Working It (13 page)

“I promise I won't gloat this time,” he murmured against her back. Then, to her shock, she found he was hard again as he entered her.

“This time,” she whispered, backing against him, feeling the slide and friction of his body against her as he cupped her breasts and pulled her to him, “I'll let you.”

 

D
REW WOKE UP
to the pitch dark that only hotel rooms with blackout curtains could manage. He'd barely gotten a few hours of dreamless sleep. He rolled over, trying to get comfortable, stretching out his hands
across the bed. Instead of smoothing over sheets and tangled covers, his hand encountered smooth, satiny curves.

All last traces of sleepiness left in a blink. Slowly he traced her contours.

Jade.
Here. In his bed.

He was immediately flooded with memories of the previous night. He moved slowly, fitting his body to hers and wrapping an arm around her waist as he pressed a gentle kiss to her neck. “Good morning,” he whispered.

He could tell by the way she tensed that she was awake. “I can't believe I'm here,” she whispered back. She was stiff against him, not pliant and eager as the night before.

“Neither can I,” he murmured back, nuzzling her. “But I'm not complaining, either.”

He noticed that she didn't respond to that, even after waiting a minute. “Jade…are
you
complaining? Are you sorry about last night?”

She didn't immediately deny his questions, and he felt himself growing more tense as he pulled slightly away. Instead she leaned over, turning on one of the bedroom lights. He grumbled and shielded his eyes, temporarily blinded. When he finally acclimated, she was staring at him, her hair rumpled in sexy red curls, her obviously naked body covered by a sheet she held to her chest. She was surveying him, her eyes filled with doubts.

“I'm not complaining about last night,” she finally said, and he felt a measure of relief. “But I'm not going to say it was the brightest move of all time, either.”

He felt his jaw clench. “I don't see why it's a problem.”

She put one hand up to push curls out of her face, letting the sheet slip enticingly to reveal the swell of her breast. Before he could really admire the view, she had moved her hand back. “This is a real distraction, is the problem. I knew that last night when I turned you away the first time. I'm not going to repeat that argument.”

“Well, it's too late to do anything about it now, and I for one don't regret it,” Drew said firmly, reaching for her. But she dodged, standing. He held the edge of the sheet, and after a moment of tussle, she finally shrugged, letting it fall away.

Her naked body, in full light, always managed to rob him of breath. He stared at her for a moment. She was truly a magnificent woman. She crossed her arms, frowning at him.

“I know we can't change this, but we have to deal with it now. It's a whole new element,” she chided gently. “For one thing, we have to be really careful. We can't let anybody else know about it.”

“Damn. And I was planning on telling Ken to take out an ad.” Drew shook his head. “Come on, Jade. Give me a little credit.”

“You know what I mean.” Her green eyes were hot with intensity. “The last thing I want is for somebody to think that I'm…that you just hired me for….”

She gestured to the bed, and he noticed that her eyes were a little misty. She was really floored by this. He'd never seen her at a loss before.

He sat up, putting his hand out to her. She stared at it. Finally he got up and, despite her reluctance, tugged her back into bed and snuggled against her.

“This is serious!” She struggled against him a little, and he held tighter.

“I know it's serious,” he said firmly. “I won't tell anyone. And I
didn't
just hire you for your body or for sex. So don't even think it.”

That stopped her. She took a little breath and he could feel the uncertainty coming off of her. “Yeah, but other people…”

“I can be discreet,” Drew countered, hugging her. “Nobody's going to think anything other than the fact that you're one hell of a sales coach. I can promise you that.”

She lay there silent for a long moment…then she turned, putting her arms around him, rubbing against him a little as she hugged back. “Yeah, well…I've never done this before. This goes against so many things that I believe in.”

He hugged her a little more fiercely, feeling his chest warm with protectiveness even as his body started reacting to the fact that she was naked and stroking her body against his. He ignored his burgeoning erection for the time being. “I'm not going to say I'm sorry,” he said in a low voice, “because I'm not sorry at all for what we did. All I can say is I'm glad you let me, and I'll try not to do anything to screw this up.”

