Erica Lucke Dean - To Katie with Love (15 page)

He hesitated for a moment. “I was simply going for the opposite of my previous approach, which had been to impress you with my neatness.”

I suppressed a giggle. “I actually was impressed by your neatness.”

“But not driven to lust.”

“Maybe not as much,” I admitted. “So how did you find out about my party?” I turned to look at him.

He bit back a smile.

“Silvia,” we both said at the same time.

I raised an eyebrow. “So her roses were for more than just that silly outfit. Or was that all a part of the plan? Get Katie dressed up in something completely embarrassing to distract her?” I was almost angry when that possibility flashed to mind.

“No. Don’t be ridiculous. I would’ve never chosen for you to wear that out if it had been my decision. Silvia picked that on her own.”

“Hmm.” I turned back around and cuddled against him again, then shivered.

“You’re cold.”

“I’m not.” I didn’t want to get out of the tub. I was very much enjoying the closeness and the conversation.

“You’re a bad liar,” he teased and pulled me up with him to stand.

He got out first and helped me step over the side. Then he grabbed an enormous towel from a metal rack and tucked it around both of us. It was fresh-out-of-the-dryer warm, and I liked being cocooned with him. He wrapped his arms around me under the towel and lifted me awkwardly off the floor.

“This should be interesting.” He laughed as he carried me to the bedroom.

He set me down on the carpet and proceeded to dry me without unwrapping us. All it really managed to do was to press the front of me to the front of him in a way that put the hungry look back in his eyes.

“Haven’t you had enough?” I murmured.

He flashed me that lopsided grin before whispering his lips down my moist neck. “Could there ever be enough of you?”

A SEA OF ORCHIDS

I
woke up early Tuesday morning and for a fraction of a second forgot where I was. Despite the limited amount of time I’d actually spent sleeping, I felt amazingly rested. I attributed that to the magnificent bed and the wonderful sheets. And, of course, to the exquisite triathlon that had put me to sleep completely relaxed.

Cooper was out cold, his face buried in one of the sumptuous pillows and his arm resting lightly over my waist. Just like in my dream all those nights ago, I stared at him sleeping. He was gorgeous… puddle of drool and all. And he was mine.

I carefully slid out from under his arm and went into the CRWAT, closing the door behind me. His bathroom didn’t seem nearly as intimidating as on that first night. I turned the handle on the shower and waited only a moment for the water to heat up. I stepped into the numerous sprays of the multiple showerheads and closed my eyes as the hot water flowed over me. I was almost sad to go to work. I’d always loved my job, but I hadn’t had anything else worthwhile in my life, so it was an easy relationship. Since Cooper, I felt as if my job was competing for time with him, and I didn’t want to give up a precious moment for something as trivial as work. The relationship was moving too fast to be normal, but I was also too invested—okay, too obsessed—to give a damn.

I squeezed a glob of shampoo into my hand and lathered my hair. The smell of lavender and mint made me smile as I thought of Cooper.

I sensed rather than heard him step into the spray and struggled with a knee-jerk reaction to cover myself before I remembered he’d already seen me naked.
A lot.
Up close. And he’d certainly reacted positively. Fortunately, the shower was enormous, and the water surging out from every angle muffled my squeal.

“Allow me.” His hands slid into my hair, and I was more than willing to surrender the task to him. “You got up early.”

“I have to go to work,” I said with a moan as he massaged my scalp.

“Not for almost two hours.”

I turned to face him, but he kept his hands in my hair, working up a serious lather. I felt the suds slipping down my body.

“Well, I figured I might need to take a shower.”

“You
are
taking a shower.”

I looked up at him from under wet eyelashes. “I thought I might need to take another one.”

His eyes flashed down my body. “My thoughts exactly.”

Later, Cooper drove me to work and kissed me goodbye without getting out of the car. We both agreed I would never get anything done if he came in. I was really going to get fired if I didn’t start doing my job. The entertainment value of my love life was only worth so much. I figured Phil had been pushed as far as I dared.

Besides, Cooper had an appointment with me at ten thirty, just like every other Tuesday. And much to my delight and his, Phil couldn’t do much about the fact that I would be wasting an hour of my day with Cooper when I had been wasting that same hour twice a week for the past year. I wondered how long everyone but me had known his appointments had nothing to do with banking and everything to do with love.

I laughed at myself when I thought about how I had honestly believed he needed my help to balance his checkbook. It was easy to see in hindsight. No one in his right mind would open so many CD accounts just to close them down again a month later.

