Shit Kickers & Stilettos (Heiresses In Aprons) (5 page)

“No. I usually prefer to focus my time behind the scenes, but Rosie and I decided to attend together.” Dade knew from Walt’s rapid blinking that he’d hit his mark.

“Together, as in a date?” Walt’s voice had risen a few octaves.

Dade shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s considered a date when people live together, or if it’s just going out.”

“You moved in with Rosalind?”

“No.” Dade missed the way the other guy’s shoulders lost some of the tension. “Actually we moved into her uncle’s place.”

Walt nodded. “He passed away recently. Did that bring you two together?”

A
straightforward answer would break the rules so Dade kept it vague and shrugged. “Working so closely on the projects we’ve got going on has shown me another side to Rosie. It’s damn hard to ignore someone with qualities like Rosie’s.”

“True, but living together is a serious move.” Dade nodded, because Walt was right.

The music faded away and Sophia and Nicolette took the stage. Rosie and Tiffany stood just off to the side. Walt excused himself and Dade decided since he’d already made his purchase of the night that it was okay if he stepped outside for a few minutes. When he came back in —not more than five minutes had passed, he was sure of it— the atmosphere had changed. He didn’t know if anyone else sensed it, but he did. Dade scanned the crowd until he located Rosie. Their gazes locked and her eyes narrowed, but her smile never faded. Before he could move she made a beeline for him.

Her fingers grasped his jacket and she tugged on his arm. “Come with me, and for both our sakes smile.”

He followed her into the back room. Once they were out of sight of the guest she shoved him into a room the size of a closet. If it wasn’t for the desk he would have swore it was one. He leaned against the desk and waited for her to say whatever was on her mind.

“Are you going to say something before you
explode?” Goading her might have been the wrong way to go.

She stopped in front of him and jammed her fisted hands on her hips as she stomped her foot. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“What I did?” He didn’t have a frigging clue.

“Yes, you.”
She stabbed her finger in his direction. “You told the nosiest society reporter I’ve ever met that we are living together.”

“I didn’t know we were keeping it a secret.” He couldn’t see how it could be such a big deal, unless there was a man in her life he didn’t know about.

“We’re not, but I like to keep my personal life private. Beside just because we’re not keeping it secret doesn’t mean we needed to broadcast it.”

“I didn’t mean to broadcast anything.” Okay he’d said it to irk the guy, but he didn’t know the creep was a reporter.

“Maybe not intentionally, but you did. Within seconds of you telling him the news made its way around the room like wildfire. And where the hell did you go?” She raised her voice and Dade pushed himself to his feet.

“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re the only one who could have issues if this gets out.” He was just posturing, but there was no way she could know that.

“Really?” The accusation in her tone rubbed him wrong. “Then why the hell did you toss it out for public consumption?”

He closed the distance between them. “I made a mistake it doesn’t happen often.”

“Exactly.” She tensed looking up at him. “So why now? What did he say to get you to just give him the information?”

Dade growled. “God damn it. He didn’t say anything.”

“Fine, whatever.” She turned to walk away.

Dade wasn’t going to let it end like this so he grabbed her arm and pulled her back blocking her exit. “I didn’t like the way he was trying to get touchy-feely with you, so I wanted to make sure he knew to stay the fuck away.”

He waited for her to respond. She had to have something to say. When she didn’t Dade lost it. He grabbed her by the shoulders and leaned into her space.

“I’m sorry.” His tone was soft, but rough with the emotion he was trying to hold back.

Rosie blinked a few times then leaned in and pressed her lips to his. Dade pulled her against him as her lips parted under his. Their tongues darted and stroked each other in an insane game of tag. She put her hands on his chest and he thought for sure that she was going to shove him away. Instead she pushed him against the wall. Dade’s hands went from her arms to her hips. The silky thin material of her dress only encouraged him to slide his hands to her ass. She made a sexy moaning noise against his lips and his dick reacted hardening even more than it already had. Dade let her have control of the kiss, because every time he tried to move in more she’d start to pull back.

The door opened behind them, but neither of them noticed until they heard the loud gasp and the slam that followed. Rosie lurched away from him. She covered her face with her hands and shook her head.

“That was… Dade…” She lowered her hands and looked at him. “I just can’t deal with this right now.”

