Close to Perfect (19 page)

Several minutes later, they both were.

At last, Tess pulled back and tried to catch her breath. “Thanks.”

“You're welcome.” Josh pulled her right back into himself, and didn't hold back, nor did he come up for air.

He kissed her as if he meant it, as if he had missed her even more than Tess had missed him, because there was yearning in this kiss, a lingering tenderness that hadn't been there before.

Of course, bad boy that he was, Josh soon went back to savage and wild, but Tess didn't mind. She stayed with him from beginning to end.

Even when they were both finally breathless, Tess just couldn't keep away. Resting her head on his shoulder, she ran her fingertip over his ear, tickling him.

Josh's chest quivered with his quiet laughter.

“I like it when you're bad,” Tess said.

“Oh, yeah?”

She was about to nod, but didn't get the chance as Josh backed her into the wall, then cupped her buttocks, pulling her up until Tess was straddling him. He held her to himself with one arm around her waist, as his other hand cupped her breast, fondling it, while he kissed her until she had no resistance left.

Only then, did he allow her a moment's peace.

“Oh, yeah,” she said, then sighed.

“Oh, yeah, what?”

“I like it when you're bad.”

Josh grinned, then kissed her neck until she moaned. Satisfied, he eased Tess to her feet, then whispered in her ear. “You're sure?”

“About what?”

“That you want me to be bad.”

Tess released all of her weight into him. “You bet.”

“Then you're going to love it when we're at that poker game.”

“I can't wait—what?” Tess lifted her head, then pushed him away. “What do you mean?”

“Don't you worry.” He followed her to the other side of the elevator, and when he had her cornered, Josh held her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “I've got everything under control.”

“Are you seriously nuts?” Tess slapped his hand away from her chin. “You don't have anything under control. First, you make up that junk about those poker games and then—”

“Nope, that's not true,” he interrupted. “Learned some of it from Grandpa, the rest from my friends in construction. It's totally real and legit.”

“Who cares?” Tess said. “If you haven't yet noticed, we're kissing in an elevator.”

He smiled. “Oh, I've noticed.”

Tess lowered her head and breathed hard. “If you haven't yet noticed, we
have
to kiss in elevators, because if we kiss out there,” she flung out her arm, “a bunch of psychos are ready to take our picture or every retired cop in the Keys is ready to ride posse for my dad.” She lifted her head. “Hank and Sammie and Vic are probably calling the building people right now about you hijacking this elevator.”

“Let them. It won't stop me. Only you can do that.”

He was putting it on her, again. Tess closed her eyes, too tired to fight. She rested the back of her head against the shiny metal wall, then trembled as Josh first kissed the base of her throat, then worked those kisses lower as he unbuttoned her blouse. At last, he lingered on the swell of her breasts just above the cups of her bra.

She sighed. “Better hurry before the firemen break us out of here.”

“Believe me, that won't happen.”

No? Tess inhaled deeply as Josh eased the right cup below her nipple. That small nub tightened quickly to the cool air and his forefinger as he gently circled it.

Tess bit back a moan, then paused, because she just understood what he said. “The firemen won't break us out of here because you own this elevator—that is, because you own this hotel?”

“Had to buy it to get the elevator. We can stay in here as long as you want.”

Oh.
Ahhhh.
She moaned as Josh rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger even as he suckled her neck.

Tess was a goner, except for one thing.

They couldn't stay in here as long as she wanted, because that would be forever, and that wasn't something Josh was giving to her.

“Wait a minute,” she said.

Josh didn't. He continued suckling her neck, then the swell of her breast.

“Josh. Stop.”

He finally did, but kept his head lowered and breathed hard as if he was frustrated.

And she wasn't?

“Why?” he asked.

Because this wasn't going to last forever, that's why. No way was Tess going to have sex with him in this elevator or at his house, not while they had the contract. It would make things too damned hard.

Not that she could tell him that.

“Why are you going to that poker game?”

He lifted his head and looked at her. “You want to talk about that now?”

It was either that or the brutal truth about not having sex with him until the contract ended—or maybe not even then if things got too damned complicated. “Yeah. So, why?”

