Read Erica Lucke Dean - To Katie with Love Online

Authors: Erica Lucke Dean

Tags: #Romance - Humor - Banker - Atlanta

Erica Lucke Dean - To Katie with Love (8 page)

BOOK: Erica Lucke Dean - To Katie with Love
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Damn it!
Sometimes being a good girl is really inconvenient.

“Are you ready?” he asked as he helped me to my feet.

The little voice in my head screamed
no,
but I said, “Yes.”

Time moved too quickly after that. One minute, I was in his arms, standing beside his king-size bed, warring with my hormones and my heart. And in the next, he was pulling his car into my driveway. He held my hand across the center console on the drive home. I could feel his pulse racing along with mine. I kept running every moment of the evening through my head like a slow-motion movie. I stopped to rewind at all the kissing parts and the parts where he spoke my name.

Then he said, “We’re here.”

My heart sank. I had to say goodbye and let him go. I’d never dreaded a goodbye as much. The silly thing was I knew I would see him the next day. He had asked me to lunch. But lunch was so far away, and I wasn’t ready for goodnight.

“Yep, we’re here,” I said.

He laughed lightly. “There aren’t words to describe how I feel about tonight, but you’re stalling.”

Caught
. “I know. So sue me.”

He angled himself so he faced me in his seat. He brought my hand, still entwined with his, to his lips and slowly kissed the tips of each of my fingers. “It’s almost midnight. You need sleep.” He let go of my hand and opened his door.

I waited for him to come around and open my door. The chivalry was so simple and old-fashioned. I loved it.

He pulled my door open, and I let him guide me out of the car. I dug my keys from my purse, taking a few seconds longer than necessary. He took the keys and unlocked my front door, then slipped them back into my hand.

“Cooper…” I was finally
living
one of the books scattered around my bed, and it was so much better in real life.

“I know,” he breathed against my hair.

I staggered in his arms.

He took my chin in his fingers and tilted my face up until he could press his lips against mine in the lightest of kisses. “Goodnight, Katie. Sleep well.”

 

I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO WEAR

 

I
woke up with a jolt and blinked out the sunshine while my head cleared. I had no idea what time it was. Or what day it was, for that matter. The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was replaying dinner in my head. The mere memory did something to my poor stomach. Not that I was really complaining. If that feeling could be bottled, I’d buy it.

I lightly touched my lips, certain they were still swollen from all of the kissing. Who was the girl that only days ago swore she was perfectly content with a fantasy guy trapped within the pages of a book? I didn’t know her anymore. Rolling over, I buried my face in my pillow and let out a squeal worthy of a teenage girl. Real kisses were so much better. There were no words to describe how much better. Not even in the best book.

I reached toward the nightstand to dig for the clock. It was buried under the outfit I’d worn yesterday.

Seven forty-five.
Crap.

I disentangled myself from my twisted blankets and jumped out of bed to survey my clothing situation. It was bad. All the clean clothes that had been on the bed were lying on the floor where I had shoved them last night, right along with my shoes, several dust bunnies, and who knew what other creepy crawlies might be hiding out in a pile of dark clothing on the floor.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

I was tempted to call in sick, but that would be worse. If I didn’t show up, the assumption would be I had stayed with Cooper all night. And although I would have loved to have stayed with Cooper all night, if I was going to be accused of that, I would have much rather it were true.

I had to stop myself from imagining that scenario. No time to hyperventilate.

I ran to my closet in the unlikely hope I’d left some work-appropriate clothes hanging there. But I knew the answer before I reached the door. There was nothing left in the closet other than the scary outfit Silvia had bought me for my birthday. And even at my most desperate, I wouldn’t
wear
that
to work.

Reluctantly, I pulled open my emergency drawer and stared with acute remorse at what I would be forced to wear—my last-resort outfit, reserved exclusively for when I was bloated, on my period, or sick. Those three things usually occurred simultaneously.