“The job, you mean?” She twisted a little to look at him, inadvertently brushing her thigh against his erection. He stifled a groan. “You're going to make sure that the deal doesn't get screwed up?”

For a second he wasn't sure if he meant that, or if he meant screwing up what was happening between them. Because whether she recognized it or not, there was definitely more going on here than a business agreement. Still, he wasn't ready to talk about that—
and he was fairly sure she wasn't ready to hear about it. “Yeah, I mean the contract.”

“Good.” She took a deep breath, her voice turning brisk. “Because we've got to hit the road in two hours. And we're going to spend the whole ride, and dinner tonight, going over the files for Reardon Oil.”

He smiled at her. This was the Jade he knew. Tough as nails. Still, knowing the vulnerability beneath didn't take away from the appeal at all. “Okay. You're the coach.”

“So I'd better get…hey!” She tried to roll away, off of the bed, but he wouldn't let her. “Come on, Drew. I need to get cleaned up, packed. I need to call the front desk and get back into my room.”

He grinned at her comments as he rolled over, pinning her to the bed. She spluttered, until he settled himself between her legs. Then he saw her eyes widen, and dilate.

“Drew, we have to go,” she said, but he noticed that her voice had turned breathless.

“Not for a couple of hours,” he said, his own voice husky with want.

“This is exactly what I was afraid of,” she said, although her face looked anything but afraid. Her full mouth beckoned him and her green eyes were low-lidded. “We're getting distracted.”

“I sure hope so,” he said, kissing her and biting gently on her full lower lip. When she let out a little whimper of pleasure, he brushed his penis against her, feeling the dampness of her against his skin. He shuddered. “Let me make love to you.”

“Drew,” she said. Her voice was torn between desire and responsibility, he could tell. She cleared her throat and stared at him. “We've only got a few sales.
That's not enough to save Robson. Now, more than ever, we've got to work twice as hard. Having sex with me would be fun…but as I said last night, are you really willing to sacrifice Robson for it?”

He froze for a second, poised over her, the rationality in his head warring with the feel of soft, naked woman beneath his body.

For a moment his only thought was, The hell with Robson Steel. He wanted her more than anything he'd ever wanted. One night with her had not changed that. If anything, it had only intensified it.

He stared back at her. “I see what you're saying. So. Are you willing to just call this a one-night adventure, and just focus back on work?”

He was studying her face carefully, and was gratified to see a spasm of shock cross her face before she schooled her features and shrugged. “If that's what you think we ought to do,” she replied, and he was amazed at how calm her voice was, “then I think you're probably making the wise decision.”

He rolled off of her, and he noticed that she took in the size of his erection, jutting out at her as he stood. “Well, then. I guess there isn't really all that much left to say.”

She got to her feet, unsteadily. “Okay. I guess I'll call the front office.”

He wanted her to say, “No, let's take an hour and finish what we started.” He wanted her to say that she could handle an affair with him, that the business wasn't that terribly important.

Damn it, he wanted her to care about him more than she cared about the contract.

He blinked as he realized what his train of thought was. Then he turned. “I'm going to take a shower,”
he said, glad his own voice stayed casual. “Then I'll meet you in the lobby in an hour, and we'll get going. Is that okay?”

She walked over to him and he felt his resolve buckle. “I'm sorry, Drew,” she said, putting a hand on his arm.

He gritted his teeth as his body surged with desire. “No problem,” he said. “You're right. I guess I should've listened to you yesterday, huh?”

“I am not saying it was a mistake,” she said, her voice low and soothing. “I just…the deal, Drew.”

He felt his shoulders tighten. The deal. Always the deal. That was what had stopped her last night, after dinner. It was what was keeping him from her now.

“I know. Go call the front desk.”

He shut the door to the bathroom behind him, barely hearing her using the phone before turning the shower on full blast and stepping in.

The deal, Drew.

Back in San Angelo, the factory had always been the most important thing in his life. If there was a choice between working late and spending the night with a woman, he'd naturally choose the factory. But Jade wasn't just a woman. And after a few weeks on the road, he realized that she was growing more important to him daily. He'd never met a woman who valued work, and specifically helping his factory, more than he did.

