Taken by Tuesday

Chapter Seven



“He hasn’t called.”

“He said he wouldn’t call.”

Meg laughed at her over the phone.

“I can’t concentrate at work.” Here she was on her lunch break, eating a sub sandwich and talking to her BFF over the phone about a boy. “This is why I didn’t want to go out with him.”

“He’s a sexy distraction. I’ll give you that.”

“I need to work.”

“Because it takes all your brain power to file and play the mailman. Geez, Judy, it’s not like you have some high-power, high-stress job.”

“Even if I did, I’d be staring out the window thinking about him. I should just call him and tell him I can’t do this.”

“Oh, stop. If you called him, he’d just show up at your work and call you on the sizzle.”

Why had Judy told Meg every detail of their kiss? She should have known it would all be thrown back at her.

“This is crazy.”

“Isn’t your brother coming home on Friday for the fundraiser?”

“Yeah.”

“Doesn’t Rick play bodyguard for Mike?”

“Sometimes.”

“Then you’ll probably see Rick on Friday at the house . . . or at the fundraiser.”

Judy pushed her lunch aside. “Great, telling Dr. Dangerous that I need to concentrate on my career and not him in a room full of the rich and famous ought to be fun.”

“You’re not going to tell him that. You’re going to take one look at him and melt.”

“You’re so not helping, Meg.” The fact that Meg saw Rick almost every day since she worked in the downstairs office in the Tarzana house he lived in made everything worse. If Rick wanted to pass on something, he had a direct link. Yet nothing came from the man.

“Oh, you want me to help?”

“Isn’t that what friends do?”

“OK, let me see . . .” the phone sounded like it was dropped, and then Judy heard Meg’s voice yelling in the house. “Hey Rick?”

Judy’s heart jumped. “Meg!”

“Yeah . . . Judy’s on the phone. Says she wants to jump your bones—”
     



“Meg! Don’t you . . . oh, shit.” The people sitting on the outside patio of the sandwich shop were watching her as she lit into her best friend.

Meg’s laughter filled the earpiece. “You’re so freaking easy.”

“He better not be there.”

“I told you I hardly ever see him. I usually leave before he gets home. Relax.”

When Judy felt her heart return to a normal beat, she cursed her friend. “I’m going to get back at you for that.”

“I would expect nothing less.”

After a few more complaints, Judy hung up and stared at her half-eaten sandwich. She really shouldn’t have allowed his kiss. Because kissing led to dreams and dreams led to desire.

She cursed herself and clicked into her war game on her phone. For a couple of brief minutes she stopped thinking about kissing and scent and battled her cyber enemy. “Take that!” she told her phone as she raided Spike, an enemy who used to be on her cyber team. He’d jerked out during the summer-long online battle, bitching the team wasn’t spending enough real money to win their faction battles. Now he popped up from time to time on her rotating list of enemies, and she had no problem sending him a game kiss by blowing up his buildings and taking his cyber money. In the notes, she wrote waving and placed a winking emoticon on his page. Judy turned off her game, tossed her lunch in the trash, and headed back to the office.



Mike was home by the time she got off work on Friday. The energy in the house completely changed with his presence. Blaring music greeted her as she walked in the front door. In the drive, his Ferrari had been pulled from the garage and evidence of someone coming by to wash it was left in the way of puddles. Judy didn’t expect to see Meg since she was already at Zach and Karen’s prepping for the evening. The entire event was set up and managed by Karen, but the opportunity for Meg to learn how to rub elbows with rich clients while mingling among all of Mike’s and Zach’s friends was too good to pass up.

“Mike?” Judy called through the house, attempting to raise her voice over the music.

“In here.”

Judy followed her brother’s voice and found him standing in his bedroom, his dress shirt open and his hair still wet from his shower.

She opened her arms to her brother. “So glad you’re home.”

Mike lifted her with his hug and kissed her cheek. “It’s great to come home to a house with people. Where’s Meg?”

“At Karen and Zach’s. She went to work for Samantha.”

Mike blinked. “With Alliance?”

She gave him a playful smack to his arm. “Yes, with Alliance. I didn’t realize you used an actual service to hook up with Karen.”

Mike offered a strange look. “Seemed practical at the time.”

Judy stood back while Mike buttoned his shirt. “How long are you going to be in town?”

“I’m flying out Tuesday night.”

“Geez, that’s not a lot of down time.”

“Not sure how much down time there will be. It won’t be easy keeping my eyes open tonight with the jet lag.”

