Authors: Locklyn Marx
He let his eyes linger on her skin, taking his time as he moved his gaze up her body slowly. To Reid’s disappointment, her t-shirt ended just above her knees. He thought about her in that towel again, and he felt himself harden in his shorts.
Stop,
he told himself. The girl obviously has some kind of tortured past. Letting anything happen between them would be taking advantage. And while he liked a random dal iance as much as the next guy, he wasn’t a complete scumbag.
Wel . Depending on who you asked.
“Good drink,” he said, taking a sip and resisting the urge to grimace.
“Yeah.” Alexis crossed her legs.
“You going in the water?” he asked hopeful y. If she went in the water, she’d have to take that t-shirt off.
“You said I shouldn’t swim.”
“Did I?” He was a stupid, stupid man. “I changed my mind.
You seem fine.”
She did, too. He wasn’t just saying that. As much as he wanted to see her half-naked, the last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt. “You should go in if you want.”
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Why not definitely?”
“Are you going in?”
“Of course.” He hadn’t planned on it, but if that’s what it took, then that’s what he’d do.
“Real y?” She was looking at him incredulously. “You?”
“Yes, me.” He took another sip of his drink. “You know, I think you have me al wrong.”
“I do? How come?”
“Because you obviously think I’m some kind of uptight asshole.” He set his glass down on the table between them, then stood up and held his hand out to her. “Come on.
We’re going in the pool.”
She hesitated, and from the look on her face, Reid could tel she wanted to say no.
So he played his hole card. “Unless, of course, you’re scared.” He gave her a grin.
Alexis narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m not scared.”
She stood up, unfolding her legs and grabbing the bottom of her t-shirt. She pul ed it off in one quick movement and dropped it on the chair. Reid felt himself harden al over again. Her body was perfect – voluptuous and curvy in al the right places. Her bikini clung to her chest, and the bottom was held together with two skimpy looking strings. It was al he could do not to reach out and untie them.
When they got into the pool, it got worse. The bathing suit clung to her like a second skin, turning every inch of her into a temptation. Since it was the middle of a work day, and this was a business hotel, they were mostly alone. They swam and splashed around for hours, taking breaks only to get out of the water and sip on their drinks.
By the time five o’clock rol ed around, they were exhausted and hungry.
“Wanna get room service?” he asked as they headed back up to their rooms.
She hesitated, and Reid felt his heart speed up. Now that he’d spent the afternoon with her, he didn’t want to let her out of his sight. She’d seemed so carefree in the pool.
It was the first time she’d al owed herself to let her guard down around him. He liked that side of her, and wanted to see more of it.
“Sure,” Alexis said final y. “Just let me change.”
He dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and waited.
When she knocked on his door a few minutes later, she looked radiant. Her hair was stil wet from the pool, and she’d pul ed it back into a loose ponytail. Her skin had a slight glow from the time she’d spent in sun, and she was wearing a white tank top and a pair of jeans. Reid caught a glimpse of a pink bra strap peeking out from her tank top.
“We should order steak,” she said, flopping down on the bed.
He grinned. “Sounds good to me. How do you like it?”
“Medium.”
He ordered two steaks, mashed potatoes, corn, and salad.
When the meal came, the hotel had added a bottle of champagne and a plate of strawberries to the tray.
As soon as the bel boy was gone, Alexis began to open the champagne.
“They sent you this for free?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes. They know it’s good for repeat business.”
“Makes sense.” She poured two glasses, and he watched as the bubbles fizzed up in the glass.
They sat at the long glass table in the kitchen area of his suite, and cut into their steaks.
“So, what’s your meeting about tomorrow?” Alexis asked, taking a long sip of her champagne.
“It’s just a meeting to see if we’re on the right track with our potential ad campaign.”
“For the women’s clothing company?” The tip of her tongue snaked out of her mouth and licked a drop of champagne off her bottom lip. It was al he could do not to jump across the table and strip her naked. He averted his gaze and forced his attention back to his food.
