Jenny patted her shoulder. “Of course. Do you need chocolate? I think I have some in my office. PMS is a bitch, am I right?”
Stevie’s smile flickered momentarily, but she nodded and laughed cheerily. “You’re so right.”
Stevie was smiling again, but Tess still had some doubts about her friend’s state of mind. Still, she went along with the change of subject. “You’re still feeding your neighbor’s cat? When is he supposed to be back from his business trip?”
“Tomorrow, thank goodness. Dusty’s a sweetheart, and I don’t mind sitting with her to keep her company when I have extra time, but I know she misses Cole.”
To avoid any further potential pitfalls, they kept the conversation breezy for the short remainder of their visit. They parted on their usual affable terms, agreeing to get together again soon, with Tess and Stevie saying they’d see each other at the Holiday Open Home. Just to make it clear there were no hard feelings, Tess added a little extra warmth to her smile when they waved goodbye in the parking lot.
Still, Stevie’s words echoed in her thoughts as she drove home. Tess deserves more than being a means to an end for a guy who’s already accomplished many of his life goals and now wants to check marriage and kids off his list of aspirations.
She had a few life goals of her own, which just happened to be aligned quite closely with Scott’s. Yet she didn’t actually see him as just a means t
o an end, did she? Which brought up the question—what, exactly, did she want from Scott?
* * *
She almost chose not to wear the new red dress after all. For some reason, only minutes before Scott was due to arrive at her door, she glanced in the mirror and was taken aback by the reflection of the polished woman in the bright red dress with a glitter of diamonds at her ears. It wasn’t that she hadn’t dressed up for an event before, or worn bold colors. But something about that woman in the mirror looked different tonight, and she couldn’t quite define what it was. Telling herself she was being silly, and that Stevie would certainly report to Jenny if she didn’t wear the red dress, she turned away from the mirror and carried her tiny purse into the living room to wait for Scott.
She tried to remember if he’d ever actually been inside the condo she’d purchased two years ago. Had he come in the time he’d stopped by in his four-wheel-drive truck to pick her up for work after a late-January ice storm? No, she recalled, she’d met him downstairs.
She cast a quick glance around her place, trying to see it through his eyes. Stevie had helped her decorate in a warm, cozy style built around classic pieces with unexpectedly whimsical accents. The colors were greens, grays and off-white, her favorite combination. It was so well suited to her.
She sat down on the cushy sofa and sighed, trying to release some of her nervous tension about tonight. When her doorbell rang, she found herself wishing she could exchange the snug red dress for comfy pj’s and spend the evening at home with popcorn and hot cocoa. Alone? Maybe.
Or maybe not, she thought, opening the door to find Scott standing there looking like sex in a suit.
“You look very nice,” he said. “Are you ready to go?”
Maybe it wasn’t quite the reaction she’d hoped for from all the effort she’d put into her appearance tonight. Still, she told herself it would have been foolish to expect Scott to be knocked off his feet, as Stevie had predicted, by a snug red dress. Whatever she wore, she was still just Tess. She supposed he knew her too well by now to see her any other way.
Chapter Five
Maybe it was the dress. It looked amazing on her. It was all he could do to keep his gaze focused on her face, especially when she happened to turn her back to him. She did so again, to reach for a glass of champagne from a passing server, and he couldn’t resist noticing how the snug dress cupped her shapely bottom. He was only human after all.
“Scott. Good to see you. How’s it going?”
Drawing his attention back to the networking he was here to do, he shook a couple of hands and exchanged meaningless small talk before his gaze was drawn inexorably back to Tess mingling on the other side of the crowded room. Even among the other guests crammed in the almost overly decorated large living area of the Holiday Open Home, she stood out—at least to his eyes.
There was something different about her tonight. He couldn’t quite decide what it was. She’d chatted easily enough with him during the drive. She worked the room like the pro she was, making nice with people who were either potential clients or referrals for PCCI. He was quite sure she worked his name into every conversation, subtly extolling his business acumen. She’d always been his most loyal cheerleader—and his most bluntly honest critic. His most valuable asset. But there was something different about her tonight.
Maybe it was the dress.
Or maybe it was the knowledge that tonight he’d be taking her home when the party ended.
As if in confirmation, she glanced his way, saw him looking at her and smiled. He lifted his champagne flute in acknowledgment. He took a sip, but what he really wanted was to taste her lips again.
A surge of hunger swept through him, and for a moment, he was unnerved by the strength of it. He reassured himself with the reminder that sexual appeal was a plus when it came to choosing a compatible mate. He wouldn’t examine too closely how long he’d been aware of his attraction to Tess, but now that they were dating there was no real reason to continue to suppress it. He could handle, even welcome, a mutually gratifying physical relationship. It was romance he simply couldn’t seem to comprehend, and at which he’d proved so incompetent.
He didn’t want to mess this up. There was too much at stake to take unnecessary risks. But fortunately he and Tess seemed to be on the same page in both their business and personal agendas. Her sexy red dress hadn’t changed anything. But she did look damned good in it.
For the first time since they’d arrived an hour earlier, he’d found a moment to himself, sipping champagne in a relatively quiet corner of the two-story living room. Between the Christmas music playing from cleverly hidden speakers and the chatter of milling guests, not to mention that he’d been too busy to eat more than a few bites all day, his head was beginning to ache dully. He hoped he’d hidden his discomfort behind his best social smile as he’d worked the event. They’d already been given the official tour through the impeccably styled and glitteringly festive six-thousand-square-foot house, and now it was just a matter of making sure his company was represented to maximum effect before they could make a graceful escape. No one had seemed surprised to see him enter with Tess at his side; everyone who knew them probably assumed they were simply attending in a business capacity. It would take a few more appearances to get the message across that their relationship had changed.
A movement next to him made him glance around to find a petite blonde in a sparkly dress frowning at him. She smoothed her expression quickly, but not before he’d seen the disapproval on her pretty face. “Is something wrong, Stevie?”
“I was just looking for Tess.”
“She’s over there, by the Christmas tree, chatting with the mayor and his wife. Apparently Tess and the mayor’s wife are on some sort of civic committee together.”