“If that’s what you want.” He crouched and picked up the broken cup.
No, what I want is to kiss you again…and again, and see if we can segue right into the bedroom. But that train has left the station. “It makes sense to do that. In fact, if you’d be willing to e-mail the questions to your friends, that’s the most efficient way to gather the information.”
He stood, the broken pieces of the cup in one hand. “Their answers will be anonymous, right? They might not care one way or the other, but—”
“Oh, definitely anonymous. But I’d like a general profile of each guy, so I can create some composites for the program. I’ll send you the form for the profile so they can fill that out, too.” She sat at the computer.
“Wait a minute. You didn’t ask for profile information from me.”
“No, because Faith gave me that.” Taking a steadying breath, she hit the enter key and the questionnaire popped back onto the screen.
His eyebrows lifted. “Oh, she did, did she? I want to see what she said.”
“Now?”
“Absolutely.” He crossed to the computer, set down the broken cup pieces and braced his arm on her desk, leaning over her shoulder to look at the screen. “Go ahead and bring it up.”
He was within kissing range once again, and the scent of his aftershave made her giddy enough to consider risking it. The urge to ease back into the curve of his arm was almost irresistible. Almost. But she needed him to move away, because the name she’d given his file was…personal. “Let me look it up and print it out for you.”
“No problem. You have the same operating system I have.” He reached around her and manipulated the mouse until he had her directory on the screen.
Caught in the circle of his arm, she longed to stay right there. He radiated such heat, and she wanted that heat. What she didn’t want was that incriminating directory on the screen where he could see it.
“Which one is it?”
“I’ll find it.” She pulled the mouse out of his hand and double clicked on the file as fast as she could, hoping he hadn’t seen the designation.
He had. “‘Hot Commodity’?”
“Just a little inside joke.” Her face burned. “Protecting your anonymity.”
“Yeah, right. I can just imagine you and Faith cracking up over it, too. Lord save me.”
So he had taken it as a joke, she thought with relief. He’d never have to know she considered it a perfect description of him.
He cleared his throat and peered at the screen. “Okay, let’s see what we have here. ‘Astrology sign—Sagittarius.’ That’s right, for whatever difference it makes.”
His cheek was inches from hers. His presence had a mesmerizing effect, even though she didn’t want him to read what was coming up on the screen. She ought to do something, create a diversion, pull the plug. But instead she stayed very still, held in the tractor beam of his forceful sexuality.
“‘Athletic, sports-minded.”’ He nodded. “I’ll go along with that. ‘Good physique, highly…sexual.”’
Galvanized at last, she bolted from the chair just as he recoiled from the keyboard as if he’d had an electric shock.
He spun to face her. “Faith told you I was highly sexual? My baby sister told you that?”
Dammit, she should have taken that file off her C-drive and stored it on a disk, but she’d never envisioned this happening, and she’d been so rushed, getting everything ready….
“Did she?” he demanded again.
“In…in a way. She said you started dating early and girls seemed to flock to you from the beginning, like you gave off some sort of sexual energy…or something.” She could certainly testify to that. The closer he came, the more she melted into a puddle, like the tea lights under her pottery diffusers.
“Sheesh.” He rubbed the back of his neck and stared at her. “Honest to God, if the two of you are cooking up some matchmaking scheme for me…”
“We’re not. I swear.” Faith was, but Jamie hadn’t ever said she’d go along with it. And Dev didn’t have the slightest idea that she was the intended match. He’d never think of that.
“You’d better not be.” He continued to gaze at her. “You know what? Maybe you should e-mail me that questionnaire. Here’s my home e-mail address.” He moved back to the desk and picked up a pen she had lying there.
“Fine.” She’d become so sensitized that his quick scribbling on the notepad beside the computer became erotically charged. Watching him write, she imagined his hands on her and his fingers caressing her skin. She swallowed.
“I should probably take off.”
He was leaving, and she had nothing to keep him here. Maybe he’d seen right through her. He could have thought back to the Hot Commodity thing, added that to the highly sexual description and come up with the conclusion that she had a mega crush on him. Maybe he was beating a quick retreat now before she could throw herself at him.
Desperate to erase that impression, she faked an elaborate yawn. “That’s a wonderful idea. I’m totally exhausted, and I was hoping this wouldn’t take too long. I’m ready for bed.”
He looked even more agitated. “Right. I’m wiped out, myself. Long day.” He headed for the moose head coat tree.
Oh, no. Maybe he’d thought she meant ready for bed as in ready to have sex. “Listen, Dev, I would hate for you to get the wrong idea from all this and think I’m attracted to you.”
“No, I didn’t get that. And, for the record, I’m not particularly attracted to you, either.” He grabbed his coat and quickly unlocked her door. “That kiss was just…”
“A fluke.”
“Exactly. A fluke.”
“You know, it’s a really good thing we’re not attracted to each other,” she said. “That would be awkward.”
“You said it.” He opened the door. “See you later.” Then he was gone.
Dazed, Jamie stood motionless for several seconds. “That certainly went well,” she muttered at last. Then she walked over and sat at the computer.
She might as well e-mail him the questionnaire before she forgot. As if she would forget. Ha. She’d never forget a single thing about tonight, not even the embarrassing parts—especially not the embarrassing parts.
Logging onto the Internet, she glanced at Dev’s e-mail address. Risk Taker. Well, there it was, spelled out. He was one and she wasn’t. There had been a moment, when he’d cupped her head in both hands, when she could have gone for it. He might not be particularly attracted to her, but there had been a window of opportunity when he might have started to become attracted.
But she’d lost her nerve. Now the window of opportunity was closed, latched, and the shade pulled down.
SOME RISK TAKER HE WAS. Dev cursed himself for a coward as he flagged down a cab and headed back to his apartment. He was damned lucky he’d even found a cab, but he’d been so eager to make his exit that he hadn’t wanted to call one from her place.
He’d been afraid that if he stayed any longer, he’d try to kiss her again, and she might reject him. He hadn’t been willing to test it.
But he should have tested it. Jamie might have said she wasn’t attracted to him, but she’d kissed him as if she might be, given some encouragement. And she’d typed in that “hot commodity” and “highly sexual” stuff, even if she and Faith had been giggling at the time. There was a chance he could have built on that.
But no, he’d been too worried about failure to give it a decent try. If he conducted himself that way in the market, he’d be toast. If he conducted himself that way with other women, he’d still be a virgin.
Jamie was just a woman. He sighed and leaned back against the cracked upholstery in the cab. Yeah, sure, and Sammy Sosa was just a baseball player.
This was all Faith’s fault. For years she’d been raving about Jamie, who was so smart, so talented, so amazing. No wonder he couldn’t follow his normal playbook with Jamie. She was several moves ahead of him.
Well, he was back in control of the situation now, or as much in control as possible, considering the schemes that could be going on behind his back. Jamie might not think she was part of Operation Marry Off Dev, but she was loyal to Faith, and Faith could be very convincing. He should know, because he’d backed more than one of Faith’s schemes.
This collection of boutiques was an example, because he’d helped convince his dad to give Faith and Jamie the space for a ridiculously low rent. But he thought this particular concept had promise, so he wasn’t sorry. Besides, his dad thought a lot of Jamie and liked the idea of giving her a boost. The whole family liked Jamie.
Then, as the cab turned onto Lakeshore Drive, he had an inspiration.
If he became involved with Jamie, he could stymie the matchmakers on two fronts. Jamie wouldn’t be part of a matchmaking scheme if he was dating her, and his mother and aunt would back off for a while, because they liked Jamie. The plan had merit. There was the small problem that Jamie didn’t want anything to do with him, but maybe he could work around that.