Читать книгу Just Dare Me... - Stephanie Bond, Stephanie Bond - Страница 8

“I STILL THINK you’ve lost your freaking mind,” Tori said, her eyes bleary, her sleep-mussed hair sticking up at all angles. “First you go through some Stepford executive makeover, and now you’re heading off to the mountains with…that man.”

“We’ve been over this,” Gabrielle said, handing over McGee, who squirmed in Tori’s unfamiliar arms. “I have to do this to get the CEG account.”

“I don’t know why that stupid account is so important to you.”

Detecting a note of abandonment in her friend’s voice, she laid a hand on her arm. “Tori, you were the one who pointed out the inequity of the account assignments. I’m only fighting for what I deserve.”

But instead of cheering up, Tori only looked more morose. “I’ve seen documentaries on these wilderness survival trips—they lure you in with romantic notions of sitting around the campfire, and the next thing you know, you’re running for your life, being hunted by some guy with a crossbow.”

Gabrielle squinted. “You watch way too much television. And I assure you, there were no romantic promises. I’m expecting the worst—eating bugs, dangling from cliffs—”

“Sharing a tent with Dell Kingston.”

Gabrielle blinked. “What? Now who’s lost their mind?”

“That’s what everyone in the office is saying,” Tori said, her voice tinged with a gossipy tone. “That Dell is going to get the CEG account and get into your pants.”

Anger flared in her chest. “Well, they’re wrong, and you can tell them so.”

“Just be careful,” Tori said earnestly. “I know how you feel about Dell—”

“I don’t—”

“I know how you feel about Dell, and I just don’t want you to do something that you’ll regret.”

Gabrielle inhaled a calming breath, trying not to let her friend’s comments make her any more nervous about the long drive into the mountains with Dell that stretched ahead of her. She’d never missed having a car before today. She closed her eyes against the image of his dancing brown eyes. Come on, Gabby. I dare you.

“Trust me,” she said forcefully, for her benefit and for Tori’s, “Dell Kingston has nothing on his mind for this weekend except scoring higher than me on the competition.”

“I’d say you’re right about one thing,” Tori said dryly. “His mind is on scoring, all right.”

Gabrielle massaged her temples—this she did not need. “Are you sure you don’t mind taking care of McGee?”

“We’ll be fine until you get back. Hey, have you ever noticed that McGee looks a little like Mr. Noble?”

“You think?” Gabrielle said, backing down the stairs and shoving on her sunglasses. “I’ll call you if my cell phone works in the mountains.”

“Good luck,” Tori yelled. “Get Nick Ocean’s autograph for me. And keep your tent flap closed!”

DELL CHECKED his watch, then glanced at the front of the Marta station for the hundredth time. Had he missed her? Considering the color of her hair, he didn’t think that was possible.

And considering her flair for misadventure, she might be lying at the bottom of a set of stairs somewhere, or hanging from a flag pole. The pale slip of a woman would be lucky to make it through the weekend without breaking her lovely neck. Still, he shook his head, smiling at Bruce’s genius. The man couldn’t flat-out deny Gabby’s request for the account without Human Resources climbing all over him. A competition was the perfect way to give Dell the account without making it look so obvious.

And Gabby had nearly conceded on the spot—he’d seen it in her eyes. He still wasn’t sure what had driven him to dare her to accept the challenge. Something about the woman had always piqued his interest, even before her transformation. Gabby had this air of aloof independence that made him want to rankle her. Her pluckiness intrigued him. He could have walked out of Bruce’s office with CEG in his pocket. But this way, he told himself, she’d feel as if she’d given it her best shot, and would be more willing to assist on the account. And it would give her a chance to warm up to him.

There was only one problem—

A flash of red caught his attention and sure enough, it was Gabby, dressed in loose cargo pants and a white T-shirt, her blazing hair pulled back into a long, thick ponytail. She struggled to stand upright with the large backpack strapped to her slender body. God, she looked so young and vulnerable and…sexy.

The problem that had been gnawing at him all week hit him full force, causing him to shift in his seat. Little Gabby Flannery had always been a curiosity to him, but over the past few days in the office, every glimpse of her in her new slim suits and short skirts, with her hair flowing wild around her shoulders, had him setting his jaw against an unexpected surge of lust.

