Donna Hill - Tender Loving Passion

It was totally Michael. Rich, lush, completely masculine with bold browns and bronzes, a king-size bed and a television that was almost as big. She glanced across the room and was stunned to see a framed photograph of the two of them on the dresser.

She remembered the day they’d taken it. It was the week before Christmas and the first snow had fallen. Michael had gotten tickets to see The Nutcracker at Radio City Music Hall. When they came out, a photographer who was hawking his wares offered to take their picture. She was staring up into his eyes with a bold smile and his look showed total adoration.

“We were happy,” he said gently.

She flinched. It was as if he’d read her mind. “Michael...”

“I know, I know...I’m sorry.” He held up his hands in supplication.

“I probably should be going.”

He nodded. “I’ll get Carl to bring the car around.”

They went back up front. She needed just a few minutes alone. She picked up her purse. “Uh, I’m going to use the restroom.”

“Sure. Straight back, left then right.”

She left him in the living room and found his office. Listening for any footsteps, she quickly went inside, opened her purse and took out a CD. She silently prayed that he was actually logged on so that she wouldn’t be stymied by a password.

She hit the Enter key and the desktop opened. She released a sigh of relief, put in the CD and listened to it whirr while it planted a tracking program onto the hard drive. The CD popped out. She tucked it in her purse, hurried out then headed back up front.

Michael looked up when she entered the room. “Carl is out front. He’ll take you home.” He walked her to the door.

At the door he asked, “Are you sure you want to work on this project? We’ll have to see a lot of each other.”

She looked directly at him. “I’m a big girl, Michael. And this is business. Right?”

He leaned down and gently kissed her cheek. “Get home safely, Mia,” he said, avoiding her question.

She looked at him for a moment before turning away and walking toward the waiting car.

It’s business. I love Steven. It’s business. I love Steven. She repeated that mantra all the way back to the city.

Chapter 6

By the time Mia turned the key in the lock of her front door, it was nearly eleven. She’d wracked her brains trying to come up with some plausible explanation as to where she could have been until now. Nothing sounded remotely legitimate.

When she stepped in, she fully expected Steven to be sitting on the couch waiting for her. He wasn’t.

She walked through the front of the condo to the bedroom in the back. Even in the moonlight she could tell that the room was empty. She switched on the light and looked around.

The bed was still made. Absently, she put her purse down on top of the dresser and walked to the bathroom. Empty. Where was Steven?

She made an about-face, returned to the front of the apartment and went into the kitchen. That’s when she saw the note on the fridge.

She snatched it down and read it.

Hey, babe, decided at the last minute to have a boys’ night out. Hanging with Blake, Nick and Bernard. We’re celebrating one of the guys on the job’s birthday. Tried your cell. Went straight to voice mail. Don’t wait up. Luv ya.

She didn’t know whether to be relieved or pissed off. She took the note and tossed it in the trash. On the one hand, she didn’t have to explain her own late night. On the other, if she’d known that Steven would be late, she might have stayed longer. What did that mean?

She frowned, thinking of the note again...went straight to voice mail. Ohhh, of course. She’d turned her phone off in the event that Steven did call while she was with Michael. That way she wouldn’t have been caught in the uncomfortable position of talking to her current lover while her ex-lover listened to every word.

Well, at least this time she was off the explanation hook.

This time.

Mia retrieved her cell phone from her purse on the hall table and turned it back on. Sure enough, there were three missed calls. She dialed into her voice-mail service and listened.

The first message was from Steven, pretty much saying what the note did. The second call was from Danielle, checking in with her, and the third was from Ashley.

“I hope everything went okay. If you want to talk tomorrow, I’m here.”

She hit the delete code and pressed the phone to her chest.

Did it go okay? The minute she saw Michael, she’d lost control of her senses. She’d let him kiss her and she’d kissed him back. And what about her feelings when she realized that Steven wasn’t home and that if she had known he was going to be late she would have stayed longer?

Mia walked into the bedroom. Did all that equal okay? She caught a glimpse of herself in the oval mirror above the dresser. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she could see Scarlet Woman plastered across her forehead. At the very least Guilty.

She stepped out of her shoes and put them in the rack in the closet.

She’d betrayed Steven. She’d betrayed their relationship. She massaged her temples. How could she have been so weak?

The sensation of that kiss snuck up on her and a sudden heat suffused her body.

Vigorously she shook her head. It was the first and the last time, she vowed. She had a job to do. Michael Burke was an assignment, and that was it. She was in love with Steven. And she could not allow herself to forget that ever again. No matter what.

With that determination at the forefront of her mind, she went to the closet, took out the shoe boxes and opened the panel where she kept her kit. Quickly she removed it.

Meticulously inventorying the contents, she removed the eye-shadow case, the pressed-powder compact and a tube of mascara. She would need all these items when she met Michael at his office. The eye shadow concealed a minirecording disk that could stick to any surface. The compact doubled as a camera, and the mascara was actually a memory stick that she would use to download files from his computer—if the opportunity presented itself. She put all these items in her tote bag.

Before Steven came home, she wanted to sync her PDA with Michael’s computer. Although he didn’t go to the Sag Harbor house often, he did mention that he used that computer for work. It was worth a shot.

Mia turned on her PDA and scrolled to the Find Me program that would allow her to look inside Michael’s computer, see his files and actually open them remotely. She keyed in the access code and after several moments the screen read that she was connected.

Her heart thumped in concert with the opening of the front door. Her head jerked up from the information in front of her.

“Mia!”

She took a quick look around to be sure she hadn’t left anything out, then turned the PDA off and dropped it in her tote. She darted into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

“Hey, babe,” he called out over the rush of water. “Sorry I’m so late.”

Mia peeled off her clothes, tossed them in a pile on the floor and ducked into the shower.

The bathroom door inched open and Steven stuck his head in. “Hey, sweetie, mind some company?”

Mia pulled the shower curtain partially back and smiled in greeting. “Love some.”

* * *

Later that night, as Mia lay curled in Steven’s embrace and their racing hearts had settled, she thought with alarm that it was the very first time that Steven had not satisfied her.

Chapter 7

Mia was totally distracted at work the following day and as hard as she tried she couldn’t concentrate on the monthly financial report. The numbers seemed to jump all over the page just to torment her.

Frustrated, she pushed the pages aside and stared blankly at the screen saver on her computer. She glanced up at the clock above her office door.