Is that what you really want, though?

No. She had always been the one who had pushed him to focus on sales. She was the one who said let the client get involved, let the client prove your points for you. Well, he wanted to sell Jade on the idea of making love to him—and having it be more than a few-
nights' stand. He wanted that very badly. But if he told her outright, she would just keep kicking up resistance. No. He had to
show
her, and get her to realize that she wanted this as much as he did.

He wasn't going to ask her to make love with him again, he thought with a grin. He was going to make her so turned on, she was going to be crazy with wanting to make love with him—and when she ravished him, he wasn't going to fight one bit.

She might be a fantastic salesperson, and an amazing coach, he thought, getting out of the shower with a light step. But he was one hell of a student.

“J
ADE
!
I'm glad you called. How's it going?” Betsy's voice was bright and enthusiastic, despite the fact that Jade had called her office at close to seven o'clock and she was still there. “I just went through a lot of your e-mails, and they had the most bizarre date stamps on them. Like you were sending them out at two in the morning or something.”

“I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping lately,” Jade told her, pacing in her hotel room, cell phone in hand. “I figured I might as well take the time to do something productive. All the accounts are doing fine, by the way.”

“So I noticed,” Betsy said, and Jade couldn't tell if her tone meant approval or something else. “I'm surprised. Most people don't manage as well when they're out of the office as often as you've been.”

Jade laughed, shrugging. “I'd telecommute, but I live five minutes from the office. What's the point?”

“Actually, it's good that you're so comfortable working on the road,” Betsy mused. “Seeing how well you're handling your normal workload and this special case, all from hotel rooms, tells me you're going to handle increased travel very well. If it comes up, I mean.”

“Increased travel?” Jade tensed a little, stopping to
lean against the desk. “Something I should know about?”

“Now, I need you to keep this quiet, but I've been approaching the partners about you. Getting them ready,” Betsy said, and Jade felt a little warm glow of pride. “Anyway, we've always done well with domestic companies, but we haven't really cracked into the international field. Considering your background in sales presentations, you could probably train some international offices, get them running with new clients. Sort of be a trouble shooter. It wouldn't be all that different from what you're doing now—except you'd be doing it all the time.”

“Really?” Jade made sure to infuse as much enthusiasm as possible in the answer, but internally, she felt her heart sink a little. She wasn't sure why. International travel, a promotion, a high-profile job? She ought to be over the moon.

She rubbed absently at her eyes with her fingertips. She was just a little fatigued, that was all. Crummy hotels. Hours on the road. And now, trouble sleeping. She was just a little worn down. And she'd been out of sorts lately.

“Speaking of sales training,” Betsy said, and Jade heard the smile in her voice, “How's your long-shot client coming along? Mr. Robson?”

Jade thought of Drew. Immediately her body went hot and achy as the memory of their one night together assailed her.

“He's f-fine,” she managed to stammer.

Have mercy, that man is fine.

“Are you actually able to train him?”

“He's doing very well,” Jade said, automatically going on the defensive as a reaction to Betsy's amused
tone. “He's picked up enough to land the past several key sales on his own. I've been able to finally concentrate on the big Inesco presentation. He's been amazing.”

Amazing was an understatement. For the past week and a half he had totally immersed himself in the job at hand. He was a sales junkie, working on client files and sales calls, going over information with her when they drove or had dinner. He had not mentioned anything other than business once in that whole length of time.

He also had not touched her, beyond the most casual of contacts—an accidental brush of arms in a hallway, the quick friction of his chest against her back if he scooted behind her to get to his seat in a conference room. Which was a good thing, she thought. It showed that he agreed with her, that their lovemaking needed to be put aside. It showed that he valued her business acumen. It showed that he respected her decision.

The fact that his not touching her was nearly as maddening as being touched by him was therefore very disturbing…since obviously she was the one who had the problem. He appeared to be fine.

“That sounds promising,” Betsy said, oblivious to Jade's ruminations. “Make sure you keep me posted. If you pull this off, the sky's the limit. I hope your passport's current!”