“You didn’t sleep on the plane?”

“Even private charters are bumpy.”

She started to leave the room. “You can tell me all about your exclusive plane trips on the drive out. I need to shower and get ready.”

Judy walked out of her room forty minutes later in a floor-length sequin job and three-inch heels.

Mike whistled. “Who are you and what did you do with my sister?”

Judy rolled her eyes. “Dork.”

“You look amazing.”

Even from her brother, the compliment made her smile. She ran a hand over her flat stomach and twisted. “I borrowed it from Karen. You bought her a ton of clothes.”

“Took me four months to get her to break down and spend some money.”

“I can think of worse traits in a woman.”

Mike grabbed his dress jacket and swung it over his arm. “You don’t have to borrow Karen’s stuff.”

“I can’t afford this stuff. And before you can offer . . . no.” They were walking beside each other and out the front door.

“No, what?”

“I’m not taking your money. You’re already giving me a place to live.”

“It’s just money, Judy. I have more than I’ll ever spend.”

She hesitated as he locked the door behind them.

“I need to make it on my own, Mike. My own decisions, my own career.”

“A loan then?”

Judy shook her head. “You don’t loan money to family. Even I know that never works. Who knows, maybe I’ll have Meg find me a temporary husband.”

Mike narrowed his eyes. “I don’t think so.”

“Why?” Not that she would really consider the proposition, but why did Mike think the arrangement was good for him but not for her?

“Too dangerous for a woman.”

“Oh, please.” She walked away from the house and waited by the Ferrari for him to open her door. “They screen for anyone with malicious intentions.” Mike gave her a hand into his überexpensive car, closed the door.

Mike glared at her from the driver’s side and turned over the engine. “You’re not cut out for a temporary marriage.”

“How can you say that?” The double standard was kind of ticking her off. Why was it good enough for him and Karen but not OK for her? The life of a modern woman was something she was reaching for. Did her mere existence scream small-town woman living out of her element in LA? Did the people at Benson & Miller Designs see that about her and that’s why they weren’t taking her seriously?

“You’re not really considering it, are you?”

“The fact you’re worried I would is hypocritical, don’t you think?”

“You’re my little sister. It’s my job to look out for you.” He actually sounded scared.

“Relax, Mike. I’m not doing anything right now. I’d like to see where this internship goes before I make any decisions like marriage . . . temporary or otherwise. If I could just get my boss to ask me to do something other than clerical work, I’d be happy.”

They talked about her job, her lack of exposure to anything she truly wanted to be doing. She complained and Mike listened. She talked nonstop, bending his ear and completely unloading on him. Her brother had always been a good listener.

“Want my advice?” he asked as he made the turnoff to Zach and Karen’s place.

“Always.”

“Take a risk. Do something that will gain their notice. What’s the worst thing they can do?”

“Make me leave.”

Mike pulled into the long drive to The Village. “Make you leave an internship that’s highlighting your ability to file papers.”

Cars were backed up down the drive. Limousines, sports cars, town cars . . . luxury like she’d never seen. “You’re about to meet a bunch of very powerful people. Yeah, some will promise the world and deliver nothing. But I’ve seen some of your designs, sis. You’re good.”

“You don’t know anything about design.”

“I know what looks good. And if you lacked talent, you wouldn’t have graduated with honors and some of your college professors would have suggested a different major. Aren’t you the one who told me your last project landed a place on your teacher’s list of exceptional achievements?”

That had been a sweet moment. “Yeah. I am good, damn it.”
     



“Time you let your boss . . . or maybe his boss, know it.”

She sighed, hating the feeling of defeat. “Getting noticed in that office is impossible.”

They pulled up to the valet and someone opened her door. Mike jumped out, offered his Hollywood smile as the kid accepted the keys, and said, “Be careful with her.”

The kid blinked. “I will, Mr. Wolfe.”

Mike laughed, came up behind her, and draped his arm over her shoulders like he’d done forever. “Getting noticed is easy. Delivering on the promise of good designs, that’s the hard part.”

“You’re a movie star, Mr. Hollywood. I don’t have the same star power.”

He laughed and bumped his hip into her, nearly knocking her off balance. She laughed and bumped him back right as a flash of a camera went off.



Rick saw stars. Judy’s words echoed in his earpiece. Maybe I’ll have Meg find me a temporary husband?

