Midnight At Tiffany's (6 page)

W
OULD SHE COME?

Probably not, but that didn’t stop him pacing outside Tiffany’s every night like a desperate, discarded lover.

He glanced at the store and gave a humorless laugh. They probably thought he was casing the joint. He half expected to be arrested.

Brett had assured him that he’d handed the note to her personally, but that didn’t mean she’d come.

Midnight at Tiffany’s.

He could have written her a note saying “call me at the office,” but he knew that would have intimidated her.

She’d found the courage to speak to him when she’d desperately wanted to contact his brother, but did she have the courage to speak to him when the interaction was more personal?

He hoped so.

This was a place she knew and loved. He hoped she’d come.

And then he felt a soft touch on his arm and heard a familiar voice.

“Chase?”

W
HAT WAS SHE
doing here?

She’d watched him for at least five minutes before plucking up the courage to approach him.

What was she even going to say? Where did they start?

And now he was looking at her, his gaze fixed on her with disturbing intensity, the look in those smoky blue eyes so intimate that she felt the flush start at her toes and work its way up her body. How could a look be so personal? Her response shocked her, reminding her of everything they’d shared that night.

“Matilda.” A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Not Lara.”

She felt her color deepen. Of course he knew her real name now. There was no more hiding. “Chase. Not Alex.”

“Alex is my middle name. So why Lara? Why name yourself after the heroine in your story?”

Of course he would have skimmed her book before sending it to his brother.

How to explain? “Because if I hadn’t pretended to be her I never would have had the courage to do all those things with you.”

A dark brow arched. “So it wasn’t Matilda in my bed, it was Lara?”

“Maybe.” She was conscious of people flowing past them. Even this late, New York was crowded. The city that never slept. “To begin with.”

Amusement gleamed in his eyes. “Going to bed with two women has always seemed to me to be fraught with complications, but I’m starting to rethink that.” He drew in a breath and reached for her hand, drawing her close. “Relax. You look as if you’re about to turn and run. And in case you’re considering it, you should know that I’m not losing you again.”

Her stomach clenched. “Chase—”

“Why did it take you so long to come? My brother gave you that note a week ago.”

“The note said ‘Midnight at Tiffany’s.’ You didn’t say which night.”

His hand gripped hers tightly. “I’ve waited here every night.”

“Every night?” She gaped at him and he gave a faint smile.

“Yes. You have no idea how close I’ve come to being arrested.”

“But why?”

“Because I’ve waited all my life to meet someone like you and I’m not losing you now.” His voice was raw. “Do you have any idea how I felt when I woke up and found you gone?”

He thought he knew the truth about her, but he didn’t. “Do you have any idea how I felt when I woke up and found out you were Chase Adams?”

His eyes narrowed. “How did you find out?”

“I knocked your wallet onto the floor.”

“And was that the reason you ran?”

“Of course.”

“Why of course?”

“Because—” She gave a helpless shrug. “I wouldn’t have thought an explanation was necessary.”

“Because you thought I was a—what was the description you used?—ruthless, heartless, moneymaking machine?”

She wanted to slide through the grille on the road and disappear. “Please forget I said that.”

“Why? It was a fair description.”

“
Obviously
when I said that, I didn’t know you were Chase.”

“I’m glad you didn’t know. We had a most illuminating conversation. You were frank and honest, and if you’d known who I was, you wouldn’t have been.”

Remembering the things she’d said about him made her want to die of embarrassment. “Right now I’d like to fall down a manhole, but these things never happen when I want them to, only when I don’t.”

“You pointed out that, despite the apparent benefits of my life, I was missing the most important elements.”

“What do you mean?”

“You asked me what I did in my spare time, and I realized I didn’t have any spare time. Work eats into all of it. I spend time with people I don’t particularly like, doing a job that wasn’t my first choice.” He took a deep breath. “Your mom wouldn’t have been proud of me. I had a dream, too, but I let other people kill it.”

“What was your dream?”

