Good Karma (6 page)

Well, except for when she bolted from his
room like a scared rabbit.

After hurrying back to the elevator, her
hands had trembled as she pushed the elevator button for the fourth
flour, returning to the downstairs ballroom just as Sonya had been
about to perform.

Daniel spied her in the crowd and scooped her
to his side. “Where have you been? I looked everywhere. You almost
missed her.” He waved toward the stage as Sonya’s dance partner led
her to the center.

Tongue-tied, she shrugged. “I went to the
restroom.”

The lie came as easily as she’d gone upstairs
with Mark.

But yesterday morning, on the drive back to
Indy, she had leveled with Daniel and told him the truth.

“Karma!” he’d said, eyes wide and mouth
opened in astonishment. “I didn’t know you were such a wild
woman.”

“I’m not.” She frowned and looked out the
window.

“What do you mean?”

“I chickened out.”

“You what?”

“I got up to his room, and everything was
great, and then…” She thought about how Mark had pressed his hand
against her breast, and her breath caught in her throat all over
again. “I just couldn’t.”

“Why not? What happened?”

She turned her attention to the passing
cornfields being plowed for planting, still feeling Mark’s arm
around her waist and the way his dark eyes had consumed her. That
exhilarating free-fall feeling shot through her belly the way it
did every time she recalled the way he kissed her. How could she
admit the truth? That as soon as Mark’s hand had touched her
breast, the taunts of her brother, his friends, and her classmates
from grade school had exploded inside her head. In that instant,
the last thing she had been capable of was undressing in front of
him. Damn her stupid brother and his damn friends for messing up
her mind like that. And damn her for allowing them to still have
such an insidious effect on her.

“It doesn’t matter,” she had said softly as
she touched her fingertips to her lips. She could almost feel Mark
kissing her, could still taste the scotch he’d been drinking.

She and Daniel hadn’t talked about the
incident the rest of the way home, but if Mark were a drug, she
would gladly take another hit.

Even now, as she caressed the satin and
mentally returned to Mark’s room, she regretted running away. What
if she hadn’t been spooked? What if her childhood memories hadn’t
ruined the moment? Would Mark have made love to her? It had been
years since she’d had sex. And it had never been that great. In
fact, it had downright sucked. Mark hadn’t seemed like the kind of
man who sucked at sex. On the contrary, he seemed more than capable
at giving pleasure, and she had definitely felt all kinds of
yumminess happening inside her body just from his kisses. Mark
certainly could have given her what her first two lovers—and she
was being generous using that term for Brian and Richard—had failed
to deliver.

A wistful smile touched her lips. For one
night, she had been desirable. She had almost succeeded in becoming
someone else, but the good girl inside had stopped her from letting
go of reality completely.

If she had a second chance—a do-over—she
wouldn’t run. She would embrace it and not let her inexperience and
the past scare her away. Things had just moved so quickly, and she
hadn’t been with a guy in so damn long that she’d frozen up like a
dummy. The same way she had the first time a boy kissed her.

What a nightmare that had been. She’d been in
ninth grade and a member of the cross-country team. It had been
late when the team returned to school after an away meet, and she
and a boy named Tony went to get something out of his locker. She
liked Tony, and she was pretty sure he liked her, too, so she was
excited he had asked her to go to his locker with him. As she
waited, he pulled out a couple of books, his back to her. Then, out
of nowhere, he spun and smashed his mouth against hers. Her eyes
shot open wide, and she locked up like a switched-off C-3PO, arms
and legs rigid, unable to breathe, unable to move. Not even her
mouth. Her mind screamed to kiss him back, but her lips refused.
They formed a tight O like on a blow-up doll and rebuffed any
attempt to unknot, even when Tony shoved his tongue against them
over and over.

It had to have been the worst kiss in the
history of bad kisses, but she had still floated out to her mom’s
car afterward. Up to that point in her life, she had never felt
anything more titillating, more exciting, more arousing.

