The Naked Truth. Shannon Hollis
you.” He managed to brake just in time for a Stop sign. “And if you don’t stop that, we’re going to have an accident.”
“You touched me,” she pointed out.
“You weren’t driving. And besides, you asked me to. Begged me, if I recall.”
“I did, didn’t I?” She pulled her hand back so its burning warmth rested once again on his thigh, and she gave him a sideways glance. “But I was just saying out loud what you wanted.”
“Damn right. Do I turn left or right here?” She pointed, and the car leaped forward. “Because there’s nothing I want more right now than to kiss that dress right off you, inch by inch.”
She did the shimmy with her shoulders again, and the bodice slid down so that it seemed only a miracle kept her nipples from popping out over the rim of the fabric. His entire body throbbed with anticipation.
“How do you do that?” He dragged his gaze back to the highway. In the distance he could see the lighted block of the hotel. Thank God.
“Faulty engineering. Keep your eyes on the road, Mr. Hayes.” With a fingertip, her eyes on his face, she traced the top of the bodice. Teasing. Promising.
“I can’t. Not when you’re giving me a visual feast. And I’m about five seconds from orgasm just looking.”
“At eighty miles an hour? Better slow down.”
“I’m in a hurry. I want to get you up to my room before you come out of that dress again.”
“Mmm,” she crooned, her other hand moving stealthily to stroke his erection through his black dress pants. He shuddered with pleasure. “I could come in it.”
“Not a chance. When you come, it’ll be screaming, naked and on top of me.” The speedometer edged up to eighty-five.
“Promises, promises.”
Her hand felt so good. “Eve, please,” he choked. “I can’t—I’m going to—” The tires chattered on the highway dots as he drifted into the next lane.
With a throaty chuckle, she pulled away and settled into the passenger’s seat, both hands primly in her lap, and he steered the Lexus back into the middle of the lane.
Almost there.
Dimly, Mitch heard a jingling sound, but his senses were so overwhelmed with Eve that it barely registered. Until the second time. Then the third.
“That’s my phone.” She sounded as surprised as if she’d never heard it before, and fumbled in her clutch bag.
“Let it go. We’re nearly there.”
She glanced at the wafer-thin screen, then back at him, her eyes full of apology. “I can’t. No matter how much I want to.”
THE NUMBER WAS JENNA’S, and Eve knew she’d been scheduled to meet with Liza’s attorney that day. The fact that it was nearly midnight made it even more necessary for her to answer.
“Yes?”
“Eve? Thank goodness. I thought it was going to roll to voice mail.”
“What’s up?” Her voice still sounded throaty, and the ricochet of desire through her veins distracted her—though she’d have to forego the distraction for a few minutes and concentrate.
“It’s stupid—I’m so sorry, Eve. I probably woke you up.”
“Yes, but not the way you think.” The heat in her blood dropped a couple of degrees back toward normal. “Take a moment if you need to.”
“It’s just dumb,” Jenna repeated. “But you’re so good at this kind of thing and I’m afraid I’ve messed up big-time.”
Eve glanced at Mitch, who was concentrating on a left turn into the hotel’s underground parking lot. “Did the negotiations not go well?”
“About what I expected. Kevin had his arguments, I had my counterarguments. It ended in a draw.”
“Kevin?” Eve said carefully.
Jenna sighed. “Yes. Kevin Wade, Liza’s attorney. Therein lies the problem.”
“What problem? Is he incompetent? If so, that’s good for us, right?”
Jenna laughed, a sound that conveyed more irony than humor. “No, he’s not incompetent. I am. I’m massively attracted to him and I made the mistake of showing it.”
Mitch pulled into a numbered spot and turned off the engine. But instead of making her feel rushed and guilty because he’d lost her attention, he seemed content to simply lounge against the driver’s side door, watching her. As if whatever she did gave him pleasure.
Focus. Jenna needs you.
“Where are you now?” Eve asked.
“Sitting outside his condo complex. I—I agreed to come back here with him—to discuss the case further, mind—but he must have stopped somewhere because he’s not here yet. I need you to talk me out of going in.”
Eve had to laugh. “He probably stopped at the drugstore for a box of condoms. If you want to do this, we’ll just ask Andersen Nadeau for a different attorney for the lawsuit, and you keep the station’s business as usual.”
“You’re not helping.”
“You don’t need my help. You’re what, thirty-one? Two? You didn’t put in all those years in law school to let someone else make your decisions for you.”
“I know,” Jenna moaned. “But I tell you what, Eve, that man is hot. And what’s more, he thinks I’m hot. I’ve been sitting here weighing my caseload against the fact that I haven’t been in bed with a real man in months, and the caseload is losing.”
Eve could certainly relate to that. “If we have to get another attorney assigned to the suit, we can. But I have to say, I really respect that brain of yours. If anyone can pull this off with sympathy and grace, it’s you.”
“Now you tell me.”
“I’m not trying to argue for either side. Just telling you how I feel.”
“I’ll never be able to explain the switch to Marv Andersen.” Jenna sounded as if she were trying to talk herself out of going into that condo. “I’d have to make something up, and I’m a terrible liar.”
“If you don’t go, it’s not like it’s forever,” Eve reasoned. “Mr. Wade must be as aware of the ethics as you are. Maybe he’ll wait until the case is over.”
“We had such a good time at dinner, Eve,” Jenna said in a rush. “He’s so interesting to talk to, and then the whole will-we-or-won’t-we thing just added this zing to the evening. I’m only supposed to be staying for a drink and another look at the brief, but I know as well as he does it won’t end there.”
Eve glanced again at Mitch, but he just grinned at her. Their situation wasn’t that much different, was it? She was consorting with the enemy, too, though it wasn’t likely she’d get into as much of a legal tangle over it as Jenna.
Men. They could really mess with a girl, couldn’t they? Since when had sex and a career become so complicated?
Hmm. That might make a good segment for—
“Eve? Are you there?”
She dragged her gaze off Mitch’s fly, where it had inexplicably landed, and gave her attention back to her attorney. “I’m here. I was just thinking.”
“I have to go,” Jenna said urgently. “Before he comes back. If I see him again I’ll give in, and I don’t want to do that. I want to see this case through.”
“Good girl.”
“I really appreciate you letting me