Page 435 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
She really hated this whole elf thing. She was back in her normal clothes: a pair of tight dark-wash jeans and a light gray sweater. I had to admit, she looked good in everything she wore. Especially her ass. The woman had a rear end that would turn even jolly old Saint Nick into a scoundrel.
Tinsely rinsed out her face cloth before packing everything back into her little bag. “I’m glad that’s over. Why does taking pictures like that always feel so exhausting?”
“Beats me, but I could use a nice merlot and a hot meal.”
She gripped the counter and tilted her head back to roll it from side to side, stretching. “I would kill for a glass of wine and a big bowl of pasta right now.”
“Would you like to grab dinner with me?”
She peered at me in the mirror.
“As colleagues,” I assured her with a chuckle. “I know a great place not far from here that can always find a table for me, and pasta is kind of their specialty. Come on, let me treat you. Maybe it will help make up for the tights and the tutu.”
“Nothing could make up for that.”
Laughing, I moved to the door. “Are you sure? Not even a creamy seafood pasta in a saffron white wine sauce?”
She licked her lips, which were still a little pink and irritated looking from wiping away her lipstick. “Is this a fancy place?”
“Not fancy fancy, but it’s nice.”
“Can I quickly put myself back together?”
“Meet me in my office in fifteen?”
She nodded and turned back to the mirror as she unzipped her makeup bag once more and withdrew a small container. She unscrewed the lid and a light dusting of powder puffed out. “Fifteen,” she said.
In my office, I waited for Tinsely, and I didn’t have to wait long. She arrived in twelve minutes on the dot looking fresh faced and beautiful. She’d only put on a bit of mascara and a sparkly pink gloss that looked pretty with her gray top. We left my office, collected our winter coats and scarves on the coat rack in the board room from where we’d gotten ready, and left the office shortly before six thirty.
I drove us six blocks down the street to a high-rise condominium. The valet out front took my keys and we ducked out of the cold into the lobby, where we rode the elevator up to the rooftop.
Tinsely eyed me skeptically when the doors opened and spat us out on a rooftop patio enclosed with glass and strewn with twinkling white lights. “I thought you said this place wasn’t fancy.”
“It’s not fancy,” I said as we followed our hostess to a corner table with magnificent views of the city all around and down below. “It’s nice.”
“You and I clearly have different definitions of nice.” She took her seat across from me. Even though her words suggested she was annoyed with me for misrepresenting the restaurant, her eyes dazzled with wonder as she soaked up the views of the city. Her eyes suddenly widened, and she put both hands on her stomach. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“You didn’t hear my stomach growling?”
I shook my head.
Her cheeks grew rosy, and she laughed softly. “Good. I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
I had a solution for that. When our waitress arrived, I ordered us each a glass of red wine—my favorite one on the menu—and an appetizer of fresh baked bread with oil and vinegar and herbs for dipping.
I doubted Tinsely was the sort of woman who would avoid carbs at a restaurant like this, and I was right. As soon as the bread hit our table, she broke off a piece, drowned it in oil and vinegar, and took a bite. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she chewed, and I marveled at the sight of her.
How had I never noticed how sexy she was? Sure, I’d always found myself attracted to Tinsely at the office, but I’d never paid much attention to all the little idiosyncrasies that added up to make her the woman that she was. Like how she chewed her food in only one cheek, how the front of her hair had a little cowlick that always tousled it to one side, how her nose wiggled right before she sneezed, how her eyes narrowed when she was irritated with me.
She swallowed and opened her eyes, catching me staring.
I picked up my wine, swirled it around, and lifted it up. “Here’s to a successful marketing campaign.”
She lifted her glass, tapped it gently against mine, and we took a sip in unison.
She savored her mouthful and let it sit on her tongue before swallowing. “This might be the best glass of wine I’ve ever had.”
