Close to Perfect (6 page)

“You won't be sorry you hired me or the company,” said Tess.

Josh looked at her and spoke from the heart. “I've never been happier.”

This time, Alan sighed. “So, I guess we're through here.”

Josh could only hope. Already Alan was sounding far too down. A few more seconds and the man might be seriously depressed.

“For the moment,” Tess said, then waited until both men were looking at her. “I still have to run the contract past my father.”

Alan stopped tightening his tie. He smiled. “I can stay here if you want to come back after you see your—”

“No need,” she said. Her voice was so nice it didn't sound like a rejection at all. “I'm sure he'll agree with everything here.” She pushed away from the table and stood.

So did Josh. “I want you at my place tonight.”

Color rose in her cheeks; she arched one slender brow.

“To start protecting me,” he quickly said, then added, “you can't do that if you're not there.”

Unlike that banter with Alan, her voice was now pure business. “I said I'll be there, and I will.”

If she wasn't, he sure as hell would find her. “Great.” He gave her the access code to get inside his gate. “I'll be expecting you at seven. Sharp.”

“Yes, sir.”

God, he loved her cop talk and manner. Of course, a little softness, a little banter with him, would also have been nice. “Wait.”

Tess paused, then turned back to him.

Josh tossed her a set of car keys, which she easily caught.

She looked up from the keys. “What's this?”

“Is it a bonus?” Alan asked. “I didn't put a bonus in the contract, but I could right now if you want.”

Josh glanced at him. “It's just the company car.”

“It's a Mercedes,” Alan corrected.

Tess looked at him, then Josh. “I have my own car.”

“Which can be traced, because of the plates,” Josh said. “I don't want you getting any more press than you have to. I want to control that situation, at least. Use the company car.” He told her where it was parked. “I'll have one of my staff take your car back to your place or your dad's office, whichever you prefer.”

Tess looked reluctant, but finally nodded and tossed him her keys. “My place is fine.” She told him the make and model of her car and the license number, then gave him her address.

Josh wrote it all down, then tossed the pen back on the table. “I'll walk you out.”

As he took her arm and guided her from the room, she leaned into him and murmured, “Is Alan always that easy to negotiate with?”

It was a moment before Josh understood the question. Her scent and the way she so effortlessly leaned into him, as if she found it comfortable, continued to distract and arouse.

Clearing that from his voice, he murmured, “You're kidding, right?”

“No—why?”

“I thought he was being a real prick.”

“You haven't seen the guys I've had to deal with. Actually, he was pretty easy.”

Spoken like a true ex-cop. His ex-cop. His bodyguard.

Josh suppressed a whoop of delight, guiding Tess past Peg, who was speaking on the phone as she spritzed herself with perfume.

He'd have to tell Peg to stop that. He didn't want any scent but Tess's filling this space.

Peg wouldn't listen, of course, but Josh figured he would give it a shot. He opened the door that led to the hall. “Seven,” he said.

Tess met his gaze. “I haven't forgotten, Josh.”

He liked how she said his name, as if it felt comfortable on her lips. “Drive carefully.” Sliding his hand down her arm, Josh took her hand and gently squeezed her fingers.

Tess lowered her gaze to their joined hands. To his delight, she gently squeezed his fingers in return.

“Bring all you'll need for our time together,” he added.

She looked at him from beneath her lashes. “Behave yourself.”

“I haven't forgotten, Tess.”

It seemed that she wanted to comment, but then thought better of it. As she backed away, Josh wasn't yet ready to let go, but then, neither was she.

Their hands remained joined, their arms outstretched as Tess continued to step back. It was as if she was testing him or herself.

Soon, just their fingertips touched as their gazes remained locked, captive to each other.

“What's up?” Peg suddenly asked, joining Josh at the door.

She would ask that. In that moment, Tess broke their bond. She moved back and lowered her arm.

Josh lowered his, too, though he did it with great reluctance.

“Did I interrupt something?” Peg asked.

Nothing that wouldn't be continued tonight.

“Yeah, you did,” he mumbled as his gaze followed Tess. She moved like a dancer, gracefully, effortlessly, as she turned and headed for the exit.

“Well, excuse me,” Peg said, then added in a nicer tone, “I like her.”

That didn't begin to address what Josh felt. He scanned that silky, peach-colored fabric hugging all of Tess's curves until she moved out of view. Only then did he look at Peg. “You were right.”

“About what?”

He turned back to the exit. Tess was gone, but only for the moment. “This stuff with the tabloid—it's not so bad.”

As his mind returned to that last image of his bodyguard, the exceptional woman who would now be living with him, looking out for him, pretending to be romantically involved with him, Josh thought that it was looking pretty damn good.

O
n the way to her dad's house Tess had the stereo and air-conditioning pumping full blast. Didn't help. Her thoughts were still tangled, while the backs of her thighs were glued to the seat's buttery leather as she continued to sweat.

So much for being Ms. Cool and enjoying this Mercedes.

