She stepped back, too, reluctantly, ruthlessly tamping down the urge to linger in his arms. “I am. I got your message with all the information about tonight. Thank you for arranging a car to pick me up.”
He snorted. “Please don’t thank me. It’s the least I could do. I’m sorry I can’t pick you up myself, but I’ve got a last-minute meeting at five o’clock with a politician. He’s trying to introduce a bill in the Senate that would require New York companies to give to charities and needs some help reviewing the draft.”
Meredith couldn’t help feeling pleased that Andrew had considered coming to get her. Even if it was just a nod to gentlemanly courtesy, it made her feel like more than just a last-resort choice. A companion.
The elevator stopped and he gestured her forward. “Let’s head to my office right away and get started. I’ve got another meeting around ten, but otherwise my focus today is on the Christmas Bonus Fund.”
“Sure,” she replied, heading past her own door to his large corner office. He had a similar setup to hers, only his conference table and desk were both much bigger. She pulled out a chair at the table and set her bag on the seat. To her surprise, he strode over and set up his own computer right next to her place.
When he said they would be working side by side for the next six days, he meant it literally.
She straightened up and pulled her hat off, shaking out her deep-red tresses. She’d worn her hair down because she’d had to spend so much time searching for her replacement pair of glasses that she hadn’t had time to blow it completely dry as usual, then put it into a clean, tight bun. Instead, she’d just run the dryer haphazardly over it a few times so that her wet hair wouldn’t freeze, bundled it into her knit cap, and headed out the door.
The sight of it surprised him, that much was certain. He made some kind of sound that might be best described as “Oh,” but wasn’t really a word at all. She swallowed hard at the sudden throbbing between her legs. That moment in the elevator, and now this…
Nerves had her hands suddenly seizing up, knotting in the fabric near her collar.
She smiled. Couldn’t contain a blush. “Uh, yeah. My hair. It’s just—I didn’t have time—well, it’s down today.”
“Ah. Of course.” A simple enough reply, but her body practically went liquid at the way he said it. Her fingers felt clumsy as they worked the buttons of her coat, slowing her progress in slipping each one from its mooring. She was embarrassingly aware that the pace made it seem like she was performing a striptease, but that only made her fingers cooperate less.
Thankfully, he moved behind her to help her with the coat, and she finally managed to open the entire placket. But then she could feel his hands on her shoulders, making her blood heat and her vision cloud, and there was no choice left but to allow him to slide it off, revealing the sturdy brown tweed she wore underneath.
Would he laugh at her for that? Would it make him forget that her hair was down and her glasses were cuter and remind him instead that, oh yes, Meredith was clumsy and unattractive? It wouldn’t be the first time that she’d been put in her place. When she was thirteen, she’d knelt in front of her windowsill and wished upon a star for a new family for Christmas. Her foster father, Mr. Ferris, had been walking by at that moment, overheard her wistful plea, and informed her she was too old to be adopted. People wanted younger children they could make into their own, not frizzy-haired, nearsighted beanpoles whose clumsiness cost more than they were worth in broken china and chipped furniture. She’d never have the family she so desperately wanted.
It had been the last time she’d asked for anything for herself.
But Andrew didn’t say anything. Didn’t make a sound. He just pulled the coat away and stood in silence for a moment. She could feel the weight of his stare on her neck, moving lower, lower—
Her body drew tight. What was he looking at? Surely not her. It must just be her imagination, that sensation of his eyes on the curve of her bottom.
After a long moment, he finally cleared his throat and shifted behind her. “I’ll put this away” came the rumbling voice, close to her ear. She shivered. Before she could turn to thank him, he moved away, walking toward the wardrobe to hang her coat.
And in the next minute, any thoughts of how sexy she’d felt flew away when he flung the door to the wardrobe open and she saw what was inside, blurting out before she could think better of it, “Why do you have a gown in your closet?”
Chapter Five
Holy hell. Meredith was hot.
Andrew didn’t even register her words for a moment. He was so shocked by the intensity of arousal that had flooded through him as he watched her shake all that luscious red softness down her arched back. She’d ended up in the same pose he’d found her in last night in the hallway. The one that pushed her breasts out and highlighted the curve of her spine—things he’d felt even through her clothes when he’d caught her in his arms this morning. All that sweet, feminine warmth against him…