Indecent Suggestion - By Elizabeth Bevarly Page 0,33

it must have been a combination of all three factors that resulted in her behavior Wednesday night. What else could it have been? Although certainly Turner was a very attractive man, and yes, they did have a history together, however limited, of succumbing occasionally to a physical response, it hadn’t happened for years, and had only occurred then when they were both between partners and feeling natural, understandable, utterly human urges for physical closeness with the opposite sex.

That must have been what happened Wednesday, she told herself—and Turner, too. The combination of factors had just overwhelmed her, and she’d looked to him—her best friend in the whole wide world—to help her through a rough patch.

That was her story and she was sticking to it.

And Turner, though wary, had ultimately conceded that maybe she was right. Especially after she told him she had no desire to repeat the episode.

Since Wednesday, there had been no recurrence whatsoever of her aberrant behavior or wayward desires, so her theory—sorta—made sense. Ultimately, Turner thought so, too. Or at least he told her he thought so. At any rate, after talking Thursday morning about what had happened Wednesday evening, both of them had decided it had just been a weird, singular, out-of-character event, and had agreed it wouldn’t happen again.

And it wouldn’t, Becca knew. Because she planned to go out and find herself a man as soon as possible, to scratch whatever itch she was feeling. Donnie, she’d decided. An old boyfriend from a few years ago, from whom she had parted on good terms. She still ran into him from time to time because they both traveled in the same professional circles. She knew he was currently unattached, too. So she would contrive some way to run into him “accidentally,” and then one thing could lead to another, and then the two of them could relieve a little pressure together and go their separate ways in the morning.

First, however, Becca and Turner had to get through their pitch for the Bluestocking Lingerie people. Which, she noted as she glanced down at her watch, was only about fifteen minutes away.

For this meeting, Becca had succumbed to Robert Englund’s dress code, and had opted for a berry-colored wool suit with a crisp white blouse beneath. The jacket was cropped, however, ending at her waist, and black velvet piping and buttons prevented the suit from being too straitlaced. At her throat, she’d fastened a flashy Art Deco, faux-ruby brooch, with dangly earrings to match it.

She didn’t want the Bluestocking people to think she was a dull, joyless stick-in-the-mud who had no appreciation for more sensual pleasures. Frankly, she was still surprised they’d even contacted Englund Advertising, since the company wasn’t known for being hip. Still, the pitch she and Turner had put together definitely was. If Bluestocking didn’t like the campaign, then they weren’t the chic, farsighted, with-it company they were striving hard to be.

So there.

Turner was already seated in the boardroom with their employer when Becca joined the group. Bluestocking had sent three representatives to hear the pitch, the highest-ranking being a raven-haired, red-lipsticked, fortysomething woman in a chic black suit who introduced herself as Donetta Prizzi, VP in charge of marketing. Becca thought she looked bored and difficult to please. And the two guys with her—both much younger and decidedly assigned to the roles of yes-men…or, rather, yes-boys—looked every bit as difficult to impress.

But that was okay. Because what she and Turner had in their corner was sheer dynamite. Inhaling a deep breath and giving her jacket a good tug, she entered the boardroom with a cheery smile and got down to business.

TURNER SIGHED SILENTLY in relief as he took his seat beside Becca once the two of them had concluded their pitch to the Bluestocking people. It had gone even better than he’d thought it would. And they’d loved his new slogan, he thought smugly, which was, as Becca had suggested, short and memorable: Blue for You. Englund Advertising had even managed to secure the rights to an 80s pop song by that name to use in the TV spots, something that would hopefully make the women in Bluestocking’s desired demographic of late thirties through late forties feel young and playful—and, with luck, horny as teenagers—again. He had only to look at the expression on Donetta Prizzi’s face to know this account was in the bag.

“You’ve hit on exactly what we want to do with the new line of products,” she said. “We want to