Michele Dunaway - Unwrapping Mr. Wright

Worse, he couldn’t take on the challenge. He couldn’t pursue her, topple her defenses, capture those lips again in a mind-numbing kiss. She didn’t want him, and while he could get her to desire him physically and get her to beg for his touch, he’d grown tired of those juvenile games aeons ago. As it was, she didn’t respect him. And respect was what he craved. His mother had raised a chivalrous man, despite what some might think.

He tried to cover. “Actually, I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to talk to you, to make sure we’re still squared away about last night.”

Lauren’s eyes darted around Justin’s office as if she was afraid someone else might be listening. “What was last night?”

One spectacular moment that had been blasted away. Justin inhaled a deep breath. “Let me use another tactic. Since we all work together, I wanted to make peace and offer to help you.”

Did her eyebrow have to look that sexy when it arched? Sylvia’s never did, which was why after five years she was still his secretary. That and she was his mother’s age. “Help me?” Lauren asked.

Justin struggled for some semblance of control. He hadn’t meant to wing this. “Well, yeah. The way I figure it is this: You want Jeff. You like Jeff. I know my brother. He’s like mud. Dense and clueless. He probably has no idea you like him or want him. Thus, last night’s very sexy seduction attempt.”

Hoping to eliminate her deer-in-the-headlights expression, Justin pressed on. He’d always been cool with the ladies, a master of the words. Now he was making a bad situation worse. “What I mean to say is that I feel horrible that I messed everything up. I want to make it up to you. The only way I can figure out how to put things right is to help you win over the man of your dreams.”

Her look was disbelieving and dubious. “Man of my dreams?”

“Jeff. My brother. He is, isn’t he? The man of your dreams?”

A regretful twinge filled Justin as for a moment her face appeared dreamy. Then her skeptical facade returned. “And if he is?”

“The way I figure it is this. You need some help in getting him to notice you. Not that last night, ah, probably wouldn’t work again.” It sure worked for me, Justin didn’t add. “Anyway, I can give you that help. I know my brother better than anyone. Perhaps it’s that twin thing. You’d be good for him. Probably too good, even.”

As Lauren’s skepticism changed into a small tentative smile, Justin felt a glimmer of hope. “Thank you. You are surprising.”

Now it was his turn to be confused. “I am?”

“Yes. You’re not half as bad as I thought. You’ve handled this situation rather well, and I appreciate that you think I’m too good for him.”

“Uh, gee,” Justin said, kicking himself for how lame that sounded. Here he was, as gawky as a teenager instead of the suave businessman he’d become.

Lauren smiled suddenly, and Justin’s gut clenched. He gulped some coffee, the hot liquid burning his tongue because he drank it too fast. His only reward was that she hadn’t noticed his painful wince.

“You know, perhaps you’re not all of what your playboy reputation or your brutish office mannerisms make you out to be. It’s sweet of you to offer. Really, no offense meant, but I’ll handle this situation my way.”

Playboy rep? Brutish office mannerisms? Okay, he could live with that. He was a bit forceful. However, he was not a playboy, and hearing the word, especially from Lauren’s lips, stung. His going without sex for a year had been a conscious choice—that of a man who didn’t need to keep his bed warm just so he could rut. “Okay, then. I just thought I could give you some tips, help you somehow. To compensate for last night.”

“I understand, and it’s a generous gesture. But I’ll deal with Jeff in my own time. What I’d like from you is just your sworn secrecy.”

“My lips are sealed,” Justin said. He enjoyed some morbid satisfaction that Lauren’s brown eyes darkened. After all, as he took another sip of the burning, biting black coffee, chivalry sucked.

“You look great, Lauren. I like your hair. You’ll have to tell me later where you went.”

“Thanks, Sylvia,” Lauren said as she passed Justin’s secretary’s desk. “I promise to tell you. But remind me.”

“I’ll hold you to that. I’m sure you’re a bit behind after yesterday.”

“That I am,” Lauren said, rounding the corner and putting space between her body and Justin’s office. Moments after he’d cracked that “lips are sealed” comment, she’d voiced her excuses and fled.

She didn’t ever want to remember or think about Justin’s lips in any context. She’d been trying to erase the memory of those spectacular kisses ever since they’d happened.

As for accepting his help, the farther away from him she stayed, the better. Justin Wright raised dangerous sensations in her. She couldn’t trust dangerous sensations. They’d gotten her in trouble once before, with Mike. She’d thought he’d changed his playboy ways, until three months after moving in with him she’d discovered another woman’s panties in her bed. Thankfully, she hadn’t joined bank accounts the way Mike had been pressing her to do.

Justin had some of the same playboy manner. She’d seen him run through women, although she had to admit she hadn’t seen him run through any lately. But then, he wasn’t at Jeff’s as often as he had been in the past.

Too bad he’d chosen last night to be there. And he had kissed her. Dream or no dream, that wasn’t an excuse. That was why she liked Jeff. Jeff, who was nice, safe and secure, not a playboy like his brother. That was what she envisioned for her future. Wasn’t it?

For a moment, her head clouded and she wasn’t sure. She shook her head and cleared her thoughts. Outside her window a man was parking his nice family sedan and entering the neighboring building. That was what Jeff was. A family sedan. Dependable. Reliable. They just needed to add some speed to their relationship. She didn’t desire another Mike and all his idle promises.

She pressed a finger to her lips. Justin Wright, despite his tantalizing touch, was wrong for her. All wrong.

And she had too much work to do to worry about him anymore. Giving herself a nod of encouragement, she pushed his memory away.

Chapter 4

“So, did you miss me?” Jeff’s infectious grin widened, and despite her earlier misgivings about what would happen upon seeing him again, Lauren smiled right back.

She pointed to the huge basket of laundry he carried in his arms. “I don’t think I missed you that much.”

Jeff’s grin turned sheepish. “Nah, probably not, but to make up for it, I’ll buy the Chinese food that’s on its way.”

“Ooh, sold,” Lauren said. She opened her front door wider, the cold air coming to swirl around her bare feet. In a moment she’d put her cow slippers on. “I guess you can come in.”

“Thanks.” Jeff bumped Lauren’s Christmas wreath as he entered the condo and made his way to her laundry closet. She straightened the wreath out and closed the door. “You know, one of these days I will buy a washer and dryer,” he called back over his shoulder.

“You keep promising,” Lauren said as she followed him into her kitchen.

Jeff set the laundry basket on the kitchen table. “No, not promising, just saying. There’s a difference.”

“Yeah, which is why you’re always here with your laundry basket.”

He pulled open the double doors that concealed the washer and dryer. “Oh, come on. It’s your wonderful company.”

“I just live closer than your mother,” Lauren said. “And she’d harp on you about finding a wife.”

“True,” Jeff acknowledged. “You’re cuter than my mom, too.” He opened the washing-machine lid, turned around and squinted for a moment. “Did you do something with your hair?”