CardsNeverLie Read online

  “You’re just trying to confuse the issue,” Rob said, trying to get the conversation back on track. He crossed his arms across his chest. Melanie crossed hers in response. Rob bit back a groan as her full breasts were plumped together by her arms. She could spill out at any second, he was convinced of it. He hadn’t seen them yet either. Just her thighs.

  “No,” Melanie said. “I don’t know anything about my company buying yours.” She tilted her head. “What will you do with yourself when you don’t have anyone to order around anymore? I’m surprised you would sell.”

  Rob sighed, wishing like anything they were back in the stairwell enjoying each other for a few stolen moments. “My grandfather is the one who is selling, not me.”

  “Then aren’t you glad to escape? Maybe start something of your own?”

  Rob shook his head. What was she trying to do? Talk him into giving up the fight? “I guess not. It’s not so bad. There are a lot of good people in the business, but the ones who aren’t ruin it for everyone. And besides, LeatherWorks is a family business, over fifty years old now. We have multiple generations working there now. Like my assistant Tim?”

  Melanie nodded.

  “His mother Dagmar works with us too. I don’t know what we’d do without her.”

  Melanie shrugged and dropped her arms to her side. “I hope everyone gets what they want.”

  She stepped past him on the slippery edge of the pool. “Including me. Thanks again for the white knight routine. It suits you.”

  Rob’s jaw nearly dropped. He wasn’t sure if it was a result of her words or the sight of her round bottom swaying in the teeny bikini as she walked past the sandstone sculpture of an enthroned King Arthur and into the hotel.

  What a cool customer. She made him crazy and hard too. Shaking his head, he dove into the deep end of the pool to distract himself.

  * * * * *

  Melanie’s knees were still shaking as she turned off the shower and reached for a towel. What a mass of contradictions Rob Black was. He didn’t stop to think before rescuing her at every turn, or giving her the most intense orgasm of her life, but then he accused her of lying or spying on him. As if she had such high rank in her company that she’d know about a proposed sale or merger. But Rob hadn’t worked his way up from the bottom like she had. He probably didn’t understand that workers, or even first-level managers, didn’t always know executive secrets.

  She rubbed briskly at her hair. Who knew what Rob would come up with next? That Tida chick, getting Brisa’s job. She would pay him back for that. He should fix his company’s problems instead of letting good employees quit. If only he hadn’t such heat in his eyes when he looked at her. Any revenge she got would have to be from a distance. Up close she melted and only thought of his good qualities.

  She should concentrate on her job. Security was the answer to everything. And her cousin, a single mother, had lost it. Melanie rubbed the hotel lotion all over her body, her heart hurting at the idea of Brisa, young and abandoned, acting in porn movies to support herself. Melanie knew Brisa had followed some hippie guy to Los Angeles in the early nineties. That he’d impregnated and abandoned her. At least, this was the story Brisa told. At nineteen, she had dropped out of college during her sophomore year and disappeared. No one in the family had heard from her until she showed up at her paternal grandmother’s home in Texas, seven months pregnant and broke. She never spoke about that time and seemed to have shrugged it off like it never happened. The child had stayed with her grandmother, then when he was four years old, the grandmother had contracted breast cancer and he was sent to live with Brisa, who had just graduated with a nursing degree and could support her child.

  Melanie assumed she was Brisa’s best friend, but nonetheless, her cousin kept a lot of things close to her heart. After she got home to Seattle tonight she would have to track Brisa down and warn her about Drew Huntley. She hoped her contact with him didn’t hurt her cousin in any way. This had to have been one of the wildest business trips she had ever been on. She’d been mistaken for a porn star, had kissed two men in the space of an hour and had practically been with one of them, had been accused of plagiarism by her boss while simultaneously coming up with a fabulous new product. Oh yeah. And she might have said she had met her dream guy on this trip…if he wasn’t such an untrusting, arrogant devil of a man.

