April would be networked to his system and might inadvertently share her electromagnetic gifts.

“Great, you've got everything you need here. Give me a minute and we'll be all set.” He connected her system to the switch box. “I've got cable access to the Internet. Do you need anything else?”

“Oh no. That's perfect. But what about virus protection, Rex? I'll be searching all sorts of databases. Are you protected? I'd feel horrible if I gave you anything.”

“I'm a responsible adult. I make sure I have protection.”

There was a beat of silence before April laughed, a ripple of sound that made him smile. “Good, then we won't be in for any unexpected surprises.”

“Oh, I don't know. Not all surprises are unwelcome. You've been full of them since we met and each one is proving more interesting than the last.”

“Me? You mean because of my adoption searches?”

No, he hadn't meant her adoption searches but he wouldn't elaborate. Not that he would have minded knowing how she felt about abandoning the search for her birth parents. As a man with four sisters, working-class parents and a genealogy dating back several generations, Rex had no frame of reference for how she might feel about not knowing her heritage.

But he wouldn't ask. Not when he had more important mysteries to solve.

“Your adoption searches are interesting,” he said, switching seats at the table and booting his system. “But I was referring to what a pleasant travel companion you are. My assistants are always a roll of the dice since I don't get to choose them.”

“I'll bet.”

Forcing his attention to the screen, he enabled the settings that would allow April access to his system then asked, “Want to see the agenda for tomorrow?”

“Yes, please.”

He clicked open his time management program. “I'll download the schedule to your desktop.”

In one energetic move, she covered the distance between them and stood hovering above his right shoulder to view the screen. Though she held her hair back so it didn't brush his cheek, Rex could still smell the faint floral fragrance that had embedded itself deep in his psyche during the flight to Atlanta.

“Direct observations and depth interviews?”

He nodded, inhaling deeply and enjoying the way her scent filtered through his senses. “The marketing researchers will have respondents scheduled for shopping experiments. I'll conduct one-on-one interviews after each one.”

“What will you want me to do?”

“You'll start cleaning the data, check the sequencing of the questions and the consistency of the answers. I'll examine the results at night. The key here will be to keep up. We've got a busy few weeks ahead.”

April nodded. “Tell me about the marketing research company we'll be dealing with.”

“My first choice is always Yodzis and Associates. They have offices in most of the major cities, but I work with a few others when need dictates.”

“Why do you like this company?”

“They streamline my work process by being professional and organized. They also have a large participant base, which lets them pull together studies on a dime if something comes up that I need to investigate quickly.”

Standing up, April made a move to back away, so Rex pulled a chair out and said, “Sit. Let's go over the game plan as long as we're here.”

She slipped into the seat, propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her clasped hands. “Are these the same researchers you dealt with when you conducted the research for America Sleeps?”

Her question distracted him from the way the purple lights in her eyes flickered beneath thick black lashes. “You know about my work with America Sleeps?”

“My boss mentioned it. I think he was trying to convince me of the merits of going on the road with you.”

“Needed convincing, did you?”

“Some,” she admitted. “Nothing personal. I just haven't ventured away from home base that much.”

“Some people enjoy working on the road.”

“You're one of them?”

He nodded and she gifted him with a smile that said she'd guessed as much. That smile did amazing things to her face, and his pulse rate. Full pink lips parted just enough for
him to see the straight white teeth below. That smile also sparkled in the depths of her eyes and dispelled some of the nervous energy that seemed to be so much a part of her.

One glimpse of a relaxed April so completely undermined his focus that Rex forgot what he'd been about to say. Which didn't really matter, as she seemed happy to lead the conversation.

“So what's the attraction of the open road?”

He'd been asked variations of this question many times—especially from his sisters, all of whom believed he should find a bride and settle down in Chicago to raise little Holts to entertain his nieces and nephews. He kept a stock answer handy.