Panic raced through her, pumping up the beat of her heart until she could hear it drumming in her ears. Good Lord, they hadn’t discussed a respectable occupation! “He’s a…broker.” Well, he definitely qualified as such, she reasoned, considering he solicited his services, and those of his other employees.
“Oh,” Barb said, looking suitably impressed. “Like an investment broker?”
“Uh, yes,” Teddy said, going with the suggestion because nothing else sounded better. Feeling herself flounder in unfamiliar territory, she searched frantically for Austin, and found him over at the service bar talking to the vice president of the company while he waited for their drinks.
In an attempt to divert the conversation before she complicated the situation further, she turned back to Karen. “So, I hear you’re planning a surprise baby shower for Catherine Johnson in Marketing after the new year. What can I do to help?”
A few moments later, Austin finally returned. He handed her the wine spritzer, then took a sip of his own drink, which looked suspiciously like root beer. Grateful for the interruption, she told Karen and Barb that she’d get the rest of the details on the baby shower next week at work, and quickly maneuvered Austin in the opposite direction before his cover was blown. Finding a secluded, unoccupied arbor decorated in colorful twinkling lights and Christmas
greenery, she finally stopped and faced him.
He waggled his dark eyebrows at her. “Eager to find a dark corner to have your way with me, huh?” His voice was low and tinged with all kinds of wicked innuendo.
Her stomach dipped, but she resolutely ignored the sensation. “No, I—”
He abruptly cut off her words with a kiss that happened so spontaneously she didn’t have a breath of a chance to stop those tantalizing lips from covering her own. Gaining her equilibrium, she jerked back, nearly spilling her wine spritzer down the front of her dress.
“Austin!” she admonished, not exactly shocked at his audacity, considering how bold he’d proven to be. But still, they’d given the employees at Sharper Image plenty to gossip about without giving them a public display, too!
“What?” He blinked at her, a picture of little-boy innocence. “You’re standing under the mistletoe, and anyone watching would expect any self-respecting boyfriend to take advantage of the situation.”
Skeptical, she glanced up at the arbor they stood under. Sure enough, a sprig of mistletoe dangled above her head.
Without permission, he came back for a second sampling, this time curling his long fingers around the nape of her neck and using his thumb to tip her chin up and keep her mouth firmly locked beneath his. He parted her lips with one silken stroke of his tongue, and she tasted heat, and the sweet flavor of root beer.
Losing all sense of time and place, she gave herself over to his soft, compelling kiss. The man stole her sanity, made her want things she’d convinced herself she didn’t need in her life and threatened her hard-won independence. He made her feel too reckless, and entirely too needy.
Desperate to pull the situation back into perspective, she placed a hand on his chest, feeling the strong, steady beat of his heart beneath her palm. To anyone watching, the gesture looked like an affectionate caress, but he immediately picked up on her cue. Or maybe it was her panic he sensed.
With a low growl that reverberated deep in his chest, Austin lifted his head, his eyes glowing with unsuppressed hunger. “I suggest we finish this later, when we don’t have an audience.”
Certain that intimate comment was meant for their viewers’ ears, she nodded, the only intelligible gesture she could manage at the moment.
“They have got to be the most romantic, in-love couple I’ve ever seen,” Teddy heard some woman say from behind Austin.
They’d certainly fooled everyone, she thought with a grimace. Hopefully, Louden would be just as convinced.
Arm in arm, they strolled away from the arbor. “You’re an investment broker,” she whispered in a low voice to Austin, and nodded sociably at an older couple who were smiling at them.
“I am?” Amusement threaded Austin’s voice.
“As of ten minutes ago, you are.”
“How about I own my landscaping business instead?”
She shook her head at him, dismissing his offbeat suggestion. “No, I was thinking more along the lines of something upscale and respectable.”
“Respectable?” he echoed, his voice losing that humorous edge of moments before.
Her face flushed. She hadn’t meant to insult him. “Well, yes,” she hedged. “Saying you’re an investment broker is more respectable than announcing you’re a fantasy for hire. You weren’t around, we hadn’t discussed an occupation, and it’s the first thing I thought of.”
He shrugged, and accepted her choice of career. “Okay. After all, this is your fantasy.”
She frowned at him, and his choice of words. “No, my fantasy was a cowboy. This is strictly business.”
Annoyance flitted across his handsome face, and just when she suspected he was going to issue an argument of some sort, the man she’d been dreading all evening finally approached them. The tension Austin had worked so hard to obliterate quickly spread through Teddy’s body, tightening muscles and tingling nerves.
Dressed in the prerequisite black tie, Louden exuded confidence and professionalism, which Teddy supposed appealed to the higher-ups in the company. Louden couldn’t have climbed the corporate ladder as high as he had without competence and some personable qualities. What the directors didn’t realize, though, was just how poorly he handled employee relations.