  As she dressed, she thought about that devil word. The Devil card. Who was capable of turning her life in another direction? She shook her head. That could be Al, if he fired her. But he wasn’t her soul mate. Could she safely rule out Tommy Joe? She hoped so, after last night. He had good qualities, along with being tall, dark and handsome and occasionally supportive. But, and it was a big but, she had a sense he would be even more controlling than Gerald, and his morals were questionable. And now she had to go to a seminar. The job, always the job.

  She grabbed her program and went downstairs to her next session, which was Advances in Microcircuitry, Practical Applications. When she entered the room, the first person she saw was Tommy Joe. She checked her program to make sure she had found the right room.

  “Tommy Joe,” Melanie whispered as she sat down next to him. “Aren’t you supposed to be in The Modern Bath 101?”

  “I wanted to talk to you. To apologize for last night.” He swallowed. “For going into your room.”

  Melanie rolled her eyes and gestured at him to leave the presentation. She hoped he hadn’t looked into her purse other than to grab the key. That condom burned a hole into her memory. When would she have a chance to use it?

  Outside the door, when they were in the deserted corridor, pungent with old coffee from the leftover breakfast urns, she said, “I’m glad you put my purse in my room, Tommy Joe. It was the rest of it that alarmed me.”

  “What?” He looked blankly at her.

  Tommy Joe genuinely didn’t seem to be concerned with his behavior. She folded her arms. “You know, stealing the oil, practically pulling me on top of you in front of all those people. And enjoying it!” Her voice had risen to the point where a hotel worker clearing away the crumbs from the morning pastries stared at her.

  “You didn’t have a good time?” he asked.

  Her eyes widened. Oh there had been a good time last night, but not with him. “It was a little much for me,” she said, nodding for emphasis while she spoke. “Are you always so wild?”

  He grinned. “Vegas isn’t real life.”

  “You can say that again.” She shook her head. Only a few short days ago she had felt like the experienced one as they had left for his first business trip and Tommy Joe the novitiate. How a few days can flip your viewpoint around.

  “Enough about that,” Melanie said, remembering that no matter what Tommy Joe’s habits, he was a coworker and she couldn’t be one hundred percent honest with him about her feelings if she didn’t want it to affect their working relationship. “Did you know that we are trying to buy another company?”

  “We are?” Tommy Joe’s forehead creased. “You mean Professional Massage?”

  “Of course,” Melanie said. “Do we work for another company?”

  Tommy Joe laughed weakly, no doubt an embarrassed reaction to his stupid remark, Melanie thought. “No, no. Who are we buying?”

  “LeatherWorks, if the sale goes through.”

  Tommy Joe shrugged. “Who are they?”

  “Oh c’mon. We were in the booth last night?” He still looked confused. “The manacles?”

  “Oh yeah!” Tommy Joe rubbed at one wrist as if remembering pleasure. “I meant to get some of those.”

  Melanie took an involuntary step back. He grinned defiantly. “I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy yourself.”

  Melanie experienced a ghost of a memory of Gerald behaving the same way and saying the same thing back at the beginning of their sex life. She was so glad her marriage was over. “Everything will be back to normal tomorrow,” she said tightly. “We go home this afternoon.” And not a minute too soon.


  “I hope not everything,” Tommy Joe said. “We are friends now, right?”

  “Sure,” Melanie said, trying to sound agreeable. Whatever that meant. At least she would be unlikely to betray any secrets regarding his personal habits. That was a kind of friendship. “Now go hear that session, Tommy Joe. I came up with a great new idea, but we need all the help we can get, okay?”

  He nodded, but Melanie saw something unhappy flash in his eyes. “Would you rather hear the microcircuitry presentation?”

  He shook his head. “No, I’ll get going.” He kissed her on the cheek and walked off without speaking.

  At least he was polite. Which was more than she could say about a certain stud of a CEO.

  * * * * *

  An hour later, Tommy Joe took advantage of the fifteen-minute break between sessions to run up to his room. He kept an eye out for Melanie and saw her engrossed in a conversation with the microcircuitry speaker. She didn’t look his way.

