Gift Wrapped (15 page)

He hated jealousy bullshit. Fucking loathed it. Jealousy was the reason he’d ended the couple of serious relationships he’d attempted, and why he’d chosen to avoid that road again. Commitment turned perfectly reasonable-seeming women into raving lunatics. Borderline stalkers. The way he’d just treated Brinn wasn’t far off.

He looked up at her apartment windows. No lights on. Shit. Fuck it, he was calling anyway.

She answered on the first ring. “Hi.” Not an enthusiastic greeting, but what did he expect? At least she’d picked up.

“I forgot something.”

“Oh.” Disappointment laced her soft voice. Because of him. “Can it wait until tomorrow? I’m already in bed.”

Which is where he should be, tucked in behind her warm, sexy body. “It can’t wait, no.”

Sheets rustled as she sighed. “Okay. Give me a few minutes to get dressed.”

“No need.”

“There is for me.”

He cringed at the curtness in her quick response. Also his fault. “Not what I meant, Brinn. I don’t need to come up, so stay put in your bed.”

“I thought you forgot something.”

“Yeah, I forgot how to treat you properly. I forgot to apologize when I acted like a dick. I forgot to tell you that I thought about you all day.”

For a couple of beats, all he got was silence. Then, “Wow. You’re really forgetful.”

He laughed, watching the cloud his breath created curl and dissipate. “I’m sorry for being a grade-A jerk. You deserve better.”

“You’re right.” Another soft sigh slid into his ear. “Unfortunately, it’s you I want. Not forever. Just until I leave town. I thought you wanted that too.”

“I did. I still do.” He balanced the cell phone between his head and shoulder so he could rub his frozen hands together. “I don’t know why I acted that way, only that I regret it.”

“I’d suggest jealousy as motivation, but a guy who doesn’t get emotionally attached would never suffer from that affliction.” Sweet Brinn wasn’t afraid to take aim and fire.

He deserved the shot. “Did I say I don’t get emotionally attached?”

“You don’t guarantee callbacks. You don’t have steady girlfriends. You’re not interested in a permanent relationship.”

“Not the same thing as emotionally detached.” Just the fucking opposite. If Brinn had grown up in his family, she’d understand why he’d chosen to live his life free of heavy relationships.

“I’m really beat, Davis,” she said, after a long yawn came through the earpiece of his cell.

“I know. I’m the guy who spanked you.”

“My bum is still warm.” Her tone had softened, and though she didn’t treat him to one of her adorable giggles, he had a feeling she was lying in her bed, smiling in the darkness. “I liked it even more than I thought I would.”

That’s all it took for the blood to start flowing below his belt. “You know what to say if you want another one.”

No snappy comeback, no flirty banter, just thick silence from her end.

“I want to see you again. That’s why I called you tonight, to ask you out. You pick the night. I’ll juggle my schedule so I’m free to take you someplace special.”

“Special. That’s the word I was going to use earlier. I wanted to share my news with somebody special.”

And she’d gone straight to
his
house. That ought to freak him out. It didn’t. Sitting there in the car, freezing his damn ass off, he puffed his chest out as if she’d pinned a medal on it. Brinn had plenty of special people in her life. Yet she’d sought
him
out first.

“You’re going to get hypothermia. If you’re not coming back up here, you should at least start the car.”

What the—? He leaned forward and peered up, through the windshield. At some point during their conversation, she’d moved to the window. Only her face was visible in the gap she’d created between the curtains.

“Are you still wearing that sexy quilt?” he asked, and she giggled. One of the best sounds ever.

“I left it on the bed. I’m standing here naked, if that influences your decision at all.”

“I’m a human icicle. You sure you want me up there? I’m not going to be considerate and keep my frozen hands off you. As soon as you let me in, you’re all mine.”

Her face disappeared from view, leaving the curtains closed once again. “The door’s open. I’ll be waiting for you under the sexy quilt.”

Forgiveness really was a beautiful thing.

Chapter Nine

“Whatever you’re high on, can I have some?”

From her position near the upper display shelf at the front of the store, Brinn swiveled to look down at her assistant manager. “Well, I’m high on the stepladder at the moment. Want to trade jobs for a while? I can work on the floor units if you feel like dressing mannequins.”

