door. “You look terrific in it.”
“Thanks.” She gave him a quick smile. “Have a seat. I’ll be back in a sec.”
He nodded, although he had no intention of sitting down. He’d be able to get a better view of her apartment if he stood right where he was.
What he saw surprised him a little. It looked like a college pad instead of a career girl’s place. Makeshift bookcases of bricks and boards overflowed with paperbacks, hardbacks and what looked like textbooks. A futon took the place of a regular couch, and over it hung posters from various art galleries. The women he’d dated recently had graduated to real furniture and professionally framed prints.
The place was neat enough, but it didn’t look as if she’d spent lots of time thinking about decorating. One scraggly pothos in dire need of repotting hung from a hook in the ceiling, and the coffee table looked like a hand-me-down from her parents.
Okay, so she wasn’t domestic, wasn’t into nest-building. Was that such a problem? Reluctantly he admitted it might be. Nest-building instincts ranked pretty high on his list these days.
Then she walked back into the room holding the flowers, her cheeks flushed and the rosebuds a perfect match for her lipstick, and he forgot about his nest-building requirements. Hell, if this turned into something wonderful, he could build the damned nest. Roles were changing more every day. So what if she didn’t own a decent crystal vase and had plunked his roses in a cheap glass one that looked like it had been stashed in a cupboard for years.
“Thank you for the flowers. They’re gorgeous.” From her expression, anyone would think he’d given her diamonds.
He found her enthusiasm sexy. Maybe she didn’t bother decorating her apartment or buying crystal because she had too many other exciting things in her life, like asking a complete stranger to have dinner with her.
“Okay.” She set the vase of flowers on the coffee table and scooped up a small purse from the futon. “I’m ready.”
He thought of her license plate. Yep, her vibrant approach to life really turned him on. “Then let’s go.”
HALFWAY THROUGH THE MEAL, Kasey congratulated herself on how well she was doing. Probably because the restaurant was upscale, the waiter hadn’t carded her when Sam had ordered a bottle of red to go with the pasta. She was relieved about that. Although she had the fake ID, she didn’t want to use it more than necessary, in case somebody spotted it as bogus.
As per her plan, she’d steered the conversation so they talked about Sam. During the antipasto, she’d confirmed what she already knew, that his family had moved to Oregon right after his senior year in high school. He’d gone to college up there but never could get used to the weather, so he’d decided to come back to Phoenix to build his landscaping business.
With a little prompting, she got him to talk about his business during the main course. She didn’t blame him for being proud of what he’d accomplished, creating a thriving enterprise during tough economic times. Besides, she liked listening to him. There was a sexy, husky sound to his voice that hadn’t been there when he was eighteen.
“The tree you worked on today looks amazing,” she said. “Like a sculpture. How did you learn to do that?”
He put down his wineglass and gazed across the table at her, a little smile on his face. “Oh, I’ve had a lot of practice. Besides, it’s fun. I like climbing trees. It’s probably not much different from you designing a PR campaign. How do you go about that, by the way?”
Although it was an innocent enough question, she pegged it as an attempt to switch the topic to her. “Trust me, it’s not half as interesting as what you do. So, what’s the biggest landscaping challenge you’ve ever had?”
He grinned at her. “I’m beginning to think you’ve dated a bunch of egomaniacs.”
“Why?”
“Oh, just the way you’ve made sure we talked about me all the time. Maybe the other guys wanted to bask in that constant limelight, but I’d love to hear something about you.”
“I’m… I’m not all that fascinating.” It was a truthful statement. She was hoping to become fascinating, but that would require more seasoning. He was to be part of the process, although he didn’t know that.
“Come on. A woman who drives a red convertible with such an interesting license plate?”
So here was the fatal flaw in her plan. With the car, the dress, even the shoes, she’d presented herself as a daring Sex and the City kind of girl. She’d hoped that concentrating on him would prevent the spotlight from being turned on her. Spotlights picked up discrepancies. She wondered what she could offer up that would fit the image she’d projected without telling him too much.
Then she remembered her current project at work. “Well, right now I’m designing an image make over for Slightly Scandalous.”
His eyebrows rose. “Really.”
“So you know the place?”
“Um, yeah, I’ve heard of it.”
From his initial reaction she thought he’d had more intimate contact than that. At any rate, sexy underwear seemed to be a savvy topic that went with the red car and the license plate. She’d get some mileage out of it.
“They’ve seen how well Victoria’s Secret is doing,” she said, “and they want some of that market. They’ve rented mall space and they want a classier image when they move.”
“So how do you do that? I mean, when I think of Slightly Scandalous, I think of G-strings and those bras with the cutouts…everywhere.”
Having him mention such things changed the atmosphere of the table, and maybe that’s what she needed. She wouldn’t get him to drool over a discussion about trimming trees. “Exactly. It’s all about branding. If I do my job right, when you think of Slightly Scandalous, you’ll picture a runway model in silk underwear that’s decent enough to be shown on national TV and yet still very sexy.”
“So they’re giving up on the other stuff?” He sounded disappointed.
“Pretty much. There’s a niche market for the over-the-top lingerie, but apparently they were struggling to capture that.” She decided a happening chick would be bold. “Face it, did you ever go in there?”
A flush stole up from the open collar of his silk shirt. “Maybe I should plead the Fifth on that one.”
Which meant he had bought naughty lingerie at some time, for some woman in his life. Kasey wondered what that would be like, having a man like Sam bring her a present of underwear that he expected her to model for him. The idea gave her goose bumps.
“I have the feeling I’ve just incriminated myself,” he said.
“Not at all.” But he’d made himself seem even sexier, if that was possible. She reminded herself to keep playing the role of sophisticated city girl. “I know men have fantasies.”
His gaze intensified. “I’ve been told women have them, too.”
“Well, of course.” She sounded nervous, damn it. She decided
