Debbi Rawlins - He's All That

She slid inside, her long, shapely legs molded by the tight denim, holding his attention captive. Reluctantly he closed the door. She started the car and the automatic window smoothly slid down.

“Tomorrow night,” he said, and thought about kissing her again but stepped back instead.

“Around seven, right?”

He nodded. “Under what name?”

Her mouth lifted in a mischievous grin. “Lady Chatterly.”

The tinted window slid up, obscuring her face, and then she drove away, leaving him in the parking lot with a smile and a hard-on.

TORI MUTTERED A CURSE when she pulled into the driveway and saw the parlor lights on. Of course her mother could have gone to bed and just left them on for her. It was after eleven.

Another light flickered on and Tori sighed as she navigated the circular driveway around to the east garage where she kept her car. She had a good mind to wander out into the garden and make her mother come out and look for her. No way would she put up with a grilling over where she’d been all night. Tomorrow, after she went to the office, no matter how many appointments were on her calendar, she was looking for an apartment.

She could have come home immediately after meeting with Jake. She’d had a half hour to kill before she had to show up at the center. But if she’d gone home for the thirty minutes, she would have had to face her mother’s annoying questions.

It was weird to be living at home after being away for seven years. Had she really been that subservient in her youth, or had her mother’s domineering gotten worse? Maybe she figured if she could tame Mallory, whipping Tori into shape would be a cinch.

Even Jake had thought Tori had run home to placate her mother. Of course Tori had also led him to that thinking. She didn’t know why she hadn’t been honest with him, except working at the center, and answering their hot line was something very personal for her. And the truth was, she didn’t know Jake.

She laughed to herself as she pulled the car into the garage. She didn’t know him…she just wanted to sleep with him. Oh, God…

The door had barely closed behind her when she heard her mother calling from the parlor. Tori thought briefly about running up the servants’ stairs but decided not to aggravate her mother any further.

“I’ll be right in, Mother,” she called and stopped to get a diet Coke out of the fridge. She grabbed an apple, too, since she hadn’t eaten dinner.

She took a deep breath, reminding herself to be patient as she entered the parlor.

Her mother purposefully looked at her watch, still on her wrist, even though she had already changed into a satiny peach robe. “Where have you been?”

“Why?”

Her mother’s brows arched. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you since you’ve been away, Victoria, but your attitude is most unattractive.”

Tori sighed. “It’s only eleven-fifteen.”

Her mother stared in silence for a moment, gave Tori’s jeans a disdainful look and then said, “You’ve been at the center again, haven’t you?”

“And that would be a problem?”

“For heaven’s sake, Victoria, we give them enough money. You don’t need to actually—” She made a sweeping gesture with her hand.

“Get my hands dirty?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah.” Sighing, Tori popped open the can of cola. “I think I’ll take this upstairs with me.”

“Victoria.”

She stopped, turned around.

“Do not forget about dinner tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night? Where?”

“Oh, Victoria.” Her mother stood, and then turned to plump the pillow she’d been leaning on. “At the Club.”

“You didn’t tell me about that.”

“I most certainly did. We’re meeting the Kimballs at seven. They’re very important clients of your father’s.”

Tori’s heart sank. “I would have remembered…”

“Not with the way you’ve been preoccupied lately. Anyway, dress will be casual.” She cast a critical gaze over Tori. “Wear your cream linen dress.”

“Guess what? They taught me how to dress myself in college.”

“I’m not amused, Victoria,” her mother called as Tori took the stairs two at a time. “I expect you to be prompt tomorrow. This dinner is very important.”

She slipped inside her room, shut the door and sank against it and groaned. Jake would assume she’d chickened out. What the hell was she going to do?

JAKE IDLY FLIPPED through several more channels and then flung the remote aside. He should have known she wouldn’t show up. Yeah, he’d been surprised when he’d shown up early to check in and pay for the room only to find that she’d beat him to it. She’d left a note apologizing that she’d be late, which had bugged him, yet had also been encouraging.

But it was already nine. If he had a brain in his head he’d just leave. Not that he had anything else to do. Bad enough he’d barely been able to concentrate all day. He’d purposely stayed in the office to clear some paperwork off his desk. And what? All he’d managed to do was upset his secretary by screwing up her new filing system.

Muttering over his foolishness for hanging around, he went to the minibar and grabbed another beer out of the fridge. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t turned down sex before, although admittedly, that wasn’t a common occurrence. If he wanted to be totally honest with himself, he kind of got a charge out of a Whitford coming on to him.

He skipped the chair this time and stretched out on the bed, adjusting the pillow behind his neck before resuming his channel surfing. Great hotel but the channel selection sucked. She obviously wasn’t going to show. He ought to go home where he could at least catch the end of the Raiders’ game.

After taking another pull of beer, he set the bottle on the nightstand and yawned. Screw her. Better that she’d chumped him. She wouldn’t even have to know that he’d shown up. He wasn’t a toy poodle for her amusement. The sex would probably have been great but it still niggled at him that she wanted to keep him her guilty secret.

She thought he was a gardener…someone beneath her. Granted, he wasn’t in her social class, but little did she know that he’d actually…

A light knock at the door had him sitting up. And then he heard a key in the lock and the door opened.

Tori stepped inside the semidark room, her gaze darting first to the television and then to him. She smiled and closed the door behind her. “I’m glad you’re still here.”

“I was just about to leave.”

She quickly sobered. “I’m really sorry about being late. I tried looking for you in the garden today but obviously you weren’t there.” She laid her purse on the table and moved closer. “I’d totally forgotten about a business dinner I had tonight. I hope you got the note I left at the front desk.”

“I got it.” He picked up his beer and took another sip before getting to his feet.

“You’re angry.”

“I wasted two hours waiting for you.”

“I’m sorry. Really. I didn’t know how else to get a hold of you.”

“Did you try my father?”

She blinked, and looked away. “I didn’t think of that.”

Bull shit. He knew damn well she wouldn’t have risked letting anyone know they had a date. If you could call their little sex tryst that.

For a moment he thought about calling her on the lie, but what would that solve? Nothing would change. Except it might mean he wouldn’t get anything tonight. If he still wanted it…

His gaze went to the hem of her cream dress, where it stopped about three inches above her knee. The style was conservative with a high neck and short sleeves and she shouldn’t have looked so damn sexy.