A Bargain with the Boss (9 page)

But she was sitting up in the bed reading a textbook, and she smiled. “Did you forget something?”

“No,” Amber answered.

Jade wore a large yellow T-shirt and a pair of stretchy green pants visible though the open weave of her blanket.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“How are you feeling?”

“Good. I'm fine. But I'm feeling guilty just lying around here.”

“You're studying.” Amber rounded the bed, pulling a bright orange vinyl chair up closer.

“Not as hard as I should.”

“That's okay. Your main job is to stay healthy and grow that baby for a few more weeks.”

Jade's cheeks were rosy, her face puffier than usual, but her eyes looked clear and bright. She put a hand on her budging stomach. “The baby's getting bigger by the hour.”

“That's what we want. I have some good news.”

“I can go home?” Jade hesitated. “Well, to your home.”

“No, you can't go home. Not yet. But I did get a job.”

Jade started to smile, but for some reason she sobered, looking sad. “You're so good. You're amazing.”

Amber wondered if her sister's hormones were messing with her mood. “It's just a job, Jade.”

“No, it's not just a job.” Jade looked like she might tear up.

“Hey.” Amber reached for her sister's hand, worrying this might be a sign something was wrong. “What is it?”

Jade blinked. “It doesn't matter what I do, how much trouble I cause. You always take such good care of things.”

“You're not causing trouble. I'm your big sister. Of course I'm going to help you.”

Amber wished she didn't have to leave town right now. She knew Jade was an adult, and she knew the hospital would take good care of her. But she still felt guilty.

“Do you remember Earl Dwyer?” asked Jade.

The name took Amber by surprise. “You mean Mom's old boyfriend?”

Jade nodded, sniffing and dabbing at her nose with a tissue. She gazed for a moment at the reflection in the window. “I was thinking about him last night.”

A picture of the man came up in Amber's mind and her neck prickled at the memory. “There's no reason to think about him.”

“You remember how he yelled at us all the time?”

“You should be thinking happy thoughts for the baby.”

“Do you remember?”

“Yes, I remember. But I'm surprised you do. You couldn't have been more than five when he moved out.” Amber remembered Earl's snarling face, his booming voice and how she'd locked herself and Jade in their bedroom whenever an argument had started between him and their mother.

“I remember everything about him,” said Jade, her voice going small.

Amber moved to the bed, perching on the edge to rub Jade's shoulder. “Well, stop. He's long gone.”

“Do you remember the fire?” asked Jade.

“Yes.” Amber couldn't figure out where Jade was going with this.

Was Jade worried about her own choices in men? Maybe she was worried about how her future boyfriends might impact her baby.

“Mom used to tell Earl not to smoke on the sofa,” said Jade. “She yelled at him about it all the time. She said he was going to pass out, light the place on fire and kill us all.”

“He nearly did.” Amber shuddered at the memory of the acrid smell, the billowing smoke, the crackling flames rising from the sofa stuffing.

“That's how I knew it would work.” Jade's eyes seemed unfocused.

“How what would work?”

“He passed out that night,” said Jade, twisting her fingers through the blanket weave as she spoke. “Mom was in her bedroom. I remember Janis Joplin was playing on the radio.” Jade sang a few bars. “You were asleep.”

“So were you,” said Amber.

But Jade shook her head. “I was awake. I went into the living room. I was so scared he'd wake up. I pictured it over and over, like an instant replay, those pale blue eyes opening, his stinky breath, his scabby hands grabbing me.”

Amber went cold all over.

“But he didn't wake up,” said Jade.

Amber let out a shuddering breath of relief.

“So I took his lit cigarette from the ashtray. I took the newspaper off the table. I crumpled a corner, just like I'd seen them do on that wilderness show. You remember? The one with the park ranger and the kids in Yellowstone?”

Amber couldn't answer.

“I tucked it all between the cushions, and I went back to bed.”

“Oh, Jade,” Amber rasped, her hand tightening on her sister's shoulder.

