Free Don’t Call Me Sweetheart by Jeanette Ward Page A

good-naturedly,
tugging on Whitney’s arm and pulling her toward the doors. “We’ll just take our
bothersome little butts next door for a cappuccino while you finish up.”
    Agreeing that a change of scenery would do her frayed nerves
a world of good Whitney hurried to keep up with her friend but turned at the
door for one last look. Green eyes and black found each other momentarily
across the broad expanse of space and as she passed through the glass doors
leading away from the studio Whitney had the unmistakable feeling that the
owner of the other pair distinctly regretted seeing her go.
    The two women settled themselves comfortably in a booth at
the small cafe next door and took their time deciding their coffee preferences.
After the waiter left to turn in their order Tess purposefully brought up the
subject Whitney had been hoping to avoid.
    “Based on your behavior back there, can I assume that
Christian gets to bypass the usual battery of questions and move directly into
round two of the Whitney Lane Date Lineup?”
    Whitney wondered if Tess had gone around kicking hornets’
nests when she was little. She was awfully good at stirring up trouble.
    “No!” she answered forcefully, then looked away in
embarrassment as the waiter reappeared with two frothy cups of coffee, a
knowing smile playing across his face.
    She grimaced at the idea that even a perfect stranger could
tell what she was thinking. Well, he can’t, Whitney told herself staunchly. Neither
did Tess. No one knew her secret.
    I do. That man’s touch is waking up places inside me Jon
never knew were there. And people thought I was such an expert on these things.
    “Methinks she doth protest overly much,” Tess quipped,
stirring the foam back and forth in her cup.
    “I do not,” Whitney lamented weakly, adding no less than
four packets of sweetener to her coffee while Tess watched in amusement. “Well,
maybe I do, I don’t know. I haven’t known much about anything since the moment
I walked into the country club yesterday and met your Mr. Incredible. This is
all your fault. And don’t you think I’ll forget that little fact anytime soon.”
    Tess raised her hands in mock horror. “Sure, I’m the worst
friend in the world. I introduce you to the best looking man on the planet, you
manage to end up with his lips plastered to yours the very next day and I’m the
one who needs to be worried?” She couldn’t go on, she was laughing too much.
    “You should be worried,” Whitney persisted, refusing to
acknowledge the truth of Tess’ words, or just how easy the cold hard facts made
her look once they were laid out. “I think my next book will be an in-depth
portrayal of an oversexed, neurotic publishing queen obsessed with…”
    “Okay, okay,” Tess cut it, holding her sides, “I get the
picture but I positively will not believe you if you tell me Christian isn’t
the best thing to come into your life since you made your first million.”
    “That’s just it! He’s not in my life!”
    “It looked as if he wanted into something back there,
sweetheart.”
    “He was just acting, that’s what you were paying him to do,
right?”
    “I’ve known that man most of my adult life, Whitney, so
believe me when I say he wasn’t acting.” Tess paused to lick a drop of froth
from the corner of her mouth. “What’s more, you know it too.”
    Whitney refused to expose herself to that way of thinking. It
would hurt too much if Tess was wrong. “You saw how he was with that other
woman. It was exactly the same,” she pointed out smugly. “Are you telling me he’s
turned on by anything with cleavage?”
    “Well, he was attracted to yours at any rate.” Tess answered
glibly, unwilling to let Whitney belittle herself. They were making such
progress. “Are you still going out this evening with him?”
    The moment the photo session had begun Whitney had forgotten
about the tentative arrangements made for her yesterday, the same plans she