Josh straightened, then shrugged. “If you can't beat 'em, Tessie, then you just gotta join 'em.”

“Uh-uh—hold it,” she said, then literally kept him at arm's length when he tried to kiss her again.

Josh's gaze slipped down to her hand on his chest. Her forefinger was stroking his tie. He smiled.

Tess stopped stroking. Her mind continued to work around what he had just said.

If you can't beat 'em, Tessie, then you just gotta join 'em
?

How twisted was that? So were they now going to spend all of their free time with her father and his friends, because Josh figured there was no other way around it?

Tess could see it now—their evenings filled with lively discussions about who had the baddest aches and pains and all that bitching about how young cops could run a computer, but could they get down and dirty with a perp—hell, no.

She pulled back her hand, pressing the heel of it against her forehead.

“Trust me,” Josh said.

Despite all of her worries, Tess did. It was the countless women who would always be after him that Tess didn't trust. No man, not even a saint, could resist temptation forever.

And even one slip from Josh, one minor indiscretion, would kill the love she felt for him. Better not to get involved in that sorry mess.

“Tess?”

She dropped her hand and shook her head.

“You don't trust me?” He sounded genuinely hurt.

Oh, hell. Tess cradled the side of his face in her hand, gently running her thumb over his smooth cheek. “You I trust. Now, your judgment?” She muttered an oath in Spanish.

“I heard that,” he growled, then pulled her back into himself and silenced her surprised gasp with his mouth and tongue.

Tess pulled her mouth free. “Josh.”

He had just pressed his lips to her cheek. “You want me to stop, again?”

Yes. No. Maybe. Tess placed her hands on either side of his head, lifting it until he had to look at her and she could look at him.

“What?” he asked.

“Forget it,” she said, and kissed him fast and hard, slipping her tongue inside.

He moaned, returning her kiss as he eased her blouse off her right shoulder. Pulling his mouth free, Josh kissed her shoulder, her biceps, the swell of her right breast, and was about to suckle her nipple when the emergency phone rang.

Josh's head snapped up. “What was that?”

Tess looked past him to the still-ringing phone.

He looked over his shoulder at it, then back at her. “Want to just let it ring?”

“There's going to be hell to pay.”

“How much time do you think we have?”

“Two minutes. Maybe three.”

“Right.” He lowered his head to her breast and gently flicked his tongue over her nipple.

Tess moaned.

At just that moment, Sammie's voice suddenly filled the small space, “Tessie! You okay?”

Josh's head snapped up again. He lifted his gaze to the ceiling as if he expected Sammie to be up there.

Since she wasn't, he looked back down and whispered. “Are you wearing a walkie-talkie?”

“No. Of course not. Her voice is coming from the emergency speaker. It's right below the phone. We can hear her, but she can't hear us.”

“You're sure about that?”

“Relatively.”

“Then you better start moaning in Spanish.”

Tess laughed so hard she sagged into him, then whimpered as Josh ran his hand down her back.

“Tessie!” Sammie shouted, “Hank's gonna call your dad—Freddy'll know what to do if something's wrong, if you're not all—”

“I'm fine,” Tess said. In one second flat, she had pushed Josh out of the way, went to the emergency phone, and was still holding the receiver to her ear as she tried not to sound too breathless.

Not that Josh was helping. He had regained his balance and was now pushing her into the wall, his hands on her breasts.

Tess lowered the receiver to her left shoulder. She moaned.

“Tessie?” Sammie shouted. After a brief pause, her voice was fainter, as if she was talking to someone on her side. “I hear moaning.”

Josh's hands dropped away from Tess's breasts. He whispered, “Fuck.”

Tess pressed the receiver into her shoulder so Sammie couldn't hear. “You behave,” she whispered to him, “unless you want to leave here in traction.” Sidling away, Tess turned her back to Josh, and spoke into the receiver. “Sammie, hi, it's me, I'm fine. Josh had to take an important business call, very private, so I stopped the elevator.” Tess looked over her shoulder at him.

His hair was still a mess and the right tail of his shirt was pulled out of his trousers.

Tess pointed. “Put it back in.”

“What?” Sammie asked.