The conversation as Judy and Michael were leaving the Beverly Hills home started out innocent enough. Something Rick only planned to listen to long enough to know they left the house so he could estimate their arrival at The Village.

Judy wanted to make her own decisions, make her own money. Then the mention of Meg and a husband made Rick see red. “She can’t be serious,” he said to himself. She had to be pulling her brother’s chain.

Wearing a tux and packing more than three pieces, Rick mingled with guests while keeping an eye on the door.

The silent auction in the backyard was heavily monitored with a security detail Neil had put in place. Rick’s attendance was more about protecting Zach and Karen’s inner circle, which included Michael and Judy. Neil watched over Gwen, Samantha, and Blake. The only elite members of their group not directly under Neil’s supervision were the governor, Carter Billings, and his wife, Eliza. Billings had his own posse following him around.

Rick heard some of the crowd talking about the new arrivals before he noticed Judy.

The gold glittery dress ran all the way to the tips of her toes. Toes strapped in delicate shoes that led to a slit up her dress. Her lean leg beckoned from under her gown and made his mouth water. Up her curves, he found the V of her dress dipping just enough to give a glimpse of her pale skin over her breasts. Judy wore her hair up in a messy style that looked as if it took only seconds to achieve, but he knew it probably took her an hour. She wore a little more makeup than she normally did, but instead of it looking fake, it looked hot.

He forced his gaze away before she caught him staring. His weren’t the only eyes following her around the room. She was an attractive woman. If Meg wanted to find Judy a temporary husband, it wouldn’t take long for someone to snatch her up.

That was not going to happen, not as long as he was breathing.

“Hello, Captain Obvious?”

Rick snapped his gaze away from Judy again, found Meg standing beside him. “What?”

Meg shook her head. “You know, Rick, I find it amusing the two of you are dancing around this attraction.”

He thought about that for a second. “I didn’t think I was dancing.” No, he’d been asking her for a simple date for well over a month.

“I guess that’s true.” Meg waved in Judy’s direction and Rick noticed the look between the two women, a silent warning spoken from Judy’s eyes to Meg’s.

“Women like to dance,” Meg told him as she turned and walked away.

Good to know.

After dinner, when the music started, Judy and Mike hit the dance floor with a little drama and flourish. At one point Zach jumped in and gave up Karen to dance with his sister. The photographers were having a field day with the four of them. It helped that Karen and Michael smiled and danced as if they hadn’t once been married and were now happily divorced and living different lives. Rick knew the truth about their temporary marriage, but not many others in the room did.

Rick waited for the right moment, and when the music slowed and the couples paired up, he cut in and wrapped his arm around Judy’s waist before she could see him coming. Before she could tell him no.

“Hey, babe,” he whispered next to her ear. She stiffened, briefly, then relaxed in his arms and moved along with the music.

She was silent for about thirty seconds, then she managed, “You didn’t call.”

Instead of answering, Rick swung her around, led her into a spin out, and back in, getting more than one flash of a camera. Only when he had her back cheek to cheek . . . or in their case, he had to bend down to talk in her ear, he said, “I told you I wouldn’t call.”

She opened her mouth to say something but he spun her again, robbing her of a slow dance and making this one much more active. Talking under their breath on the dance floor wasn’t what he wanted, not where she might get the opportunity to blow him off just as easily as a phone conversation. It wasn’t as if he would call her out with an audience watching. However, he would make sure anyone in the room who might be watching her knew of his attraction.

Rick wound his hand around her waist and pulled her even tighter, leading her, and used the music to weave heat onto her cheeks. She was smiling, almost as if she couldn’t help it.

“Where did you learn to dance?”

The question was innocent enough, but he blinked, nearly missed a step. “It wasn’t the military.”

The hand resting on his chest pushed back and she moved her gaze to his. “Well . . . you’re good.”

Happy she didn’t quiz him more, he moved her around, giving her ability to follow his lead a solid test. “You’re not bad yourself, Utah.”

The music started to wind down, both of them with it.

“About that lack of a phone call . . .”

“I’ll call next time.”

Some of the couples around them broke off the dance floor.

“I don’t know if—”

Rick didn’t like where that was going and he cut her off with a finger to her lips. He replaced it briefly with his kiss. Chaste, simple, and full of promise.

The earpiece buzzed, ending their dance-floor kiss. “Rick, we need you out back.”

He pulled away, happy to see Judy’s lips grinning. “Have to get back to work, Utah. We’ll talk later.” He kissed her forehead and left her standing on the dance floor.