I get what I want, Emma. And I want you to have dinner with me. If I thought for one second that you weren’t sincerely interested, I would let it drop. But you can’t fool me with your tight hair buns and your formal demeanor. The woman that was in the supply closet with me wants to have dinner. And who am I to deny her?”
“You don’t know anything about me, in or out of a closet, Jonah.”
“Don’t I?”
His blue eyes challenged her, and that made her instantly nervous. She self-consciously reached for the collar of her blouse and pulled it tighter to ensure she hadn’t given away her identity.
“I certainly don’t want to take it this far, which is why I’m offering you an alternative that will make everyone happy. Tomorrow night, meet me at the Wall Street Heliport at six sharp. From there, I will whisk you away to a location where we won’t run into anyone we know. We can have a nice, private dinner without you needing to worry about your job. You can just relax for once and enjoy your time with me.”
It wasn’t an ideal scenario, but it was certainly better than losing her job over a lie. She couldn’t believe a man that high profile could just disappear like that, though. “And what about your little paparazzi friends?”
Jonah shrugged. “They only take pictures when I allow them to know where I am. When I want privacy I’m more than capable of arranging it. I assure you that no one will know where we’re going tomorrow night, even you.”
That was one less concern, but it still left several on the table she wasn’t ready to discuss with him. Like how being alone with him turned her knees to butter and how if she fell prey to his charms, she’d run the risk of him finding out all her secrets. It was too soon for that. But did she really have a choice? “And if I go to dinner with you...just dinner...you’ll leave me alone?”
“If at the end of the evening that’s what you want, then yes.”
Emma would make sure that was how the evening ended, even if she regretted every word out of her mouth. While she didn’t anticipate much to come out of her attraction to the infamous CEO, she didn’t want even a whisper of it to happen before her job here was completed.
“Okay, fine,” she said in a huge rush of breath before she could change her mind. “What shall I wear?”
Jonah grinned wide with unmasked pleasure. “Excellent. Now you might be surprised to hear this, but I plan to take you somewhere that requires a jacket and maybe even a tie on my part.”
Emma’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You mean you own a suit?”
“I own several. I’m not antisuit under the right circumstances, despite what my mother would say if she were asked. I just don’t need them to feel important or in control like some people do. I like to be comfortable and a T-shirt with a video game reference on it is far more representative of my personality than a boring old pin-striped tie.”
Emma tried not to get excited by the idea of seeing Jonah in a suit. He obviously underestimated what a sharp suit on the right man could do to a woman’s resolve. “Then I’ll meet you at the heliport tomorrow at six.”
Jonah gave her a curt nod and disappeared from her office. Once he was gone, Emma was finally able to take a deep breath and realized what she’d just agreed to. She peeked out around her door, and when he was nowhere in sight, dashed down the hallway to Harper’s cubicle.
“Help!” she said as she rounded the corner.
Harper looked up with wide, surprised eyes. “What’s the matter?”
“I’ve got a date tomorrow. With him.”
“Him?” Harper leaped up from her chair. “I thought you refused to go out with him right now.”
“I know, but he shot down every excuse I could think of. I agreed to it this time on the condition that he would leave me alone after that if I asked him to.”
Harper just shook her head. “How could you ever ask a man like him to leave you alone?”
“Well,” Emma sighed, “at the moment, I have bigger problems than that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I have no idea what I’m going to wear. Most of my clothes are somewhere between business casual and business professional. I need date clothes. You’re the fashion diva. I need you to go through my closet and tell me what to wear.”
“I doubt there’s much in there we can use,” Harper said with obvious dismay. “Especially with junior playing havoc with your waistline. I think we need to go shopping.”
Emma frowned. “I don’t think I have time to—”
“Right now,” Harper interrupted. She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out her Kate Spade purse. “Get your things. We’re going shopping right now.”
Emma let Harper shove her down the hallway as she protested. “It’s three in the afternoon.”
“You need all the help you can get.”
Emma couldn’t argue with that. The next thing she knew they were in a cab and on their way to Fifth Avenue. As they strolled along the sidewalk, Harper had her gaze narrowed at every window scanning for just the right thing. They had stepped into about seven or eight stores, but left with nothing. Harper was searching for something special—a standout look—she said.
Emma was happy to hang back and let Harper decide what was best. After all, that was what Harper lived for—designer clothes, cute shoes, a fabulous handbag—she didn’t need much else in life. Her apartment was paid for, so Emma was pretty sure that her entire paycheck from FlynnSoft went directly to Neiman Marcus or Saks Fifth Avenue. Thankfully, she was raised by a father with more money than he, or she, could ever spend.
And that was coming from Emma’s point of view—a girl who’d never wanted for a thing in her life.
“That!” Harper came to a sudden stop and pointed at a mannequin in the window. “That’s what you’re wearing.” She snatched Emma’s hand and pulled her into the boutique before she had really even gotten a good look at the dress. All she saw was a blur of blue.
When they stopped at the rack inside the store, Emma realized it wasn’t even a dress. It was a jumpsuit. “Are you serious?”
“Absolutely. Jumpsuits are very in right now. Any woman he’s dated could wear some slinky little dress to dinner. That’s what he expects. Blow him out of the water with this instead.”
Harper held up the royal blue silk jumpsuit and Emma’s eyes got big. It was sleeveless with wide straps that went over the shoulders and a neckline that dipped down to her sternum. She’d need a specialty bra to pull this outfit off, for sure.
“What about my tattoo?” Emma whispered.
“It will cover it. The wide straps are perfect.”
That was one concern dealt with. “And where’s the back of it?” she asked.
“The fabric crisscrosses in the back and leaves the rest bare. Just enough skin to be sexy, but not
