He couldn’t think about Horn right now. Or his demands. Later tonight would be soon enough. When they were alone, back at Eric’s place. He’d lay the whole thing out for Dallas. The offer was good. She could make a lot of money, and with a three-year contract there’d be security, as well.
He glanced from Dallas to Dakota to Andrea and realized his confidence had slipped the minute he’d seen the three women together. They all looked like models, yet they’d chosen traditional careers rather than trading on their beauty. Maybe modeling was taboo. Too frivolous.
Of course, he still didn’t know what Dallas did, which irked the hell out of him. All he knew is that she’d modeled once. Maybe she was trying to get into acting and was embarrassed to admit it. That would work in his favor. As Horn’s spokesperson, she’d be seen all over the tristate area.
“So, Eric, tell us what you do,” Andrea said, and Eric had to quickly regroup.
All eyes on him, he smiled. “Advertising. I work for Webber and Thornton.”
“Oh.” Andrea’s lips lifted in approval. “Where?”
“Manhattan.”
“What exactly do you do for them?”
“I’m an ad exec. I devise slogans, print ads, commercials, billboards—anything that sells the product.”
“How nice. Sounds productive.” She slanted Dallas a brief look that made her stiffen. “Have you two known each other long?”
“A few weeks,” Dallas said quickly and then stared pointedly out at the pool. “Did you have it tiled again?”
Harrison sighed with a hint of disgust. “Your mother didn’t like the dark-blue-and-green combination.”
“But you just had it done last year.”
Andrea sniffed and picked up her glass. Two lone ice cubes clinked together.
“Touchy subject.” Cody gave Dallas a warning look. “Let’s drop it.” His hair was darker than the rest of the family’s, and his eyes were closer to Dakota’s color. Good-looking guy but too serious for the camera.
“Got it.” Dallas picked up her wine and sipped.
Eric turned to Andrea, almost as if he’d sensed her stare.
She smiled. “What else should we know about you, Eric? Where are you from? Where did you meet our Dallas? Not at work, I’m sure.”
“Mother.”
“I’m just making conversation, dear.” She met Dallas’s gaze and held it. “Not to worry.”
“Yes, after all, Clair already has gotten the third degree,” Harrison said. “I think your mother should have been the one who went to law school.”
Eric smiled. No one else did. Apparently Harrison wasn’t just teasing, given the tense looks exchanged by his two daughters.
Tilly showed up with a tray, and as everyone busied themselves with claiming their respective drinks and sampling the crab-stuffed mushrooms, the tension quickly passed. Before she left, Tilly informed them that dinner would be served in half an hour.
“Excuse us for a moment, would you?” Dallas said as she rose from the table. “I’d like to show Eric Mother’s garden before the sun sets completely.”
Eric got up just as Andrea said, “Really, Dallas, we just met the man. Must you drag him away?”
“Good idea. Check out the roses,” Dakota said quickly. “The salmon-colored ones are awesome.”
“The garden lights will come on at any moment. You can go for a stroll later.” Andrea waved a hand as if the matter were closed.
“We won’t be long.” Dallas took his hand. With her other one she grabbed her glass of wine. Even after their short acquaintance he recognized the stubborn set of her jaw and didn’t argue.
He did give the others an apologetic shrug of his shoulders as he was led away. Not that he wouldn’t rather be alone with Dallas, but he didn’t want to piss off Andrea either. The woman obviously could be a real pain, but she was Dallas’s mother and he preferred she be on his side.
Frankly he wasn’t sorry Dallas had chosen that moment to liberate them. He hated the eventual turn Andrea’s question would take. Hated admitting he was from Pittsburgh. That his family was a bunch of steel workers. Hated even more that he felt that way.
As soon as they got past the white gazebo on the other side of the pool, Dallas mumbled under her breath, “God, why did I come here? I should have known better.”
“Hey, come on. It’s not so bad.”
She looked at him with miserable blue eyes. “Plus, I drag you here to suffer, too.”
