The Rebound Guy (14 page)

“Just not you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Let’s just say that, personally, I’m not there yet. But I can see how others would be.”

“You understand that you just issued a challenge, right?” His steady, low-pitched voice delivered a seductive warning. “I’m going to show you just what I can do for you, Asia.”

Pinpricks of awareness climbed up her neck, heating her skin, making her body tingle with sensations that could prove dangerous. She had to remind herself that this relationship was temporary. The possibility of her and Dexter becoming more serious was no more real than pink unicorns parading down Fifth Avenue.

Of course, she could argue that the provisional nature of their time together was even
more
reason to throw caution to the wind and enjoy these few weeks. If only she could figure out a way to block out the ten thousand dollars she was paying him.

“So, what can I do to make people take my relationship-consulting business more seriously?” he asked.

Asia cleared her throat as she struggled to remember exactly what she had been thinking about before his tempting challenge.

“Actually,” she began, “I’m not convinced that making it a more serious business is the angle you should take.” She held both hands up, staving off his protest. “I know that the ‘philosophical consultation’ aspect is something that you want to impart to future clients, but that fun, carefree slant is what will pull your customers in. Take the beginning of that online blog article, for example.”

“That was sensationalism at its finest,” Dexter said.

“It pulled people in. Despite how I may have come across earlier, I knew from the very beginning that you were not running some sleazy, two-bit escort service. I never would have hired an escort, no matter how desperate I was to make Cortland jealous. I hired you because I sensed there was something more to what you offered, Dexter. The fact that you’re hot helped. A lot.”

He barked out a laugh, but Asia only shrugged. “I’m being honest. I wanted someone whom people would take one look at and say, ‘why in the hell did she waste her time with that jerk Cortland Stewart?’”

“And you think we accomplished that last night?”

“Oh, yeah.” Asia nodded. “So far, I’ve achieved everything I set out to accomplish when I hired you. Personally, I think you should use the fun, over-the-top bit to draw your clients in, but set the more serious tone right away, and I mean
right
away, as in your very first meeting.”

“To be fair, you didn’t give me a chance to set any type of tone during our very first meeting. You ordered me to leave within five minutes of meeting me.”

Asia winced. “Isn’t a person allowed one mistake?” she asked. “And just to be clear, even though you did make things much easier last night, I firmly believe I would have been just fine had I not hired you.”

“You still think so, huh?”

“I know so,” she said. “Compared with a lot of women, I was in much better shape to handle my breakup, both emotionally and financially. I shudder when I think about the mess I would be in if I had been relying on Cortland to provide the roof over my head or pay my bills. That would be a different ballgame.”

Dexter rubbed the back of his neck again. “Yeah, I’ve had several clients who found themselves in sticky situations because their financial houses weren’t in order.”

“I’m not surprised. It happened to my mom,” Asia said. She glanced over at him, and her throat tightened with discomfort.

Here she was again, sharing something she never shared, even with the man she’d spent the past four years of her life with. Yet Asia still heard herself say, “One day, she was happily married, and the next she was a single mother having to enter the workplace with hardly any skills and not a dime to her name.”

The soreness in her throat grew, the ache so intense she could barely speak past it. “That’s a scary situation for anyone, but especially for someone who has been reliant on someone else. I wish more women would take an active role in their financial well-being; you wouldn’t have so many who find themselves single and broke.”

“Or losing their homes,” Dexter said. She sent him a questioning look, but he waved a hand. “Never mind.”

Asia reached over and covered his hand. “Look, I know I’ve been giving you grief, but I can see how your vision for Forward Momentum would be beneficial to women. I do want you to succeed, Dexter. I think you have a lot to offer.”

Dexter looked down at her hand, and before Asia could pull it away, he captured it. His eyes heated as his slightly rough fingers gently abraded her skin. “Does this mean you’re open to me showing you everything that I can do for you?”

Her pulse thudded where he touched her; her heartbeat hammered in her ears. Her breath eased out in shallow, measured exhales of air as she tried, and failed, to tear her eyes from his intense gaze.

