Jinxed (6 page)

“Would you care for menus, Mr. Sullivan?” The crisp-looking waiter seemed to find nothing odd about their dramatic entrance and behaved as professionally as if they were dripping with diamonds rather than melting snow.

“No, I don’t think so. Just bring the dessert cart and a bottle of champagne. Do you want anything else, Frannie?”

“A gun. Or a noose. Even poison darts.”

“Coffee will have to do.” With a wave, Jinx dismissed the stoic waiter and turned to her, a satisfied look on his face.

Thawing on the outside from the heat and on the inside from the mouth-watering aromas, Frannie shed her thin coat before she crossed her arms and shot daggers at him with her eyes. “Well, they certainly know you around here. Bring all your girlfriends in here caveman style, do you?”

“Jealous?” he teased, leaning closer to her.

“Of course not. Mortified is more like it. Jinx, no one waltzes into a restaurant like this in street clothes, carrying a woman on his shoulder and orders champagne.”

“I just did.”

“Yeah, well, lunatics don’t count.”

The single candle bathed the snowy white tablecloth in a soft glow. Frannie watched Jinx as he excused himself to answer his vibrating cell phone. Since he stayed seated in the horseshoe booth, it was hard not to eavesdrop. It sounded like he was talking to his mother.

What kind of man interrupts dinner, or whatever this dessert treat is supposed to be, to talk to his Mom?
He was making travel plans for the upcoming holidays. Who would sleep where, who was bringing what, yes he had enough towels for everyone, things of that nature. Frannie smiled. A family man. A wrinkle of concern blossomed in her soul. That didn’t mesh with the playboy image.

Her fork traced through chocolate glaze. When little girls dreamed of a knight in shining armor, he was the type of man they dreamed of—handsome, confident, smart and attentive. Longing rose in her chest before she stamped it down with firm sensible shoes. No, she was not going to fall for this. He was too good to be true and, ergo, she wasn’t good enough for him. That lesson she learned a long time ago. She should have gotten the message in high school.

Tommy Meyers was the school quarterback and captain of the basketball team. He was tall, blond and adorable. He made her heart flutter every time he walked by. With a locker right beside hers, she had plenty of heart-fluttering occasions. Countless ink pens gave their lives as she doodled his name in her notebooks.

Then he was assigned to be her lab partner. She took it as a sign from the heavens they were meant to be. So she flirted and smiled and generally made a spectacle of herself. He called her…for lab notes. And he asked the head cheerleader out. And told Frannie about their date.

Crash. Burn. Cry.

No, the painful lesson wasn’t enough. She refused to take off those rose-colored glasses. Instead, she met Mark. And married him. And divorced him. If Tommy Meyers had broken her young heart, Mark had shattered it into dust.

Once again firmly planted in the here and now, Frannie sipped her champagne and fortified her resolve. Mark had been a hard-learned lesson, but she had learned it well. She knew what she was and no crazy lunatic was going to make her forget it. No matter how much he turned her heart to mush.

“Tell me you didn’t enjoy it.”

“I didn’t, you kook.”

“Liar.” His gentle accusation made her smile in the darkness. “You nearly melted at the first bite.”

Conceding slightly, Frannie turned and watched the play of dashboard lights over his chiseled face. He was trying so hard to be considerate. It touched her heart in an odd warming way. “Okay, the chocolate pumpkin soufflé was incredible. But did you stop to think maybe I haven’t eaten dinner yet? All that rich sugary goodness is going to keep me up tonight.”

“You said you already ate.”

“I lied. I was trying to get rid of you.”

Jinx shook his head in amused affection and aimed his SUV towards the Golden Arches. Frannie laughed at his destination but the laugh was kind.

“You are crazy, know that?”

“Satisfied?” Jinx murmured as he toyed with a bit of her hair. The remnants of their slightly quirky fast food feast lay scattered around the living room floor. Hocus nibbled on a chicken nugget Frannie had thrown him to stop his hissing. Pocus lay curled up in Jinx’s jacket, emitting soft feline snores.

“Mmmhhmm.” Sitting up straight, Frannie arched her back and stretched. If she wasn’t careful, she would just curl up right here and go to sleep. “I need to go to bed. I have to work tomorrow.”

Jinx eased her back against his side and nuzzled her temple. “Call off. You’re tired and I’m much more interesting than umpteen columns of numbers.”

“And much more conceited, too. And while that may work for your boss, it won’t work for mine. Where do you work, anyway? I have no idea what you do for a living.”

