Chapter Six
Chapter Six
“N o chance?” Cait repeated, convinced she’d misunderstood him. She blinked a couple of times as if that would correct her hearing. Either Joe was underestimating her intelligence, or he was more of a... a cad than she’d realized.
“You have nothing to worry about.” He sipped coffee, his gaze steady and emotionless. “I’m not falling in love with you.”
“In other words you make a habit of kissing unsuspecting women.”
“It isn’t a habit,” he answered thoughtfully. “It’s more of a pastime.”
“You certainly seem to be making a habit of it with me.” Her anger was quickly gaining momentum and she was at odds to understand why she found his casual attitude so offensive.
He was telling her exactly what she wanted to hear.
But she hadn’t expected her ego to take such a beating in the process.
The fact that he wasn’t the least bit tempted to fall in love with her should have pleased her.
It didn’t.
It was as if their brief kisses were little more than a pleasant interlude for him. Something to occupy his time and keep him from growing bored with her company.
“This may come as a shock to you,” Joe continued indifferently, “but a man doesn’t have to be in love with a woman to kiss her.”
“I know that,” Cait snapped, fighting to hold back her temper, which was threatening to break free at any moment. “But you don’t have to be so... so casual about it, either. If I wasn’t involved with Paul, I might have taken you seriously.”
“I didn’t know you were involved with Paul,” he returned with mild sarcasm. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, his pose infuriatingly relaxed. “If that was true I’d never have taken you out. The way I see it, the involvement is all on your part. Am I wrong?”
“No,” she admitted reluctantly. How like a man to bring up semantics in the middle of an argument!
“So,” he said, leaning back again and crossing his legs. “Are you enjoying my kisses? I take it I’ve improved from the first go-around.”
“You honestly want me to rate you?” she sputtered.
“Obviously I’m much better than I was as a kid, otherwise you wouldn’t be so worried.” He took another drink of his coffee, smiling pleasantly all the while.
“Believe me, I’m not worried.”
He arched his brows. “Really?”
“I’m sure you expect me to fall at your feet, overcome by your masculine charm. Well, if that’s what you’re waiting for, you’ll have one hell of a long wait!”
His grin was slightly off center, as if he was picturing her arrayed at his feet—and enjoying the sight. “I think the problem here is that you might be falling in love with me and just don’t know it.”
“Falling in love with you and not know it?” she repeated with a loud disbelieving snort. “You’ve gone completely out of your mind. There’s no chance of that.”
“Why not? Plenty of women have told me I’m a handsome son of a gun. Plus, I’m said to possess a certain charm. Heaven knows, I’m generous enough and rather—”
“Who told you that? Your mother?” She made it sound like the most ludicrous thing she’d heard in years.
“You might be surprised to learn that I do have admirers.”
Why this news should add fuel to the fire of her temper was beyond Cait, but she was so furious with him she could barely sit still.
“I don’t doubt it, but if I fall in love with a man you can believe it won’t be just because he’s ‘a handsome son of a gun,’” she quoted sarcastically.
“Look at Paul— he’s the type of man I’m attracted to.
What’s on the inside matters more than outward appearances. ”
“Then why are you so worried about falling in love with me?”
“I’m not worried! You’ve got it the wrong way around. The only reason I mentioned anything was because I thought you were beginning to take our times together too seriously.”
“I already explained that wasn’t a problem.”
“So I heard.” Cait set her coffee aside. Joe was upsetting her so much that her hand was shaking hard enough to spill it.
“Well,” Joe murmured, glancing at her. “You never did answer my question.”
“Which one?” she asked irritably.
“About how I rated as a kisser.”
“You weren’t serious!”
“On the contrary.” He set his own coffee down and raised himself off the ottoman far enough to clasp her by the waist and pull her into his lap.
Caught off balance, Cait fell onto his thighs, too astonished to struggle.
“Let’s try it again,” he whispered in a rough undertone.
“Ah...” A frightening excitement took hold of Cait. Her mind commanded her to leap away from this man, but some emotion, far stronger than common sense or prudence, urged the opposite.
Before she could form a protest, Joe bent toward her and covered her mouth with his.
She’d hold herself stiff in his arms, that was what she’d do, teach him the lesson he deserved.
How dared he assume she’d automatically fall in love with him.
How dared he insinuate he was some...
some Greek god all women adored. But the instant his lips met hers, Cait trembled with a mixture of shock and profound pleasure.