With a strength drawn wholly from a sense of self-preservation, Asia slipped her hand and eyes away from his sensual snare. She stood and gathered the bag she’d brought with her to the library.

“Just give a repeat performance of what you delivered last night,” she said. “That’s all I require of you.”

Chapter Nine

“Okay, where did you find this guy?”

Asia jumped and spun around from the bartender who had just taken her order. Elizabeth Harrington stood before her, hands on her hips.

“Give it up, Asia. I want to know where you’ve been hiding Dexter.”

“I haven’t been
hiding
Dexter anywhere,” she said, turning back to the stainless steel bar and accepting her glass of Frascati. “I just met him. I swear,” she said, putting a hand to her chest. “I met him the morning after I confronted Cortland outside of Rodney’s apartment. He was buying coffee at a place not too far from the office.”

The purple lights of the club reflected in Lizzie’s wide eyes as they made their way to the rooftop deck of 230 FIFTH, the restaurant where her and Rodney’s dinner was being held.

“I cannot believe your luck, Asia.”

“Luck?” This time it was Asia’s eyes that widened.

“Yes, luck. You end things with Cortland and the very next day run into
that
guy?” She gestured to the area of the rooftop where Dexter stood, a perfect view of the Empire State Building appearing just over his shoulder.

Asia bit her bottom lip. “So you don’t think it’s too soon?” She lowered her voice and leaned closer to Lizzie’s ear. “You know, to go from Cortland to Dexter in just one day? Some people may say that I’m just using him as a rebound guy.”

Lizzie shrugged. “So what if you are? If you’re going to rebound, you might as well do it with a guy like that. He’s gorgeous. And he is charming the pants off everyone here.”

That he was. With a potted palm tree shielding her from view, Asia drank the crisp white wine as she observed him engaged in an animated conversation with several of Lizzie’s co-workers. She’d suffered a moment’s hesitation earlier today, questioning her decision to have him join her at the dinner, but Dexter had proven he could thrive in a casual social gathering just as exceptionally as he had at the mixer.

“You already look happier, you know?”

Asia’s eyes snapped to her friend. “Did I look unhappy before?”

“Well, you were dating that jerk when I first met you, so I have never seen the pre-Cortland Asia, but after just a week I can already tell that post-Cortland Asia is a much happier woman.”

Asia shook her head, completely dumbfounded. “First India, and now you?”

“What about me and India?”

“Two of the women I trust the most both thought it was a mistake that I was with Cortland. Why didn’t you say anything before?”

A sarcastic brow spiked above Lizzie’s expressive eyes. “Would you have listened?”

Asia accepted the quiet reprimand in her friend’s voice. No, she wouldn’t have listened. She’d thought she had the perfect relationship, when nothing could have been further from the truth.

“None of that matters now,” Lizzie said. “You are through with Cortland Stewart. Whether or not Dexter turns out to be the real deal or just your rebound guy, you should just go with it, because from what I can tell so far, he’s really good for you.”

Asia returned her gaze to him. “He’s hot, too, isn’t he?”

“Oh, yeah,” Lizzie breathed. “Rodney’s lucky that
you
are the one who brought him. If he had come with any of the other broads here, I would dump my man and go after Dexter myself.”

Asia playfully slapped Lizzie on the arm as they continued on to the trio of covered cabanas that had been cordoned off for Lizzie and Rodney’s dinner party. As she advanced toward Dexter, she felt her breath escalating as she took him in. He truly was a fine-looking man: that flawless light-brown skin and strong jaw; those arresting pale eyes that never failed to draw her in.

Asia had noticed the looks of envy from several of the women here and could admit to indulging in a bit of self-satisfaction, knowing that he was here with her. But she only had to conjure an image of the check she’d written him to suck the air out of her inflated ego.

Peals of laughter drifting from the direction where Dexter was drew her attention. Gillian Daniels, who had graduated with both Cortland and Rodney from Columbia Law, stood next to him, her hand lying casually on his arm.

