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Chapter One
Real food. Not day-old muffins and cheap donuts, but eggs and toast. Molly slid into the line for the hotel’s hot-breakfast buffet and grabbed a couple pieces of fruit and a glass of juice, to top off her meal. The hotel she was staying in next week wouldn’t have anything like this. She was going to enjoy this leg of her business trip for all it was worth.
Shrieks and giggles echoed from the adjoining lobby, bouncing in her head and making her eardrums wince. Maybe she should take her food back up to her room, but this was her favorite way to mentally prep before an all-day meeting at a client site. She scanned the dining room for an empty table. She spotted a free chair and cut straight for it.
The girl who checked her in last night had mentioned something about a convention, but Molly assumed it was some kind of business function. If she’d known she was walking into an anime convention, she would have adjusted her travel schedule. Or purchased a booth in the Dealers’ Room. This was what happened when she let someone else do the research.
Her employer made lingerie based on Japanese cartoons, and she’d been trying to convince them that places like this were a reasonable sales channel. She’d never been to one before—didn’t know anything about the cartoons outside of what work required—but if this was a place packed with fans, it had to be a viable outlet.
She trailed her gaze around the room, as she picked at her food a group of three girls, dressed in cosplays made of less fabric between them than Molly’s T-shirt and yoga pants were made of, brushed by, giggling and draping their arms over each other.
Some of the businessmen nearby scowled into their newspapers, leered, or snarled and pointed as they talked to each other. The stuffy old suits needed to chill. Contagious energy surrounded the costumed girls. An entire lobby filled with people having fun. What a novel idea.
“Is anyone joining you?” A smooth tenor interrupted Molly’s people-watching.
She snapped her attention to the owner of the voice and struggled to keep her expression impassive.Drool worthy. Nice. It was tough to tell while she was sitting, but he was probably at least six inches taller than her five-six. A black T-shirt hugged a narrow waist, defined chest, and solid arms, and it might be illegal in some states for a guy to wear jeans that well. She forced her gaze to his laughing brown eyes and spiky hair. No less distracting.
“No.” The single word scraped through her suddenly dry throat. “Help yourself.”
He dropped into the seat across from her, instead of dragging it to another table to join someone else. She hadn’t expected that. Wait. Was he there with the crowds of people in bright colors or with the businessmen?
“Thanks.” He plopped a plate of eggs and a Styrofoam cup onto the fake-wood surface. “Can’t believe it’s already so packed in here.”
“It’s a little nuts.” She found her voice. No reason to stare. It wasn’t like she didn’t see gorgeous guys in every airport and half the sales presentations she walked into when she traveled. She wiped her fingers on the napkin draped over her knee and extended her hand. “I’m Molly.”
His calloused palm was warm and firm, without gripping too tight. “Brandon. Thanks for the seat.” His touch lingered a moment longer, before he returned to his coffee. “It’s a silly ritual, but I enjoy the people watching. Wait. That makes me sound creepy. There’s an energy about it, you know?”
“It doesn’t sound creepy at all. I get it.” She relaxed, as her surprise at being approached ebbed. The view was still incredible, as was the twitch of the corner of his mouth when he smirked. “I didn’t realize events like this drew such an enthusiastic crowd.”
He raked his gaze over her, lingering long enough to raise her skin temperature. “That answers that.”
“Oh?”
“You’re a suit.”
“Guilty as charged. In about forty-five minutes I’ll be stuffed into a room full of buyers, convincing them our product will be their next big hit.” She’d learned a long time ago it was best not to mention she sold sexy underwear if she wanted the conversation to stay neutral. She might not mind it veering off course in this case, though.
