Читать книгу New Year's Resolution: Romance!: Say Yes / No More Bad Girls / Just a Fling - Leslie Kelly, Christie Ridgway - Страница 10
ОглавлениеASHLEY WISHED SHE’D done her job and gotten out of the house before drawing Chase Bradley’s attention. As she proceeded down the hall, the man carrying the massive arrangement behind her, she could feel his presence like a warm tickle on the back of her neck. When facing him, she’d felt his magnetism elsewhere.
He had the kind of looks that heated a woman.
His face was all planes and angles: sharp cheekbones, blade of a nose, square jawline. His broad brow was revealed by the business cut of his nearly black hair. His eyes were gray, surrounded by inky lashes. His very white smile flipped her stomach and filled her with an odd, wild yearning.
That was the kind of effect he likely encountered—and expected—from all females.
It vexed Ashley to acknowledge that. She’d never liked being one of a crowd. Not that she enjoyed standing out, either. That had been her husband, Stu. Cocky, reckless, flashy Stu. Thinking of him no longer tore at her heart. It just informed her head, reminding her to go slow, be cautious, take her time. Even if Moose turned out to be The One—fat chance, because Moose—she figured she’d casually date the next man in her life for a few years before even contemplating something the slightest bit serious.
It was possible that she’d never fall in love again, and the idea of that didn’t make her feel as lonely as it might. It felt...smart. Safe.
They’d reached the foyer.
A round table, gleaming from a good waxing, sat precisely in its center. She pointed to it. “There,” she said.
He placed the ceramic pot with its profusion of flowers in the middle and stepped back.
“Thank you,” she said, moving forward without looking at him. She began fussing with the stems and leaves, hoping he’d read her actions as a polite dismissal.
He didn’t move.
Without wanting to, she glanced over her shoulder. He wore gray jeans, a light blue dress shirt and a darker blue slim-cut, suit-styled jacket over it. What every successful young executive wore to greet guests at his vacation estate. She tore her gaze off him and went back to working on the arrangement of white roses, miniature irises and muscari.
“Lovely,” Chase murmured.
“Thank you. I’ll pass along your compliment to my boss, the owner of the shop.” Another few seconds passed and he was still there and she was still pretending to be conscious of only the flora in the room when the male fauna nearby was completely derailing her thought processes.
What should she do? How could she get him to go away? For some odd reason, she didn’t want to face him again.
“Is there anything else you need?” she asked, still with her back turned. “Otherwise, I’m on my way.”
“You must have big plans for tonight.”
Since he couldn’t see her face, she grimaced. Moose. “Sure. It’s New Year’s Eve.”
“And you’re already dressed for a party. I like the lace stockings.”
She fought the urge to cross one leg over the other. But a flame shot up the back of both, like a fiery seam. “Um, thank you.” How could she begin to conclude this conversation? “I hope you have a nice time tonight yourself.”
“It’ll be all right, I suppose, even though I lost my hostess.”
There was no way she couldn’t respond to the comment. She turned around, because it would seem inhuman and impolite not to. “I’m sorry. Your goodbye seemed...”
“Awkward? Uncomfortable?” he supplied, grimacing. “Inconvenient?”
She offered her own suggestion. “Hurtful?”
He shook his head. “Not to me. And if Brianna’s pain goes beyond her pride, I’d be surprised. Yet I’m still sorry I didn’t see that she was taking us much too seriously. I guess I’ve been too caught up in my work.”
“Your kind of job must require a lot of focus.” She didn’t know exactly what it entailed, but she figured investing other people’s money would make a man sober and prudent. Unlike Stu, Chase Bradley would look before he leaped.
“I’m getting used to my new role in the company,” he said. “I hope this week goes off without a hitch.”
“So do I,” she said. She’d always liked his mother and his father, the few times she’d interacted with them, and Chase...well, she was a trifle more accustomed to him now, even though she could almost taste his masculinity on her tongue. It was coming off him in waves. “I wish your family well.”
“Do you?” One of Chase’s brows arched.
Ashley got a funny feeling in her stomach—not quite queasy, but close. “Sure.” Deciding there was nothing more to say, she gave a last glance at the flowers, then strode toward the hallway that would take her to the side entrance and from there to her van. Chase got in her way.