Crud. “Josh is still on the phone,” Tess said to the woman, keeping her voice very low, as if she were afraid to disturb him. “He's still talking to that important client, so I can't talk right now.”

“We don't want you to talk, hon. We want you to come down.”

“Josh is finishing up right now. Be right there. Bye.”

Tess hung up the phone and made certain the speaker was no longer on, then started buttoning her blouse as she backed away from Josh.

“Come here,” he said, giving her a sexy smile.

After that call he still wanted to play? “I'm warning you,” Tess said, “stay where you are. Remember, I'm armed.”

His eyes grew hooded. “Yeah, I know, I finally felt your weapon.”

“I felt yours, too, but,” she said, continuing despite his quick laughter, “we gotta get this show on the road. We don't have a choice, not if you still want to go to that game tomorrow night.”

That got him to stop chasing her around the elevator. “Okay.”

Okay?
Getting his cooperation was that easy? All she had to do was threaten to take away his poker night with a bunch of old ex-cops? “What are you planning to do?”

Josh hit the elevator button to get the little box moving. As it started its descent, he tucked in his shirt and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Just trust me,” he said.

W
hat choice did she have but to trust him?

There was no stopping that dumb game, unless a business emergency came up.

None did, though Josh did spend a lot of the next day in the conference room with a guy Tess had never seen before. He was probably in his mid-twenties and looked more like a gigolo than a client.

What he and Josh were doing was a mystery, because each time Tess tried to find out, Peg escorted her away from the area, guarding that room as if Josh's life depended upon it.

Maybe he was brushing up on his poker skills. Maybe he and that guy were devising new games. Who knew? Not only was Peg keeping Tess in the dark, but ever since the paparazzi problem, that area, and most of the others, now had blinds.

Still, Tess strolled outside hoping to sneak a peek into that room, just like the young woman who was currently bent forward at the waist, butt in the air, with her hands cupped around her eyes as she tried to see past those tightly drawn blinds.

Tess regarded the girl's snug pink capris and even snugger top. And what about those three-inch heels? Tess figured Josh would have loved those if he could have seen them. Suddenly, she was grateful for those blinds.

“You look busy,” Tess said to the young woman, just as she had to Libby that first day at the estate.

This girl wasn't as snotty. Without so much as a backwards glance, she took off in those spike heels, not once losing her balance.

“That was easy,” Tess mumbled to herself, knowing that tonight certainly wouldn't be.

 

 

It was decided that Josh would be driven to the game by Vic, since they had planned this stupid event, and since Tess needed to arrive first to prepare the food that everyone would bitch about.

“Is that really necessary?” Peg asked.

Tess didn't think it was, but then she knew Peg wasn't talking about that bitching. She leveled her gaze on the older woman. “What do you mean?”

When Peg didn't answer, Tess next glared at Sammie and Hank, who were also in the reception area. Had they already said something nasty about her cooking?

Sammie wasn't fessing up, while Hank was too busy eating a candy bar to talk. Once he had swallowed his bite, he glanced at the wall clock. “Better leave now,” he said. “That way if your stuff doesn't come out, we'll still have time to order a pizza or something.”

“Is that really necessary?” Peg asked again.

Tess swung her head back to the woman. “What do you mean?”

“Maybe Josh would know,” Peg mumbled.

“Know what?” Tess asked.

Peg looked at her and smiled. “Nothing, hon, just trying to participate in the conversation.”

By being cryptic and insulting her? Tess shoved her purse under her arm and went to Hank. “If you don't like my food, you don't have to come.”

“I wouldn't miss this for the world,” he said.

“Me, either,” Sammie said.

On that happy note, Tess left the office. Tonight was going to be brutal.

The truth of that was in the way her father came out to the Mercedes even though Tess had parked it down the street, rather than in the front of the house.

“You're not coming in?” he asked.

Tess was still thinking about it. “Sure.”

“When?” he next asked. “You've been sitting out here for five minutes.”

No kidding? It seemed longer. “Just checking to see if I've been followed.”

He quickly straightened; his head swiveled on his shoulders as he searched the narrow street. “By who?”

Babes, paparazzi, needy clients, young guys who looked like gigolos—anyone who might stop the coming events.

