- -
- 100%
- +
Smart girl, Mark thought. She wanted to check out her date before the maître d’ brought her over. If Mark turned out to be the Hunchback of Notre Dame or The Wolfman, then she could still leave. His Charlie was no dummy.
He stood and started toward her.
She scanned the room and when her gaze settled on him, her smile nearly caused his heart to stop beating. Adrenaline made him shaky as he approached. Seeing her picture hadn’t prepared him for her megawatt smile or eyes that sparkled like the waters of the Gulf on a sunny day.
He glanced quickly at the waiter. “I’ll escort them over,” he said.
“As you wish, sir.” The waiter nodded and walked away.
Mark’s gaze settled on Charlie again and he couldn’t stop grinning. Even her ears were sexy. Before Charlie, he hadn’t been a fan of short hair, but with ears that cute, he could see the advantage. He wanted to nibble each diamond-studded lobe while he whispered sweet nothings to his Charlie.
“Hello, Mark.” Her voice trembled just enough to tell him how excited she was.
“Hello, Charlie.” He wasn’t sure what to do next. He wanted to bury his fingers in her blond, wavy hair, tilt her head back and kiss that plump mouth covered in tomato-red lipstick to match her dress. But that probably wasn’t a good idea right here in the middle of the restaurant. Besides, if a kiss or two was all he was allowed tonight, he needed to pace himself. “You’re…beautiful,” he said. “So beautiful.”
“Thank you.” Her cheeks grew pink. “You’re quite the treat, yourself.” Then she extended her hand. “Nice to meet you at last, Mark.”
He took her warm, soft hand in both of his and held it as if he’d never let go. She was unbelievable. And that dress… His mouth grew moist and his groin tightened. “I’m sorry we waited three months,” he said.
“We were trying to be sensible, I guess.”
“That was stupid.”
“Maybe.” She gazed into his eyes for a moment longer before slowly easing her hand from his and shifting her attention to the brunette standing next to her. “Mark, I’d like you to meet my sister, Ashley McPherson.”
He’d been so absorbed in Charlie that he’d practically forgotten about Ashley. Now that he took a good look at Charlie’s sister, he wanted to laugh with pleasure. Sam was going to thank him for this day.
Ashley was tall, at least five-eight, but Sam was six-two, so no problem there. Her hair reminded him of a Cherry Coke—rich brown with red highlights—and she had green eyes. Green eyes were a particular weakness of Sam’s. He wasn’t averse to a dynamite figure, either. Yep, he would bless the day his good buddy Mark had set him up with Charlie’s sister.
Well, he might not be thrilled about the stories Mark had concocted. But once he realized how necessary it had been in order to start Mark off on the right foot with Charlie, then old Sam would come around.
Ashley held out her hand. “Glad to meet you, Mark.”
Mark shook her hand enthusiastically. “Ashley, it means so much to me that you agreed to come tonight. And I’m sure it will mean the world to Sam, too. Let’s head over to the table and I’ll introduce you.”
“All right, but first I want to set my ground rules. I’m doing this as a special favor to Charlie, but please don’t expect that we’ll become a regular foursome.”
“Absolutely. I completely understand.” He gestured toward the table in the corner. “We’re right over here.”
As the women threaded their way through the tables with Mark following behind, Sam rose from his chair. Mark wondered if Ashley might be rethinking her comment about ending the foursome tonight. Sam usually attracted women like a magnet.
Of course Ashley also thought Sam had a serious phobia about women who turned out to be men, but that would be cleared up before too long. The more Mark thought about the idea of Sam and Ashley getting together, the more he liked it. He and Sam were like brothers, so how perfect if they ended up with sisters.
They reached the table, and Mark cleared his throat. “Sam Cavanaugh, I’d like you to meet Charlie and Ashley McPherson. Ladies, this is my best man—uh, I mean my best friend, Sam.”
Sam shook hands with Charlie first. “It’s a pleasure, Charlie.” Then his gaze flicked over her shoulder to lock with Mark’s. The message was clear. Danger. Don’t touch.
Mark gave his buddy a short nod of understanding, which doubled as a pledge to be careful. Charlie’s perfume, something spicy and exotic, wafted up to him. Oh, God, it was as if she’d set out to sabotage all his good intentions. Well, he’d have to be strong.
