Fool for Love: Fooling Around\Nobody's Fool\Fools Rush In (11 page)

“This is it.” He held the passenger door for her. “Top up or down?”

“Down is fine.” She was positive she'd imagined his suggestive tone. This was a work day, and he'd recently told Dana that they'd keep their professional and personal lives separate.

She waited until he slid behind the wheel and started the car's powerful engine. “Andre, what's going on?”

“I'll tell you what, sweet thing, we have it
all
going on.” He backed out of the space with practiced ease and was soon out on the street.

“What do you mean by that?” She had to raise her voice to be heard over the wind, which whipped her hair around her face. But she liked the feeling of freedom. She liked it way too much for a work day.

“I'll explain once we get there.” He reached for the cell phone he'd slipped into a holder on the dash and punched in a number. “What do you want for lunch?”

“I don't know. Why, are we getting take-out?”

“No, we're having it delivered.”

She didn't understand, but she decided to go along. “Okay, a salad, then.”

“Chicken, tuna, veggie?”

“Chicken.”

He spoke into the phone. “I'll soon be in Room 312, if you'll have room service send up—”

“
Room service?
Andre, what on earth are you—”

“One chicken salad,” he continued, ignoring her completely, “one roast beef sandwich and a couple of iced teas. We should be there by the time you arrive.”

“Andre Dumont, what are you up to?”

He disconnected the cell phone. “I'm kidnapping you. We're going to a resort for a two-hour lunch. After work, we can go back again if you want. I've booked the room for the night.”

She opened her mouth, tried to think of something to say, and closed it again. He'd taken her completely by surprise. She was speechless.

“Meg gave me the idea,” he said.

“Meg? You talked to Meg?”

“Yep. Or rather, she talked to me. Got my number from information and called me Saturday night.” He smiled. “She demanded to know my intentions toward you. We danced around the subject for about half an hour, and in that time I figured out my intentions toward you are strictly honorable.”

“You call this honorable? Kidnapping me in the middle of the work day?”

“Absolutely. I'm whisking you away from the hustle and bustle of our job, separating work from pleasure, exactly as I promised Dana.”

“I can't believe Dana would approve of this.” And the farther they went from the office, the less she cared. Andre was in super-salesman mode, and he was thrilling her down to her toes.

“I think she would. She's a fan of the grand gesture if it clinches the deal.”

“What deal?”

He pulled into the entrance to one of Scottsdale's finest resorts and parked beneath the portico. Then he shut off the engine, took off his sunglasses and turned to her. “I'm falling in love with you.”

“You are?” Suddenly the colors surrounding them seemed more vivid. She heard the tinkle of a fountain and smelled the fragrance of all the brilliant flowers nearby.

“Yes.”

Her heart beat crazily as she looked into his eyes. “I'm falling in love with you, too.”

“I was hoping.” Eyes shining, he took her hand and brought it to his lips. Then he kissed her fingers and took a deep breath. “Be my girl, Lena. I promise
that during work hours, you'll be the head honcho and I'll be the best damned salesman on your team, but during our off hours, I want you to be my girl.”

Filled with eagerness, she reached for him, but the seat belt held her prisoner. She fumbled for the buckle.

“Let me.” He unfastened her seat belt without breaking eye contact. “I think I knew we were meant to be when I unhooked your seat belt on Friday night.”

She began to tremble. “The Bondage Light thing.”

“Yeah.” He leaned toward her. “And instead of being shocked, your eyes got all sparkly with interest.”

“Andre, sex isn't everything.” Maybe Cautious Girl hadn't completely left the building.

“I know.” His mouth drew nearer. “We have lots of other things in common, too.”

“So Dana said.” Then again, caution was highly overrated.

“So will you? Be my girl?”

She threw caution out the window and into the nearest flower bed. “Yes. If you'll be my guy.”

“It's a deal.” And there, in front of a startled valet parking attendant, Andre sealed the deal. As his lips met hers, Lena had no doubt that he would be knocking her socks off…forever.

“I
LOVE YOU
.
I love your bridesmaids, Meg and Brandy, and your parents, and my parents, and your crazy brother, and my sisters, and the minister and the pilot on this plane. I love everybody in the world.” Andre leaned over and kissed her. “But you're the only one I want to fool around with. Tell me, do you like fooling around?”

