Jade moved to the front of Mariah's desk. "I have to admit, all this is kinda romantic."

"Flowers don't change the way I feel about our relationship."

"No, but it's flattering to know someone wants you bad enough to go to this extreme." Jade dipped her nose into an arrangement of cream-colored roses and inhaled deeply. "I have to tell you, sis, I didn't think Grey had it in him to be so romantic."

Mariah caught herself when she would have defended Grey. In his own way he'd been romantic, but never mushy or sappy in his pursuit. His approach was always straightforward, earthy and sensual, cutting through any frivolous preliminaries to get what he wanted. Truthfully, that had excited her more than any flowery words or token gifts ever would have.

"Is Richard romantic?" Jade asked, pulling Mariah from her thoughts.

Mariah glanced at Jade, who stood next to her chair, and tried to find an apt but polite description for the man she was dating. "Richard is…nice."

"Nice?" Jade looked at her as if she'd fallen off her rocker. "Tropical fish are nice, Riah. Cupcakes are nice. Richard is a gorgeous male specimen."

And Mariah had begun to notice that he acted like he knew it, too.

Jade perched herself on Mariah's desk and crossed her legs. "Is he a good kisser?"

"He's okay." Richard kissed like he was in a hurry to move on, leaving her little time to catch her breath or protest his groping hands.

Jade leaned closer, eyes sparkling mischievously. "Have you guys, well, you know?"

The thought of doing you-know-what with Richard left her unmoved, although he seemed intent on reaching that goal. She didn't know how long she could hold him off without coming outright and bruising that ego of his. "No."

"No?" Her sister sounded disappointed and a little worried. "He's not gay, is he?"

"He's perfectly straight, and he's got more hands at the end of a date than an octopus has tentacles." She sighed and rubbed her temple. "I'm not ready for an intimate relationship with someone new yet, and I don't think it's going to work with Richard."

"Well, could you wait until the end of next week to tell him that?" She clasped her hands together and gave Mariah a look of sheer desperation. "Please?"

Her sister didn't beg often. "Why?"

"Because by then we'll be paid in full for the interior work on his offices."

Mariah understood, though she didn't like playing Richard that way. "Fine. We're going to Dad's birthday party together, but I'm ending things after that. I don't want to string him along."

A voice cleared in the direction of Mariah's office door, and both women swiveled their heads in that direction. A young, petite woman with auburn hair dressed in an elegant silk pantsuit stood in the threshold holding a small, femininely wrapped box with a lace bow tied around it.

"Excuse me," she said, stepping more fully into the room. "Is there a Mariah Stevens here?"

Mariah sat up straighter. "Uh, that's me."

"This is for you." The other woman's smile was dazzling as she handed Mariah the gift from across her desk. "We don't normally deliver our merchandise, but your boyfriend wanted this to be a surprise, and he wanted to be sure you received it."

"Not to mention he probably paid you five times what it would have cost to pay for a courier," Jade mumbled under her breath.

Mariah discreetly pinched her sister's calf. Jade yelped and scooted out of reach. Luckily the other woman hadn't heard Jade's comment.

"Thank you very much for bringing it by," Mariah said graciously.

"It was my pleasure." The woman's eyes sparkled. "Enjoy your gift. Your boyfriend selected it himself."

"Where's it from?" Jade asked once the woman left the office.

Mariah read the gold foil sticker on the corner of the package. "P.J.'s Lingerie and Things."

"Sounds interesting. Hurry up and open it," Jade said anxiously.

Mariah hesitated, not sure if this gift was something she wanted to share with Jade. But her sister didn't look as though she was going to budge until she saw what was in the box.

Before she lost the nerve she untied the lacy bow and ripped off the paper. She pulled off the lid and separated the paisley print tissue surrounding the contents.

Mariah stared, stunned.

"Oh my God!" Jade gasped, a huge grin spreading across her face. "The man certainly knows his stuff!"

The "stuff" Grey had selected consisted of a black satin and lace garter belt, three pairs of black, sexy, sheer-as-a-sigh panties and three sets of sheer black, thigh-high silk stockings with a delicate band of lace encircling the tops. One pair had a black seam running down the center back, another pair had a smoky hue and the last pair had a delicate butterfly embroidered into the stocking on the outside left ankle. Two tiny rhinestones winked at the ends of its antennae.

