Fool for Love: Fooling Around\Nobody's Fool\Fools Rush In (13 page)

T
WO DAYS LATER
,
Kate squinted at the computer screen, trying to make sense of what she was reading.

She glanced at the sender's address—FoolforYou, with an e-mail extension of letters and numbers that gave no hint of the source. She supposed in case she didn't reply, the man didn't want to be identified. If he hadn't used her first name and referenced the toy company, she might have thought the note was spam.

Doubt and pleasure warred in her chest—whether a woman was thirteen or over thirty, the idea of having a secret admirer probably never lost its appeal. She indulged the fantasy for a few seconds, frowning when the impossibility of the note originating from a certain dark-eyed, dimpled salesman flitted through her mind. Then realization dawned—of course: Neil Powers. The man was a computer whiz and Lesley had told her that he had a crush on her—what better way to break the ice than via e-mail?

She thought of Neil's sandy-haired, boyish good looks and conceded that his friendly smile held more appeal than her dolls and her cat and her paperwork. She couldn't put her finger on exactly when it had happened, but lately she had begun to long for…more. Male companionship, yes, but something more intangible—like the loving way Lesley and Hank looked at each other over their children's heads, or touched hands when they passed in the kitchen. It was as if one picked up where the other one left off, and even though they were both interesting, intellectual individuals in their own right, to think of them apart was almost inconceivable.

That's what she wanted—unity. Harmony. A strong physical attraction, of course, but also a foundation of caring that would stand when the attraction cooled. When Hank looked at Lesley, there was a certainty in his expression that he would endure torture before he would allow something bad to happen to her, or do something to cause her shame, like have an affair. Kate knew it was that cloak of love that made Lesley in turn devoted to Hank and to her children.

Kate looked back to the computer screen and acknowledged there was something very sweet and ingenuous about a secret admirer. Here was a man who was truly interested in getting to know a woman first, rather than asking a few rote questions in prelude to his conquest, as Eric McDaniels had.

A knock sounded on her office door and she looked up to see the man himself, as if her thoughts had conjured up his presence. He smiled widely, and she was unprepared for her physical reaction to his obvious good cheer. Eric was breathtakingly handsome and seeing him standing there, his shoulders spanning the doorway, charisma emanating from him, it was easy to see why he enjoyed such success as a salesman—men wanted to be him, women wanted to be
with
him. He was irresistible.

Almost.

She blinked and tried to rein in her wayward thoughts. “Yes?'

He strode casually into her office, taking in the view of the Birmingham skyline with his mouth pursed. “Nice.”

“Thank you,” she said in a neutral tone, noticing that the roomy office seemed to shrink from the sheer volume of him. “Eric, did you need something?”

He walked closer to her desk and she lurched forward to block the message on her computer screen—he'd be the last person she'd want to see the anonymous note. His gaze flicked in the direction of the screen, then back. “I was going to suggest that we get an early start, maybe have lunch before we hit the road, but it looks like you're busy.”

“Just answering e-mail,” she said with a little
wave. “Lunch sounds fine. Give me about ten minutes, and I'll meet you in the lobby.”

His gaze wandered back in the direction of her screen and she leaned farther, fighting the impulse to turn around and hit a screen saver button to hide the message. That would look too…
guilty,
she thought guiltily. “Okay?” Her voice sounded high and brittle.

Eric looked back to her and shrugged. “Okay. See you in ten.”

She remained frozen in her unnatural position until he cleared the doorway, then heaved a sigh of relief and turned back to her screen. She hesitated, then hit the reply button and quickly typed:

Then before she could change her mind, she clicked the send button, and exhaled. At least she'd put the ball back in his court. She imagined Neil sitting at his computer, waiting for a reply to pop up in his in-box. A smile would play over his serious mouth, and for a few moments, he too would be caught up in the excitement of the anonymous flirting.

Kate smiled herself, absurdly grateful for the distraction before going on the road with Eric. Still, her heart thudded in her ears now that the moment of
departure was near. She tabbed through the rest of her messages, deleting a few, forwarding a couple to Patsy for administrative follow-up, and saving most to file for future reference. Then she packed up her laptop, retrieved her weighty briefcase, and wheeled her suitcase through the doorway of her office, closing the door behind her.

Eric sat on the corner of Patsy's desk, trying to coax a smile from the older woman, who, from her body language, was having none of it. Kate bit back a smile because her assistant was the only woman she'd ever seen who was immune to the man's considerable appeal.

“And kindly remove yourself from the corner of my desk,” Patsy was saying sternly, and Kate felt sure if the woman had had a ruler, she would have rapped his big knuckles.

Eric unfolded himself lazily, then looked at Kate and grinned. “She loves me.”

Kate shook her head. “I don't think the McDaniels charm works around here.”

