Exception to the Rules (20 page)

“You make it hard for me to think. I have no self-restraint when I’m near you.”

“That has nothing to do with me. That’s all you.”

“No. It is definitely you.”

“How?”

He turned his head in her direction. “Because it hasn’t happened with anyone else.”

“Really?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know what to do about you.”

“That makes two of us.”

“Sometimes I wonder if I should just leave you alone. Go back to the beginning and concentrate on the research. Get territorial around Arnold, then pretend you don’t exist.”

“It is what we agreed upon.”

“But then we’re alone, and the research is the last thing on my mind.”

“I’m not supposed to think of anything other than this fashion campaign. There are only a few more days left and I can’t afford to get distracted. This is everything I’ve worked for and my future is dependent on the outcome. So what is my solution? I spend every free moment thinking about you.”

“That’s not good.”

“Tell me about it.”

Bas rolled onto his side, resting his head on his hand. “What should we do?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“We could try to start over again. Go back to the original plan. We can look all we want but no touching. I ask questions, you answer.”

She nodded. “Are you sure? We haven’t been successful this far.”

“True. But we’re both mature adults. We should be able to curtail our insatiable lust for a few days.”

“Uh...sure. Especially since we’ve um...”

“Yes. Consider it just taking the edge off, so to speak.”

“I couldn’t have phrased it better.” Gaea laughed. “So it’s settled. We’ll be mature adults. You’ll sleep out here, I’ll sleep in there. You’ll ask questions, I’ll answer. This is going to work out great.” She rolled toward him, facing him, copying his pose exactly. “We’ll be the perfect examples of propriety.”

“Platonic.”

“Yet affectionate.”

He cleared his throat. “But you realize we’ve pretty much ruined tonight.”

“Technically, you’re right.”

“The more I think about it, the more I realize we need to get all this sexual distraction out of our systems. You know, sex each other until we collapse. Then it will easy to be perfect examples of respectability.”

“I can see why you’re so successful in business. You’re good at rationalizing.”

“Yep. I look at the big picture.”

“Yes, you do,” she responded. “Now, I say after I use the bathroom and get a little water, we rendezvous in the bedroom.”

“Hmm...a change of setting.”

She chuckled. “You did say we need to get it completely out of our systems.”

“Very smart woman.”

“Okay then. I’ll see you in the bedroom shortly.”

“I’m just going to get rid of this used protection, get a few more supplies, then join you.”

Gaea leaned over and kissed him. “I really like the way you think. The feeling is mutual.”

* * * *

Bas awoke to a note next to him instead of Gaea.

I’ve gone to get ready for the Geocaching event. I should be back by twelve.

That’s it. Short and sweet with no reference at all of the night that hadn’t ended until the sun peeked over the horizon. He lay back down, wondering if he should get up and do something productive. Instead, he decided to relax and order room service. He knew Arnold would be with Gaea for the Geocaching event, but given the state of mind Bas was in, he wouldn’t be much help until he got his act together.

Gaea had told him about the all day stunt that would begin just after nine this morning. All of the winners from a write-in campaign, almost fifty of them, would be given a portable global positioning system and a map. Their task was basically a treasure hunt. Locate one item by the longitude and latitude, find a clue to the next location, then the next, finally ending at the Botanical Gardens where one lucky winner would receive a new wardrobe, by Marcella Girardi of course, a full makeover, and a cruise for two to the Bahamas. All of which was going to be recorded by as many entertainment-news organizations as Gaea could entice to be there.

It was quite an ingenious idea, really, but the planning had been an enormous task. He knew for sure that all the clues were in place, and had been since last week. The grand prize had been hidden last night.