Halting, she pressed her palms against the thin cotton smock, and dared to look at his face. A black ring surrounded the gray of his irises. It gave the impression of being looked at through binoculars, or maybe dual microscopes, she decided, and felt her stomach take another woozy turn. With a hand, she made a vague gesture. “I need to get to my party.” When he just continued to look at her as if he could see through her skin to her racing blood and her jumping nerves, she cleared her throat. “I’m making dip.”
“What kind?”
Surely, he didn’t care what kind of dip she made. It wasn’t anything fancy, like he was undoubtedly accustomed to. But she humored him, because otherwise she’d have to push past him and run down the hall like a spooked rabbit. “You mix a packet of stuff into sour cream. Stir. With a fork, a spoon, a knife. I’ve even used my finger,” she said, demonstrating.
“That sounds...messy.”
“Not so.” Before she even knew she was going to do it, she had the digit in her open mouth and she was pretending to lick it clean.
Pretending to lick it clean!
The heat of a thousand suns burst over her face and she quickly pulled her finger from between her lips and tucked both hands into the pockets of her smock. Where had that move come from? It was pure...flirtation, and she’d never been coquettish. Stu had been her boyfriend before she’d been old enough to learn any flagrant moves. Since his death, the only way she could have picked up any would have been through osmosis, those few times she’d met Suze at bars before the woman married Jackson.
Ducking her head, she made to scoot around Chase. “I’ve got to go,” she mumbled.
“Wait.” He caught her arm. His touch hummed along her nerve endings, vibrating from wrist to shoulder as the tiny hairs on her skin stood at attention. “I have a proposition.”
Her head jerked up.
“Not that kind of proposition,” he said, humor putting new light in his eyes. “Unless—”
“No, thank you.” She drew back her elbow, freeing herself from his hold. This time, she managed to skirt his big body, and then she clack-clack-clacked out of the foyer, her high heels moving even quicker than her pulse.
She breezed through the hall, sped along the kitchen floor, and was then out in the brisk air, where she breathed in great gulps of calming oxygen. Her hand was on the cold chrome of the door handle when he spoke from behind her.
“I’m serious,” Chase said. “I need a hostess. Could you help me out?”
“You’re joking,” she said without turning around.
“No.” He came close enough that she could smell the expensive cologne he wore—or maybe it was just expensive soap because it was a clean scent and not a clingy one. “I’ll pay you well.”
Now she chanced a glance over her shoulder. “For what, exactly?”
His eyebrows shot toward his forehead. “Why, Ashley, we’ve only just met. Nothing indecent, okay? I’m a businessman, and this offer is entirely on the up-and-up.”
It wasn’t disappointment that sluiced through her. “You’d better spell it out.”
“Come live here for a week. Even out the numbers of men and women at the house party. Smile. You might even have a little fun.”
“Why would you want me?” she asked, finally turning to face him.
“It’s not such a crazy impulse, I promise you. The thing is, you’re dressed for the occasion.”
“Well, true,” she acknowledged with a slight nod of her head. “Though it’s for an entirely different party.” With chips, dip and Moose.
“Are you married?” Chase asked.
Stu. With his streaky blond hair and his snow tan. He’d burned through life too soon. “Not anymore.”
“Boyfriend?”
She shook her head.
“Well, there you go. I need a single female pretty much immediately, and you’re already here. Plus, I’m a generous employer.” He named a sum.
She nearly gasped. “I couldn’t accept that.”
Chase frowned. “Now I see you need to take me up on this. Your negotiating skills are severely lacking. I can teach you a thing or two, I’ll bet.”
A shiver tiptoed down her spine. Ashley ignored it. “For all that I’d be grateful for it,” she said, her voice sugar-sweet, “we both know that a big, bad businessman like yourself can handle a week on his own just fine.”
“Also true.”
A laugh bubbled up from her belly. He was confident, all right.
“But...” He drew a fingertip along her cheek, and when she shivered, unable to hide it this time, he frowned and stripped off his jacket. Dropping it over her shoulders, he tugged the lapels close beneath her chin.