“I was always interested in construction, but I wanted to go down a different route. Eco-houses and sustainable technology. My father calls it progressive nonsense. I was all set to do that when he had his heart attack. I stepped in for a short time and that was when I discovered the business was in trouble. My father employs a lot of people. They were relying on him for jobs. I promised him I’d take over long enough to sort it out. And somehow a decade passed.”

“You loved your father. You were being supportive.”

“But I should have found a way to support his dream while still pursuing my own.” He drew her closer. “I told my brother he was selfish, but I see now that he was protecting his dream.”

“But he was only able to do that because you stepped up. He lived his dream while you let yours lie dormant.” She
touched his arm, feeling the hard swell of muscle beneath her fingers. “Either way, I’m glad you and he have sorted things out.”

“So am I, but I don’t want to talk about my brother or my business. I want to talk about you.”

And this, of course, was the part she’d been dreading. There was no more hiding behind Lara. No more fiction. It was time for facts and truth.

Time to be herself.

She withdrew her hand. “I’m not who you think I am.”

“You think I care what your name is?”

“I’m not just talking about my name.” The truth lodged in her throat. It was the hardest thing she’d ever had to say. “You asked me what I was doing at the event the other night and I didn’t really answer you because I was—” She took a deep breath. “I was working.”

“Working?”

“Yes. For Star Events. I’m a waitress. Or I was a waitress until I had a catastrophic spill and tipped champagne over your guests.”

He stared at her. “That was you.”

“That was me. And I could tell you that I was having a bad night, that I was unlucky, or I could say that sort of thing has never happened to me before, but the truth is that it happens to me all the time. That was me in all my undisguised glory.”

“That explains why I couldn’t find your name on the guest list.”

“You checked the guest list?”

“Several times.” He closed his hands over her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why didn’t
you
tell
me
?” She challenged him right back and he sucked in a breath.

“Because I didn’t want my name to get in the way. For one night I wanted to be myself.”

“Then that’s the difference between us, because for that one night I wanted to be someone different.”

“And you chose to be Lara.” He shook his head, a smile touching the corners of his mouth. “Your heroine.”

“How much did you read?”

“Every word. And I read the sex scenes twice. There were a couple of things in there we didn’t have time to try that night. We need to rectify that.”

Her stomach flipped. “I’m not Lara. She’s a product of my imagination. But after I was fired—”

“You were fired?”

“Of course.”

“For one accident?” His eyes hardened and his voice turned several shades cooler.

In that brief moment she glimpsed the ruthless businessman; the side of him that others saw.

“It wasn’t the first. Look—” she took a deep breath “—I’m nothing like Lara. Just for one night I wanted to be like her and live a life of daring and adventure, full of wild affairs with good-looking men. I wanted to be like her, but I’m not. The real me is clumsy and uncoordinated. I hate being this tall. I’m shy with strangers. I hate confrontation. I could go on. You have no idea.”

“Yes, I do. I know all those things. But knowing you were pretending to be your heroine explains a lot. Like the fact that one moment you were confident, and the next shy. One moment you were telling me nothing, and then you were spilling your innermost secrets.”

“I’m always spilling something,” Matilda said gloomily. “At least secrets don’t make as much mess as liquid. It’s my worst trait.”

He cupped her face in his hands, a slow, sexy smile transforming his features. “It’s adorable. It makes you human. You’re imperfect. I love that.”

It was her turn to stare. “You love that I’m imperfect?”

“Everyone is imperfect, Matilda. Everyone. But most people are afraid to show their imperfections.”

“Mine are pretty hard to hide.” She shifted awkwardly. “You love the fact that I’m clumsy?”

“I love everything about you. I love
you
.” He breathed deeply. “And I know it’s too soon to say that. I know it’s crazy, so don’t give me that look. You’re not thinking anything I haven’t thought myself. But logic doesn’t change the way I feel. Do you know how many people I meet like you?”

