Nice & Naughty (14 page)

Literally saved by the bell. This must be what prisoners who get an eleventh hour stay of execution from the governor feel like.

“Sure.” He took his seat, as well as a large swallow of wine.

She served, they ate, and he kept the conversation casual. Tessa was a great cook. Dinner was excellent. He was definitely glad he waited until after they’d eaten to think about confessing again. That they had polished off the entire bottle of wine between them couldn’t hurt his cause either. Sated with both wine and comfort food, Jason decided to wait just a little bit longer before he spilled the beans and ruined the perfect evening.

He was rehearsing possible confession scenarios in his head as he helped clear the plates, but she insisted he sit down and relax on the couch while she made the coffee and got dessert together. Any excuse to procrastinate further was fine with him, so he agreed. His mind was made up, he’d confess right after coffee and dessert. He did as he was told and sat.

The couch, which he swore was the softest and most comfortable one he’d ever sat upon, swallowed him up. He was now full and exhausted, so he decided to close his eyes, just for a moment while he waited for Tessa…

Sunlight streaming through the living room window woke him the next morning.

Jason sat up and the wool throw Tessa must have put on him the night before fell to the floor. He groaned. Falling asleep and spending the night on her couch hadn’t been his plan. It’s not like he exactly had a good plan, but this definitely was not it.

“Good morning.” Tessa wandered out of the bedroom looking warm, tousled and sexy as hell even in sweatpants.

He groaned. “I am so sorry.”

Laughing, she walked to the kitchen area and he realized he smelled fresh brewed coffee. “Don’t be silly. You were exhausted. It’s fine. Coffee? I set the timer last night before I went to bed.” She held up the full pot.

“God, yes.” The smell must have been what woke him.

“Milk, sugar?”

“Black, two sugar.”

She delivered the blessed beverage and perched next to him on the edge of the couch, sipping from her own mug. He took a long slow sip and closed his eyes. “Thank you.”

“You work too hard. You need a day off.” Then she frowned. “You don’t have to work today, do you? It’s Sunday.”

He laughed. “Weekends and holidays in the retail business only mean you have to work harder. During the holiday rush, I usually try to take off a day during the week, unless there’s a special sale going on.”

She looked a bit saddened. “What time do you have to go in?”

Here was one area where being the boss actually paid off. “I don’t have any meetings scheduled this morning, so I guess I can go in late if I want to.”

She put her mug down on the table and looked pleased. “Good. Stay for breakfast. Dessert last night was going to be crepes stuffed with mascarpone cheese and fruit. They’ll make a pretty good Sunday brunch, I think.”

Brunch with Tessa. Visions of the perfect Sunday morning filled his head. Waking up with her warm in his arms, drinking coffee, reading the fat Sunday paper, eating brunch, rolling back into bed with her for a little…

He swallowed and his gaze dropped momentarily to her lips. When he raised his eyes again, he saw she was watching him closely. Tessa took his mug right out of his hand and put it on the table next to hers and then leaned in.

It took all of his strength to lean away from her, but he somehow managed it. Her eyes narrowed, but she stayed close. “What’s wrong?”

“Tessa. You don’t know me very well.”

“Okay, fine. Let me get to know you.” She cocked one brow. “Are you married?”

“No.”

“Children, in or out of wedlock?”

Jason shook his head. “No.”

Tessa pursed her lips and considered. “Convicted felon or murderer?”

He laughed. “No.”

“Infected with AIDS, herpes or any other incurable sexually transmitted disease?”

“Definitely no.” In light of all the things she’d mentioned that he could be, that he was hiding he was rich seemed pretty silly.

She pursed her lips together and looked a little sad. “You just don’t want to kiss me?”
 

What could he say? Lies had gotten him into this mess, time for the truth. “I want to kiss you more than anything in the world.”

“Me too.” She smiled and leaned in again, and this time he didn’t pull away.
 

He barely had time to register that she tasted like a combination of coffee and minty toothpaste when she tangled her hands in his hair and pulled him down with her onto the couch.

Oh, man. His willpower was not that good. Definitely not good enough to be on top of a warm, soft Tessa and not react to it. He ran a hand down her soft cotton sweatpants and then up over her thermal shirt. To hell with silk lingerie, plain cotton had never felt so good.

He slipped a hand under the shirt and brushed the side of her bare breast with his hand. Discovering she wore no bra, he groaned.

She started to unbutton his shirt, and he was letting her, in spite of his resolve not to do this prior to telling her the truth. But by now his body was too into it to care that his mind objected.

Then, thank God, the phone on the table next to him rang.

He leapt off her and sat back on the couch, trying to catch his breath. That was a close call. He leaned farther back so she could reach across him for the cordless phone and then he slunk off to the bathroom.

Saved twice within twelve hours by loud ringing appliances. Perhaps fate was intervening on his behalf? First, last night when the oven timer went off just as he was about to confess, and now, when the phone rang just when he was far too tempted to resist her. Maybe fate was telling him he wasn’t meant to have sex with Tessa. But by the same logic that meant that he wasn’t supposed to tell her the truth, either. He laughed at that idea. Nice thought, but what exactly could he do? Legally change his name to JB and move them both to another city where no one would recognize him?

All he knew was that everyday that passed and he didn’t tell her she would see as a betrayal when he finally did confess.

Fate or not, he knew deep down he could definitely not allow himself to make love to her. Not while he was still lying. He swore to himself, no matter what happened with Tessa and this messy situation he’d created, he would never, ever lie again. It was just too much damn work.

Chapter Seven

Of all of the times for Troy to call, it had to be now? Tessa sighed when she heard her big brother’s voice. She should be sunk deep in between JB and the sofa enjoying a little pre-brunch tidbit and instead, she was on the phone.

