Chapter 28
Meri dashed through the cold raindrops to the restaurant where Mark was meeting her. She managed to dodge the biggest puddles, though her feet were already soaked through her strappy sandals. But she hardly noticed. All that mattered tonight was how she appeared in Mark’s eyes.
The restaurant he’d picked out was in one of San Francisco’s best boutique hotels. No pizza tonight.
Meri had gone all out, herself. She’d even colored over the hot-pink streak in her hair. It occurred to her that she’d been dressing differently lately. More grown-up. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d worn the tattered old jeans that used to be her favorites.
She breezed in the door and lowered her umbrella, only to be informed Mark hadn’t yet arrived. Still working, no doubt. The man was driven. She used to worry that he was slaving away just for the paycheck and a chance at promotion. Now that she knew all his efforts were out of devotion to the company his grandfather had founded, she fretted that Gloria would destroy it before Mark had a chance to take the helm.
Ducking into the ladies’ room to touch up her lip gloss, she counted the weeks since Mark had made love to her. Maybe he wasn’t attracted to her anymore. Don’t be silly. She was letting her imagination run away with her again. He was just preoccupied.
She looked in the mirror and smoothed her new Roland Mouret over her shape. Meri had never had the kind of curves Rainn Gonzales did. But she had skills. And tonight she was bound and determined to use them. To beguile Mark the best way she knew how.
She ordered some wine while she waited in the tiny, private dining room Mark had reserved. When he and her drink arrived at the same time, she stood to reciprocate his hug.
“I’m sorry, babe. The 101 was a nightmare, what with everyone going out to eat tonight, and I couldn’t leave work until I checked in with the boss.”
“No need to apologize. I just got here, myself. You’re all wet,” she said, returning his brief kiss, lovingly brushing off his excuses along with the raindrops on his suit jacket.
“Didn’t have time to grab my trench coat. You look incredible in red.”
“You noticed.” His words warmed her, but too soon, he released her and pulled out her chair.
“How were today’s sales?” she asked as he walked around the table to his own seat.
Through pursed lips, he blew out a deep breath. “Later. I need a drink—and a break from thinking about work. It’s Valentine’s Day.”
“I have a surprise. I finished the last piece in my collection.” She fairly trembled with pride as she drew the bracelet from the felt bag where it lay buried and presented it to him. In the flame of the candle in the center of the table, Mark turned it over and over.
“I switched it up at the last minute. Decided to incorporate the blue agates to complement the pink ones. I think it adds variety, don’t you?” She held her breath while she awaited his professional opinion.
Seconds ticked by.
“Meri, this is epic. I don’t know how you do it, changing things around once the line is already half fabricated, but it works. The repeated colors keep your attention moving around the piece.
“That reminds me. I’ve been so busy I haven’t had the chance to ask you if you’ve decided on a wholesale market.”
She hesitated, not sure how he would take the news. “I registered for the New York show in early March.” A month earlier than the show Mark had recommended.
In a flash, his eyes, now strangely dark, jetted to hers. She waited, discomfited, as he formulated a response. “It’s your call. I’m sure your work will be well-received, wherever you go.” He handed her back her bracelet. Apparently, the subject was closed.
The server appeared with Mark’s beer, and he shifted all his attention to minimizing the head on it as he poured it down the side of his pilsner glass.
Meri’s confidence withered. Mark’s words didn’t mesh with his actions. She studied her bracelet again. Was there something the matter with this piece? Some flaw in the design, the execution?
Deflated without quite knowing why, she slipped the gold circlet back into its bag and pulled tight the drawstring. Sometimes he seemed so distant. So much had happened since those few, fleeting days when they had talked for hours about retail strategy and design philosophy.
With the same deliberate consideration he’d given her bracelet and the pouring of the beer, Mark opened his leather-bound menu. “I researched this place. Thought it would appeal to you because it’s all about Franco-American cuisine. Their roasted chicken stuffed with black truffles was written up in Food & Wine.”
