Satin Pleasures (20 page)

Dan, on the other hand, was warm and fun and considerate and passionate. From the instant she opened her eyes on the bridge he’d been at her side. Picking her up when she stumbled, making her laugh about it.
Standing at her back when she needed support, quietly and without fanfare.
Making love to her like he had no other purpose in life but to give her pleasure.

She couldn’t get the memory of their last morning together out of her head. For several wondrous minutes after waking up and finding her body merged with his, she’d been immersed in her feelings for him, in his touch, in her burning need. It had felt so natural to wake in his strong arms, so right. How could everything have gone so wrong so quickly?

“Tess!”

Snapped back to her office, she groaned. “Sorry. I guess I am a little—”

“Distracted?” Emily waved a hand in the air. “I’d say the word is hot and bothered, boss lady. You don’t need a dragon out front. You need a garden hose.”

“Hot and bothered is three words, not one.”

“Whatever,” her secretary shot back irreverently. “I’m a secretary, not a math genius. I type error-free lease agreements and run interference for my boss.”

“When was the last time you had to run interference for me?”

“Right now.
I think it’s in the mall’s best interest if you make up with the undies man.”

“It’s not like I haven’t thought about it.” She hadn’t thanked him for helping with Don West. At the very least, she owed him an apology for, well, for what happened last weekend.

“What are you waiting for?”

Tess didn’t know why but, for some reason, Dan’s parting words flashed across her mind. “Will the world fall off its axis if I loosen the reins until tomorrow?”

Emily looked startled. “No.”

“Then, reschedule the rest of today.” She practically leaped out of her chair, thrust Don West’s lease into the other woman’s hand, and dug her purse out of the bottom desk drawer.

Before walking to the door, she stopped to stare at her stunned employee.
“Oh, and Emily?”

“Yes?”

“Turn the phones over to the answering service at five o’clock sharp today. No. Better yet, four-thirty.”

Her secretary waited, evidently preparing for the other shoe to drop. In the years she’d worked for Tess, she’d never left the office much before seven o’clock in case she was needed. Tess usually had to chase the woman out. “What do you want me to do at four-thirty?”

“Go home and kiss your husband. Tell him you’ll go with him to his sales convention in Hawaii.”

The other woman’s mouth dropped open. “But, he’s leaving the day after tomorrow and won’t be back until the end of next week. You need me to—“

Tess cut her off. “You’ll have to hurry if you want to use up those frequent flyer miles your husband’s been hoarding for a second honeymoon. Take enough time to find a temp service and rearrange my schedule, but then get out of here before I change my mind.”

Emily’s expression was priceless. “I don’t know what to say, how to thank you, whether to call the men in white coats.”

“Don’t say anything. Your vacation’s long overdue, and you may not want to thank me after you come back and have to sort your desk out after a temp’s had a go at it.”

Tess was grinning when she finally walked out of the office, pleased to have made Emily so happy. Now, if only Dan McDonald were as easy.

“Hey, McDonald!
There’s a luscious brunette at the marina gate asking for you.” Steve
Givvens
, the owner of the sloop berthed in the slip next to Dan’s nodded in the direction from which he’d come. “Tell me she’s not yours, and I’m on the case.”

Dan stood behind the railing he was polishing to allow room for his rising hackles. He glared at the man he’d met several days ago, his dislike for the self-proclaimed lady killer sharpening without warning into something fierce and uncivilized.

He hadn’t missed the dramatic struggle that took place on the sloop last night practically under his nose. If the petite redhead hadn’t pushed
Cassanova
into the cold water when she did, Dan would have been facing police charges today instead of putting the finishing touches on his cleanup of his boat,
Halfway to Heaven.

“I only know one luscious brunette,” he growled, “and she’s hands off,
Givvens
.
Unless, of course, you want them broken.”
The thought of this snake anywhere within striking distance of Tess made his stomach roil.

The appendages in question disappeared behind his back. “Whoa, man! I didn’t mean to push your button.”

Dan stepped off his boat with the intent of brushing past him, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get into the man’s face. “I’ve got more than one button,” he bit out, “and you manage to push all of them. Did you know I slept on board last night?”

“Uh, no.”

He’d suspected as much. “I’m going to say this once,
Givvens
.” He moderated his voice. “Think twice before you bring another unwilling woman to your little dinghy of pleasures because, next time, there won’t be enough of you left to satisfy a woman ever again. If I hear you’ve stepped out of line when I’m not around, I’ll bring you up on charges myself. Understood?”

Givvens
’ sputtered. His head jerked up and down several times. He turned and bolted for his boat.

It wasn’t until his neighbor had disappeared into the sloop’s underbelly, leaving him standing on a gently swaying dock, that Dan became aware he had company.

Tess
.

Like a starved man spotting a buffet, he turned to the woman who’d haunted his every thought all week. His gaze traced over her sneaker-clad feet and traveled up her bare legs to cutoffs that hugged her slim hips, and then over the white cotton shirt she’d tucked neatly into her waistband. When he finally reached warmed brown eyes filled with hot desire, he paused.

Her smile was crooked. “A knight’s work is never done.
Slaying dragons.
Rescuing damsels in distress.”

“Sorry you had to witness that.”

Tess’s head jerked back and forth. “No. I mean...oh, sweet mercy. I need help here. I...can’t seem...to move.”

In an instant, Dan reevaluated what he saw. Tess’s smile was more strained than crooked. Her sneakers were planted on the dock like they’d been nailed there, her legs locked in position against the sway caused by
Givvens
’ hasty retreat. And it was dark panic that dominated her expression. “How the hell did you get this far into the marina?”

