Lucy Monroe - Satisfaction Guaranteed

“I’m not sloppy.” She also wasn’t an agent, but no one seemed willing to give that bit of information the importance it was due.

And she might as well stop whining about it, even in her own head. She’d agreed after all. She had to make this thing work and her dad was right about one thing…the job was tailor-made for her.

“Maybe I should pick you up at your condo and find out, though I can’t picture you having a messy place.”

She hadn’t meant that kind of sloppy and he knew it, but she didn’t have a snappy comeback. She was too busy trying not to think about what she wanted for dessert.

Beth was shaking with nerves by the time that Ethan buzzed her condo that night.

She’d told herself over and over again that this was not a real date. It was an opportunity to solidify their cover. Right. And the fact that they would be sitting across an intimate table for two should not be sending her libido into overdrive. She’d read somewhere that women were at their sexual peak in their thirties. Well, she was only twenty-nine and she’d been peaking for Ethan for almost two years.

Which meant it wasn’t some kind of hormonal joke her body was playing on her. She wanted the man. So much that she’d stopped calling herself depraved and learned to deal with the urges. Only now she was faced with more temptation than she’d ever had where he was concerned. She didn’t know if she could deal with that.

Darn him anyway for being the one man she was sure would not only not balk at her sexual fantasies, but who would know what to do with them.

She bit her lip as she took a final look in her full-length mirror. She had not morphed into a cover model for Vogue in the last ten seconds. More was the pity, because while she was sure Ethan would get her sexual fantasies, she was equally certain he would have no interest in sharing them. She was not his type.

At five-foot-six, she was at least three inches too short, a cup size too small in the curves department, and several lovers shy of the experience a man like him was no doubt used to.

None of that had stopped her from trying on six different outfits, doing her makeup three times, and trying her hair four different ways before settling for a sloppy topknot with tendrils framing her face that went well with the simple black dress she’d settled on. It left a good portion of her legs and back bare…all in the effort to look as sexy as she could for him. For this nondate. Sheesh.

She needed to get a life.

The problem was that she didn’t want a life…she wanted him. Every sexy, tantalizing, irresistible inch of his six-foot-three frame.

The buzzer went again and she jumped, grimacing. Showtime.

She rushed to release the entrance lock for downstairs. Ethan was knocking on her door less than a minute later.

She opened it, keeping the kittens back with one wary foot. “Hi.”

“Hi, Sunshine. Is there a reason you’re blocking the door?”

“The kittens.” She scooted back, keeping the cats away from the opening as she widened it to let him in. “Come on in and I’ll get my jacket.”

Ethan moved swiftly, grabbing Beethoven as the black-and-white kitten tried to make a break for the hall and shutting the door immediately upon stepping inside her apartment.

“Thanks. They want to go exploring, but with my luck they’d end up at the manager’s apartment. She’s allergic to feline fur and was very dubious about letting me get the cats.”

Ethan grinned. “I can imagine.” He whistled as he looked around. “Nice place. Exotic.”

That’s what she’d been going for. She’d decorated with Byzantine colors and rich textures like silks and velvets as well as faux fur throws on her sofa and chaise longue. It fit her, but usually surprised people that did not know her well. Even some who did.

Ethan didn’t look surprised, only intrigued.

“The cats like it, too…too much sometimes,” she said ruefully, looking at her gorgeous drapes, now shredded near the bottoms.

Ethan’s gaze followed hers and he laughed as he scratched Beethoven’s head before putting the kitten down. “There’s a spray you can get that keeps the cats off your furniture and the like.”

“Will it stop them shredding my curtains?”

“I don’t know. My sister swears by it, though, and she’s got four cats.”

“Four?” Beth asked faintly. Two were enough to wreak more havoc than a marauding army in her opinion.

“She’s got kids,” he said with a shrug, as if that explained it.

Beth hadn’t spent much time around children, but maybe it did. Maybe each child had insisted on having his or her own pet…or maybe his sister hadn’t wanted any of the kids to feel left out and gotten them each a kitten. Being an only child, those kind of family dynamics were a mystery to her. But she found them interesting. She’d always wondered what family life was like in a “normal” household.

She used to dream of finding out. She didn’t dream of that anymore. Mostly because she’d come to realize her dreams were more fairy tale than hopeful fantasy.

She grabbed her vintage velvet dress coat from the back of the chair where she’d left it in preparation. “I’m ready to go, if you are.”

“Dinner’s not for another hour.” He took the coat and laid it back over the chair.

Then he shrugged off his own leather jacket and put it on top of hers. And she let him. Without a protest. Weird. This man brought out more than one unexpected reaction in her. Even odder…she then just stood there staring at him and trying really hard to remember…this was not a real date.

But his dark sweater clung to his muscular chest in a mouthwatering way. He looked so hot…in every way.

He cocked his brow at her and her stomach dipped. “Um…if not dinner yet, then what?”

“I thought we could have a drink and talk a while before we go.” He looked around her living room again. “I want a chance to soak in who you are away from the office so I can relate to that person in front of Prescott.”

It sounded reasonable, but Ethan Crane was the last person she wanted to invite into her life on a more personal basis. Why hadn’t she given that thought more credence before agreeing to do this job? Probably because she hated making decisions based on weakness. And she definitely saw her feelings for Ethan as a major weakness.

She took a fortifying breath. “I keep the drinks in the kitchen. What will you have?”

“I’m partial to beer, but I don’t suppose you keep that on hand.” He managed to look sheepish and way too kissable all at the same time. “It’s the Texas boy in me.”

“Dark ale in a longneck bottle all right?”

His eyes narrowed. “Who do you keep that in the fridge for?”

“It’s football season,” she said with a shrug.

“So?”

“I like Sunday football, but don’t tell my mother. It’s not nearly as politically correct as baseball.”

“Who do you watch it with? Hyatt?”

There had been a time, but Alan wasn’t the football fan she was. He preferred participating in, not watching…any sport. She was sure Ethan would be the same way. “No. By myself.”

“So, you drink the beer?”

“And eat peanut butter-filled pretzels? Yes. It’s all part of the experience.”

“Maybe I’ll join you next Sunday.”

“You like to watch football?”

“Sunshine, I’m from Texas. Of course I like to watch football.”

“And drink beer.”

“I’m not sure about the peanut butter in the pretzels, though.”

“I suppose I could spring for a bag of regular ones…or some popcorn if you’d rather.” What was she saying? Was she inviting him to invade her football season ritual?