“Shall we sit down?” Ashley asked.
Mark snapped to attention. He’d been so busy dreaming and scheming that he’d left them all standing there by the table. His only consolation was that Sam must have been a little dazed by his first glimpse of Ashley, too, since he hadn’t started pulling out chairs for the women, either.
“Yes,” Mark said. “By all means.” He hurried around to a chair and pulled it away from the table. “Charlie?”
“Thank you.” She gave him another one of those dynamite smiles as she walked toward the chair. First she hooked the little red purse she was carrying over the chair by its long rhinestone-studded strap. Then she did that thing that always got Mark hot when he watched women seat themselves. She smoothed the skirt of her dress down over her bottom before she sat down, so she wouldn’t wrinkle the material.
Mark loved it when women did that. And to watch Charlie slide both hands over that shiny red material was almost more than he could stand. After her wonderful behind was tucked in securely against the velvet seat, he gripped the back of her chair and scooted her in. That’s when he chanced to look down over her shoulder. Oh, Lord. The neckline of her dress was like a curtain drawn back just enough to tease him with the possibilities lurking behind it.
Her breasts, rounded and perky, nestled just barely inside the sweep of red material. He could almost visualize how they’d look, but not quite. Very little material barred him from the view he was after, though. A man wouldn’t have to work very hard to coax those treasures out of hiding.
But he’d vowed to limit himself to a couple of kisses. Still, he hadn’t decided exactly where those kisses might be placed…. No. He couldn’t chance kissing her anywhere but on the mouth. And he’d have to make sure his hands didn’t wander, either, no matter how tempting the neckline of that dress was. And it was certainly very tempting….
“Mark?” Sam asked. “Will you be joining us this evening?”
3
ALL HER ADULT LIFE Charlie had dreamed of having a man transfixed by the sight of her cleavage. Yet until tonight, she hadn’t had the nerve to dress to attract that kind of attention.
She hadn’t even had the nerve to ask a guy to take her to fancy restaurants where plunging necklines would be appropriate. She’d been afraid they’d laugh. Her reputation as a tomboy had preceded her, partly because she met men on the hiking trail, for the most part. Because she was so obviously in her element there, they’d all assumed she preferred pizza parlors to five-star dining.
In general, she did, but she’d always longed for this—to appear in the doorway of an elegant room, to make heads turn as she walked to her table, and to be helped into her place by a fabulous-looking man who couldn’t stop looking at her.
Ashley had been very perceptive to bring up Kevin Jasper. Kevin had chosen to go to that dance with someone more glamorous than Charlie, and from that moment on she’d decided her fate was cast. She wasn’t the type of girl who could compete in a sophisticated arena.
Yet this time, she’d worked up the courage to try. Because she’d been able to control Mark’s perception of her through the letters, she’d been able to indulge her secret longing to become a man’s sexual fantasy.
And she’d been able to stage his first impression of her. Instead of meeting him in khaki shorts, T-shirt, hiking boots and backpack, with sweat beading her forehead and no makeup, she could show him this other side of her personality, one that no one understood.
She’d bet her comments about romantic candlelight dinners had prompted him to choose this restaurant. Everything about it thrilled her, from the soft lighting to the strolling violinists. Mark didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the restaurant, though. She’d never made a man forget his surroundings before.
And what a man. His shoulders were broader, his rich brown hair thicker and his smile more devastating than she’d ever imagined by looking at his picture. She could write an entire essay on the cute dimple that appeared whenever he smiled, and the way his eyes crinkled at the corners.
And what fascinating eyes. That deep brown turned her knees to jelly, and when she caught the gleam of appreciation and knew it was all for her, she was ready to drag Mark off to the nearest secluded spot and get it on. The dress made her feel almost daring enough to do it, too.
From his reaction to her, he felt the same. His face was even a little red with embarrassment as he took his seat at the table, because he’d been caught ogling.
She flashed him a smile to let him know he hadn’t offended her in the least with his preoccupation with her breasts. The attention was new and exciting to her. He could be preoccupied with any part of her he wanted, for as long as he liked.
He grinned back and nudged her knee gently under the table.
She nudged back. Wow, this was cool, playing a little footsie under the table. No guy had ever been moved to play footsie with her. Touch football, but never footsie. And every time he looked at her, she could tell he was thinking the same thing she was—that they needed to ditch their chaperones and get naked.
She’d achieved her goal. He was definitely, positively drooling. At last she had a man buggy-eyed over her, and it felt great. She was enjoying every second of this triumph.
Ashley, on the other hand, apparently wasn’t so enthusiastic about it. Charlie could tell that immediately from the worried sound of her voice.
“Charlie, I seem to have something in my eye,” she said. “If you two will excuse us for a minute, I’d like Charlie to come with me to the ladies’ room and see if she can find anything.”
“Of course.” Mark leaped to his feet and grasped Charlie’s chair once again.
“No problem.” Sam followed suit and helped Ashley out of her chair.
Charlie figured Mark would be more careful not to stare at her chest this time, but at least she could use the opportunity to slide out of her chair in such a way that she brushed up against him. “Thank you,” she murmured, turning to give him a subtle wink. “We’ll be right back.”
“Hope so.” He gazed at her with pure relish.
She unhooked her purse from the back of the chair and positioned it over her bare shoulder before following Ashley toward the ladies’ room. She had no doubt that Mark would watch her leave. That was a new and exhilarating feeling, too. She believed he had lust in his heart. Mission accomplished.
What a beautiful evening, she thought as she followed Ashley toward the tasteful sign marking the ladies’ room. Even the bathroom was gorgeous. The door opened onto a sitting room, and the bathroom lay beyond that. A mural of the Italian countryside ran along the walls, and two green velvet love seats were grouped beneath the mural.
Ashley didn’t seem inclined to sit on either one. The minute they were inside the door, she turned to Charlie. “You are scaring me to death!”
“Don’t be scared. I’m a big girl.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Ashley reached over and tried to pull the neckline of Charlie’s dress together more. “I should never have agreed to let you wear this dress.”
“Ashley, if you hadn’t been willing to sell me this dress, I would have gone to another dress shop and bought the closest thing to it. I wanted to knock his socks off, and by God, I’m doing it.”
“I’m afraid more than his socks are due to come off if you parade around much longer in that dress.” She snapped open her small evening purse and began to rummage through it. “I wonder if I brought any safety pins. Maybe we could—”
“I’m not going back out there with my dress pinned together, if that’s what you’re planning. Please relax. Mark is not like that Jason guy who was