But she’d been a silly kid, and so had Tony.
He had pattered around after her a couple more weeks, but she had
no idea how to talk to him anymore. She still liked him, but she
didn’t know what to say, and she certainly didn’t know how to act.
Tony must have gotten discouraged, because he eventually stopped
coming around, and in that silent way that kids drift away from
what scares them, she drifted away from Tony.

He never tried to kiss her again, and a few
months later, he had moved on to another girl. One who probably
hadn’t turned into a stupid, lockjawed robot when he put the moves
on her.

In a lot of ways, she was still that scared
little girl. Terrified of boys, unsure what to do, how to act, what
to say. Exhibit A, Saturday night with Mark.

With a sigh, she slid the dress inside its
garment bag and sealed away her fairy tale once and for all. Then
she plucked a chiffon blouse and a navy blue blazer and slacks from
their hangers and headed back into her bedroom.

Back to reality.

* * *

An hour later, while Karma fixed a cup of tea
in the break room, her friend and coworker Lisa corralled her.
“Welcome back from vacation. How was your trip to Chicago?” The
glint in Lisa’s eyes as she poured her coffee gave away that she
had already talked to Daniel and knew all about Karma’s
escapades.

“Fine.” Karma furtively slid past her and out
the door.

“That’s not what I hear.” Lisa tagged
along.

“Don’t you have work to do?” Karma glanced
over her shoulder. “Humans to resource or something?” Lisa was
three years older than Karma and worked in Solar’s Human Resources
Department.

“It can wait. Hearing about your steamy
Saturday night is way more exciting.”

They made their way upstairs to Karma’s
desk.

“There’s really nothing to tell.” She wanted to put
the incident behind her. Saturday and her waltz through fantasyland
were over. She couldn’t dwell on what could have been…or even what
had been, no matter how incredible it was. Doing so would be
unhealthy and only distract her, especially when there was no hope
of ever seeing Mark again. He was a fleeting moment in time. A blip
on her radar of good judgment.

Lisa sidled up to the counter in front of her
desk. “That’s not what Daniel said.”

Karma opened her e-mail and winced at the
more than three hundred unread messages. This was the problem with
taking a week’s vacation. She’d need another vacation to recover
from this one.

“And what did Daniel tell you?” she said,
abandoning her overflowing inbox.

“That you were the most stunning woman in the
room. And I believe it. Daniel texted me a picture of you in that
amaaaaazing
dress. Girl, that picture didn’t even look like
you. So sexified.” Lisa sipped her coffee, her brown eyes
twinkling. “
Aaannnd
, Daniel told me you had a little mini
tryst with some hot, mysterious man.” She coyly lifted one shoulder
as she offered Karma a sidelong glance.

“He was nobody.” Karma concentrated on a
stray tea leaf floating in her mug.

“Uh-huh. That’s why your face just turned as
red as that dress you wore Saturday night.”

There was no way Karma could hide the effect
Mark had had on her—that he was still having on her. Men like him,
who were urbane and held themselves in a calm yet controlled way
that deigned the world as theirs, weren’t easily forgotten. In
Chicago, they were probably the norm, but in Indiana, where
conservatism ruled and false modesty was a way of life for the
wealthy, she had never come up against a man like Mark, and she had
certainly never imagined catching such a man’s eye.

Lisa checked her watch. “Well, you can tell
me all about him later. I’ve got to get back. Some consultant is
coming in today and I need to print off a few personnel reports for
him.”

“Consultant?”

Shadows crossed Lisa’s face. “I found out
Friday.”

Karma knew a consultant coming in wasn’t good
news. This could mean layoffs.

“He’ll be working with Don,” Lisa said,
hugging her coffee mug inside her palms.

Don Jacoby was the Director of Operations and
Karma’s boss.

“Great,” Karma said. “That means
I’ll
be working for him. Just what I need. Not that I’m already behind
since Jolene doesn’t pull her share of the weight in
her
department.”

Lisa smiled sympathetically. “I know. But
look at the bright side. Maybe this consultant will see what’s
going on with Jo, and if he recommends letting anyone go, it will
be her.” Her cheery smile was almost comical.

Lisa’s ability to see the silver linings in
all bad situations was refreshing, and Karma was grateful for her
optimism. “I can only hope.”

