Sweet but Sexy Boxed Set (15 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jackie had barely stepped out of the elevator when tingling down her spine and sudden heat told her that Mitchell was there. She turned her head slowly until she saw him. He looked like a predator that had lain in wait for his prey and was now ready to pounce. She didn
’t think she could take it if he pounced on her right now. Her feelings were on the surface, bravery was at an all-time low. She was not going to play the game tonight because she was so dangerously close to total surrender.

This was her last time in this building, her last time stepping off the elevator with her friends. It had to end. She tried to follow her group and blend in with them as they slowly mixed with the crowd, but she felt a hand on her shoulder before they had made it into the magical circle of trees, lights, and music. She had no doubt who the owner of that hand was. The full body reaction from just one touch told her everything she needed to know.

She turned slowly. He was so close, so handsome. His crisp white shirt against his tanned skin, his dark tuxedo that stretched over his broad shoulders. She looked straight into his neatly-tied bowtie when she first turned around and then raised her eyes to his face. For a moment, they were not enemies. They were not in Chicago. They were on a beach in the tropical dark night with fireworks exploding around them. They were on a blanket on the sand in the shady circle of two entwined palms with the blue water dancing just across the white sand.

His face hovered within inches of hers. She sensed he was waiting for an invitation, an indication of some kind. She felt dizzy. She had hardly eaten all day. If he closed the inches between them and crushed his lips over hers right now, she would do nothing to resist. She had known that the whole week was leading to this moment. All the feelings from his touch and his lips that she relished from a week ago were right there on the surface again. She wanted him so desperately. The tension was incredible. She waited for him to say something, do something.

He still had his hand on her shoulder. Didn’t move it when she turned around. She felt each of his warm fingers as they spread possessively over her bare skin. She had no idea where her friends were. It was just the two of them. Eyes roamed hungrily over her body and then came back to her face. He seemed to be making a physical effort to control himself. She wondered why for a moment then remembered they were in a room with hundreds of people.

He leaned close and brushed his lips over her ear.
“Dance with me,” he said.

Jackie realized that a small orchestra had been playing since she stepped off the elevator, but she finally heard it for the first time. She nodded. She knew she could have said no, but the words would not come to her lips.

Mitchell took her hand and she followed him to the dance floor just below the orchestra set up on a stage. Lights and trees surrounded the floor and swirled in her peripheral vision. His tuxedo jacket brushed the bare skin revealed by her halter-style dress in the back as he held her so close her legs were imprisoned by his. His arm was tight, encircling her waist. She put her hand on his shoulder and felt the hard muscles underneath. His other hand gripped hers.

The orchestra played a Christmas waltz as Jackie tried to concentrate on the steps of the dance and keep time with Mitchell. His cheek grazed hers and she closed her eyes, putting herself at his mercy in the dance. She breathed in the feel and scent of him. His cologne had been faint, worn-off in Key West. It was fresh and intoxicating tonight. If only for a few minutes, if only for one dance, it was so good to be in his arms. It felt like she remembered, she didn
’t want the moment to end.

She forced herself to open her eyes so she wouldn
’t stumble into anyone or crash into a table. People crowded around the dance floor watching the dozen or so couples actually dancing. She and Mitchell had the full attention of most of the spectators. Of course, many of them knew exactly who he was. Jackie thought they were staring at him. Maybe they wondered why he was dancing so closely with a girl they had vaguely seen around for the last six months and who usually never ventured far from the dull office on the eleventh floor.

Maybe they weren
’t wondering anything at all. Perhaps everyone was enthralled by the colors, the lights, the music, the champagne. Jackie made brief eye contact with Teri and Leah who had glasses of something bubbly in each hand. Shelly and Denny danced together on the other side of the dance floor. They smiled approvingly at her.

“
You should consider a career as a dancer,” Mitchell said. He leaned in and whispered the words into her ear and she felt his warm breath. He pulled back a little so she could see his face. She could tell from his smile he was teasing her a little, but not mocking. She felt hot, overpowered, dizzy. He was so overwhelming, so masculine, so dangerously tempting. She knew she would lose any game he proposed tonight. “Are you enjoying the party?”

“
Yes,” she said in a voice she didn’t even recognize. “It’s incredible.”

Mitchell drew his face back again and locked eyes with her.
“It’s all because of you,” he said.

The song abruptly ended and Mitchell steered her to the edge of the dance floor. Her friends were talking to a crowd of other people. They all looked animated, engaged in their conversation.

“I’ll get us a drink,” Mitchell said, “be right back.”

Jackie stood there breathless, marooned in a sea of people. Suddenly, Teri and Leah appeared at her side.

“Are you alright?” Teri asked.

“
Don’t I look alright?”

“
No.” Teri and Leah spoke emphatically together.

“
Where’s the boss?” Leah asked.

“
Gone to get drinks,” Jackie said. She was confused. They looked so happy a minute ago, but now they looked tense. “What’s the matter?”

Leah and Teri looked uncertainly at each other.
“We heard a rumor,” Teri said.

Jackie
’s heart sank. Her knees felt weak. She knew it was a mistake to let him get so close to her, to hold her like that, to make her feel so…

“
Mitchell is supposedly going to make some big announcement about the future of the company. Here. Tonight,” Teri continued.

“
Rumor is that he forced us all to be here, plans to get us liquored up, and then drop the bomb,” Leah added.

