From Fake to Forever (10 page)

He should have left the office at five. At least then he might’ve still had enough brain cells to remember a simple thing like bringing dinner.

“We should go out.” Improvisation at its finest. “That’s what I had in mind.”

Her laugh tore through the rest of his defenses, weakening his knees.

“Nice recovery,” she allowed with a nod. “You and I both know that’s not what you were thinking about, but I’ll let it slide for now.”

Of course she’d realized he was making this up as he went along. How could he have forgotten how easily she read him? “You’re too kind.”

Airily, she waved it away. “The sweatshop nastiness was the major topic of conversation at Hurst from morning coffee until quitting time. I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

“Yeah.” He latched on to the handy excuse, which he’d have thought of all by himself if his head was where it should be—on his shoulders and not imagining itself between her thighs. “That’s why I’m so absentminded. Work was hellacious.”

“Then let’s go.” She ducked into the room to grab her bag and sling it over her forearm. “I’m dying to hear about the Marketing meeting and anyway, I’m starving. So where are you taking me?”

His response was cut off by a vaguely familiar ringtone emanating from the depths of Meredith’s handbag. She fished out her phone and all traces of merriment drained from her face.

“It’s Avery,” she whispered. “Should I answer?”

“Of course.” He crossed his arms as she said hello and listened for a beat.

“Sure. No problem. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Meredith stabbed the phone to end the call. “She wants me to come back to the office. It’s about her hushity-hush after-hours thingy.”

Jason willed back the flood of disappointment. “That’s great. Perfect timing.”

He’d actually been looking forward to taking Meredith to dinner, never mind that it had originated as a way to save face.

He’d thought seriously about finding some out-of-the-way place and asking for a booth in the back with low lighting, ordering a bottle of wine and spending a couple of hours not thinking about the media circus of Lyn Couture. They’d laugh and flirt and enjoy each other’s company. Which sounded an awful lot like a date. That was a bad, bad idea. Avery’s timing
was
perfect.

Meredith made a face. “But what about eating?”

“This is more important.”
And a far better use of her time.
Lyn and Hurst House were not going to spontaneously regroup, and he’d worked too hard to let what little gains he’d made slip away now. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll drive you and wait in the car. It can’t take more than an hour or so. Then, when you’re done, we’ll go to a late dinner.”

Where had that come from? He should tell her good-night. But she’d looked so crestfallen, as if she’d experienced a bout of disappointment over Avery’s call, as well. He couldn’t help himself.

And he was too tired to pretend he didn’t want to lose himself in her.

She cocked her head and contemplated him with a small smile. “You’d do that? And here I thought going out was simply an excuse to get us into a public place so I couldn’t take advantage of you. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you meant the dinner invitation as a date.”

“It’s not a date,” he growled. She definitely had some insight that allowed her to read his thoughts like a book and he did not like it. “And yes, I’ll wait for you because I will want you to repeat every word Avery says verbatim. The sooner, the better.”

“Of course.” She hooked arms with him as they walked to the elevator and bent her head to breathe directly into his ear. “And I’m just here for the clothes.”

* * *

Jason glanced at his watch, but only three minutes had passed since the last time he’d checked.

What was
taking
so long? Meredith had climbed from his car an hour and a half ago, with a parting squeeze to his thigh that still tingled. He’d tried to work on a strategy brief that needed to go out to the executive staff on Monday, but the only strategy on his mind was Avery’s.

His cell phone beeped and he turned it over to see a text from Meredith. With a frown, he tapped it:
Avery left and the place is deserted. You’ve got to come up here and see this.

Craning his neck, he searched the teeming sidewalk for his sister’s profile, but he couldn’t spot her amid all the foot traffic typical for 9th Street at this time of night. She must have already caught a cab.

What was so important for him to see that Meredith couldn’t either tell him about it or take a picture?

He texted her back:
What is it?

Meredith: I’m not sure. That’s why I need you to look at it.

Jason: You can’t just tell me?

Meredith: No, I need you. And I can’t disturb the evidence.

And now she’d piqued his curiosity, which probably wasn’t an accident.

