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MY EYES SNAPPED OPEN to a soft knock on the door.
I gazed around in disoriented surprise at the light streaming in from the curtains. It was morning. Oh my gosh. I’d spent the night at my boss’s place. Pushing my messy hair from my eyes, I climbed out of bed and opened the door.
“Hey, Jenna, I didn’t mean to wake you, I just didn’t think you’d set an alarm and—”
Tom fell silent when he saw me. His eyes swept me up and down, and I suddenly remembered that I was wearing nothing but his old tee-shirt.
My cheeks flushed, and I took a step back as I stammered, “Oh—sorry about this. I forgot to bring something of my own—”
Then I was up against the wall.
His hands fastened around my thighs and my legs wrapped around his waist like the last few weeks had never happened. Our hands were everywhere, and before I could recover my wits enough to speak, his mouth was pressing down over mine. I groaned and grabbed his hair, pulling him closer to me as his fingers started pulling up the edge of my tee-shirt.
But that was when it all came flooding back to me, and I pushed him away with a start.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, sliding down the wall.
He took a step back, but then lunged again, his hands tangling in my hair. “I can’t do this anymore,” he panted, kissing my neck, “I can’t pretend I’m okay without you.”
“But that’s what you wanted,” I said, pushing him away again. My blood coursed red hot through my veins as I gestured furiously to the air in between us. “This was what I wanted, Tom. I wanted this—but you chose work. How dare you try to pull something like this again!”
He refused to back down, planting his hands against the wall on either side of my head.
“I can’t stay away from you—”
“Well try!” I shouted, slipping out from beneath his arms. I straightened up my tee-shirt dress as best I could before adding as an obvious afterthought, “Besides, I’m with someone.”
He took a slow step toward me. “I can make you forget all about him. Give me ten minutes.”
What a tempting offer!
I pictured his hot lips up against mine, heat flaring between us in a passionate kiss.
“I don’t want to forget all about him!” I was full-on shaking now. Why hadn’t I just coughed up the six hundred dollars to stay at the Plaza? “Now please get out—I need to get dressed for work.”
“I’m not going to stop trying, Jenna,” he said quietly as he backed away. “Not in a million years.”
“Trying to do what?” I said. “Make me into an even more secret mistress than before? Good luck with that!” I slammed the door before he could answer, and fell back against it, panting. With rage or with...something else, I couldn’t be sure.
I got dressed as quickly as my confusing, designer clothes would allow and was out the door before he could stop me, hailing down the nearest cab and speeding away to the office.
Just stay the night at his place, Jenna. Just SLEEP IN HIS CLOTHES, Jenna. Brilliant!
I literally slapped my own forehead as we raced down the streets back to the financial district. With any luck, it would be a simple day—a Tom-free day—and the last one I’d have to get through before jetting off to the Bahamas for the weekend for Jamie’s wedding.
When I finally pulled up to the office and stepped out of the elevator onto my floor, there was a rather anxious crowd waiting for me.
“Hey...did it go okay last night?” Rose asked nervously. “I mean, the taxi with Tom—”
“Jen, I’m really sorry to leave you hanging,” Eric interrupted. “I hope nothing happened, I mean, I hope you were able to figure something out...?”
I held up a hand as I rushed past them into my office. “I’m fine. It was all fine.”
Just a few more hours, just a few more hours...
I kept chanting to myself. A few more hours and I’d be on a plane. No Tom Larchwood, no New York problems. Just me, a mai-tai, and a bottle of sun-tan lotion.
What was the worst that could happen?
My office door flew open, and Jamie flew inside, looking like he’d seen a ghost.
“I have a HUGE favor to ask of you, and if you say yes, I promise I’ll never ask for anything ever again!”
My brow furrowed in concern, as I temporarily forgot about my own problems and waved him inside. “Of course, Jamie. Anything.”
“I need you to be a bridesmaid.”
“...except that.”
“Jenna, come on—please!” He perched on the edge of my desk, giving me his best version of puppy-dog eyes, which for the record, were very compelling. “Stacy and I had a couple have to drop out last minute—a bridesmaid and a groomsman. I don’t have anyone else who’s coming that I’d rather ask. And I don’t want to bring this up, but there’s still that whole Katie McGill card, and this is Stacy we’re talking about so I’ll use it if I have to.”
I wanted to refuse. I wanted to shut the door in his face. But as it stood, all I could do was laugh my ass off because he’d said that entire thing in one breath and I honestly thought he was in danger of passing out.
“Okay, okay, I’ll do it.” I stood up and gave him a hug as he tried to calm down. “Don’t hyperventilate or anything, it’s going to be fine.”
He covered his eyes in relief. “Thank goodness,” he sighed. “You have no idea how much this means to me. I didn’t want to stress out Stacy, what with the baby, so I said I’d take care of it—”
“It’s fine,” I said again. “Now what do you need me to do? Is there a dress or something I should pick up?”
“All I need you to do is walk down the aisle and stand for pictures. Everything else is covered,” he assured me quickly. “And as for the dress, you can probably just fit into Caroline’s—that’s the girl who had to drop out. You’re both,” he sized me up in that way that told us girls that guys didn’t know a thing about clothes, “...petite.”
“Okay,” I laughed again. “Well I booked my ticket for tomorrow afternoon, but I can bump it up if you need me to. Now all we need to do is find you a groomsman.”
There is probably no greater evidence in the world that the gods hated me than the fact that Tom Larchwood chose that moment to stick his head through the door.
“Jenna, I need to talk to you about this—” He stopped short when he saw Jamie and me standing in the middle of the room. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
I glared with the force of a thousand suns, but Jamie shook his head with a grin. “Oh that’s fine, we were just finishing up. Jenna just decided to save my butt, and I’ll owe her forever.”
“Is that right?” Tom asked with a quirky smile. “And how did exactly did she do that?”
I would have given anything to stop what happened next. I saw it coming from a mile away, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out a way to keep it from happening.
Even as Tom asked the question, Jamie’s entire expression changed. He stared at his boss as if for the first time in his life, he was seeing him as something more than just a suit. He was seeing him a man who could wear a suit and stand for pictures. He was seeing him as his own personal, wedding savior.
“Well, I had a couple drop out last minute for the wedding party, so Stacy and I are one groomsman and one bridesmaid short. Jenna here just volunteered.”
Tom raised his eyebrows and looked at me in surprise. “Is that so?”
My face turned red, and I muttered, “I wouldn’t say ‘volunteered.’”
But there was no amount of open resistance that would stop these two men now. They were on a roll.
“Well, what about your groomsman?” Tom asked curiously. “Are you still one short?”
Jamie’s face lit up with hope against hope as he stared across the room. “Actually, yes I am. I don’t know if...”
Tom threw open his arms with a wide smile. “Well, I’d hate to step on anyone’s toes, but if you can’t find someone, I’d be happy to stand in for you.”
My eyes snapped shut, and I made a conscious effort not to throw up.
“That would be amazing!” Jamie exclaimed, flashing Tom possibly his first ever genuine smile. “Thank you, Mr. Larchwood, very much.”
“Please, Jamie, we’ve been working together for years now. Please call me Tom.”
“Tom,” Jamie repeated as they shook hands, “I really appreciate it.”
“It’s no problem.” Tom clapped him on the back as he slipped out of the room to tell Stacy the good news. “I’ll see you there tomorrow.”
Jamie flashed him a thumbs up and vanished down the hall while Tom shut the door and turned to me with a beaming smile.
“So...you need a ride to the airport?”