Kate Hoffmann - A Fare To Remember

“I know.” Feeling deflated, she gazed after the young man as he crossed against the light, all the while juggling the can from one hand to the other. “This afternoon one person asked me if there was some way you could distill tuna. I told him I didn’t think so. But three others seemed really glad to get it, so I don’t think it was a total waste of suitcase space.”

“It was a great use of suitcase space.”

Something in his voice made her look up at him. One glance into his eyes and her heart started pounding again. Giving away tuna might have reaped an unexpected reward. Zach Evans was about to kiss her.

ZACH HAD HELD OFF AS LONG as he could stand it. He’d been wanting to do this for two hours, and seeing the earnest way she’d offered up her can of tuna to the vagrant had sent him over the edge. Taking her firmly by the shoulders, he drew her close.

She came willingly, which was a good thing. If she’d resisted, it could have been very awkward. But she looked as ready to be kissed as any woman he’d held in his arms. He couldn’t remember a time he’d anticipated the moment more, either.

Her eyes fluttered closed, and he took the time to savor the view of her face tilted up to catch the light from a nearby streetlamp. He took it all in-the daisies in her hair, the graceful sweep of her eyebrows, the pert shape of her nose, the generous fullness of her mouth. Her lips were parted just the slightest bit, which made him believe this kiss could progress nicely into something hot, wet and French.

She opened her eyes. “I thought you were going to kiss me.”

“I am.”

Her brown eyes were soft and dreamy. “Isn’t everything supposed to move faster in New York?”

That made him smile. “You don’t think this is fast? We just met this morning.”

“Are you having second thoughts?”

“Oh, yeah. Second, third and fourth thoughts.” And they all centered on Mario’s dash.

She frowned. “Then you think kissing me is a bad idea?”

“No.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, and that’s what worries me.” He leaned closer. “Everything is exactly…right.” And with a soft moan he gave himself up to her velvet mouth.

He should have known he’d find paradise there. The warning signs had been flashing from his first glimpse of her in the hotel lobby. Whoever had said that a kiss was just a kiss had never locked lips with Hannah.

She welcomed him with more enthusiasm than any poor mortal deserved. But deserving or not, he was going to take advantage of that delicious, moist and erection-producing welcome. He kissed her from one angle, then shifted to capture all that perfection from another, deeper, angle.

Although he longed to pull her tight against him, he didn’t dare chance it. Once that happened, they’d never make it to Times Square. So he clutched her shoulders and centered all his attention on her marvelous, incredible mouth.

He supposed passing pedestrians stopped to stare. He and Hannah must be putting on quite a show, and normally he wasn’t the type to do that. But this morning he’d met Hannah and his type might be about to change. Now he didn’t give a damn what anyone else thought. He was too busy kissing a woman with daisies in her hair.

“Well, well, Evans. Quite a bit of salesmanship you have going on there.”

It was the only voice that could have cut through his fog of passion. Lifting his head he found himself staring into the steely-blue eyes of Drake Medford. Medford’s salt-and-pepper hair was perfectly styled and his suit impeccably pressed. Of all the sidewalks of New York, he had to walk down this one. Shit.

Slowly Zach released Hannah and straightened the jacket around her shoulders. He probably had lipstick all over his mouth. He resisted the urge to wipe it away. “Hannah Robertson, I’d like you to meet my boss, Drake Medford.”

She glanced quickly up at Zach and crossed her eyes. He choked back laughter as she turned and held out her hand to the tall man standing behind her. “Hello, Mr. Medford. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Whereas I’ve heard zilch about you, young lady.” He took her hand in both of his. “Evans, you’ve been holding out on me.”

“The fact is, we’ve just-”

“Just reconnected after a long absence,” Hannah said. “Zach and I kept missing each other, but here we are, united at last.”

“You seem to be having quite a reunion party,” Medford said. “And maybe I can give you even more reason to celebrate. Ed Hasbrook gave me the key to his corner office this afternoon. I know the reports aren’t finalized for the month, but I see no problem with you moving in there tomorrow, Evans.”

“Uh, that’s great.” Zach felt his curried beef turn to cement in his stomach.

“Try to contain your excitement, will you?” Medford looked annoyed. “The corner office is only the obvious change. I’m promoting you to vice president.”

“That’s very good news.” Zach wished he could feel more jubilant, but he’d been a lot happier two minutes ago when he’d been kissing Hannah. “Of course, I can’t help wondering where you’re stashing Ed.”

