Amber's Fantasy (5 page)

Amber hovered near the dessert table, pretending she was
trying to decide which of several pastry choices to put on her plate. From the
corner of her eye, she scanned the crowded room, looking for a certain tall,
sexy IT guy.

“Saundra’s really outdone herself this time.” Tim Rollins,
one of the firm’s graphic designers, waggled his unkempt eyebrows at Amber and
leaned across the table to snag a hand full of chocolate-dipped shortbread. Of
course it had been Amber herself in charge of working with the décor designer
and caterer to put together tonight’s event, but it might have sounded like she
was bragging if she told Tim that.

“Yes. Everything is delicious,” Amber agreed, subtly craning
her neck to see who might be just coming in the door.

“You look mighty delicious yourself, Amber.”

Amber blinked and brought her attention back to Tim. He had
obviously imbibed even more champagne than she had; his cute little pregnant
wife was standing only a few feet from them. Amber felt a wave of sympathy for
Kathy Rollins. “Thanks,” she said, then made a point of turning away.

The large room was teeming with her coworkers, their spouses,
and other guests, everyone enjoying the free-flowing bubbly and the opulent
spread. Three buffet tables held a dozen types of hors d’oeuvres, salmon, roast
beef, side dishes, champagne, and the decadent desserts, all provided by one of
Portland’s premiere catering companies.

Tonight’s open house marked the move into the new larger
space, but was also a celebration of the firm’s growth and success over the
past year. It was wonderful that her boss made sure all employees felt free to
share in that success, right along with many of the firm’s important clients.
Amber thought again how lucky she was to be working there, and how dead wrong
Charles had been about her coming to Portland. She vowed to take her
irresponsible brother’s opinion with a grain of salt.

And of course that led her thoughts right back to Dinitra
again.

She had finally reached her sister that afternoon, just
before she started her shift at the dance club. They had only been able to
speak for a minute or two, just long enough for Dinitra to tell her that she’d
been staying with one of the other dancers, a girl who lived just three blocks
from the club. The girls worked the same shift and walked home together. The
news helped Amber relax a little, but her sister was still resistant to any thought
of moving west.

“Now that I’m making more money, I can easily afford a
two-bedroom place,” Amber told her. “I could even help you get an associate’s
degree. Or remember when you wanted to be a dental hygienist? I could pay your
tuition to trade school.”

There was a long pause at the other end.

“I gotta get backstage and get dressed.”

“You mean
un
dressed, don’t you?” Amber had squeezed
her eyes closed, immediately regretting the immature jab. That wasn’t like her
at all. “Sorry,” she murmured.

“Listen. I’m grateful and all,” Dinitra finally said, “but
I’m not ready to leave Denver. I like my job. The money is good. The guys are
friendly. Stop worrying about me, okay?”

“Okay.”

But that was easier said than done. She’d practically turned
herself inside out this evening going over and over their conversation. Was
there something else she could have said to convince Dinitra she was better off
moving to Portland? She’d just have to keep working on it.

Meanwhile, she was also struggling to come to terms with her
feelings about Ray leaving. As of today, he was off the payroll, and his
replacement as head of IT was a much more typical computer geek—short and
balding with thick glasses. The guy even wore a pocket protector!

Across the room a knot of people shifted and Amber finally
caught sight of her quarry. Looking impossibly handsome in a charcoal suit
jacket and black slacks, Ray was talking quietly with Saundra. Their heads were
bent close together as if they were sharing a private joke. She made herself turn
away as her boss slid her perfectly manicured hand up Ray’s chest and gave her
signature throaty laugh. Obviously Saundra wasn’t upset with Ray for accepting
the position at Gamble Electronics.

Like everyone else at the semi-formal affair, Saundra Moon
was dressed to impress. Her burgundy cocktail dress showed just enough tanned
cleavage to be tastefully alluring. For the first time, Amber allowed herself
to wonder if her attractive, forty-something boss and Ray were having a fling.
Maybe
that
was the real reason he was leaving the firm. Since he would
no longer be an employee, Saundra wouldn’t be breaking her own policy. The
graphic images that popped into Amber’s head gave her a queasy feeling that was
just shy of full-blown jealousy.

