Nice & Naughty (13 page)

She was considering how she might have missed him in one of the departments while he was on a break or something when she got to the top of the escalator on the third floor and literally stumbled off.

Gone was the Bridal Department and in its place was an entirely new display of women’s wear. But gee whiz, when had this happened? It wasn’t like this yesterday afternoon.

Tessa wandered to a rack and flipped through. The clothes weren’t bad. Actually, they were pretty great, and every rack had a twenty percent off sign on it. She was reaching out for another hanger when she remembered what she said to JB at dinner and her hand stopped in mid motion.

We have to talk about all those wedding dresses…

Holy crap. He’d done this after their date. But how? She considered and the only explanation was that JB must not be as low on the Bryant’s totem pole as she’d first assumed.

“Hello. Welcome to ‘
The Place to B’
.” A perky, platinum and painfully young salesgirl pointed to the computer-generated sticker on her chest that read the name of the department. Tessa assumed
B
was some marketing gurus idea at being clever and short for Bryant’s. “In honor of our newest women’s department, everything on this floor is twenty percent off this weekend only. Please let me know if I can help you with anything.”

“Actually…” Tessa held up one hand before the girl bopped off. “I was looking for one of your co-workers. His name is JB.”

The girl frowned. “JB? Do you know his last name?”

Tessa sighed. She’d had her tongue in his mouth but still didn’t know his last name, but she decided to keep that piece of information private. “No, I’m sorry I don’t. I think he’s in management. In fact, he may be in charge of this department.”

The girl tapped her manicured finger lightly against her chin as she thought. “Well, there’s Jonathon, but I’ve never heard anyone call him JB before. He’s right over there with his girlfriend.”

Tessa’s stomach clenched. She’d had a boyfriend cheat on her before. It was something you never recovered from and definitely something she never wanted to repeat again. If JB had a girlfriend and was all over her last night...
 

Her glance finally landed on a guy and girl, giggling in the corner and Tessa let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Relief overwhelmed her when she discovered that Jonathon was definitely not JB. She swallowed and tried to calm her racing heart. “No, not him.”

“Hmm.” Blondie considered some more. “Maybe those are his initials?”

Tessa’s brow rose. “I would assume so. I doubt his mother named him with two letters.”

The girl was trying her best to be helpful. She couldn’t help it if she was both perky and blonde. Tessa reminded herself to try and be polite just as her cell phone rang in her pocket.

She located the phone as Blondie stuck one finger in the air and got an expression on her face that practically shouted
Eureka.
“Oh, I know who has those initials.”

Tessa stopped her with one raised finger of her own as she answered the phone. “Hello?”

She smiled and her heart pounded a little faster, but in a good way, when JB’s rich voice came through her earpiece. “It’s JB.”

In a much better mood now, she smiled graciously at the salesgirl. Tessa covered the phone and whispered, “I found him. He’s on the phone. Thank you so much for your help.”

“Sure, anytime.” The girl nodded and ran off to answer the store phone, which had just started ringing at the nearest cash register.

She turned her attention back to JB. “Hi.” When had her voice gotten so breathless?

“Hi, yourself. Where are you?”

“At Bryant’s. Where are you?” Tessa moved over toward the window for some imagined privacy in the crowded store.

“What a coincidence. I’m at Bryant’s as well.”

“Then why aren’t we together?” That was very flirtatious of her, but she was feeling pretty flirty at the moment.

He laughed. “I’d like nothing better, but I’ll be stuck in meetings for most of the day. Can I see you tonight?”

Yay. Exactly the words she was hoping to hear. “Okay. When and where?”

“You pick it. Anywhere you want.”

“My apartment, seven, I’ll cook for you.”

There was silence on the other end.

Quick to assume the worst, Tessa felt insulted. “I can cook, you know. My mother makes the best Irish stew you’ve ever tasted, and Sheppard’s pie and—”

“I believe you. I never insinuated you couldn’t cook. I’m sorry. Something here distracted me. Your place at seven would be wonderful. What can I bring?”

“A bottle of wine?”

“You got it. Give me the address, then I’m afraid I have to dash off.”

She did and then hung up, feeling giddy like a schoolgirl on her first date. Maybe she’d even treat herself to a hot new outfit for twenty percent off. More importantly than that, she needed to hit the lingerie department too. That area of her wardrobe was sorely lacking and could definitely use some new additions, especially in light of her date tonight. At least one thing was certain, with them dining at her apartment, there was no way he’d be able to leave her in the parking lot tonight.

One hour, two shopping bags and way more money than she should have spent later, Tessa and her wicked purchases made a wide berth around Troy in the Santa zone. Somehow she was afraid he’d sense what naughty lingerie she had in her bags, and she didn’t need his interference to squelch her excitement. She rushed home to cook, clean and get sexy. Tonight was going to be special. She just knew it.

Chapter Six

Jason rubbed his face with his hands, feeling bone-deep tired and dreading his date with destiny, and Tessa, with every passing hour. He knew he would have to tell her this evening. The sooner the better, before he got any deeper into the lie.

If she’d chosen a restaurant for their date, he probably wouldn’t have confessed tonight. This was not a secret to be revealed to a reputedly hotheaded woman in public. But alone with her at her apartment, where she could yell and throw things in private if she so chose, he had no excuse not to tell her. That is, no excuse except for the fact that he just plain didn’t want to tell her. It would most likely mean losing her.

Dammit. It was too soon to lose her. He’d hardly had time to enjoy being with her. Although, was there ever a good time to lose someone you cared about?

“What’s the matter, James Bond? All this intrigue catching up with you?”

