Sarah Mayberry – Take On Me (страница 8)

Sadie’s eyes narrowed as she processed what he’d said. Dylan waited and watched, his eyes drifting of their own accord over her face. She had great skin—sun-kissed, clear. Glowing was probably the way the cosmetic companies would describe it. Except it didn’t look as though she was wearing a lot of makeup to him.

“Future planning for Kirk and Loni is that they reconcile. We don’t want them getting a divorce,” she said.

“I saw your forward-planning stuff,” he said. “I thought we could get a few more twists and turns in there before we got them back together. So, Kirk’s signed the papers—but he hasn’t sent them anywhere yet.”

She stared at him, that muscle flexing in her jaw again. Good skin, and great eyes. Why hadn’t he remembered her eyes? She must have had those back in high school, even if the breasts that thrust up beneath her T-shirt had been conspicuously absent back then.

“And what’s going to stop him from handing the papers over to his lawyer?” she asked.

“This week, I figure Loni’s going to have a visit from an old flame. Someone to turn the heat up,” he said. He grinned cockily, daring her not to like it.

“And next week Kirk learns his brother has died?” Sadie asked, carefully not passing comment yet.

“Maybe. If we can’t find any more twists and turns before we get there,” Dylan said noncommittally.

Her eyes flashed once, briefly, then the calm, unreadable mask was back in place.

“That all sounds very interesting,” she said. “Rather than you going through it all verbally, though, I think I’d prefer to read the episodes, so I can really absorb the nuance.”

Her lips thinned for a moment, but nothing could disguise their plump poutiness for long. She had a very sexy mouth, he judged. Belatedly, he became aware of what he was doing: checking Sadie Post out.

Wrenching his brain back on track, he focused on the main event.

“Sure. You’re the boss, after all,” he said.

She’d been making a note on her pad, but her head shot up at that. They stared at one other for a long moment, then her gaze shifted to something over his shoulder.

“The rest of the team is here,” she said. “I don’t want to hold you up.”

He could have sworn she sounded relieved. The suspicion was reinforced when she stood, signaling the meeting was over. She was rattled. He relished the realization, even as he made himself a promise—he planned on shaking her cage a lot more than this over the next few months.

Instead of responding to her cues, he remained seated, wanting to see how far he could push her. Slowly, deliberately provocative, he slid his eyes over her body.

What was supposed to be a goad quickly turned into a pleasure tour. It wasn’t exactly a hardship looking at her, he admitted to himself as his gaze lingered on the firm, uptilted mounds of her breasts. She had the sort of lithe, elegant body that would look amazing naked. His eyes dropped to her hips. He hadn’t seen her butt yet, but he bet it was peachy. He wondered what kind of underwear she wore, whether she was a believer in the thong.

“You know, I would have walked past you in the street,” he said once he’d lifted his eyes back to her face. He was satisfied to see that she was blushing, her eyes sparkling with anger. “You sure have changed a lot.”

“Yes. You’re still pretty much the same, though,” she said.

She didn’t mean it as a compliment, he knew.

He stood, taking pleasure from looking down on her, even if he only had the advantage of an inch or two.

“You’d be surprised.”

He drilled her with his eyes before he delivered his parting words.

“I’m really looking forward to the next few months, Sadie.”

SADIE CLUTCHED at her desk as he exited her office, allowing herself to at last register how weak her knees were, and that her entire body was trembling with reaction.

Automatically her eyes followed his rangy body as he walked away, dropping to catalog his strong back and lean, trim hips. Well-worn denim sculpted the perfect male ass she remembered from all those years ago. It was still extremely grabbable, she decided dispassionately, the kind of perky male butt that made most women drool.

Every woman except her, of course. She was forever immune to any so-called charm Dylan Anderson had to offer.

She sank into her chair and stared at the notes she’d taken. Jumbled words and a messy, violent doodle filled the page. A pretty accurate depiction of her mindscape at present.

She felt blindsided, overwhelmed. He was the enemy. She didn’t want him at Ocean Boulevard. How could Claudia have done this to her?

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she wiped it out. This was not Claudia’s fault. If Dylan Anderson wasn’t who he was, he’d be the find of the year. A huge feather in their caps, in fact. He’d been nominated for a number of awards for his work on The Boardroom. As much as it galled her, she knew he was well respected. Admired, even.

“Gag me with a cheese grater,” she said out loud, reverting to one of her favorite high-school phrases. For some reason, it felt appropriate.

“Talking to yourself. Second sign of madness.”

It was Grace, already sliding into her visitor’s chair. Sadie felt pathetically pleased to see her, and had to bite back the overwhelming urge to blurt the whole sad saga out on the spot.

“I’m not even going to ask what the first sign is,” she said, hiding the revealing doodle in a desk drawer.

“You know, I can never remember. Is it hairy palms? Or is that masturbation?”

As always, Grace managed to tease a smile out of Sadie, despite her preoccupation. “Sorry, I didn’t have a Catholic education.” Sadie shrugged.

“More pity you. If only you knew the guilt you could be enduring on a daily basis,” Grace said as she crossed her legs. Sadie’s eyes were drawn to the dark purple stilettos on her feet.

“Hey. They’re new,” she said, desperate for distraction.

“Yep. Found them in a little flea pit off Sunset Strip,” Grace said smugly.

The fact that Grace wore a lime-green vintage fifties dress with white piping and belt should have made the shoes a big mistake, but, as usual, her friend managed to pull the look off. With her dark burgundy hair worn long with very short, straight bangs, Sadie reflected that Grace had been born about half a century too late.

“So, what do you think of Mr. Studly?” Grace asked, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

“I hate him,” Sadie said, then immediately clapped a hand over her mouth. She honestly hadn’t meant to say anything. She’d planned to hold it all in and try to work out some strategy. But the words had leaped out of her mouth as though they had a life of their own.

Grace blinked.

“Really? God, what did he say? He was only in here for half an hour.”

“We went to school with each other.”

“No way.” Grace’s eyes narrowed. “Why am I sensing pent-up teen angst here?”

Ridiculous tears suddenly welled in Sadie’s eyes and she blinked furiously.

“Hey, are you okay?” Grace asked, really concerned now. She stood and started to move around the desk to comfort Sadie.

Sadie held up a hand to forestall her. “Don’t! Please! I don’t want him to know I’m upset,” she said, shooting a wary look out her doorway to where she could see Dylan talking casually to two of his team members.

“Okay.”

Grace sank back into her chair, her face creased with worry. “This guy really did a number on you, didn’t he?”

Sadie took a deep breath and sighed heavily.

“It’s ancient history. It shouldn’t have this much power over me,” she said ruefully.

“Yeah, right. In my opinion, the years between thirteen and nineteen keep therapists all over the world in ski holidays and suntans. Kids can be cruel, man,” Grace said.

“It’s stupid to even think about it. I mean, I’m an adult now. None of that stuff counts anymore,” Sadie said. She didn’t sound even remotely convincing.

Grace wasn’t buying, either.

“I think you should tell Claudia,” Grace said firmly.

“No.”

“Why not? There’s no way you would have hired this creep on your own. Claudia will understand.”

Sadie loved that her friend had already consigned Dylan to the creep category without even hearing her story. She was a true friend.

“I can’t. What am I going to say? ‘He was mean to me in school, make him go away’? There’s no way I can put Claudia in that position.”

“What’s the point of being friends with the boss if you can’t exploit it a little?” Grace joked.

Sadie managed a halfhearted smile.