NINETEEN

 

 

“Yes!” she yelled as she dropped the phone into its cradle.

“We did it! We did it!” Jane sing-songed, dancing around her desk shaking her bootie.

“Is everything—”

She halted mid-shake and spun around. Her assistant stood stock-still and wide-eyed in the doorway staring.

Cheeks flushed, Jane straightened and cleared her throat, shoving down the skirt that had crawled up her thighs during her little jig.

“Yes, Tony?”

When her assistant didn’t respond but stood there gaping with his chin to his chest, Jane spoke again. “Are you trying to catch flies?”

Tony’s lips clamped shut and he blinked several times before he stood up straight and put words to thoughts. “Uh. No. S-sorry,” he stammered and ran a hand down his face as if to clear his vision. “Are you okay? I heard yelling.”

Jane tossed her head back and laughed. “Terrific. I’m fantastic! We’re fantastic! Never better.” She took a deep breath and attempted to calm her excitement. “We did it, Tony. We did it!” she exclaimed, lifting her arms above her head and giving a little twirl.

She stopped and dropped her arms to her sides when Tony chuckled. “Did what?”

“We got the Hollywood film company contract. Our organic cosmetics will be used on every actor and actress they hire for the next five years.”

Tony gave a high-pitched whistle then did the Marine Corps call. “Oorah.”

“So, we’re celebrating?”

“Celebrating. Yes! Let’s do it. Let’s have a party. A Hollywood party.”

“It’s almost Halloween. We could do a costume party.”

Jane crossed the carpeted floor of her office, clutched her assistant’s wide shoulders in her hands and planted a noisy kiss on each cheek. “Brilliant idea.” She stepped back and watched as the blush color his cheeks a bright pink. “You start making the list of preparations and I’m going to call on David, tell him the good news.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Tony spun on his spit-shined shoes and left her office.

On stocking feet, Jane rushed back to her desk, slid her feet back into the heels she had slipped off underneath the desk. From her bottom drawer, she snatched up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. On her way out she paused at the mini-fridge she stocked with water and soda and extricated a bottle of champagne she held in reserve for special occasions. The new contract, the biggest contract they had ever been awarded definitely qualified as a special occasion.

Sliding the bottle into her bag with a Sock Monkey embroidered on the sides, she grabbed two glasses and turned to stroll out when her phone buzzed.

“Amy on line one,” Tony announced through the intercom.

“Shoot.”

She heard Tony’s laughter through the speaker. “You want me to tell her you’re in a meeting?”

“No,” she whined as she set her purse on top of her desk. “Put her through, please.”

It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to talk with her best friend. She did. It was just that Amy had a tendency of putting a damper on her wins. It was as if Amy was jealous, which didn’t make any sense. The woman had everything. She didn’t even have to work for it.

When her phone buzzed again, Jane leaned her hip against the edge of her desk and picked up the phone. “Hi, Amy.”

“Hey! Do you have time for lunch today?”

“I’d love to, but I’m having champagne with David.”

“Oh.” Jane heard the disappointment in her friend’s voice.

“Champagne? What for?”

“We got the Hollywood film company contract.” She did a little arm pump.

“Congratulations. That is cause for celebrating, but with David? Come on. Let’s go have a girl’s liquid luncheon.”

Here she goes. “Yes, with David. He is my partner. We are going to celebrate. We’re going to do a big shindig of a costume party. I’ll tell you all about it as soon as I know the details.”

“Sounds fun. Can’t wait for the invitation,” her best friend mumbled the last part over the phone.

“Oh, come on. Don’t be like that. You and I can go out tonight for dinner and have our own party.”

“Okay,” Amy replied, her voice a little higher, happier sounding. “Then you can tell me all about your hottie from the other night.”

“Hottie?” Jane held the receiver away from her head, stared at it in confusion then pressed it against her ear again. “What are you talking about?”

“The hunk. The bar. You left with him the other evening.”

She felt her cheeks flush. “Uh. Let’s just say it didn’t exactly go off as planned.”

“What? How could that be? The dude was on fricking fire! And he wanted you in a big way.”

