and once he knew what made the other guy tick, he’d know the best way to move forward.
Elizabeth did the same thing—acted as though she was a tough-as-nails executive when inside she was a woman waiting to be coaxed out of her shell. And he was just the man to do it.
ELIZABETH SPENT MOST of the day in meetings. But really her mind was on Bradley. Her friend “plus.” She hadn’t been able to get that notion out of her head all day, and she was practically counting the minutes until she saw him again.
She stood above the lobby, which was decked out in fall garlands with the signs of harvest all around. It seemed homey—if home was a big mansion with lots of luxury. She remembered the modest ranch-style home she’d grown up in and acknowledged to herself that Thanksgiving looked a lot different this year.
The scent of spiced pumpkin cookies wafted in the air from the bakery down the hall that led out to the ski area. She felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. Suddenly, she heard raised voices at the front desk and realized that Thompson Holmes was demanding something.
She rubbed the back of her neck. He was demanding and not a very nice man. He might be able to make people weep with his blockbuster movies but in real life he was an ass. But it was her job to keep him happy so he’d tell his friends about the resort. A big part of their clientele was Hollywood A-listers.
Her cell phone rang and she glanced down at Bradley’s face before answering the call.
“I can’t believe you’re calling me at a decent hour,” she quipped. She kept one eye on the front desk where her manager seemed to be getting Thompson to calm down.
“The hour is always decent when you’re on the phone, Lizzie. I’m calling to see if we can bump our dinner to 8:30.”
She felt a twinge of disappointment. They’d been friends for years; she was ready for the benefits to kick in. Maybe he had cold feet after their call last night.
“Sure. We don’t have to have dinner. You can come by my place later, instead.”
“We’re having dinner,” he said. “I was hoping to add a meeting to your calendar today to discuss an opportunity that Carter Shaw brought me. Our dinner is about you and me. I don’t want to talk business then.”
She ignored the fact that he’d just made her feel warm and tingly inside. Sex was all she wanted from Bradley, but the truth was he’d always made her feel good. Even when they were competing against each other and he beat her.
“I’d love to discuss this,” she said. She needed a community project on the calendar for next year. “But Carter can be...difficult. My board of directors is still a little peeved from the way he pushed for snowboarders. Should I get our ski pro to join us?”
She was already thinking where in her schedule she could fit the meeting in and get Lindsey to join them. That way, she’d ensure it was more business and less date. The more she’d contemplated their friends-with-benefits arrangement today, the more important it seemed to make certain they didn’t fall into a relationship. It would just complicate things.
“It’s up to you, but at this phase, probably just you and I would be fine to discuss this idea. I’m talking to the GMs at all the area resorts.”
“Okay. So is it something exciting? Give me some details so I can start—”
“So eager. Are you always this impatient?” he asked, a teasing lilt to his voice.
“I just don’t like surprises,” she said. “Forewarned is forearmed and all that.”
“We’re not going to battle,” he reminded her.
Yet it felt like that at times. Letting her guard down with Bradley would be a mistake. She already liked him way too much.
“I just like having all the facts.”
“Fair enough. He wants to do a charity-type winter-sports event in Park City next November. I’m going to donate gear to give to underprivileged kids and I was hoping you could donate the facilities.”
She thought about the logistics of what he was asking. “I’m going to have to run some numbers. Let’s meet in my office at seven and then we can head down to dinner at the Gastrophile West after.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then,” Bradley said. “But you should know I’m putting the timer on and when it’s time for dinner, I’m ending our meeting.”
“Fine. I’m not all about business, you know,” she reminded him. His words echoed those that she’d heard from her family and friends over the years. In fact, whenever she went home for the weekend, her mom confiscated her cell phone the moment she arrived. “If you’re going to have an attitude we can skip the dinner.”
“We’re not skipping anything. I wasn’t giving you a hard time, Lizzie. I just want to make sure that we have enough time to celebrate. What you’ve accomplished is huge and you deserve at least one dinner where the focus is on you.”
She smiled to herself, but felt a shiver of unease go down her spine. “I don’t need the spotlight on me.”
“Maybe I want it there,” he said, his voice dropping to that husky, seductive octave that he’d used in the middle of the night.
“We don’t always get we want, Bradley. You should know that by now,” she said.
“That might be true for some people, but I’m very determined where you are concerned.”
“And what have you determined?” she asked, a bit breathlessly.
He didn’t answer right away and she wasn’t sure if he was doing that to bide his time or to make her jittery, but the effect was the latter.
This dinner was starting to sound like one of the most dangerous things she’d ever agreed to. A night with Bradley could shake her to her moorings, and she’d always known that, but she’d felt sort of safe because she wanted something from him.
“Bradley?”
“I’m determined to have you, Elizabeth Anders, and I’m not going to let your job, or any other excuse you can find, stand between us. Don’t deny you’re having second thoughts. I could tell by the way you ended the call last night.”
“You’re not as clever as you think. I’m not backing away. Just anxious to get to the plus part of this friendship.”
He laughed, the sound booming through the phone and making her shiver with sensual awareness. “I love it when you surprise me, Lizzie girl.”
She wasn’t sure what to say to that. But she knew she’d done something to throw him off his guard. He only called her Lizzie when he was trying to feel her out and figure out what move to make next.
“If I did it all the time it wouldn’t be special,” she said.
“Right again,” he replied under his breath.
She