Jade laughed politely, then finally got Betsy off the phone. She sank onto the bed, cell phone still in hand.

She was starting to get obsessed. Cliché as it would sound, she'd never felt like this before. She liked sex, no question. It was a fun pastime, when she didn't have more important things to do. The thing was, up until now, work had
always
been more important. It wasn't
even a question of priorities. Now, she couldn't seem to focus. She was getting everything she wanted handed to her on a platter—all she had to do was to keep her head in the game and her body out of it.

She took a few deep breaths, then dialed another number on her cell phone.

“Hello?”

“Hailey.” Jade felt a little swell of relief. “Boy, am I glad I got a hold of you.”

“I was out of town with the family,” Hailey said, causing Jade to smile. The fact that Hailey's family still had group vacations said a lot. “What's up? Are you okay?”

“No, I'm not okay. I screwed up, and I need your advice.”

“Tell me everything,” Hailey said without hesitation. “Do you need me to fly down there?”

“I'm not in L.A. I'm in…” Suddenly, it occurred to her that she didn't even remember the name of the tiny town they were staying in. “I'm in New Mexico. Somewhere.”

“Somewhere, New Mexico? Why?”

“Road trip. I'm working with a new client.” She bit her lip. “The client's the problem, actually.”

“I should've guessed this would be work related.”

Jade smiled weakly. Hailey and her family had never really subscribed to the idea of climbing the corporate ladder. “This is a little different than my usual work problems.” She paused a second. “I slept with him. My client. That's the problem.”

She heard Hailey's surprised gasp. “Shut up!”

“I swear, I didn't mean for it to happen,” Jade justified in a rush. “We'd gone out to dinner and I was able to say no when he asked me that first time but
then I was locked out in the hallway naked and he answered the door in boxers and all hell broke loose!”

“You lost me somewhere near ‘naked in the hallway' or so,” Hailey said with a chuckle. “Okay. First things first. What kind of problem are we talking about?”

“Are you kidding?” Jade rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling.

“Humor me.”

“I work for the guy. He's trusting me to turn his company around. Worse, my company is trusting me to turn his company around, because I told them I could, even though it's an insane long shot. In fact, they're going to give me a promotion if I pull this off. This is too important for me to botch because I slept with my customer!”

Hailey made a noise of sympathy. “I wondered. So it wasn't like a he-was-terrible-and-now-I-have-to-deal-with-him problem.”

Jade thought about Drew—about how talented he was with his hands, his mouth. The way his body worked with hers. “No. That is definitely not a problem.”

“That sounds promising,” Hailey said. “I don't suppose you could go into detail?”

“Let's just say he's good enough to throw my game off,” Jade said. Ordinarily she had no problems sharing details with her best friend. But Drew was different, on all sorts of levels. “I can't afford to screw this up. I've already told him that we should just pretend it never happened, and keep going. He agreed with me.”

“So where's the problem?”

Jade blinked. Put that way, there shouldn't be a problem. “Well…”

“Jade,” Hailey said, her voice suspicious, “there's more than just casual sex with the wrong guy here, isn't there? What's this guy like?”

“He's…” Jade closed her eyes. “He's idealistic. He's really loyal, especially to his factory and his workers. He's dedicated. He's also arrogantly sure he's got the answers, he's bull-headed, and he's a bullet…once he's on course, he just keeps going.”

“Huh,” Hailey said. “Doesn't remind you of anybody, does he?”

“I don't follow.”

“Never mind. The more important thing here is—you didn't once tell me about what he looked like. That he had a great bod. That he's a Michelangelo in bed.”

“He does have a great bod,” Jade admitted wryly. “And he's an artist in bed, no question.”

“And for that I say congratulations to you. But the thing is…you didn't say that right off the bat. So I ask again—what's the real problem here, Jade?”

Jade went still. She knew, on some level, that it was more than the sex. But she wasn't ready for what “more” might entail. The sex was distracting enough.

What if it was more than that?

“You're thinking too hard,” Hailey said, cutting into her worries. “I can hear the gears turning from here.”