She shook her head and took a big gulp from her champagne
glass. What if it
were
true? What right did she have to be jealous? So
she and Ray had made out for a few minutes one night more than six weeks ago.
So his kisses still haunted her dreams more often than she cared to admit. And
even though they’d spent that pleasant day together in Salem, and found some
common ground, in truth she barely knew the guy. She really had no claim on him
at all. If he wanted to flirt like crazy with Saundra it was none of her
concern.

And yet, at their last meeting on the day of the office
move, it had seemed that something had sparked again between them. She’d
half-expected him to call her after that, maybe even ask her out. But in the
two weeks since then he’d kept his distance. She knew he had his hands full
training the new IT guy and troubleshooting move-related network issues. Maybe
he had just been too busy.

Or maybe he had simply lost interest.

Funny, but the opposite seemed to have happened to her. The
longer she toyed with the idea of being with Ray, of being intimate with him,
the more the notion occupied her thoughts and fantasies. Sometimes there was
just herself and Ray, and sometimes a second man joined them. Just the thought
of her favorite daydream made her body go all oozy.

Steadying herself against the table, she forced her
attention back to the party. Her eyes focused on the wealth of goodies spread
before her. To her embarrassment, she discovered she’d already put almost a
dozen little cream filled pastry puffs on her plate. How had that happened? A
big smear of the white stuff had gotten on her thumb. She licked it away.

“That looks delicious.”

Even before she turned around, Amber knew whose deep, sexy
voice that was at her shoulder. Her breath hitched. When she let her eyes move
up to Ray’s face, he was wearing a teasing grin. He smelled of her favorite
Polo cologne, and his proximity caused a whole new commotion in her midsection.

“Hi, Ray.” Much to her dismay, her voice came out all
breathy. She probably sounded as shook up as she felt.

Now she saw that he wasn’t alone. Behind Ray stood his
cousin, Cal. He had cleaned up nicely for the occasion and was better looking
than she remembered, with his dark eyes, broad shoulders, and big, rawboned
hands. He had a shy but hopeful smile plastered on his face.

“You remember my cousin? Cal, this is Saundra’s talented and
gorgeous admin assistant, Amber Jackson.”

Amber felt herself blush as Cal nodded at her. Had Ray told
his cousin about her book collection? Or about them making out? Of course he
had. Men did that, didn’t they? God, she wanted to die.

“Hi. Sorry again about scaring you that time.” He shuffled
his feet a little as he spoke and his eyes didn’t quite meet hers before
shifting away. He was obviously painfully shy. It must be hard on him to be
here in this room full of strangers, Amber thought. She gave him an especially
friendly smile.

“You’re forgiven. Nice to officially meet you, Cal.” Amber
set her glass down and held out her hand toward him. He took it somewhat awkwardly,
but his palm was firm against hers, more substantial than she had expected. As
she took her hand back, she turned toward Ray.

He seemed to be studying her, his dark eyes smoldering with
some unnamed emotion.

“Actually, Ray, I just found out today that I got the
promotion to assistant manager.”

“Really? That’s great. Congratulations, Amber.”

Pleased at his acknowledgement, Amber teased back. “Why
thank you. Just think, if you were staying at Crescent, I’d be your immediate
supervisor. Are you sure you aren’t having second thoughts about leaving?”

“Well, intriguing as that scenario would be, I’m fully
committed at Gamble.” His eyes roved over her. “But if I
were
going to
have any second thoughts about leaving, it would be because of how hot you look
in that dress.”

Whoa! Where had that sudden rush of heat come from? Amber
bit back a nervous giggle. Was it the close warmth of his body or the frank
admiration in his gaze that made her feel like the room’s thermostat had
suddenly gone haywire? Or maybe she should have stopped at just one glass of
champagne? Her irritation at Dinitra had made it too easy to fill her glass a
second and third time. She took a half step back. Immediately, his gaze
sharpened. He leaned in close, his lips almost touching her ear.