He raked his gaze over her pale blue pantsuit, then made a clicking noise with his cheek. “Yet.”

A warm thrill skittered over her shoulders, though she outwardly ignored him.

Patsy huffed and turned to Kate. “You're leaving early?”

Kate nodded, then extended a sheet of paper. “Here's our itinerary. If everything goes as planned, we'll be driving to Atlanta today, then on to Jacksonville, Florida, tomorrow for an electronics show on the weekend, then to Pensacola Monday to meet
with Lexan Tuesday, and make our way back to Birmingham Wednesday.”

Patsy glanced at the sheet. “Are your hotels listed?” she asked suspiciously, as if she might call and make sure that Eric had secured separate rooms.

“Yes,” Kate said evenly, her defenses rising, although she knew her secretary meant well. What Patsy couldn't know was that her anxiety about their road trip was pushing Kate's anxiety higher as well. She just wanted to get going—the sooner they got on the road, the sooner they'd return, on firmer ground she hoped. “Patsy, I appreciate you holding down the fort while I'm gone. Call me on my cell phone if you need to. Oh, and I'll be checking e-mail often.”

Patsy looked up. “Since when?”

Heat suffused Kate's cheeks guiltily when she thought about her secret admirer. Would he reply? “Since now,” she said lightly. “Goodbye.”

Patsy glanced at Eric, then back, and gave a curt nod. “Good luck.”

Kate had the feeling Patsy wasn't referring to the Lexan Electronics account.

“I'll take your suitcase,” Eric said, reaching for the handle.

“No, thank you,” Kate said, stepping past him and walking down the hallway. On this trip she would have to seize every opportunity to exert her authority. “Let's get going.”

Eric watched her walk away from him, the flare of her hips accentuated perfectly by the pale-colored slacks that fit snugly in the rear, then gave way to full, draping trouser legs. Nice.

He smiled to himself, wondering if Kate's earlier preoccupation with her e-mail had anything to do with the note Winston was supposed to send today. She had certainly seemed jumpy when he was in her office, as if she was trying to prevent him from seeing something on her computer screen. Had she succumbed so quickly to the idea of having a secret admirer? It would seem so, else wouldn't she simply have deleted the message and been done with it? And even her secretary had found it odd that she would be checking her e-mail often. Was Kate hoping for another note from her mystery man? He and Winston hadn't discussed the frequency of notes, just that he would respond as often as she did, using the basic wording that Eric had written on a cocktail napkin.

Eric's smile deepened. This trip might prove to be more interesting than he'd anticipated. He was going to enjoy watching Kate squirm while she decided whether or not she wanted to strike up a virtual romance with a virtual stranger.

When she stopped and bent over to adjust a strap on her suitcase, causing the fabric of her slacks to tighten across her rear, his groin tightened involuntarily. Ah, hell, who was he kidding? He was going to enjoy watching Kate, period.

At the sound of a deliberate throat-clearing, he turned his head to find Kate's secretary staring at him pointedly. He grinned and saluted, then strode after his fiery, unflappable boss.

Well…unflappable for
now,
anyway.

“T
HERE'S A SECRET
to direct sales,” Eric said loudly over the rushing wind, gesturing with one hand. He was sprawled in the camel-colored leather driver's seat of his black convertible Porsche Targa, and Kate was holding on to her hair to keep it from flying off her head.

She glanced at the instrument panel, lifted one eyebrow, and shouted, “Driving twenty miles an hour over the speed limit?”

He grinned, his closely cropped hair barely lifting in the wind. “That's number two. Number one is establishing a long-term relationship.”

She nodded, thinking how ironic it was to hear that from a man who seemed resistant to the idea of having a long-term relationship in his personal life. She was also thinking she might have taken notes if not for the fact that they were zooming down the road at eighty miles an hour, topless.

“Don't you think it's a little cool to have the top down?” Kate yelled, shivering in her coat, wishing she'd brought her gloves. They were barely an hour
down the interstate toward Atlanta, and she was already feeling high maintenance.

“The temperature is perfect,” Eric shouted. He was minus a jacket and seemed comfortable, his tie flapping happily past his left shoulder. “Just this side of brisk—it's good for the skin.”

“But not the hair,” Kate muttered, spitting out a hank of it and skimming her medusa locks into a hand-held ponytail. She longed for sunglasses to shield her stinging eyes. She should've known Eric McDaniels wouldn't drive a typical salesman's car—a sedan or a van or an SUV. What was it he'd said?
I don't do things small.
It followed, of course, that even his car had to make a statement—fast, sleek, sexy.

It suited him, the cad.

She studied the steel-gray sky, hanging low enough to touch. “It looks like rain,” she shouted.

“Naw,” he said with a dismissive wave. “It'll blow over—you'll see.”