At least the entire promotional push would be over soon. He’d promised Gaea he would be there strictly as her escort until the campaign was finished, and he would. As far as his own research project, he was more baffled about women than ever. What was worse, none of his formulated questions seemed the least bit relevant. He had no idea what to ask her, what would help him understand her. It seemed an uncrossable abyss, his feelings, her feelings, their relationship, if he could even call it that. Maybe if he knew what he wanted from her, it would help, but he didn’t. Okay, he knew a few concrete things. He wanted to see her again. To see her often. To see this—whatever it was—through. To make love to her. To see where she lived, how she lived, to learn about her past.

Damn, he wanted a lot and most of it didn’t seem to have anything to do with his project.

Final conclusion? He couldn’t just walk away from her. She’d become important to him. Exceedingly. When he thought about a future without her, he felt extremely disheartened.

Gaea had stirred up something inside him that had been quiescent. No other woman had affected him this way, and he had an overwhelming feeling that no other woman ever would. She was the light that brightened his day. Perhaps that was the whole thing about love. That you traipse around until your fallow heart is activated by the one other person who matches some very precise need.

Bas frowned as the significance of his thoughts hit him. Love? He’d only known her for less than a week. Most definitely not enough time to jump to that conclusion. And yet, if it wasn’t love, what was it? Lust didn’t describe it. It played a role, but not a major part. He’d lusted before, sometimes to the harm of his health, his sound mind. But that was elementary in contrast to his feelings now. He couldn’t stomach the thought of Gaea going through life without him. But he had the impression and troublesome doubt that Gaea didn’t feel the same way. Which pretty much meant he was screwed. Unless he could come up with a plan. In the next few days.

Shit!

* * * *

“All right, folks. I hope you all are ready. The race begins, now!”

Gaea watched the contestants make a mad dash across the starting line, heading toward the location of the first clue. The sound of the whirs and clicks of at least a hundred cameras reminded her of a horde of insects as photographers from around the country captured the moment.

She’d received word as she arrived this morning that the sale of global positioning systems throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area had doubled in the last week, and that all of Dallas and Fort Worth were engrossed with one of the largest treasure hunts in the city’s history.

According to everyone, the event was already a complete success. The name Marcella Girardi permeated the market on every level, radio, television, print and most importantly, word of mouth. Already Macy’s, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and hundreds of other retail stores were reporting record sales for a debuting fashion line. The fashion show had gone off without a hitch. Everything Gaea had worked for over the last year was coming together in a wonderful way, and she knew that next week she was going to have to mull over offers from marketing and fashion designers around the world.

She should have been over the moon. Instead, she had an enormous headache and a strong inclination to steal the grand-prize cruise to the Bahamas for herself.

Kallie rested against the brightly painted Marcella Girardi press mobile, arms folded over her chest, a worried expression making her look younger than her twenty-five years.

“Want to talk about it?”

Gaea shook her head. “Not in this lifetime, but thanks for offering.”

“What time do we have to be at the Botanical Gardens?”

“The fastest anyone can get there is three-thirty, so we’ll set up at three.”

Kallie nodded. “Okay, see you there.” However, she didn’t move. She just kept staring.

“Kallie, I’m okay, really. I’m good.”

“You don’t look okay.”

“Don’t let the Marcella Girardi people hear you say that. I’m wearing one of her outfits.”

Pushing herself away from the van, Kallie came to her side. “It’s about Bas, isn’t it?”

She was startled by Kallie’s question. In all the time they’d worked together, Kallie had never really asked her anything personal. Gaea hadn’t permitted it. She’d realized when she first came up with this plan that things were going to shift, but she’d never expected the gale force winds that had come through, swept her up, and still had her floating aimlessly. She exhaled deeply and replied, “Yes, it’s about Bas.”

Kallie locked arms with her and led her toward a coffee shop. “You talk,” she said. “I’ll buy.”

But Gaea didn’t utter a word. Not until they had their drinks and found a table out on the patio. “I’m not sure where to start,” she mumbled. “Things are getting really complex.”

“How?”

Gaea looked at her assistant, and it occurred to her that Kallie could have been so much more than that. She could have been a friend. Her career wouldn’t have been threatened, the campaign still would have been that, and Gaea wouldn’t have been so alone.

