Once Upon A Mattress

“Vegetarian?”

“No, thank you. Vegetables don’t agree with me.”

“Perhaps I could pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? It might be gentler on your system.”

She took a deep breath, her rumpled blouse rising and falling. In, out, in, out. His eyes followed her breathing, and damned if he wasn’t getting hard.

“Sarcasm is unbecoming in a professional environment,” she said, and he wondered if she’d think hard-ons were unbecoming.

Instead, he cleared this throat. “And I thought I was being considerate.”

“Shall I assume this task is not beyond your capabilities and that you can work it into your—” she shot a glance at his monitor “—busy schedule?”

Her voice was full of rebuke, as if she were a schoolteacher correcting a wayward student. Ben had never indulged in schoolteacher fantasies, but images popped into his brain—images that could get him in trouble with Hilary Sinclair.

For a moment he contemplated her prickliness. She wasn’t his type, not to imply that he limited himself to a type, but she had something that appealed to him. Here was someone clearly in need of a life adjustment. She didn’t smile enough, didn’t look happy at all. He’d never seen a woman more in need of rescuing than Hilary Sinclair.

And Ben, who’d never rescued anything in his life, was captivated.

Life was too short to ignore such heaven-sent opportunities. “I like your blouse, Miss Sinclair,” he said.

Finally, success. He was rewarded with a deep flush. Deep and decadent. In quite a disordered manner, the rigid Miss Sinclair pulled a tin from her pocket and popped an Altoids in her mouth, and then, remembering her manners, put the box on his desk.

Ben didn’t look at the tiny mints; instead he was fascinated by her curves. She had been all tight lines, straight back, narrow eyes, but now, as if by magic, her cheeks were rounded, almost plump, her eyes wide and liquid. She had the guilty look of a woman who’d been caught in the wrong bed.

Ben idly traced the rim of the desk with his index finger, imagining what lay underneath that rumpled white blouse. There was nothing like crossing the line to make things interesting. His smile grew wider, his hard-on harder.

“I need to leave,” she said, turning tail to run.

He watched the crinkled skirt as she rushed out the door.

“Oh, Miss Sinclair?”

She turned and leaned against his door frame, panic in those wonderful cat’s eyes. “What?”

“You forgot your mints.”

2

HILARY HAD NEVER liked wet spots. They were uncomfortable, unsightly and could lead to early onset of mildew. She stared up at her ceiling and watched the wet spot grow larger. Outside, the storms were raging, and inside apprehension was swelling, right along with the wet spot.

She turned on the radio, hoping to block out the internal turmoil. The soothing tones of Dr. Tracy, the Love Doctor, filled the air.

“Next caller.”

“Hello, Dr. Tracy, I’ve been having problems with my boyfriend…”

Boyfriend? It was such an innocent-sounding word. Hilary had had a boyfriend once, and she and Mark had encountered no problems. Of course, he had broken off their seven-year engagement, which some might consider to be a problem.

She liked to think of it as a blessing.

Now she was footloose and fancy-free, and if she really put her mind to it, she could do footloose and fancy-free. Yup, she was on her way to a new and improved lifestyle.

And any second now, her new and improved lifestyle was going to spring a leak.

Cursing her Realtor, she moved the rugs out of the way and stared at the slightly warped, wooden flooring beneath.

She had thought the softened appearance gave it character. She was a moron.

Hilary didn’t like insecurity. She knew she was capable and intelligent, a real go-getter. Yet, this afternoon when Ben MacAllister had flashed her a bit of his oh-so-abundant charm, she’d had a tremendous desire to go out and get her nails done.

Men like him didn’t notice women like her. He had charisma, was handsome and she’d heard the stories about all the places he’d been.

So why pay attention to her?

Inconceivable. No mere man would reduce her to such a quivering mass of spineless Jell-O. And thanks to Mark, men weren’t to be trusted—none of them, not one bit.

While she was contemplating her own gullibility, the first drop fell. Big and fat.

Hilary dashed to what was someday going to be her newly remodeled kitchen and searched frantically for a bucket. There, back at the far wall under the sink, she found the shiny blue plastic pail she’d salvaged from Mark’s place in Atlanta. She carried it back to the living room and, feeling rather cocky, placed it under what was now a steady stream of water. Then she put her hands on her hips, ready to battle the storm gods.

Take that.

It would require more than a puny drip-drip to poke holes in her future.

She dusted off her hands and sank down in front of the spot where the TV would eventually go. She couldn’t afford a TV yet—Mark had taken theirs in the breakup.

Twenty-seven inches, right there in front of the bay window. Twenty-seven inches in approximately ten days—as soon as she got her first paycheck from MacAllister Beds, thank you very much.

She listened as Dr. Tracy calmly explained to her caller that she was kidding herself about her new boyfriend. That he would never amount to anything and the caller should dump him.

Sage advice. So thrilling to be the dumper rather than the dumpee. So where had Dr. Tracy been when Hilary was in Atlanta?

In Dallas, of course.

That was Hilary’s home now, but it didn’t feel like it. Yet.

She loved her new house, she really did. It was situated in Kessler Park, a small suburb just south of Dallas. The house was small, like Mark’s house back in Atlanta. It had wooden floors that, when polished and disinfected, had a fresh, pine scent. Okay, perhaps it was a lot like Mark’s house, but this new and improved house had three little rooms rather than four. Living room, kitchen and, as soon as she moved all the boxes, she’d even have a bedroom. Of course, it did need a little work. But she was willing to do whatever it took to start over.

A new life, a new house.

Then she took a hard look at the ceiling and sighed. And a new roof.

She thought about calling the roofer, even went and picked up the phone, but then she thought of what repairmen charged these days. Her credit card was in a world of hurt. No, she thought as she put down the phone. She’d wait out the storm, wet spot and all. Again she studied her ceiling. Really, it didn’t look that bad. If she were lucky, the storm would pass soon.

Thunder boomed and she jumped, still a little nervous about being alone. What she needed was company. She went to her would-be bedroom, rummaged through the boxes until she found the old paper box that she had treasured since her childhood. She popped open the lid and at last pulled out her friend, her confidant, her constant. The storms raged around her, and Hilary held tight to her musty, yet still pristinely preserved, stuffed Benjamin Franklin doll.

When your father was in the air force, some guy in a red cape and the likes of Barbie just didn’t cut it. Thomas Jefferson, Betsy Ross, John Wayne—those were the stuff of legends.