Jolene was an expert at skirting her work,
which meant the sales managers often came to Karma for
administrative support. Don understood the situation, and as long
as his work took priority, she was free to assist the sales teams
when necessary.

Still, the dysfunction added to an already
defective relationship. Jolene was best friends with Karma’s
brother and sister-in-law and had been since they were kids, which
meant she had been part of the posse that had made her childhood a
living hell. The ramifications of which Karma was still feeling as
an adult if her rapid exodus from Mark’s room Saturday night was
any indication.

As if all that wasn’t enough, Jo was also the
office’s biggest gossip.

“Good morning,” Jolene said, coming around
the corner.

Speak of the devil.

Jo’s gaze remained glued to her cell phone.
Her long blond hair flowed like a cape behind her and her abundant
breasts jiggled under a top that looked one size too small but
perfect on her.

Karma exchanged glances with Lisa as Jolene
passed and disappeared down the hall toward the Sales Department.
Jo hadn’t even looked at them. Thank goodness, or Karma might have
laughed.

“Okay, girl. I’ll talk to you later.” Lisa
cradled her coffee and headed back toward the stairs. “Remember,
you owe me all the sordid details.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Karma waved her off and dug
into her e-mail.

* * *

At eight fifty-five, just as Karma sat back
down at her desk from making another cup of tea, her phone rang. It
was Nancy from the front desk.

“Yes?”

“Don’s nine o’clock is here.”

Karma rolled her eyes at the obvious
flirtatious drawl in Nancy’s voice. Apparently Mr.
Streamline-The-Jobs-Right-Out-The-Door-To-Get-Solar-Back-In-The-Black
was also Mr. Catch-Nancy’s-Eye. But then, what warm-blooded man
with an ounce of sex appeal didn’t catch Nancy’s eye? She was a
cougar who hungered for young man blood.

“I’ll be right down.” She hung up and poked
her head into Don’s office. “Your appointment is here. Are you
ready for him?”

Don looked up from his tablet. “Yes.
Absolutely. Thank you.” He quickly began tidying his desk.

Even Don seemed a little nervous, but that
was understandable. This guy was coming in to plow through Don’s
domain and pick the meat of his department from its bones.

She reached the top of the stairs and tugged
at the hem of her blazer as she peered over the railing. Just her
luck, their visitor was under the stairwell so she couldn’t steal a
peek at what had so obviously caught Nancy’s eye.

As she descended, she glanced at Nancy, who
sat at the reception desk, smiling coyly, her gaze locked like a
viper’s on the area under the stairs. Did Nancy know no shame? She
wasn’t even trying to hide her lust.

Susan from Accounting walked past, her cheeks
flushed, a girlish grin toying her mouth. Her eyes flicked sideways
as she passed by the hidden alcove.

What was with everyone? What was she about to
see when she turned the corner? The way Nancy and Susan practically
drooled over the consultant, she was starting to get a little
nervous.

She reached the bottom step, turned, took a
few steps, and nearly tripped over her half-inch heels.

Oh. My. God.

It was her prince.

Chapter 6

Forget the
fairy tale.

-Author Unknown

Mark wore a tailored, navy pin-striped suit that fit
his athletic build even better than the tuxedo he had worn on
Saturday. His dark brown hair was slightly mussed but not messy,
and he was just as sexy today as two nights ago, flipping casually
through the latest issue of
Sports Illustrated
.

Karma gathered herself. “M-Mr. Strong?”

“Yes.” He spun toward her as he closed the
magazine and dropped it on the lobby table. Then his eyes narrowed
and his brow furrowed. It was the expression of someone who knew
her but couldn’t quite place her face. “Have we met?”

Was she so different in her real clothes that
he didn’t recognize her? With her real hair and her real shoes? She
had recognized him immediately, but he didn’t know who she was,
even after how intimate they had become with one another. She
glanced at the floor and smoothed her palms over her blazer as much
to dry them as to find something to do with her hands.

When she met his gaze again, she saw
realization dawn in his expression. The hard line of his brow
softened and rose briefly before crinkling in awareness.