Then Sam shook hands with Ashley. This time he didn’t bother to glance at Mark. Nope. All his concentration was fixed on the lovely Ashley in her elegant little black dress. “It’s good to meet you,” he said.
Mark recognized that tone of voice. Sam never used it unless he was interested in a woman. Hot damn. This was going great. Sam would become mesmerized by Ashley, which would leave Mark free to…well, to do something special with Charlie. Not go to bed with her, of course. He cherished her too much to risk jeopardizing their future. But he would love to kiss her…a lot.
“Shall we sit down?” Ashley asked.
Mark snapped to attention. He’d been so busy dreaming and scheming that he’d left them all standing there by the table. His only consolation was that Sam must have been a little dazed by his first glimpse of Ashley, too, since he hadn’t started pulling out chairs for the women, either.
“Yes,” Mark said. “By all means.” He hurried around to a chair and pulled it away from the table. “Charlie?”
“Thank you.” She gave him another one of those dynamite smiles as she walked toward the chair. First she hooked the little red purse she was carrying over the chair by its long rhinestone-studded strap. Then she did that thing that always got Mark hot when he watched women seat themselves. She smoothed the skirt of her dress down over her bottom before she sat down, so she wouldn’t wrinkle the material.
Mark loved it when women did that. And to watch Charlie slide both hands over that shiny red material was almost more than he could stand. After her wonderful behind was tucked in securely against the velvet seat, he gripped the back of her chair and scooted her in. That’s when he chanced to look down over her shoulder. Oh, Lord. The neckline of her dress was like a curtain drawn back just enough to tease him with the possibilities lurking behind it.
Her breasts, rounded and perky, nestled just barely inside the sweep of red material. He could almost visualize how they’d look, but not quite. Very little material barred him from the view he was after, though. A man wouldn’t have to work very hard to coax those treasures out of hiding.
But he’d vowed to limit himself to a couple of kisses. Still, he hadn’t decided exactly where those kisses might be placed…. No. He couldn’t chance kissing her anywhere but on the mouth. And he’d have to make sure his hands didn’t wander, either, no matter how tempting the neckline of that dress was. And it was certainly very tempting….
“Mark?” Sam asked. “Will you be joining us this evening?”
3
ALL HER ADULT LIFE Charlie had dreamed of having a man transfixed by the sight of her cleavage. Yet until tonight, she hadn’t had the nerve to dress to attract that kind of attention.
She hadn’t even had the nerve to ask a guy to take her to fancy restaurants where plunging necklines would be appropriate. She’d been afraid they’d laugh. Her reputation as a tomboy had preceded her, partly because she met men on the hiking trail, for the most part. Because she was so obviously in her element there, they’d all assumed she preferred pizza parlors to five-star dining.
In general, she did, but she’d always longed for this—to appear in the doorway of an elegant room, to make heads turn as she walked to her table, and to be helped into her place by a fabulous-looking man who couldn’t stop looking at her.
Ashley had been very perceptive to bring up Kevin Jasper. Kevin had chosen to go to that dance with someone more glamorous than Charlie, and from that moment on she’d decided her fate was cast. She wasn’t the type of girl who could compete in a sophisticated arena.
Yet this time, she’d worked up the courage to try. Because she’d been able to control Mark’s perception of her through the letters, she’d been able to indulge her secret longing to become a man’s sexual fantasy.
And she’d been able to stage his first impression of her. Instead of meeting him in khaki shorts, T-shirt, hiking boots and backpack, with sweat beading her forehead and no makeup, she could show him this other side of her personality, one that no one understood.
She’d bet her comments about romantic candlelight dinners had prompted him to choose this restaurant. Everything about it thrilled her, from the soft lighting to the strolling violinists. Mark didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the restaurant, though. She’d never made a man forget his surroundings before.
And what a man. His shoulders were broader, his rich brown hair thicker and his smile more devastating than she’d ever imagined by looking at his picture. She could write an entire essay on the cute dimple that appeared whenever he smiled, and the way his eyes crinkled at the corners.
And what fascinating eyes. That deep brown turned her knees to jelly, and when she caught the gleam of appreciation and knew it was all for her, she was ready to drag Mark off to the nearest secluded spot and get it on. The dress made her feel almost daring enough to do it, too.