“I lit the fire, Amber.” Tears formed in Jade's eyes. “I lit the fire and you put it out. It wasn't until years later that I realized I could have killed us all.”

“You were five years old.” Amber couldn't wrap her head around such a young child conceiving and executing that plan.

“Do you think I'm evil?”

“I think you were scared.”

“I knew it would work,” said Jade. “I knew if Earl set the sofa on fire that Mom would kick him out and we'd never have to see him again.”

Amber drew Jade into her arms, remembering her as such a small child. “It was a fairly brilliant plan,” she whispered against Jade's hair. “Another time, you might want to have a plan for putting the fire out.”

“I was thinking last night,” said Jade.

“You need to stop thinking about this. It's over.”

“I was thinking that's how it's been my whole life. I've been starting fires, and you've been putting them out. And now I'm pregnant. And I'm sick.”

“You're going to get better.”

“But you have a new job. So my baby and I won't starve on the streets.”

Amber's chest tightened painfully. “You're going to be just fine. We're
all
going to be just fine.”

Jade's voice broke. “Thank you, Amber.”

“You are so very welcome.”

“I'm going to do better.”

“You're already doing better.”

“I'm going to get a job and I'm going to pay you back. And somehow, some way, I'm going to be the one helping you.”

“Sure,” said Amber. “But, for now, I have more good news.”

Jade pulled away and looked up. “What more could there be?”

“I got a signing bonus. And it's enough to cover your hospital bill.”

Jade blinked, her eyes clearing. “Are you kidding me?”

“I'm serious.”

“Why? How? What's the job?”

Amber wasn't going to lie. “It's my old job.”

It took Jade a moment to respond. “You're going back?”

“I'm going back.”

Jade looked worried. “To Tuck? To the guy who kissed you?”

“To his brother. Dixon. Dixon will be back soon and I'll work for him again.”

“He's the nice one, right?”

“He's the nice one.” All Amber had to do was find him and get everything back to normal.

“What about Tuck?” asked Jade.

“What about him? He's barely ever there. Once Dixon's back, I'll never even have to see him.”

Jade frowned. “But you kissed him.”

“He kissed me.”

“You kissed him back. I saw it. You kissed him back, which means you must be attracted to him.”

Amber gave a shrug. “Maybe a little bit. He's a good-looking guy. And he's smart and funny. You should see the string of women lining up to date him. But nothing more is going to happen between us. He'll never really be interested in me.”

She'd thought a lot about Tuck's kisses, concluding they were a power play, or a test like he'd said, or maybe it was just his habit to kiss any woman who happened to be around. If the tabloids were anything to go by, he did a lot of kissing with a lot of different women.

“You have to be careful of men,” said Jade.

Amber didn't disagree, especially thinking about Earl and her mother's other boyfriends. Not to mention the stories about some of Jade's exes.

“Even when things start out well,” said Jade, “they usually end badly.”

Amber shifted from the bed back to the chair. “You and I agree on that.”

“But lust is a funny thing.”

“This isn't lust.” Maybe it was curiosity, maybe sexual attraction, but what Amber felt for Tuck didn't rise to the level of lust.

“I've dated guys I knew were bad for me.”

“You knew?”

“Yes, I knew. But it didn't keep me away. In fact it made them even more attractive.”

“I'm not you,” said Amber. She couldn't imagine herself setting aside good sense and taking up with a man who was clearly trouble.

Jade looked unconvinced.

“I have some other news,” Amber said briskly, determined to move on. “I have to go away for a few days. It's for work.”

Jade's eyes narrowed critically.

“For Dixon,” Amber quickly added. She definitely didn't want Jade worrying about her. “He has a thing in Arizona, and I need to go out there. Do you think you'll be okay?”

“I'll be fine. I'm only going to lay here and study.”

Amber congratulated herself on successfully switching the topic away from Tuck.

“Good.” She came to her feet. “Because I have to leave tonight.”

Jade's smile faded, but she gave a brave nod. “Are you sure you don't think I'm evil?”