Keeping the store looking full and fresh in the middle of January took some imagination. The effort they put into weekly remerchandising paid off, though. At a time when mall traffic was sparse and most stores in their district were missing sales targets by high double-digit percentages, Brinn’s store had a 12.7 percent increase over goal. Nothing record setting, but still on the plus side.

“I’m good down here on solid ground,” Lori said. “Besides, I’m enjoying watching you shake your booty to a beat entirely different from the song that’s playing. I didn’t know people could have such horrible rhythm in real life—I thought that was something you only saw on sitcoms.”

“I have rhythm when it counts, just so you know.”

“Ooh, finally, some dirty details about the new mystery man.” Lori rubbed her hands together. “About time you spilled the boinking beans.”

She turned her back on Lori under the guise of continuing with changing the front display. One of these days, she really needed to work on her poker face. “What makes you think I was talking about now? I never said anything about a new guy or any sort of
boinking
, rhythmic or otherwise.”

Lori had one of those unique, husky-in-a-phone-sex-way voices, and a laugh to match. Right now, that laugh rang loud enough to drown out head office’s selected upbeat tunes of the month.

“You’ve had a perma-smile on your face since eight a.m. Boxing Day.
Nobody
in retail smiles then. Or at this time of year. I know you’re excited about your promotion, but this is different. You have the glow of a well-boinked woman. And frankly, there are days when you smell like sex.”

Brinn jerked around, grabbing the edge of the shelf to keep her balance, and sending a headless, naked torso flying in the process. “But I always shower before work. Oh my god, what if Carol smelled it on me when she was here last week?”

“Aha!” Thank god the mall was a ghost town, because Lori’s jumping and screaming weren’t a terribly professional display of behavior. “I knew it. Who is he, where’d you meet him? How often are you getting it on? Does he know you’re leaving in two weeks?”

“You tricked me? You’re horrible, you know that? I’m going to leave a note for your next manager, telling her you’d benefit from a thorough refresher of
all
the management-trainee manuals.”

“That’s pure evil. I’ll fall into a boredom-induced coma if I have to go through all those manuals again.”

Brinn shrugged after descending the ladder. “Don’t let my sweet-and-innocent exterior fool you,” she said in mock warning, while bending over to search for the fallen dummy. “There’s a calculating, highly inventive bad girl hiding behind my pink lip gloss and high ponytail.”

Lori didn’t answer. Well, crap. Maybe Brinn’s joke sucked as much as her dancing and cooking. “Hey,” she said, while pulling the slightly worse for wear mannequin from beneath a rolling rack of yoga pants. “You knew I was kidding about the retraining, right?” Still nothing. “Lori?” she asked, turning as she emerged from the black and gray spandex.

Lori met her with a smile. One that said,
Oh yeah, you are sooo telling me all about this guy when he leaves
, as she tilted her head in Davis’s direction. “This gentleman would like to speak with you.”

Gentleman indeed. Davis stood next to Brinn’s assistant manager sporting a fresh shave, a black suit jacket with crisp white shirt beneath, and a smile hot enough to take the chill off even the coldest winter day. Thank goodness she wasn’t up on the ladder, she’d have fallen for sure. Oh, who was she kidding? She’d long since
fallen
for Davis Rourke.

“Hi,” she said, after silently commanding her rioting libido to stand down. Good grief, her sex drive was out of control. They’d had sex this morning. Long, hot, delicious midmorning sex. He’d already made her come three times today. Twice with his mouth and once while he fucked her. She ought to be satiated, at least until later tonight. But seeing him dressed like this…lordy.

“Sorry for intruding on your workday.” The bottom of his jacket parted below the buttons when he slid his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, a posture that made him impossibly hotter. “I texted you a few times, but you didn’t answer.”

From several feet away, Lori snorted. “That’s because her phone’s in the stockroom. Brinn doesn’t allow cell phones out front. She looks young and hip, but I think she’s actually a fifty-year-old hard-ass in disguise.”

“You’re fired,” Brinn said, then stuck her tongue out. “There. Is that juvenile enough for you?”

“It’s a start.” Lori placed a neatly folded sweater on top of the floor unit she’d been merchandising. “I’m going to take five and grab a bottle of water.” Lori took the long way around the racks, making a pit stop beside Davis, rather than walk straight out the door. “She won’t let us have any beverages other than water out front, either. Is she as bossy with you as she is with her employees?”