Though his warmth instantly enveloped her, she still had to fight another betraying shiver. “But?” she prompted.
His serious gaze caught hers. “Here’s the thing, Ashley. I guarantee if I don’t have a woman by my side, one of the clients will feel as if she has to step up. And this week isn’t about requiring any of those who work with us to take on responsibilities. It’s about shedding them. They’re supposed to have a good time and relax in the capable Bradley hands. It makes them feel more comfortable with our firm.”
That actually made sense, Ashley thought. It was a logical, very legitimate, business-backed argument. Hadn’t she already supposed a man with his kind of success in his line of work would make rational and shrewd decisions?
Maybe she should let that rub off on her. And if she did... Well, she had two free weeks. Grabbing up this opportunity to make a fistful of cash during one of them would give her some cushion in her bank account. At the very least she could buy outfits other than T-shirts and jeans for that shell-stepping-out-of she’d said she’d be doing in the new year.
In her year of yes.
She hauled in a breath that smelled of lake and snow and just a little bit of Chase Bradley. It was an intelligent choice, she thought. Not a crazy impulse, as he’d assured her. She would be taking no kind of risk at all, really.
“You’ve got yourself a deal.”
* * *
CHASE CONGRATULATED HIMSELF a few hours later for his powers of persuasion. Ashley Walker had been a fine snap decision. And even though she’d started a fire inside him by that little mime with her finger—something he’d noted she’d instantly regretted—he’d managed to come up with a sensible argument that got her to agree to be his hostess.
It had paid off.
She’d greeted his guests smoothly, helped to make sure everyone had drinks during the cocktail hour, kept talk flowing during dinner with those closest to her at the table. While not a loud, lampshade-on-her-head, life-of-the-party type—thank God—her shyness seemed strictly reserved for him. With everyone else she was easy with her smiles and her conversation.
As the only local in the group, she was called upon to dispense nuggets of the area’s history and to suggest nearby attractions. The party was made up of people who possessed a high degree of wealth, but she didn’t appear intimidated nor did she pretend to be anything but a woman who worked with her hands and enjoyed doing so.
She fascinated him.
And it wasn’t lost on Chase that he’d have an opportunity to kiss that fascinating mouth of hers at midnight. It was tradition, right? And he wanted to taste her in a way he found most distracting. So he figured getting that taste out of the way as soon as possible would be beneficial for his plans for the rest of the week. He’d satisfy his curiosity and then get on with the more important task of cementing integral business relationships for another year.
But it also wasn’t lost on him that the locking of lips wouldn’t happen unless he got her more comfortable around him.
His mother had arranged for a pianist to play on the grand piano in the great hall after dinner. Muted TVs in other rooms were tuned to the big countdown shows, but most people opted for getting another drink from the bar and enjoying the live music. The musician played a classy selection of tunes: Gershwin to Billy Joel, Sinatra standards to Broadway songs.
When a handful of couples took to the dance floor while the man played “New York State of Mind,” Chase looked for Ashley. She stood alone by the windows, sipping sparkling water as she stared out at the view toward the lake. Fairy lights had been strung through the trees and wrapped the rail surrounding the deck. The light snow on the ground glittered. A winter wonderland.
“Pretty, huh?” he asked, coming up behind her.
She started, glancing around. “Sorry, I was woolgathering.”
“The beginning of a new year is conducive to deep thought,” he said, aware that she edged away to put more inches between them. “Were you working on world peace or a solution to global hunger?”
“You’re giving me much more credit than I deserve.”
“So, what were you thinking about?”
Her pretty mouth pursed. “What I’m going to have to do to make up my absence to my best friend, Suze. It was her party I was going to tonight.”
“Think she’ll understand?”
Ashley shrugged. She’d taken off that robe thing before the guests arrived. Underneath it was a ladylike party dress that still made him sweat because it was so damn proper. It revealed slender, bare arms, and combined the creamy flesh of them with her lace-covered legs... “You should dance with me,” he said.
She appeared not to hear him. “It’s worse because of Moose.”
“She has a moose?”
“Moose is a man. She asked him to be my date tonight.”
“You’d date a man named Moose?”
