Straddling the Line - By Sarah M. Anderson Page 0,27
and part of him appreciated her treating his time and hard-earned money with respect. But that part was small and buried beneath a growing frustration. What did a man have to do to get a woman alone for more than two minutes? Or was this more her blowing him off now that she’d gotten what she wanted? He wanted to think she was different, but maybe he’d been wrong.
As if to highlight how uncomfortable his frustration was, she kissed him. A soft and gentle thing, her lips touching his—but it felt like so much more. Something inside him, something he couldn’t pin down, shifted. It had nothing to do with the bottom line and everything to do with her.
“I wanted to make things easier for you,” he said, his voice low and deep against her cheek.
Her chest hitched up, like she’d sucked in a bunch of air. “You did. You do. It’s just…”
Yeah. Someone had to keep the wheels from falling off.
“Monday?” One of her hands had snaked around the back of his neck.
“Can’t. Meetings scheduled with bankers all day. Same for Tuesday.” Speaking of keeping the wheels from falling off… “Wednesday.”
“That’s the opening day of the powwow. The powwow!” Her body shot up against his, chasing most of the soft and gentle thoughts right out of his head. “You could come!”
No, really—what did a man have to do to get a woman alone? Because a powwow sure sounded a hell of a lot like more quality time with all of the people who were probably wondering where the two of them had run off to.
She must have sensed his hesitation, because she added, “There’ll be drumming on the traditional drums, you know.”
Well, hell. He had to admit he was curious about that big leather-and-wood thing in the multipurpose room, and it did seem to be the only way to see her outside of his office and her school. “Okay. I’ll pick you up.” So he didn’t know where he was going. He wasn’t about to let her drive him on something that was most definitely a date. “When and where?”
“Come to my apartment in the city. Here.” She slipped free of his arms and dug around in her pockets until she came up with a piece of paper and a pen. “Can you be there by five?”
“One of the nice things about running my own company is I can be there whenever I’d like to,” he said, more because it sounded good than because it was true. Some days, he felt like he was chained to the damn place.
A low whistle cut through the air. “Heads up, man—not that I’m looking or anything,” Stick said with barely contained laughter.
Less than twenty seconds later, Sandra White Plume rounded the front of the van. Her gaze cut from him to Josey and back, but she just said, “Josey?”
“Hi, Mom.” Man, that pretty blush was going to be the final nail in his coffin. But then, to his utter amazement, Josey went on, “So, as soon as I have that tax-deductible information for your records, I’ll be in contact.”
“Sounds great.” Tax-deductible powwows?
“Mr. Bolton, we cannot thank you enough,” Sandra began for the fourth time. “You must come to the tribal powwow this week—meet the people you’re helping.”
He looked at Josey, who was doing her level best not to laugh. How the heck had Sandra called that? “Sounds great. When does it start?”
“Wednesday.” Sandra beamed at him. “I’m sure Josey can fill you in on all the details.” She looked at Josey, and Ben almost heard her say, “If she hasn’t already.”
He wasn’t fooling anyone.
Least of all Josey.
Five
The sound of the buzzer sent Josey jumping away from the mirror, her heart racing.
He was on time.
Even though she’d known the buzzer was going to ring, it had still startled the heck out of her. She shoved the clip into her hair and shut off the mindless TV she’d been trying to distract herself with. She tried not to run down the steps, but she was horrified to discover she was panting a little when she got to the bottom.
Cool, calm, collected, she thought as she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. It’s only Ben—CFO, chief benefactor, rock star and all-around hot guy. No need to panic.
Right.
She opened the door and about fell over her own feet. Ben had his back to her as he did something with his motorcycle. Why on God’s green earth had she thought he’d be in the gray