She gnawed her bottom lip. Amy was right. Cooper was definitely hot and he knew how to heat her up. But she didn’t need to tell her friend all the details. “Suffice it to say we got interrupted.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie. Just because she was the one who did the interrupting. She wasn’t ready to share with her friend about the night after that. As far as she was concerned, it was a one shot deal and it wouldn’t happen again. Ever. Except that it had. Twice.

“Does that mean you are back on the computer dating circuit again?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“We’ll talk about it tonight.”

“Great. Um, how about 6 o’clock at Fratello’s?”

“Perfect. See you there.”

Amy clicked off and Jane hung up the phone. “Time to go celebrate.”

The new contract that she had worked for almost six months on getting was more than enough reason for celebrating. Grabbing her bag from the desk, she snatched up two glasses, spun on her heels and strolled out of her office and toward Research and Development. Toward David’s domain.

When she reached David’s office, she slid through the doorway, leaned one shoulder against the frame and smiled. He had his face practically pressed against the computer monitor; a look of pure concentration creasing his brow.

“What’s up?” she asked with the hand that held the two glasses tucked behind her back.

David’s head popped up. He turned his attention from his computer, slid tortoise-shell glasses from the bridge of his nose onto the desk and beamed a wide grin at her from behind mahogany wood.

He looked so handsome and so right surrounded by mini terracotta pots filled with herbs and flowers. She loved him. Loved him in a way she would a father if she had had one.

“What’s up yourself? You look like the proverbial cat that caught the canary. Spill it.”

Her grin widened. Yes, she really loved David. For all his gray hair, subtle wrinkles at the corners of his blue eyes, and his infatuation for wearing coveralls, she loved him. Sometimes she even wished she could find a younger version of him. Someone who listened, talked, encouraged, and made her feel safe and loved and who would support her dreams and goals as if they were his.

That was what she was looking for…in all the wrong places.

Pushing away from the door, she extracted the bottle of champagne from her bag and waggled it and the two glasses at David as she sauntered into the room. “We are toasting my hard work, and our success.”

“You got the Hollywood contract!”

It wasn’t a question but an excited statement of fact. He had that much faith in her.

“We got the gig,” she bubbled just as David popped the cork and champagne bubbled over and into the two glasses she held in her hands.

After David set the bottle on his desk, he held his glass in the air. “A toast. A toast to a truly fantastic partner.” He gave her a wink and a crooked grin before continuing. “To much success at getting the Hollywood scene to go green.”

“To us. To Not-so-plain-Jane’s.”

They clinked glasses and chugged. The chugging became a ritual as part of their celebration toasts that she and David came up with when they received their very first contract. They’ve chugged a toast for every contract since, no matter how big or small. A win was a win.

David eyed her over the rim of his next glass of champagne and lifted one gray brow.

“What?” she asked and swiped at her nose. “Do I have something on my face?”

“Hmm.” He ran a hand across his chin. “You look like a woman who has been thoroughly kissed. You’re practically glowing.”

Heat flushed her cheeks when a crooked grin slid across David’s lips. She looked away from his knowing gaze and tried to think of a response.

“Sit.”

She set the glass on the desk then flopped down in one of David’s guest chairs.

“Talk.” David shut his office door. He set down in his own chair opposite her and refilled both their glasses.

She picked her glass up and swallowed liquid courage. Then gulped some more. Whew! Her head felt a little light. She shook it off and stiffened her spine.

“I had sex with Cooper,” she blurted.

David was mid-drink when he set his glass with great care onto his desk. He leaned back in his leather chair, clasped his fingers together across his stomach and stared at her.

Was it hot in his office? She was hot. She started fanning herself and tugging at the collar on her blouse.

“I see.”

He sees? What does he see? She had sex with Cooper. A cop. Not just any cop, the mother of all cops. The gosh-darn-frickin’ Chief of Police.

“More than once,” she divulged and downed the rest of her champagne. She hiccupped as she set the glass on the desk in front of David.

Oh-my-gosh! She said it. She said it out loud. She said it to David. David, who knew her, was her partner, her mentor and closest friend. The one person who knew and understood her entire background. The man who knew everything, including her fear of police and badges. The only person who knew her real name. She hiccupped again and slapped her fingers across her lips.