She watched as JB, looking disheveled and yummy, skirted around her and disappeared into the bathroom. She tried to listen to Troy, but instead found herself picturing herself and JB naked in the shower together. But when JB reappeared and dove right for his overcoat, about to leave, her little fantasy was shattered.

“Hold on a second, Troy.” She covered the mouthpiece of the phone. “Are you leaving?”

“I really have to go. I’ll call you later.” JB planted a much too quick kiss on her mouth and then he was gone.

Damn. Since when did guys play hard to get? It was all Troy’s fault. As the door closed behind JB, Tessa launched into a rant directed at her brother. “What exactly do you want that you had to call so early on a Sunday morning?”

“Hey, don’t take your PMS out on me. And what was all that about?” Troy hesitated, and then let out a sound of surprise. If there had been a light bulb above his head, Tessa imagined it would have lit up at that moment and he figured out what was going on in her apartment. “Tess, is there somebody there with you?”

Nosy, interfering…

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business but yes, perhaps I did have company for breakfast, until you interrupted us. I have a social life too, you know.” It was amazing she’d even gotten a date for the prom in high school. Troy was always scaring the boys away. “Well, aren’t you going to demand to know who he is, what he does, get an IRS and FBI check on him?”

“No.”

What?
That threw her off balance. “No?”

“Actually, I’ve already met him and I approve. I’m glad you two worked things out.”

Worked things out? Hmm, it was always best to play more informed rather than less in situations such as this. Left to his own devices, Troy would spill more than if she questioned him. “Ah…yeah, me too. But I can’t believe you talked to him and didn’t even tell me.” Tessa bit her lip and waited, hoping Troy would elaborate.

“Hey, it was a man-to-man confessional type thing. And the poor guy was really torn up about lying to you.”

Tessa’s heart stopped. Lying about what? It couldn’t be anything really bad or Troy would be angry and JB would have at least one black eye, if not been in the hospital in traction.

Troy continued merrily on. “But even you wouldn’t be enough of a bitch to not forgive one of the most eligible bachelors in the city. I figured the promise of designer footwear at cost would probably be enough to get you over the fact that he didn’t tell you his family owns Bryant’s.”

Realization struck her like a lightening bolt. JB, B as in Bryant. Then she remembered the look on his face when she blurted out that the Bryant heir was probably born with a silver spoon in his mouth…as well as the other less pleasant and far from complimentary things she had added. She let out a big breath. Why in the world had he even asked her out after that insult? That was the question of the hour.

She made a beeline for the computer and booted it up.

“Tess?”

“Ah, yeah. Sorry.” She typed
Bryant
into Google and up popped more than she needed to confirm her suspicions, including a photo of Jason Bryant the first shaking hands with Jason Bryant the third as he took over the family legacy from the store’s founder, his grandfather.

Troy was talking again. Damn it. This was no time for multi-tasking. “…wanted to know if you’d like to come to dinner.”

“Can I get back to you?”

“Sure. I have to go in for my last Santa shift at Bryant’s today, so dinner wouldn’t be until about seven anyway.”

“Okay. Thanks. I gotta go.”

“I’m sure you do. Say hi to Jason for me.”

She could almost hear his smirk. Tessa said goodbye and hung up, wondering when the universe had shifted and left Troy as the more knowledgeable sibling.

Unable to sit still, she got up and paced in front of the computer. How could she not have realized? There were so many signs. JB’s—rather Jason’s—impeccable clothing which probably cost more than her first car. His obsession with Bryant’s and women’s fashions. The fact he could rearrange an entire floor of the store on a whim overnight…

Oh my God.
And the fact that he wouldn’t sleep with her. She sat back in the desk chair. Bingo. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to. It was because he was lying to her about who he was. He was being honorable. She let out a big sigh of relief. Her women’s intuition wasn’t that off kilter after all. The attraction she felt between them was real. She’d just have to work on her powers of observation and pay more attention to details from now on. Phew. That was a relief.

And now that the secret was out, a whole world of possibilities opened up to her. One of the most eligible men in the city was interested in her? Tessa O’Donnell. And he was sweet, hardworking, handsome, unbelievably hot and not at all snobby like she’d foolishly assumed someone like him would be. The whole situation didn’t seem like it could be real. At least, not really happening to her. If she still couldn’t taste him on her lips, she’d think it was all a dream.

What was she going to do? She could play dumb and wait for him to tell her the truth, but sitting around and waiting really wasn’t her style. She could take matters into her own hands. Yeah, that could be the way to go.

She hopped up from the computer and headed for the shower as a plan that had her heart throbbing—in addition to other parts of her—began to form.

~ * ~

Jason spent the morning trying and failing to keep his mind on work. Luckily nothing pressing demanded his attention, because with Tessa on his mind, he doubted he could have handled it. Knowing Troy was Santa again for the day, Jason avoided the holiday department like the plague.
 
He spent most of his time in the new department, trying to get a feel for the customers’ reactions to it.

As usual, time spent on the sales floor left him with a hundred ideas, so he grabbed a sandwich and headed for his office to enter them all into his organizer while he ate. Peggy, who had the day off, would have been extremely proud of him for remembering to eat all on his own.

With a smile on his face at that thought, he opened his office door and stopped dead in the doorway. Nearly dropping the sandwich, he placed it on a small table by the door and glanced up again to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

Tessa stood before him in nothing but an open trench coat, high heels and extremely sexy lingerie. Bryant’s lingerie, if he wasn’t mistaken. He swallowed hard.

“Tessa.” His voice was so breathy, he wasn’t sure it even carried as far as the desk where Tessa was now perching her perfect behind and leaning back on her arms, thrusting her barely covered breasts out at him.