Make Your Move (7 page)

He loved her, and he knew this. He’d loved her for some time as a friend, and it wasn’t much of a jump for him to fall the rest of the way.

He couldn’t let her know that, of course, but withholding the truth was just a different way of lying.

Not yet,
he told himself. It was too soon.

The object of his thoughts appeared in the doorway of his office, knocking softly to announce her presence. He was up and across the room so quickly he might have shifted the time-space continuum a little.

“Hey, this is a nice surprise,” he said, leaning in for a quick kiss. Jodie had come by his office before, and his dorm room before that. This was the only time he considered closing the door and clearing his desk, but the obvious tension in her expression made him reconsider. “Everything okay?”

“Do you have a few minutes?”

“Sure, you’re saving me from terminal boredom,” he joked. Though he actually found his colleague’s work very interesting, everything paled in comparison to
spending time with Jodie. “You’re stressed,” he commented, closing the door.

“I just…it was a weird morning.”

“How so?”

“It feels like everything is topsy-turvy these last few days—Bizzaro World, you know? Everything seems to be upside down.”

Dan smiled. It was one of the pleasures of his life that he’d been able to nurture an appreciation of the geeky world of comics to Jodie.

“Like what?”

“Well, the bakery was robbed, Ginger is thinking about going back to her ex, and then you and me…everything is the opposite of what it was a week ago.”

Uh-oh. Dan felt a spark of worry fly through the air, but quickly dashed it with a splash of logic.

“Change is the norm, Jodie. Things can only remain static for so long. It’s basic chaos theory, actually,” he said, the idea grabbing him as he continued to explain how there was order in apparent disorder, and stability within what was seemingly paradoxical.

“The trick, really, is not to expect that everything will stay the same. Variability is the norm, and relationships, like ours, are living, growing things—the same with Ginger, or even a business. It’s all a process linked into thousands of different influences and—”

Jodie held her hand up, wincing. “Stop. Please,
stop.
”

Dan blinked. It made such perfect sense. Beautiful sense, to him, which was what he loved about science and math, examining the deeper structures of—

“Dan. You can’t apply science to this.”

“You can apply science to anything,” he said simply.

“Okay, fine, but it’s not making me feel any better about what’s going on. I’m still so…anxious. I don’t like it. Like there are ants crawling along my skin.” She shivered, rubbing her arms.

No, she wouldn’t like it, Dan admitted. It was paramount to Jodie to feel in control. Her desire to control things made her a great businesswoman, but it was also one of the reasons he stayed out of the business. Jodie didn’t deal well with variables. She was right, though. Logic wouldn’t help a person who viewed their problem emotionally, so he asked the next logical question, based on her emotional state.

“What would make you feel better?”

She took a deep breath, looking him straight in the eye. He almost smiled. That was his Jodie—attack things head-on.

“First, I’d like to make sure we really are still just friends. Friends who have sex, but only friends.”

Dan hedged, choosing his words carefully. “That was the deal.”
Was
being the operative word, to his mind. “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. Just hearing Ginger even contemplate going back to Scott wigged me out. I mean, he’s been a terrible husband and father, but she said she
loved
him. I think she’s making a huge mistake even considering it, but I don’t think it’s right for me to talk her out of it, either, not really.”

“I agree, it’s not your place to do that, though you
can give her your honest opinion. Friends do that,” he said. “But why would her problems bother you so much? Thinking about your own dad?”

He saw her tense up considerably. He knew it was something she preferred not to have brought up, but after the length of time they had known each other, if she could talk to anyone, it should be him.

“I guess, yeah. It reminded me too much of what my mom used to say, that we had to try to
understand
my dad, because we
loved
him,” she said, emphasizing the key words with a clear level of disgust. “She used to love to excuse every bad thing he did. You know, she even told me once that you knew how much you loved someone based on how much you were willing to put up with.”

Dan’s heart ached for Jodie. He hated that she’d been so hurt and wished there was a formula he could create, some easy fix for the deep wounds that her family had left her with. Unfortunately, even time hadn’t healed them, because she kept carrying them around, holding them up as a shield. He couldn’t blame her, he supposed.

“Your mom was radically unhappy and in denial. You know that. She didn’t have the emotional strength that you do. You’re a whole different person, Jodie.”

“Oh, I know. I would never do that, to love someone so much that they could do anything, be someone’s willing doormat.”

He lowered himself into a squat where she sat in the chair and took her hand in his. “Do you really think that’s what love is? Real love?”