“I understand.” And he did, because now wasn’t the time to figure out what the hell had just happened. “Should I leave?”

“No. You need to go out there and pretend like nothing’s wrong. We both do.” She sighed. “You go first I’m going to duck into the ladies room. I’ll be out in a minute.”

Dade nodded and started for the door. He wasn’t a very good actor, but he hoped he could pull this off. If not, at least he could have a word with Walt.

“Dade,” He stopped with his hand on the door knob and she said, “Do me a favor and stay away from Walt.”

Shit! Could she read his mind? He nodded. The night had taken a serious nose dive. But she had kissed him, even though it had been in a moment of insanity. They were going to talk about it at some point, and hopefully try it again. It seemed his plan to keep his distance had been blown to smithereens.

Her phone rang again and Rosie knew she couldn’t ignore it any longer. She slid her hand out of the blanket and snatched it off the night stand.

“Hello.” Her tone was clipped and most people probably would have hung up.

“Morning sunshine.” Nicolette sounded way too cheerful.

“What are you trying to get out of?” Rosie kind of hoped that she needed her so she’d have an excuse to get the hell out of there without seeing Dade.

“Nothing.” Nicolette laughed.

“Really?
Then what’s up?” Rosie asked as she pulled her spare pillow into her arms.

“I drew the lucky straw to call and see how things went last night after you left.” She knew one of them would be calling, but figured it wouldn’t be until later in the day.

Rosie felt her face heat just thinking about it. “They didn’t.”

“What happened? Did he just take off or something? Should I call my cousin Mario to go have a talk with him? He can be there in twenty minutes.” Her concern was touching, but totally unnecessary.

“Thanks for the offer, but there’s no need.” She sighed not wanting to talk about this with anyone yet.

“Are you sure?” Nicolette didn’t sound convinced.

“Yes. Dade was a gentleman. I was the one—”

“You hit on him again?”

“No— Jeez I lose it once.” That her friends knew of, Rosie shook her head. “Dade wanted to talk about what happened, but I asked him to give me some time. He stopped asking if I was okay, but I still had to listen to him apologize for leading Walt into thinking we were a couple and worse telling him we lived together. He had no idea what Harold would do with that information. I had to pretend to fall asleep to get him to stop talking.”

“Hey, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. We’ve all had those stories written about us that we wished hadn’t been.” Nicolette was right, but she didn’t know the whole story.

“You’re right, but this is my fault. I should have warned Dade. I guess it’s my turn to say I’m sorry, especially after I kissed him like that.” She sighed wishing she was wrong. “Listen I’ll call you later okay?”

“Sure, but try to take it easy. I don’t think Dade minded you kissing him.” Nicolette was still laughing when she hung up.

Rosie groaned as she dropped the phone onto the bed. She knew Nicolette was probably already calling Tiffany and Sophia. She’d be lucky if the three of them didn’t show up sometime today just to make sure she was okay. It was her own damn fault for not being better prepared to take that call. Last night hadn’t gone exactly the way she’d hoped either. Far from it actually. She hugged her pillow a little tighter knowing full well that she couldn’t hide in her room all day.

Unlike her friends Dade didn’t know her well enough to know her melt down had been a fluke. And that kiss, she had no idea where that had come from. She was normally in control of her emotions. If she’d had more time she had no doubt she wouldn’t
have imploded when she’d heard what Walt had been telling everyone.

The minute they got home she went to the study and checked her computer to see just how bad the damage was. She saw the picture splashed across the internet claiming
she and Dade were live-in lovers. Her muffled scream had been enough to make him come running. The way he’d found her last night hadn’t been pretty, and it had only gotten worse.

She’d been walking around the study cursing up a storm. Then before she noticed him standing there she’d slammed a few things, but not hard enough to break anything. Finally totally drained she’d collapsed into her chair and he made his presence known. She’d told him to leave, but he refused, which pissed her off even more. She let her anger loose and told him what a huge mess he’d made of everything. Dade hadn’t fought back, which made her feel like shit. When he pulled her into his arms, and begged her to forgive him her emotions were so out of whack she’d almost kissed him again. She knew he noticed her moment of indecision when his arms tightened around her. Rosie pulled back and the intense look in his eyes made her feel like she was going to burst into tears.