“You look fantastic tonight, Amber.” His breath skimmed her
cheek as his hand closed gently around her upper arm, his thumb brushing a
little circle on her bare skin. From that tiny spot on her arm, delicious
gooseflesh rippled over her whole body. His gaze dropped lower, skimming over
her revealing neckline with open approval. And just like that, Amber felt her
nipples harden.

“Th—Thank you.” The halter-style cocktail dress showed a lot
more skin than she was used to exposing. That morning in the department store
dressing room her reflection had seemed more glamorous than sexy. But Ray’s
frank perusal made her want to tug the top of the dress up to her chin. She
felt herself blushing to the roots of her hair.

* * * *

Ray’s cock sprang to life as Amber stared up at him, bright
spots of color on her smooth cheeks. Did she have any idea what a knock-out she
was in the form-fitting, low-cut dress? The tops of her magnificent breasts
pushed up proudly, the dark blue fabric of the dress setting off to perfection
the warm brown color of her skin. The waist of the garment nipped in,
accentuating her curvy bottom. Silver-blue stilettos gave definition to her
trim ankles and calves. And she’d left her hair down for once. The soft waves
brushing her bare shoulders made her look younger, less severe. Even in the
yellow tube top and short shorts last spring, she hadn’t looked as luscious as
she did tonight.

He found himself seriously rethinking his decision to leave
well enough alone. He’d come here tonight with a well-laid plan—eat some tasty
and expensive finger foods, flirt a little with Saundra, and say his brief
goodbyes to the few people he would actually miss. He had specifically decided
to avoid getting sucked into any kind of big scene with Amber. That was, until
he spotted her in this damn, flame-blue dress.

Lord knew he’d been over and over it in his mind these past
two weeks. There was something about this woman that made him want to know more
about her, spend more time with her, touch her, kiss her.
Be
with her.
And that was exactly the problem. He had a hunch that starting something with
her wouldn’t end with just a casual fling. And he really couldn’t afford the
time or energy that he’d need to devote to a real relationship with her. His
new job would demand all his attention for some time to come, and weekends
would belong to Gran and Granddad. He’d have little to offer her, especially
with the long commute between them. Besides, from what Amber had said, she was
equally committed to learning
her
new job and helping out her sister.
Far better to cut his losses now than to let himself get more fully involved.

And then there was the other thing, the sex-with-two-guys
thing. While he had to admit that the idea was initially intriguing, the simple
fact was he was a traditional kind of guy in the sack. One man, one woman. No-holds-barred
smokin’ hot sex. He wasn’t exactly sure he was ready to expand his love-making
repertoire to include sharing his bed partner with another man.

So, he’d come to the party tonight with everything neatly
sorted out in his mind, planning to be completely immune to Amber’s charms.

But after seeing her in that come-and-get-me dress and
feeling the heat of her silky skin beneath his fingers, all his careful,
sensible plans seemed to go up in a puff of flame-blue smoke.

She had just popped some kind of little cream puff into her
mouth, and ended up with some of the white filling decorating her full, crimson
lips. The sight made him go weak in the knees. The urge to haul her up close
and kiss her mouth clean surged through him like a tsunami.

To hell with all his considerations. This might be his last
chance to be with her. Maybe he could make her forget he was only one guy.

“You look pretty good yourself,” she said, “and so does your
brother. Er―cousin.” Her big eyes focused for a moment on Cal before she tipped her glass up and drained it dry.

Ray noticed for the first time that she was leaning pretty
heavily against the table. How much champagne had she had?

He bent close again and whispered, “It’s a perfect evening
for a stroll. I could use some fresh air. Care to join me?”

Her little pink tongue flicked out and ran along her lips,
licking the cream away. She cocked her head, looking uncertain. “I don’t know.
I should probably stand by in case Saundra needs me.”

“Everything’s going smoothly, Amber. You set it all up
perfectly, and now your job is done.”

“Oh.” She gave him a wide smile. “Really? Are you sure?
Let’s drink to that.” She picked up her empty glass and made a grab for an open
champagne bottle. He intercepted it, and then eased the stem of the glass from
her fingers.