“I don’t know. Love seems to lead people to making terrible decisions that just bring pain, and then more pain. All you have to do is look around to see how miserable love makes people. I can barely stand listening to Ginger talk about throwing herself back into a relationship with Scott. I told her to wait him out, to see if he really sticks around before she makes any promises.”

Dan nodded. “Well, that’s sensible, considering his past behavior. Was she receptive?”

Jodie shrugged, then nodded. “Yeah. She seemed relieved to find a middle ground.”

“So maybe she’s not being as reckless as you think. And you helped. Sounds like a smart idea to me.”

He saw her cheeks flush pink at the compliment. Jodie was used to being told she was hot, sexy, beautiful and any number of compliments based on her appearance, but the only time Dan ever saw her become shy was when someone told her she was smart. It was ridiculous, because she was extremely intelligent, though she didn’t believe that about herself.

“You’re only saying that because I’m sleeping with you,” she said more jokingly, though he knew on some level she meant it.

“Well, that’s more proof of your being smart,” he said, nudging her back and making her smile. “Really, I wish you wouldn’t sell yourself short. I knew you for a long time before we had sex, and I’ve always thought you were smart. I’ve depended on your perspective and advice a lot, if you recall.”

She frowned, disbelieving still.

“Do you remember when we were picking out a spot
for the bakery, and I liked the place downtown, but you found the space we have now? The place I liked was new, clean and completely sterile, and would never have had the charm or atmosphere, not to mention the street traffic, of the spot you chose. You had a vision of what Just Eat It could be. If left to me, I would never have been able to make the business work,” he said honestly.

Jodie had the ability to envision things in a way he never had, and he’d always found it fascinating. Ideas seemed to just pop out of her head, and they were almost always good ones.

“Then,” he added, remembering, “you were the one who came up with the holiday marketing campaign last year, and how many times have you helped me figure out what projects would be best to spend my time on when I get overloaded and can’t see the forest for the trees? You always manage to cut through the clutter,” he said.

She looked away, shifting, visibly uncomfortable. “That’s not smart. It’s practical.”

“It’s also being smart, Jodie. There are different ways of being smart, different kinds of intelligence. I could never do the things you do,” he added, as the hand that he had rested on her knee started sliding up and down her thigh. “And one more thing,” he said, leaning in to kiss the soft skin just under her ear, enjoying her drawn-in breath.

“What’s that?”

“I’m
very
smart, and I
know
smart when I see it…and it’s always a turn-on. And you, all of you, including your
brain, completely turns me on,” he said, tipping her face toward him for a deeper kiss, because he was being completely honest. He was so turned on he couldn’t think straight, being this close to her, sharing this moment.

“Well, I guess you would know,” she said breathlessly as they broke the kiss and she undid the top button of his shirt.

“You know, I’ve never had a woman in here, in my office,” he said, “for anything other than business.”

“Well, Dr. Ellison, I think maybe we need to expand your horizons,” she said with a sexy chuckle that made him wonder if his knees would work when he stood up, taking her with him.

He looked at her over the top of the glasses he’d worn in place of the new contacts—some habits were hard to break—and crossed his arms in front of him.

“Ms. Patterson, we do have the perfect situation in which to conduct a few experiments. Would you like to assist?” he asked.

“Of course, but what do I do? I don’t know much about science,” she said, catching on quickly.

“First, you should undress. Slowly, please.”

“But—”

“Don’t worry. I’m a doctor,” he reassured her with a smile.

“Okay, then,” she agreed with just the right amount of sexy apprehension.

He was ragingly hard as she took the blouse she wore off—slowly, as he’d asked—and draped it over the back of the chair by his desk. She faced him, the gorgeous
swell of her breasts revealed perfectly by her lingerie, looking at the door in mock concern.

“I’m happy to help with your…experiment, Doctor, but what if someone comes in?”

“The door is locked.”

She undid her jeans and slid them down one leg, and then down the other, until she was before him in nothing but her bra and a black thong.

He was pretty sure if he so much as moved a muscle he would come—having Jodie like this, here in his office, was a fantasy he’d played through many times but never imagined in his wildest dreams would come true. The impromptu role play just added to the excitement.

Her eyes never left his, and he could see she was as turned on as he was, her nipples hard already, her skin flushed, eyes hot.

“What now?” she asked.

“The next step is very, very important,” he said with mock severity, stepping up closer and starting to take his glasses off, but she stopped him.

