Page 9 of The Present

“Would you like water or juice? I can make you a mimosa is you want.”

Janice was being too damned amiable. Something had to be up. “No thanks. I’m good.” He certainly couldn’t tear her a new one when she was acting so…out of it. “You don’t look well.”

She waved a hand as she chugged more water. “I had a lot to drink last night. I’ll be fine. You know how I am.” She met his eyes briefly, then looked away.

“Yes, I do.” Maybe he should just grab the herringbone and get the hell out of Dodge. “I guess I shouldn’t disturb you. I’ll just get my coat…” He sidled over to the chair and picked up the coat, thankful his ex-girlfriend had been too incapacitated to toss or shred it. “Maybe you should go back to bed.”

“Only if you come with me.”

Hal jerked his head up so fast his neck popped. “What?”

She sighed. “I missed having you in my bed last night.”

Hal took a moment to assess. Not for a minute did he believe her, but he wanted to figure out what her game was. Had she found Kevin uncooperative and unwilling to make her part of his power coupling? Or did she have a darker, more sinister motive? “You should have taken that into consideration before you kicked me out of it.”

“Yes, I should have.” She sauntered over to him and ran her hands up the lapels of his jacket. “Some things are just too good to give up.” Rising on tiptoe, she kissed him, lingering just long enough for him get a faint taste of mouthwash. “We don’t have to give them up just yet.”

“We don’t?” A sinking feeling in Hal’s stomach fought with a familiar stirring in his cock. “I thought you’d moved on to Kevin.”

“That’s not an exclusive thing. Not yet anyway.” She ran her fingers up the nape of his neck, into the hair at the base of his skull.

A move he’d always found damn arousing. He shifted his weight and, because she stood so close, his pelvis bumped hers. An explosion of need engulfed his groin.

“We were never even out of bed by this time on a Saturday.” She nuzzled his cheek then drew his earlobe into her mouth.

He stiffened all over. Janice knew exactly how to get a rise out of him. In that she’d been incredibly talented. Sometimes just looking at her puckered mouth had him hard, imagining those pouty lips wrapped around his cock. And she knew quite well what she was doing to him now.

With supreme effort, he stepped back, holding her at arm’s length, and was rewarded by a flash of anger in her cold blue eyes.

He’d been right. This little scene had been a ploy, nothing more. Oh, he had no doubt she’d have taken him to bed, fucked his brains out, then thrown him out of the apartment again. Probably just to get even with Tess for sleeping with him last night. And as soon as he left, she’d be on the phone to Tess, bragging about what she’d just done. Oh, yes. He knew Janice through and through.

For the first time he felt unmitigated relief that Janice had dumped him. He hadn’t just dodged a bullet—he’d sidestepped a cannon.

“I guess I’m developing new habits. Quickly.” And the pièce de resistance. “Can I get Tess’s coat too? We were in quite a hurry this morning, you know.”

She dropped her hands from his shoulders as though they had been burned.

Relief cascaded through Hal. As though he could breathe again.

“I see you have.” She sniffed and dropped all pretense, her faux fatigue vanishing instantly. “It’s in the closet. If that’s all you came for, I’m sure you remember the way out. I need to get ready for tonight. Kevin’s invited me to a party being thrown by the CEO himself.” She didn’t try to disguise the triumph in her voice. “I don’t suppose I’ll be seeing you there.”

“No, you won’t. I’m taking Tess out to dinner.” A bare flicker of surprise in her eyes, but that was enough to put a smile on Hal’s face.

“Have fun.”

Oh, he intended to. He grabbed Tess’s coat so quickly the hanger flipped onto the closet floor. Then, hand on the doorknob, almost escaped from the witch’s den, he turned back, sparked by mischief. “I’m out of town most of the week, but I’m planning a New Year’s Eve party next Saturday night. My apartment, eight o’clock, festive dress. I hope you’ll come. Wear something sparkly.” He crinkled the edges of his eyes. “Bring Kevin. The more the merrier.”

With that, Hal let himself out of the apartment, for what he profoundly hoped was the very last time.