How he was going to keep his hands to himself during four days of close contact with her in the great outdoors while trying to make sure she didn’t kill herself, he didn’t know.

He climbed out of his SUV and waved. She smiled and lifted her hand, but the movement threw her off balance and sent her stumbling backward to sit down hard on the sidewalk.

He rolled his eyes and hurried across the street to help her. “Are you okay?”

She looked up and nodded, fumbling with the straps of the backpack across her chest.

“Let me,” he said, then unfastened the straps, willing himself to ignore the incidental contact with her full breasts.

This was not a promising start.

When she was free, he helped her to her feet and picked up her pack, wincing at its weight. “Christ, do you have a body in here?”

“No,” she murmured. “Just trying to cover all the bases.”

“Let me guess—high heels and makeup?”

She frowned. “No.”

He winked, then headed toward his SUV. “You’re late, we need to get on the road.”

“Sorry. I had to drop my dog off at Tori’s, and the trains were delayed.”

“Do you have one of those Tinkerbell dogs?”

She gave a little laugh that he liked the sound of. “McGee is a bulldog, and I don’t think he’d take kindly to being called a Tinkerbell.”

“Nice name,” he said grudgingly, surprised that she would own such a substantial canine. He’d always wanted a dog himself, but his hectic travel schedule had always prevented him from owning one…at least that was his excuse, he acknowledged wryly.

He loaded her backpack into the rear of his vehicle, next to his own pack, which was half the size and weight. He’d been camping and hiking enough to know that most people packed too much gear. “So your friend, Tori…she’s a little gloomy.”

“She doesn’t like you, either,” Gabrielle said, climbing into the passenger seat and closing the door with a bang.

He frowned, then swung up into his own seat. “I didn’t say I didn’t like her.”

“It’s okay,” Gabrielle said matter-of-factly. “We’re used to it.”

“Used to what?”

“Used to being ignored by the senior account execs.”

He sputtered. “We don’t ignore the junior account managers.”

“Really? What’s the name of the guy who sits in the cube next to mine?”

“The new guy?”

“He’s worked there for five years.”

“Oh…right.” Dell tried to conjure up the man’s face in his mind. “Mike something?”

“Close—Oscar. Oscar White. Nice guys with two kids, puts in about seventy hours a week at the office.”

“Oh. Well, I guess our paths haven’t crossed that much.”

Her mouth flattened, and she remained infuriatingly quiet.

He started the engine and tried another tack as he pulled away from the curb. “So do you live around here?”

“No, I was coming from my friend’s place. I live in Midtown.”

“Really? So do I.”

“I know. I’ve seen you at my grocery Sunday mornings.”

“Why haven’t you ever said hello?”

“You were always with a woman. Sometimes Courtney, sometimes…not.”

He squirmed and inexplicably, he thought of Gabby waking up in his bed on Sunday morning and them running to the store for a newspaper and a carton of juice. The image very nearly made him miss the ramp to the interstate that would take them north toward the Georgia Mountains.

“I’ve seen you at the Fox Theater, too,” she said.

“Oh? Do you moonlight at the Fox?”

“I’m a volunteer usher.”

“Really? I thought only old people did that.” He winced as soon as the words left his mouth.

“Old people and me,” she said cheerfully.

How did she do that—keep him off balance, make him feel as if he were a snob? “I guess that’s a great way to see all the shows.”

She nodded and turned to look out the window. He hadn’t given much thought to her salary, but he vaguely remembered being on a tight budget back when he’d been a junior account manager. There had been no money for theater tickets.

“How old are you, Gabby?”

After a few minutes of silence, she said, “I really wish you wouldn’t call me that.”

He gave a little laugh. “I think it’s cute.”

“I don’t want to be cute,” she said stiffly. “I want to be taken seriously. You think I don’t know what everyone is saying?”

“What is everyone saying?”

“That this competition is a joke, that there’s no way I can beat a superjock like you on a wilderness survival course.”

He weighed his words, especially since he might have inadvertently fueled a few of those sentiments going round the office. “Apparently Bruce feels differently.” His conscience plucked at him, though, for giving her false hope that she could actually beat him. After all, the woman had nearly been done in with her backpack.

She fell silent again, watching the passing scenery on Georgia 400 until they were north of the city. Dell couldn’t remember a time when he’d actually wanted a woman to talk.

“Where are you from?” he asked finally.