“Not many, I assume, or your dry cleaning bill would be high enough to bring down the company.”

He laughed. “I know you’re clumsy. You threw champagne over me. Then you dropped a slice of pizza on my jacket, broke the zipper on my pants and crushed my hand in the bathroom door.”

If there had been an ejector seat, Matilda would have pressed the button. “I’m sorry about that. I wanted to give you a night you wouldn’t forget but I didn’t quite mean it to be for reasons of personal injury.”

“You gave me a night I wouldn’t ever forget, but not for those reasons. Because it was the first time in my life a woman has been herself with me. Our relationship might have been short, but it wasn’t fake. It wasn’t superficial.” His voice softened. “We had fun, Matilda. You know we had fun.”

Her mouth was dry. “It wasn’t real.”

“Which part wasn’t real? The part when we made love all night, or the part when we watched the sunrise and talked about everything? It was real, and you have no idea how long I’ve waited for real.”

“You didn’t know who I was.”

“Yes, I did.” His hands tightened on her face and he lowered his forehead to hers. “I knew exactly who you were. The only thing I didn’t know was your name or what you did for a living, but that isn’t what defines a person. In the end it isn’t about what you do or what you call yourself, it’s about the person inside, and I know the person inside.”

“Chase—”

“I know you have a dream to be a published writer, and you want it so badly you were prepared to put aside your natural shyness and approach a man you found intimidating. I know you hate your long legs because it makes you conspicuous and you hate being conspicuous. I know that when you’re listening you tilt your head to one side. And I know your mom would have been proud of how hard you’ve worked to follow your dream. I liked the dedication at the front of your book. She would have liked it, too. Now I understand why you wanted to see your book on the shelves across the US.”

Her eyes filled and her throat thickened. “Chase—”

“There are people I see every day who I don’t know as well as I know you. And do you know why? Because they hide who they are behind a screen. You didn’t hide.” He lowered his forehead to hers. “Meeting you changed my life.”

She could hardly breathe. “Because I dropped ice in your lap?”

His eyes were amused. “No, because you made me think
long and hard about my life.” His smile faded. “You questioned why someone who had reached my level in an organization would need to spend their time doing things they hated doing. And I realized you were right. I didn’t need to do those things. You asked me about my interests and I realized I’d let them slide into the background along with the people I really want to spend time with.”

“So no more parties?”

“That depends.” The words sounded like a question, and she felt her heart miss a beat.

“On what?”

“On whether you’re by my side.” He kissed her gently and then lifted his head and stroked her face with his fingers. “You didn’t just show me who you really were, you showed me who I was, too, and you reminded me what’s important. You forced me to take a long, hard look at my priorities.”

“So you’re reinventing yourself?”

“I’d call it rediscovering rather than reinventing. I spent last weekend sailing, with my brother. We talked about things we’ve never talked about before. Cleared the air. It’s going to take a while to get back to where we were, but I know it will happen. It’s another dream of mine, and someone I know and respect told me you should never let anything get in the way of your dream.”

She felt a rush of happiness for him. “I’m pleased. Really pleased. Family is too important to let it go without a fight.”

“I agree. And now I’ve addressed my work life and family issues, all that’s left is my love life.” He looked deep into her eyes and she shook her head.

It was fine to pretend for one night, but extending the fantasy would lead to nothing but pain, and she had enough reality to deal with.

“This can’t possibly work, Chase. It’s isn’t real.”

“No?” He lowered his head and kissed her with erotic purpose until she was shaking, until the fire of pleasure melted her thoughts and all resistance left her.

How did he know how to do this? How did he know how to kiss like this? She relaxed against him, feeling the hard pressure of his body against hers.

Someone passing wolf-whistled, and she pulled away.

“Alex—Chase—”

His gaze didn’t shift from hers. “Kiss me again and tell me this doesn’t feel real.” His voice was thickened with the same dizzying passion that was making her head spin.

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t. I don’t see a single legitimate reason why we can’t be together.”