Stella in Stilettos (9 page)

Not one second’s hesitation. “I’d love to be kissed by you,” she said.

“For the record, I’m no light-kisser. When I kiss a woman, I want her to know she’s been kissed.”

Stella became a blend of panic and delight.

“We’d better stop talking about kissing or we’re going to melt each other’s computer screens.”

Thank goodness Mr. Right had a grip on things. A small part of Stella wished he didn’t. “Good plan.”

“I’m sure I’ll fall asleep thinking about you. Any chance we could talk tomorrow night?”

Stella’s heart engaged in a series of somersault. “Yes.”
Yes. Yes. Yes.

“Goodnight blonde-girl with green eyes. My friend. That I want to kiss.”

“Goodnight hot guy who pays attention. My friend. That I will eventually kiss.” After clicking out of the chat room, she buried her face in her hands. There was something wild and wonderful happening and she felt powerless to stop it. The only thing that kinked the excitement was his friend-comment. How could they kiss and stay just friends? This was turning into the strangest relationship ever. No way would she allow it to become friends with privileges. That was just a bogus way of having it all without the commitment.

Soft laughter floated from Stella’s cubicle. Alex leaned out for a look. His pulse went into a thumping frenzy when he saw those long legs twisted around the base of her chair. He frowned at his reaction and rolled back into the cubicle.

Maybe the rapid heartbeat wasn’t for Stella. Maybe he was having a heart attack. There was no tightness in his chest or pain running up his arm to indicate it was a heart attack. He fished his cell phone from his pocket just in case.

A glutton for punishment, he eased to the edge of the cubicle to take another look.

Stella was holding a phone conversation by way of a headset and messing with the clip holding her hair.

She clipped and unclipped it a handful of times. Whatever she was trying make happen, wasn’t. She tossed the clip on the desk and let the curls tumble.

“Holy mackerel.” Why did she keep that bounty restrained with a stupid clip?

Stella messed with a manila folder while she continued to talk into the headset. Finally, she gathered her hair and secured it with the clip again. Alex was tempted to stroll by and set it free. While he was there, he wouldn’t mind taking another whiff of her. Last Friday, when he popped over to satisfy his curiosity about her eyes, his nostrils fell in love. Stella smelled sweet yet sexy.

She laughed again and it dawned on him that she might not be talking to a customer. The thought of a boyfriend made his eyes narrow.

Now he wanted to unsnap the clip
and
unplug the phone.

* * * *

Monday’s should be banned, Stella thought fuzzily, balancing the drink carrier in one hand, and trying to wiggle the strap of her purse back on her shoulder.

The elevator dinged open and Maggie rushed in. She eyed the four cups of coffee stowed in the carrier. “Any chance one of those is for me?” Before Stella could exit the elevator, Maggie pushed the button for the parking garage.

“Three are up for grabs.” Obviously Stella wasn’t the only one in need of a caffeine-fix. She’d been running late this morning and shot to her desk instead of the cafeteria. When she got a break in the action, she made a mad dash to buy a cup of coffee. She pulled in her lips to keep from telling Maggie it was a four-cup morning.

Maggie looked like she was set to make a mad dash too. Coat on. Briefcase in hand. And looking at her watch every couple of seconds. She took a cup and gave Stella a swift half-hug. “You’re an angel.”

Stella pointed to the creamers and stir sticks, Maggie shook her head. “I need mine black and strong today.”

“Everything okay?”

“Kid trouble. Husband trouble. Boss trouble. My typical day.” Maggie glanced at her watch again. “I have to get moving. Thanks for the coffee.”

On the way to her desk, Stella passed Corinne and inserted a cup into her eager hand. Alex wheeled his chair into the aisle way and she handed him one as well.

His sexy-violets widened. “How’d you know?”

Stella regarded him with a careful smile. “Who doesn’t need coffee on a Monday?”

“So true. I should know better than to stay up so late when I have to work the next day,” he offered.

“Same here.” She’d had a great night with Mr. Right and lay awake reliving each moment instead of sleeping. And now, she was in dire need of a nap.

Alex lifted his dark, bushy brows like he was waiting for more information.

Stella decided the only thing he was getting was coffee.

In an unprecedented move, Alex and his chair followed Stella to her cubicle. “Hogging the creamers?”

Stella jiggled with laughter. “Apparently I am. You can have them all since I take mine black.” She handed him a fistful of little containers. During the exchange, skin met skin and warmth raced up her arm. The effect made her eyes jet to his and found him staring. The warmth turned into profound spikes of heat. Their gazes fused, causing her to tremble. She swallowed hard. That kind of power was mystifying. She wondered if this happened to every woman Alex encountered or if his spell was random.

She took a much needed sip of coffee.

Alex took a drink too. “Ahhh.” He smacked his lips. “Thank you very much.”

“No problem.”

The sound of high-heels clicking toward them made Alex utter a low growl. “Tell me it’s not her.” They looked down the hall simultaneously. “Damn. It is,” he grumbled and tried to roll his chair into Stella’s cubicle. “Hide me.”

Stella laughed freely. “Where would I put you?”

Alex’s blue eyes shimmered with mischief. “There needs to be escape-hatches installed around this place.” His eyes quickly turned a murky shade of violet when Belinda congested the area with her presence.

Belinda smiled like she couldn’t get enough of Alex. When she looked at Stella it was a poison-tipped frown all the way. Red fingernails adorned with flecks of silver ran across Alex’s shoulders. “Hi, Alex,” she purred.

Alex shrugged from the unsolicited contact, and Stella thought about Francis’s cat-in-heat comment.

“Do you need something,” he asked.

Belinda ignored the question with one of her own. “Are you having coffee?”

Alex looked at the cup in his hand. “I think we are.”