From his reaction to her, he felt the same. His face was even a little red with embarrassment as he took his seat at the table, because he’d been caught ogling.
She flashed him a smile to let him know he hadn’t offended her in the least with his preoccupation with her breasts. The attention was new and exciting to her. He could be preoccupied with any part of her he wanted, for as long as he liked.
He grinned back and nudged her knee gently under the table.
She nudged back. Wow, this was cool, playing a little footsie under the table. No guy had ever been moved to play footsie with her. Touch football, but never footsie. And every time he looked at her, she could tell he was thinking the same thing she was—that they needed to ditch their chaperones and get naked.
She’d achieved her goal. He was definitely, positively drooling. At last she had a man buggy-eyed over her, and it felt great. She was enjoying every second of this triumph.
Ashley, on the other hand, apparently wasn’t so enthusiastic about it. Charlie could tell that immediately from the worried sound of her voice.
“Charlie, I seem to have something in my eye,” she said. “If you two will excuse us for a minute, I’d like Charlie to come with me to the ladies’ room and see if she can find anything.”
“Of course.” Mark leaped to his feet and grasped Charlie’s chair once again.
“No problem.” Sam followed suit and helped Ashley out of her chair.
Charlie figured Mark would be more careful not to stare at her chest this time, but at least she could use the opportunity to slide out of her chair in such a way that she brushed up against him. “Thank you,” she murmured, turning to give him a subtle wink. “We’ll be right back.”
“Hope so.” He gazed at her with pure relish.
She unhooked her purse from the back of the chair and positioned it over her bare shoulder before following Ashley toward the ladies’ room. She had no doubt that Mark would watch her leave. That was a new and exhilarating feeling, too. She believed he had lust in his heart. Mission accomplished.
What a beautiful evening, she thought as she followed Ashley toward the tasteful sign marking the ladies’ room. Even the bathroom was gorgeous. The door opened onto a sitting room, and the bathroom lay beyond that. A mural of the Italian countryside ran along the walls, and two green velvet love seats were grouped beneath the mural.
Ashley didn’t seem inclined to sit on either one. The minute they were inside the door, she turned to Charlie. “You are scaring me to death!”
“Don’t be scared. I’m a big girl.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Ashley reached over and tried to pull the neckline of Charlie’s dress together more. “I should never have agreed to let you wear this dress.”
“Ashley, if you hadn’t been willing to sell me this dress, I would have gone to another dress shop and bought the closest thing to it. I wanted to knock his socks off, and by God, I’m doing it.”
“I’m afraid more than his socks are due to come off if you parade around much longer in that dress.” She snapped open her small evening purse and began to rummage through it. “I wonder if I brought any safety pins. Maybe we could—”
“I’m not going back out there with my dress pinned together, if that’s what you’re planning. Please relax. Mark is not like that Jason guy who was so cruel to you. He’s the sort of person who cares about people. He cares about Sam, for instance.”
Ashley stopped rummaging through her purse looking for safety pins. “Did you hear how he introduced Sam, by the way? At first he called him his best man. Then he corrected himself and said he was his best friend. What’s up with that?”
Charlie smiled. “I’d say he’s a guy with marriage on his mind, that’s what I’d say. That can’t be bad, can it?”
Ashley seemed to be turning that over in her mind. “I guess not.” She gazed at Charlie. “I would love it if he turned out to be the guy for you. I really would. But I still don’t like the idea of you two rushing into a physical relationship.”
“That’s not very likely, is it, with our two chaperones in attendance?”
“Good point. Now that you mention that, I’m glad Sam and I are here.”
Charlie had been mesmerized by Mark, but she hadn’t been totally oblivious to the instant attraction between her sister and Sam. Still she wanted to play it close to the vest. “What do you think of Sam, by the way?”
“Well, he’s very good-looking, if that’s what you mean. But I can tell he’s nervous in this situation.”
“I’m not surprised. He doesn’t know whether you used to be my brother Adam who turned into my sister Ashley. But eventually he’ll probably relax.”
“Doesn’t really matter.” Ashley glanced in an oval mirror hanging over an antique cherry vanity and fluffed her hair. “I doubt I’ll see him again.”
“Really? Why not?”