And all those safe deposit boxes. He finally admitted that he didn’t have anything in three of the four boxes he had rented. He only kept them so he would have a reason to see me.

I only thought about Cooper every other minute instead of every single minute. I almost felt like things were back to normal, except for the fact I was still literally tripping over all the orchids in my office, not to mention the ones scattered around the lobby. It sort of looked like someone was getting married in the bank. We had taken several to Cooper’s house, but that hadn’t put a dent in them.

I picked up one of the pots I’d tripped on and put it on the desk. It occurred to me that it was a good thing orchids didn’t have a fragrance. If they did, between those and Silvia’s roses, the place would have smelled like a funeral home.

I dropped into my chair and figured it was a good time to call my mother. And surprise, surprise, she even answered. “Hi, Mom.”

“Katherine.” She only said my full name when I was in deep trouble.

Still, I was encouraged that she even took my call. I decided to go straight for her soft spot and hope for the best. “So have you heard the wonderful news?”

“And what news would that be?”

“I have a boyfriend.” I let my genuine excitement color my tone in hope she would actually believe me.

“I don’t find humor in your attempts to shock and confuse me. Your sister would never treat me this way.”

My sister was a much better liar than I was. “Mom, I’m not being funny. I really do have a boyfriend. He’s one of my clients. Can you believe it? He asked me out after a year of secretly liking me.” I hoped the truth would draw her out of her icy mood.

“So where is this
alleged
boyfriend?” I could almost hear one of her perfectly arched brows raise in suspicion.

“Well, he’s not here now. I’m at work. But he has an appointment at ten thirty to talk about his accounts. I’m still his banker, after all.”

“Isn’t that a bit of a conflict of interest?”

Was the woman trying to torture me? All those phone calls nagging me relentlessly to find a nice man, and when I did, she was worried about a conflict of interest? She didn’t even pick up on the fact that, as one of my clients, he must have money. And I knew my mother’s preference for her daughters marrying money.

“Mom, just be happy for me, okay?”

“Well…” She paused for an impossibly long time. I thought for a second I’d lost the call. “We’ll see. If you still have the boyfriend in a month, do let me know.”

I should have known she was still irritated with me. But I didn’t expect her to be downright mean. “Okay. Well, I’d better go. Still on the clock here. I’ll talk to you later.” I tried to sound cheery. I was pretty happy, after all. I only had to get through the next thirty minutes to see Cooper again.

I wandered into the lobby, feeling a little like a Christian at the Coliseum. I wondered where all the lions were hiding.

“Well, good morning, Katie. I didn’t expect to see you in today,” Vicky said, her claws only barely concealed.

I had no idea what I’d done to provoke her ire, probably something to do with sex. Maybe because I had gotten to Cooper first. Maybe just because she wasn’t the only one having great sex anymore. I didn’t know about Silvia’s, June’s, or Phil’s sex lives. They had the good sense to keep it to themselves. And thank God for small miracles.

I forced a smile. “Morning, Vicky. Why would you think I wasn’t coming to work?”

“No reason.”

“How’s that piercing working out for you?”

Her face lit up in a genuine smile. “Fabulous, actually. I had no idea a woman could have that many orgasms in a row.”

I toyed with the idea of telling her I was well aware. But I was afraid that conversation would send us down a path I wasn’t prepared to go down. So instead I just said, “Wow.”

“Wow is an understatement. I climaxed seven times last night. My husband said I’m positively wearing him out. I may need to bring in a fourth-quarter substitution.” She gave me a wink, and I winced.

I knew who she had in mind for her fourth-quarter whatever, and I stamped down my fury. “Well, good luck with that.”

“Hmm.”

I saw Silvia coming out of her office and headed toward her with long strides. “Silvia, I hear you’ve been playing matchmaker.”

She gave me a sly smile. “Matchmaker? Ha! More like babysitter.” She waved me off and scurried toward the vault.

What a peculiar day. It was entirely possible everyone had quite had their fill of my love life. I was hopeful, but at the same time—and I would never tell
them
—I was just a little sad. I certainly didn’t want them to continue following me around like bargain-basement paparazzi, but I sort of missed the attention. For a minute. Maybe.

I decided to venture into the back, where I found that June and Phil were going at it again. I didn’t know what had happened, but it was a good bet Phil had done or said something wrong.

June wagged a finger at him. “You’ve really done it this time. You have exceeded my expectations of how low you could stoop.”

“How many steps away am I today, June?” Phil taunted.

