Ann Major – Secrets Of The Night: A Case of Kiss and Tell (страница 20)

I’ll get a table if I’m there first.

I have one reserved. See you soon.

Nichole was unsure if she should answer back. She knew it would just be something like okay, but she hated to not respond to a message. When she IMed with Gail and Willow, they teased her that she had to have the last word. And she knew it was true. Finally, she just texted back Okay and put her phone away.

The cab pulled to a stop in front of the Big Apple Kiwi Klub, which housed a hotel and nightclub in one facility. The hotel had a Michelin-starred restaurant and featured a traveling exhibit of Gustav Klimt’s work. The Klubs were an international chain, owned by Gail’s fiancé, Russell Holloway.

Nichole exited the taxi and headed to the restaurant on the third floor. She gave Conner’s name to the maître d’ and by the time their table was ready, Conner had arrived. He put his hand on the small of her back as they followed the seating hostess to their table.

No one looking at them would think that they weren’t involved. Nichole realized that she needed to have a chat with her editor and let him know that she was “dating” Conner before the story ran so that it didn’t look like anything inappropriate was going on.

That was just another complication to this deal she’d made. She knew the stakes were high and she’d gambled everything on this being a story that could take her career to the next level.

Once they were seated, she noticed that Conner had found time to shave and change his clothes after he’d left her apartment this morning.

He ordered sparkling water for both of them and told the waiter they’d signal him when they were ready to order. “We need a few minutes to talk.”

“No problem, sir,” the waiter said and backed away.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to talk to you before we order our food.”

“Not at all. What’s up?” she asked.

“I wanted to give you a chance to back out of our bargain,” he said.

“Why now?” she asked.

“It seems as if it’s weighing heavily on your mind and I don’t want you to feel that you have to continue on with it.”

“Will you still sit down for an interview?” she asked.

He shook his head. She felt angry that he might want to renege on their deal now that she’d slept with him. “I’m not going back on my word, Conner. Are you?”

Ten

Conner immediately realized his mistake, but he had wanted to give her a chance to back out. “I didn’t mean it at all the way you’ve taken it.”

“How did you mean it, then?”

“Just that I can tell how much our bargain is troubling you … and I wanted to give you an out.”

“I appreciate that, but I’d only take it if you still intended to pursue a relationship with me as well as letting me talk to you about Matchmakers, Inc.”

“I understand. Let’s put my question behind us. Shall we order lunch and then discuss the details of our arrangement?”

She nodded, but there was a tightness to her features that told him he wasn’t forgiven. And he couldn’t blame her. He’d worded his idea in the worst possible way.

And he’d forgotten something extremely important: She’d slept with him last night and undoubtedly felt a little vulnerable as far as he was concerned this morning.

They both ordered and once they were alone again, Nichole pulled a notebook from her purse and a fountain pen. “I would like to get a couple of interviews scheduled.”

“I understand. I think for both our sakes, maybe we should draw up an agreement between the two of us.”

“Like what?”

“Just what I expect from you and what you expect from me,” he said.

She wrote their names next to each other on a blank page in her notebook then drew a line down the middle. Under her name she wrote the word mistress and under his interviews.

“That’s just the start,” she said. “We agreed last night that you would do an interview about the matchmaking service and that you would allow me to observe you with your family.”

“Yes, we did,” he said.

She added those to the column under his name.

“Mistress is a vague term,” he said. “But I’d like you to live with me in my apartment for the duration of our time together.”

“I don’t know about that. Will you allow me to check with my boss this afternoon?” she asked. “I’m going to say simply that I’ve interviewed you and we are dating. Let him know about the relationship and make sure that he’s cool with it.”

“Shouldn’t you have already checked?” he asked. It sounded like there were details she hadn’t covered and that didn’t seem like Nichole.

“I have to check it out. There are other reporters who have written about their significant others, but I just want to let my editor know we are dating. If we hadn’t been seen out in public together we might have a chance at remaining under the radar, but I’d rather not take any additional chances.”

“Agreed,” he said. “Barring any problems with that, I think you should move into my apartment this evening.”

“Isn’t that quick?” she asked.

“It’s a little late to think of that now. You’re mine, red, and I want you under my roof.”

She shivered with sensual excitement at the way he claimed her. Her mind tried to warn her not to let it go to her head, though. She had to focus on the interview. That should help her keep cool as far as he was concerned. Not so easily agitated by everything he said and did.

“Sounds good. Do you have time to meet with me tomorrow for the interview?” she asked.

He pulled out his iPhone and after a few minutes said, “I can give you thirty minutes tomorrow.”

“That’s not enough time, but it will do for a start. When?” she asked.

“Ten-thirty,” he said.

She jotted that under the column for his name.

“I’d like to do one interview at the Matchmakers, Inc. offices,” she said. “Do you keep an office there?”

“I don’t. I’m not all that involved with the everyday operations of the company.”

“Do you ever go down there?”

“Occasionally, for board meetings. We can use the boardroom at Macafee International if you don’t feel like using my office,” he said. “Are you afraid of a repeat of what happened last time?”

She was. But then they could be riding together in a cab and she’d want him. What was the hold he had over her? If past experience had taught her anything, once she’d slept with a man usually the lust started to wane, but the opposite was true with Conner.

She seemed to want him more. Even now, sitting across from him and writing down details of their indecent agreement, she was thinking about the way his hands had caressed her body last night and the way his mouth felt against hers when he kissed her.

“Not unless you are,” she said, leaning forward and taking his hand in hers.

“Hell, I’m not afraid it will happen—I’m counting on it,” he said.

She almost smiled, but Conner was too self-confident to begin with. She didn’t need to react to everything he said and let him know that she was under his spell.

Damn. She hadn’t thought about it that way before, but that was the truth. She was truly under his spell. No other man had made her feel this way. Which was why she’d been a serial dater with her little boy toys.

But now, as she sat across from Conner and stared into his blue eyes, she realized that she wanted so much more from him. She wanted something that felt scary. Something she’d never tried before.

She wanted something permanent and solid. And she knew that she had no idea how to make that work. It was a good thing she was writing down the details of this arrangement because maybe seeing those stark facts would help her remember that Conner was just a story and she was his mistress, not his girlfriend. He had been very clear on what he wanted from her and that was sex—not forever.

Forever had never been that important to her because, after her childhood, she’d always believed that it would be smart for her to live alone. But there was something about Conner that made her rethink that. Or maybe it was all the stories she’d been doing on matchmaking. She was forgetting the realistic woman she’d always been and dreaming of things she wasn’t sure she wanted.

Conner had booked the lunch right before another meeting so he wouldn’t be tempted to linger too long with Nichole. When his iPhone beeped to remind him it was time to go, he signaled for the check.

“Text me as soon as you find out from your boss if you can move in with me. From my side that is one of my must-haves.”

“You made that clear. I’ll let you know as soon as I can,” she said.

“I have a meeting in fifteen minutes,” Conner said as he handed his credit card to the waiter. “I’m sorry we didn’t get to finish talking over the details, but I feel as if we got the main things out and on the table.”

“I do, too,” she said.

“Great. I’ll be looking forward to hearing from you about tonight.”