A sharp stab of something she refused to call jealousy seared her chest. She was
not
jealous; she just wasn’t sure how she felt about Gillian standing so close to the man who, as far as any of the guests here were concerned, was Asia’s new boyfriend.

Dexter spotted her and, after a quick word to Gillian, started walking toward her. As he approached, Asia pasted on a smile she didn’t feel.

“Are you enjoying yourself?”

“Yeah, this is nice,” he said. The tension bracketing his mouth sent a wave of unease sweeping through her. Dexter’s gaze darted back to Gillian. He rubbed his hands on his thighs and in a lowered voice said, “May I see you for a moment?”

He took her by the hand and ushered her past the swell of guests mingling on the crowded rooftop. They moved past a row of tropical flowers of brilliant orange, stopping just before the cabanas where the other guests were seated.

“Dexter, is everything all right?” Asia asked, although it was more than apparent that something was very wrong.

“I’ve got—” he started, but was interrupted when Gillian walked up to them and tapped him on the shoulder.

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” she said. “I just wanted to give this to Dex. It’s the colleague I was telling you about who lives in Clinton Hill.”

“The one with the Miniature Schnauzers?” he asked, taking the slip of paper from Gillian’s fingers. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. It was nice catching up with you, Dex.” She turned to Asia and with a coy smile said, “You’re a lucky woman.”

Asia’s eyes tracked Gillian as she sauntered over to the private cabanas.

She turned her attention back to Dexter and, reminding herself that she was not jealous, asked, “You had something to tell me?”

He pinched his eyes closed and let out a deep breath. Then he dropped his fingers from his eyes, opened them, and looked at her, his expression strained. His next five words turned Asia’s blood to ice.

“Gillian is a former client.”

***

Unease clenched Dex’s gut as he watched Asia’s eyes widen.

“It’s okay,” he said quickly, reaching for her.

“It is
not
okay,” she whispered fiercely, jerking her hand from his grasp. “Oh, my God.” She turned and walked to the left, as if she was heading for the club, then turned right, as if she were going to make a break for the edge of the rooftop. “Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod,” she repeated under her breath as she paced. “This is a disaster. This is
horrible
.”

“Asia, calm down.”

“I am going to be a laughingstock.”

“No, you won’t. It’s going to be okay. Asia, would you be still for a moment?”

Dexter caught her arm, bringing her pacing to a halt. Her eyes focused on him and he held her gaze, pleading for her to pay attention.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said again. “Gillian won’t say anything.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I told her that you are
not
a client. I fed her the story that we’ve been telling everyone else, about how we met at the coffee shop and how I fell head-over-heels the minute I saw you.” His mouth twitched in a small smile, and he shrugged. “I think I convinced her.”

Her panicked eyes brightened with hope. “You do?”

Dex nodded. “I do.” He licked his suddenly dry lips and pulled in a deep breath. “But, just to be sure, I think we need to play up the attraction part of our act.”

“How so?”

He glanced quickly over his shoulder at the guests seated a few yards away before closing the short distance between him and Asia.

“Like this,” he said, then bent over and pressed his lips to hers.

He felt Asia’s body stiffen, but then it started to slowly relax into him. Dex tried to hold back, but the minute he felt her resistance weaken, he took her mouth in the way he’d been dreaming of doing since the morning he’d walked into her office a week and a half ago. He snaked his hand up her spine, to the back of her head, holding her in place while his tongue dipped inside, ebbing and flowing against hers.

He knew he’d taken her by surprise, but he didn’t give a damn. He’d held off from doing this for as long as he could. He needed this kiss, needed to feel her lush body pushed up against his. So did she, if the soft mewls of pleasure rising from her throat were any indication. Dexter drew her closer to him, fitting her more firmly against his frame.

He eased his hand down her back, curving it around her ass, pressing her forward until her hips met his.

His brain reeled when he heard her moan, “That’s enough.”

She took a step back, but didn’t storm away in anger, as she had every right to do. He’d taken that option from her by kissing her in full view of the entire dinner party.