Amber gave her sister a hug. “You're tough and brave, and a little bit brilliant. Take care of yourself. Feel good. And don't study too hard.”

“Enjoy Arizona. Is Tuck going with you?”

Amber didn't have it in her to tell an outright lie. “Probably. For part of it anyway.”

“Don't fall for him.”

“I won't.”

“He'll look sexy, and you'll want to. And I saw the way he looked at you. He wants to sleep with you.”

An unwelcome wash of longing swept through Amber. “Too bad for him.”

“Just say no.”

“Well, I'm not going to say yes.”

Amber wouldn't say yes. In fact, she doubted he'd ask again. He'd flat-out told her she wasn't as attractive as his usual dates.

Deep down inside, she knew she wasn't going to get another proposition from Tuck. He had far too many options in his life to even give her a second thought.

Seven

T
uck still wanted Amber. He wanted her very badly, and his desire was growing by the minute.

She was radiant in front of him, curled up in a padded rattan chair in the Scottsdale hotel courtyard. The gas fireplace flickering between them gave her face a gorgeous glow. Floodlights decorated the palm trees and rock garden behind her, while stars winked above them in the blackened sky.

“Do you have any ideas?” she asked.

There were any number of great ideas pinging around inside his head. But he doubted Amber was anywhere near his wavelength.

She was a picture of openness in a midnight blue knee-length dress and a cropped cardigan sweater with the sleeves pushed up. Her spiky sandals were dropped carelessly on the concrete patio in front of her. After her second glass of wine, she'd tugged her hair loose, and it flowed over her shoulders.

“I'm his brother,” said Tuck, knowing she'd understand he was talking about their earlier conversation at Highland Luminance. “There must be someone who can authorize a release of information to me.”

“The receptionist didn't seem encouraging.” Amber referred to the woman who had asked them to leave the wellness resort.

“I can't imagine his yoga participation requires the same confidentiality rules as, say, an STD diagnosis.”

“She did tell us the date he left.”

“More than five weeks ago.”

Amber took another sip of her wine, dark against her lush lips. Her face and shoulders were creamy and smooth. He remembered her taste, her scent and the feel of her lithe body enclosed in his arms.

“We should brainstorm about Dixon,” she said.

Tuck shook himself out of a fantasy that had him kissing a shadow next to her collarbone. “What do you mean?”

“What do you know about him? Any unfulfilled dreams, secret desires?”

“He doesn't tell me his secret desires.” Nor did Tuck confide in Dixon. And he was especially keeping quiet about his feelings for Amber.

“Toss out anything,” she said. “What about when you were young, while you were growing up?”

“My desires have changed since I was young. I imagine his have, too.”

“Play along,” said Amber. “What else have we got to do?”

Tuck didn't dare voice his ideas.

The slight breeze rustled her hair and she brushed it back from her cheek. “Funny thing, I was reminded earlier today that childhood events can impact our entire lives.”

He forced the sexy images from his mind. “You think Dixon is reacting to his childhood?”

“I think he's reacting to exhaustion and a cheating wife. But how he reacts could be influenced by his core self-perception.”

“Core self-perception. Is that from the Highland Luminance brochure?”

“No.” Her tone turned defensive. “It's from a documentary. But it's valid. It just means who you think you are.”

“Who do you think you are, Amber? What's your core self-perception?” He was more interested in her than in Dixon.

“That's easy. I'm organized, a caretaker. I can't leave people to their own mistakes.”

Tuck couldn't help but smile at the answer. “You left me to my own mistakes.”

“Only after you fired me. Up until then, and against my own better judgment, I was helping you.”

He knew that she had. “I was grateful.”

“I could tell.”

“I hired you back,” he pointed out.

“Only because you needed me.”

“True. But here you are.”

“What about Dixon?”

“Don't you want to know about me?” Tuck knew the question sounded a bit needy, but he couldn't help himself.

“I already know your self-perception.”

“Do tell.”

“Talented, successful and good-looking. You know you're talented because so many things come easy, and the rest is reflected back in the mirror.”

Her assessment was wholly unflattering.

