Spending more time in close proximity to Aileen probably wasn’t the wisest idea in the world, but Heath had made a deal with her and he always kept his word, no matter how difficult it was. Besides, he didn’t plan to let her roam the city alone and allow her to escape again. It was only by his instincts and the grace of God he’d found her the last time at the MacLean’s. Something told him that if she disappeared on him again in the future, she wouldn’t be so easy to track.
“Fine.” He stepped back and headed for the hallway. “Meet back here in an hour to talk logistics.”
“Hey, do you happen to have any old costume stuff laying around? Wigs or whatever?” Aileen called from behind him.
Heath stopped and peeked back into the living room. “As a matter of fact, I think there’s a trunk of stuff up on the second floor the previous renters left behind. They were a couple of actors. Might find something in there.”
“Cool, thanks.” She smiled and his whole day seemed to brighten. “See you in an hour.”
* * *
“Well, how do I look?” Aileen walked back into the living room fifty minutes later in her new get-up. The pickings had been slim in the trunk upstairs, but she’d done the best she could. At least she’d managed to find a wig in there, so she didn’t have to wear Santa’s gray locks anymore. The fire engine-red long fall of hair was actually quite eye-catching and she intended to keep this wig around for future use. Otherwise, she’d pulled together a staid outfit of jeans and a thick green sweater with a reindeer on the front from the garments Heath had had sent over for her the night before. She’d la
yered a couple of extra T-shirts underneath it to give her a bit of added bulk and make her look heavier than she really was. Not because of his comments earlier. She didn’t care what he thought about her looks. Of course she didn’t. That would be silly. They were working on this senator story together. That was it.
At least the paper had delivered her laptop as promised. It wasn’t the usual one she’d become accustomed to since going undercover, but it would do. And because she kept all her research in cloud files, she could access them anywhere. Aileen planned to login later and add what little information she’d gleaned over the past couple of days, mainly about Heath Goldwin. That he was rich, opinionated, and irritatingly correct about a lot of things.
Said man looked up from the paper to give her a slow head-to-toe appraisal, and that spark of heat in his stormy gray eyes felt anything but co-worker-ly. Those damned tingles fired up in her core again, causing molten warmth to spread outward to her extremities, and her traitorous knees gave an unsteady little wobble. Bastards.
“Well?” She gave a slow spin, and her cute navy-blue rubber boots with white snowflakes covering them squeaked on the hardwood floor. “What do you think? Am I girlfriend material?”
Heath’s eyes widened a fraction and his mouth dropped open, only to snap shut again. He looked ready to say something, but then he coughed and set his paper aside before standing. “Fine,” he said, his voice a tad gruffer than she remembered from earlier. “You look fine.”
Disappointment had her shoulders sagging. It didn’t matter. It didn’t. “All that time spent perfecting my disguise and all I get is fine?”
He smoothed his hand down the front of his faded jeans that molded to his muscular thighs and butt like a second skin and exhaled slowly. “Great, perfect, extraordinary. Exquisite.” His gaze met hers and for the briefest second, time seemed to slow and her heart tripped. “Is that better?”
“Much.” The word escaped her lips on a sigh of wonder.
Maybe his opinion mattered after all. A lot.
Aileen cleared her throat, and her head, of all those silly ideas. Yes, Heath was gorgeous and looked even more so since he’d changed into a dark brown turtleneck sweater and dark wash jeans that only made him look taller and leaner than ever. On his head was a black knit skull cap to hide his blond hair and on his feet were a pair of black combat boots, probably left over from his military days, she supposed. He slid on a black wool coat then helped her into the puffy down jacket she’d carried out with her. It was neutral gray, so she hoped it wouldn’t clash with her fiery red wig.
“Ready?” she asked as she slid the long hair out of the back of her jacket.
“Yep. Here.” He stepped behind her and before she could ask what he was doing the whisper touch of his fingers along the back of her neck made Aileen shiver. “You still had some hair caught inside.”
His warm minty breath tickled her cheek and she nearly groaned with pleasure. It had been too long since she’d dated a man, let alone gone to bed with one. That had to be it. Between her hectic schedule at the paper and then going undercover on this story, it made any sort of relationship hard to maintain. And one-night stands weren’t really her thing.
“Uh, thanks,” she said, slipping her suede hobo bag over her shoulder then starting for the door. Keeping space between her and Heath today was of paramount importance. Given how strongly her body reacted whenever he was around, that was the only way she’d keep from jumping him in some alley somewhere and having her wicked way with him. “We should go. The senator’s appearance is due to start in about half an hour and I don’t want to miss it.”
Heath nodded then patted his pockets. “Got my keys and my wallet. I’m ready.”
They walked out and he set the security system then locked the doors. This time at least he didn’t try to block her view, so she managed to get a better look at the code. Might come in handy later if she needed to make a quick exit.
He hailed a cab and they rode twenty minutes in traffic downtown to a block or so from Barney’s on Madison Avenue. Heath paid the guy then helped Aileen out of the vehicle. The place was packed as always with an array of tourists taking pictures or admiring the decorations in the windows beneath the famous black awnings. Spectacular didn’t begin to cover it.
Aileen stared up at the massive gold gilded candy canes flanking the main entrance to the store, topped with ornate scrollwork banners etched with the opening lines from ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and interspersed with puppeteer ballerinas en pointe. Beneath all that were two of the most beautiful window displays Aileen had ever seen—one with a glittering midnight blue background highlighting huge silver and gold ornaments twined together to make enormous wreaths; and the other filled with towering iridescent mushrooms and shiny gold walls, ceiling, and floor titled “Baz Dazzled Holidays,” named after the famed movie director Baz Lurhman and his costume designer wife, who’d made it.
“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day, huh?” Heath said, moving in beside her and slipping his arm casually around her waist. Despite their nearly twelve-inch height difference, they fit together well and she pulled away, enjoying his closeness too much.
Heath frowned down at her. “I thought we were supposed to be a young, happy couple in love shopping together.”
“We are.” Aileen glanced around to see where the stage was set up for the senator, hoping to distract herself from his too-yummy bod beside her. “Just not yet.”
“I need the practice.” He took her hand and tugged her close again, his jaw tight. “Besides, you don’t know how many plain-clothes security might be lurking about. If they see us acting suspicious, they could kick us out before your guy Lawrence ever arrives. Best to act the part consistently than risk it, right?”
Much as she wanted to argue the point, he was correct, dammit.