used. “That makes it sound sordid.” He didn’t want Katie starting out with the wrong idea about this. Otherwise, she’d be no help at all and, he had to admit, he had come to rely on her shrewd instincts pretty heavily these past two years. “Brittany and I had a connection in college.”
“Yes, I remember,” she answered grimly as they made their way down the escalator to the first floor.
There was deep regret in his voice as he concluded, “And then I didn’t follow through. I want to win her back. I’ll be taking her to the Valentine’s Day fundraiser in Atlanta in a few weeks. That’s when I intend to make my move.”
Were they talking about the same woman? As she recalled, the woman was a little too Scarlett O’Hara for her taste.
“Kind of hard to get close to someone with that kind of a throng surrounding her,” she recalled.
That, Blake thought, disturbed by Katie’s comment, was an unwarranted, uncalled-for assessment. “It wasn’t a throng,” he protested.
“Okay, a swarm, then. Or maybe ‘mob’ might be a better word to use,” she suggested crisply.
How could he? her mind cried. How could he think about getting together with a girl like that again? She’d never understood what had compelled him to get together with Brittany in the first place. Yes, she had what amounted to an almost-perfect body, but it was coupled with a completely imperfect personality for him.
They were outside the terminal now and approaching the valet’s booth. Blake glanced in her direction as he gave the valet his ticket.
“I’m sensing a little hostility here,” he noted.
“Just a little?” Katie muttered under her breath.
Blake cocked his head, bringing his ear a little closer to her. The noise level outside the terminal was even louder than it was inside, making it hard to maintain a conversation without resorting to shouting. And Katie hadn’t shouted. Had he not seen her lips moving, he wouldn’t have even been aware that she’d said anything at all.
“What did you just say?” he asked.
Katie was quick to shake her head. There was no point in arguing. “Nothing.”
Besides, what did she expect? she silently upbraided herself. For the world to suddenly change? For Blake to suddenly wake up, come to his senses and see what was right in front of him? A woman who was willing to love him, flaws and all, for the rest of his life—for the rest of her life.
Leopards didn’t change their spots and Katie couldn’t believe that in the interim years a girl like Brittany Everett would become more compatible with Blake.
What was wrong with him? she silently fumed.
The next moment, she redirected the question toward herself. What the hell was wrong with her? Had Blake ever indicated that he had feelings for her that went beyond a boss appreciating his employee’s work? Did he even indicate that he felt she went above and beyond the call of duty each and every time?
Well, that was her mistake, wasn’t it? She did so in an effort not just to seem indispensable to him, but to have him suddenly look at her, really look at her and see her for the first time. See how good she was for him—not just for the company, but for him—and then maybe, just maybe, that could lead to something more.
The word more however had no meaning here—unless it was to indicate that she doubted if Blake could be more wrong in his choice of a future wife, which was where this whole stupid “campaign” was clearly going.
She couldn’t do this, she thought. She couldn’t go through with this. She couldn’t be his master strategist, his Cyrano, to help him land a woman who would ultimately stomp all over the heart he was planning on serving to her on a silver platter.
Katie began to voice her protest, but then, before even a single word managed to come out, she changed her mind.
Blake was going to go through with this with her or without her and if she protested, he might just view it as being a case of sour grapes. But if she was there, at his side, helping him with this awful campaign, maybe it would finally hit him that she had all the virtues and assets that he, in his delusion, thought that Brittany possessed.
And, she added silently, if this all blew up on him, she’d be right there to help him pick up the pieces.
She’d be privy to every detail of his plan and with it all laid out for her, she would know how best to ruin his plans. And by ruining them, she would be able to ultimately save the man from embarrassment and making the mistake of a lifetime—if not the century.
And if, at the same time, she could get him to see that it was her all along who he should have been with, well, so much the better.
“Look, if I’m asking too much,” Blake was saying, apparently having second thoughts about the wisdom of asking her to help, “then maybe you should—”
“It’s not that you’re asking too much,” she said, cutting him off. “It’s just that, well, I’m not sure if I’m exactly the right person for the job. This is a little different than the usual campaigns we work on.”
“Of course you’re the right person for the job. I mean, this is about what appeals to a woman. Brittany’s a woman and so are you, right?”
She looked at him, a little stunned. “Is that a question?” she wanted to know. “I mean, really?”
“No, no, of course you’re a woman. That’s what I’m counting on.”
He was either being exceedingly simpleminded—or insulting. She wasn’t sure which bothered her more. “That all women are alike?”
He couldn’t really explain why, but he had the feeling he was in over his head—and drowning. What was needed was a time-out so that he could gather his thoughts together and begin again.
Blake was more than certain that Katie was the right woman for the job. After all, someone as attractive as she was probably had guys making a play for her all the time. What sort of things made her reactions positively? That’s what he needed to find out. He just had to find the right way to phrase this so she wouldn’t think that, well, he was coming onto her. Because he wasn’t. Even if, sometimes when she looked at him, he’d find something stirring deep inside of him. That was just a basic, physical thing, nothing more.
Taking a breather, Blake pulled himself back and refocused.
“Tell you what,” he proposed. “Let’s get you over to Wendy’s. She’s dying to see you.”
At least someone was, Katie thought.
Chapter Three
“On my God, just look at you,” Katie cried as she walked into Wendy’s bedroom.
After everything she’d heard about Wendy going into premature labor, Katie had expected to find her friend pale and languishing in bed. Instead, Wendy looked just the way she always did: bright and animated, and very, very pretty.
Wendy’s