Jinx was slow to reply because his mouth was tracing a lazy pattern across her brow, intent on reaching her mouth after exploring every line and curve of her face. Not protesting, she tilted her neck so he could reach that sweet spot above her left ear. She was getting used to this physical contact with him. It thrilled and soothed her at the same time. She felt comfortable with him, able to relax and be herself. Most likely because she knew he would be gone before too long and felt no pressure to try to hold him. She was just herself, no best foot forward, no hiding the imperfections. Just plain old Frannie Sullivan.

Once he stopped mistaking lust for love, he would hightail it away and she’d have some great memories of a dream come true. Even if the dream was based in craziness and mistaken emotions, the memories would be something to look back on when she was old and gray. She could say that once upon a time, one of the beautiful people had loved her.

His sultry voice warmed her cheek, pulling her from her musings.

“I work for myself. I own some real estate but mainly I’m trying to get Buddies’ Toys off the ground.”

Frannie’s eyes snapped open and her jaw dropped. Buddies’ Toys was the newest buzz word in the parenting world. A step back from the battery-operated, flashing-singing-dancing toys of today, the line of classic, simple, timeless toys had charmed the wallets right out of people’s pockets. The stock for the company had recently gone through the proverbial roof. Several business magazines called the founder the Midas Man but she had never paid attention to his name. Frannie herself had three of their toys in the dining room, waiting to be wrapped in Christmas paper for Steve’s nephews.

“Close your mouth, Ms. Sullivan, I know who I am.”

Frannie studied him with new interest. She’d never thought he was an airhead, but to be the founder and owner of a company like that stunned her.
Maybe you have to be crazy to make a fortune
. “I’m glad you know because I have no clue who you are.”

“I’m the man who loves you.”

So simple, so heartfelt, his words tugged at her heart, filling her chest with longing. “Why, Jinx? Why do you think you love me?”

Searching his onyx eyes for some glimmer of reason, she melted into the golden flecks there. Tenderness and something nameless danced behind those piercing orbs and a shudder started at the base of her spine.

A lazy smile lifted the corners of his mouth as he pressed his forehead to hers. “I don’t think it. I know it. I told you, from the minute I laid eyes on you, something struck me in my gut.”

“Airsickness?”

“Nope.”

“Food poisoning?”

“Nope.”

“My perfume?”

“Nope. Love. Cupid pulled back his bow and sank one straight into my heart.”

“Remind me to sue the little diapered freak.” She stood and ran her palms across her tired face. “Go home, Jinx. It’s nearly midnight and I need to go to bed.”

“So let’s go.” His lazy smiled turned wicked as he arched that damnable left brow and ran a large hand up her thigh.

Slapping his hand away, she frowned at him. “Stop that! I’m so tired I can’t see straight and you want to fool around? Just like a man, always thinking with the wrong head.”

With a snort, Jinx pulled her down and cradled her on his lap. It required too much effort to keep her spine stiff so she leaned back into his embrace and let him tuck her head under his chin. He felt so good she couldn’t help but snuggle just a bit.

“Okay, I’ll back off. It’s not easy, you know. You make me think about things that would shock my mother. Watching you lick chocolate off the fork tonight was damn near torture.”

“It’s just sex,” Frannie hedged, even though she knew she was wrong.

He shook his head, wiggling her bangs against her forehead. “No, sex feels good. Together, we feel incredible.”

“But sex is only part of a relationship.” She twisted her head to look at him and he leaned her back. They ended up half-lying on her sofa, her legs over his hips in a very suggestive pose. A knot jammed her throat and she struggled for words. “We’re not—”

“We’re the same, have the same chemistry, if you’d admit it to yourself.” Resting his head against his hand, he stared down into her eyes. Honesty painted his face, smoothing his brow and softening the curve of his lower lip. His dark and inviting gaze kindled a warm fire in her belly. With a deep swallow, she knew his heart was open even if his head was screwed up.

“You do something to me, Frannie, something I never felt before. I want to right every wrong in the world just to see you smile. I want hear you laugh and know that I made it happen. I want to be there when you cry so I can kiss the tears away. I want it all. I want it all with you.”

Breath stuck in her lungs and when he threaded his fingers with hers, she didn’t think to pull away.

“Even if our luggage hadn’t gotten mixed up, I’d have found you, Frannie Sullivan. I need you in my life. In forty years, I want to look across the dinner table with a dozen grandchildren under our feet and know you still make me feel immortal. Maybe a thousand lifetimes have passed and in each one we found each other. You’re my destiny.”

Frannie lay speechless, her mouth open in wonder.
I am asleep already. I fell asleep and this is a beautiful dream
. Hallmark needed to camp outside her door and record his words because they were more touching than any card she’d ever read.