  Dear Melanie. Such a sweetheart and so innocent for someone who had been married for nine years. He knew she had enjoyed their adventure the night before until she had caught sight of the camera. She was too shy for the limelight. He wondered who the crowd had been calling for. At any rate, it wasn’t for them. They had merely been a titillating sideshow.

  Good, she still hadn’t seen him. He glanced at his watch. Only thirteen minutes until The Modern Bath 102, so he needed to hurry. He blew her a mental kiss and rushed to the elevator, crowding in against a bunch of suits much more expensive than he could afford. Yet. With every tidbit he learned, he was one step closer to making Billy Joe accept him as a partner. His brother was rolling in cash and soon he, Tommy Joe Harriman, would have a big pile of the bling bling himself.

  At his door, he shoved his keycard in and twisted the doorknob. At least this was one bit of news that wouldn’t hurt Melanie if it got out. How could it possibly affect her to have a different company purchase LeatherWorks?

  He picked up the phone dialed his brother’s number in Texas. “Billy Joe? It’s me.”

  Tommy Joe heard the rapid clicks of typing, then a duller clink as his brother pushed the enter key. “Got some more of your girlfriend’s ideas?”

  “Not this time.”

  “Too bad. She’s good. Maybe we can find a position for her.”

  Tommy Joe smiled. “That would be great. For a little while at least, until we have children. Pregnant women aren’t supposed to be around essential oils, you know.”

  “Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself?”

  “Nah. I didn’t tell you last night, but we kissed yesterday.”

  “Well good for you, little brother,” Billy Joe drawled.

  “I’d love to chat but I have some important news,” Tommy Joe said, glad to be able to impress his brother for once. He savored the anticipation for a moment.

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Melanie just told me an interesting bit of news. I don’t know how she found out about it though.”

  “Do tell.”

  “There’s a company named LeatherWorks based in Seattle. They sell S and M stuff—whips, manacles, costumes. You get the idea. Nice stuff. Good workmanship.”

  “Go on.” Tommy Joe heard the rustling as his brother sat up in his tall cushioned executive chair.

  “LeatherWorks is up for sale and Professional Massage is trying to buy it.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. But I don’t see how Professional Massage can afford to buy it. We’ve been hemorrhaging money the past few months with the problems in our product line.”

  “Can you find out how much they’re offering?”

  “I doubt it, but I’ll try.”

  Billy Joe shifted again and Tommy Joe heard the pop of a match as he lit a Marlboro. “It doesn’t matter. If they don’t have cash, the deal will fall through, regardless of whatever fancy accounting they try. I’ll check into the company.”

  “Professional Massage is small time.”

  “Yeah, but Wicked Oil isn’t going to be. Are you with me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Talk at you soon.” Billy Joe hung up the phone and Tommy Joe sat back on the hideous purple chair. LeatherWorks was in play.

  Chapter Nine

  “Heading home?”

  Melanie whipped around as a sexy-deep masculine voice caressed her ear. She had been concentrating on the poker game Tommy Joe was playing on one of the no-frills airport slot machines and hadn’t been aware of her surroundings. It didn’t seem possible that she had missed Rob’s approach.

  Every time she walked away from Rob Black, she wondered what she saw in him. Every time she came across him, her entire body told her what he had. Knee-weakening, soul-stealing, marrow-deep sex appeal. And sexual ability. She couldn’t forget that.

  She glanced at Tommy Joe who, engrossed in the game, hadn’t noticed Rob and took a step away from him. She didn’t want these two to meet. Rob would probably accuse Tommy Joe of spying on him too.

  “So your conference is over too?” Melanie asked. The four days had passed so quickly and yet she found it hard to believe she’d only known Rob since Tuesday.

  “Yes,” Rob said, hooking his thumb into a belt loop. Melanie couldn’t help noticing the fine etching of geometric shapes on his black leather belt as the movement of his arm led her eyes south. “Did you manage to avoid the Huntley crowd for the rest of the day?”

