Trust Me on This - Jennifer Crusie [28]
When she came out, the black dress was draped looser, but it was also lower in front and back so a lot more Victoria showed.
“I don’t know,” Harry said, trying to look someplace there wasn’t skin.
“Harry, just wire me up. We’re running out of time here.”
Harry stared at her dress, frowning. How the hell was he going to get everything taped and hidden in that dress?
Finally, Victoria said, “What?”
“I’m used to taping this onto guys in shirts,” he said. “I guess I’ll just tape this lower.”
Victoria’s eyebrows went up. “Tape?”
Harry grinned. “What are you worried about? A little tape? Hell, if you had chest hair, you’d have something to worry about.”
“Chest hair?”
“It really hurts when you rip tape off chest hair.”
Victoria crossed her arms and glared at him until he relented.
“We’ll tape the microphone to your … uh, ribs,” he said. “You can do that part. The transmitter goes to your side, sort of. Really, it’s no big deal.”
“All right,” Victoria said. “What do I do first?”
“Unzip your dress,” Harry said.
“Why, Harry,” Victoria said. “You impetuous fool.”
“God knows how you’ve lived this long without somebody killing you,” Harry said. “Will you just unzip?”
“Your technique needs work,” Victoria said, but she turned around and unzipped her dress.
Harry watched the zipper slide down showing a lot of Victoria’s creamy flesh, some of it covered with black lace. “You can stop,” he said, trying to keep his voice from cracking. “That’s far enough.” He picked up the microphone. “This is the mike. Tape this under your … ribs on the right side, not too near your heart.” He held out the mike to her.
She turned around. “Harry, this is dumb. We’re two adults, doing a job. You’d see more of me in a bathing suit.” She made a swift shrugging motion with her shoulders, and the top of her dress fell off over her arms, and she stood there, curvy and warm in black lace, and Harry told himself not to have a heart attack. “Just tape it where you want it,” she said, and he forced his mind back to the technical problem at hand.
“Don’t undress in front of men, Vic,” he said to cover his confusion. “It’s dangerous.”
“Vic?”
Harry tried not to look at her. “Got it from Alec. It suits you better than Victoria. Victoria’s feminine.” And so was she, standing there in front of him, half dressed. If he worked with her much longer, he’d lose his mind.
Victoria glared at him. “Thank you.”
He ripped a strip of the tape off with a lot more force than was necessary and pressed the microphone to the lace under her right breast, trying very hard not to linger there any longer than he absolutely had to. It took him a lot longer than he thought it would. Then he taped the wire around the curve of her back and fastened the transmitter over her right hip. He smoothed the tape against the lace that was warm from her flesh and cursed steadily under his breath the whole time.
“There,” he snarled finally. “Put your dress back on.”
She was unusually silent as she dressed, and he felt ashamed. “Uh, I’m sorry,” he said. “Listen, don’t worry about tonight. I’ll be listening from the kitchen. I’ll be there.”
“Good,” she said. “I have to put my makeup on now. Maybe you’d better go.”
“Makeup?” he said, puzzled. “You look great. You don’t need any more makeup.”
“Go away,” Victoria said. “I’ll see you downstairs.”
“No, you won’t,” Harry said. “I’ll be in the kitchen.” But he left anyway, delighted to be out of danger and feeling curiously bereft and annoyed at the same time.
Dangerous woman, that Vic.
When Harry was gone, Victoria sat down for a moment to try to gather the thoughts that Harry had sent south when he touched her.
Because Harry was definitely not someone she wanted to be thinking about the way she was thinking about him. All right, sure, he was big and broad, and he had nice hands, well, great hands, and he was fun to tease, and he wasn’t boring at all, but still …
Harry?
There was no way. She’d worked all her life to get where she was now, carefully choosing the right men who wouldn’t get in the way