Jane Sullivan - Risky Business

“Yes,” Jack said. “For quite a while, actually.”

“Good. That means you can join us on the retreat.”

Rachel bit back a gasp.

“Retreat?” Jack said.

“Rachel didn’t tell you? I’m taking all the employees on a ski trip to The Summit in Silver Springs tomorrow morning. Four days. Rest and relaxation. Of course, spouses are invited.”

“Why, Rachel,” Jack said, “you didn’t tell me anything about a retreat.”

Rachel just about choked. “I—I didn’t think you’d be back in town. You…surprised me, you know.”

“Yes. I suppose I did.”

“I’d love to have you join us,” Walter said.

“He can’t!” Rachel said.

Walter recoiled with surprise.

“It’s just that…well, it’s just that I know how tired he usually is after his trips out of the country,” she said, stammering like an idiot. “I know he’d probably just like to stay at home. Rest. You know.”

“Rachel’s right,” Jack said. “She knows me so well. Whenever I come home from one of my trips, all I want to do is zone out. Relax. Take it easy.”

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief.

“Which means that a trip to a ski resort would be exactly what I need. I’d love to go.”

Rachel thought her heart was going to stop. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be. It was as if she was paying right now for every lie she’d ever told in her life. God had saved up and hit her with her punishment all at once, and boy, was it a doozy.

“Excellent!” Walter exclaimed. “I’m interested in hearing all about your work. That is, between ski runs. You do ski, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Glad to have you joining us. I know there are a lot of people who will be interested in meeting Rachel’s husband. You’ve been somewhat of a mystery man around this office.”

“And I’d love to meet them.”

“Well, I suppose if you’d like, I can introduce you right now.”

“No!” Rachel said.

Walter looked at her again with surprise.

“Uh…Jack is late for an appointment already.” She gave him a pointed stare, warning him not to disagree. “He can meet everyone tomorrow.”

“That’ll be fine,” Walter said. “We’ll see you both tomorrow afternoon at the resort, then?”

“Yes,” Jack said. “Thank you for the invitation.”

Walter left her office, and she spun around to face Jack.

“Are you completely out of your mind?”

“Out of my mind? To accept a free four-day vacation in the company of a beautiful woman? Yeah, I’m nuts, all right.”

“You are not going to be in my company!”

“Beg to differ. We’re married.”

“We are not married!”

“That lovely fake wedding ring you’re wearing says otherwise.”

“Just how do you intend to pass yourself off as my husband for four days?”

“You’ve been passing me off for six months. I figure four days will be no big deal.”

“That’s right! I’ve been doing it! I made you up, so I know what to say about you! You don’t! You don’t know you like I do!” Rachel put her hand to her forehead. “My God, that sounded insane.”

Jack laughed. “Calm down, will you? It’ll be fun.”

“Fun? Fun?” She paced in front of her desk, waving her arms. “This is my career we’re talking about! If anybody finds out—”

“Nobody’s going to find out.”

“I don’t believe this. You think you can just walk in here, and—”

“What I think, Rachel, is that you’ve been using me for six months. I should at least be entitled to four days.”

“I’ve been using your picture! Not you!”

“My identity.”

“Not exactly. You’re not a doctor.”

“So you embellished. Was that my fault?”

“You can’t come with me, Jack. You can’t—”

“Really? Walter says I can.”

“He thinks you’re my husband!”

“Isn’t that what you want him to think?”

“Yes! As long as it’s your picture he’s thinking it about, not you!”

He grinned. “You’re right. You do sound a little insane.”

This was a nightmare. An honest-to-goodness nightmare come to life.

“I’m going to tell them you had a medical emergency,” she said. “I’ll tell them you had to fly out suddenly—”

“Sorry, Rachel. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” He walked over and stood in front of her, his smile dimming. “Why did you leave?”

“What?”

“In San Antonio. I woke up and found you gone.”

She turned away. “I don’t want to talk about that.”

He pulled her back around and took her by the shoulders, staring down at her with a gaze so hot it made her breath catch in her throat.

“One night wasn’t nearly enough. I don’t know why you left, but now that I’ve found you again, I don’t intend to let you go.”

“There’s nothing between us, Jack. That night meant nothing.”

“That night was absolutely explosive and you know it. Tell me you’ve had better sex somewhere else. Go ahead. Tell me.”

She swallowed hard. “I—I’ve had b-better sex somewhere…else.”

Well, those were the most unconvincing six words she’d ever spoken, and the tiny smile that came to his lips told her he knew it. Damn it.

“There are more important things in life than sex,” she said.

“It sure seemed to be at the top of your list that night in San Antonio.”

“I—I was drunk.”

“After one margarita?”

“I can’t hold alcohol.”

“You seemed plenty sober to me. I mean, if you’d been drunk, could you possibly have climbed up on that bathroom counter and—”

“Stop! Don’t say it!”

She shuddered out of his grip. God, she was going to die of embarrassment. Right here, right now.

His voice softened. “Why are you denying this? And why did you disappear?”

“Because that wasn’t me! The woman I was that night—she doesn’t really exist!”

“No, Rachel. Dr. Jack Kellerman, medical humanitarian, doesn’t exist. But the woman I knew in San Antonio—the woman I touched, the woman I kissed, the woman with more erogenous zones than I could count—she was very real.”

Rachel felt her cheeks flush red yet again. “Listen to me, Jack. Just because I took a side road one night doesn’t mean that’s the path I always travel. Or that it’s one I ever intend to go down again.”

“I see.” He nodded thoughtfully. “So you’re telling me that you don’t want any more of the best sex you ever had. For four days. At a ski resort. With a fireplace, a beautiful view…Yeah, I see your point. That would be a fate worse than death.”

“Stop it! Will you just stop it? I don’t want you coming with me!”

“Sorry, Rachel. You’ve made your bed, and now you’re going to lie in it.” He grinned. “But don’t worry. I’ll keep you company.”

Rachel remembered how spontaneous he’d been. How he’d teased and laughed and behaved in ways she’d found totally irresistible. It had all been very tantalizing when it happened between the sheets, but if he turned on those same characteristics full force around her coworkers and her boss, he could send her career up in flames. But there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Nothing. He knew her secret, so he held all the cards.

“What time do you get off work?” Jack asked her.

“I need to stay until six o’clock tonight.”

“Good. I’ll be back then.”

“You’ll be back? Why?”

“So we can go home together. Where is it we live again?”

She held up her palm. “No. No way. You’re not staying with me tonight.”

“This was a day trip to Denver for me,” he told her. “I haven’t got hotel reservations.”