“Under the right conditions.” Lena smiled. “But I think somebody had way too much champagne at the reception. I'll bet you couldn't fool around if you wanted to.”

“Wanna bet?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Mile-high club, here we come. Meet you in the back.”

She started laughing as she pictured trying to maneuver with her tipsy husband in the airplane bathroom. “Just let me give you my seriously considered, well-thought-out answer. No.”

“I'll bet by the time we get to Hawaii, I'll have used my excellent skills of persuasion to convince you to do it.”

She grinned at him. “You're good, but you're not that good.”

“We'll see.” He picked up her left hand and planted kisses all around the diamond ring he'd
placed there four hours ago. “I love you. Did I mention that yet?”

“I think you might have made some reference to it.” Skimming over the clouds, she could easily believe she was in heaven. To think that three months ago she'd been afraid to ask this gorgeous man for a date.

“I hope I've made
tons
of references to it. I don't want there to be any doubt. I love you.”

She reached over and stroked his cheek with her free hand. “And I love you. More every second.”

“Do you love me enough to join the mile-high club?” He gave her a sly smile.

“That's not about love. That's about all the glasses of champagne you consumed. We wouldn't fit in that bathroom, Andre. I think our first married sex should be more dignified than that.”

“I don't. Our first sex ever was in the back seat of a car, with you—”

She clapped a hand over his mouth. “Shh.”

He licked her palm, making slow circles that sent delicious sensations up her arm.

“Stop that.”

He gave her one last swipe with his tongue and turned to her. “Am I getting to you?”

“No,” she lied.

“Yes, I am. I can tell. C'mon. Meet me in the back.”

“No.” Every time she looked at him, she grinned like a fool. Nobody deserved to be this happy, but she wasn't about to question her good luck. They worked beautifully together at Thunderbird Savings,
but it was the hours she spent at home in his arms that made her world such a beautiful place.

“We should be members of the mile-high club.”

She gazed at him and sighed. “You are one persistent guy.”

“And you love that about me.”

“Mostly.”

“We should start our baby there.”

“No, we should not. We should start our baby lying on three-hundred-thread-count sheets on a king-size bed in a room overlooking the ocean.”

“I think an airplane bathroom is way more interesting. C'mon. Let's do it.”

She did her best to glare at him, but she broke into laughter halfway through the glare. “Are you going to keep this up for the entire flight?”

“Uh-huh. So we might as well do it and get it over with.” He unfastened his seat belt. “I'll go first. Right side of the plane. Tap on the door and I'll let you in.”

“Someone will see us.”

He skewered her with a look, and suddenly he didn't seem quite as tipsy as before. “Don't tell me that one of the April Fools is worried about being embarrassed.”

She groaned. “Are you going to use that line every time you want me to do something stupid?”

“Yep. After all, doing something stupid brought us together, so why stop now?”

She met the challenge in his eyes. Maybe he was right. “Okay. I'll probably regret this, but okay.”

As it turned out, she didn't regret it as much as she'd expected to. And that's how she ended up get
ting pregnant in an airplane bathroom. Nine months later she presented Andre with a dark-haired baby girl on April Fool's Day.

Among other baby presents, Meg and Brandy presented little Delta with an engraved invitation to join the April Fools on her sixteenth birthday. Considering that without the April Fools Lena wouldn't have the man of her dreams or a sweet baby girl, she couldn't think of a better gift.

Stephanie Bond

For Chris, whose foolish errand
to put a card on the windshield of my car at the
airport made me fall head over heels in love.

“A
RE YOU
nervous?”

Kate Randall looked up at her assistant Patsy and extended a stack of folders. Her jumpy stomach vaulted higher. “Nervous about the staff meeting?” Her throat constricted. “Why should I be nervous?”

Patsy shook her head, causing her gray curls to bounce, then put a calming hand over Kate's trembling one and relieved her of the rattling folders. “You shouldn't be.”

Kate nodded. “After all, I've known most of these people for my entire career.”

“Right.”

“Why would I be nervous simply because this will be my first time sitting at the head of the table?”

“There's no need to be.”

“I'm not.”