Did he dare enter the sanctum of his father and Avery? He’d been inside Hurst one time, to attend a meeting nailing down the final details of the split. It had been upsetting to see former Lynhurst employees walking the halls, chatting and laughing as if nothing catastrophic had happened. Then he and Bettina had run into Caozinha Carvalho, the famed photographer who was also his father’s new wife, on the way out. His mother had cried in the car on the way back to Lyn.

Before the sun had set, Jason had purchased a plane ticket to Vegas, desperate to get away from the crumbling foundation of his world. Never in a million years would he have guessed the next time he’d contemplate setting foot inside Hurst would be at the invitation of a woman he’d met and married on that trip.

But he was in a different place now, thanks to that woman. And he couldn’t resist the opportunity to see inside the company that would be under his command soon. They’d have to avoid the security cameras, but it might be worth the extra care to see what was so important.

Quickly, he texted her back:
Meet me at the elevator. I don’t have a badge to get past the front doors.

Meredith was waiting for him when the elevator doors split, wearing a cryptic smile. “Thought you’d never get here. Come on.”

“Do you know where all the security cameras are?”

“I never paid any attention.” Dismay pulled at her expression. “Is it too risky?”

Probably. But he couldn’t go back now, not with the dual promise of critical information at his fingertips and a chance to check out his father’s company. “I’ll keep my face behind my jacket. As long as you’re sure no one else is around.”

Half-blind, he laced fingers with Meredith, and let her lead him through the quiet office.

When he completed the merger, he planned to let Hurst’s space go and rent the floor above Lyn, which would be vacated at the end of the month. He’d already put a deposit down on it in the name of a holding company.

“You and Avery were up here for a long time,” he murmured as they passed the door marked
Paul Lynhurst, CEO
.

“Would have been longer if she hadn’t gotten another call and hightailed it out of here.” Meredith’s fingers nested deeper inside his as she turned a corner and pulled him into the office marked
Avery Lynhurst, Vice President of Marketing
.

This
was Avery’s office? The antique desk and old-world decor did not mesh with the sister he knew, nor did it give the impression cutting-edge fashion happened here. It reminded him of something an eighty-year-old lawyer would prefer.

“So she left you here?” Seemed highly suspicious that Avery would jet with Meredith still in her office, with access to her stuff.

“Oh, no. I walked with her to the elevator, but I’d accidentally-on-purpose forgotten my phone so I shooed her out, insisting I’d be right behind her as soon as I retrieved it.” Meredith shrugged mischievously. “It just took a little longer to find my poor lost phone than I expected. Fortunately, she was very eager to get to her next appointment, whatever it was.”

When he’d first proposed this plan of planting Meredith in his sister’s camp, he’d hoped for a bit of creativity, but this was beyond anything he could have devised. He really owed her.

“I’m very intrigued by the way your mind works.” And who would have thought that would be so sexy? He’d long recognized that she had a potent combination of brains and beauty, but this was something else. “Were you always this good at fashion espionage or is this is a new development?”

“Totally new. You’ve inspired me.”

Her smile teased one out of him and he enjoyed it so much, he didn’t even care that they were standing there in his sister’s office, grinning at each other like idiots—and still holding hands.

“Did you have something to show me?” he prompted.

“Oh, yeah.” She dropped his hand and rummaged through some stencils on Avery’s desk. “Designs for the new line she’s working on. Very secret. Very hot. Very haute couture.”

She handed him one and he glanced at it. Instantly, his good humor drained away. “Very stolen, as well.”

To his shock, Meredith didn’t even blink. She nodded grimly. “I was afraid of that. I didn’t think Hurst designed anything like this. It’s too high concept. When you first launched Hurst House, what was that, like eight years ago? Anyway, the line was intended for the rack from the get-go. Accessible designs for real women.”

“Yeah, that was the idea. How did you know that?”

“I do my research. When you hooked me up with this job, I wanted to fit in.”

“You do,” he said shortly.
Too much.
She’d filled a gap he hadn’t known existed.

He stared at her with new appreciation. This was why she was so dangerous—he couldn’t stay even one step ahead of her.

