Seduce Me

A one-time lesson. A one-night stand.

On both an intellectual and professional level her decision and withdrawal made sense. But on an emotional plane he didn’t comprehend and a sexual one he understood only too well, the frustration and disappointment were overwhelming.

No way would he leave things as unbalanced and unfinished between them as they were now.

CHAPTER SEVEN

MALLORY GRIPPED the telephone receiver and waited for the answering machine in her apartment back home to pick up. At the sound of the tone, Mallory yelled into the phone, “Julia, you pick up the phone or so help me when I get home I’ll hide all the Godiva chocolate in the apartment. I’ll make sure you’re banned from Epicurean Delights. I’ll…”

The sound of someone fumbling with the phone echoed in her ear, then her cousin’s voice. “I was napping and you don’t have to get hostile, Mallory Jane.”

“Don’t call me that.” Only her mother called her by her first and middle name, and it had a cold, grating sound Mallory hated, along with memories she despised even more. But as much as Julia thought she knew about Mallory, Mallory had never confided too much. It was almost as if she was counting on making partner to wipe out all the pain in her life.

The rational part of her knew it could never happen. The dreamer Jack had mentioned earlier, well that Mallory clung to the impossible hope. Maybe Jack knew her better than even she realized.

“Mallory? I’m really sorry about that name thing. It’s just that you threatened to deprive me of chocolate and…I lost it.”

“And I overreacted. Where have you been?”

“Here and there.” Mallory heard the sound of Julia flopping into a beanbag chair and then her cousin spoke. “What’s up with you and this Jack person?”

“If I tell you, will you fill me in on what’s going on in your life when I get back? Because I can always tell when you’re hiding something.” And Julia had been especially vague about her personal life lately.

“Sure. Sure.”

Mallory sighed. “Why did that sound more placating than convincing?”

“Bad connection? Your imagination? You choose. Now spill.”

“When I get home, Julia Rose.” Her cousin didn’t mind her middle name near as much as Mallory resented hers.

Silence followed. Confident her cousin understood she wouldn’t be put off much longer, Mallory felt more comfortable unloading her problems now and taking care of her cousin’s in person. “Do you think it’s the forbidden that makes him so attractive?”

Her attraction to Jack was more than superficial, but as long as she was in control of her emotions and the situation, she’d be fine. No need to alert Julia of the intensity of those feelings.

Julia exhaled hard. “You know there’s no explanation for chemistry. Why are you looking for one?”

“Because nothing about us makes sense.”

“There’s an us?” Her cousin’s voice pitched in excitement.

Just the thought of an us, of a Jack and Mallory, caused tremors of awareness to ripple through her. Mallory pulled her knees up and tucking the phone between her shoulder and ear, she hugged her arms around her legs for comfort. “No, no us. But there was one night.”

And oh, what a night it was. Mallory bit down on her lower lip.

“Ooh, that’s not like you. Tell me more.”

“That’s the problem. It’s not like me and now I can’t forget about him. Maybe because I…we never actually…well you know, but…”

A loud knock interrupted her unburdening herself. “Gotta go, Julia. Thanks for listening and I’ll get back to you,” she said to her cousin. “Coming,” she called toward the door.

“You can’t leave me hanging,” Julia wailed.

Mallory chuckled and lightly replaced the receiver. “I just did.”

She headed for the door and opened it, chain still latched. When she didn’t see anyone, she glanced down and picked up a bag sporting the name of the lobby boutique she’d passed earlier in the day.

Jack. Gut instinct kicked in and her heart pounded out a thready, erratic beat. She had no doubt this wasn’t a mistaken delivery and she tore into the bag with a keen sense of anticipation, pulling out a one-piece bathing suit, or a maillot as the label called it.