  “Yes, I stayed on the Bath and Beauty side of the conference floor. It seemed wise.”

  “I suppose.” Rob grimaced. “Do you have any questions for me before you report back?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “From your management,” he said with an air of patience. “Is there some piece of information you were here to get?”

  “Not from you, Rob. I’m a Product Design manager. I was here to get some great idea that would save the company.”

  “Did you?”

  “I had a great idea. A couple actually, but then another company announced their plans to launch a product with the same name as mine.”

  Rob raised an eyebrow. “Bad timing?”

  “You know what they say. There are no new ideas. I just hope my latest gets to market before the competitors have the same bright idea.” Though it didn’t seem likely, since her idea was based upon encounters with Rob.

  “Maybe someone stole your first idea,” he said thoughtfully.

  “Hardly,” Melanie scoffed.

  “At any rate, I can’t exactly wish you luck with your new idea,” Rob said, shifting back on his heels.

  “Why not?” What a rotten thing to say! Why would he say that?

  “Because the success of your product would mean your company can offer my grandfather more money. And I wouldn’t want to tempt him further.”

  Oh LeatherWorks again. “I don’t know anything about that other than what you’ve told me.”

  “Your company must have a very poor grapevine,” he said sarcastically.

  Melanie pointed a finger at him, frustrated by his one-track mind. “There’s a lot of good in you, Rob. All that lovely rescuing of damsels in distress, the way you kiss, but—” Melanie stopped herself, realizing what she had just said.

  Rob grinned. She looked up to see him smirking. “The way I kiss? How do I kiss?”

  “None of your business,” she retorted.

  “Oh I think it is,” he oozed with a smarmy charm that didn’t suit him. “Don’t pretend to be shy. I know you aren’t.”

  I’m trying not to be, hot stuff. But I’m going back into the shy and reserved zone if I can’t save my job. “You’re paranoid, okay? I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

  “So you don’t think I’m looking for you?” Rob’s voice lowered and Melanie suppressed a shiver.

  “What’s that supposed to mean? You’ve got more important things to worry about, like figuring out what you’re going to do when your company is sold.” A string of curses
rang through the air behind Melanie. A man in a Mariner’s T-shirt kicked a slot machine and walked away.

  “How about I take you to dinner and we spend some time trying to figure each other out.” His voice flitted darkly through her ears, tempting her, but she forced herself to pay attention to his words, not the intentions suggested by his sexy intonation.

  “I think I’ve got you figured out, Rob Black. You’re scared and controlling all at the same time. I appreciate the rescues, but no one cares enough about either of our little businesses to spy on each other or steal.” He needed to stop concentrating on LeatherWorks, which appeared to be slipping rapidly out of his grip, and think about new ventures. She honestly felt a little sorry for him. Looking away, she glanced at a retiree who sat down on the red leather stool the man in the T-shirt had just vacated and popped in a quarter.

  “If you don’t persuade me otherwise, I’m going to keep believing what I believe.” He drew the words out as if to tease her.

  “I proved to you once you were wrong about me, at least,” she said, risking a quick glance at Tommy Joe who was still focused safely on the poker machine. Next to her, the slot machine where the retiree now sat lit up and a satisfying stream of coins showered into the metal coin holder.

  If only she didn’t care what Rob thought. She couldn’t help offering second chances to this man who made her whole body feel pliable and willing. She didn’t want him to disappear forever. Melanie wanted a second chance.

  “Oh yeah,” he gave her a slow once-over. “You proved you were a liar. You said you weren’t willing to get naked but you did.”

  Melanie hoped he couldn’t see her hurt in her eyes. The retiree exclaimed and dropped the coins into her purse then walked away. Melanie blinked, suddenly realizing what he had meant was her showing Huntley she didn’t have a birthmark that morning by the pool. She retorted, “I covered up the good stuff.”

  Rob’s laugh in response sounded so good, so rich and velvety, that Melanie wanted to pull it around her and snuggle in it like a fleece blanket in front of a fire.