With the way night had been going she decided to run before it could happen, which left Dade to think whatever he wanted about her. Rosie knew right then that she owed him an apology. Probably some sort of an explanation too. She tossed the blanket aside and forced herself from the bed. Her feet hit the cold hardwood floor and she quickly stuffed them into her slippers.

She really didn’t want to face Dade without taking a shower first, but coffee or maybe some tea might help her to keep her eyes open so she wouldn’t drown. She tugged her robe on as she headed down the stairs. The scent of coffee was missing from the air so she guessed she’d be going for tea this morning. She
turned the corner and bumped into a wall of muscle. Before she could regain her balance she fell onto her ass. Dade spun around so fast his plate tipped and Rosie found herself warding off a stack of pancakes dripping with thick sticky syrup.

“Shit.” She sputtered as Dade just stared down at her.

Rosie didn’t even try to get up. She just stared at him in total disbelief. Her wide eyed gaze turned to a glare when she saw his lips quirk. He quickly put the plate on the bar section of the counter. His hands latched around her arms and he pulled her to her feet. The plop noise the pancakes made as they fell to the floor must have been his breaking point.

His deep rumble of laughter only pissed her off more. Chin up she turned to walk away with what dignity she did have left. Only, with her chin up, she didn’t see the pancake she stepped on. She squealed a little her arms flailing at her sides as she started to slide. Dade came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling again. His hands settled on her boobs his palms covering the sticky wet spots of syrup. Her body reacted to his touch and she groaned hoping he wouldn’t notice.

She knew with their height difference he probably hadn’t planned it, but she still slapped at his hands. Dade didn’t let her go right away, which was good because she most likely would have fallen on her ass. When she was steady on her feet he let her go and took a big step away from her. She wondered if he expected her to lash out at him. Rosie looked up at him not sure herself how to react. Any trace of his smile was gone, back was that intense stare she was just starting to get used to.

It seemed neither of them had anything to say. Rosie lowered her gaze down to her feet and sighed. Her favorite green googly eyed monster slippers —the ones her uncle had bought for her— had drips and dobs of syrup on them. Irrational tears
threatened as she stepped out of them and tiptoed her way around the gooey mess on the floor. The second she was clear of it she ran to her room. Once again she’d left Dade to clean up after them. At least this time he’d caused the chaos.

“Unbelievable.” She walked into the bathroom and carefully stripped not wanting to get anything else sticky. “Did he use the entire bottle of syrup?”

Rosie tossed her clothes into the hamper and turned the shower on. They were going to have to come to some kind of arrangement if they didn’t want this kind of thing to keep happening. She stepped under the spray and pulled the door closed. The warm water relieved her tension, but nothing was going to erase the feel of his hands cupping her breasts. She loaded the bath poof with body wash and proceeded to try and ignore the memory. After all it wasn’t his fault her body found his touch pleasurable. It was hers, but really his touch had been firm and though he hadn’t done more than hold her up her mind instantly filled with lots of things they could do.

She stuck her head under the water hoping to drown out the images. Rosie was super careful about the men she got involved with, and Dade wasn’t her type. She preferred men who were so into their careers that they didn’t have time for entanglements. The dates she normally went on were to business or charity functions. Never anything personal and no man had seen her in her pajamas since college. Sophia said Rosie tended to choose men that were no risk to her independence. After just one night with Dade she was thinking maybe she was right, because Dade could pose a serious threat.

She wasn’t going to let this drive her crazy, at least not alone. Rosie stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a big fluffy towel. She wrapped a smaller one around her head turban style and walked into her bedroom. It was time to call in
reinforcements. It was something she hadn’t planned on having to do, but things had taken too many twists for her to believe this was going to be as easy. She grabbed her cell and hit the number, which instantly started ringing.

Sophia answered on the third ring with a cherry, “Hello.”

“When are you guys going to be here?” Rosie demanded.

“What’s wrong?” Sophia asked picking up Rosie’s distress.

Rosie didn’t know where to start. “Everything.”

“We’ll be there by six.”

“I’ll make dinner.” It would give her a reason to go out and then she’d be so busy in the kitchen she wouldn’t have time to talk to Dade about what just happened.