“I’d do just about anything for Suze. She...she’s gotten me through tough times.”
At her now-worried expression, Chase could tell she didn’t want to elaborate on the “tough times.” So he found her hand and pulled her toward the music. “Dance with me.”
She made some sounds of protest, but he ignored them. The pianist had segued into “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and when he drew her against him to lightly sway to the music, her body was stiff in his arms. “I wanted to talk to you about the coming week. Your duties,” he lied.
“Oh.” Ashley relaxed a fraction.
Chase wished she’d look at him like a man, not an employer, but clearly that wasn’t to be just yet. “So far, you’ve done a great job.”
“Thank you.”
“If you’d continue in this same vein for the rest of the week I’ll give you a bonus.”
“Chase...”
Now it was his turn to ignore her. “Just continue being yourself and seeing to the comfort of the guests.”
“I can do that.”
“Each day has a theme that my mother settled upon and an activity or two to support that theme.”
The corners of Ashley’s lips quirked upward. “Your mom.”
“Yeah.” He smiled back, moving his feet so it was more like dancing and not just shifting. “Her imagination is a little offbeat, but everyone ends up enjoying her ideas.”
Ashley was following along, letting him lead. “So what do I need to do?”
“Like I said. Be yourself. Be relaxed.” With his palm at the small of her back, he nudged her closer to him. Once he’d been at a wedding where the guests were given fresh rose petals to throw at the bride and groom. His handful had been slightly bruised, and that was what she smelled of—crushed, clean sweetness.
“I can do that.” But wariness had overtaken her expression again, and she pulled back to put more room between their bodies.
So, not ready for a kiss, Chase thought, and decided to change tactics. “Hey, I want you to meet a couple of people. They slipped in during the second course, and I don’t think you’ve had the opportunity to speak with them.”
Stepping away from the other dancers, he took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow. He scanned the room and found the Sargeants just turning from the bar, each of them with a glass of ruby wine. With a smile, he drew her in their direction.
“Arch.” He moved from Ashley to give his old friend a back-thumping half hug. “June, beautiful as ever.” She got a kiss on the cheek.
“We’re so sorry we were late,” June said, her curious glance sliding to Ashley and then back to his face.
“She had to go back to her parents’ house twice in order to say more goodbyes to the twins,” Arch said.
His wife bumped her elbow against his ribs. “If I recall correctly, it was you who needed to make sure that my dad knew how to install the car seats in his SUV.”
Grinning, Arch rubbed his side. “We’re disgustingly besotted with our offspring,” he confessed, his eyes bright with good humor and fixed on Ashley’s face. “I’m Arch Sargeant,” he said, holding out his hand.
“Ashley Walker. And anything I can do to make your stay more pleasant, please let me know.”
His friend’s wife looked ready to burst with curiosity. “I’m June.” Her glance shifted to Chase. “So...I thought Brianna was going to be here. Glad to see she isn’t.”
Arch groaned. “So much for subtle, sweetheart.”
“Brianna had to leave unexpectedly,” Ashley put in smoothly. “Chase hired me to take over as hostess.”
“Hired you?” Her eyebrows climbed high on her forehead, and her gaze darted between Chase and Ashley.
“I work for a local florist,” Ashley explained. “And I happened to be at the right place at the right time—meaning here at the house—when Chase found a need for someone to help out.”
“Found a need,” Arch echoed.
At the smirk in his voice, Chase sent him a quelling look. “Ashley, Arch is my former college roommate. And June—”
“Has this sudden need for some girl talk.”
Ashley looked alarmed. “Oh, I—”
“Actually, I need help pinning a strap,” June said, plucking at the silk of her slinky red dress. Her smile beamed wide and guileless. “You’ll help, won’t you?”
And with that, Chase saw his hostess head off into the metaphorical sunset with his best friend’s wife. Frowning, he glanced over at Arch. “I don’t want her scaring Ashley away.”
“She’ll just pump her for all her personal information,” Arch said in a cheery tone.
Chase groaned. “That’s what I mean.”
“What else do you mean?” his friend asked. “Brianna takes off and an hour later you’ve got Ashley moved in?”