But all at once, he couldn’t remember exactly why that mattered. She felt an awful lot like the solution, not the problem. She’d felt like that in Vegas, too. They’d connected then in a way he’d never connected with anyone. Why had he fought so hard to keep from repeating something so amazing?

“I was right to show these designs to you?” she asked, oblivious to the odd shift going on inside him. “The lines seemed too similar to some of the designs I saw on the walls at Lyn.”

“You noticed the
lines
were similar?”

“It’s like artwork,” she said a touch defensively. “No one would confuse a Van Gogh with a Picasso, right? I thought the designs were suspect.”

Captivated, he nodded. She knew style, he’d give her that.

“No, you’re right. Hurst doesn’t have any designers on staff capable of this kind of work.” They certainly didn’t have any who were paid to design haute couture. “But it doesn’t matter. They were lifted from Lyn’s vaults, no question. It’s part of our Paris Fashion Week collection. How did Avery get her hands on it?”

They had a spy at Lyn.

He cursed. Avery had stolen his idea to plant a spy
and
stolen Lyn’s design.

This was over the top. Sure, Meredith was at Hurst to gather intel on Avery’s CEO plans, but he’d
never
have asked her to steal designs. It was an all-out declaration of war.

Squeal.

Jason froze and Meredith’s eyes widened.

Someone was in the hall.

Squeal. Thump.

They were about to get caught in Avery’s office.

“It’s the janitor,” Meredith mouthed. “Quick, get behind the desk.”

Pulse thundering, he raised his eyebrows in question.

“Do it,” she whispered fiercely and yanked on his arm until he complied.

Kneeling down—and feeling ridiculous—he eyed the crack between Avery’s horrendous wooden desk and the floor. The full skirt completely obscured him from view, the only benefit to the heavy furniture. How exactly did it matter if he hid behind the desk while Meredith lounged around plainly in the open?

More squealing emanated from directly outside the office door.

“Good evening,” Meredith chirped. “Working late. Do you mind cleaning this office last today? It would be really helpful.”

“Sure, miss,” a masculine voice responded. The squeals faded into the distance.

Meredith popped around the desk and dusted off her hands. “Piece of cake.”

“But he saw you,” Jason said over the sudden hum of a vacuum cleaner down the hall.

It should feel even more ridiculous to still be kneeling behind the desk when the imminent danger had passed, but the slit in Meredith’s skirt was at eye level and her silky smooth legs kept peeking out, begging for his attention.

And then she shifted and a flash of lacy white seared his vision. His groin went tight and he nearly groaned.

“So?” she asked. “I’m supposed to be here, retrieving my lost phone, remember? If the janitor says anything to anyone, which I doubt he will, that’s my excuse. Let’s get out of here before he comes back.”

That was enough of a reason to stand.

“Good idea.” When Meredith picked up the sketches, he shook his head. “Leave them. We don’t want her to know we’re on to her.”

“Okay. But we have to get them back at some point. She can’t get away with this.”

Meredith’s fierce tone made him smile. “If Lyn and Hurst merge, it doesn’t matter. I get the designs back by default. No harm, no foul.”

It was a lie strictly to soothe her. Avery’s treachery hit below the belt and hurt much more than he dared let on.

They sprinted for the elevator and it wasn’t until the doors closed that Jason turned to his coconspirator. “That was...”

One glimpse of her made him lose his train of thought.

Meredith’s chest rose and fell from the slight exertion, drawing attention to her barely concealed cleavage. Her hair twined around her face in a mess of waves. She was amazing and gorgeous and her quick thinking had saved their hides.

His heart pounded and adrenaline coursed through his veins, waking up his nerves...and drawing the attention of the erection he’d been trying to ignore since the peek at her underwear.

The combination swept over him in a dark surge of awareness, along with a heady dose of her exotic perfume.

Breathing her in, he relaxed and reveled in the wild rush she never failed to evoke. Avery’s plans, his plans, mergers, corporate politics—all of it was too much to resolve tonight and he didn’t want to think about any of it. Once, he’d fallen into this woman’s arms to escape the pain of his real life, and she’d restored him in a way he’d never anticipated.