She swallowed the knot of tenderness and tried to speak but found her words stolen by the stunning simplicity of his declaration. Slowly, tenderly, she raised her hand and stroked his tanned cheek, the hint of whiskers prickling her fingers.

Pressing a hard warm kiss to her palm, he closed his eyes and breathed in her scent as if he was trying to cement her into his memory. They stayed like that for an eternity.

Lips pressed against her hand, Jinx squeezed his eyes closed and let her scent seep into his soul. He had to literally bite his tongue to keep a proposal from slipping out. When he saw something he wanted, he went for it balls to the wall and he wanted Frannie forever. Tonight he’d convinced her to try to believe what was happening between them but she still held back. The resistance in her heart was like a brick wall. Rather than come at her like a wrecking ball, he had to find a way to chip at the mortar and take that wall down brick by brick, slowly and easily so she didn’t spook and bolt like a filly. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done.

But he would do it. For her. Second chances didn’t come often and he wasn’t about to let this one get away from him. When he did finally propose again, she would say
yes
. She had to. Fate couldn’t be so twisted it would let him get this close to happiness twice in his life and then deny him the final bliss. Could it?

Chapter Three

“You don’t love a woman because she is beautiful,

she is beautiful because you love her.”

—Anonymous

“He sounds like a stalker.”

Tracey stirred her mocha half-soy, half-skim, light-foam latte with sprinkles. The froufrou drink sent a sickening-sweet scent into the air. With her short punky hair and nose ring, the office manager was Frannie’s polar opposite but the friendship was genuine. Being the only two women in the finance department created a bond that bypassed appearances. The bright shock of spiky neon orange hair had caused a stir when Tracey started at McGee, Thompson and Fitch, but she was an organizational whiz. Her skill made it easy to overlook her flamboyant and boisterous personality. When she came for her initial interview, the phones were ringing non-stop. Tracey walked in, sat down and started directing calls to the proper offices. Three other interviewees got up and walked out, assuming she had been hired. She’d been running the office from that minute forward.

Frannie pried the plastic lid off her own plain French Roast before replying. “He’s not a stalker. He
is
nuts, but in a harmless way.”

Tracey snorted. “Harmless as in total loser or harmless as in ‘Gee, Officer, he seemed like a nice normal neighbor until he hacked up those fourteen women’?”

Frannie paused with the Styrofoam cup halfway to her lips. “Harmless as in just kind of confused. He thinks he loves me. Once his infatuation wears off, he’ll get over it and move on. This man is smokin’ hot. I’m talking downright pulse-pounding yumminess. No way will he stick around for long. He’s one of the A-list, you know? And not only is he good-looking, he owns Buddies’ Toys. Totally out of my league.”

Understanding, Tracey nodded while licking the foam off her fingers. Several times the two had discussed how normal women never got the Adonises of the world. Frannie welcomed these little girly gab sessions tucked into a busy workday. Today, there’d been no time for a formal lunch break so they shared coffees and gossip at Tracey’s desk.

“So lemme get this straight. He’s good-looking, rich, charming and he’s infatuated with you? You so gotta nail that bad boy before he gets away.”

“Nail him?”

Tracey leaned back in her swivel chair and toyed with her chunky necklace, a mischievous tilt to her lips. “You know, get a little booty. Seriously, milk this. Let him wine and dine you, grab some bling and a few multiple orgasms before he bails.”

Frannie’s eyes snapped to her. “I agreed to start dating him and see where it leads, even though it’s headed down a dead-end road. But it sounds so selfish when you put it like that. So cold and mercenary.”

Tracey shrugged. “All’s fair in love and sex.”

“This is not love. Love has absolutely nothing in it. This is pure sexual attraction.”

“Good.” Tracey bobbed her brightly colored head once. “Just make sure it stays that way. Sex is one thing but don’t go risking your heart on some centerfold wannabe. That’d be disaster with a flaming capital Ass.”

That troubling thought brewed in Frannie’s brain as she went to her office. A strange guttural noise drew her attention to the partially opened door between her office and Steve’s. The noise continued, piquing her curiosity.

As the head of the department, Steve had an office much larger than hers with its own private bath and sitting area. Frannie started to call his name when a foul odor wrinkled her nose. Steve was being violently ill in the bathroom, his retching audible even through the bathroom’s closed door.

“Steve?” She rapped softly on the wood. “Are you okay?”

The door opened and she gasped. The usually fastidious man had removed his jacket and tie. His shirt was untucked and his belt unbuckled. He was sweating and a shocking green tint overshadowed his normally ski-tanned skin.

“My gut feels like Old Faithful. Spewing disgusting liquid with annoying regularity.” Even his voice was scratchy and gruff.

