Читать книгу Beyond Business - Elizabeth Harbison, Allison Leigh - Страница 16

When seeing Evan in the office, Meredith had managed to somehow separate her memories of him from the reality they were living today.

But pulling up outside the house she’d lived in when she’d dated him in high school—a house she’d only been back in for a short time now—she felt as if she were time traveling.

From the look on Evan’s pale face, he was clearly feeling the same thing.

“I bought the place from my mother when she moved to Florida last year,” she explained.

He looked relieved. “For a minute there, I thought I was going nuts.”

She took the keys out of the ignition and said, “For a minute there, I thought you were going nuts, too.”

“Thanks.”

She loved his dry humor. “I should have put a Pixies CD on and asked how you did on your term paper,” she continued. “As long as we didn’t pass a Hummer or something, I probably could have had you going.”

“You’re cute,” he said, getting out of the car. “Real cute.”

“Uh-oh, I’ve been demoted.” She singled out her house key as they stepped onto the front porch. “A few minutes ago you said I was beautiful.”

He pointed at his head. “I was injured. I didn’t know what I was saying.”

“Ah.” She put the key in the lock and clicked it open. “Good excuse.”

They stepped into the cool, air-conditioned foyer.

Evan looked around as if he was in a time warp.

“I know,” she said. “I have to redecorate. I just haven’t had time. You remember where the kitchen is?”

He nodded. “Sure.”

“Go on in and have a seat. I’ll run and get the first-aid kit, then meet you there.”

She rushed upstairs on legs that were shaking. Evan looked bad. He looked really bad. And it was all her fault, she thought, scrambling into the bathroom and throwing the cabinet doors open. Her father had always told her she had to be way more careful walking around downtown Chicago. He’d warned her over and over again that she was too lax about things like personal safety.

She, in turn, had told him he was paranoid, that she’d be fine and he just had to stop worrying so much.

She pushed around in the cabinet, moving cleaning supplies, curlers, half-used bottles of shampoo, until she finally found the white plastic box with the red cross on the front. It was about a thousand years old, but she doubted anything in it had ever been opened.

She grabbed a washcloth to clean Evan’s face, thought about the amount of blood, and put the washcloth down in favor of a full-size bath towel.

Thus armed, she hurried back downstairs to the kitchen, where Evan was sitting on a stool by the counter, shirtless, still looking around in a bemused way.

He’d already cleaned the blood off his cheek and while the wound was a bit less dramatic than she’d thought, it was still more dramatic than he’d indicated. He had folded a square of paper towels that he was using to alternately apply and release pressure.

“I threw my shirt away,” he said, in answer to her unasked question. “I figured it was less rude of me to sit here half-naked than to sit here in a disgusting bloody shirt.”

“Good call,” she said, but her mouth was suddenly dry.

His upper body was far more muscular and developed than it used to be, cut and contoured with sinewy muscle. His skin was bronzed from the sun of wherever it was he’d been this past decade, and he looked like he’d just stepped out of the pages of a Sports Illustrated sun-and-surf edition.

“Does it hurt?” she asked, pouring antiseptic onto a cotton pad.

“It doesn’t tickle,” he said, eyeing the pad dubiously.

“Neither will this,” she said, gently pressing the antiseptic to the wound.

Evan cussed and drew back.

“I’m sorry!” Meredith stepped back. “It’s a necessary evil. You don’t want to get an infection.”

He gave a rueful smile. “I’m not sure about that. It might hurt less than this.”

“Yeah, until your face turns green and falls off. Come on.” She put her hand on his head, her fingers touching his dark hair for the first time in ages. She swallowed, took a quick, steadying breath and said, “On the count of three.”

“Don’t you want to say ‘this is going to hurt you a lot more than it’s going to hurt me’?”

She smiled. “Sort of, but I’ll refrain.”

“Thank you.” He winced as she put the antiseptic to his face again.

Once it was cleaned up some, a closer examination of the wound revealed that it actually wasn’t quite as bad as Meredith had feared. It probably didn’t need stitches. “I think one of these sealing bandages will be good enough,” she said to Evan.

“I told you it wasn’t so fatal.”

She shrugged and took a bandage out of the first-aid kit and unwrapped it. “If it were me, I’d still go to the E.R. and make sure I don’t need stitches. You might end up with a scar.”

“My face isn’t as pretty as yours to begin with.” He grinned. “Besides, a scar would make me look more rugged, don’t you think? I’ll have to make up a story that’s a lot cooler than being outrun and sucker punched by a couple of punks, though. Maybe I could say I killed a guy defending a nun and a group of orphans. Ouch!”

“Sorry.” Meredith grimaced. “It wasn’t on smoothly.”

“Jeez, did any skin come up with that bandage?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got another one.” She smiled and put a new bandage on neatly. “There. Good as new. Almost.”

He reached a hand up to touch the spot and grazed her hand instead. For a moment they lingered, fingertip to fingertip, and something coursed through Meredith’s chest with the power of a freight train.

She drew her hand back and tried to look as if she hadn’t noticed the accidental contact or felt the intense reaction.

Evan touched the spot on his cheek. “Perfect.” He looked into her eyes. “You could have a future in nursing.”

“I hope not,” she said absently, still thinking about his touch. “I’m already working two jobs.” As soon as the words left her lips, Meredith clapped her mouth shut. How could she be so stupid? She was never that unprofessional. It was absolutely imperative that she keep her secrets under wraps. And Evan Hanson was the last person in the world she should let her guard down in front of.

There was so much he must never know.

“Two jobs?” he asked, of course.

She thought fast. “Yes, working for Hanson Media and working with you.” The explanation wasn’t hard to come up with, but trying to make her voice sound light and casual was almost impossible.