“No, leave them on. I…I like them,” she said, with a bit of a hitch in her voice that melted him.

“My nerdy glasses do it for you?” he said teasingly, letting his fingers drift softly over the flat plane of her stomach. “
You
do it for me. I’ve always loved your glasses. The contacts are fine, too, but I think the glasses are sexy,” she said, and leaned in, taking his mouth in a kiss that proved her point.

He pulled back slightly but didn’t let go. “For our experiment, I’m missing one critical piece of data.”

“Which is?”

“I need to know if there’s something secret, something you want that you’ve never done with any other man.” He paused, holding her gaze. “Tell me.”

She went quiet, looking away, and he wondered if he’d spoiled the moment.

“Wait a minute,” she said, slipping away to go to her purse, and came back a second later with a scarf that she handed to him.

“Tie it around my eyes. Blindfold me,” she said breathlessly, slightly nervous, even.

“Like this?” he said, doubling the material over a few times to make it opaque and then tying it carefully around her beautiful eyes.

“Yes.”

“And now?”

He watched her swallow deeply before she said, “And now you can do anything you want, Dan.”

There was no turning back for him.

How could she give herself to him like this and not believe in love? Dan vowed that one way or another, he would make her believe.

J
ODIE RELEASED THE
breath she’d been holding as Dan tied the scarf ever so gently around her face, his hard chest pressing into her as he did so. She bit her lip to stifle a moan. Vulnerable, exposed and unsure, she’d rarely been this turned on.

It was a fantasy, but one she’d never dared explore with a lover. She had a small list of lightly kinky things she’d always wanted to try but had never been trusting enough to give up the control, the awareness. Now, because he’d asked, she wanted to give him this.

“Dan?” she asked, uncertain about his silence.

“Just taking you in, sweetheart…taking my time.”

She smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

He ran a hand up her arm and she shivered, staying still. It was another part of the fantasy, to be passive, to really let him do anything he wanted.

She gasped when his hand slipped inside the lace cup of her bra and pulled sharply, ripping the delicate sheath of fabric away from her skin, her breasts falling forth as she felt it fall away. It had been a damned expensive bra,
she thought, but worth every penny to have him tear it off her.

“I’ll buy you another,” he growled against her breasts, burying his face in the softness there, suckling one eager nipple, then the other, then back again until she was leaning on the desk to support herself.

Her fantasy wasn’t disappointing her in the least—everything was so much more of a surprise, so intense, when she had no idea what was going to happen next. And Dan was proving good at surprising her.

“You’re beautiful, Jodie…I want you so much I hardly know where to start,” he said raggedly, planted between her thighs, exploring the inner shell of her ear with his tongue until she was so wet she almost worried about his desk. She could feel the material of his clothes against her naked skin. He was still dressed. The friction of the fabric was erotic, and she rubbed against him shamelessly, seeking out every tactile sensation she could in the absence of sight.

He worked his way down her body, pushing her legs open wider and she felt his shoulders inside of her knees.

“Oh yes,” she breathed, every nerve ending in her body waiting in delicious anticipation of what she thought he would do.

Waiting for the soft kiss that she loved, but she heard him searching for something on the desk, and the sound like a package opening. Protection?

She jumped in surprise when he touched her again, a whoosh of breath making her dizzy as he found the hard knot of her clit with…something.

“Dan…what is that?”

“A textured silicon glove. I’ve been testing them for the manufacturer. It hit me they could have other, more creative uses than what they’re normally used for,” he said, drawing his fingers along the slick center of her sex, the spongy bristles of the glove gliding over her like a hundred little fingers.

He pulled the thin strip of fabric aside, sliding one gloved finger inside and moving in such a way that she buckled, coming hard and spontaneously, pleasure consuming her.

“Oh, no, I think I was too loud,” she said, panting, pushing herself up on the desk slightly.

“The secretary is out for the half day. I love it when you come like that for me,” he said, petting her some more. “No reserve, no holding back.”

“Like I had any choice,” she said ruefully, but she smiled. She liked it, too. With Dan she didn’t have to hold back anything. She didn’t have to put on a show or be anything other than herself, because he already knew her so well.

He stepped away, and she mumbled an objection. She wanted more. Even after coming, she was still wired, still wanted more, wanted
him.

“Dan?”

“I’m here, honey. Had to undress,” he reassured her, stepping back in between her legs, naked now, she could tell.

