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  “This isn’t my field, so let’s say three.”

  He fished in his pocket and gave her another card. “Email it to me as soon as you’re done, and then the three of us can meet again. Oh, one last thing. Your website. I took a look at it, and it seems dated. It doesn’t show all the things that you had in the studio. I don’t recall seeing mention of your classes or your credentials either.”

  “I know,” Regina said. “We planned to update it.”

  “And change the name,” Amelie added.

  “But now we need a new address and class schedule, as well.”

  “Get it updated now,” Nigel suggested. “Leave the old address for now, and add a projected class schedule for the fall. You can always change the address later. Even shopping the proposal around, people will want to see the website, so pretend that you’re still at the old location, and update. Change the name, remove the old picture of the location, add more pictures of the pieces, a photo of a class in progress, all of that. Can you afford it, or—”

  “Yes. Don’t ask,” Regina said.

  Nigel hung his head, caught offering to help again.

  “How about dinner together?” he ventured.

  “It’s after eight. I have to get home,” Regina said quickly.

  “Unfortunately, so do I.” Amelie had real regret in her voice.

  He hadn’t noticed the time, only the electric pull he felt toward Regina. He had been close enough to smell her perfume, and his whole body had reoriented toward her center. Lost in the prospect of her future, the hours had skipped by.

  * * *

  The next few weeks couldn’t go by quickly enough and didn’t go by quickly at all. He had no real reason to contact Regina, but he called anyway, just to ask how things were going. She was polite but didn’t engage him in anything other than brief talk about the paperwork.

  The three were set to meet on a Friday evening three weeks later, and he’d gotten the electronic version of the updated draft that Regina had emailed. He pored over it for two evenings, correcting new issues that arose in revision, finding things that had gone unnoted the first time around and playing with the layout using his software so that it would look professionally done.

  When he opened the door to his office to invite the women in, he found Regina by herself. She wore a lavender peasant blouse made of lace, and the matching crinkle peasant skirt was trimmed with lace at the hem. Her one-inch silver sandals made her seem ready for an evening out, and the whole composition seemed designed to inundate him. Simple as it was, it made him want to take her in his arms.

  Focus, he told himself.

  He motioned Regina in and looked about for Amelie.

  “Restroom?”

  “Restless is more like it.”

  “What?”

  “She had a date—of all things—and flaked out at the last minute. This is our future we’re talking about. That woman can be one hot mess. She says he’s a ‘visitor’ from out of town and is only here until tomorrow morning. But I know it’s a booty call.”

  Nigel chuckled.

  Regina continued, “She begged off, and I let her get away with it because she really chipped in with this leg of the work.”

  “She knows that you’re the one who really knows what’s going on. She can afford to be absent.”

  She dismissed his statement and walked toward the conference table. Her step was hesitant. Without Amelie, she had no buffer, and she was clearly less at ease. He hated that and set about to change it.

  “Well, it’s the same process as last time, but it won’t take as long. I’m sorry about the late hour. I didn’t have an opening before five, and since this is pro bono, I didn’t want to cut in too much on the company’s time.”

  “Oh, no. No problem. We understand.”

  “I won’t have you here as late as last time, and there are still a bunch of people here. Many of our clients need to come after business hours.”

  “I could see that. I’m not being skittish.”

  “Good, have a seat. I have few changes for the proposal. Most of what I have is for the loan-application packet. Amelie gave me all of her copies, so I was able to look through everything.”

  He flipped opened the first folder and then had a thought.

  “Hey, let’s just make changes now right on the computer, at least for all of the items that aren’t scanned. We can start here with things that will need to be changed at home and then move to my desk.”

  “Okay.”

  He started going through the changes, and they drew together, Regina bending toward him to make additional notes for her own clarification.

  Her hand was inches from his on the table, and he absentmindedly found himself touching her fingers as he flipped through pages and folders. He didn’t notice it until a strong shiver ran through her body.

  “Are you cold? Should I turn down the AC?”

  “No,” she said, pulling her hand away.

  That’s when he noticed what he’d been doing. And knowing that her body had reacted to it sent heat into the pit of his stomach, made him want to do it more. But he took hold of himself and tried to control his mind. It was his lack of self-control that had widened the rift between them before, and he knew that if he chased her off again, she would walk out now and never come back—not even with Amelie.

  When they were done with the scanned items, they stacked up the folders and moved to his desk, chairs together behind his computer, with her at the keyboard. He continued walking her through suggestions and changes, as both bent toward the screen.

  “No,” he said at one point, catching an error. “These figures should match the ones in Exhibit G, the equipment or non-real-estate assets to be purchased. And I don’t recall them being...”

  As he leaned over her to reach the file with the exhibits, Nigel brushed against Regina’s breast. Her chest leapt forward, and a heavy shudder ran over her body. She sucked in a trembling breath, and her eyes fluttered. Good God, she was so responsive tonight.