My father had gotten the pantsuit for me for Christmas several years ago, and I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. If it had come from my mother, it would have donated to the nearest Goodwill, but I couldn’t bear to part with a gift from my dad… even if he’d failed to consult with my fashionista mother before buying it. But I also couldn’t force myself to wear it except in an emergency.

I halfheartedly gathered the dreadful outfit in my arms and sprinted into the bathroom. After most likely setting a new record for showering, even though I shaved my legs—I wasn’t leaving anything to chance—I pulled on the wretched black and white paisley, elastic band trousers and the equally hideous, matching beaded sweater. When I looked in the mirror, it was worse than I expected. After last night, I’d been certain the pathetic girl who lived in her books had been replaced by a breathtaking, sophisticated woman.

I was wrong. The woman staring back at me looked absolutely nothing like the woman who had worn the cashmere dress.

I was wearing curtains!
I wanted to cry, but I was too frantic to take the time.

I pulled on my dangerous boots for the second day in a row, hoping the four-inch heels would somehow distract from everything north of them. It wasn’t likely. I wondered if I had time to stop at the mall on the way to work.
Right. I don’t even have time to stop at Starbucks for coffee.

My cell started ringing, but I had no clue where it was. I ran to the bedroom, dug through the blankets on my bed, then kicked through the clothes on the floor, finally finding the phone in a shoe near the nightstand.

Out of breath, I flipped it open after the fifth ring. “Hello?”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Cooper! Actually, I had a hard time falling asleep, and then I didn’t wake up on time.” I tried to laugh, but even to my own ears, it sounded a little hysterical.

“I thought I might drive you in today… if you’d like. That way, I have an excuse to see you after work too.” He sounded hopeful.

I swallowed a string of obscenities. I had obviously done something very bad in a past life. On the one day I looked worse than the before picture on an episode of
What Not to Wear
, the man of my dreams wanted to pick me up and drive me to work. Life just wasn’t fair.

“Cooper, that sounds wonderful, but I think I should drive myself today. You know they’ll all assume I didn’t go home last night if you drive me.”
And I’ll die if you see me dressed like this.

“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. You’re probably right. Well, can I at least get a quick kiss before I go?”

Huh?
“What do you mean?”

“I’m in your driveway. I wanted to surprise you.”

Oh. My. God.
“Oh!” I couldn’t hide the shock in my voice. I didn’t even try. I knew it would be futile. “I’d love that, but I’m not dressed yet.” I looked down at my ugly outfit and grimaced. The relationship was bordering on obsessive if I was even
considering
kissing him while wearing this outfit.

“That’s okay with me,” he teased.

My stomach jumped. “I’ll be right down.” I snapped my phone shut, yanked the sweater over my head, pulled off the dangerous boots, then slipped out of the elastic pants and tossed them onto the bed with the sweater. I caught my reflection in the mirror and laughed. Even my daisy underwear was embarrassing.

I shook my damp hair until it looked as though I’d just rolled out of bed and grabbed the only clean towel I had.
Come on, Katie. You’re a strong—
gulp
—confident woman. If Bridget Jones can kiss Mark Darcy in the
snow
in her
underwear
, you can kiss Cooper in a towel.
I realized that part of me really wanted to take a chance and see the light in his eyes when he saw me there with only a thin layer of non-Egyptian cotton covering me.

Wrapping the towel around me and hoping it covered enough, I scurried down the stairs to the front door. I cracked it open, squinting at him in the bright sunshine.

Cooper’s mouth fell open, and his eyes roamed over my body before settling on my face. “You weren’t kidding, were you?”

I was lying… not kidding.
That’s not the same thing. But who’s keeping track?
“I’m running really late.” I really, really wanted to ride to work with him, but unless I wore the damn towel all day, that wasn’t going to happen.

“Can I come in? I don’t want you coming out dressed, or rather, undressed like that.” He spoke carefully, as if unsure of what I might say.