Everything within her longed to cry out at the unfairness of it all. It shouldn’t be this good with Joe. They were friends, nothing more. This was the kind of response she expected when Paul kissed her. If he ever did.
She meant to pull away, but instead, Cait moaned softly. It felt so incredibly wonderful. So incredibly right. At that moment, there didn’t seem to be anything to worry about—except the likelihood of dissolving in his arms then and there.
Suddenly Joe broke the contact. Her instinctive disappointment, even more than the unexpectedness of the action, sent her eyes flying open. Her own dark eyes met his blue ones, which now seemed almost aquamarine.
“So, how do I rate?” he murmured thickly, as though he was having trouble speaking.
“Good.” A one-word reply was all she could manage, although she was furious with him for asking.
“Just good?”
She nodded forcefully.
“I thought we were better than that.”
“We?”
“Naturally I’m only as good as my partner.”
“Th-then how do you rate me?” She had to ask.
Like a fool she handed him the ax and laid her neck on the chopping board.
Joe was sure to use the opportunity to trample all over her ego, to turn the whole bewildering experience into a joke.
She couldn’t take that right now. She dropped her gaze, waiting for him to devastate her.
“Much improved.”
She cocked one eyebrow in surprise. She had no idea what to say next.
They were both silent. Then he said softly, “You know, Cait, we’re getting better at this. Much, much better.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “If we’re not careful, you just might fall in love with me, after all.”
***
“Where were you all day Saturday?” Lindy asked early Monday morning, walking into Cait’s office. The renovations to it had been completed late Friday and Cait had moved everything back into her office first thing this morning. “I must have tried calling you ten times.”
“I told you I was going Christmas shopping. In fact, I bought some decorations for my office.”
Lindy nodded. “But all day?” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she set down her briefcase and leaned against Cait’s desk, crossing her arms. “You didn’t happen to be with Joe Rockwell, did you?”
Cait could feel a telltale shade of pink creeping up her neck.
She lowered her gaze to the list of current Dow Jones stock prices and took a moment to compose herself.
She couldn’t admit the truth. “I told you I was shopping,” she said somewhat defensively.
Then, in an effort to change the topic, she reached for a thick folder with Paul’s name inked across the top and muttered, “You wouldn’t happen to know Paul’s schedule for the day, would you? ”
“N-no, I haven’t seen him yet. Why do you ask?”
Cait flashed her friend a bright smile. “He phoned me Friday night. Oh, Lindy, I was so excited I nearly fell all over myself.” She dropped her voice as she glanced around to make sure none of the others could hear her. “I honestly think he intends to ask me out.”
“Did he say so?”
“Not exactly.” Cait frowned. Lindy wasn’t revealing any of the enthusiasm she expected.
“Then why did he phone?”
Cait rolled her chair away from the desk and glanced around once again. “I think he might be jealous,” she whispered.
“Really?” Lindy’s eyes widened.
“Don’t look so surprised.” Cait, however, was much too excited recounting Paul’s phone call to be offended by Lindy’s attitude.
“What makes you think Paul would be jealous?” Lindy asked next.
“Maybe I’m magnifying everything in my own mind because it’s what I so badly want to believe. But he did phone...”
“What did he say?” Lindy pressed, sounding more curious now. “It seems to me he must have had a reason.”
“Oh, he did. He mentioned something about appreciating an article I’d given him, but we both know that was just an excuse. What clued me in to his jealousy was the way he kept asking if I was alone.”
“But that could’ve been for several different reasons, don’t you think?” Lindy suggested.
“Yes, but it made sense that he’d want to know if Joe was at the apartment or not.”
“And was he?”
“Of course not,” Cait said righteously. She didn’t feel guilty about hiding the fact that he’d been there earlier, or that they’d spent nearly all of Saturday together.
“I’m sure Joe’s ridiculous remark when I left the office on Friday is what convinced Paul to phone me.
If I wasn’t so furious with Joe, I might even be grateful. ”
“What’s that?” Lindy asked abruptly, pointing to the folder in front of Cait. Her lips had thinned slightly as if she was confused or annoyed—about what, Cait couldn’t figure out.
“This, my friend,” she began, holding up the folder, “is the key to my future with our dedicated manager.”
Lindy didn’t immediately respond and looked more puzzled than before. “How do you mean?”