“Steps? There are no more steps,
Philip.
You have officially reached the basement.”

Phil choked out a nervous laugh. “What did I do?”

“You know what you did.” June spit her words out in a huff and stormed out of the room.

I actually felt a little sorry for Phil. I thought it was rather amusing too. Silvia blew into the room to confront Phil. She had a really hard time keeping a severe expression because he was still grinning like an idiot.

“I can’t…” Her hand flew up to hold back a laugh, and that set Phil off again into his own spasm of hysterics.

I started to lose it too and quickly got out of there. A few minutes later, Silvia stopped off at my office to fill me in, and I was still laughing when Cooper walked through the door.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

I succumbed to a fit of giggles just looking at his questioning face. “Nothing,” I managed on a deep breath.

“Katie…”

“I’m sorry. It’s too funny. I can’t say it.” I put my hand over my mouth to hold back the laughter.

He pulled his brows together in a deep furrow.

“Okay. Okay.” I pulled in a breath. “June got mad at Phil.” I paused, trying to rein myself in.

He nodded. “I can see why June would get mad at Phil.”

“Wait. You have to let me finish.” I was having a really hard time not breaking up again.

“Fine.” He finally gave in and cracked a wide smile.

“Okay. June got mad at Phil for saying he felt like he was locked in a room with a million tiny vaginas.” I pointed at the orchid.

“Oh.” He studied the flower for a minute. “I never noticed. They
do
look like tiny vaginas.”

The look on his face was so innocent and confused, I was instantly overcome with hysterics again. Thankfully, my hysteria was contagious, and he started to laugh with me.

“So, I was thinking…” I said as soon as we both stopped laughing enough to continue. “Do you really want to balance your checkbook here… now?”

A slow grin spread across his lips. “I’m intrigued. Continue.”

“Well…” I could feel the heat stain my cheeks. “I was thinking about what you said before.”

“I’ve said so many things. Remind me.”

He couldn’t make it easy for me. Oh, no. Not Cooper. “You know,” I whispered. “Balancing your checkbook… naked?”

He reached across my desk and stroked his thumb against the back of my hand. “It’s a stimulating suggestion. I might be inclined to agree…”

“But?”

“Not
but
, more of an
if
.”

I captured my bottom lip in my teeth. “If what?”

“Well,
if
I’m allowed to
distract
you while you’re balancing. That might make it more fun for me.”

The absolute look of lust that flashed across his face made my heart stop for a beat. When it started again, it was racing. I knew at that moment I would not be able to work if he stayed a minute longer. “Cooper. You know I love you. But you have to go. I can’t do my job if my legs are too weak for me to stand.”

“It’s not really fair to punish me for your weakness, is it? I still have forty-five minutes left.”

I laughed at his playful expression. “You have the whole evening. I don’t have my car, so I have no doubt you’ll be here before the doors lock at four to watch me do paperwork for an hour.”

“Don’t be silly. I’ll be here at lunch. You need to keep up your strength with those weak legs and all.”

“Okay.
Fine
. Lunch. But that definitely means you have to go now.” I stood and wobbled around the desk to grab him by the arm. I tugged until he was on his feet. “Besides, I can’t miss you if you don’t leave.”

“See you soon.” He pressed his lips to mine in a lingering kiss before sauntering across the lobby like the cat that ate the canary.

Leaning against my doorframe, I watched as he climbed into his car and backed out.

“Sacking the quarterback while on the clock, Katie?” Vicky sneered.

I rolled my eyes. “What is it with all the football references?”

“Phil’s right about you. You’re such a novice. It’s playoff season. Say it with me… Roll Tide!”

I had no idea what laundry detergent and football had in common, but I wasn’t going to ask. Instead, I turned to escape back to my desk.

“Oh, Katie?”

“Yes?”

“I’ve been wondering… did you ever ask Cooper where that two hundred grand came from?”

I looked around to see if we were alone then motioned her closer with my index finger. “It just so happens, I did.”

“Well?”

“He’s… you can’t tell anyone, okay?”

Vicky was on the verge of bursting. “Oh, for Pete’s sake, just tell me already.”

I leaned in to whisper in her ear. “He found a golden ticket in a chocolate bar and was made the sole owner of a candy factory.”

“Ahh!” Vicky pushed away from me, her face as red as her hair. “When did you become such a bitch?”

“Right around the same time you started harassing me about my boyfriend’s source of income.” I glared at her. “Keep your nose out of other people’s business.”