Page 100 of Love You
Not Madison so much, though. He noticed she had a penchant for designer clothes. Tonight, she wore a fitted dress and stilettos. She looked great, very sexy. But Win simply wasn’t interested.
He’d just be happy when dinner was over and he could go back to his room to get a good night’s sleep. First thing in the morning, he was heading back to Glory Junction.
“What do you think?” she asked as he took a sip.
He didn’t want to seem ungrateful but it tasted like wine. “Wow, it’s something else.”
“Right?” The toe of her shoe brushed his calf and he moved his leg away, trying to be subtle.
“You eat rich foods like this all the time?” Win had noticed that FlashTag brought food in for its employees every day. Pasta, sandwiches, soups, everything you could imagine. One day there was even a taco bar, beer, and margaritas. Right in the middle of the day. They were pretty laid-back in the adventure business but nothing like Silicon Valley. The place was off the hook with perks.
“Are you kidding? I mostly grab food on the run. But I wanted to do something nice for you because you drove all this way and you’ve been so great.” She leaned across the table, giving him a generous peek down her cleavage.
Win felt as if he was on a slippery slope. “Not necessary, but much appreciated. GA is looking forward to some serious team building with FlashTag.”That’s right, keep it strictly business.
“I like the way you think.” She made it sound like he’d been talking about sex. “Now that we’ve got this thing sown up, I think we should celebrate.”
He held up his hundred-dollar glass of wine. “Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
“We can do better than this.” She twirled the red liquid, her eyes never leaving his. “I think we should go back to your room after dinner?”
Whoa, talk about being direct. Win was used to being propositioned on a fairly regular basis but she just came right out with it, no beating around the bush. He liked her style. You want something, go after it. But he still wasn’t interested.
“Ah, Madison, we talked about this. Besides the fact that it’s unprofessional, I’m involved with Darcy.” Was he? She’d never actually said yes to his proposal. The truth was he didn’t know where he stood with her.
“I’d wondered about that,” she said. “The way you took off when her grandmother got sick . . . well, it was very commendable. I convinced myself that you were just really good friends because she doesn’t seem like your type at all.”
Win thought it was presumptuous of her. She barely knew him; how would she know what his type was?
“No offense to Darcy,” she continued. “But she seems . . . just not what I would expect for someone like you.”
Yeah, what was that? The implication pissed him off.
“It’s funny because I never thought I had a type until I fell in love with Darcy.” Love. Whoa, that’s what this was. He loved Darcy Wallace. The knowledge roared through his head like a freight train. For the first time maybe ever, he was in love. No one had ever made him feel the way Darcy did. From the night she’d crawled into his bed, he hadn’t been the same. She tested him, captivated him, turned him on to the point where he couldn’t keep his hands off her. But most of all, she got him and he got her. No artifice, just a hundred-percent real.
“That must be why I never fell in love before.” He put down his glass. “Because Darcy’s my only type. She’s the one, the only one.” He smiled because the revelation made him ridiculously happy.
He was in love. Crazy in love with Darcy Wallace.
“Why didn’t you just tell me from the get-go, instead of letting me make a fool of myself?” she asked, but didn’t sound angry, just curious.
“You didn’t make a fool of yourself, Madison. Darcy and I are pretty new and you and I . . .” he said, winking. “We’ll always have Alaska.”
They laughed like two old friends.
“Do you have any single brothers?” she asked. “I take it TJ’s off the market.”
Win grinned because not too long ago they’d all been single and miserable. “I’m afraid we’re all taken.”
“All the good ones always are.”
She paid the bill and took him back to the hotel, a big high-rise with an indoor pool, decent gym, and a couple of bars and restaurants. Instead of going straight to his room, he wandered into the lounge in the lobby and ordered a beer. He found a spot near one of the flat screens to watch the baseball game, hoping that by the time he went up to bed, Darcy would be available to talk on the phone. He just wanted to hear her voice.
Halfway through his beer, a group of women invaded his space and tried to chat him up. He wanted quiet so he took the elevator up to the ninth floor. In the room, he stripped out of his clothes, turned on the game, took a quick shower, and sank into the bed. It was the first chance he had to check his messages so he propped a few pillows behind his head and scrolled through e-mail on his phone. Nothing that couldn’t wait until he got home. He noticed there were a couple of alerts on his FlashTag app. Darcy had downloaded the damned thing on his cell to make a good impression.
For shits and giggles, he tapped on the logo and waited for the site to come up. And uh-oh . . . there were two pictures of Madison sitting in his lap. He remembered her taking the photo at the restaurant. An innocent pose for an innocent selfie. But the snapshots, with the lighting of the restaurant and the placement of Madison’s hands, looked anything but innocent. It looked more like a spread inMaximmagazine.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Win chanted as he jumped out of bed, found a clean pair of pants, and shoved them on. This was exactly the kind of crap Darcy expected of him. He grabbed his discarded phone and dialed her number. But she didn’t answer. He called Hilde and nothing. Where the hell was she? She was supposed to be bedridden. “Shit,” he yelled again.