Last night he picked her up, carried her upstairs to her bedroom, and tucked her underneath covers in the aftermath of their lovemaking. The sweet gesture made her want him to stay even more, but he didn’t. True to his word, he left her before the sun rose.

She slumped forward, laid her arm across David’s desk and used it as a pillow for her head. “Oh, David, what am I going to do?”

His deep rumble of laughter made Jane look up and squint. “What are you laughing at?”

“You. You had sex with a man. What’s the big deal?”

She narrowed her blurry eyes even more. “You know damn well what the matter is. He’s a cop.” Jane sat up straight and slammed a fist against her hip.

David’s wide shoulders lifted and fell in a shrug. “And you like him,” he pronounced with a face-splitting grin. “I like him. He seems like a decent enough guy.”

“For a cop,” she growled with disdain.

“We’ve had this conversation before. Not all cops are bad guys, Jane. Some of them, I bet most of them, are actually good guys. You’re a pretty good judge of character, go with your gut. What does your gut tell you?”

Jane clutched at her stomach. “My gut says he is a cop and to back away.”

She already tried backing away but it didn’t work. He just kept turning up like a bad penny. What the hell was wrong with her? It was as if all her willpower had vanished. It wasn’t like he was the only man on the face of the earth. She had dated plenty of men. Plenty of losers, she corrected. But he was a policeman.

“Oh!” She slapped a hand to her forehead and wiped it down her face. “I almost slipped up and told him about my mother.”

David sat forward, set his glass down on the desk. “What?”

“Cooper asked me about my mother. I almost said someone had killed her. I caught myself at the last second.” She gnawed her lower lip then sighed. “I did mention that she was in computer forensics.” She covered her face with both her hands, let them slide down and drop to her lap. “Why would I do that? I mean I never tell anyone anything about my past.”

David cleared his throat.

She glanced up and smiled a crooked quirk of the lips. “Except you.”

“Maybe your gut really isn’t saying to run away. Perhaps it is saying to trust him.”

She shook her head with adamancy. “No way, no how.” She sucked in her lower lip and bit down. Did she trust him? How could she? She barely knew Cooper Chance. It wasn’t like he had been an open book last night. In fact, he barely told her anything about his day and hadn’t shared anything about his past.

On a long exhale, she sat back in the chair. Then again, she hadn’t asked any questions about him. Nothing personal, nothing about his past. Why hadn’t she asked anything beyond his day?

She knew why. Because she lived in the here and now. She had no past beyond becoming Jane C. East and she had to keep it that way. If she didn’t…well, she refused to think about it. She had buried her past, buried Cleopatra Jane West, buried Jane C. Smith, and she meant to keep them buried.

With a shake of her head, Jane pulled herself out of her past and into the present. “Change of subject.” She slapped a hand on David’s desk. “We are celebrating our largest and best yet contract with a party.”

David groaned.

“Oh, hush. You will love it. We’re going to host a Hollywood costume party.”

“Costume party,” he whined. “Why a costume?”

“Because Halloween is just around the corner and the timing is perfect with our celebration, not to mention a certain someone’s birthday.”

“Oh no. We are not celebrating another candle on the cake for this man. I’m too old. The place will burn down if we do that.”

She chuckled and reached out to clasp her hand over his. “You are not old.”

He arched one gray brow.

Releasing his hand, she rose and went around his desk. She wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders then planted a loud, smacking kiss on his cheek. “Okay, you’re older, but you are not old. I love you. Everyone loves you. We want to celebrate you, Halloween, and this contract. Please,” she begged and laid her head on his shoulder.

David patted her hand, lifted it and kissed the top. “Fine. You know how to get your way. We’ll have a costume party.”

She stepped back and beamed at him. “Thank you.”

“Get out of here. I’ve got work to do.”

Knowing when to retreat she picked up her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and spun on her heels to leave. “I was thinking about taking a drive out to our pilot boutique and see how things are going.”

“Great idea,” he said. “Check on the lavender shampoo. See how that is selling for me.”

She gave a two-finger salute and kept walking.

“Oh! I better get one heck of a good present if I have to go to a party,” David hollered behind her.

At the door, she paused and glanced back at him. “You just wait and see.” She winked, opened the door and left to go back to her realm in the business.