She saw all right—she was looking straight up when the first big drop of rain hit her in the eye. Within seconds, they were being pelted with a cold spring downpour. Eric pumped the brake, flipped on his turn signal, and eased to the right shoulder of the road. Kate held her arms over her head to make an ineffective hat. She groaned as icy water dripped under her collar and down between her shoulder blades.

He brought the car to a sliding halt, flipped on the hazard lights, yanked up the lever for the parking brake, then hit a button that brought the rag top up and over them like a clam shell closing.

Eric locked down the top with a handle on his side,
then reached across Kate to pull another handle into place. She flattened herself against her seat, but could not completely escape the brush of his wet shoulder as he worked with the lever. The simple movement brought the musk of his cologne to her nostrils and hinted at the power of his body. Kate swallowed hard against her physical response to his nearness, telling herself it was sheer biology. She closed her eyes briefly to suppress the anger and frustration that he could still affect her, and that she had even agreed to accompany him on this trip in the first place.

The lever he turned in front of her sealed the car with a vacuum that pulled at her ears. Eric sat back in his seat and grinned like a boy who'd been caught in a rainstorm while riding his bike. Indeed, with water dripping from his hair and nose, he looked every inch the mischievous imp. Her anger spiked, and her expression must have said so.

“What?” he asked.

“Look at me,” she said, holding her arms down so the water could drip off. “Why didn't you just put up the top as I asked?”

He had the nerve to shrug. “Because I didn't think it would rain.”

She gestured violently. “All you had to do was look up!”

“I'm sorry, all right?”

She glared at him. “If I didn't know better, Eric, I might think you were trying to make me look foolish.” She raked her dripping hair back from her face. Her mascara, she knew, was sliding down her face with the rest of her makeup. Her slacks were water-marked and probably ruined.

“How do you think I feel?” he asked irritably. “It'll take days for the interior of the car to dry out.”

She shot him an evil look and shook her arms in a futile attempt to shed more water.

He sighed, then said, “Kate, I
am
sorry about getting you wet.” He stopped and his words seemed to echo around them in innuendo, resurrecting old memories. Her chest tightened, and she averted her gaze, wanting to scream. The tiny car was suddenly confining and steamy and way too intimate with the two of them huddled inside while the rain outside beat down on the roof and windshield.

“Look,” Eric said, “I think I'll wait until this lets up some before I pull back out on the highway. So…maybe this would be a good time to clear the air.”

Kate glanced back, struck anew by how handsome Eric was, his steel-blue eyes rimmed with thick lashes, his nose strong and shot with character, his chin square but ready to yield to a smile. “Clear the air about what?” she asked suspiciously.

“About that night in Vegas.”

“I don't want to talk about it,” she said quickly, and shifted in her seat a fraction of an inch closer to the door, away from him.

“I know you don't want to, but don't you think we should?”

“There's nothing to say,” she declared, “except that I'm sure we're both able to put our mistakes behind us.”

He pursed his mouth slightly, but she couldn't read his expression.

“In other words, Eric, I have no intention of al
lowing what happened between us years ago to affect our working relationship now, and I hope you feel the same.”

He spread his hands. “I do. I thought I was doing you a favor by offering to teach you the ropes.”

She lifted her chin. “Fine. As long as this isn't some kind of ploy for us to be alone.” There…she'd said it. Voiced the thought—fantasy?—burrowed in the recesses of her mind. She held her breath in the warm, steamy cocoon.

His jaw hardened a split second before humor returned to his eyes. “Don't worry, Kate—I have no intention of trying to seduce you.”

Her lungs squeezed, forcing her to exhale. “Good,” she said evenly. “Because I have no intention of being seduced.”

He nodded good-naturedly, then grinned. “In sales, we call this a meeting of the minds.”

Grateful for the lighter mood, Kate tried to relax and finally managed a conciliatory smile. “If I weren't waterlogged, I'd write that down.”

He snapped his fingers. “I almost forgot—I put a thermal blanket under the seat for, um, emergencies.”

She caught his gaffe—right. Ten dollars said the thermal blanket was for emergency
trysts,
but at this point, she didn't care.

He leaned sideways and reached under Kate's seat. Unfortunately, the movement placed his head down by her knee, conjuring up too many intimate situations for her comfort. She inched away, but he moved into the extra space, grunting in his effort, his arm brushing her leg while he groped around the
floor. Through her clothing, her skin burned every time he touched her. Instead of clearing the air, their conversation about their past seemed to have keened her senses.

“Eric,” she said, gritting her teeth, “I'll get it.”

“Found it,” he said, then straightened, dragging a blue cotton blanket with him. He handed it to Kate. “Maybe this will help absorb some of the water until we can make it to the rest area a few miles ahead.”