  Nigel couldn’t help himself. He forgot the folder, bent toward her, and brought her lips to his, moving his hand back to her chest, which heaved against it. Her mouth opened and he moved his tongue into her moist heat, opening his palm to rake her nipples with his fingertips. And he couldn’t stop.

  Every tremor of her body made his manhood rage. When her hand came up to his nearest shoulder, he spun around in his seat to better position himself in front of her, all the while rubbing her rigid nipples through the thin lace of her blouse.

  He moved his tongue farther into Regina’s mouth, wanting more. She grabbed his neck and pulled his face closer to hers, her chest still leaping. She moaned softly into his mouth, and his manhood leapt in response.

  He finally stood, pulling her up with him and into his arms where he could press her body into his, into the parts of him that had been longing to feel her. Her arms came around his neck, and his hand moved up and down her back.

  He tugged her skirt upward until he could put his foot between her feet, settling his thigh between her legs. He kneaded her buttocks with one of his hands until he felt her hips tilt forward, grinding the center of her womanhood against his thigh. She moaned again.

  He had never had such strong desire to take a woman, and he might have ripped off her clothes and lifted her onto his body right there had he not been aware that the door was unlocked and had he not been certain that the gesture would send her bolting.

  He pulled his head up, separating his mouth from hers.

  “Reggie, come home with me. Let me make love to you. I want you so badly.”

  Before she could respond, his mouth found hers again. They began to kiss again, but then her hand came up between them, and she stepped back, shaking her head and taking deep breaths.

 
“I can’t. I didn’t come here to—”

  Nigel inhaled slowly and exhaled.

  “I’m sorry, Reggie. I don’t know what hit me. It was just that you seemed so... You seemed to respond. I won’t do anything like this if it means I can’t help you. I’m not doing this to seduce you into being with me or anything like that. Here, sit. Let’s finish.”

  She sat down, still breathing heavily. “Okay. Let’s finish.”

  Nigel sat back down as well, trying to force his pulse to calm and his body to quiet. After the heat of the exchange between them, he wanted nothing more than to gather up their things and take her home. His disappointment was matched only by his determination to be of real help. That’s what allowed him to regain his focus and apply it to the work at hand.

  They went through the rest of the changes quickly and quietly.

  “These are finished,” he said when they were done.

  “What about the address? I haven’t changed it.”

  “Leave the address. There will be one there, so let’s leave this one where it is for now. Oh, what about the website?”

  “It will be finished next week.”

  “Good.”

  He hadn’t expected it to be done that quickly, but the timing was perfect for his plans. He printed them both copies.

  “Here. This draft is good. Sign these.”

  “They’re still drafts. Amelie isn’t here.”

  “We want them to be as complete as possible, even to show around. But we can get Amelie’s signature later.”

  “Okay,” she said, and picked up a pen from his desk.

  “Once you scan the rest of the pages and get them to me, I’ll make a couple of copies and hand them around. A few items will change when the location changes, but this is enough to get more feedback before the final submission. Just so you know, it can take a few weeks to get feedback. Industry people are pretty busy, and I’m not just getting this to my friends. I’ll get it to the right people, not the ones who’ll get it back in a couple days as a favor.”

  “You do that, and I’ll work on the space.”

  Regina started packing up.

  “Nigel.”

  “Yes, Reggie.”

  “I’ve had a few minutes to think.”

  She turned to him, and he could see that she had gotten serious. She had a determined look on her face, and her fist tightened around the handle of her satchel. She met his eyes with a fixed regard.

  “After what just happened, I don’t think we should see each other anymore,” she said. “If we need to meet once more when you get the commentary back, it can be with Amelie.”

  “Reggie, I told you. I won’t do anything to jeopardize helping you. There aren’t any strings attached here. This is part of what I do. Let me help.”

  “I just don’t want to keep sending you mixed signals.”

  Her signal wasn’t mixed at all. He knew that she wanted him. Right from the top of her head to her little pinky toe, she wanted him. But her mind didn’t want him.

  And right now, it was more important to help her with this than to pursue anything else that might chase her away. She was right. This was her future that they were talking about. She wanted to do this; it was her dream. And he wanted to help her have her dream.

  He decided to let it go.

  “Okay. Send me the other files. When I get those, I’ll send them around. We can decide later who I meet with, and it will be all three of us or just me and Amelie.”

  “It can be just—”

  “If there are changes she won’t understand, then the three of us can meet in a bright public space. If there are only minor revisions, I’ll convey them to you through her. You’ll be making them. That I know.”

  “I’m sorry for the confusion, Nigel. That’s why it’s better this way.”

  Dinner was out of the question, of course. He walked her to the elevator and watched as she got on.

  The elevator closed. It closed with him not knowing when he would see her again, when he could touch her again. But he wouldn’t worry about that now. He would have a long time to worry about that in the coming weeks.