“So I'm conceited?”

“I think you're singularly realistic.”

“I was born into a rich family that had few expectations of me.”

She didn't disagree.

“But that doesn't make me feel talented and successful,” Tuck continued. “It makes me feel spoiled and useless.”

Her expression turned decidedly skeptical. “Yet you don't do anything to change it.”

He refused to argue. If she hadn't noticed how hard he'd been working lately, pointing it out to her wasn't going to change a thing.

“I'm here, aren't I?” he asked instead.

“To get back to the status quo.”

“For the benefit of Tucker Transportation.”

She seemed to consider that for a moment. “You're doing a pretty good job, you know.”

At first he thought he must have misheard. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Don't fish for compliments.”

“You took me by surprise with that.”

She leaned slightly forward. “You're doing a pretty good job. This desperation to find Dixon is about you getting away again, not about the health of the company.”

“You're wrong.” Tuck might have been reluctant to come on board, but he was actually glad he had. He'd felt more useful in the past six weeks than ever had before in his life.

“I'm right,” she said. “But we could go back and forth on it all night long.”

Tuck bit back an all-night-long quip. He really had to get his craving for her under control.

“This is about Dixon,” said Amber, her tone going crisp. “In the past, when he was young, what made him happy? What made him angry?”

“I made him angry,” said Tuck.

She broke a grin at that. “Why does that not surprise me?”

“Because I'm the villain in this story.”

“How did you make him angry?”

“I stole Nanny Susie's candies,” he told her. “She kept a jar of them in the pantry as treats for good behavior. I dragged a kitchen chair into the pantry and piled a step stool on top, then I climbed up and filled my pockets. Dixon was freaking out. He was sure we'd be caught.”

“That's bizarrely ironic.”

“That I stole the good-behavior treats?” He grinned. “I get that now. I didn't get it then. They were delicious.”

“Did you get caught?”

“No.”

“Did Dixon eat the candies?”

“Yes. He held out for a while, but eventually he gave in. Maybe the experience scarred him? Should we be canvassing the local confectionaries?”

She rolled her eyes. “What else have you got?”

“I used to sneak out my bedroom window and meet girls in the middle of the night.”

“Did Dixon sneak out with you?” she asked.

“No. By then, I guess he held firmer to his convictions. Or else he was loyal to his girlfriend. Which, now that I think about it, he really was. He only had two of them before Kassandra. Bettina Wright and Jodi Saunders. They were both gorgeous, but they also struck me as boring and a little stuck-up.”

“You have different tastes than your brother.”

Tuck let his gaze rest on Amber. “I do.”

He knew that if he'd been working side by side with her for five years, married or not, his loyalty would absolutely have come into question.

The air seemed to thicken and heat between them. If he'd been closer, he'd have reached for her.

“So Dixon is dependable,” Amber said into the silence. “He's honest, loyal and hardworking.”

“You sound like my father.”

“Even in the midst of an emotional crisis, first he tries to get your father's permission to leave. Then he leaves your father a letter of explanation and me as a fail-safe.”

“You weren't much of a fail-safe.”

“I told you I thought you could handle it. I still believe you could handle it if you'd apply yourself.”

“Apply myself with no knowledge or experience to the running of a multinational conglomerate?”

“Whose fault is it that you have no experience?”

Tuck wanted to say his father's. He wanted to say his brother's. But he knew it was also his own fault. He'd sat back and allowed this to happen.

Had he always chosen the shortcut? Steal the candies instead of earning them? Make out with the girls without dating them?

“Do you think people can change?” he asked.

“I think we can try.”

He felt the magnetic pull between them again.

Her expression turned guarded and she rose to her feet. “I should really go to bed.”

He stood with her. “Any chance that's an invitation?”

“Tuck.”

He immediately regretted the joke. “I know.”

She looked up at him, eyes deep blue, cheeks flushed, the breeze teasing her hair. Her lips were slightly parted and they looked so incredibly kissable.

“Is your flirting reflex really that strong?” she asked.

“It's not a reflex.”

