sneaky things about luck, riding on a rep and unworthiness.
“You ready for the show tomorrow? Nervous about schmoozing with a hundred thousand or so people?”
“Nah. Tri-Solutions has a good product. It’s easy to talk up.” So easy he was getting bored. Which was why he was considering the offer from Kettlemens. Luke could handle a lot of things, but boredom wasn’t one of them.
“You take that job with Kettlemens and you’ll be traveling for a living.” Matt tossed back the last of his Jack and Coke, then shook his head in admiration. “Traveling across the country setting up digital systems in all their branches, training their trainers. That’d be the life.”
Hotel beds, jet lag and no time to spend his big fat raise.
Damn. Luke winced. What was wrong with him?
He had a sweet life.
He knew guys like Matt looked at him and figured he had it all. He was flying up the ladder to success three or four rungs at a time. He drove a BMW, owned a condo in the Presidio and, yeah, there was the luck with the ladies.
It was all easy.
Maybe too easy.
He was bored. Bored with his job, bored with himself. Hell, he was even bored with his sex life.
He didn’t want to leave Tri-Solutions or San Francisco. But the Kettlemens offer was looking better and better, if only for something different to do.
“Oh, baby.”
Ditching the downer thinking at Matt’s growl, Luke looked over his shoulder to see what the guy was staring at.
And damn near dropped his beer.
Oh, baby, indeed.
Now, there was something different.
She was gorgeous.
Long hair in a shade of red too vivid to be real slicked over her shoulders to bracket a glittering mini dress that barely concealed her ample curves. Legs so long they could wrap around his shoulders were sleek and slender, all the way down to a pair of red do-me heels that made him finally understand the whole deal with foot fetishes. Despite her sexy look, she didn’t have a hooker vibe. There was something sweet about her, like an angel dressed in devil’s duds. Luke ripped his gaze from her shoes, taking his time sliding back up over those gorgeous curves. He finally reached her face. It was just as enticing as the rest of the package.
Their eyes met.
He felt a zing that shot across the twenty feet separating them, through his body and straight south.
“So hot,” Matt murmured in appreciation.
“Smoking,” he agreed.
“And it looks like she’s got her sights set on you, friend.”
Since her eyes were roaming his body as though she’d like to strip it naked and see what he was made of, Luke didn’t bother denying the obvious.
He’d much rather help her accomplish that particular goal.
“You’re on your own,” he told his friend, starting to shift through the crowd toward the sexy redhead.
“Reel her in,” Matt called with a laugh, no doubt in his tone that Luke would do just that.
“Consider it done.”
It wasn’t ego talking. It was determination.
As if sensing his resolve, people cleared the path between Luke and the redhead without him having to nudge anyone out of his way. In less than ten seconds, he was close enough to see that her eyes were brown, her necklace was an infinity symbol and her lipstick had sparkles in it.
“Hello,” he greeted, surprised to see how delicate and petite she was close up. From across the room, she’d seemed larger-than-life. Like a beacon shining bright in the night sky, drawing him closer, pulling him in.
“Hi,” she returned, her voice a husky purr easily heard even over the loud club noise.
“I’m Luke.”
“Gi—Um, Vanna,” she offered, her words almost a stutter. She wrinkled her nose like a cute bunny, then shrugged and tried again. “I’m Vanna. Nice to meet you.”
“Do you come here often?”
Her big brown eyes rounded in surprise before she gave an uninhibited snort of laughter.
“Do you use lines like that often?” she returned.
“Hey, sometimes the classics are best,” he said with a grin.
“What other classics are you partial to?” she asked, sipping her martini.
“I’d try ‘Haven’t we met before?’ since there’s something hauntingly familiar about you, but if we’d met, I’m sure I’d remember.”
He wasn’t sure what caused the alarm in her eyes, but whatever it was quickly passed. So quick he thought maybe he’d imagined it.
“I’d hate to think I was forgettable,” she shot back, her smile teasing. “Or that that particular line actually works for you.”
Actually, lines were used on him a lot more often than he tossed them out. But he didn’t think his telling her that and sounding like a cocky ass was going to make the impression he was hoping for.
“Vanna, you’re a lot of things. Beautiful, sexy, intriguing. But forgettable doesn’t make the list,” he said, his tone flirtatious and his smile just this side of wicked.
Her eyes flashed. Luke’s smile dimmed. Was that hurt? Once again the look was gone too fast for him to be sure.
Curiouser and curiouser.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he offered.
She lifted one brow and then her hand to show off her glass. The same one she’d been holding all along.
So much for reeling her in. Luke grimaced, offering an apologetic shrug. “I’m usually smoother than this.”
“Yeah? What’s got you roughing it tonight?”
Her.
There was something intriguing, almost confusing, about her. She was familiar, but he’d swear he’d never seen her before. She dressed like a modern-day version of a ’40s bombshell movie star.
And she looked at him as if she wanted to suck Jell-O shots off his body, but she wasn’t making the typical moves.
Yeah. Totally intriguing.
“Maybe I’m having an off night,” he finally said in answer to her question. “Or maybe I’m not very good with women.”
She laughed hard, then bit her lip as if trying
