Chapter Five
Andrew looked over the last of the sample creative Mercy laid on the desk between them. “You can get away with this in print now?” he said. Strategic text, blurs, and graphics covered nipples and pussy but not much else. The woman in the picture looked like she was on the edge of the ultimate orgasm.
“I’ve run the basics by the sales team at that men’s magazine you like. They say there’s no guy and there are no naughty bits showing, so it’s acceptable. You’ve seen their articles. This is tame.”
She had a point.
“I’m sold. Run with it.” While he spoke, her attention drifted to something behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, but her office door was closed, and he didn’t see anything through the windows on either side. “What’s up?”
“I’m meeting Susan for lunch, and she’s pacing out there in the hallway.”
The name sent a spike through Andrew, teasing his thoughts and gliding over his skin. He wasn’t used to this kind of reaction to something as simple as the possibility of seeing someone. “We can wrap things up and pick up later if needed. No reason to keep her waiting.” He stood before Mercy could argue, and opened the door. “We’re almost done,” he said to Susan.
The conversation about him keeping his distance lingered in the back of his mind, but Mercy was simply looking out for her younger sister. Since Andrew didn’t plan on hitting on Susan, he didn’t have to cut off contact with her. Besides, this wasn’t about him; they were the ones meeting up.
Susan hesitated in the doorway. “I don’t want to interrupt.”
“You’re not.” Andrew nodded at an empty seat. He swore he heard a low growl behind him, but when he looked at Mercy, she smiled.
Susan glanced at the artwork on the desk, then did a double-take. She tilted her head to one side and studied it more closely. “Is that supposed to be erotic?”
“It is.” Mercy sounded amused.
“But it’s so… I mean… I don’t understand how that’s physically possible.”
Andrew leaned back, one ankle on the other knee. “When a girl meet’s a guy who’s really well hung—”
“That’s not what I mean.” Susan pursed her lips, still staring at the image. “That pose looks really painful, and this is coming from someone who can put her foot behind her head.”
Andrew swallowed a groan at the image Susan’s admission provoked, and tried to ignore Mercy’s glare. He’d promised not to corrupt Susan, but there was no reason he couldn’t have a little fun. “Sometimes pain is the point.”
Susan’s cheeks turned a charming shade of dark pink. “I’m not talking about a slap to the behind or a little hair pulling. This is an I've got a cramp, and if I don't walk it off soon, I won't be walking for days kind of agony.I'm sure camera angle is important for that money shot, but at least make it plausible.”
This discussion shouldn’t be making him hard the way it was. “I’ll make a note to tell the photographer. Would you like to put your experienced eye on the rest of this campaign creative?”
Susan bit her bottom lip. Everything from her curious gaze to her flush to her quickened breathing said she was turned on. Fuck, if Andrew wasn’t tempted to push a little harder, to see how far things could go.
“You know what?” Irritation edged Mercy’s voice. “We’re almost done here. Susan, do you want to wait in the lobby, and I’ll be right out?”
“Sure.” Susan gave Andrew one last glance, then left.
Mercy twisted a lock of hair around her finger hard enough it pulled her scalp. “Please?”
She was referring to her request to keep his distance from Susan. “We were talking. You’re not really policing her friends, are you?”
“You’re asking her to look at porn with you.”
“Creative. Nothing worse than what you and I look at.”
“Except I know exactly what you look and sound like when you’re trying to get laid.”
Ridiculous. He didn’t want to fuck Susan—just to see what kind of buttons she had. Though now that the image was there… “You’re acting like you don’t trust me,” he said.
“I’m not stupid enough to forget the past.”
It was a simple phrase, but it sliced deep, and Andrew frowned. “You’re not seriously talking about something that happened seven years ago.”
“I am.”
He and Mercy dated, briefly, under the condition they had an option relationship. The first time he explored the see other people aspect of things, she decided she didn’t like the arrangement. It almost destroyed their friendship, but he thought they got over that back then. “I’m having fun with her. Nothing else. Even if I were interested in more, I’d be as honest with her as I was with you.
“I’m asking. I’m begging. I’m appealing to you as a friend.” Mercy held his gaze. “I get that I don’t have a say in who she hangs out with. She’s a big girl; she can make up her own mind. But please don’t do to her what you did to me.”
Andrew wanted to laugh the whole thing off. Remind Mercy he didn’t do anything to her she didn’t agree to. Give any number of brush-offs. But her request dragged back painful memories. When she severed ties with him all those years ago, what followed was some dark shit. Not just because he lost her friendship, but that was part of it. He didn’t want to go back to that, and he wasn’t interested in destroying the bond they shared. “I promise. I’ll be on my best behavior around Susan. Even better, I’ll behave like Ian would.”
Mercy’s lips twitched in a half smile. “Bullshit. You’re not capable.”
“Maybe not, but I’ll try.”
“Thank you.” She gathered up the artwork they’d been discussing and shoved it in a folder. “Talk to you this afternoon.”