“Just kidding,” Tess said, then hauled her ass and the groceries inside.

When her father looked inside the bags he had been carrying, he made a face. “Oh, shit.”

Ignoring that, Tess started to unpack her bag.

“Teressa,” he said, “we need to talk.”

“Sorry, Pop, but I'm not going to stop making the no-fat dogs. You and the others don't need grease clogging your arteries and giving you high blood pressure. Once the other stuff 's on them, you won't notice the diff—”

“Are you in love with Wyatt?”

Tess so quickly turned to her father, she dropped the can of sodium-free sauerkraut, then watched it roll across the floor into the utility room.

When she started to follow, Freddy blocked her. “Leave it.”

“Can't,” she said, trying to get around him. “That stuff 's expensive. I'm not going to waste my money or yours by letting it go to—”

“Teressa, I'm serious, are you in love with Wyatt?”

She looked from where that can had stopped to her father. No way could she get past his bulk, that expression, or his question.

Of course, she was in love with Josh. Wasn't it obvious? Hell, everyone but Josh seemed to know it or want confirmation of it. “I can take care of myself.”

“To hell with that, you're a woman.”

Tess stepped back. She frowned. “Excuse me?”

“I didn't mean that in a bad way and you know it.”

“I don't think I do.”

“You're changing the subject,” he said.

“About my being incapable of taking care of myself, because I'm a woman?”

“No, about me worrying myself into a stroke, because you're my little girl.”

Oh, Papa. “I know I'll always be your little girl, and I know you worry, but if you stick to a no-fat, no-salt diet you won't get a stroke, I swear.”

He didn't appreciate her levity. “Just tell me one thing and I'll leave you alone.”

Tess didn't want to tell him anything, not if it concerned Josh, but knew she had no choice. “Sure. What?”

“Tell me that even if you've fallen for that guy you're not going to do anything that will break your heart.”

“Okay.”

Freddy lowered his head. “Oh, my God, you are.”

He made it sound as if she had a terminal disease. Of course, loving a man who didn't feel the same, a man who only wanted to sleep with her was pretty damned terminal. Not that Tess wanted to give her father any more stuff to worry about. “I'm no fool, Pop, okay? The last time I believed in a happy ending with Prince Charming was when you and Mama got me that Cinderella tape when I was five.”

He lifted his head. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“I know there's not a chance in a billion of having a future with Josh. He's very rich and great-looking and—”

“What is
that
supposed to mean? Are you saying you're not good enough for him? That bum would be lucky if you let him get down on his knees each and every day of his life so that he could kiss your feet!”

Tess wondered if she should tell her father about that morning at the golf course when Josh did just that.

What a sweet moment that had been. How very hopeful. She smiled.

“Glad to see you agree,” Freddy said. “Glad to see you want that from a man.”

She wanted it from Josh. Not that she was about to admit that to him or her dad. “I'm a realist, Pop, and so is Josh. He's in his world and I'm in mine—we're not about to forget that.”

“And what is that supposed to mean? Did he say you're not good enough for—”

“He hasn't said anything, Pop, except to praise your company and to get you new jobs, which you should thank him for when he gets here.”

He swore in Spanish, just as her mother used to do.

Tess rolled her eyes. “Pop, I know what you're saying.”

His face turned a bright pink.

“No need to apologize,” she said. “I am a big girl.”

“You're my little girl and jobs or no jobs you shouldn't be staying at his place. I ought'a cancel the contract, I ought'a—”

“What you ought to do is calm down,
”
she quickly said in a lowered voice. Someone had just come in the front door, and Tess was afraid it might be Josh. “Please. And no more talk about canceling the contract. That's your future—it's my future since I work for you. So be nice, okay?”

He growled, “I'll do my best.”

“Yo, Freddy, you here?” Hank called out.

“Of course, he's here,” Sammie said. “He lives here.”

A very dead man.
Tess mumbled, “Wait till he gets stuck in this small space with Bonnie and Clyde.”

Freddy looked at her. “What?”

Tess shook her head. “Nothing.” Planting her hands on his shoulders, she turned him around, then gently pushed him toward the living room. “Go on, greet your guests.”