Mark never did anything on impulse, she realized. Everything was carefully considered. Rigorously thought out. The man didn’t even choose a hamburger joint without first looking up its reviews. And sometimes, when she thought he was remote, he was actually planning things out for her benefit. For the first time, it became clear to her how different they were. How profoundly her decision not to use her own name on her work must have affected him.
Even in their most heated moments, he never acted without considering the consequences. When she’d thrown herself at his feet the first time they’d made love, he’d called a time-out to make sure what he was about to do was okay. The memory of how he’d finally ripped off her panties in her atelier still made her heart flutter. Once Mark made a decision, he was fierce.
“Hmmm?” Meri hadn’t yet bothered to pick up her menu. Dreamy eyes fixated on his hands that still held the menu, she lowered her nose to the rim of her glass of Bordeaux. She rolled a sip around on her palate, looking for the characteristic soft mouthfeel, the puckery tang of black cherry, raspberry, and plum tempered with graphite and cedar, while beneath the tablecloth, she slipped off a sandal and slid her foot languidly along the inside of his leg.
Mark cleared his throat and turned a page. “Then again, the Atlantic cod with corn and quinoa hash looks good, too.”
With a sigh, she withdrew her foot and cracked open her own menu, though her appetite was only for him.
Despite claiming to be happy with his grass-fed beef, he never did seem to fully unwind. More than once, she caught him patting the breast pocket of his suit jacket . . . fidgeting with his shirtsleeves.
And then a lightbulb went off. They were dining in a hotel. Why hadn’t she thought of it before?
She excused herself, leaving her napkin to the side of her plate and picking up her bag from the floor by her chair.
But instead of the ladies’ room, she went to the lobby to utter a discreet request to the host. “I know it’s not likely, given that it’s Valentine’s Day, but would you happen to have any rooms available?”
“Yes, ma’am. One.”
“I’d like to book it. Please send Mr. Newman up in a few minutes.”
The host didn’t even blink. “Of course, Ms. St. Pierre.” He pretended not to notice when she did a double take.
Oh, who cared if he recognized her?
At first, Mark didn’t understand. Meri had gone upstairs? She wasn’t coming back?
“That’s correct, sir,” said the sober host who’d appeared at the table. “Robert, here, will be glad to show you the way.”
Wowza. Happy Valentine’s Day to me. He downed the remaining beer in his glass and rose. “Just tell me the room number. I’ll find it.”
“Sir?”
The server had returned with his strawberry coeur de la creme.
“Your dessert.”
He only paused a second. “My dessert is waiting for me upstairs.” The waiter allowed himself the merest of smiles with his nod as he deftly turned on his heel.
Mark took the stairs two at a time. He knocked and poked his head in the door.
It was like stepping back in time. The room was small but opulent, with layers of heavy fabrics and Art Deco touches. Like something out of the flapper era, all red satin and fringes. And in the center of the brass bed, atop a brown fur throw, lay Meri.
Mesmerized, he quietly closed the door, locked it, and leaned against it. Where’d her dress go? Now all she had on were her bracelets and a set of red lace underwear.
“Do I have your attention now?” she asked, with a soft smile.
Poor Meri. He’d gotten so caught up with work and planning that he’d failed to see what was right in front of him, these past weeks.
He peeled off his jacket, unable to take his eyes off her.
“Did you plan this?”
She didn’t bother answering. Just rose, slinky and sinuous as a mountain cat, to glide to him. He let himself be led by his tie to the foot of the bed, where she unknotted it, leaving it hang. Then she sat down and proceeded to unzip his pants.
He got it. He was such a moron, letting business blind him to her needs for so long. Hurriedly, he fumbled with his shirt buttons. Already his breath was ragged in anticipation.
“Lose these,” she ordered, with a nod toward his undone pants. Obediently, he hopped on one foot, then the other, kicking them off, leaving him standing in front of her in only his black socks and his starched, white shirt, opened to reveal his chest.
