“If I did, I wouldn’t have accepted your invitation in the first place.”
As that statement sank in, she flushed. The implication was obvious. He believed in fidelity, but she’d been willing to have a fling while the guy she was dating was out of the country.
She went on the defensive. “Look, I’ve never promised Benjamin that I wouldn’t see other—”
“Hey, I wasn’t judging you.” He rose to his feet. “Not by a long shot. I don’t know what kind of understanding you have with this guy.”
“There is no understanding…yet.” She’d been very careful about that, wanting to leave the door open for exactly what had happened tonight.
Yet she hadn’t dated anyone else recently. Benjamin might assume that they had an understanding, which meant she’d been guilty of misleading the witness.
After all, she and Benjamin had a sexual relationship, such as it was. Some people thought that constituted an agreement. It might have, if the sex had been more exciting. Maybe once they moved in together, Benjamin would relax and have fun in bed.
Her fantasy man searched her expression. “But you expect there will be an understanding once he comes back, right?”
She nodded.
“That leaves you all of three nights to be a wild and crazy single girl.” He smiled gently. “Why waste them?”
Tempted by that smile, she tried to hold on to her arguments for not doing it. “For one thing, we’d have to destroy the anonymous nature of our—”
“Shane Nichols.”
She blinked. “Wh-what?”
“My name is Shane Nichols. I want you to know that. And yes, my parents are huge Alan Ladd fans, especially my dad. I was named after the character in the movie. Everybody gets around to asking sooner or later, so I’ll answer that one up front. I don’t even wince when somebody starts calling Shaaane! Come back, Shaaane. Feel free to do that if it gives you a chuckle.”
Now her fantasy man had a name, one she wasn’t likely to forget. As she’d known it would, the atmosphere between them changed immediately. Instead of an anonymous sexual partner, he was a guy with parents who loved an old movie enough to name him after the main character. She’d probably like his parents.
“And you’re either Eileen or Mildred. I’m going with Eileen.”
She felt like the person who’d just been found in a game of hide and seek. “How did you come up with that?”
He glanced at the receptionist’s phone. “Psychic.”
Well, of course. She should have realized he’d check the names on the labels next to each office line. She and Mildred were the only two women listed, and not many women her age were named Mildred.
She took a deep breath. No point in continuing the anonymity any longer. He’d be able to find out her last name without a whole lot of difficulty. “Eileen Connelly,” she said.
He held out his hand, his gaze warm. “Pleased to meet you, Eileen.”
She looked down at his outstretched hand and remembered all the interesting things he’d been doing with it recently. Her body remembered, too, and was reminding her of how much she’d liked what he’d done. Refusing to shake hands because she was afraid it would turn her on seemed childish, so she put her hand in his.
His handshake was firm and brief. “There. Was that so hard to do?”
Yes. “I didn’t intend us to become—”
“I know that. I completely understand your original intent. I’m just asking you to expand your concept.”
Her hand still tingled, and she tucked it in the pocket of her suit jacket. “And if I say no?”
Soft regret gleamed in his eyes. “Then I’ll say goodbye, Eileen Connelly. And thank you for one of the most exciting…no, the most exciting night of my life. It’s been an honor.”
She looked into his eyes and felt her resolve slipping away. No one would have to know, especially Benjamin. She’d keep it to herself. Her mother had invited her for dinner this week, thinking she’d be lonesome without Benjamin, but she could get out of that. She wouldn’t even confide in Suz or Courtney. Total secrecy would be the only way to go on something as reckless as this.
“You really have nothing to lose but a little time,” he murmured. “You’ve already made the decision to experiment while your boyfriend’s gone. Three more nights of experimentation will give you more memories to get you through the years of matrimony.”
“You make it sound like I don’t want to get married. I do.”
“To this guy?”
She hesitated only a fraction of a second. “Yes.”
“Okay.” He looked at her as if he didn’t believe it. “But why not have some fun between now and Saturday? Meet me again tomorrow night.”
She had to remember that seeing him again could be a fantasy-killer. That was one of the risks. “It wouldn’t be the same as tonight. This was—”
“I should hope it wouldn’t be the same! Been there, done that. Time for a new fantasy.” He paused. “Ever wanted to do it on the rooftop of a downtown office building at night?”
Her pulse leaped at the idea. Talk about a Batman-style adventure.
He smiled. “I think that turns you on. Your eyes are going all dark and stormy again.”
“Again?” Her response sounded husky and intimate.
“The way they were in your office, when I was—”
“Never mind.” She couldn’t let him go into detail or she’d be over there ripping at his clothes. “I get the picture.”
“Do you? Do you see us up on that roof, with the city around us and the night sky above? It’s still warm this time of year…you wouldn’t get cold, no matter how much clothing you took off. Or I took off you.”
Heart pounding, she searched for the strength to resist the temptation he offered. She also wondered if he was throwing out ideas without considering the logistics. “If you were thinking of this building, I have no idea how you’d access the roof.”
“Not this building. It’s only four stories. Something higher. And you can leave that to me. I install telephone systems for a living. I can certainly arrange access to a suitable roof.”
She was getting hotter by the second. “You’ve thought of this before?”
“Sure. Just never had a woman wild and sexy enough to do it with.”
Reaction zinged through her, making her throb in anticipation. He was her fantasy man, somebody who loved this kind of adventure. Apparently he was as immature as she was in that regard. “I’m insane for even considering such a thing.”
“Come on, Eileen. You’re the one who started this. Don’t back out now. I’ll pick you up in a company van out in front of this building tomorrow at six. I’ll bring takeout and a blanket so we can have a picnic up there, as well as do….” He paused to grin. “Each other.”
A man who could tease her about sex. That alone was reason enough to take him up on his proposition. She would probably live to regret this decision, but she would regret even more living the rest of her days without spending three wild nights with Shane Nichols. She swallowed. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Excitement shimmered in his expression, but he remained standing quietly, as if waiting for her to make the next move.
“I’m going home now.” She took a step toward the door.
“And I’ll finish the system