“Then, what is it?”

“It's you, Amber. It's all you.”

“I'm not trying to send signals.”

“You're not trying, but I know you feel it, too.”

“Can you make it stop?” she asked, her voice a rasp.

He slowly slipped his arm around the small of her back, settling it there. “Why?”

She leaned slightly away, but she didn't break his hold. “Because it won't end well.”

“We don't know that.”

“One of us does.”

“You can't predict the future.”

“I can predict the next sixty seconds.”

He gave a cautious smile. “I'm afraid to ask.”

“You're going to kiss me, Tuck.”

“That's a relief.” He tightened his hold on her and leaned in. “I thought I was getting a knee to the groin.”

“And then we'll—”

“Then nothing,” he said. “Kissing you will take at least the next sixty seconds.”

* * *

The sixty seconds passed, and then another and another. Tuck's lips were firm, his body taut and his embrace was sturdy and sure. The fire brought a glow to her skin, and the heat of passion built inside her.

She knew they had to stop. But she didn't want to stop. She didn't want to step away from the cradle of Tuck's arms or from the tendrils of desire weaving their way along her limbs. She decided she could risk a few more seconds, relish a few more moments of paradise.

They were both unattached, consenting adults. They could hug and kiss and generally test the limits of their endurance without bringing the world to a screeching halt. They were on a public patio, screened only by cactus plants and a latticework of vines. It wasn't as if things could get too far out of hand. Could they?

Tuck broke the kiss and dragged in a strangled breath. He buried his face in the crook of her neck. His palms slid lower, cupping her rear, pressing her into the V of his legs. His body was firm and aroused. The realization should have worried her rather than thrilling her.

“What happens next?” he asked between labored breaths.

She knew she had to get herself under control. It was time to say no, time to remind them both of who they were, time to politely retreat to her room and regroup for tomorrow.

“I thought I knew,” she said instead.

“You don't?”

“I do,” she said against his chest. “I should. I thought I did.”

He drew back just far enough to look at her. “You're overthinking.”

“I'm underthinking.” If she was even contemplating letting things go further, she wasn't giving it anywhere near enough thought.

“That sounds promising.”

“Tuck.” She sighed, leaning against his strength for one last moment.

“I have a marvelous room,” he responded, his voice rumbling deeply. “A huge bed, an enormous tiled shower and I bet room-service breakfast is fantastic. And I'm willing—no,
eager
—to share it all with you.” But then his hold on her loosened and his tone changed. He drew back even farther. “But when a woman has to debate this long about whether or not to make love, the answer is already there.”

She wanted to disagree. But he was right. And he was being such a gentleman about it.

It was chivalrous and admirable, and she was deeply disappointed. What had happened to the bold Tuck who'd stolen candies and sneaked out his bedroom window?

“You're saying no.”

“I'm saying
hell yes.
But I don't want you to regret anything. And you would.”

He was right again.

“You're nicer than people think,” she said.

“I'm smarter than people think.”

“Is this you being smart?”

“Responsible. This is me being Dixon. I've always known he was the better man.”

“Yet you're here. And he's missing.”

“Life is full of ironies.”

She forced herself to take a step back, out of Tuck's embrace. “I'm really sorry.”

He gave a self-deprecating shrug. “That you don't want to sleep with me?”

“That I let things get away from me. I didn't mean to lead you on.”

“I'd rather have the shot than not.” He reached out and smoothed her hair. “Kiss me any old time you like. And take it as far as you want. I can handle the disappointment. Who knows, maybe one day you'll be sure about what you want.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to agree. But she didn't dare voice it. If she wasn't careful, she would convince herself she wanted him now, right now.

“Don't look so scared,” he said.

“This isn't like me.”

“It's called
chemistry
, Amber. It doesn't have to mean anything.”

Her chest went hollow. Reality brought with it intense disappointment. “So you've felt this before? You've done this before?”

“All the time.”

And it meant nothing to him. Good that they'd cleared that up. Jade was right. Getting involved with the wrong man inevitably ended badly.