Unwrapping Mr. Wright

Her chin jutted forward into that stubborn line he’d seen so many times at the office. “So what if you kissed me? I’m sure you kiss a lot of women. And it was just a kiss.” Her face reddened. “And okay, maybe a little more. But it meant nothing. I’d had a few glasses of wine. Plus, I didn’t know it was you.”

Ouch. True, perhaps, but actually hearing the words certainly dented his male ego and pride. He’d kissed her, and it had been fantastic. Better than fantastic. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been celibate for a year.

He focused on Lauren’s lips. Even devoid of all gloss and color, they were beautiful. As was she. Had he never really seen her before this moment? He sobered slightly. Jeff probably hadn’t, either, which was why she’d chosen to seduce him. Stupid lucky guy.

“Listen, Justin, if we both purge the memory from our brains, then we can simply rewrite history and pretend tonight didn’t happen. Okay? Besides, isn’t that what men do all the time?”

No, it wasn’t, and her perfect PR answer was not okay. He frowned. Was it really that easy for women to write something off? The memory of her kiss and the feel of her body would be etched in his brain for quite a while to come. But, Justin’s mama had raised her boys to be chivalrous. This situation certainly called for that. “All right. If that’s the way you want it and if you can live with that decision, well, so can I. We’ll purge our memories. Pretend tonight didn’t happen.”

“Good.” Lauren nodded and her hair fell about her shoulders. He stifled a groan. Sleep would not be at all peaceful tonight.

“Anyway, now that we’ve got this situation settled…” Her voice trailed off and she glanced at the door.

A sense of letdown filled him and Lauren’s dismissal didn’t sit well. “You want me to go.”

“If I’m not being too rude,” Lauren said. “I think I want to get some sleep. I have a busy day tomorrow, what with being off today. I’m sure there were things that I missed.”

She’d missed all the company crises, but Justin didn’t care about those anymore. This crisis was more important. He stared at her, seeing her flushed face, the subtle impatience in her features. She’d covered her embarrassment admirably, and thus his respect for her grew. No, now wasn’t the time to fill her in on all the crises that the company had handled today.

“Yeah, you probably do have a busy day,” Justin said. He felt more awkward than a kid on his first date. His brother was way too fortunate and Justin had the urge to beat Jeff up the moment he returned from Buffalo, just for old times’ sake. “I guess I’ll see you at the office.”

“Sure,” Lauren said with a relieved nod. “It’ll be fine, really. Nothing will change and everything will be just as it was before. You’ll see.”

Somehow Justin didn’t believe her as he went back over to his brother’s condo. No, he’d kissed her. All she’d done was make him see her differently: see her as a desirable woman, instead of just an employee with lots of expensive ideas. No, he doubted anything could be the same between them again.

Justin Wright tossed the briefcase down. It landed on his desk with an annoying thump. Tuesdays should be outlawed, especially Tuesdays following long, sleepless Monday nights filled with erotic and sexy dreams of Lauren Brown. “Sylvia!”

Sylvia entered his office and arched an eyebrow at him. “Yes?”

“Is Lauren in?”

“Of course she is. Her personal day was yesterday, remember?”

Justin attempted to put out of his mind the erotic image of just how personal that day had gotten. “So she’s here.”

“I said she was. You’re the one who’s fashionably late,” Sylvia pointed out.

Justin grimaced. “I didn’t sleep well last night, so when I finally did I caught a few extra Zs. I’m staying at Jeff’s until my floors are done.” He suddenly made a fist. “Why am I explaining myself? You’re my secretary, not my mother.”

Sylvia’s eyes twinkled and she shrugged. “Who knows? Anyhow, would you like me to fetch Lauren for you?”

Justin shook his head. “No, I’ll go find her. Later. Right now I need the Peters report and my mail.”

“I’ll get both.” Sylvia left the office. She stuck her head back in. “Do you want some coffee? You seem like you could use caffeine. I just made a fresh pot.”

“Sure,” Justin growled. For the next few minutes he buried himself in his work, then finally pushed the meeting minutes aside. He had to admit: his concentration was shot. His eyelids felt heavy, and for a moment he let them drift mercifully closed. Maybe here in the office he wouldn’t picture Lauren dancing half-naked, feel the touch of her lips on his.

