Be Mine: Sizzle / Too Fast to Fall / Alone with You

“Not now,” he said, and moved his hand down her body.

Not now? Emily felt herself grow even hotter from anger. Not now? Who the hell did he think he was?

He pushed his hand into her panties and then slid his fingers into her, and she forgot she cared who he was and moaned at the sheer tormenting ecstasy of his hand.

His doorbell rang.

“Make love to me now,” she said to him. She crawled on top of him, pushing herself down on his hand. “I can’t believe how much I want you.”

“Wait.” He moved his hand away. “I’ll get rid of whoever it is. I’ll be back.”

“No,” she said, trying to hold on to him, but he slid out from under her, kissing her breast as he went and leaving her gasping on the bed. After a few minutes, she pulled herself up and saw herself in the mirror at the foot of the bed. Her French twist had loosened, her eyes were half-closed with lust and her mouth was bruised from his. She was naked to the waist, flushed with need for him.

And he was in the living room, talking to someone.

“I don’t believe this,” she muttered. She slipped off the bed, put her bra and blouse back on and tucked her hair back into some kind of order. Then she ejected the tape from the VCR and went into the living room.

He was standing at the door talking to George, whose eyes went wide when he saw her.

“Thanks for letting me use the VCR,” she said, pulling on her coat. “See you tomorrow.” She ducked around them both and walked rapidly toward the elevator. The doors slid open at once, and she got in.

I can’t believe I did that, she thought. I can’t believe I almost did that. With Richard Parker. Who is beautiful, but sort of cold. Only he wasn’t cold tonight. Oh, my God, she thought. I really want him. She leaned back against the wall of the elevator and thought about how wonderful making love with him would have been. Except that he had to answer the damn door. She’d said no, don’t, but he knew best. He didn’t listen. The hell with him.

She caught a cab home and then dreamed of him all night, making love to her to the sound of doorbells.

* * *

“AND WHAT DID WE DO that was so special yesterday?” Jane asked archly.

“I had a bad night,” Emily snapped. “Say what you mean.”

“Three dozen roses in a crystal vase on your desk. Here’s the card. It’s sealed so I couldn’t read it. You will, of course, show it to me because it would be too cruel of you not to.”

The card read, “I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you. Richard.”

“Fat chance.” Emily dropped the card into the wastebasket. She handed Jane the videotape. “Watch this tonight and see what you think. For product placement.”

Jane promptly fished the card out of the wastebasket and followed her into the office as she read it.

“Richard, huh? What did he do?”

“It’s what he didn’t do.” The roses were lovely. She handed them to Jane. “Send these back to him.”

“Boy, he must have really screwed up,” Jane said, taking the vase.

Jane buzzed her twenty minutes later. “The Hun is on line three. Be gentle with him.”

“Ha.” Emily punched three. “Yes?”

“Emily, I’m sorry about last night.”

“You should be.”

“Let me make it up to you.”

“Not even with rubies. Any man who would leave me for George—”

“I just wanted to get rid of him so we wouldn’t be interrupted.”

“And when the Girl Scouts came selling cookies, you’d talk to them, too. And Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some guy working his way through college by selling encyclopedias.”

She heard a faint buzz, and he swore. “Hold on a second,” he said. “I’ve got another call.” And the line fell silent.

Emily clutched the receiver in a death grip and then carefully returned it to the cradle.

Jane opened the door. “I saw the light go out. What happened?”

“He put me on hold.”

Jane swallowed. “Oh, boy.”

“The lousy son of a bitch put me on hold.”

Jane went out, closing the door behind her.

Emily stared straight ahead, rigid with anger.

Jane buzzed her again. “Richard on two.”

Emily picked up the phone.

“Emily, I...”

“Don’t you ever put me on hold again.”

“Jane said that was a mistake,” he said ruefully. “Let me make it up to you.”

“You can’t make it up to me. Not with dinners, not with roses, not with rubies. You are a controlling, cost-effective, power-mad, anal-retentive, deaf son of a bitch!” She ended on what from a lesser woman would have been a shriek and slammed the phone down. Then she buzzed Jane.

“I am not taking any calls from Richard Parker no matter what he has to say. If he wants to communicate with me, tell him to send a memo.”

“Right,” Jane said.

* * *

“MEETING IN THE conference room at five,” Jane said as Emily got ready to leave that night.

“What?”