Seduced by the CEO

He gave her a squeeze. “You’re messin’ with me.”

“I am.”

“I shouldn’t like it so much.”

“Probably not.”

“Can I kiss you again?”

The amusement went out of her, replaced instantly by desire.

“Just once.” It was a warning to herself more than to him.

“Just once,” he agreed.

“Because...”

He dipped his head toward her, voice dropping to a whisper. “Because this is too fast.”

“It’s too fast,” she whispered back.

“It’s too hot.”

“It’s too hot.”

His lips brushed hers. “It’s too everything.”

“Oh, yes.”

He kissed her long and deep.

* * *

“It’s not really a date,” Kalissa said to Megan as they moved through the racks at Annabelle’s Discount Boutique. They’d found a couple of hours to spare this morning, and it had been ages since Kalissa had bought any news clothes.

“Boy, girl, dinner, entertainment,” said Megan. “What part of that is not a date?”

“I mean it’s not a buy a new dress and get my hair and nails done kind of date.” Kalissa held up a pair of dark blue, skinny jeans. “What do you think?”

“Cute. What’s the price?”

“Thirty-nine ninety-nine, with fifty percent off.”

“You can add my thirty percent off coupon.”

“So, that’s about fifteen bucks. I can afford fifteen bucks.”

“They’ll go with this,” said Megan, holding up a white and silver tank top.

“I sure couldn’t show up at work in that,” said Kalissa.

A camera flash went off in her peripheral vision, and she turned to see two young women giggle as they looked at their phone screen then back at her.

“You like the top?” she asked them, holding it out. It was cute, but she’d give it up if they’d fallen in love with it.

They didn’t answer, just gave her a thumb’s up and backed away.

“What the heck?”

“It’s the Darci thing,” said Megan.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, those two think they just saw the wife of a billionaire shopping at a discount store.”

Kalissa glanced at the two retreating women. Suddenly self-conscious, she glanced around the store to see if anyone else was paying attention to her. They weren’t, thank goodness.

“I wonder how they’d react to me using a coupon,” she speculated.

“I think a lot of celebrities buy things on the cheap.”

“Darci’s not a celebrity.”

But Kalissa now felt ridiculously conspicuous, and she glanced around the store again. Who else was out there covertly watching her? Who else might mistake her for Darci and think Darci was doing something inappropriate.

“Oh, crap.” She tightened her grasp on the jeans.

“What?” Megan looked from side to side.

“Riley. The date. Me and him together at the Navy Pier.”

“Those jeans will look great,” said Megan. “And try on the top. I bet it works.”

“What if somebody sees us? What if they think I’m Darci? What if they think she’s cheating on Shane?” Kalissa had absolutely no desire to mess up anybody’s life.

“It could happen,” said Megan, looking thoughtful.

Kalissa put the jeans back. “Maybe I should cancel.”

“You can’t cancel. He seems like a great guy. And what are you going to do? Never go on a date again?”

“Maybe we could do something a little less public.”

“There’s always the symphony. It’s dark in there.”

“I have no interest in the symphony.”

“Yeah.” Megan nodded. “Besides, at a snooty event like that, everyone really would think you were Darci.”