“Yes,” he said. “For the women’s clothing company.”
“So what’s your idea?”
He looked at her incredulously. “You want to know my idea for the pitch?” Any woman he’d ever dated in the past had had no interest in knowing anything about his work. Not that he blamed them – a lot of it was boring.
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I? You spend so much time working on it. You’ve peeked my curiosity.”
Reid hesitated. The last thing he wanted to talk about was work. But it would be nice to get another person’s perspective. And it would be a distraction from the wicked thoughts he was having. So he grabbed his laptop from the other room, then pul ed up the rough storyboard of the concept he’d come up with. He watched as Alexis’s lips wrinkled and she frowned.
“What?” he demanded. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s just…” She shook her head. “Why do men always think that women spend their time frolicking around?”
“They’re not
frolicking,”
Reid said, offended. “They’re
dancing.
Bal room dancing. It’s supposed to be sophisticated and playful.” Everyone knew bal room dancing was the it thing right now. Dancing With The Stars was the hottest show on television. Part of his job was to know exactly which shows were the most popular, so that he could estimate how much it was costing companies to run their commercials during those time slots.
Alexis shook her head again and took a bite of mashed potatoes. “Wel , whatever. Either way, it’s cheesy.”
“But the brand is supposed to be playful.”
“You can be playful without looking like you’re seven.”
He tilted his head. “Okay, Ms. Smarty Pants,” he said.
“What do you think I should do?”
“Wel , if they told you it was playful yet sophisticated, I’d try to play off both those themes.” She fingered the key card that was sitting on the table in front of them.
“Why not do something with keys?”
“Keys?” Reid frowned. “I don’t get it.”
“You give the customers key cards,” she said, “that open the door to the store.
Like an access pass into another world. It’s playful and fun, yet sophisticated because it seems exclusive. You’re not just sel ing the clothes, you’re sel ing a mood.” She took a sip of her champagne, her blue eyes thoughtful. “And then you could use the card to track people’s purchases, so that you could send them targeted coupons. And they could unlock different offers, or scan the key card in-store to get a certain percentage off on pre-determined days.”
He started at her incredulously. It was so ridiculously simple and perfect that it bordered on bril iant. Of course, they’d need a tagline. Something that played off the idea of exclusivity and unlocking a different world. But that would be the easy part.
“You just came up with that?’ Reid asked her. “Just now?”
He turned the computer screen back toward him, and his fingers began googling, making sure the idea wasn’t something Alexis had seen somewhere else.
“Yes.” Alexis shrugged. “Sorry, I know you probably think it sucks. But trust me, it’s way better than frolicking around in
– ” she peered over his shoulder at the screen. “What is that, a hot air bal oon?”
“Yes,” he said defensively, somehow stil protective of his idea even though he knew that compared to hers it was completely ridiculous. “And anyway, I love your idea.”
“You do?” She blushed. “Thanks.”
“I’m going to have to come up with a tagline,” he said. “And I’l have to put some materials together, but there should be a twenty-four hour print shop around.”
“You’re going to do al this tonight?” Her eyes widened as she took another sip of champagne.
“Wel , the meeting’s tomorrow. So I don’t real y have a choice.”
“What about your frolicking idea?”
“What about it?” He was on a stock image site now, looking for images of keys.
He wondered if there was any way to put a rush order on a key card with Vista Col ection’s logo embossed on it.
“You’re going to just scrap it?”
“Yup.” He scrol ed through images on the site, trying not to think about al the work he’d done. And he tried not to think about Richard Muel er, who was probably going to freak the fuck out when he got wind of the fact that Reid had changed the whole direction of the pitch.
“Don’t do that!” Alexis said. “What if my idea sucks?”
“It doesn’t.” He turned the screen around so she could see it. “What do you think about something like that? As an image for the key card? Along with their logo?”
She frowned. “Pink?”
“Yeah. It’s playful.”
“It’s also safe and kind of girly.”
“You don’t like pink?”