“I'm scared,” Jade said softly. Hailey was the only person in the world she would say this to, and it still made her throat choke. “I can't afford to lose this. I've worked too hard for this promotion. And I never screw up.”

“Jade,” Hailey said, her voice warm. “You won't screw up. And some of us care about you no matter what you do.”

Jade thought of Hailey, and her family…and, inexplicably, of Drew.

“Maybe you should follow your heart on this one,” Hailey said gently. “Maybe it's not a mistake. Maybe it's a risk worth taking.”

Jade held her breath.

“Well, if nothing else,” Hailey said in an impish tone, “you can tell yourself that you're just sleeping with him to take the stress out of the equation, right?”

Jade laughed. “You know me too well.”

But her mind was already working—and for once, her body was agreeing with her.

 

J
ADE AND
D
REW SAT
in the well-appointed office of Ty Reardon, oil magnate and one of Robson's richest clients. They had driven through New Mexico and were now in Texas…this was the last stop before they headed back toward San Angelo. Outside of the Reardon headquarters, it was hot, dusty, and one of the most desolate places Drew had ever seen. Inside, the place was like a palace in the desert…and Ty was obviously its undisputed king. This sale would be a good one, Drew thought. An important one.

He tried to discreetly stretch out the kinks in his neck. He was prepared, at least. He'd been working toward this for the past few days. In fact, working on this was
all
he'd been doing.

“So how's it going?” Ken had asked the last time Drew had called in. “Looks like you're racking up some serious sales.”

“Yeah. But I'll be glad to get home,” Drew said. “Next year, no more of this big road trip crap. I don't care what kind of Robson tradition I'm breaking. From
now on, we stagger it out during the year. All this travel is killing me.”

Although, to be perfectly honest, it wasn't the travel that was killing him. He strongly suspected it was the sexual frustration that was tying his mind and his body up in knots.

And the amazing thing was, Jade was able to just buckle down to business. It was as if she didn't even feel the tension buzzing between them. They still worked hard, and they still had a good time talking over dinner, joking in the car. But the heat was always prevalent, just under the surface. At least, it was to him.

He was beginning to think that his plan to convince her that she wanted him was one of the more stupid ideas he'd come up with.

Now, he supposed it made sense. He'd managed to learn the techniques she was talking about, and better still, they seemed to be working. If he could just keep Robson financed, they'd have a banner year next year…they had that many orders lined up. And this order would push them over into the black. It was a make or break point.

He turned to Jade. She was wearing a skirt, a shorter one than usual. Maybe she was running low on clean clothes, he thought, or maybe the heat prompted her to. Still, he hadn't seen her in a skirt that short since his smart-ass remark the first time he met her. Just as he'd noticed then, she had luscious legs, and the heels she was wearing only accentuated it. There was something different about her today, he thought. Almost predatory. Maybe she'd been working on another client file or on the presentation or something.

He wished absently that she'd focus that much attention on him.

Company first, he thought. He'd worry about her later, when this was taken care of. In fact, when the Inesco business was taken care of and he had more time, he'd definitely put a lot more effort into convincing her that she wanted to spend more time with this.

“You okay?” He studied her face. She was wearing her hair pulled back, and it framed her face, emphasizing the heart-shape sharpness. “You're quiet today.”

She stared back, her glance downright sultry. “I'm just fine.”

He swallowed. “Uh…good.”

A secretary stepped into the office and said, “If you could proceed to the twenty-third floor,” she explained. “Mr. Reardon will be waiting for you in the executive conference room.”

“Great,” Drew said. Jade simply smiled and they headed for the elevator. Was he just imagining things, or was there an extra swing in her hips this afternoon? Or was he finally snapping under the pressure?

He stepped in, and the doors slid closed. He turned to her. “This is it. After this, it's home to California…and the big game.”

“Mmm-hmm.” She let out a vague noise of assent, her eyes never leaving the flashing LED sign that showed the floor number. The numbers rose as the elevator did.

“Today's sale is a big one, but I think we're more than prepared.” He was babbling now. She just looked so good—and she was acting so strangely. He was used to her being a rock during these things, and now she was…