  Nigel went back to his office. First things first. First he had to get her business back. Then he had to try to get her back.

  Chapter 11

  It was some weeks later that Regina, glancing up from her plate of smoked salmon at a restaurant, saw Nigel again.

  He was wearing a gray pinstriped three-piece suit and looked as professionally manicured as ever. Next to him was a tall woman, almost as tall as he was, wearing a form-fitting purple evening gown with sequins over the top. It was sleeveless and had a low cut in the front, coming down to the cusps of her ample breasts. She had her hands wrapped around Nigel’s arm, and he was guiding her down the steps to the main dining floor.

  Given her proportions, she was a perfect Black Barbie and probably as brainless, too—a fitting match for a successful young accountant-investor. But why was Regina being critical of the woman? She was glad that Nigel was getting on with his life the same way she was finally getting on with hers.

  It was the opening night of a new jazz restaurant in downtown DC called The Jay Birds, and Regina had finally kept her promise to herself to get a life. She was out on the town.

  Nigel caught her gaze as he looked over the dining floor and held it long enough to notice the date seated across from her. Regina’s face flushed, and she turned back to her dinner partner. But the intrigue made her glance back in time to see the couple be seated, with Nigel getting a chair that gave him a plain view of her.

  She watched as the woman said something, palming Nigel’s chest and shoulder before settling back in her chair. When he looked up and caught her watching, Regina turned her attention back to her date. He was a medical technician at the George Washington University Hospital. He was also some distant relation of Ellison, who had set them up.

  The evening was young, but she and her date had already exhausted the topics they seemed to have in common. They inspected their plates quietly. Of course, now that the seven-piece jazz band had started up, it wasn’t really possible to talk on the main dining floor. It was better to watch as people on the lower level, a dance floor, moved to the band.

  The music was good, and Regina couldn’t help swaying to it now and again. So far, it was the best part of the evening. If she got no other pleasure out of the night, she would at least have the joy of listening to the band—The Jay Birds, she assumed—do classic jazz and do it the right way.

  Whenever she dared glance his way, the woman’s hands were somewhere on Nigel, and Nigel’s eyes were on Regina. He was probably wondering if he should say hello. He could spare himself the worry.

  She made sure not to look over very often but couldn’t help having her attention drawn that way when three boisterous men and a woman stopped at Nigel’s table, greeting him and his guest in loud voices and carrying on a conversation above the music. Once again, she found his eyes shift to her.

  When they were finished with dinner, Regina and her date turned their chairs toward the band and enjoyed the music. He wasn’t much for dancing—didn’t know how to dance to jazz, he said—so they sat and watched the dancers. The music was energetic, but it didn’t seem to move him. His stillness and his plastic features made him seem unreal to Regina.

  Now that he was out of sight, she had no reason to think about Nigel Johns, but she couldn’t help wondering if he was still glancing her way, couldn’t help remembering what had happened between them in his office. She shook her head to free her mind of the image, then let herself become immersed in the music.

  She tried not to think about Nigel again, but then he appeared at her side, motioning toward the dance floor. She wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but the band was playing New Orleans–s
tyle jazz, and she loved that. She would never get a chance to dance with her date, so she leaned over to him and shouted in his ear.

  “Do you mind if I dance for a while?”

  He shrugged, and she got up, moving to the dance floor with Nigel and then kicking back to the sound.

  It was pretty clear that Nigel didn’t know how to move to this music either. His awkward jerks made her laugh out loud, but at least he was willing to try.

  After a couple of songs, he found his groove and began matching her step for step. He put one of his hands on her hip and brought her closer, never losing a beat. A soft smile came onto his face, and for a moment, she thought that he might do more, but he didn’t. He just moved with her, his eyes trained on her face.

  If he wanted to say something, he had no chance. The music was just too loud. When the set was over, they both turned, heading back to their tables. She figured that he needed to get back to his date, and she might as well get back to hers. Her date didn’t seem to be enjoying too much of this, so it was about time for them to go—either somewhere else or home, she didn’t know. If she had her vote, it would be home.

  * * *

  Nigel couldn’t keep his eyes off Regina.

  When his date, Laurie, started talking with the owners, he slipped over and asked her to dance. Laurie was a networker and would spend a while working the bar area where the owners were stationed for opening night. She was the sister of one of his coworkers and only needed someone well dressed to show off for opening night. He was there because he’d helped the owner get the loan to start the place and was his accountant; he was expected. But after he’d shown his face, he planned to leave.

  Regina had on a simple dress rather than an evening gown, but she looked stunning. The top part of the bodice was pleated around her torso with two little straps over her shoulders, and when she got up to dance with him, the skirt of her dress fell around the curves of her hips.

  He was surprised when Regina actually agreed to dance with him, and downright shocked when she actually looked back at him—not wanting him, but not hating him. It made his heart skip a beat, made him hope that he might have a chance.