Ty craned his neck to look at her. From this distance, his eyes looked like they were simply light brown. She knew they were so much more than the color of mud. Up close, she’d spotted flecks of gold and burnt caramel, sort of like a tortoiseshell. They were sheltered by thick slashes of black brows so severe they almost balanced out the lush sensuality of his full lips. Almost, but not quite. Taken as they were, the combination was arresting. Against the backdrop of his flawless, tawny skin, the individual assets packed the punch of one of those sneaky umbrella cocktails. Pretty and seemingly innocuous at first glance, but potent enough to land a woman flat on her back.
Oblivious to the turmoil clapping eyes on him stirred, he bobbed his head in a casual greeting. “Hey, Millie.”
A bitter laugh rose in her throat, but she swallowed the tickle. Her brain cried a silent, Surprise! She wasn’t supposed to see him until they left for New York. She wasn’t expecting to see him. Or prepared. Damn him.
It really burned her biscuits that he had such an implacable game face. He’d kissed her, then tried to apologize for it. She didn’t want an apology, but she needed at least a little time to psych herself up to be near him.
Not that she didn’t want to be. On the contrary. She wanted to be near enough to him to feel his warm, damp breath on her cheek. What she wouldn’t give to feel those big, broad palms slide down her back and cup her ass again. Would he pull her close and hold her so tight she might forget where he started and she ended? Or would he be more reserved in the cold, sober light of day?
This was exactly why she didn’t care for the unexpected. When she was prepared, she could pretend their kiss was nothing more than impulse on the part of a friendly coworker. She could control the compulsion to stare at his mouth and make sure she spoke in a normal voice rather than the sex-kitten purr his intense gaze all but demanded she use. With a little advance notice, she could school her racing pulse and do that whole inner pep talk thing Kate was so fond of invoking. She wasn’t opposed to all forms of combustion, only the spontaneous type.
“Ty.” She managed to spit his name out with a cordial head bob perilously close to a curtsy. Or maybe she was feeling a bit weak in the knees. “I thought you had meetings today.”
She tried to keep the observation light and casual, but the lift of his dark eyebrows told her he’d heard the hint of accusation at the edges. A glance at Mike proved he’d caught the sharpness in her tone too, so Millie did what she did best. She spun the situation to her advantage.
“I mean, you had me clear the schedule for today because you said you were booked solid.” Activating the touchscreen on her tablet, she swiped the wallpaper away and punched in her security code. “If you’re free now, I have a couple of bloggers I can line up for a webchat.”
He rose from the chair, slowly unfolding all eighty inches of his lean, muscular frame with the grace of a man who was certain of the gifts God had given him. Ty Ransom was one of those people who appeared to be moving in slow motion, even when he was flying past in a blur. Everything he did seemed purposeful and deliberate. His wariness was one of the things she liked about him. Also the main reason the clinch they’d shared one dark, scotch-soaked night was still headlining in her dreams. She never thought he’d actually kiss her.
Like his magnificent body, his smile was slow to bloom, but when it reached its peak, the damn thing was devastating. “You know, Mike, I’ve gone almost twenty-four hours without being bossed around by a woman half my size. I have to admit, I was feeling sort of lost.”
Mike chuckled and pulled a file off the stack on his desk. “We all live to be managed by Millie.” He flipped open the folder, pulled the top sheet off the stack, and waved the paper at her. “I’m approving the trip to New York for the NSN interview, but I’m not putting you up for a week so you can make the morning show rounds.” He placed the page back in order, closed the cover, and held the dossier out to her. “Your travel arrangements are in the folder. Ty’s leaving from New York to head straight to Reno.”
“Reno?” Her head whirled as she accepted the folder. First, she had to wrap her mind around the prospect of being alone on a trip to New York with the man, then the realization he wasn’t coming back with her. “Already?”
“Takes six weeks’ residency.” Ty lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “If I go now, I can have the divorce finalized and be back before fall practices are in full swing.”
“Right.”
Six weeks in Nevada, and his divorce would be final. The plan was logical. Reasonable. And for some reason, slightly more disturbing than the prospect of Ty being free from his wife once and for all.
Ever since the night he’d bottomed out in a bottle, he’d been as calm and placid as a pond in the heat of high summer. Cool too. Not to her in particular, but to everyone and about everything. The man had his game face on, for sure. The problem was, Millie wasn’t entirely certain if she was supposed to be playing offense or defense whenever she was around him.
“My lawyer and I met with Mari’s. I was with my attorney all morning making sure the bases were covered. We have the plan worked out. She doesn’t want to leave lover boy alone for long, so I’m going to Reno to establish residency,”