“No, I love pink,” she said. “But not al women do. I think you should go for something a little more whimsical, maybe deep purples and light blues.”
Alexis took the computer, her fingers flying over the keys, entering search terms on the stock image site until she found what she was looking for. She turned the screen back to him. On it was a picture of an old fashioned skeleton key that was dark purple at the top, and then changed slowly to a light blue.
“That’s perfect,” he said in awe.
“I know.” She smiled at him.
“Now I just need to find a place that’s going to be able to work on this on such short notice.” He was back to googling.
“I should probably go,” she said, standing up. “I mean, you have so much work to do.”
“No way,” he said, putting his hand on her arm to stop her.
Her skin was soft, and she smel ed like chlorine and shampoo. “You’re staying here with me. I need you.”
***
At five am, they broke to have breakfast at a cute little diner while they waited to pick their order up at the twenty-four hour print shop next door. They ordered blueberry pancakes and bacon and egg sandwiches, talking and laughing as they ate.
When the sun had risen completely over the horizon, they headed over to the print shop to pick up the boards that laid out their campaign, along with the key cards they’d somehow managed to get designed in time.
“Wow,” Alexis said as Reid paid for everything. “That shit’s expensive.”
Reid laughed, like he thought this was hilarious. “I guess that’s what happens when you wait until the last minute.”
When their taxi dropped them back off at the hotel, there were stil a few hours left before Reid’s meeting at ten.
“I guess I should probably let you get some sleep,” Alexis said. “I mean, so you can at least be a little bit rested for your meeting.”
“Yeah.” They were standing in the hal way, both of them leaning against the doors to their respective rooms. Alexis didn’t want to leave him. Something about being around him was soothing, and it wasn’t just because working on the project had been such a distraction.
Working with Reid
had
taken her mind off everything, it was true. But there was something else. Reid’s presence was comforting. Nothing rattled him. It was like he had this unshakeable confidence, like he believed that no matter what went wrong, he’d be able to handle it.
For example, when she’d come up with that idea for his pitch – he hadn’t freaked out or complained that now he was going to have to do a bunch of new work. He’d immediately sprung into action, trying to come up with a plan and find the best way to execute it. It was apparent that he had a ton of self-belief, and Alexis found it extremely comforting.
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep,” Reid said, shaking his head. “I’m too wired.”
“Probably from al the Red Bul we drank.”
“Yeah.” He took a step toward her. “Thanks for al your help.
I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”
“No problem.”
He moved even closer, and Alexis swal owed hard. The whole night – no, the whole
day --
something had been simmering between them. Something they’d both ignored.
But she’d seen the way he’d looked at her in the pool earlier, the way his eyes had lingered on her body, the way he grinned at her when she caught him staring, like he wanted her to know he was thinking wicked thoughts.
“Thanks for helping me,” he said. His voice was low and gruff, and she flushed.
“You already said that.”
“I know.” He grinned. “I just want to make sure you know how thankful I real y am.”
He took another step toward her. He was so close now that she was afraid he’d be able to hear her heart drumming away in her chest. Reid reached out and slid his finger down her cheek. “Do you know how hard it’s been to keep my hands off you?” he asked in that same gruff, sexy voice.
Heat flamed between her legs and then rushed through her entire body. “No,” she said weakly.
“No, you don’t know how hard it’s been, or no, I shouldn’t keep my hands off you?” He was stil grinning at her. His index finger had slid down her cheek and over her neck, and was now moving in a lazy circle on her col arbone. It was so much of a tease that she started to feel light-headed.
“No, I don’t know how hard it’s been.” Her mouth felt dry, and she licked her lips.
“It’s been incredibly hard.” He took one more step toward her, so that his body was pushed up against hers. Her back was against the door. She could feel the hardness of his chest pressing against her breasts, and suddenly, she was breathless. Al her anxiety, al her worry, al her nervousness was coming to a breaking point. She wanted to forget about al of it, to just let herself go, to lose herself in a moment. And Reid was giving her the perfect excuse.