From the doubtful looks on their faces, Mary knew she looked even less convincing than she sounded.
“Personally,” Yvette said as she lifted her drink to her lips, “I prefer forbidden kisses.”
Mary had been intent on letting the conversation peter out, but now she turned from the tree and pinned Yvette with a laser-sharp gaze. “Who are you having forbidden kisses with?”
Yvette reached into the box of ornaments so that Mary couldn’t see her face as she muttered, “No one,” but it hadn’t been that long since Mary was nineteen, and she knew better than most about being headstrong and foolish. Maybe, she thought, she should tell them about her mistakes. But with the Christmas carols playing and their laughter ringing out, she didn’t want to ruin the evening with what would surely sound like a lecture.
Not for the first time since the three models had moved in with her, Mary realized what her mother must have gone through. How did you give advice to someone you cared about without ruining your relationship? And what could you possibly say to get a young woman with the entire world at her feet to listen to your advice without storming out in a huff?
Hopefully, one day when Mary had children of her own, she’d have some of the answers.
Chapter Eight
Over the course of the next few days, Mary not only gave dozens of radio, print and TV interviews about the Pocket Planner, but she and Gerry traveled all through San Francisco taking pictures of her using it in different parts of the city. After the handful of kisses Jack had stolen from her—and especially given how quickly her resistance had fallen both times—Mary knew she should be glad for this break from seeing him to regain her sanity. Before Jack Sullivan had walked into her life, she’d been perfectly fine. Content. Comfortable.
Mary frowned. Was that what her supposedly glamorous, jet-setting life had turned into? Fine, content, comfortable? If that was all she had to show for her adventurous life, had it really been worth turning her back on her old life? After all, she could have stayed in Italy and gotten married to the first boy who proposed and ended up with fine, content and comfortable.
She was so lost in her turbulent thoughts that she walked right into Gerry’s studio and opened the door to his darkroom without paying attention to the red light above the door.
“Shut the door!”
Some photographers were yellers, but not Gerry. In fact, she couldn’t ever remember him raising his voice…until now. Mary slammed the door shut behind her, but Gerry was already swearing over the print he’d lost because of her stupid mistake.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, even though her apology couldn’t fix a thing. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
But she knew perfectly well what she’d been thinking. She’d been trying to convince herself that not being tempted by Jack was a good thing. Yet she had as little restraint when it came to thinking about him as she did to kissing him.
The harder she tried to push him from her mind, the deeper he stuck.
Dropping the ruined photo into the trash, Gerry turned to face her. “I take it Jack hasn’t called?”
The room was dark, but not dark enough that her friend couldn’t see the truth in her eyes. “He’s just doing what I asked him to do.”
“I’ve known you for more than a decade, and I’ve never seen you like this.” Gerry cocked his head and pinned her with his deep photographer’s gaze. “That’s why you agreed to take on this campaign, isn’t it, and why you’re working so hard on it? You’ve fallen for the brilliant—and gorgeous—engineer.”
Allen had commented before one of her interviews that she was going to be very glad she’d given up her fee in favor of a portion of the profits. Of course, she didn’t tell the chairman that it was all for Jack, that on their first night together in the diner she’d fallen head over heels for him before realizing he wanted more from her than pie and conversation. Gerry, on the other hand, had seen right through her.
“I’ve tried so hard to keep my head on my shoulders around Jack, but…”
She found it extremely difficult to put into words what she was feeling. If it were simply attraction, it would be easy. But the emotion rolling through her was something much deeper than that.
She knew better than to want this much or feel so strongly when every time she’d given her heart to someone, they’d tossed it aside without a care. And yet, she hadn’t been able to stop herself where Jack was concerned.
“I’ve never known anyone so driven by a dream, or so passionate about making it become reality.”
“I have,” Gerry said. “You.”
Mary couldn’t contain her surprise. “Me?”
“I’ll never forget that first day you walked into my studio. You were as green and inexperienced as they came, but Randy had promised me there was something special about you, something that went beyond your outward beauty. You stepped in front of my camera and even though you weren’t polished, or had any clue whatsoever about what you were doing, I saw exactly what Randy had been talking about. Your passion for life, and all those dreams you wanted to make real, were right there in your eyes.” He put his hand on her arm. “I know the business hasn’t always been easy on you and that you’ve been through tough times with your family and with men who didn’t deserve you, but can’t you see it’s only made you stronger?”
From the line above his head he pulled a few prints that had dried and slipped them into an envelope. “Jack and his partners need to see these tonight so that they can pull their favorites to present to the board. I’ve got to leave right now for another meeting. Their address is on the front of the envelope.”
* * *
Jack followed the Realtor through the large building on Page Mill Road with Howie and Larry. Now that Mary was working to support the Pocket Planner, retailers were starting to come on board in big numbers. Allen wanted to make sure they had their offices ready and new employees in place immediately after the Christmas boom so they could begin R & D on new products. The past few days had gone at warp speed and Jack shouldn’t have had a spare moment for anything but the production demands and planning the future of his company.
But as Jack worked to focus on what the Realtor was saying about manufacturing floors and office space, all he could think about was how Mary had felt in his arms. How soft her skin was beneath his fingertips. The sweet taste of her lips. The surprise in her eyes when he’d talked about waking up next to her in two years. And how he’d barely been able to stop himself from calling her or, worse, showing up on her doorstep.