LITMIR.BIZ

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to do her or her mother any favors, and she wouldn’t blame him. But she had to give it the old college try. She leaned down as she passed Barb’s chair. “Thanks for being my buddy tonight.”

      Barb glanced up at her. “Got cab fare, toots?”

      Natalie grinned. “Yeah, but I might have to start taking the bus. See you tomorrow at the office.”

      Once out of the ballroom, Jonah made a beeline for the coat check. “We can talk this out in a cab, and if you want to come back, I’ll have the cab drop you. But I’m outta here.”

      “I understand.” She hurried to keep up with his long strides.

      “Oh, I doubt it, Natalie.”

      Maybe she didn’t, Natalie thought as even the coat-check attendant fussed over Jonah. Finally they made it to the street and into a cab.

      Jonah turned to her. “Where to?”

      “Your place is fine.”

      “Whoa. My place is not fine. You get me for the weekend of your choice, but between now and then we won’t be seeing each other socially.”

      She bristled. “That isn’t what I meant. I only meant we can take the cab to your place, talk on the way, and then I’ll take the same cab to my place after I drop you off.”

      “And what if I don’t want you to know where I live?”

      “Oh, for heaven’s sake! What do you think I’m going to do, stalk you?”

      He turned to face her. “I haven’t the foggiest idea what you’re going to do. I can’t even comprehend a woman plunking down thirty-three thousand dollars to spend the weekend with Mel Gibson, let alone yours truly. Therefore I have to figure that you’re a few bricks short of a load. No telling what’s up with you.”

      “I wasn’t the only one! Someone bid thirty-two thousand, and before that someone bid thirty-one, and before that…well, that was me at thirty thousand, but what about the others? Are they all crazy, too?”

      “Totally. And it seems to be going around. I saved a puppy, for God’s sake! You’d think I’d just deflected a comet that would have wiped out all of civilization. It’s insane the way women have reacted.”

      She gazed at him in astonishment. He truly didn’t know how appealing he’d looked staggering out of the lake with Bobo in his arms. He didn’t understand that a single act had branded him as selfless, brave, sensitive and strong, besides being easy on the eyes. Maybe he didn’t realize how women everywhere longed for that combination in a man and went a little berserk when they found it.

      From his perspective, she was a weirdo with far too much money for her own good. If she put herself in his place, she might have had the same thoughts. If a guy had this much attention lavished on him and hadn’t started believing his own press, he had to be something special. He might be exactly what she needed for her mother. But first she had to get him to trust her.

      “Okay,” she said. “I was only trying to save you cab fare by paying for the entire ride myself. If you would rather, we can go to my place first and then you can take the cab to wherever you live. I’ll pay for my leg, but you’ll have to pay for yours.”

      “You’ve already paid thousands of dollars to be with me. You don’t have to pick up my cab fare.” He gave her a wry grin. “At least let a guy hang on to his pride.”

      Oh, you’ve hung on to more than your pride, Jonah, she thought. But she didn’t speak the compliment aloud. Thinking that she was a predatory female, he would only misinterpret it. Instead she gave the driver her address and the cab pulled into traffic.

      2

      JONAH THOUGHT the guys at the station would get a laugh out of this one. A beautiful, rich woman had just paid thirty-three thousand dollars for the pleasure of his company and had even hinted that she’d be willing to go up to his apartment tonight. And he, being such a genius, had rejected her subtle suggestion.

      The guys already thought he was nuts for turning aside all the offers that had come his way since the puppy episode, but they might look at things differently if they were walking in his size twelves. Having one or two women flirt with you was one thing. Being mobbed was something else completely.

      In the past few weeks he’d become gun-shy. He expected every woman he met to make a move on him. Yet Natalie sat on her side of the cab and there was nothing predatory in her expression at all. She looked just the way he remembered her from the park, except fancier with her white fur coat, which made her look like a princess in a winter carnival.

      He supposed the coat was real fur and the sparkling gems in the necklace around her slender throat were real diamonds. He’d never dated anyone who lived on Central Park West. For some reason, he hadn’t thought she lived there, even if it was perfectly logical that she would since he saw her walking her dog in Central Park every afternoon. He’d wanted to believe she came from another part of town just as he did, because the area was so beautiful.

      Her scent tantalized him, and for a moment he imagined what this cab ride would be like if they’d become friends in the park and decided to go out together. He’d be sitting a hell of a lot closer than he was now, that’s for sure. Despite everything, he still got a charge looking into those wide gray eyes of hers. Her mouth intrigued him, too. He liked the fact that she used a pale lipstick that barely looked as if she had on any at all.

      Considering all the money she’d paid, she probably wouldn’t object if he slid over and tasted those pale pink lips. The idea appealed to him more than a little. But he didn’t really want to go down that road, not anymore. Any woman desperate enough to spend thirty-three thousand dollars for a date had something very wrong with her. He might not see it at first, because he’d be blinded by sex, but then one night an ice pick would appear in her hand, just like with Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. And Sharon was also a beautiful blonde, he reminded himself.

      “Are you free this coming weekend?” she asked.

      He jumped. “This weekend?”

      “We have to pick a time to use the package, and unless you have a problem with this weekend, we may as well do it then.”

      Damn, she was eager. She might look poised and serene sitting over there in her icy white fur, but she wasn’t wasting any time getting with the program. But he’d have chaperons around the whole time, so he should be relatively safe. Someone else was going to sail the expensive yacht down the Hudson, thank God, and someone else would fly the helicopter. After that they’d be at the Plaza with lots of other people. He just had to be sure she didn’t somehow get his room key.

      “I guess this coming weekend would be okay.” Actually, the chief’s words had been “Take whatever time off you need.” It was a bone he was throwing Jonah’s way in exchange for making his existence a living hell.

      “You think I’m absolutely insane, don’t you?” she asked.

      He wondered if telling a crazy person that they were crazy was a bad idea. “It’s crossed my mind.”

      “I don’t blame you.” She smiled. “I would think the same thing in your position.”

      He was fascinated by her mouth. What a terrific smile she had. What a kissable mouth. He’d never made love to someone who’d gone around the bend. Maybe it would be fantastic…until they killed you or cut off something important.

      “You probably won’t believe this,” she continued, “but I’m a perfectly normal woman. I’ve been wanting to tell you how grateful I am that you saved Bobo, but I couldn’t reach you. When I read about this auction, it seemed like the perfect gesture.”

      “You could have sent flowers to the station, like six hundred or so other women did.”

      She started to laugh. “You got six hundred bouquets?”

      “About. Maybe more like six-fifty.

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