In less than an hour, Chase thought. “Just for the week,” he assured himself and his best buddy. He shrugged one shoulder. “I saw her and it...it seemed like a simple solution.”
Arch was gazing at him.
“What’s with the pitying expression?” Chase demanded.
“Nothing’s simple when it comes to women, you should know that.”
“Hell,” Chase said. “Don’t go there, please? Sure, she’s pretty and all.” Beautiful. “But I asked her because I needed the assistance.”
Not true. What he needed was that midnight kiss he was planning, just to satisfy his curiosity and so he could neutralize this odd fascination she held for him. Once that was out of the way, he could devote his attention to the important business of the rest of the week.
He managed to get Arch onto other topics and then included some others in their light conversation as the musician continued to play. It was when the servers began circulating with trays of crystal flutes filled with liquid bubbles that Chase realized midnight was nearly upon them. June was standing near her husband, her arm around his waist as they swayed to the music.
Ashley was nowhere in sight.
As the countdown began, he was torn. Leave his guests or seek out his hostess? It would be better to stick with the crowd, he decided, ignoring a spurt of disappointment. Foolish to feel it, especially when the last time he’d been so eager for a New Year’s kiss he’d been thirteen years old. At Tammy Martin’s house, he remembered. Her parents were out for the evening and she’d been babysitting her little brother and sister.
“Ten,” the people on the dance floor chanted, arranging themselves in a circle.
Ridiculous to want to look into Ashley’s upturned face as the clock struck twelve.
“Nine.”
No, it wasn’t imperative that he dive his fingers into her flowing hair.
“Eight.”
Would her breath hitch as his mouth neared?
“Seven.”
He’d trace his nose across her warm cheek, drawing in her crushed-petal scent.
The voices of the people surrounding him rose. “Six.”
Shoving his hands into his pockets, he rooted his feet to the ground, even though his gaze wandered, looking for any sign of her.
“Five.”
He recalled Tammy’s kiss—his first—and hadn’t that changed his life? A boy taking his first step to becoming a man.
“Four.”
Move, his gut piped up. Find out where Ashley’s been all our life.
On the crowd’s roar of “three,” he bolted from the great hall.
At “two” he saw movement in the library at the end of the passage.
“One” sounded in the distance when he breached the doorway. Ashley, who had been standing contemplating the small fire burning in the grate, whirled. The notes of “Auld Lang Syne” drifted into the room, wrapping around them like ribbons, he thought, then instantly shoved away the fancy.
Still, her big eyes and her tense posture drew him forward. Her fingers clutched the lace overlaying her skirt. Chase hauled in a slow breath as he came to a halt before her. “You’re missing midnight,” he said softly as if his voice might spook her.
She smiled a little. “The clock ticks on without me.”
It seemed to come to a standstill to Chase as he stared down at her upturned face, her sooty lashes a perfect frame for her expressive eyes. There was wariness in them.
“Don’t be afraid of me,” he whispered.
Her gaze slid to the side. “Of course not,” she scoffed.
“Or shy.”
Her gaze flicked back to his for a moment. “I’m not.”
Only with him, he thought, and for some reason he liked the idea of that.
The last notes of the song died out. The guests’ voices stopped singing and they went back to chatting. In the background, the pianist continued playing the traditional song, embellishing the original melody. Chase stepped closer to Ashley and cupped her bare shoulders in his hands. “Happy New Year,” he said, and, bending his head, placed his lips on hers.
She tasted like champagne and roses. But it wasn’t that which got him. It was the tremble that racked her frame. Something moved in his belly, lust and another emotion that reached up to clutch his heart like a fist. His tongue touched her bottom lip, and even as she trembled again, she opened her mouth. He took a tender foray inside, not pressing but trying to please instead.
When her hand came up to wrap around his wrist as if she had to hang on for dear life, it was Chase who shuddered. Sweet, he thought. So damn heady and sweet.
Because he was desperate, suddenly, to move closer, he drew back. She stared at him with those big eyes, her mouth still damp from his. That fist around his heart tightened.
His curiosity was not sated, Chase knew. His fascination with her not put to rest. It would take more than a kiss to do that. Much more.
Chase Bradley wanted Ashley Walker in his bed.
