Jeanie London – Run for Covers (страница 2)

No, this assignment wasn’t turning out to be anything at all like champagne….

1

DIDN’T TORI Ford think about anything but sex?

Adam Grant wished she would, but the local reporter who’d unexpectedly become his escort for the duration of this grand opening didn’t seem interested in much else. She’d made it her life’s quest to teach him to have fun, and sex apparently topped her list of fun pastimes.

While he generally appreciated ambitious, focused women, Tori Ford was beyond ambitious and focused. She was outrageous. Not only had she promised to do whatever it took to get her story, she wanted to experience that story for herself.

She wanted to live the magic of Falling Inn Bed, and Breakfast with him.

Adam didn’t get personal with guests or co-workers, and in her current capacity, Tori Ford qualified as the latter.

So here he was, trying to run interference so the grand opening won good reviews, and this reporter’s no-holds-barred tenacity went head-to-head with his no-holds-barred professionalism. Adam had a strict business ethic, honed at the knees of the elderly grandparents who’d raised him.

Business was business. Personal was personal.

By separating the two, his grandparents had run a successful manufacturing operation for over half a century while keeping their marriage equally successful.

He wouldn’t mix business with pleasure. And certainly not with a woman only interested in living her story.

Unfortunately, keeping business and pleasure separated during this grand opening was proving to be a problem. The promotional event inaugurating the new Wedding Wing had been dubbed the Naughty Nuptials for good reason. Every function was designed exclusively for couples, with sex front and center.

The harder he tried to keep their relationship professional in the face of all that sex, the more Tori Ford kept trying to get personal. She saw everything as an opportunity to taunt him into joining the fun.

Like now, for example. While the featured bridal couple posed for photos after the ceremony, Tori had slipped away to her suite to freshen her makeup.

Or so she’d said.

Most women Adam knew didn’t undress to put on mascara, and when he returned to accompany her to the reception, Tori opened her door about as undressed as she could be short of greeting him in the buff. The beaded gown she’d worn to the wedding had been replaced by a transparent robe.

Equally transparent was her ploy to breach the boundaries of professional behavior. Looking back, Adam supposed any request to visit her suite should have been suspect. She’d been using these ploys often enough in the two days of their acquaintance, each time upping the stakes.

Tori Ford scored a big hit this time.

She even looked like sex. All creamy skin and vibrant red hair, she tempted him with slim curves covered in barely there undergarments. The robe only reached the top of her thighs and hung open to reveal more than it concealed.

He was thinking personal now. Despite himself, his gaze dropped from the tumble of bright hair to the beautiful face where midnight-blue eyes watched him and pouty lips pursed to kissable perfection.

She wore a necklace of unusual design. Swirls of gold encircled her neck, with a solitary teardrop emerald dangling toward her cleavage. The silky bra clung to her breasts, muting blush-colored nipples but doing nothing to hide the tight tips pointing to needy little peaks.

He should have had enough self-control to stop there.

He didn’t. Adam tortured himself further by skimming his gaze down that expanse of slim waist and smooth stomach to the scrap of matching fabric that hardly qualified as panties. The filmy triangle rode low, directing his attention to the juncture of sleek thighs, where he could detect the faintest hint of golden-red hair beneath.

The blood drained from his head so fast he felt dizzy.

And still Adam couldn’t stop. He was human, after all, and even worse, he hadn’t had sex since his ex-fiancée had broken off their engagement, prompting his move across the country to take this management position at Falling Inn Bed, and Breakfast.

Right now he wished he’d never left Seattle.

Yet the career move had seemed a good opportunity at the time, before he faced Tori’s shapely legs showcased on strappy high heels and her determination to get him into bed.

Sweeping his gaze over her again, he said in a voice that didn’t sound as raw-edged as he felt, “Shall I come back later?”

He would not let her know she’d scored a hit.

“No need. I was just taking a breather. Don’t let anyone ever tell you beaded gowns aren’t heavy.” She fanned herself with a manicured hand. “It’s warm in here. How is it out there?”

“The temperature’s fine, Ms. Ford.” Nothing wrong with the inn’s climate control system, despite the summer heat.

His body temperature proved a different matter.

“I keep asking you to call me Tori.” She flashed him an exasperated smile. “Why don’t you come in? I won’t take long.”

Though she issued her invitation casually, Adam recognized this maneuver for what it was—another move toward personal.

If she could get him inside the Wedding Knight Suite, they’d be a step closer to the bed. And with her looking the way she did, she’d keep him awake all night.

The memory of her in that robe would keep him awake tonight anyway, but he wouldn’t tip his hand to Tori. Not when he’d declined to participate in her contest of wills. Regardless of how much his body urged him otherwise.

“I’ll wait out here for you.”

“In the hallway?”

He inclined his head, not offering further explanation. He’d already established where he stood on this issue, and wouldn’t play her game by rationalizing his decision. To do so would only imply she might sway him the other way. She couldn’t.

Leaving the door open wide, she turned and walked away, treating him to a remarkable view of her backside. The see-through robe made it impossible not to notice how the T-back panties disappeared between her shapely cheeks, and combined with those nicely toned thighs… His body heat went on the rise again.

Letting his eyes drift shut, Adam inhaled deeply and willed his body to behave, implementing a cleansing technique he used before working out. Karate was his sport of choice and at the moment, he appreciated the strict discipline it demanded. Another deep breath tempered the memory of a half-naked Tori Ford. Slowly the tension receded, and his body came firmly back into his grasp.

Opening his eyes, Adam straightened his tie and waited, as prepared for her next move as he’d ever be. Reformulating his game plan proved more difficult. He simply didn’t understand this woman. Why she thought he needed rescuing from a dreary existence was a mystery. True, work had taken up most of his time since he’d made the move to Niagara Falls, but that was normal when establishing a new career path.

And he’d done nothing to encourage her interest. In fact, he’d resisted her every attempt to engage him—and she’d made many. Since they’d met, she’d been teasing him and trying to provoke a reaction. Yes, they had chemistry, but that didn’t mean they had to act on it.

Unfortunately, the not acting kept getting tougher. He couldn’t help wondering what Tori’s next move would be, and they were only a couple of days into this grand opening. Naughty Nuptials comprised three weeks of events. When Wild, Wild Weddings concluded after tonight’s reception, he still had to survive Risqué Receptions and Hottest Honeymoons.

Somehow, Adam would manage. Tori Ford might be determined to get her scoop on the inn, but he was equally determined to prove this establishment, despite its status as a romance resort, conducted business on the level. Promoting romance between couples wasn’t synonymous with orgies in the main lobby, and Adam would make sure she understood the difference.

Of course, he wasn’t always clear on the difference himself…especially since the focus of the Naughty Nuptials was sex, which likely explained why he reacted to this woman with a need testing his restraint.

And almost as if she wanted to prove the point, Tori reappeared, looking sultry in a beaded green gown that clung lazily to her curves. Spangles flashed with every step, and he inhaled another cleansing breath to shore up his defenses.

Even with her clothes on, this woman looked like sex.

“Will you give me a hand?” She turned and presented her back with its open zipper. Lifting her hair, she moved close enough to bombard him with her subtly spicy fragrance. “Do you mind?”

Yes.

Clearly this was another power play—one he wouldn’t let her win. Not when he came face-to-face with all that bare skin. Not when he knew she’d managed to get her zipper down without assistance in the first place. He wouldn’t let her see how that one touch made his every thought zero in on his fingertips.

Chemistry practically crackled between them. Every sense honed in on the texture of her skin. Every nerve kicked into hyperalert and only his skill at self-discipline saved him from a reaction that otherwise would have leveled him.