“
Bomb?” Jackie said. Her head swum, nothing made sense.

She swung her gaze over to Mitchell. He held two glasses of champagne, but was stopped talking to someone. He kept stepping away from the other man like he was trying to disengage himself politely from the conversation. His eyes were on her. She didn
’t know who to believe, who to trust, where to even turn.

“
Margie thinks he’s shutting us down for good this time,” said Teri.

Closing down? But she thought that had all gone away. It seemed like the whole deal was over and done a few days ago. She looked at Mitchell. His eyes were still on her, but people kept stepping between them, and he couldn
’t make any progress toward her. She knew her face betrayed her confusion. Suddenly, he looked worried.

Then it hit her. What he had said.
“It’s all because of you.”

Because of her, everyone here was going to be out of a job. Because he wanted to get her back for deceiving him, he played this terrible joke on everyone. She thought she was going to faint. She felt nauseous, disgusted. She turned her eyes back to Leah and Teri.

“I’m going to the restroom,” she said quickly.

“
Are you okay? Do you want us to come with you?” they asked in a blur of worried voices.

“
No,” Jackie said. “I’ll be fine.” She hoped her friends would buy it.

She turned and started walking through the crowd of partiers like a zombie. She stepped into an elevator just as its occupants got out and the door started to close. First floor. Tunnel to parking garage. Escape.

An eternity passed as the elevator sank slowly to the first floor. She could only think of flight. If she could only get outside in the cold air.

The button said first floor, the door finally opened. She moved forward blindly, ready to stumble out and run anywhere. Instead of running away, she ran into a solid wall of black tuxedo. She felt herself lifted nearly off the ground and forced backward into the elevator. Just before the door shut, she saw a group of people outside the elevator and heard a familiar voice growl,
“take a different one.”

Then she was alone in the elevator. She raised her eyes to Mitchell
’s face, afraid to even look at him.

He breathed heavily like he had just been running. Jackie suddenly realized he must have run down four flights of stairs at a dangerous speed to beat her elevator to the first floor. He pressed his hand over the button that closed the door. They were alone. He stood in front of her, not touching her. Tension radiated from his body.

“Where were you going?”

Jackie could barely speak.
“Away.”

“
Again.”

She didn
’t understand at first what he meant, so he repeated it.

“
Again. I go to get us a drink, and you run away from me,” Mitchell said. He wasn’t angry. It was more like anguish. “Why?”

She backed up against the shiny wall of the elevator and felt the cool metal on her bare skin. She watched Mitchell hit the button for the fifteenth floor and then turn to face her again.

“When you ran away from me on Mallory Square…” he said, “the phone call. What was it?”

“
My friend Teri. She told me,” Jackie swallowed hard and concentrated on keeping her voice level, staying calm, “she told me that you were married.”

“
I wasn’t. I’m not.” he said flatly.

“
I know that now, but I didn’t then. I felt so…” she couldn’t finish what she was saying, a shudder passed over her as she thought what she had felt like. She tried to breathe. It was getting so difficult in this elevator.

“
You could have asked me,” he said.

And revealed everything to him right then. Betrayed her friends. Right.
“No,” she said softly.

The elevator stopped on the fourth floor and the doors popped open. Jackie saw Teri and Leah outside the door looking anxious and worried. Mitchell reached over and jabbed the close door button and hit floor fifteen again.

He turned back to Jackie. “My ex-wife used me because of my money. It was over with her a long time ago. It was never,” he paused and she saw him swallow and compose himself, “it was never like this.”

“
I’m sorry,” she whispered.

His face softened and he took a step closer to Jackie.
“When I first realized that you knew who I was, I thought…I thought maybe I was being used again. I couldn’t…”

“
No,” Jackie said. “You have to know that it was never like that.”

“
I do. Now,” he said. He inched closer, slowly, as if he was afraid she was a rare bird that was going to take off again if he got too close.

He moved close enough to touch her, and she almost surrendered. But then she remembered what she
’d heard. The announcement. The future of everyone there tonight.

“
Why did you do all this,” she said, an edge creeping into her voice.

“
This?” he asked.

“
This elaborate charade, this grand party. Why?”

“
Two reasons,” he said.

“
And they are?”

“
One: I wanted to make a big announcement and I wanted everyone to be there to hear it.”

Jackie nodded slowly. No kidding, she thought. His ruthlessness and cruelty was almost unimaginable. And she was trapped in an elevator with him.

“Stop right there,” she said. “Let me off this elevator now.”

Mitchell looked baffled, she could see hurt wrestling with anger in his eyes. He moved in front of the buttons, blocking her.

“Why?” he asked.

“
You have to ask? You think I’d want to be anywhere near a man who put all my friends out of a job? A man who thought it was a funny, sick joke to make everyone dress up and come like lambs to the slaughter? You make me sick.”

Jackie tried to push past him and hit a button, any button, on the control panel to open the doors and get her out of there. Confused and trapped, she wanted out.

She was no match for him. His strong arms wrapped around her, gently forcing her to give up the struggle. It was pointless. After a minute, though, she realized he wasn’t restraining her. He was holding her. Gently. His hands traveled over her back, caressed the back of her head, toyed with the curls that cascaded from their hold. This was not what she expected.

The elevator doors opened at the fifteenth floor. Mitchell took her hand.