“Oh, thank goodness,” she said.

He pulled her up close for a deep kiss as he wrapped
her hand around his cock, stroking his length with her, their fingers woven together.

“I want your mouth on me, Jodie,” he said, helping her off the desk and down to where she blindly found his leg with her fingers, smiling.

This was fun, feeling him without seeing, letting her hands drift over short, manly hair that covered the hard muscles of his legs. She learned his textures, his scent, all so much more intimately than when her eyes compensated for her other senses.

Wanting to know his taste the same way, she found him and took him inside, between her lips, drawing deep.

“Oh, yeah, like that,” he said, his legs stiffening in a way that told her he was very aroused. His fingers forked into her hair, though he allowed her to control her movements.

Her hands fluttered over the backs of his legs, his butt, his balls, as she sucked and teased him to near completion. Suddenly, he pulled away, groaning. She felt dizzy from the break in contact and looked up in question, though she couldn’t see him.

“Take off the thong, Jodie,” he ordered in a commanding tone that had her nerve endings sizzling. She wasn’t normally one to take orders, but the way he directed her made her even hotter.

She did, while steadying herself against him, and was surprised when he picked her up in one lift, wrapping her legs around him as he lowered her hard and deep onto his erection, to their mutual satisfaction.

“This is too good, I can’t stop, can’t wait,” he said
urgently, his kiss hard and demanding, thrilling her as her body clamped around him.

She couldn’t say anything, breath stolen as his hard thrusts pushed her through another orgasm before he flooded her with heat from his own. His arms were bands of steel around her, holding her in place until they finally slowed, panting and sweaty, locked around each other.

“Wow,” she said, removing the blindfold and dropping her forehead against his.

“Yeah,” he said, catching his breath.

He nearly dropped her when there was a hard knock at the door, surprising them both.

“Oh, sorry,” he apologized, steadying her and making sure she was okay. He ran a hand through his hair and then put a finger to his lips while shaking his head.

There was no way he could answer that door, she knew. They were naked, clothes thrown everywhere. The room was saturated with the scent of warm bodies and sex.

They watched each other, frozen in place, naked and silent, and Jodie felt a giggle rise. Dan’s eyes widened as he put the insistent finger to her lips this time, and she bit it playfully.

The person at the door had started to walk away, when Dan’s cell phone started ringing with loud insistence on the desk. He scrambled to answer it, causing Jodie to collapse in more hysterical, repressed laughter.

She stopped laughing when she saw his smile fade, and he answered the speaker with a series of hushed
mmm-hmms and finally said, “Let us get back to you, okay?”

“Dan, what is it?” she asked while pulling on her clothes, rattled by the look of concern on his face, the joviality completely gone.

“That was a newspaper reporter. He said he met with an ‘anonymous source’ who showed him evidence that we’ve been selling chemically enhanced foods at the bakery, foods that have not been FDA tested, which could be harmful to people’s health. He wants to interview us on the claim, but he’s going to run the story either way.”

“Jason, that—”

“Prick,” he finished the sentence for her, and she nodded. “We should meet this guy, turn it around, Jodie. The pheromone formula doesn’t need to be FDA tested—it’s much like a vitamin or an herb. But I can show him my real data, which indicates there is no harmful effect.”

“This could still be enough to scare people away. Dammit!”

“Maybe it would do the opposite, you know? Create a stir, bring people in to find out for themselves? You know what they say, no publicity is bad publicity,” he offered but it didn’t comfort her. Businesses were too competitive in this current economic climate for her to take those kinds of chances.

Dan had put on his clothes, as well, and walked over to her, pulling her into a hug. “We’ll deal with this together. Okay?”

She nodded and hugged him back though, in her gut, she had a nasty feeling that things were only going to get worse.

D
AN WAITED
until Jodie was on her way, and put his plan into action.

The department secretary was out for half of the day, and he happened to know, having peeked at her master schedule for the faculty, that Jason Kravitz was involved in a meeting until three.

He also knew where one of the master office keys was kept. Making his way toward Kravitz’s office, he intended to find out whatever it was that Kravitz had on Jodie, to take any copies of the pheromone formula. It would be, of course, evidence that he was the person who had broken into the store. Dan could call the police, but he doubted that it would stand scrutiny, especially since he’d have to admit to breaking into Jason’s office to get it. That would cause more trouble than it was worth. His goal was to minimize any damage to Jodie or the bakery, and to get Jason Kravitz out of their lives so that he and Jodie could focus on each other.