He glanced up through splayed fingers. “Oh, Peggy. I’m sorry I had to drag you into this mess today.”

She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “Eh, don’t worry about it. Most excitement I’ve had in years. Besides, I enjoyed watching that young salesgirl scurry for her phone and then sending her off on a wild goose chase for queen-sized footless tights.”

Jason shook his head. He was very glad Peggy was enjoying herself, because he sure wasn’t. He’d nearly had a heart attack when he’d gotten off the elevator and saw Tessa speaking with one of the salesgirls—in the new department he’d created overnight based on her suggestions, no less. If
that
miraculous feat didn’t tip her off as to his real identity, he didn’t know what would.

He’d called Tessa’s cell phone to distract her while Peggy had called the phone at the register and luckily, it seemed he’d managed to separate the two women before Tessa figured it out.

Jason let out a sigh. “
Oh what a tangled web we weave
…”

“Oh, no. Now you’re quoting Shakespeare. You must be delirious. Go home and take a nap before your date,” Peggy ordered.

Jason blew out a long slow breath and glanced at his watch. “No time to nap. I have to shower and change and she lives all the way across town. Don’t worry about me. I’m sure it will be an early night. The minute I tell her who I really am, she’ll throw me out.”

Peggy raised a brow silently. He’d known Peggy wouldn’t like it when he told her about the lying. He’d been right.

Jason frowned at her. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Judging me.”

“
Judge not lest ye be judged
. See, I can quote literature too.”

“That’s the Bible.”

“The Bible is literature.”

He let out another tired sigh and stood. “I better go.”

“Have a good night.” Even Peggy’s good nights seemed to have an element of sarcasm within them.

The only answer he could manage was a groan.

Jason could select a good wine in his sleep. That was exactly the problem, he was on the way to his date and nearly asleep on his feet. So tired, he’d almost forgotten to stop at the wine shop before driving to Tessa’s.

Planning a date tonight with two hours sleep over the past two days was probably a bad idea. Especially since he needed to be in top form when he confessed his little deception to her and tried to convince her to not hate him for it. Hmm. Oh, well, hindsight was twenty-twenty and all that.

Not knowing what Tessa was serving for dinner, Jason picked out both a red and a white wine from the shelves of the liquor store down the street from his apartment and then headed over to her place. He hoped if she was going to throw her glass of wine at him after he told her, she was at least drinking the white for the sake of his linen shirt.

He didn’t worry about her seeing his overpriced car tonight, the jig would be up soon anyway, so he pulled right into a spot in front of her building and parked. It was a decent neighborhood. Not rich, but not poor either. The normalcy of it made his penthouse in his lush building, private elevator, doorman and all, seem a bit ridiculous. Maybe he did deserve all the derogatory comments she’d made the day he met her. Jeez, had that only been yesterday? It seemed far longer.

Jason found his way to her apartment without any trouble and rang the bell. But when Tessa answered the door, she surprised the hell out of him. Everything she was wearing was from the new department at Bryant’s.

“I took advantage of your twenty percent off sale. How the hell did you put that department together overnight?”

He must have been staring since she’d commented on it. He smiled and handed her the paper bag with the wine as she moved back so he could step inside. “We worked until dawn.”

Tessa put the bag down on the kitchen counter.

“Oh.” She looked at him and then dropped eye contact, studying his shoes, the floor, anything except his face. “So, is that why you left so quickly last night?”

“There were actually a few reasons why I left last night, but not one of them was because I didn’t want to be with you.” He stepped closer, kissed her forehead and moved to take the wine out of the bag. “So what are we having for dinner? Should I open the red or the white wine?”

She looked a little happier after his kiss. “Dinner is chicken parmigiana with pasta and broccoli rabe in garlic and oil.”

He raised a brow. “Is that your Irish mother’s specialty?”

“No, it’s mine. I waited tables at an Italian restaurant to pay for college. I picked up a few cooking tips in the kitchen.”

Hmm. His trust fund and the fact that his grandfather had built the campus library had paid for his Ivy League education. Though Jason did work in the stockroom at Bryant’s during summers all through high school. That had to count for something on the normal guy scale, no?

Think about that later
.
Enjoy the moment while you still can
. “So, chicken but with red sauce. We can go either red or white wine. Which do you prefer?”

She laughed. “Not being the connoisseur you are, I usually drink red in the winter and white in the summer. I’m sure that is appalling to you and totally wrong, but—”

 
“Not at all. The first rule of wine is to drink what you enjoy, no matter what the so-called experts say.” He would just have to dodge any flying red wine that came his way…or get a new shirt. He accepted the corkscrew she handed him and opened the bottle of Washington State Syrah. “You look great, by the way.”

“Thanks.” She handed him two wine glasses. “Where did you get all those clothes for the new department on such short notice?”

“That’s the interesting part. Every item was already on the racks elsewhere in the store. Things that were lost in the other departments made a great statement after I pulled them out and put it all together.” He shrugged. Maybe the buyers weren’t the problem after all. The problem was in the display, and that was partially his fault for not spending more time out on the floor.

“It sure did make a statement. I loved everything. It was hard to choose what to buy.”

He let his gaze roam over her oversized cardigan and skinny pants tucked into high boots. “You chose well.”

It was far too easy to make her blush. He realized he liked it as he watched her cheeks color when she accepted his compliment. “Thanks. So your bosses must be impressed with you.”

Jason took a deep steadying breath. “Actually, about that—”

A loud buzz from the kitchen area startled him enough that he nearly sloshed the garnet-colored wine out of his glass and onto her beige carpet.

Tessa held up one hand. “Hold that thought. The chicken’s done. You can take a seat at the table. I’ll serve us.”