“Oh yeah. Totally demanding.” A mischievous twinkle shone in the hazel eyes locked with hers. He didn’t need to say more. He was referencing sex and she knew it.

Fuck me now.
Give me more.
Put your finger in my ass.
Make me come.
She’d demanded those things, and more, to Davis. And he’d been happy to oblige.

“Okay, then. Maybe I’ll take the long way to the food court.” Lori saluted, then made a beeline for the door.

As soon as Brinn was alone in the store with him, the space seemed to shrink. She’d had the same sensation the first and only other time he’d been in here with her—afterhours on Christmas Eve. He’d looked sexy and handsome that night. Charming but a little bit dangerous.

The man standing in front of her now put that guy to shame. Because she’d learned so much about him in the weeks since their first spontaneous encounter. When she looked at him now, she saw the man he was inside. His warmth and passion. His sense of humor and empathy. However, his exterior at the moment definitely added to the package.

“Are you moonlighting as a male model or something? I haven’t seen you wear a suit to the restaurant.” And since she’d spent almost every available moment with him for the past two-plus weeks, she’d seen him dress for work—and had
undressed
him after work—plenty of times.

“It’s only half a suit.” He glanced down at the jacket. “That’s why I stopped by, to get your opinion on the clothes before heading to a meeting with the owner.”

Stupid as it was, her heart picked up a couple beats. She couldn’t help it, everything about this moment screamed
relationship
, and not just the temporary,
he’s only in it for the hot sex
kind.

She stepped within touching distance and smoothed her hands over his lapels. “My opinion is that whatever you ask for in that meeting, the answer will be yes. Especially if the owner is a woman.”

“Is that what your answer will be later, if I show up at your apartment wearing this?” He hadn’t removed his hands from his pockets, yet she could feel his touch—everywhere.

“That’ll be my answer no matter what you’re wearing. Or asking.” Hormones and chemistry told her to lean in, go to her toes and see how deliciously warm his sexy, smiling lips were. Professionalism and good old-fashioned common sense persevered. She exhaled, gently shaking off the buzz being close to Davis always initiated. “Sorry, I got sidetracked by your hotness.”

“No complaints from this guy. I like the track you were on.”

“Me too, but that’s not why you braved the busy mall on your way to work,” she said, making a sweeping gesture toward the front of the store.

Davis looked over his shoulder at the near-empty corridor. “Don’t let this deadsville place get you down, babe. That mall you’re transferring to makes this one look like a mom-and-pop show. Your new store has twice the square footage you’ve got here. You’re going to do amazing things there.”

She nodded, but the lump that’d formed in her throat prevented properly answering. Since they’d both had Wednesday off, Davis had gone with her to check out the new location. He’d even helped her scout out an apartment. That endeavor had taken the majority of the day. Together they’d exhausted the classifieds and driven the unknown streets, viewing one unsuitable unit after another, until they randomly stumbled upon a place that would work. It was small and a bit of a hike from the mall, but it was clean, cheap and available immediately. Other than being two hours away from Davis, it was a winner.

She cleared her throat and focused on the present. The handsome man in front of her. The suit. “So, tell me what kind of opinion you need, aside from confirmation that you’re insanely hot.”

“Hold that thought for later,” he said, winking. “The truth is, you’ve inspired me. The way you’re focused on your career, your willingness to make big changes and do whatever it takes to get ahead. You’re not content with the status quo, despite being really good at it.”

“Wow, you make me sound like queen of the go-getters.”

“You are in my eyes.”

If he only knew the truth. The promotion was lucky timing. She’d requested a transfer—even if it meant taking a lesser position—strictly as a means to run away from another screw-up in her personal life. A cowardly move, not a bold one.

“You wanted and deserved more, so you asked for it,” he continued. “And it paid off. I decided to take a page out of your book and set up a meeting with the owner and general manager. I’m going to ask for creative control over the menu. At least a hell of a lot more than I’ve had to this point. I’ve got a ton of great ideas. Every high-end steakhouse offers essentially the same options. The stuff I’m proposing will break us out of that same-old, same-old rut.”