“He’s got this whole psychological hang-up going on.” Ashley pursed her lips, then opened her purse again and took out a tube of lipstick. “I’m really not interested in dealing with that.”
Charlie couldn’t resist. “Then why are you bothering to redo your lipstick?”
Ashley finished gliding the mocha lipstick over her mouth and twisted it back into its tube. “Habit,” she said, dropping the tube back into her purse.
“If you say so.”
“And even if I did find him attractive, I wouldn’t get so involved that I’d forget why I’m here.” Ashley fixed Charlie with a determined gaze. “Now promise me that you won’t let that man get you alone tonight. I’ve been watching him, and his tongue is dragging on the floor. If you give him an opening, he’s going to take it.”
Charlie thought that sounded pretty darned thrilling.
“It’s that gleam in your eye that has me so worried!” Ashley said. “Now please tell me you’ll exercise some caution.”
“Okay, I’ll exercise some caution.” She wondered if the condoms in her purse counted. “But you’re the one who mentioned his slip of the tongue. If you ask me, Mark and I are practically engaged.”
“Oh, then I guess that was a big diamond ring I saw in his pocket.”
Charlie laughed. “Ashley, you don’t know how long I’ve waited to get this reaction from a man. No man has ever had an erection just looking at me fully dressed, unless you count Donny Smoggles back in tenth grade, which I don’t, considering every girl in school made Donny’s little circus tent go up.”
Ashley’s stern expression dissolved into laughter. “I do remember Donny.”
“Is it so wrong to want to make a man totally lose his mind?” She sent her sister a pleading glance.
Ashley studied her for a long moment. “No, I guess not.” She sighed. “It’s not his mind that concerns me.”
“I know,” Charlie said with a grin.
“And besides the obvious, I don’t want him to break your heart, either.”
“He won’t. I know he won’t.”
“I hope you’re right. Here. Let me adjust that neckline again.”
ONCE THE WOMEN were out of earshot, Sam leaned across the table. “It’s a damned good thing I came along, buddy boy, or you would be toast. Now, here’s the plan. Under no circumstances are you to continue looking at her cleavage. Otherwise you are so dead.”
Mark laughed in disbelief. “Not look? Are you insane? Why not tell me to do a few gymnastics while hanging from the chandelier? That would be a hell of a lot easier.”
Sam blew out a breath and leaned back in his chair. “I get your point, but we’ve got to neutralize the effect of that dress.”
“Unless you plan to make her wear your sport coat and put it on backward, I don’t know how you’re gonna neutralize anything. I think we’ll just have to live with the situation.” Mark wasn’t particularly upset with that prospect. He thought it would be a crime to cover Charlie, sort of like throwing a blanket over one of those nude statues outside the door.
“Man, I never expected an outdoor adventure guide to show up in an outfit like that.”
Mark decided not to tell Sam that he’d known about the dress all along. He also knew the color of her panties. Charlie’s last letter to him had been filled with spicy little details like that. They’d been taunting each other with increasingly erotic messages. No, he’d better not tell Sam about that.
He decided to ease around to a different topic. “Don’t forget that she is an outdoor adventure guide. Don’t forget all the reasons why you advised me to write to her. She’s everything I hoped for, and then some. To find out how beautiful and sexy she is in person is icing on the cake, because I was already convinced she was perfect for me.”
“I do have a good feeling about this one,” Sam admitted. “Still, I’d feel a hell of a lot better if you put off the proposal for as long as possible.”
The waiter arrived with leather-bound menus, but Mark left his closed. He didn’t really care about the food, anyway. “Tell you what. I’ll do my best to ignore her cleavage,” he said by way of trying to pacify Sam.
“Like you said, easier said than done.” Sam opened his menu.
“I’ll do my best. So, what did you think of Ashley?”
Immediately Sam glanced up from his perusal of the menu. Then he tried to look casual and nonchalant, the way he always did when he was intensely interested in a woman. “She’s okay.” He looked down at the menu again.
“Okay? Just okay? I don’t think there’s a woman you’ve dated in the past five years that compares to her. And how about those eyes? Are those the greenest eyes you’ve ever seen, or what?”
Sam shrugged and continued to examine the menu. “I guess. But what difference does it make? She’s not breaking out in a rash, so she must not find me attractive.”