“Clearly,” she said, “this is just between you and I, but you were right about Bas. He isn’t my old college boyfriend.”

Kallie remained silent. She just placed her cup on the table.

“He’s a friend of a friend. I made a deal with him to act like he is my boyfriend. You already know why.”

“Hmm.”

“Yeah.”

“Only now, you’re starting to really want him for your boyfriend.”

Gaea blanched. “I don’t. At least I don’t think I do. No, I don’t. I can’t afford to get involved. It goes against all my rational judgment. Every woman I know in business has had to choose between love and real success. I don’t want to have to make that choice.”

“Love?”

Gaea felt her face start to flush. “It was a figure of speech.”

“Um…right.”

“No, I don’t love him. At least I don’t think I do. It’s just...”

“Let me guess, you feel like you’re a totally different person when he’s near? You want to share every new sight, sound, and taste with him. You can’t stop thinking about him? The entire universe has come into focus and you didn’t even know it’d been hazy?”

She laughed. “You’re scaring me, Kallie.”

Kallie leaned forward and touched her hand. The small gesture was entirely uncharacteristic to their prior relationship, yet at this moment, Gaea accepted the affection so much she actually had to fight back the water works.

“Gaea, jobs come and go. But to lose someone like Bas...”

“It’s not that straightforward.”

“It can be. If you allow it.”

Gaea look down at her coffee, feelings she never would have imagined swirling deep within, puzzling her as nothing in her life had before. “I’m not sure. I think I might have a way to keep him and my career.”

“Then give it a shot,” Kallie said. “You’re entitled to happiness, Gaea. Not just success.”

“I always thought success
was
happiness.”

“Oh boy,” Kallie responded, leaning back in her chair. “That’s, uh, sort of sad, isn’t it?”

Gaea didn’t reply. At least not out loud.

Chapter Seventeen

Gaea’s gait down the hallway slowed to just above a snail’s pace as she approached her room. Yes, she wanted to see Bas, but she still hadn’t come up with the best way to ask him to be a part of her perfect plan.

Laidback was the way to go, but not too laidback; she didn’t want him to feel superficial, as if any man could do the trick. But she also didn’t want to sound like a charity case either. If what she had in mind was going to work, they both needed to want it. It would take some amount of organizing, and the whole arrangement could fall apart if Bas ended up feeling as if he wasn’t getting enough of her time, or attention, or whatever.

She had to put emphasis on the benefits of the intermittent affair. He could feel totally free when he went off to do consultation work, more research, or any other endeavor he set out for. She would never be covetous or controlling. He could do as he wanted, as long as he was careful, and when they both considered it time, they’d come together in what she completely anticipated to be mind-altering hours of unlimited pleasure. Then they’d go their separate ways until the next time.

Gaea could only imagine how much they would have to tell each other if they didn’t see each other day after boring day. Everything would be fresh, new, exciting. In the intermission times, they could relish in the benefits of being single, like not having to go to humdrum client parties, or worrying about what time dinner was.

In her opinion, the agreement was the best of both worlds. She had a feeling that persuading Bas to see it the same way was going to be difficult. However, she would do what it took to talk Bas into going along with her idea. She was in the middle of getting everyone salivating to buy Marcella Girardi’s fashion, and based on all her inside contacts, she’d been successful. If she could hook that many people, winning over one man should be a breeze.

Gaea finally reached her door. She slid in her key card, turning the little light green, and went inside. “Bas?”

No response. In her note, she’d said she’d return to the room by noon and it was almost one. Bas had probably gotten hungry and gone off for lunch.

Gaea relaxed as she put down her satchel. What she wanted now was a nap. A big, long sleep fest that would ease her headache and make this afternoon easier to deal with. A bubble bath would have been even more perfect, but she’d never trust herself to get out before her skin would prune. Too many cameras would be at the Botanical Gardens for the finishing on the race. She needed to appear photogenic. So, a nap it would be.