at how lost his arms felt all of a sudden, he turned to watch her stop a couple of feet away. What? Did she think looking at her instead of touching was going to simmer down the need boiling through his system?
Impossible.
She was pure eye candy.
Still clinging with one hairpin, her hat was askew, dangling to one side. Blond curls, so soft when he’d tangled them in his fingers, were a bright halo around her face. And that face.
Gage wanted to groan.
He’d never gone for sweet. Sweet was dangerous. Sweet came with expectation, with demands. Sweet set off the run-don’t-walk sirens in his head.
But he couldn’t resist Hailey. He wanted all of the sweetness she had to offer.
But she was also the key to his winning this bet. And that, even more than the sirens, warned him to back off. At least until they’d settled their business.
“Well, if you have plans...” he started to say. Before he could excuse his way out of dinner and suggest a more businesslike meeting, she interrupted.
“Do you know Carinos?” she asked.
He gave a hesitant nod. Upscale and trendy, Carinos was the latest see-and-be-seen hot spot.
“How about I meet you there on Wednesday? We’ll need to make it seven instead of six, though. I’m not sure how late my meeting will go.”
This was it. His chance to back out.
But he couldn’t make himself suggest alternate plans.
Gage tried to sort through his confused thoughts. Not an easy thing to do when he could barely stand, thanks to the throbbing hard-on he was sporting.
Before he could decide if he should accept or counter, she smiled.
That sweet, sexy smile that shut down his brain.
Looking like a naughty elf, Hailey wet her lips. He wanted to groan at the sight of her small, pink tongue.
And then, moving so fast she was a blur of blond, she kissed him. Hot, intense. A sweep of her tongue, a slide of her lips. Just enough hint of teeth to make him growl to keep from begging.
Then, before he could take control, or hell, even react with more than a groan of appreciation for the hot spike of desire shooting through him, she moved back.
“See ya Wednesday,” she said.
With that, a little finger wave and a smile that showed just a hint of nerves around the edges, she was gone.
Gage wanted to run after her. To grab her and insist she do something about the crazy desire she’d set to flames in his body.
Except for two things.
One, his dick was so hard, he couldn’t walk for fear of something breaking.
And two, his mind was still reeling.
He’d tried to blame the costume. Because he didn’t get stupid over women.
Ever.
But that cute little elf, with her candy-cane-sweet taste, had sent him so far into Stupidville, he might as well set up camp.
Until he’d figured it out, he needed to stay away from her.
Far, far away.
Because horny was all good and well.
And, he had to admit, stupid-horny was a pretty freaking awesome feeling.
But stupid-horny and business?
Not a good combination.
At least, not when his freedom was on the line.
“YOU’RE GRINNING LIKE a kid who just found a dancing pony under her Christmas tree. What’s wrong with you?”
Wrong?
This was afterglow. Sexual anticipation. And a big ole dollop of nervous energy. It’d been three days since her kiss with Gage, and she was still floating.
Hailey inspected her image in the ornate standing mirror in the corner of her workroom-slash-office. Behind her were swaths of billowing silk, yards of lace and spilling bins of roses and romantic trim.
Only Doris would look at that and say it was wrong.
Hailey peered past her reflection to the woman behind her.
Doris Danson, or D.D. to her friends—which meant Hailey called her Doris—looked as if she were stuck in a time warp.
Rounded and a little droopy, her white hair was bundled in a messy bun reminiscent of a fifties showgirl. Bright blue eye shadow and false lashes added to the image. Doris’s workday uniform consisted of polyester slacks, a T-shirt with a crude saying by a popular yellow bird and an appliqué holiday sweater complete with beribboned dogs, candy canes and sequin-covered trees.
The sweater and tee didn’t bother Hailey. But as a designer, she was morally offended at the elastic-waisted polyester. Doris knew that. Hailey had a suspicion that the older woman haunted thrift stores and rummage sales to stock up on the ugly things.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Hailey said.
Not really. But she couldn’t meet her secretary-slash-seamstress-slash-bookkeeper’s gaze.
Despite her afterglow, she was kind of freaked out. She’d made out with a potential business associate. Now, granted, associate was a pretty loose term. But she was still walking a moral line here. Should Gage be off-limits? Maybe she shouldn’t be obsessing over that kiss. Hailey bit her lip, chewing off the lip gloss she’d just slicked on five minutes ago.
“Might want to eat something besides your lipstick. Not like they feed you at these fancy meetings. Why you think it’s a good idea to go talk to this guy after he burned you is a mystery, though.”
“Mr. Rudolph didn’t burn me. He’d never offered an actual contract. I’m sure I’ll still get the exclusive. It’s just going to be a little more interesting now.” Jared and Trent wouldn’t have praised her designs like they had if they didn’t think she had the contract in the bag. And Hailey had a secret weapon now. A very sexy, very delicious one she was meeting for dinner.
“Interesting. Right. Instead of getting a solid deal you expected, you get to play some rich man’s game.” The wheels of her chair creaked as Doris shifted. The woman was barely visible behind the stacks of paper, catalogs and the tiny ceramic Christmas tree on her desk. Too bad she wasn’t barely audible, too. “And where are you going to be when that other guy walks off with the contract? On the street, that’s where.”
Turning to give Doris a chiding look, Hailey insisted, “It’s going to be fine. I’m going to get this deal.”
