His hand slid to her elbow. “Go home,” he said gently, as he propelled her towards the door. “Take a nice hot bath. Make yourself some tea.”
“Honestly, Mr. McBride...”
“Do it,” he said, with a polite, teasing smile, “or I’ll take you home and do it for you.”
An image swam into her head. McBride, in her tiny apartment, so big and masculine against her chintz-covered furniture. McBride, smiling down at her, his hands warm and gentle as he unbuttoned her tweed jacket, unbuttoned her silk blouse. Or, perhaps, his hands not so gentle. Hard, in fact.
Rough, maybe, as he ripped the blouse from her and took her into his arms...
Color flooded her face as she stepped back.
“That won’t be necessary, sir. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
“I know you are,” he said. For one awful minute, she was afraid he was going to pat her on the head. “Now just run along home, Emily. Take that bath, have the tea, pop some vitamin C and get a good night’s rest.”
“But it’s only four forty-five.”
McBride gave her another of those I’m-So-Wonderful-and-You’re-So-Lucky-To-Be-Working-For-Me smiles.
“I can do without you for a little while, I promise. Now, go home. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Thank you, Mr. McBride.”
“Good night, Emily.”
“Good night, sir.”
Jake shut the door and sat down at his desk. Damn, what dedication. He’d almost had to carry Emily out of the office. Well, that would have been simple enough. She was small. Slender. She’d be light, just like one of those little sparrows. He could carry Emily up the steps in his duplex, to his bedroom, set her down on her feet and find out just what, exactly, lay hidden under all those woolly layers of clothing...
He frowned, pulled a blank pad towards him. What crazy thoughts. Jake chuckled softly. Amazing, the things a man’s brain could conjure up at the end of a long day. Better to spend the next couple of hours profitably, writing some memos to leave on Emily’s desk for her to tackle first thing in the morning.
He worked for a while, went from the memos to sketching out an idea that had just come to him about that meeting in San Diego...
A knock sounded on the door.
Jake looked up, then checked his watch. It was after five. Emily was gone. Nobody else would...
Somebody would.
Brandi, he thought unhappily. She’d called earlier, when Emily was at lunch. He’d picked up the phone just as the answering machine did and he’d heard that little whisper that had once driven him crazy with lust and now just drove him crazy, begging him to see her tonight.
The knock came again. Maybe if he just sat it out, pretended he wasn’t here...
“Jake?”
The door swung open. Jake, caught between deciding whether to duck for cover or tell Brandi to get lost, looked up and grinned in surprise.
“Pete?”
Pete Archer, a guy he’d worked with his first year in New York, opened the door wider and stepped inside.
“Jake, you old son of a gun. What’s the matter? You afraid I’m a bill collector or something?”
Jake got to his feet. “Or something.” He came forward and the men shook hands. They’d never been close friends but it was great to see someone from the past. “Why didn’t you call me? If I’d known you were going to be in town, I’d have rolled out the red carpet.”
“Didn’t know it, until the last minute.” Pete smiled. “You look like life’s treating you well.”
“You, too.” Jake grinned, gave Pete a light jab to the biceps. “How long will you be in town?”
“Just overnight. I have to be back in Chicago tomorrow morning.”
“Too bad. I have a business dinner lined up. Let me call the guy and—”
“No, no, I understand. How about drinks? You have time for that?”
“Great idea. Want to go out, or have something here?”
“Here would be cool. Got any ale?”
Jake laughed. “Some things never change, huh? Ale, it is.”
He went to his built-in mini fridge, took out a couple of bottles and opened them. Pete waved away his offer of a glass. The two men sat across from each other, leaned close enough to clink bottles, took long, thirsty swallows, then smiled.
“So,” Jake said, “how’re things?”
“Couldn’t be better. And you?”
“Terrific.” Jake sighed. “Well, they would be, if...” He leaned forward, across the desk. “You know why I didn’t answer when you knocked? I thought you were a woman.”