She took the blanket and their fingers touched, sending bolts of awareness up her arm. He felt it, too, she could tell by the momentary slip of his trademark grin. She practically snatched the blanket out of his hands, then set about soaking up as much water from the surface of her clothing, hair and skin as possible. Eric turned on the air conditioner and while the blast of cold air sent her into a spasm of chills, it was better than the steamy heat that had developed in the interior of the car.

She flipped down the visor and braved the mirror, groaning at the creases in her makeup and the dots and dashes of mascara on her cheeks. “I don't think I'm going to make a very good impression on our first customer.”

Eric scoffed. “You look great.”

Unbidden pleasure shot through her, but she pivoted her head and gave him a warning look.

He raised his big shoulders in a shrug and loosened his water-spotted tie. “I mean you look…fine. We'll be calling on a mega toy store in the Atlanta suburbs—it'll be pretty casual.”

She looked back to the mirror, satisfied that Eric seemed prepared to behave himself. But she was hor
rified to see something foreign in her eyes…a spark that hadn't been there this morning. Kate lifted the end of the blanket and blotted, choosing to attribute the new light to her secret admirer and not to…anyone else.

From the corner of his eye, Eric watched his boss repair her makeup as best as possible under the circumstances. As if she needed it. He bit down on the inside of his cheek to keep from staring outright. Kate Randall had remained his favorite fantasy, but his mind had failed to retain the potency of her beauty. He'd forgotten how truly extraordinary her coloring was, and the way her bottle-green eyes leapt with fire when she was angry—or aroused.

He shifted in his seat, wondering why he'd pushed her into discussing their one-night stand. It was history. Ancient history. Since that time, many women had come and gone in his life. And Kate? His eyes ached from straining not to look at her. Had men come and gone in her life, or were the rumors true—that she was a workaholic, more bent on climbing the corporate ladder than on climbing into anyone's bed?

“Earth to Eric.”

He started and turned his head. “Huh?”

Kate gave him an odd look and extended the blanket. “I said the rain has stopped.”

He looked around—she was right. A chill had settled over his wet arms and face. He took the blanket, remembering when he'd put it under the seat he'd had other plans for sharing it with a beautiful woman. Now he'd never be able to look at the blanket without thinking about Kate. He remembered her words,
Good. Because I have no intention of being seduced.
If he were a less experienced man, her aversion to him might make him think that their night together had been less than satisfying. But he'd been there, and she had been satisfied. Three times, damn it. So what had made her decide that he was too inferior to become involved with?

And perhaps more significantly, why did he care?

Shaking off his uncharacteristically foul mood, Eric managed a laugh. “This isn't the most promising start to our trip, but it gives you an idea of what life on the road is like.” He stuffed the damp blanket under his seat, then fastened his seat belt and waited for Kate to do the same.

“How much are you on the road?” she asked.

“About two weeks a month, rotating my territories. I typically drive this route, especially when the weather is nice. This will be a light week leading up to meeting with Lexan. Mostly, I'll be visiting flagship stores for goodwill and to get some advance copies of our products into the market. And there's the electronics show on Saturday.”

She turned in her seat to face him. “Eric, I don't believe I ever told you how much I appreciate that you didn't jump ship to Mixxo, because I'm sure they made you an offer.”

Her expression was so genuine that a guilty pang struck behind his breast bone. What would she think of him once she learned that he
had
jumped ship? But there was too much at stake for him to grow a conscience now, so he tried to make light of her comment. “No, you never told me.”

“Do you think you'll always be in sales?”

He shifted uncomfortably. His plan was to close the deal with Lexan before the end of the quarter to qualify for a bonus. Then in a few months, he'd be back at Lexan Electronics pushing the line of Mixxo products—that was the crazy, competitive, and lucrative world of sales. “I can't imagine being anything but a salesman.”

“I'm looking forward to seeing you in action,” she said, her tone slightly mocking. “John told me that you give quite a performance.”

Eric turned on the left-turn signal and waited for an opening in the traffic before merging. “I have my own bag of tricks.”

Kate looked at her watch.

“What, are you bored already?” he asked.

“Hmm? No, I was trying to figure out what time we'd arrive at the hotel this evening.”

Despite his previous denial of plans to seduce her, his pulse spiked at the thought of being alone with Kate in a building full of beds. “Are you in a hurry to experience bland food and be overcharged for parking?”

“Actually, I was wondering when I might be able to check my e-mail.”

Satisfaction curled in his stomach, but he forced himself to sound offhand. “Expecting an urgent memo?”

Kate studied her manicure, her expression detached. “Something like that.”

Eric's good humor returned full force, and he shifted the car into a higher gear. “Don't worry—we'll be at the hotel in plenty of time for you to check your e-mail.”