Tess eased to a stop at a red light and sagged into the seat. In a little over an hour she'd have to be at Josh's place. She was cutting it close, but getting ready for this new job had eaten up a lot of time. There were clothes and toiletries to pack, a shower to take; she had to wash her hair, give herself a manicure, wax her legs even though they didn't need it, launder the T-shirt and cutoffs she was currently wearing, and figure out how she was going to tell her dad that she would now be living with Josh, while also pretending to be his girlfriend in public, at least until this all blew over.

“It will, you know.” Her voice sounded loud even though it had to compete with Christina Aguilera's lusty wails; it also sounded as bummed as Alan's had earlier.

The man hadn't wanted her to leave, but hadn't pushed it because he knew he didn't have a chance with her. If he wanted to see her at all, it would have to be at another meeting to tweak the contract.

Poor guy. After this was all over maybe she would suggest a yearly reunion where they'd share drinks while she pumped him for information about Josh's newest romance, since it wouldn't be covered by any publication if he remembered to stay dressed whenever he was outside.

When he was behind closed doors, however...

Uh-uh. Tess wasn't going there, again. That earlier fantasy about him nicely nude and cuffed to a bed would have to be enough, at least until she got aroused all over again as she explained to her dad about the public kissing, touching, and flirting she and Josh were going to share.

He was just gonna love that.

The driver behind her honked his horn.

Tess gave him an apologetic smile, then pulled away more slowly than he would have liked. She didn't have a choice. The only way to control the coming situation with her father was to give it as little time as possible. She'd rush through the good news about the contract, zip through the bad news about Josh, then quickly cut out to meet her seven
P.M.
deadline. After that, she wouldn't answer her phone for days until her father calmed down and got on board with all of this.

Sure.

Tess sighed deeply, wondering how she could have agreed to this even if it was the job of a lifetime. It wasn't as if Privacy Dynamics was totally without clients, though it certainly didn't have any in Josh's league.

Even if it had, Tess seriously doubted she would have kissed those clients, agreed to move into their homes, or pretended to be romantically involved with any of them.

She had done that far too easily with Josh, because even when he flirted with her or teased, Tess sensed a core of honesty in him she had never seen in a player. The guys she had dated would have been burning up Instant Messenger, bragging like mad if even one babe had been sending them naked pictures and flowers.

Not Josh.

And it wasn't only because Alan was getting a new bald spot worrying about potential lawsuits. Tess sensed right off that Josh didn't use women. If anything, he seemed kind of stunned that he was so popular.

Didn't he know what a hottie he was? Didn't he look at those pictures of himself?

Tess couldn't stop. She figured that's how she was going to spend a lot of her time tonight when she was holed up in his guest bedroom.

She was also pretty damned scared, because she was falling under his spell faster than the speed of light and had absolutely no excuse.

It wasn't like she was a blushing virgin. And yet, when Josh's mouth had covered hers, all the kisses she had shared with those other guys seemed to be only so much practice for his kiss, which was the real deal.

His initial tenderness, then hesitation before deepening the kiss moved Tess more than all the words or promises in the world. After that, all she could think of was that she wanted a whole lot more, and not only because of passion.

She had felt comforted and protected, which was the greatest aphrodisiac of all. In no way did Josh seem to be taking advantage of her or seducing her, unless he was a very good actor and she had already been deeply conned.

Oddly enough, that possibility didn't bother Tess as much as the feeling that Josh hadn't been acting; he was a really good man, which meant that she was unbelievably screwed.

How in the world was she going to restrain herself tonight and all those other nights when there was nothing to do but watch him and want him?

How in the world was she going to move on when this came to an end?

Why was she even thinking about any of this? She wasn't a romantic fool, had never been a pushover, and even Josh Wyatt was not going to change that.

“This is nothing more than a job,” Tess told herself as she turned into the street where she had grown up.

It was a cramped, middle-class neighborhood that still felt like home since nothing here ever changed. The Minelli's front yard was as cluttered with their grandkids' toys as it had been with their kids' stuff.

Tess recalled more than a few afternoons when she had chased Tommy Minelli into his house because he had pissed her off. Didn't matter that Tommy was two years older than she and outweighed her by more than sixty pounds; even then, Tess hadn't taken any lip.

She smiled in memory, because Tommy was now a professional wrestler on one of those awful cable shows. The Minellis thought it was great and couldn't brag enough about their boy no matter how often he got hurt.

So maybe she should tell her father that she wanted to be a wrestler now. Maybe then he wouldn't whine about her being a bodyguard for a man she would soon start living with.

Right. Tess's smile faded, her heart started to race as she finally approached her childhood home, a modest one-story frame crowded by foliage and protected by a white picket fence, which had been her mom's idea.

Her dad had built that fence himself despite the ribbing he got from his friends on the force. But then, Freddy Franklin hardly cared what others thought. Until the day her mother had passed two years before, he would have done anything for his Carlie. The only time Tess heard him address her mom as Carlita, the woman's given name, was when he was really mad.

There hadn't been many of those moments between her parents as Tess had been growing up. Never had she known a man and a woman more devoted to each other. Because of that, her dad rarely dated now, even though her mom would have wanted him to be happy.