“I’d relegate him to a coat closet if I could, but we don’t have an empty coat closet. I’m using some portable partitions in a corner of the outer office. Maybe he’ll get the hint. It’s one step closer to the front door.”

“How long has he been with the company?” Hannah asked.

“Too long, Hannah.” Medford had always been good about picking up on names. “He was good once, but he’s lost a step. Your guy Zach, here, that’s the kind of go-getter I’m looking for.” He shoved back his cuff and glanced at his designer watch. “I’m late. Nice meeting you, Hannah. Zach, bring her around to the company picnic next month, why don’t you? She looks like she’d play a mean game of volleyball.” He winked at Hannah and hurried off.

“So there you have my big, bad boss.” Zach sighed. “Poor Ed.”

Hannah turned to face Zach. “You need to quit your job.”

ZACH LOOKED AT HER AS IF she’d murdered a close relative. “Are you crazy? I’ve put eight years into that job.”

“You’ve tolerated Drake Medford for eight years?” If so, her estimation of him would take a serious nosedive.

“Well, no. He came on board last fall. The office was underperforming and he was sent in to straighten things out.”

She frowned. “By humiliating people like Ed?”

“Look, I may not like what’s happening with Ed, but Medford’s done what he was sent to do. Everyone’s working harder and making more, the ones who’ve stayed, anyway. All except for Ed, who’s close to retirement.”

“And is everyone happy? Except for Ed, of course, and you.”

“I’m happy!” He flung out both arms. “I’m ecstatic! I’m making more money!”

“Are you happy? At dinner when I asked about your job you made a face.”

His gaze was wary. “I don’t know that I made a face, exactly.”

“You most certainly did. Like this.” She pulled her mouth down at the corners and scrunched up her eyes.

“That didn’t have to be about my job. Maybe I bit into something I didn’t like right at the moment you asked.”

“It was about your job.”

“Okay, so maybe it was about the job. Nobody’s career is fun and games all the time. I can see now I wasn’t working up to capacity. I’ll bet that’s what Adrienne meant when she-” He stopped, coughed and looked away. “Are we going to Times Square or what?”

Although Hannah wanted to finish the discussion, especially now that a woman’s name had been thrown into it, she could tell that Zach’s heels were dug in on this issue. She shouldn’t have come right out and told him to quit his job. That wasn’t her place. But he kissed like an angel, and a man who kissed like that didn’t belong in an office with the devil himself.

She’d suspected the boss was bad news when Zach had told her about him during dinner. But now that she’d met the guy she knew for sure, and not just because he’d interrupted what had been the primo kissing experience of her life. Drake Medford was completely unacquainted with the concept of human kindness. He would kill himself laughing if he knew about her tuna project.

“Let’s go to Times Square,” she said.

“Good.” Zach sounded immensely relieved. He still made no move to take her hand.

She thought he might have, especially after that kiss, except that his boss had come along and messed up the mood. Hannah thought Medford took pleasure in messing up other people’s moods. He could have walked on by and left them to their kissing, but that wasn’t in his nature.

No, she really didn’t like the man. Neither did Zach, but he wasn’t going to admit it. “Would you do me one little favor?” she asked.

“Sure, as long as it doesn’t involve courting economic disaster.”

“It doesn’t.” She must have really scared him, suggesting that he leave his job. Maybe because she had no financial stability at the moment, she’d forgotten that most people liked to know where their next paycheck was coming from.

“Then ask away,” he said.

“When you’re in the office tomorrow, I’d rather you didn’t mention the thing about me giving away tuna.”

He glanced at her. “What makes you think I’d do that?”

“Oh, you know.”

“No, I don’t.” His voice had gone quiet. “Explain it to me.”

“Water cooler stuff. Medford makes some reference to catching us kissing, and you tell the very entertaining story about me giving away tuna to a guy who’s going to use the can for a hockey puck. I can understand how-”

“You think I’d make fun of what you’re doing to get a laugh from the people I work with?”

Whoops. “Obviously not,” she said quickly. “Sorry to imply that you might.”

“Apology accepted.”

She snuck a peek at his firm profile. She’d insulted him, no doubt about that. But she’d found out some valuable info in the process. The deeper she probed into Zach Evans, the more she liked what she found. It wasn’t realistic to think that the first eligible man she met in the city would become someone very special, but she couldn’t throw off the premonition that Zach was special.