Meri reached for him from her perch on the edge of the bed. She spread her legs wide, bringing her hands around to press him in closer. Gave his stomach a sensual version of an Eskimo kiss that tickled and aroused, all at the same time. While she ran her cool hands down the backs of his thighs, he ducked his chin to stare at her crown, combing his hands through her long tangle of hair.
“Oh, Meri.”
She gazed straight up at him with a look that was school-girl innocent and call-girl dirty, all at the same time.
She dipped her head again, and at the touch of her hot mouth, his head fell back and his eyes screwed shut. “Oh, Meri.”
Deliciously satisfied, Meri stretched along the sliver of mattress not taken up by Mark.
He was sprawled out on his back, arms fallen out to his sides. He lolled his head to look at her. “You’re amazing.”
She snuggled up to him. “Stick with me, kid. I’ll teach you everything I know.”
They laughed. Inches from hers, his face grew serious.
“Interesting choice of words, because that’s just what I intend to do.” He gathered her work-worn fingers into a gentle grasp.
“Marry me.”
She couldn’t have been more surprised if he’d suggested they go BASE jumping in the dark.
He leapt from the bed and went to where he’d carefully laid his jacket across a chair. She raised herself up on an elbow and watched as he fumbled until he found its breast pocket.
Springing back to the mattress, he opened her palm and pressed into it something hard on the inside but soft on the outside.
He enfolded both his hands around hers, trapping the object inside.
“Do you still have the ingot I got you for Christmas?”
Puzzled, she nodded. “I was saving it for something special.”
“Here’s something that pairs well with gold.”
Their fingers unfurled like the petals of a flower, revealing a purple velvet bag.
“Open it.”
She pulled loose the drawstring and onto the satin sheet tumbled a pear-cut diamond, the likes of which she’d never seen except in pictures.
“Oh!” she gasped. “Where did you find such a fabulous stone?”
“I’ll tell you all about it. First say yes.”
With a spurt of energy, she bounced to her knees and flung her arms wide, in all her naked glory.
“Yes!” she shouted to the room. “Yes, I’ll marry you!”
She threw herself on top of him and the lovemaking started all over again.
Later, when the lights were finally out, with the soft sound of Mark’s breathing in her ear, the warmth of his body next to her, she marveled at her deep sense of peace. At last, she had someone to share all of life’s joys and sorrows with. Someone she could trust without reservation.
But just when she was nodding off, her old misgiving wormed its way between them again. Her eyes flew open in the dark.
What about the film? Panic made her pulse race. She couldn’t ignore it any longer, just hoping it would never come out. It wouldn’t be fair to Mark to learn of it after he’d already married her, when it was too late.
Just before they left their hotel room the next morning, Mark, in his rumpled suit, enfolded Meri, who was wearing the pants and sweater she’d tucked into her bag, in his arms.
“You never did tell me about Valentine’s Day sales. What’s the buzz?”
“We didn’t make plan.”
She frowned. “What exactly does that mean?”
“We didn’t reach our sales goal. Rainn Gonzales’s line bombed, like I knew it would. We would’ve done much better if we had gone with Gilty Artisanal Jewelry instead of those bones and fossils.”
Meri didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t sorry that Rainn’s line hadn’t lived up to Gloria’s expectations, but she felt bad about her role in Harrington’s overall performance. She’d never intended to let Mark down.
“So, now what?”
“There’s a nine-thirty board meeting to dissect Valentine’s sales. That’ll tell me what I need to do to tweak Rainn’s line going forward. She’s stopping by the flagship store this afternoon.”
As always, Meri all but broke out in a nervous tic every time Mark was going to be with Rainn. But she couldn’t let on. “Okay. I’m going to the studio from here to start preliminary sketches for the Olive Branch line. Don’t forget our celebratory dinner with my family.”
“I’ll see you at your place at seven.”
“I can’t believe you actually asked Papa’s blessing! That is the sweetest thing. . . .” She kissed the tip of his nose before they parted, each with his or her own myriad tasks to accomplish before they met again at the winery for dinner.