“Good.” Patsy set a small box on the desk and beamed like a proud parent. “Here are your new business cards to go along with your new office.”

Kate lifted the lid of the box and withdrew one of the crisp white cards.

 

Kate Randall

Vice President of Sales & Marketing

Handley Toys

Birmingham, AL

Handley Toys—Come play with us.

 

As always, she winced at the company slogan, a point of contention among many of the staff members…especially the women. But CEO John Handley failed to see the innuendo that might be construed—the older man's gentle and brilliant mind simply didn't work that way.

As Kate ran her finger over the raised type of her new title, her chest filled with happiness and pride. John Handley had hired her fresh out of college as a marketing research assistant, and for the past ten years, she'd put in countless hours working her way up through product management and into brand management. There she'd championed the purchase of a 1970s toy from a rival company, Mixxo. It had run way past its life cycle with them but she'd resurrected the product with big sales results. As an encore, she'd repeated the scenario the following year with another Mixxo has-been toy and had been elevated into senior management as Handley, once a fledgling game and toy company, became an official contender in the industry.

Mixxo had responded to the humiliation by wooing away her male predecessor and a third of Handley's sales reps, all men. She suspected that no one at Mixxo would believe that a woman had orchestrated the product coup. Known as the frat house of the industry, Mixxo was all about the good-ole-boy
network and high-end entertainment for their customers. All the playboys worked there…well, except for one.

“More coffee?” Patsy asked, breaking into Kate's thoughts.

Kate frowned into her empty mug, thinking she should have reached for decaf this morning when she arrived. “I'll get it. I should stretch my legs since the meeting will likely last awhile.” She stood and strode out of her office, slowing at the unfamiliar perspective she now had of the cubicles and ten-by-ten offices on this floor. On Friday they had belonged to her colleagues; now they belonged to her subordinates. She knew that most were happy for her, but some probably doubted her capability to operate at this level, and a few possibly resented her appointment to the position. Her back straightened when she thought of the challenge John had lain at her feet: rebuild the sales organization while sustaining the morale of the reps and the support staff that remained.

Much of her task, she knew, meant winning over one sales rep in particular. If truth be known,
he
was the source of her agitated stomach, and worse, he probably knew it. For the past six years she had wondered if their professional paths might cross again, and here she was, minutes away from living her fantasy. And this time,
she
would be in control. It was enough to make a woman smile.

“Careful,” Lesley Major said, falling into step with Kate. “Someone might think you're gloating.”

Kate could laugh because Lesley, who ran the information technology department, was her best
friend. “Thanks for the new computer—Patsy told me you personally supervised the installation.”

“I did, and you're welcome.” Then Lesley grinned. “Actually, I wanted to scope out your new office—wow, what a view!”

“Thanks.”

“As much time as you spend at this place, you should have something nice to see when you look up.”

Kate angled her head. “If you're finished, Mom, I need to get to a meeting.”

“Ooh, your first staff meeting—are you nervous?”

“I wish people would stop asking me that.”

“Will you-know-who be there?”

Kate gave her friend a warning look, and Lesley lifted her hands in defense.

“I only came by to see if you wanted to have dinner with the Majors tonight.”

Lesley and her husband Hank and their two kids were always good for a fun evening, but Kate's desk was piled high. “Can I get a rain check?”

“Only if you have a hot date.”

Kate laughed. “I do—with my new computer.”

Lesley sighed. “Of course you can have a rain check, but Kate, you need to get out.”

“I get out.”

“More than just to my house.”

Lesley looked so worried, Kate wanted to hug her. She and Lesley used to hang out when they were both single. In the years since, Lesley had married and given birth twice. Kate, on the other hand, was harried and been
promoted
twice. Kate thought they were even, but Lesley disagreed.

“Look,” Lesley said, leaning in, “the truth is, I invited Neil Powers to join us.”

Kate frowned. “Neil Powers?”

Lesley sighed. “Give the guy a break, Kate—he has a crush on you.”

Kate shook her finger. “I don't date coworkers.”

“There's no policy against it. Besides, his company maintains our Web site—the two of you are hardly coworkers. And he's so cute!”

Kate glanced at her watch, which she kept set ten minutes fast to make sure she arrived everywhere on time. “I'm running behind, so I don't have time to chastise you about the Golden Rule.”