“What’s wrong?” Biting her lip with worry, Frannie grabbed his arm and helped him to the long leather couch beside the window. He groaned and sank into the cushions, covering his eyes with one arm.

“Take my advice, Fran. Never ever eat leftover sushi for breakfast.”

As if eating fishing bait wasn’t bad enough, he ate
leftover
bait? Eww!

“You need to go home.”

“I will. As soon as I can stop puking long enough to drive.” He started to say more but squeezed his lips tight, jumped up and ran back to the bathroom.

Tracey came to his doorway and sniffed the air loudly. Her lips curled in disgust, she whirled around and walked out.

Frannie took matters into her own hands, pulled up Steve’s itinerary on his computer and rescheduled what she could. By the time the toilet flushed and the bathroom door reopened, she had cleared his entire day. She picked up the few notes she’d made and peered into the tiled room. Steve stood bent over the sink, his forehead pressed to the cool tile.

“I’m going to die.”

“No, you just feel like it. We need to call you a cab and get you out of here. I rescheduled your meeting with Sanders and pushed back everything I could until Monday. I’ll take care of the Dobson merger file and anything else that pops up. You need to be home in bed.”

Tracey came back in spraying a huge can of Lysol. She took one look at Steve and her eyes widened. “Flu?”

“Bad sushi,” Frannie answered. Just the words seemed to provoke more nausea and Steve dry heaved in the sink. “Tracey, call a cab, will you? He can’t drive like this. Steve, is there anyone I can call? You shouldn’t be alone when you’re this sick.”

Still hunched over the sink, he shook his head, ran water over a pure white cloth and pressed it to his face.

“No probs,” Tracey said. “I’ll take him home, put his barfing butt to bed and hang out a while. I have plenty of sick time left I need to use up. Lemme just go grab my stuff and we are outta here. But no blowing chunks in my car, bossman.”

Steve emerged on unsteady legs and sat heavily at his desk. As if his head was too heavy to hold up, he laid it on his day planner and let his arms dangle like a giant rag doll. The loud rumbling of his stomach was drowned out by his groan. Frannie placed a hand on his shoulder and rubbed gently. She looked up to find a pair of sexy black eyes staring from her open office. Jinx, dressed in a dark blue pinstripe suit, looked at the two accountants, his left eyebrow cocked in unspoken questions. Anger lit Frannie’s fuse.

“What the hell are you doing here?” It was one thing to invade her home, but this was her job, her livelihood. The amusement sparkling in his eyes infuriated her even more.

“Now, is that any way to speak to your future husband?”

“No, it isn’t. It is, however, an appropriate way to speak to
you
. What are you doing here?”

“Husband?” Steve raised his head and looked at Jinx, who walked into his office. “Frannie, you didn’t tell me you were engaged?”

“Because I’m not,” she spat through clenched teeth. Crossing her arms, she glared at the intruder.

Jinx introduced himself to Steve by offering his hand. Steve took it while looking at Frannie with a thousand questions in his eyes. Before he could voice them, Tracey breezed in wearing a puffy hot-pink parka. Spying the strange man in the room, she stopped.

“Whoa, man candy.” When she realized she had spoken aloud, she colored and then turned her attention to her boss. “Come on, bossman. Let’s get you out of here.”

It took a few minutes for Steve to close down his computer, give Frannie some instructions and pack up his soft-sided briefcase. When he stood, dizziness made him reach out. Frannie grabbed his arm and steadied him. Steve went into the bathroom once more, ran water on the cloth and wiped his face with trembling hands. Trying to give him some privacy and yet keep an eye on him, Frannie stood near the open bathroom door but focused on Jinx.

“You can’t be here.”

With a casual air, Jinx leaned on the edge of Steve’s desk and smiled at her. “I had a few minutes and thought I’d see if you were free for lunch. But I can see you’re tied up. Don’t get your panties in a bunch, dollface, it’s not a big deal.”

“It is a big deal. This is my job, what pays my bills. I don’t mix business with pleasure. You cannot screw this up for me.”

“Who’s screwing anything up? You have to eat. I have to eat. It didn’t seem like a major undertaking.”

“It’s a matter of boundaries. You seem to have a small problem with those.”

Tracey watched the byplay with rapt attention, her eyes darting back and forth like watching a tennis match. A weak voice piped from the bathroom. “Don’t mind me. I’m just dying in here. Go ahead, continue your petty bickering.”

Senior partner Ronald McGee walked into the room. At sixty-three, he looked more like eighty but had a mind like a bear trap. His balding head had numerous age spots, which Tracey and Frannie had once compared to a map of the Virgin Islands. A withered lip curled at the sick smell and he glanced around the room, his small beady eyes nearly invisible behind his thick glasses.