I quickly stepped behind the door and opened it wider so he could squeeze through. He looked phenomenal, as usual, wearing jeans and a black turtleneck sweater under his leather coat. I would have bet he never threw all of
his
clothes on the floor in frustration.

“I shouldn’t have kept you out so late last night.” He cupped my cheek in his palm. “You look tired.”

“I’m not too tired.”
Another lie.
If I hadn’t been pumped full of adrenaline at that moment, I would’ve probably dropped to the floor.

“Well, I won’t keep you out so late on a work night again. It’s an eleven o’clock bedtime for you.” Cooper dipped his head down, and his lips smashed against mine in a very hot, but too brief kiss. “You’d better go get dressed before I decide I’m not going to let you.”

My insides melted, and he kissed my open lips once more before slipping out the door and shutting it behind him. He even made sure to turn the lock on his way out. I wouldn’t have thought to do that. I was still frozen in place, mouth open like a fish, staring at the closed door. I gave my head a quick shake as I heard his car rumble to life.

“Peppermint.” I sighed, touching my fingertips to my lips.

I had officially crossed the line into desperate measures. I gave one last cursory look at my reflection in the window before twisting my key in the lock and letting myself into the bank.

After my dangerous run-in with Cooper that morning, I was too afraid to wear the hideous emergency outfit for fear he might decide to surprise me at the bank for another stolen kiss. Instead, I sank to a level only Vicky had ever reached and wore the inappropriate leather skirt and the dangerous boots, but not the horrible see-through blouse. Luckily, I’d found a white button-down shirt hanging in the laundry room. Topped with a menswear vest, the outfit was almost acceptable.

I hurried into my office before anyone could take more than a passing notice of me, or at least, I thought I did. I was apparently not fast enough to avoid detection.

“Hey, James? Is that you? Muy caliente,” Phil called out approvingly before I could close my door.

Great.
Now
Phil was officially behaving like a man. He would choose the wrong day to decide he wasn’t one of the girls.

“Thanks, Phil,” I shot back, pushing my door shut as if that would keep anyone out.

It didn’t.

The rest of my “fans” soon discovered I was there, and before long, they queued up outside my office like groupies at a pop concert. I figured I should just get it over with, so I took a deep breath and opened the door to take questions… like Lady Gaga facing the paparazzi.

Silvia was first, of course—no one would dare challenge her place in the pecking order. She slipped her little reader glasses down her nose and peered over them. “How was dinner?” She kept it simple on the surface, but I spoke Silvia. She was really asking,
Did you see him naked?

I crossed my arms over my chest. “It was nice. We had something with lobster in it. French, I think.”
Keep it simple
.

“That
is
nice,” Silvia said with a forced smile. But she obviously didn’t think it was nice at all. She was trying to read between the lines.

“Did you see him naked?” Vicky blurted.

I didn’t speak Vicky, but it wasn’t hard to decipher.
Did you have sex with him?

I probably shouldn’t have been surprised, but her question caught me off guard. I snorted out a laugh. “No! It was just dinner.”
Cooper’s words from last night.

“Did he kiss you?” June asked.

“Once. It was very sweet.” He had kissed me sweetly at least once.

They all squealed, and I had to cover my ears. I felt as if I were back in high school as they shouted at me to spill the details.

“Start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out,” Silvia commanded, grabbing my elbow and dragging me out of my office.

“Is his body as hot up close as it is from a distance?” Vicky asked.

“Is he a good kisser?” June questioned.

“Um, I hate to disrupt the important, work-related interrogation going on over here, but it’s time to open, and someone just pulled up with a delivery.” Phil pointed at the FTD delivery truck parked in front of the building.

My heart sputtered to a halt for a few seconds until I saw the driver carrying the first of what I knew would be several dozen red roses. I started to laugh. They all looked at me like I was crazy, but they had no idea.

Those flowers weren’t for me.

BOOK: Erica Lucke Dean - To Katie with Love
2.96Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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