Swallowing the thick knot in her throat, Mariah retrieved the full-size envelope nestled within the folds of satin, silk and lace. While her sister oohed and ahhed over the lingerie and complimented Grey's taste, Mariah leaned back in her chair, slid open the envelope and read Grey's message inside the enclosed floral embossed card.


You seem to have taken a liking to pretty lingerie. Let me tell you a fantasy of mine, of you wearing black garters and stockings and a wispy pair of panties beneath a sexy, short dress. It's night, and although there are people around, no one can see us in our private corner as I caress the smooth skin of your thighs where the stockings end, and touch you where you're soft, warm and sensitive.

Remember the fantasy…

Always yours, Grey


Mariah groaned, her face heating as Grey's provocative words stimulated her feminine senses, leaving her in a frustrated state of desire. He knew how to get her where she was weakest. He had no mercy.

"That good, huh?" Jade asked, a half grin on her face.

Mariah nodded, pressing her thighs together to ease the ache between.

Jade tried to peek at the card, but Mariah quickly stuffed it back in its envelope. Jade pouted. "You're not gonna share, are you?"

Mariah shook her head, still unable to speak. She cleared her throat and reclaimed her box of lingerie, trying her best to put Grey's erotic fantasy from her mind. "What am I going to do with this stuff and all these flowers?" she asked for a lack of something better to say.

"Enjoy it while it lasts," Jade said, sliding off the desk and sashaying toward the door, "because it never lasts for long."

Grey recognized the hungry gleam in Mariah's date's eyes, a predatory look that told the male population around him that he was going to get lucky tonight with the woman on his arm. If they hadn't already slept together-and Grey didn't think they had by the stiff way Mariah stood next to the tall blonde-then Mr. GQ planned on it happening that evening.

Not if I can prevent it, Grey thought, tamping the savage urge to plant his fist into the lawyer's face. Jim Stevens's fancy black-tie birthday bash was hardly the place to stake his claim on Mariah.

Tugging on the black bow tie around his neck, he watched the pair from across the crowded ballroom at the Hilton. They stood in the reception line to greet Mariah's father, and her mother, Donna. Laughter and conversation, along with dinner music, filtered throughout the room. White-jacketed waiters served appetizers and champagne from sterling silver trays. Men stood in groups talking, while the women in all their finery and glittering jewels moved about the room, some greeting friends and some blatantly checking out the male species.

He should be mingling, saying hello to acquaintances and colleagues and using the gathering to mix business and pleasure. He always managed to drum up potential clients for his security company at parties.

Unfortunately, socializing required ignoring Mariah and the blonde hovering beside her, and he found he couldn't take his eyes off her, or more specifically, her exquisite dress. Body-skimming black lace, lined for opacity but giving the first impression that the dress was see-through, hugged her curves from breast to midthigh. Short sleeves fell off the shoulder, enhancing the swell of her breasts and the scalloped hem of the dress gave way to long legs encased in sheer black stockings and four-inch heels. Grey stared hard at those stockings, but at this distance he couldn't tell if they were one of the pair he'd bought her. He planned to find out. Soon.

Mr. GQ bent his head next to Mariah and said something that made her tilt her head back and smile. Her silky hair swirled around her shoulders and settled like a soft cloud around her face. Mr. GQ pressed his hand to Mariah's spine and guided her three steps ahead in her father's reception line.

Grey's gut clenched at that intimate touch, and he thrust his fisted hands into his pants pockets.

"She does look stunning, don't you think?"

Grey glanced at the woman standing beside him, wearing a black velvet sheath that displayed her ample charms. He met cobalt blue eyes brimming with amusement, and scowled. "You're corrupting her, Jade."

Jade laughed, the sound throaty enough to draw the attention of a few nearby males. "And it's so much fun. My straitlaced sister has hatched from her cocoon."

He grunted a reply. Translated, it would have burned her ears.

She stopped a passing waiter and retrieved a glass of champagne. Taking a sip, she regarded him speculatively over the crystal rim. "You mean to tell me, honestly, that you don't like her new look?"

Admittedly, Mariah's new look was starting to grow on him. And just thinking of the possibility of her wearing the lingerie he'd sent her beneath that dress was enough to stiffen certain parts of his anatomy. "I liked her fine the way she was, before you decided to play fairy godmother."