“I know, I know—thou shalt not set up thy best friend on a blind date. But this isn't a blind date!”

“Goodbye.”

Lesley frowned. “You're going to grow old alone.”

Kate grinned and backed away. “I have Bernadette.”

“Oh, yeah,
that
girl is a lot of company.”

Kate smiled, turned, and kept walking to the coffee station at the end of the hall to replenish her cup. When she found the pot of decaf depleted, she sighed and walked around the corner to retrieve a grounds filter packet from a supply closet. She thought of Neil Powers and pushed her tongue into her cheek. Lesley was right—she did need to get out more, and Neil
was
cute. Maybe she would let her friend arrange a casual meeting. Later…after she became acclimated to her new job.

While Kate rummaged for the coffee, two male voices became louder and stopped when they reached
the coffee station. They couldn't see her and she couldn't see them, but she recognized one of the voices immediately, and her pulse ratcheted higher.

“Damn inconvenient time for a meeting,” the familiar voice grumbled. “I'm on the verge of closing a huge deal with Lexan Electronics, and I had to come here to play nice-nice for the new boss.”

The other man, who sounded younger, made a sympathetic noise. “I don't know much about this Kate Randall, do you?”

A grunt sounded. “Paper pusher, came up through marketing. Never even been on a sales call.”

At the derision in his voice, hot anger bolted through her. How dare he?

“But she's been with the company for a long time,” his companion said. “I heard ten years.”

A laugh sounded. “Yeah, ten years behind a desk.”

Kate's eyes narrowed as she contemplated whether to confront the men or to ignore them.

“Well, she must be qualified or Handley wouldn't have given her the job, right?”

She silently applauded the younger man who was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt if only due to John's endorsement.

The first man scoffed. “Kate Randall just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time.”

That did it. Kate conjured up a big smile before walking around the corner. “Good morning, gentlemen.”

In one glance, she acknowledged that Eric McDaniels hadn't changed much in six years. Same steel-blue eyes, maybe bracketed with a few more
lines. Same blue-black hair, but more closely cropped. Same strong features, softened with dimples and a lethal smile, filled out with maturity, and still too handsome for any woman's good. Tall as ever. Beneath his dark-colored jacket, his shoulders were a little wider, his stance a little cockier.

He had recovered from his initial split-second of shock and was sizing her up. Kate was glad she'd worn the army-green skirt and jacket that flattered her auburn hair and dark complexion. She had filled in over the last few years, too, but was pleased about the fact that her mirror now reflected a woman instead of a girl—instead of a naive twenty-six-year-old girl who had foolishly indulged in a one-night stand with the company's most notorious playboy, Eric McDaniels, and more foolishly, had mistaken good sex for true feelings.

“Hello, Eric,” she said in as neutral tone as she could manage.

His chin lowered ever so slightly. “Hello, Kate.” He gestured toward his sandy-haired companion, as yet unaware of the turn of events. “This is Warren Woods.”

“How do you do, Warren?” Kate extended her hand. “I'm Kate Randall.”

Warren's greeting died on his lips. “I…
you're
Kate Randall?”

She nodded.

The young man looked stricken, then his expression relaxed and he pointed a finger at Eric. “Wait a minute, McDaniels, this is one of your practical jokes, isn't it? I've heard about you, how you're always trying to pull off a gag.” He looked back to
Kate. “Come on, you're a secretary or something, aren't you?”

Kate pursed her mouth and shook her head.

Eric appeared to be enjoying the misunderstanding. “Um, Woods, this isn't a gag, although it's good to know my reputation precedes me.” Then he looked at Kate and shrugged affably. “I didn't know you were back there, Kate.”

She gave Eric her most tolerant smile. “That's okay—I have a knack for being in the wrong place at the right time.” She held out her mug and after hesitating, he emptied the last of the coffee that he'd been about to pour into his own cup into hers instead. She sipped the hot brew, not caring that it wasn't decaffeinated, then she glanced at her watch. “Don't be late for our meeting, gentlemen.”

As she walked away, she heard the younger man sputter and felt Eric's gaze bore into her back. She felt triumphant…until apprehension crowded in. Considering her history with Eric McDaniels, this situation was bound to get worse before it got better.