Mark thought fast. Sam had a very tender ego, and whenever he thought a woman wasn’t returning his interest, he bailed. If a woman played hard to get, then Sam didn’t pursue her. He hoped Ashley wasn’t into those kinds of games. “Um, I think Charlie said the rash appears on her…cheeks,” he said.
“There was no rash on her cheeks.”
“Her other cheeks.”
Sam looked up. “Oh.” He gazed at Mark for a couple of seconds. “That’s kind of weird, don’t you think?”
“Stress affects everybody differently. She might have dragged Charlie into the ladies’ room because her rash was starting to bother her.”
Sam closed the menu and laid it beside his plate. “No, she dragged Charlie into the ladies’ room because you were starting to bother her. She’s protective of her little sister, and I don’t blame her.”
“There, see? That’s a point scored by Ashley right off the bat. She’s protective of her family members. You’re protective of your family members. I remember when that kid tried to beat up your little brother and you got all over—”
“Let’s get back to the subject at hand—which is her rash problem. You told me this rash of hers is a social embarrassment. If it only shows up on her backside, I don’t understand how that would be an embarrassment, because nobody except her would even know about it.”
“Of course it would be a problem.” It was a good thing he was used to dealing with Sam’s lawyerly logic. “If she’s attracted to someone, that means that eventually she’d want to get physical with them, and yet she couldn’t allow that to happen, because then the guy would see her rash.”
“Oh.” Sam frowned. “I still think there’s something fishy about all of this. But in some stupid way, it makes sense. I can’t imagine any other reason why a woman who looks like Ashley would agree to a blind date. She should have guys coming out of the woodwork.”
“Aha! So you do think she’s gorgeous.”
“From what I can see. Of course I’m picturing this rash, and that’s not exactly a turn-on, if you get my drift.”
Mark was working hard not to laugh. He thought this whole thing was hilarious, and he hoped someday Sam would enjoy the joke as much as Mark did right now. “Maybe she’s got the rash situation under control,” he said. “Maybe she’s very attracted to you, and yet she’s not breaking out. If that’s the case, you would want to continue to help her along with her recovery, wouldn’t you?”
Sam rubbed his chin. “You’re up to something, O’Grady. I figure it’s based on fixing me up with Ashley so you can sneak off with Charlie and do the nasty.”
“Not the nasty.” Mark held up both hands when Sam lifted his eyebrows as if he didn’t believe a word. “Really. I’m not going to do the nasty. But I’d like to kiss her, at least, which could be difficult if you and Ashley are watching us every damned minute. I wouldn’t mind having the two of you talk among yourselves sometime during the evening.”
“You plan to start making out with Charlie right here at the table?”
“Of course not! I thought later we might go dancing.”
“Dancing? With her in that dress? Or sort of in that dress? I don’t think so, Mark, old boy. You would—”
“Whoops, here they come. Now if you want to know if Ashley’s attracted to you or not, look at her lipstick. If she globbed some more on while she was in the bathroom, then that means she wants you.”
“You’ve said that before when we were out with women, and I think you’re making it up. Women put on lipstick for no reason. They put on lipstick to go to the grocery store, for crying out loud. I never understood that.”
“Because they might meet a hot prospect at the grocery store, that’s why,” Mark said. “Lipstick is part of that whole mating thing. Remember, we saw that on the Discovery Channel. Look at the lipstick.”
“How do I know if she put it on for me? Maybe she wants the waiter really bad. Or the maître d’, although personally I think he’s a little old for—”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Sam. I swear you’d make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse.” Then he got out of his chair so he could help his fabulous Lady in Red into her seat. And his vow not to look at her cleavage didn’t last even for a second. But he rationalized that she’d worn the dress on purpose to make him notice, so if he didn’t, she’d be disappointed.
He didn’t want to disappoint this woman. Not ever. And that was why he would be a good boy tonight and just enjoy the view from a distance.
“Did you get whatever it was out of your eye?” Sam asked Ashley, peering intently at her face.
Mark looked, too, and saw the fresh shine of new lipstick. Way to go, Ashley. Then he glanced over at Charlie and was gratified to see that she’d added more of that tomato-red color to her mouth. He’d ten times rather spend the next hour kissing that plump little mouth than eating pasta.