“I grew up in a small town outside Chattanooga.”

A small-town girl—not surprising. “Sounds nice. Are your parents still there?”

She nodded.

When no other information seemed forthcoming, he offered, “I grew up in D.C.”

“I know. I helped to put together the bios for the senior account execs for the annual report. Your parents work for the Pentagon and you have an MBA from Emory.”

What his bio didn’t say was that his parents were bitterly disappointed that he hadn’t gone into law or politics, that marketing had been a compromise of his skills and their expectations. Still, she knew more about him than he knew about her. Normally, that wouldn’t bother him, but for some reason, he felt compelled to know what made this woman tick, why she was so spirited in spite of her social clumsiness.

After knocking over that tree in the conference room and sprawling in the floor, most people would have been too embarrassed to show their face again, much less have the balls to march into Bruce’s office and ask for an A-list account.

“I think it’s about a two-hour drive to Amicalola Falls,” he said.

“More like three, actually.” She pulled a sheaf of papers from one of the pockets in her cargo pants. “I’m a bit directionally impaired, but I read the information that Bruce gave us very carefully.”

Of course she had. “Then maybe you can tell me what we’re in for.”

“The instructions aren’t that specific, just that we should bring a stocked backpack, study the weather forecast and be prepared for anything.”

Weather forecast. He looked toward the sky. Hmm, maybe he should have read those papers after all.

“A guide will meet us at the site and give us more instructions from there.” She ran her finger down one of the sheets. “Says here there’ll be ten of us.”

He frowned. Not enough bodies to keep them from bumping into each other.

She pivoted her head. “Do you know Nick Ocean?”

Oh, brother—he knew that look. He’d seen it in Courtney’s eyes when she talked about the movie star. “I’ve met him a couple of times at trade shows.”

“What’s he like? He seems so macho onscreen.”

Dell shrugged and shifted in his seat. “I guess.”

“Tori wants me to get his autograph.”

“Just be careful around him. I’ve heard that he likes to hit on young women.”

“That’s funny,” she murmured, looking back to the papers. “I’ve heard the same thing about you.”

He frowned and only the ringing of his cell phone in its mounted cradle kept him from defending himself. In deference to the ban on holding a cell phone while driving, he hit the hands-free speaker button on the visor. “This is Dell.”

“Hey, gorgeous, it’s Courtney.”

He glanced sideways at Gabby. She didn’t act as if she were listening, but he wished he’d remembered to bring the headset for his phone. “Hi. This is a surprise.”

“I just called to wish you luck on your wilderness weekend—wink, wink.” She laughed gaily.

He shifted in his seat. “Uh, thanks. We’re on our way up there now.”

“We?”

“Gabby—I mean, Gabrielle is with me.”

“Oh.”

“She doesn’t have a car.”

“I see,” she said, her voice laced with innuendo. “Well, Gabby, should feel right at home in the mountains, with all the trees.” Laughter at her own joke burst over the speaker.

Dell shifted in his seat. “Courtney, you’re on the hands-free speaker.”

“Oh. Sorry, Gabby,” she said, not sounding sorry at all.

“How are things in Manhattan?” he asked, trying to reroute the conversation into safer territory.

“Great,” she said brightly. “My apartment is fabulous, the view from my office is unreal and the men here think my southern accent is exotic.”

“That’s nice,” he said breezily.

“In fact, I need to run. Have fun this weekend you two,” she said, her voice singsongy. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Thinking sourly that Courtney’s parting remark left way too much leeway, Dell disconnected the call. “Sorry about that,” he said, feeling annoyed with Courtney over her insensitive remarks, and feeling guilty that she had struck a nerve implying that in a cozy setting with a member of the opposite sex, he would behave accordingly.

Gabby didn’t respond, just kept reading, which only disgruntled him more. Why wouldn’t the woman talk to him? She just sat there, exuding some kind of light, fruity scent that made him wonder if she tasted as good as she smelled.

He wondered if she had any idea of how appealing she was, if she’d ever been thoroughly kissed or if she’d ever had those long, fabulous legs of hers wrapped around a man who knew what he was doing.

Then Dell pulled his hand down his face. He had to get a grip on himself. These unforeseen feelings of lust were messing with his head.

He glanced at Gabby’s tempting profile, groaning inwardly.

And they weren’t even there yet.