LITMIR.BIZ

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it. The past few days had brought that home to her. She’d thought she loved Carter, only to discover she hadn’t known him at all. And she’d thought she detested Griffin, only to discover, well…

      But she didn’t want to go there with Beth. “Anyway, I don’t need him. This is the twenty-first century. I have options. Except, of course, he very considerately pointed out to me that, by taking him up on his proposal, I wouldn’t get just a sperm donor, but an involved father.”

      “He’s got a point there.”

      “Thanks a lot.”

      “I’m just saying. I’ve got three kids, and believe me, there are days when I’d like to clone myself.”

      “Hmm.”

      A buzz sounded, indicating there was an incoming call on her cell phone. She removed the phone from her ear to check the screen, and recognized the number as Griffin’s. Over the years, they’d been in perfunctory phone contact about Tremont REH board business, so she wasn’t surprised he had her number.

      Speaking into the phone again, she said to Beth, “You won’t believe this, but it’s Griffin on the other line. Can I talk to you later?”

      “Of course! Let me know how it goes. I’ll be dying to know if he drops any other shocks on you. Oliver is so boring!”

      When she’d ended the call with Beth, and switched over to the other call, she said unnecessarily, “Hello?”

      “It’s Griffin.”

      “I suppose you’re calling to recant your moment of insanity last night,” she said, affecting a bored tone, even though she was experiencing the exhilaration of a sky dive. “Well, no need to bother—”

      “Actually,” he interrupted dryly, “I’m calling to hire you for a party.”

      She sighed. “I feel compelled to point out that, as your spouse, you’d get my services for free. So, I’m confused—have you decided to hedge your bets?”

      He laughed. “Okay, you’re on to me. My diabolic plan is to force you, one way or another, to provide me with a free party whenever I want.”

      “I’ve got news for you,” she shot back. “It would hardly be a party.”

      He chuckled. “I think I could handle you.”

      A wave of heat sizzled through her.

      “I really am calling to hire you,” he insisted. “I’ve been thinking of throwing a cocktail party for some business associates a week from Friday.”

      “Oh.”

      “Are you available?”

      “I need to check my calendar.” She already knew she was free.

      “I was planning to go with the caterer I usually use, nothing fancy, but after seeing you in action last night, I wanted to hire Occasions by Designs.”

      “I don’t come cheap.”

      “Do you really want my answer to that?”

      “You are persistent.”

      “My middle name. And how can you resist the opportunity to prove to me how good you are?” he said, his voice low and smooth as silk.

      Damn him, he knew how to get to her.

      Aloud, she said crisply, “We’ll have to discuss what you want, and I’ll have to send you my standard contract.”

      “Excellent.”

      When she ended her call with Griffin, she immediately thought that she was going to regret agreeing to this assignment.

      Before she could dwell on her anxiety, however, her phone rang again, playing “That’s What Friends Are For.”

      She flicked the cell open. “Hello, Beth.”

      “Well?” her friend asked. “How did it go? I decided calling was better than dying to find out.”

      “He wants to hire me.”

      “Rent-a-wife?”

      “No, another stunner. He wants me to arrange a party for him. I can’t tell anymore if he’s lusting after me or Occasions by Design.”

      “Well, I give him points for originality. It’s better than lusting for the Tremont REH millions.”

      Actually, Griffin was keeping her so off balance, Eva thought, that she wasn’t sure what he was really after.

      As she filled in Beth about her phone call with Griffin, she also realized that, for once in her life, she could see a positive side to being pursued for her money by men like Carter: at least she knew where she stood.

      Eva arrived at Griffin’s Pacific Heights mansion at four on a bright Friday afternoon. She had given herself three hours to set up before the guests arrived.

      From the curb, Eva looked up at the house’s impressive Queen Anne facade, which was partially shielded from the street by a high fence and well-manicured front garden.

      When Griffin had given her his address over the phone last week, so she could set up deliveries for the party, she hadn’t thought twice about his location in Pacific Heights.

      Now, however, she was surprised to discover he lived in a majestic structure replete with gables, wings and towers.

      She was charmed despite herself.

      Over the years, she’d made a point not to be curious about Griffin. The less she knew about him, the more she could pretend not to be affected by him. And because they’d ironed out the details of tonight’s party by phone and fax, she’d never had the opportunity to see his home until today.

      She’d been relieved, actually, by the indirect communication. These days, she didn’t think she could take another face-to-face encounter with Griffin.

      But she knew her reprieve was about to come to an end.

      As some of her employees unloaded supplies from one of Occasions by Design’s vans, Griffin drove up in his silver sports car.

      She watched him park at the curb. Seconds later, he emerged, pushing back black sunglasses to the top of his head.

      She took in his navy-blue suit, and noted he looked as if he’d gotten a haircut. His hair, short to begin with, now thinly outlined his uncompromisingly masculine face.

      He looked crisp, sexy…spectacular.

      Her body vibrated with energy. It was a reaction she was growing used to now that she knew the reaction he was able to evoke from her with his lips and his hands.

      Still, she was determined to resist him. Tonight was about scoring another hit for Occasions by Design. Nothing else.

      She told herself she was here simply because she had room in her calendar to arrange this party. Of course, after the Carter debacle—how could she have been so blind?—it was also possible she was a master of self-deception.

      Luckily her parents weren’t going to be here tonight, so the pressure was off in that regard. She knew from her mother that her parents had had to decline Griffin’s invitation because they’d a prior commitment.

      “Hello,” Griffin called, his gaze sweeping over her.

      She felt his look like a hot stamp, and she smoothed her hand over a crease in her trousers. She was dressed in an outfit she loved—a beaded, cornflower-blue top, black silk pants and Christian Louboutin mules—but she suddenly felt self-conscious.

      To cover her nervousness, she nodded to the mansion before them. “Not quite where I pictured you living.”

      A slow smile spread across his face as he came closer. “Let me guess. You were expecting some penthouse condo bachelor pad.”

      She nodded.

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