Trust Me on This - Jennifer Crusie [30]
“It’s not that bad.” Dennie put her chin in her hands and stared into the lobby while he unpinned her hair. “I thought it made me look more stable.”
“It made you look like Nurse Ratched.” Alec pulled the last pin out and watched her hair fall down into tangled silky curls. He pulled his fingers through it, partly to even out the tangles and partly because he knew it would feel so good against his fingers. Dennie never moved. “You know you’re pretty passive here. Would this be a good time for me to make my move?”
“Not if you want to keep your teeth,” Dennie said, but there was no threat in her voice.
“Hey,” Alec said again, and pulled her back to face him. “Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad. I’m here. I’ll help. Come on.” He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead and then on the nose and then, softly, against his better judgment, on the mouth.
“Don’t do that,” Dennie said, her voice cracking. “You’re just a cog in my career wheel. Don’t try to get important to me.”
“Of course not,” Alec said, and then he had to kiss her again, still softly but this time with some staying power. “Feel free to toy with me and then cast me aside,” he whispered against her mouth, and kissed her again, feeling her lips finally move against his and her hands rest lightly on his arms.
People were staring, he noticed vaguely as he came up for air. Probably envious. He’d have been envious. He leaned forward to take her mouth again but she pulled back. “Do you think I’m a loser?”
“Well, I didn’t until you started acting like one,” Alec said, and Dennie dropped her hands and straightened.
“That was cruel,” she said, some of the flash back in her eyes.
“Probably dumb too,” Alec said. “If I’d stuck with being understanding, I might have gotten laid in gratitude.”
“Oh, yeah, I bet you get a lot of sex that way,” Dennie said, all of the flash coming back. “On account of you being so sensitive and all.”
“Good,” Alec said. “Now tell me I’m ugly, and I’ll take you into dinner and introduce you to my aunt Vic.”
Dennie grinned at him with such warmth, he was rocked by it. “And then you’ll buy me ice cream, right? You are a nice guy, Alec.”
“Well, don’t tell anybody.” Alec stood up to keep from reaching for her again. “The last thing I want is for somebody to think I’m one of those sensitive nineties kind of guys.”
“Don’t worry,” Dennie said, standing too. “Nobody thinks you’re sensitive.”
“Good.”
“Except me.”
“Knock it off,” Alec said, and pulled her toward the dining room.
Harry sat in the kitchen and listened to Victoria pretending to be a half-wit while they waited for Alec and the Banks woman to join them. He enjoyed it enormously.
This is some woman, he told himself. Tough. Bright. Brave. Smart. Soft. Good thing he had fifty-eight years of experience to protect him or he might have fallen for her. Good thing he was too smart for that.
He heard Vic say, “So this would be an investment in my future. Oh, Mr. Bondman, that sounds very … good. Really.” Then he heard her pause and add in a soft, slightly confused voice, “Did you say this was in Florida?”
Bond must be ready to throttle her. They wouldn’t need to send him up the river. They could just let Vic drive him crazy. He started to laugh, and then he remembered her in black lace and stopped.
Oh, hell.
Whatever was bothering Dennie hadn’t gone away, Alec realized. It just metamorphosed into something different: antagonism toward Brian Bond.
Alec introduced her to Victoria, Donald, and Bond, and watched her charm the daylights out of them all, especially Victoria. She really was amazing once she got her sights on someone. Witty and intelligent, she drew Victoria out all through dinner, asking her about her career and discussing her paper from that morning with clarity and understanding. Alec gave her another point for thoroughness: He loved his aunt and even he hadn’t sat through three academic papers for her, but Dennie had. Hell of a woman.
“You came to hear my paper this morning?” Victoria had said, clearly flattered but fortunately still