“Where’s McAlly?”

A loud moan pinpointed Steve’s location and all eyes swiveled to the bathroom door. Tracey, galvanized into action, grabbed Steve’s coat from the chair back and marched into the bathroom. She pulled Steve into the office and propelled him toward the door.

“Bad sushi, gotta go.” She breezed by, snagging the small wastebasket by the desk. Thrusting it into Steve’s hands, she grabbed his briefcase and pushed him out the door. “I mean it. No upchucking on the floorboards.”

An efficient whirlwind, Tracey manhandled the chief accountant out the door. Silence fell in the office. McGee turned back to Frannie and for the first time seemed to notice the stranger in the office.

“Sullivan?”

“Yes, sir?” asked Frannie. He waved his hand impatiently at her and looked at Jinx.

She saw a side of Jinx she never had until that moment. A mask slid over his expressive face and he straightened from his relaxed pose. The man who could titillate her senses disappeared and a shrewd dark stranger appeared. This new Jinx would never toss a woman over his shoulder and whisper touching greeting-card innards. This man would eat her for lunch without a pickle.

He regarded the little man with cool appraising eyes before speaking. “Hello, Ronald. How’s Evelyn?”

“Good, she’s good. Are you here on business? I hope so. I realize you deal with Jamison and Fertig, but I’d be more than happy to have you come up to my office and discuss what we can offer.”

Jinx took a moment to think and study the bespectacled man. He glanced at Frannie with a small smile before replying. “Possibly. I expect to be making several changes in the coming weeks. I really stopped by to speak with Ms. Sullivan about many of those changes. Tell you what, Ronald, go ahead and have your office manager call mine and set up a meeting sometime next week. We’ll see what comes about then, okay?”

Apparently Jinx had just informed Ronald McGee that both Santa and the Easter Bunny were real—and hinted that the Tooth Fairy might be also, for the little man nearly did a little dance.

“Excellent. Listen, you must come out to my place for my annual holiday party. You can come as Ms. Sullivan’s guest. It’ll be a wonderful time.”

“I’d be honored to attend with Ms. Sullivan by my side.” Jinx smiled, but his smile reminded Frannie of a cartoon shark, all teeth. McGee was too tickled to notice. Nor did he notice her raised brows. Since when did her boss dictate her dating schedule?

“Excellent. Excellent. December twenty-third, about sixish. Formal, you know. Have to give the ladies a good excuse to drag out all their finery during Christmas.”

The two men shook hands as Frannie mentally scratched her head.
What just happened here?
Excusing herself, she followed the company partner out of the office. She caught him by the elevators but he stopped her before she could speak.

“Ms. Sullivan, I don’t know how you got him in here, but if he signs on, I promise you’ll definitely get a hefty bonus. That man is Midas, I tell you. He has this uncanny knack for judging a situation at a second’s glance and making the perfect move. His portfolio is pure gold. Well done.”

Patting her arm like a dog, he vanished behind the swooshing doors. Frannie was left standing with her mouth open.
Sit, Fido, good dog.
He’d dismissed her without a thought. Resisting the urge to bark, she snapped her jaw shut and marched back into Steve’s office.

Jinx had returned to her smaller office and sat at her desk, staring at her ceiling, his hands linked behind his head. She parked her rump on the corner of her desk, crossed her arms and studied him.

“I just got offered a bonus if you sign on with us.”

“Great. Glad I could help.” His easy grin was so different from his business persona that she shook her head in amazement. He was a man of many faces and she found him fascinating. It was impossible for her to stay angry at him. In such a short time, he had become very prominent in her life. He delighted in teasing her so she volleyed the teasing back to him.

“You know, I already had a date for McGee’s Christmas Party. I go with Steve every year.”

He moved the chair so she was directly in front of him. ”Is there something between you and your boss?”

“McGee?” She deliberately misunderstood, relishing his deep frown of frustration. Teasing him was fun. When his incredibly expressive brows met in a scowl, she fought a laugh.

“No, McAlly. You two seemed very, uh, friendly.”

“We are friends. We’ve known each other since college.”

“Did you date or something?”

Frannie couldn’t catch the laugh that exploded from her lips. Composing herself, she smiled impishly at him. “The last three relationships Steve had were with people named James, Antonio and Richard.”

“He’s gay?” The relieved expression on Jinx’s face was almost comical.

“I don’t know. I never asked. It’s none of my business.”

“Well, whatever floats his boat. I’m just glad I don’t have to compete for your affection.” Standing, he tilted her face up toward his. “So, now that I have your undivided attention, what do you want to do tonight?”