Freddy stopped in the doorway and looked over his shoulder at her. “Them, I will. Him, I'll—”

“Pop.”

“Let me finish,” he said. “I might be busy eating when he comes in. I might be in the can. I might be—”

“I don't care if you're on Mars. You'll go to wherever he is, shake his hand and thank him for the contract and everything else he's done for your business. Please.”

Freddy shook his head as if he couldn't believe what she was asking, then left the room.

Hank immediately greeted him with, “Hey, Freddy, where's loverboy?”

“Hopefully buying some clothes.”

On that happy note, Tess went to the refrigerator and rested her forehead against it.

“He is cute,” Sammie said.

“Not cute enough or good enough for my daughter.”

Sammie quickly agreed. “No way.”

“He's okay for a regular girl,” Hank said. “You know, like the one who used to work in records.”

“Wanda,” Sammie offered.

Tess rolled her forehead against that cool surface. No matter how many years had passed, each time this group got together they always talked about Wanda, who was probably in her sixties by now, but in her day had made a lot of cops rock hard.

“Wonder what Wanda's doing now?” Hank asked.

“Wonder who she's doing now?” Sammie asked.

They all laughed.

At just that moment, the doorbell rang.

“Vic forget how to open a door?” Hank asked.

“Probably can't get to it,” Freddy said, “not if he's got naked guy in a choke hold.”

Tess pushed away from the refrigerator thinking if Vic were foolish enough to do that, Josh could just flick the old guy off like a pesky mosquito. Unless, of course, Vic pulled out his gun.

Tess got into the modest living room just as Hank opened the door.

“Well, hi, there; do I have the right house?” Peg asked.

Tess's gaze zipped over the woman. As always, Peg was dressed in beaded vintage wear that sparkled wildly, only this wasn't what she had been wearing at the office. Tonight's outfit was a low-cut coral blouse and silky pants that matched the color of her hair.

“Oh, Tess, hi,” Peg said. “I am at the right place. Good.”

Tess exchanged a glance with Sammie, who also seemed surprised, then looked at her dad. The poor man must have been getting dizzy, his eyeballs were zipping up and down Peg so much.

Tess finally lifted her hand in greeting. “Peg.” She frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“Looks like she brought us some supplies,” Sammie said, then broke with all formality. “I'll take that.” She grabbed the twelve-pack of beer Peg had in one hand and the plate of munchies she had in the other.

Tess arched one brow and thought back to when she and the others had been discussing the crappy food she would be making tonight.

Is that really necessary?
Peg kept asking.

Apparently not.

“There's more in my car,” Peg offered.

“Sammie'll get it,” Hank said as he continued setting up the poker table.

Freddy nodded in agreement as he remained rooted to the spot, staring at Peg.

“Wow, it is hot tonight, isn't it?” she asked, delicately touching her neck with a lacy, vintage handkerchief.

Freddy slowly nodded, his gaze following the ends of that handkerchief as it fluttered above Peg's low-cut top.

When she spritzed herself with perfume, Tess rolled her eyes. There might as well have been drugs in that perfume or the aroma of a thick sirloin, given the goofy expression on her father's face. “Pop.”

He looked at her, then right back to Peg.

Tess was about to frown because of how foolish he was behaving, when she told herself to lighten up. It had been a long time since her dad had looked this interested in a woman; too damned long.

The man deserved some happiness. Josh probably thought so, too, since having Peg come here, in that outfit, had certainly been his idea. “Pop, you haven't met—”

“Fred Franklin,” he said before Tess could finish, then went to Peg and offered his hand. “Mrs....”

“Mulrooney,” Peg offered, “but it's Miss, and has been Miss going on six years now.” She slipped her bejeweled hand into his and smiled. “But since I like you, I'm going to let you call me Peg.”

He grinned. “In that case, you can call me Freddy.”

“Give me your number and I'll call whenever you like.”

They both laughed.

Uh-huh. Although Tess wanted her father to be happy, she didn't want to have to watch it.

She had just turned to go back to the kitchen, when her father asked, “So, how do you know my little Tessie?”

Tess looked over her shoulder at Peg. The woman's gaze was briefly on her, before she easily said, “I work for Josh.”