“Sleeping on the job?”

His eyes flew open. He recognized that voice. “Lauren.”

“I ran into Sylvia in the kitchen. She said you were asking about me.”

Lauren held out a steaming mug of coffee, and their fingers touched briefly as he took the mug from her. Just like last night, Justin felt electricity spark between them. He resolved to turn up the humidifiers.

“So when you asked Sylvia if I was here, did you need something, or were you afraid I would take a sick day, that I somehow couldn’t face you?”

No, that wasn’t it at all, but now that she was in his office, he wasn’t ready to face her.

At least not yet.

He had to get himself together. She’d tormented his dreams, and now here she was in the flesh. Bad verbiage. Here she was, standing in front of him.

Oh, whatever. He tossed aside his attempts at proper semantics. For even though she wore a plain boring business skirt and nondescript beige blouse instead of that tight red sweater like Friday, Justin could no longer envision plain old Lauren Brown. Her hair color was different, her makeup had changed. But the real reason was that he had changed. His body had felt hers, and it was a fresh, delectable memory despite its ending. Try as he might, Justin didn’t see his PR employee; instead, he still saw the siren who’d danced, who’d called to him and seduced him with a spiraling kiss.

“So, did you have something you needed?” Lauren asked again.

Yeah, he needed, all right. He needed to get Lauren out of his system. Unfortunately, tossing her over his desk was sexual harassment, and the other option—sending her far away to Siberia—also wouldn’t work. She had a job to do, and she wanted his brother.

Heck, no one had ever really wanted nerdy Jeff over supercool Justin, at least in the long-term, forever way. But Lauren did.

Worse, he couldn’t take on the challenge. He couldn’t pursue her, topple her defenses, capture those lips again in a mind-numbing kiss. She didn’t want him, and while he could get her to desire him physically and get her to beg for his touch, he’d grown tired of those juvenile games aeons ago. As it was, she didn’t respect him. And respect was what he craved. His mother had raised a chivalrous man, despite what some might think.

He tried to cover. “Actually, I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to talk to you, to make sure we’re still squared away about last night.”

Lauren’s eyes darted around Justin’s office as if she was afraid someone else might be listening. “What was last night?”

One spectacular moment that had been blasted away. Justin inhaled a deep breath. “Let me use another tactic. Since we all work together, I wanted to make peace and offer to help you.”

Did her eyebrow have to look that sexy when it arched? Sylvia’s never did, which was why after five years she was still his secretary. That and she was his mother’s age. “Help me?” Lauren asked.

Justin struggled for some semblance of control. He hadn’t meant to wing this. “Well, yeah. The way I figure it is this: You want Jeff. You like Jeff. I know my brother. He’s like mud. Dense and clueless. He probably has no idea you like him or want him. Thus, last night’s very sexy seduction attempt.”

Hoping to eliminate her deer-in-the-headlights expression, Justin pressed on. He’d always been cool with the ladies, a master of the words. Now he was making a bad situation worse. “What I mean to say is that I feel horrible that I messed everything up. I want to make it up to you. The only way I can figure out how to put things right is to help you win over the man of your dreams.”

Her look was disbelieving and dubious. “Man of my dreams?”

“Jeff. My brother. He is, isn’t he? The man of your dreams?”

A regretful twinge filled Justin as for a moment her face appeared dreamy. Then her skeptical facade returned. “And if he is?”

“The way I figure it is this. You need some help in getting him to notice you. Not that last night, ah, probably wouldn’t work again.” It sure worked for me, Justin didn’t add. “Anyway, I can give you that help. I know my brother better than anyone. Perhaps it’s that twin thing. You’d be good for him. Probably too good, even.”

As Lauren’s skepticism changed into a small tentative smile, Justin felt a glimmer of hope. “Thank you. You are surprising.”

Now it was his turn to be confused. “I am?”

“Yes. You’re not half as bad as I thought. You’ve handled this situation rather well, and I appreciate that you think I’m too good for him.”