it. You and VOR lost the fight. The building’s going up, and taunting me isn’t going to change a thing.”
“Public opinion can be a powerful force. I’m working to sway it in my direction.”
“Good luck. I plan to erect that building.”
Gazing up at him, she remembered how silky his brown hair used to feel when she’d run her fingers through it. She had to white-knuckle the chair to keep from reaching for him. “Can you hear yourself? You plan to erect that building. If that isn’t sexual symbolism, I don’t know what is.”
“It’s only a building.” Heat flashed in his eyes. “This is sex.” He grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her. Hard. Then he let go so fast she staggered.
She vibrated from that kiss like a plucked guitar string. Unable to form words—an unusual state for her—she stared at him and struggled to breathe. They simply gazed at each other for a long moment.
“Damn it, Katie.” His voice was soft as a caress.
She matched his tone. “Damn you, Jess.”
“You used to drive me crazy.”
She gulped. “But not…crazy enough.”
He studied her in silence for several seconds. “So this is about prom night.”
She couldn’t very well deny it now, not when all she wanted was another kiss. More than a kiss. She wasn’t over him, not by a long shot.
“Katie, it wasn’t the place. And now that I think about it, neither is this.” He backed away and fumbled for the doorknob.
She leaned against the table for support. “You’re leaving?”
“Damn it, we’re in the KRZE conference room.”
“And the door has a lock.”
He hesitated, as if thinking that over. Then he shook his head. “But I’d like to see you again. I think—”
“What, so you can set me up and knock me down? Not bloody likely!”
He gazed at her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that kiss to happen.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll never let it happen again.” She folded her arms and hugged herself to stop the quivering. “I should have known nothing’s changed.”
“Of course it has. Everything’s changed.”
“Not when it comes to you and me. For some fiendish reason, you love to tease me with possibilities and then leave.”
“We were kids then! It’s different now.”
“Is it?”
He gazed at her for a long moment. “Yeah, it’s different. And I’ll find a way to prove it to you.” He turned and opened the door, then walked out and closed it softly behind him.
Shaken, Katie stared at the carvings on the heavy door without seeing them. Dear God, if Jess had been willing, she would have kissed him again. She might have done more than kiss him. Talk about stupidity squared.
This room wasn’t soundproof, and Ava was down the hall, curious as hell. She might have heard something, although probably not. The door was heavy and the walls of this old building were thick. But if Katie and Jess had gotten carried away, Ava would have known.
Katie had been ready to commit professional suicide, and only Jess’s refusal to continue had saved her. Edgecomb would cancel her show in a Tucson minute if he ever found out something like that had gone on in his conference room, especially involving the owner of Harkins Construction. And he’d be justified.
So Jess had made the right call, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a rat. He should have tried to follow through and let her be the one to stop them. Which she might not have done, but that was beside the point. She was finished with him.
He might be the guy who could start her engine with only a feather touch. He might be more gorgeous now than he had been as a teenager—his body had filled out and his voice had a deeper, sexier timbre that gave her goose bumps.
But none of that mattered because he couldn’t be counted on to need her beyond reason, the way her grandfather had needed her grandmother. Men were supposed to be victims of their hormones, not ruled by logic. Why did Jess have to be the exception?
Yep, she was through with him. And as for her comments on the air, they would only get more scathing. She’d talk Edgecomb out of worrying about the negotiations. And as for Jess, he could just deal with it.
JESS KNEW HE HAD TO TAKE bold action if he expected to square things with Katie. After that interlude in the conference room, he wanted things to be more than square. He wanted to finish—finally—what they’d started so many times before. She wasn’t going to make that easy for him, though.
Tonight’s episode told him she’d never forgiven him for refusing to have sex with her on prom night. She couldn’t know how much that refusal had cost him, was still costing him. Countless times he’d cursed himself for being so damned noble. And he’d never found a woman to equal Katie.
But he hadn’t wanted to cheapen their first real lovemaking by doing it in the back of a car. His mother had told him he’d been conceived that way. She didn’t regret having him, but she thought sex should be conducted in better surroundings. He’d never forgotten that.
Make-out sessions with Katie were okay because they’d only been fooling around, indulging in heavy petting. But when she’d asked him to take her virginity, that was serious stuff. He’d wanted it to be special, and back then he hadn’t had the resources to make it special.
On top of being broke, he’d underestimated the importance she’d place on his refusal. He hadn’t expected her to take it as a rejection, but obviously her expectations of prom night had been huge. He’d let her down.
Apparently he’d done it again tonight by kissing her and leaving. But damn it, he wasn’t about to take that kind of chance with either of their reputations. It was bad enough that he’d lost control and kissed her in the first place.
If things had progressed and word had gotten out, he might have weathered it. But the double standard was still around, and she might never have recovered her status in the community if anyone discovered she’d had a hot rendevous in the KRZE conference room.
He hadn’t meant to tick her off, but when passion of the Katie kind gripped him, he didn’t dare spend time discussing why he was going to leave. He had to get out of the situation before his control snapped and he actually did something dumb.
Katie hadn’t understood that thirteen years ago, and she hadn’t understood it tonight either. He’d have to pull out all the stops to convince her to give him another shot.
He planned to start by breaking into her apartment tomorrow night.
3
BY SIX O’CLOCK ON SATURDAY NIGHT, the temperature on the patio of Katie’s favorite Mexican restaurant hovered around
