Swept Away

She was only human.

On the other hand, this plan was a chance to prove her worth to SyncUp and to correct Matt’s bad impression of her at the same time. He clearly had one, judging from his attitude about her Halloween party stunts. No doubt he’d heard about Jared, too.

After the Thong Incident, she’d concluded she had a thing for analytical types and gone out with a SyncUp engineer. Jared was cute and smart and funny, but there’d been no sparks. She’d kissed him good-night to be nice and the grateful bozo turned it into The Story of O around the company.

Rumor had it they’d done it on the roof. Yes, they’d been up there, but only to look at the altimeter Jared had built as part of a science education package he was coding.

With a reputation at SyncUp as a sex fiend, Candy had to nix any hints of that around Matt.

Radar whined for her to come play. He was as annoying as her sex drive around Matt. She could not be tempted by either one. Business first, pleasure second. And only if there was time.

She moved to Matt’s computer, ready to log in and gather what she could by e-mail. She would contact Freeda, the department’s secretary, about retrieving her desktop files.

Matt joined her at the table, standing over her. “So, uh, how do you see the other part working?”

She looked up from the keyboard. “What other part?”

“The social stuff? What do you propose?”

“You want to start there?” She could see he was concerned. “All right. Let’s make a plan.”

“A plan?”

“To turn you into Mr. Networking. Backslap Boy. Fun Guy. Whatever you want to call the new, more social you.” She grabbed her notepad and headed for the sofa, pausing to pick up the magenta festival flyer. “Let’s look at what’s here we can work with, huh?” She motioned him into the living room and dropped onto the blue canvas sofa.

He sat close enough to swamp her with lime and spice.

“So what interests you?” she asked, making a bullet point on the paper.

When he didn’t answer right away, she looked at him and found him staring at her mouth. “Uh…what? What interests me?” He cleared his throat, then shifted on the sofa.

“Yes. What do you do for fun?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. I read. E-mail loops. Blogs. Internet stuff. Some programming I’m working on for fun. I shoot some hoops.”

He’d thrown in the basketball to sound like a regular guy, she’d bet, instead of a work-obsessed nerd. He wasn’t a nerd. He was too handsome, too aware of other people. He was just serious, quiet and private. Locked in his own head. She found that strangely soothing. Maybe as a contrast with her own restless energy. It might be nice to share solitude with someone. Until she got bored. It would be like meditation. She’d tried it, but could only bear a few seconds of letting her thoughts float away before she had to go after them with a butterfly net and a notepad.

“In short, you work,” she said. “What you read are trade journals and e-zines, right? Your Internet loops and blogs are with marketing and software groups. Am I right?”

He shrugged. “Focus got me where I am, Candy. That’s what Scott’s forgetting with this whole changes-must-be-made bit. That’s my strength and I won’t undermine that.”

“We’ll just tweak your style a bit.” She made a twisting gesture. “You’ll barely feel a pinch.”

When he grinned, she realized it was a triumph to earn a smile from such a serious guy. This close, she noticed a sexy chip in one of his incisors—a hint there was a bad boy in there somewhere. She’d love to talk him out to play.

Another time. On another planet. In an alternate universe.

“I know what I’m doing,” she said, hoping she did. “Before you were a driven software engineer and marketing strategist, where did you get your kicks?”

He stared up at the ceiling. “Let’s see. In high school I was in a band—but what high school kid wasn’t?”

“What instrument?”

“Bass guitar.”

“How cool. I always had a thing for sexy bass players. Silent…moody…deep.”

He shook his head. “Did you ever consider we might be silent because we had nothing to say?”

“Don’t destroy my fantasy.” She covered her ears with her hands, pleased when he chuckled. “What kind of music did you play?”

“Ska, rhythm & blues. Top 40 hits for parties. We weren’t together that long.”

“Long enough to get laid, though?”

“There was that.” He winced with pretend guilt. She could see him with a guitar at his hips, moving to the music, flashing that chipped tooth at the girls who caught his eye. Desire shivered through her.

To hide her reaction, she held out the flyer so they could both see it. “Doesn’t look like they’ve got a battle of the bands going, so what other hobbies have you got?”

“Photography. I took a couple of classes.”

“Photography? Oh. Hang on…Yes! Here. The Hot Shot Photo Scavenger Hunt tomorrow night. It’s sponsored by a cell-phone company. Does your cell take pictures?”

“Sure.” He leaned toward her to dig into his back pocket for his phone, and for that fleeting moment, she was hyperaware of his body, his muscles, how he smelled, how easy it would be to lie back on the couch and take him with her.

Finally, he sat back, ending the sensory assault, flipped open the phone and handed it to her.

“This is the same model I have,” she said, managing to sound normal. She clicked into the photos he’d stored, curious about what he’d saved. “You saved pictures of computers?”

“I was checking out monitors,” he said.

She kept clicking and found shots of digital cameras…shelves in a computer store…sales displays. “Where are your friends? Your mom? Ellie, for God’s sake?”

“I have pictures of them. Just not on my phone.” He reached for the phone, but she held it away.

“I’m not finished looking.” He kept reaching while she playfully held back. His arm brushed her breasts, giving her a tingling rush.

He pulled away immediately. “Sorry.”

“Not your fault.” Matt had taken the blame for the Thong Incident, too, which had clearly been a two-person catastrophe.

She focused on the phone photos, fighting the waves she still felt. Then she hit the jackpot—a shot of Matt wearing Mickey Mouse ears. His dark hair curled messily from beneath the brim and he managed to look grave and sweet at the same time.

“This is so cute,” she said, showing it to him.

“God. Ellie,” Matt said. “One of her customers had just been to Disneyland. You know how Ellie gets.”

“I’m glad she took this. It’s proof you can loosen up.”