He laughed. “I see. I’m a whole additional problem, huh?”

She let out a tense breath. He’d bought it. Thank God. “I can’t believe it’s the first time you’ve heard something like that.”

“Hell, Meredith, it’s not even the first time I’ve heard something like that from you.”

Thank goodness he was good-humored about it, but she really hadn’t wanted to insult him. “I was only joking, Evan. You’re not that bad.”

“You’re not so bad yourself.” His brown eyes caught hers again and held.

Meredith’s breath caught in her chest and lodged there like an iron fist. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even move, for fear of stopping something that she knew in her mind should never happen.

He was going to kiss her.

She wanted him to kiss her.

His gaze lingered one, two, three beats longer than she expected. Inside, she squirmed under it, hoping like a schoolgirl that he wanted her as much as she wanted him.

Finally, without saying a word, he scooped her into his arms and put his mouth over hers.

A small voice inside of her resisted, almost begging her to pull back before it was too late. Meredith knew herself well enough to know that she had never been able to resist Evan, no matter how hard she’d tried. Though years had passed and granted her more self-control where Twinkies and pizza were concerned, it seemed she still had an irresistible weakness for Evan Hanson.

She sank against him and deepened the kiss, momentarily heedless of good sense. Lots of time had passed since they’d last met like this, and part of Meredith still held the energy of waiting for him. It was as if she was righting some long-standing wrong—even though she knew in reality she couldn’t do that.

Still, she could have kissed Evan for a week. A month. A year.

Twelve years.

Evan held a piece of her that had been missing all that time.

His mouth moved gently across hers, tentatively feeling for her reactions, clearly reaching the end of his ability to stop.

She didn’t want him to.

His tongue touched hers, and every nerve in her body tightened like strings on a dulcimer. She ran her hands up his back, languishing in the feel of his muscled back beneath her touch, until she reached his upper back and pulled him closer to her.

Closer, something in her cried to him. Come closer. Don’t let go. This time, never let go.

He ran strong hands down to the small of her back, holding her firmly against him. She felt safe in his embrace. It felt right. When his fingertips slipped under her shirt and pressed against her lower back, the feel of his skin touching hers in such an intimate way made her wild with desire.

As if reading her thoughts, he dipped his hand lower, sending shivers of pleasure through her core.

As Evan’s mouth moved against hers and his hands played against her skin and held her close to him, Meredith felt the ache that had sat hollow in her stomach for so long finally beginning to ease.

The voice within her still tried to insist that this was wrong, that Evan had betrayed her heartlessly before and he might well do it again, but it didn’t matter what she thought was wrong.

It only mattered what she felt was right.

Whoa, what was she thinking? Since when did Meredith Waters allow herself to do something she knew was wrong?

She pulled back abruptly. “I forgot to ask if you wanted some ibuprofen or something.”

Evan looked surprised. “I’m good, thanks.” He reached for her again, but she stepped back.

“Shot of whiskey?” she tried halfheartedly. “You must need something for the pain.”

“No, really, Meredith, I’m fine.” He eyed her, and hesitated before adding with finality, “In fact, I should call a cab or something and get out of your hair.”

“No,” she said quickly. Too quickly. “Evan, there’s no way I’m letting you go back to sleep in the office, for crying out loud. You need to stay here.”

He did a slight double take. “Stay here? Where here?”

“Here. Up in the guest room. In fact, you can have your pick of three guest rooms.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Any of them?” he asked with a lascivious grin.

She smiled lightly. “As long as it’s not already occupied.”

He snapped his fingers in mock disappointment. “I hate to sleep alone.”

“Yeah, and I’m guessing you haven’t had to do it that often, either.” She was joking, but something about the words stuck in her craw a little bit.

“More than you’d think, Meredith,” he answered, his voice serious.

Their eyes met, and a frisson of energy zapped between them.

She could have thrown herself right back into his arms and kissed him until she forgot about every other thing in her life and in the outside world, but she knew better.

She had to keep reminding herself, of course, but she definitely knew better.

“Anyway,” she said pointedly. “The fact is that tonight you’ll be sleeping alone and you’ll be doing it here.”

“That’s really not necessary.”

“What kind of person would let someone risk life and limb to get a stupid purse back and then just send him on his way?” She shook her head. “Not me. Now get upstairs, mister. You need to rest.”

He stood up and faltered, losing his balance ever so slightly, but enough for her to say, “See? That proves my point.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I have some big old T-shirts,” she went on. “I’ll get you one and you can sleep in that.”

“I sleep naked,” he said, a sly grin playing on his lips. “Have you forgotten?”

She sucked in a breath. No, she hadn’t forgotten. When she was sleeping with him, she slept nude as well.

It saved time.

But she wasn’t going to think about that and she wasn’t going to give Evan any indication that she’d thought about it, so she simply said, “I thought the circumstances might make you more modest.”

“The circumstances are making me more.” He shook his head. “Well, anyway, I get the point.”

“Good. Keep it covered. There’s a bathrobe on the door of the bathroom. You can put that on and toss me your jeans and … everything. I’ll wash them.”

“You really don’t have to do that.”

“Stop saying that. Just give me the clothes, would you?”

“You’ve sure gotten bossy over the years.”

“Evan.”

He put his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, I hear you. I’ll strip for you. No problem.”

She sighed. “You know all that stuff I said about being able to work with you?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’m starting to think I should ask for a raise.” She smiled. “They’re not paying me enough for this.”

He laughed. “I’ll talk to the boss on your behalf.”

“Good.” She led him to the bottom of the staircase. “Now go. Toss your stuff down to me when you’ve got it off.”

“Fine.” He made his way up the stairs and she leaned against the wall and waited for him.

About two minutes later he tossed his things down and said, “No starch!”

It was going to be a long night.