“Blind stupidity?”

Whatever his confusion about this woman, he couldn’t very well leave her frozen to the dock so he walked over, picked her up, and carried her the last few feet to his boat. Stepping aboard, he brushed several rags off one of the seats under the canopy and set her down. He curled her fingers over the armrests. “Hold on to these for a minute. If it helps, close your eyes.”

“But—”

His temper flared. “So help me, Tess, if you argue I won’t be responsible for my actions!” He didn’t know why she was here or how long she’d stay. All he knew was that he was tempted to shut her up with his mouth and that was the last thing he needed to do.

Until he’d held her in his arms again, he wouldn’t admit how much he’d missed her. Denying the spark between them hadn’t changed a damned thing. He was certifiably insane over a woman who’d told him to get lost.

The thought of their last day together cut through his immobility with the sharpness of a filet knife. He stepped back. “Better?”

“Yes. Thank you. I...
thanks
.” She swallowed. “You’re angry.”

He was angry...with himself. He’d been a fool to make love to this woman. His stupidity carried him so far he’d actually begun to think of ways to postpone his departure from San
Francisco. Even now, his need to hold her was disgustingly strong in view of the way she’d rejected him.

Dropping into the captain’s chair behind him, he crossed his arms to stop them from reaching for her. “Since you said you never wanted to see me again, I can’t help but wonder what you’re doing here.”

“You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?” Tess sighed. “Okay. I don’t blame you. I was an idiot. I did and said some things I regret, but I never said I never wanted to see you again. What I said was I
couldn’t
see you.”

“There’s a distinction?”

She surprised him when she stood and approached. Her hand trailed along his jaw, down his neck, to his heart. The traitorous beast thundered loud enough for the world to hear. Tess moved his hand up to measure the cadence of her heart. “As long as you do this to me and I do this to you, I will always want to see you.”

She dropped her hand, removed his. “I said I couldn’t see you again for the same reason. I can’t think when I’m with you. I completely forget my obligations. That’s never happened to me before I met you.”

Her admission threatened his grasp on his anger. “That doesn’t explain why you tracked me here at the marina in the middle of the day.”

Tess shrugged. “You were doing such a good job of avoiding me I knew I’d have to take some pretty drastic measures to talk to you.”

“You ignored your fear of water and left the office before midnight to talk to me? I’m flattered.”

Irritation sparkled in her eyes. “Don’t let a swelled head tip you over! The marina isn’t a wide, open body of water.” Her chin lifted. “I was doing fine until the dock began rocking.”

He didn’t want to be pleased at the lengths she’d gone to find him. “What couldn’t wait?”

“I owe you an explanation and an apology.” Tess looked away. “I’m sorry for what happened last weekend.”

“I see. I finally made your agenda, and you can’t go on to your next item until I’m checked off. Believe me, it’s not necessary. Last weekend is already forgotten.”

“That’s fine for you to say.”
Tess’s hands fisted on her hips.
“You might be able to make love and forget it, but I can’t work for thinking about last weekend. It was the most unforgettable, exciting—”

Suddenly, Dan felt himself relaxing. She was as bewildered by their relationship as he was. “I think the word you’re searching for,” he provided softly, “is scary.”

Tess stared into his dark green eyes and felt something inside of her shift. “Try petrifying.”

When she’d left the office, she hadn’t a clue what to say when she found Dan, but the words were clear in her head now. “You were right, you know. It was my fault Evan broke our engagement. He’d never met my parents until the accident, when dad was in the hospital. Until then, he didn’t know that I couldn’t give him the love and attention he needed.”

Somehow, the painful things he’d thrown at her that night didn’t seem to hurt any more. “I wasn’t willing to change my life to accommodate the man I was supposed to marry. I chose my job and my parents over my fiancé.”

“A man who loves you wouldn’t ask you to choose.”

“But he had every right to—”

“It’s hard enough to maintain balance in a marriage without adding unequal expectations.” Dan frowned. “No one has the right to demand more than you are willing to give.”

“That’s the point. I’ve nothing left. You’ve met my parents. You see the hours I keep. Last weekend, I-I behaved atrociously and—”

She ducked her head. “What man in his right mind wants a woman who drops him like a hot potato when she’s late for work?”

“A man with a forgiving soul and a healthy ego?”
Dan tipped her chin so she could see the wry humor in his green eyes. “Honey, I know what it’s like to be that driven, that compartmentalized. Until I chucked it all, I never looked outside the parameters of the life I’d created.”

Tess was dismayed to feel the sting of tears. “I can’t chuck it all. Too many people depend on me.”

“No one’s asked you to, Tess.” Dan sat back in his seat. “All I want is a little of your time.”

Her laughter was self-conscious. “We both know how fanatical I am about time, don’t we?”

He grimaced, and then chuckled. “Yeah, I’d say some of your bad habits need more work than others.” He studied her for several long, endless moments. Then, he held out his hand. “I’ve missed you, Tess.”

Those four words soaked into her like rain on a parched desert as she allowed him to pull her between his legs. “I’ve missed you, too. Can we go back to square one and start over?”

“No.” He locked his hands behind her back. “One thing I’ve learned this past year is never look back and never settle for less than what I want, once I figure out what it is that I want.”

Uh-oh.
Here come the demands. “And, that is...?”

“I want your undivided attention for the next two months so we can explore what’s happening between us.”

“I’ve already told you—”

Dan scowled until she subsided. “Before I go back to Chicago for my mother’s wedding, I will teach you all I know about relaxing and making time for yourself. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll have the stress card playing the blues for you,” he held up his hand over her open mouth, “without giving up any activities you feel strongly about.”