Stopping by the office, he didn’t hesitate, sliding the key into place and then locking the door behind him.

Looking around, he blinked, taken aback for a moment. He’d never been in Kravitz’s office—they certainly weren’t friendly—and he couldn’t believe what a mess it was. Paper, books, stacks of…everything were everywhere.

How did the man work this way? Dan needed
order, needed things in their place, had to be able to concentrate.

This would also make it much harder to find anything, but he started in the most obvious spot, the computer on the desk. Dan took a few stabs at cracking the password, but who knew how Kravitz’s demented mind worked?

Password protected, of course. But he had to have some hard evidence somewhere, some lab reports or something indicating what he’d found when he had analyzed the cookie icing—that had to be the evidence he was showing the
Sun-Times.

The way Jodie’s face had fallen when she heard that news had broken Dan’s heart, and he was determined to protect her in any way he could. Still, his plan to find the evidence in Jason’s office wasn’t bearing much fruit, he thought in frustration, searching through papers and drawers.

“Yes!” he said aloud to the empty room as he finally found a stack of lab reports, not completed here at the university, but tests conducted at an outside lab, off site. Dan scanned the report, nodding. This was his formula, all right.

Just as he was folding the report and putting it back in his jacket, the door opened.

“Kravitz,” he said, sounding calm, though he had obviously been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“What are you doing in my office?” Kravitz said, his eyes narrowing to slits as he closed the door a little too hard. “Never mind, I can guess. Find what you were looking for?”

“I did, actually. Might be interesting for the police to find you in possession of lab reports on the items stolen from the bakery—and how much do I have to stretch to guess you’re the one who contacted the paper, trying to ruin Jodie’s business? What’s your deal, Kravitz? Do you always react to rejection this way?”

Jason stood, as if pondering, and pursed his lips. “Well, I’m not rejected very often, but no. And I have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t steal anything. I could probably produce a credit card charge for cookies I bought from the bakery, and then I asked an outside lab to look at the composition of the icing, that’s true—but my intention was never to hurt Jodie’s business, only to help.”

“Help? How exactly are you helping?”

“It’s clear you never did extensive testing on the formula—what of side effects, allergies or other problems? Could your flimsy little pheromone formula interfere with people’s normal hormone ratios? This is very concerning to me as a bio engineer. The public has great worries about how we alter their food. All fair questions, you must admit,” Jason said equitably, making Dan seethe. “When Jodie told me about her cookies, I thought to double-check for any problems, and make sure her product was sound.”

“I ran adequate tests, and the formula is completely innocuous, as you well know. However, you also know how to make it sound like more than it is, and scare people into not visiting her store, so who do you think you’re fooling?”

“I can’t be held responsible for people’s response to
the facts, Dr. Ellison. The public has a right to know—the cookies don’t even come with an ingredients list. Customers don’t know what they are ingesting, and what of random effects?”

“Such as?”

“Well, the sexual side effects could be dangerous all on their own. What if someone is attacked or worse?”

Dan rolled his eyes. “Jason, you know as well as I do that nothing in that formula will cause that response. There is a very mild increase in estrogen and a few other hormone levels that isn’t any more pronounced than what happens when someone has a couple of oysters or consumes soy.”

Kravitz shrugged. “And I’m sure you could tell that to the reporter, as well, and make sure he has your version of the facts, but—” Jason paused for effect, and Dan really wanted to hit him “—I guess that would mean admitting in print that your formula really doesn’t do much of anything, that it’s all marketing and a placebo effect?”

Dan didn’t say a word.

“So, I guess you have a mess to work out here, but somehow I don’t think your girlfriend would appreciate you revealing that her cookies are lies, hmm? That could cool your relationship significantly, I would think,” Jason said with such arrogant satisfaction that Dan found his fingers clenching and unclenching again.

“Is that what this is about? You’re jealous?” Dan shook his head.

“Hardly. She was one night’s entertainment for
me—surely promising a very…energetic evening, for certain—”

“Step carefully, Jason,” Dan warned, seeing red.

“I’m actually surprised you care enough to put yourself in departmental peril for this. What if I lodged a complaint about you coming into my office, digging through my papers? Corporate espionage? Academic sabotage? Things could get sticky for you, Dan,” he said, visibly trying to repress his grin. “Especially considering your involvement in future government projects. You could even lose your security clearance. All for a hot piece of ass?”