Belinda tunneled her gaze to include Alex only. “I need to talk to you.”

“What about?”

Haughty brown eyes glanced at Stella. “If I wanted it to be a group conversation, I would’ve said so.”

For the love of Pete, this was not seventh-grade. Stella bit her bottom lip to keep from biting Belinda with the surly thought.

“Do you mind if I steal him for a few minutes?”

Alex didn’t belong to Stella and never would. He was being friendly or was bored to death and wanted company. “That’s up to him.”

Alex shuttered his eyes at Stella as though she was handing him over to the enemy. He followed up with a pearly-white grin and lifted his foam cup. “I owe you one.”

The man had absolutely no idea the effect he had on women. He tossed that grin around like it was candy and those sexy eyes promised nothing but pleasure.

Stella watched them leave over the edge of her cup.

Alex turned around; his eyes sparkling with silent laughter. Belinda looked back too, her eyes glistening with silent meanness.

* * * *

Belinda perched on the edge of Alex’s desk and began to ramble about having tickets for the Bengals’ game on Sunday. He couldn’t hang with the blah, blah, blah. His thoughts were situated twenty feet away. Those few minutes with Stella had been incredible. And they seemed to be on the same wave-length, at least where Belinda was concerned.

Belinda leaned toward him with a spicy smile. “So you’ll pick me up at ten?”

Alex creased his forehead so tight he could feel the lines. “What?”

“The game. Hellooo. Weren’t you listening?”

Of course not.
His subconscious pieced together enough words to realize what she wanted. He was a huge Bengals fan; in no way would he taint the sport by going with Belinda to see them. “Sorry, I can’t go.”

Belinda messed with his tie and swept her lashes slowly across her eyes. “I have a proposition for you.”

This ought to be good
, he thought derisively, while crossing his arms to block further access to his tie. “What is it?”

Brown eyes shimmered with secrecy and she worked closer to his ear. “It wouldn’t be just you and I. There would be six of us.” She lowered her voice. “All women.”

Alex drew back and fixed a bead of are-you-kidding on Belinda. “No. And hell no.” The offer wasn’t just ridiculous, it was flat out stupid. “Not happening.”

Belinda relocated her attention to her fingernails. She held her hand out to inspect them. Pushed back the cuticles. And hit him with the rest of the deal. “A hotel on the riverfront. A little wine. Six women. Need I say more?” She tendered a telling smile.

He’d met some forward women but this one took the prize. Alex was shocked; although he shouldn’t be since Belinda didn’t pretend to be anything but a hussy. “I’m not going to a Bengals game or anywhere else with you and your friends. I keep my work life and personal life separate. And that’s the way it’s going to stay.”

 “Hypocrite,” she muttered without raising her voice.

Alex expected a rebuttal, but not that one.

“You were lovey-dovey a minute ago with Stella.”

“We were having a cup of coffee.”

Belinda’s laugh was filled with accusation. “You didn’t get to the top of the food chain by being a blockhead, Alex. You and I both know that a cup of coffee is setting the stage for sex.”

Where’s a tranquilizer gun when you need it?

* * * *

Stella removed her glasses, leaned back in her chair and let her eyes drift shut. The bulk of the day had been non-stop phone calls. Maggie was still out of the office and the place was in chaos.

Gah!

She needed a bubble-bath or a ten minute nap to disconnect from the bedlam.

A rich, smooth voice spoke softly next to her ear. “Wake up, Matson.”

Stella smiled but kept her eyes closed. “I’m not sleeping. I’m resting my eyes.”

“How do you explain the snoring?”

Her eyes popped open. Without thinking, she stuck out her tongue. Argh. Professional business women – especially those wanting the Assistant Vice President of Advertising position – didn’t stick out their tongue.

“Ah. Ah. Ah.” Alex shook his finger. “I wouldn’t do that unless you’re prepared to…” A strange look raced across his expression, followed by a full grin.

Stella giggled with embarrassment.

Alex inclined his head toward the conference room. “Let’s go.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you read your emails?”

“Apparently I missed one?” Stella minimized the design program and clicked into her email account to find a memo from Maggie. ‘Christmas party meeting in the conference room at three-thirty’. “Good thing you stopped by, or I might still be …” She was tempted to say snoring. “…resting.”

“Come on, Matson.” Alex latched onto her forearm and tugged her from the chair. Stella laughed, but inside, nothing of the sort. Ripples of exhilaration raced up her arms and skittered to all other body parts.

She grabbed her glasses and walked with Alex down the narrow hall, careful to keep a few inches between them. She’d almost liquefied when he touched her for five seconds. If he did it again he’d be sopping her up off the floor.

“Tell me about your Christmas parties. What kinds of things do you do?”

Stella tried to mobilize some control over her thoughts. “We keep it casual. Last year we did supper together and went bowling afterwards. The year before we had a carry-in meal, played games and were home by ten.”

“Ever go dancing?”

The question produced images of chest against chest. Heartbeat against heartbeat. Warm, sweet breath on her neck. Stella closed her hands at her side, opened them and closed them again. “No dancing.”

“Maybe we should suggest it.”

“Sure, why not?” It was hard to keep a confident façade when everything about this man robbed her of calm. She was pleased it only took a minute to get to the conference room.

Corrine motioned them to two empty seats next to her. “About time you got here.” She raised her eyebrows mischievously.

Stella chuckled.

Maggie dashed in, yanked off her coat and scarf and huffed for air like she’d run up twenty-six flights of stairs. “Okay, people, listen up. We should’ve had this done a couple of months ago. My fault. So now we have a small time-frame to sort it all out and make it happen. Let’s hear your suggestions.”

Maggie pointed to Corrine.

Corrine was an attention-getter from the word go. She stood up and used a make believe microphone. “Ahem. Let’s go for sushi and take in a play.”