“Fair is fair. I dragged you to Horn’s party.” He squeezed her hand. “Seriously everything’s been fine. I feel totally comfortable.”
“Right.” She withdrew her hand and sipped her wine, staring out over a sea of yellow and pink roses sheltered by an ivy-covered brick wall separating their property from their neighbor’s.
“Look, I don’t understand your family dynamics. Obviously there’s an undercurrent I don’t get. But I am sorry you’re annoyed.” He decided not to tell her that he thought she was overreacting.
“No, I assure you, you don’t get it. Hell, I don’t totally get it.” She bit her lower lip. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap.”
He remained silent for several moments, not sure what to say. He really didn’t know this woman. Not the way he wanted to. All he could do was change the subject. “This garden is something. It’s been so damn hot the last couple of weeks, I’m surprised these roses held up.”
She smiled as if she knew he had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe roses liked the heat. What the hell did he know about flowers or gardens? Not a Pittsburgh boy like him.
Dallas leaned against him, and they looked out over the mass of roses and ivy and some other little white flowers he didn’t recognize—miniature roses maybe. Clinging to a vine, they climbed over the top layer of a white flagstone fountain nestled in the corner.
She breathed in the heady scent. “They are beautiful. Remind me to snitch a few before we leave. Look, those are the salmon-colored ones Dakota was talking about. I’m definitely swiping one of those.”
He slid an arm around her shoulders. “Your mom doesn’t seem like the type to garden. Of course, she doesn’t seem like a biology teacher either.”
“Don’t let her hear you refer to her as a ‘teacher.’”
“Excuse me. Professor.”
Dallas laughed softly. “That woman hasn’t seen the inside of a classroom in years. She’s the head of research.”
“Ah, that I can see.”
“As far as gardening, the closest she comes is putting on a hat and sunglasses to come out and supervise their gardener.”
He grinned. “Gotta admit, that would be my idea of gardening.”
Her lips curved in a grudging smile. “Okay, I’ll con cede that one.”
The lights came on, and Dallas jumped a little. He held her tighter, inhaling the vanilla scent from her hair. Man, what he wouldn’t give to lay her down right here, in the middle of all those roses. Naked.
“What are you thinking?” she asked, looking up at him, a smile dancing at the corners of her mouth.
“Why?”
“You started breathing hard.”
He laughed. “You don’t want to know.”
Her eyebrows went up, and she drew the tip of her finger across his lower lip. “Try me.”
After glancing over his shoulder, he whispered, “What time do they go to bed?”
That startled a loud laugh out of her, and she quickly covered her mouth with her hand. “Not here. Not in this lifetime. I’d rather run naked around Columbus Circle.”
“Hmm, that has possibilities.”
She bumped him with her hip. “The lights make the garden look almost magical, don’t they?”
“So, you’re not going for it, huh?”
“You are crazy.” She bumped him again, which wasn’t helping to sidetrack him. “Now, can we please enjoy the moment? Eventually we do have to go back to the patio.”
“We do?”
She turned to look at him.
“Only kidding.”
“No, you’re not. But that’s okay.” Something caught her attention and she squinted. “Looks like there’s an opening in the wall.”
“An opening?”
“Yeah, see where some of the bricks have crumbled. We could be out of here before they knew we were gone.”
He laughed. “You wouldn’t do that.”
“Bet me.”
“No, because then you’ll do it.” He turned her to face him. “You’d make me look bad to your parents.”
“Why would you care?”
Eric brushed the side of her jaw, liking the silky feel of her skin. Remembering how soft her back was, the inside of her thighs, her perfect breasts. “I plan on sticking around for a while. That’s why.”
“A while, huh?”
“A long while.”
“We’ll see,” she murmured just before he kissed her.
At least, that’s what he thought he heard. But it made no sense. Unless she figured he wasn’t a commitment kind of guy. The only way she could have arrived at that was by Tom.
He pulled back. The mood was ruined. “What do you mean by that?”
She slowly opened her eyes. “What?”