Tess turned off the stereo and spoke from the heart. “You need to talk to him, Mama. You need to tell him to get off his butt and meet someone like he met you.”

That meeting, according to Carlie Franklin, had been magic, and the reason they had endured.

“It's all in that first moment,” she had said for as long as Tess could remember. “In how a man and a woman meet.”

Tess wondered if it was all that simple.

How did we meet?
Josh had asked just a short while ago.

Uh-huh. Could be her parents' romance and marital success wasn't in how they met, but just pure, dumb luck, which Tess sensed she was going to need in abundance now.

Already her dad was standing in the doorway of the screened-in porch looking at the sleek black Mercedes, then her, then the Mercedes. A bottle of beer was halfway to his lips, but completely forgotten.

Tess felt like she was sixteen years old again and getting home late from a date. Although her father was in his fifties and graying, he was still a man to be reckoned with. The modified crew he favored made his head look bristly and his neck thicker than a man should be allowed, while his flowered sports shirt was barely fluttering in the breeze, his build was that powerful.

Go on,
Tess ordered herself,
get this over with.

“Pop,” she said, then smiled broadly as she left the car.

He looked from it to her. “Tessie.” His gaze returned to the Mercedes, which reflected his weathered picket fence in its sleek, flawless body. “Please don't tell me you carjacked someone.”

“You know me better than that.” Joining him on the porch, Tess gave him a peck on the cheek. “I found that baby in my parking space this morning with the keys in the ignition and a full tank of gas. Is life great, or what?”

Freddy looked at her. His neck seemed even thicker, while that nasty scar on his chin did nothing to soften the moment.

Tess forced another smile. “Okay, if you must know, it's what I'll be using for our new job!” She waved the contract in her hand.

Her father looked momentarily stunned, then frowned. “For that guy?”

“He's more than just ‘that guy.'”

“Oh, excuse me. That
naked
guy?”

Now, Tess frowned. “He's a businessman, Pop. A very rich businessman.” Before he could snarl to that, Tess told him what they were being paid for this job, a fee that any of those big firms would have probably killed for.

Freddy's pale blue eyes widened. “Did you threaten him with your gun?”

No, she had returned his kiss. Not that that had anything to do with getting a fee that wasn't outlandish, but reasonable. “I negotiated with his attorney.”

“Is the man licensed to practice law? Did he just get out of school?”

Tess's eyes narrowed. “He's about forty-five and balding and wanted to throw me out when I first got there. But,” she continued, interrupting her father, “I wouldn't let him. I wouldn't back down, just like you taught me. I did great. Go on, say it.”

The man screwed up his mouth as if he refused to be chastised. “I'll let you know what I think after I read the contract.”

Tess arched one brow.

“Okay, okay, you did good,” he finally conceded, then gave her a bear hug that stole her breath, after which he easily swung her around. As Freddy let go, he snatched the contract. When Tess regained her footing and returned to his side, he handed her the beer.

She took a sip.

“No more than that,” he warned, then pulled his reading glasses out of his front pocket and perched them on the tip of his nose. “Not if you're driving home.”

Tess snuck another sip, swallowed quickly, and mumbled through her belch, “I'm not driving home.”

Freddy's gaze remained on the contract. “Good. We can discuss this over supper, especially the part about you going after this on your own after I told you not—”

“Ah, I'm not staying here either, Pop.”

He read a bit more of the contract, nodding as if he agreed with it, then finally looked up. “What?”

“I have to meet Josh—our client,” she quickly corrected, “at seven.”

“Josh?”

“He prefers that to Mr. Wyatt or naked guy.”

“And what do you prefer?”

“To be there by seven so I make a good first impression.”

Freddy regarded her, then looked at his watch. “You have plenty of time. His office is—”

“I'm not meeting him at his office.”

He slid his gaze to her.

Tess lifted the bottle of beer to her lips, but before she could even smell fumes, her father took the brew, placing it on a table to the side. “Where exactly are you meeting this guy?”

“I'm not exactly meeting him.”

“You just said you were.”

That she had. “Promise me you won't upset yourself.”

He pulled off his glasses and frowned. “I won't. I figure you're gonna do that.”

“It's business.”

“What is?”

“It's nothing to get excited about.”

“I'm not excited,
Teressa
. I'm beginning to get worried,
Teressa.
”

Okay, so she was handling this badly; he never used her given name unless he was pissed, like when she decided to become a cop and then a bodyguard. Of course, after he found out about her arrangements with Josh, and finished yelling at her, he'd probably start calling her
that girl who's protecting that naked guy.

“I'm going to be staying with him at his house—as his bodyguard,” Tess quickly added, while also failing to add all that other stuff about being romantically involved with Josh in public. Now was not the time to get into that. Maybe later, after she couldn't hide it any longer. “I have to be on the premises so nothing happens to him.”

“To hell with him,” Freddy growled. “I don't want anything happening to you.”

She gave him a look. “Like it could?”

“I saw that guy's pictures, Teressa. So don't give me that
Pop, you're nuts
look, got it?”

Tess took it down several notches. “Yes, sir—but I can take care of myself, Pop. I'm no fool.”