Page 45 of One Mistake

He rolled his eyes. “Weak.”

“Come on. You can shoot for a hole in one.” He shook his head. “Come from behind?” He was right. These were horrible, but yes. I knew when I talked sports, it flipped his horny switch. So, I might’ve looked some stuff up. “Fourth and goal. Make a play, Ryder.”

He shook his head and pulled me close. “There is nothing about you I don’t like right now.” He ran his hand over my spine to my waist and flipped the tab on my exposed zipper. “Except this skirt. I think we could…find something a little less…constrictive. Don’t want you passing out during the main event.”

I grinned. “Oh, main event.” I snapped my fingers. “Damn the missed opportunity.”

He lowered his head and brought his lips to within a breath of mine. “I want to make the most of every opportunity with you, Reese. I want to be the man you deserve, the one you can’t wait to get home to at night and the one you…” He kissed me now. Slow. Sensual. Deep. So deep warmth spread through my stomach, fanned out in waves. When he pulled back, he leaned his forehead against mine. “The one you want to kiss in the morning.”

I had news for him. He already was that guy. He was so much more. And I wasn’t too scared to tell him. He just didn’t give me the chance. Instead, our mouths crashed together again and we were kissing like teenagers, a tangle of arms and hands, breaths mingling, moans in symphony.

Finally, I pulled away, shy, almost. “We should take this somewhere more private.”

He nodded and smiled, then wiggled his eyebrows. “I have an office.”

Probably one twice as big as mine, and I was sure, at some point, we’d christen both, but I didn’t want it to be today. “I have an entire house.”

And I liked the way that sounded.

He kissed me again. Quicker this time then checked his watch. “And we have a meeting with my mother in…ten minutes.”

What? Meeting with his mother? News like that was designed to kill lust. To stop it dead. “Ten minutes?”

He nodded. “Yeah.” This time, he led me into the building and as we stood at the elevator, he filled me in on what happened between his mom and dad. How he’d helped his mother outsmart his dad and save the family fortune because his father had made one mistake after another. Then come to say goodbye to Ryder, as if he just couldn’t resist rubbing it in his face when he, the father, ran off with a woman the same age as the son.

“If he hadn’t asked me to help him cheat Mom before, we would’ve lost everything. But he forgot to adjust the plan and change the name from mine to his.” Vindication. Redemption. A total happiness I’d not seen in him before. Ever. Not even ten years ago.

18

Reese

Nothing in the world felt more right than being with Ryder. Even lunch with his mom wasn’t a problem, although it did feel similar to what I assumed being led to the gallows would feel like. I smiled anyway. Pretended I wasn’t scared shitless. Right up to the minute we stepped out of the elevator to find Mom waiting.

“Ms. Winthrop.” She held out her hand. “Do you mind if I call you Reese?”

I shook my head because I had no words. Literally. Because she was smiling. Not threatening me with a prenup with venom in her voice. Now she reminded me of cotton candy. Ice cream. Sunshine.

“I wanted to thank you for the opportunity here.” I waved my arm in a wide arc to indicate the entire office building, like some kind of Vanna White, Price is Right merchandise model.

She smiled. Smiled.

“And I wanted to apologize to you for our first meeting.” She sighed. “As you can imagine, my marriage has long left a lot to be desired. I wasn’t at my best the day we met.” She shot a wink over my head at Ryder, who had his hand on my shoulder. “I would like for us to start over. To be friends.”

“Of course.” I nodded, managed a smile, and tried not to pass out from the heart palpitations induced by my stone cold shock.

Surreal. Crazy. Something right out of Walt Disney World with flying genies and magic carpet rides.

Ryder moved around me and kissed his mother’s cheek. “Shall we?”

I nodded. Lunch with my boss/boyfriend and his mother/my other boss. A decade ago, we’d been in a very different place. Now we were chatting over a mixed green salad lightly drizzled with a vinaigrette dressing, crispy panini sandwiches with grilled chicken and avocado, and a fresh fruit sorbet that I could’ve died for. Not that the menu was important, but there wasn’t a detail about this day I planned to forget. I etched every individual second into my memory. From the blue tie he wore to the red-soled pumps his mother slipped off under our table.

She was all elegance and smooth talk. And it was easy to see exactly from where Ryder got his people skills. Anytime the conversation lagged, she swung it around to me. Extracted details I didn’t realize I was giving out. Like a dance. A well-choreographed dance, and Ryder and I followed her lead.

By the time we finished lunch and the plates were cleared away, we talked business for the rest of the afternoon. My first order of business was to hunt down her husband and his mistress, my former best friend. Someone had to answer for the money missing from the accounts and that someone had to be Mr. Kennedy. And it was time to clear Ryder’s name.

I knew this was a test. For Ryder as much as for me. This was his mother’s way of making sure Ryder wasn’t just back for the money. And he knew it. Told me so as he drove me home.

“Maybe she’s just protecting the business.” It made sense to me. Unchecked, Ryder’s dad would’ve ruined the business, Mrs. Kennedy, and her reputation. Now she was working with the cops—as much as a woman with her kind of power ever worked with the cops—to track down the man who’d tried to cheat all her clients while also working with the FTC to “determine” how this kind of thing managed to happen in their firm.