Free Sun Kissed (Crane Series) by Nancy Warren Page B

mistake.”
    “She says she’s leaving in a week. And I don’t know how to make her stay.”
    Bron looked at him like he was stupid. “Have you told her how you feel?”
    “God, I never should have asked you anything. You want to turn my life into one of those stupid soap operas.”
    “I didn’t think you had.” She tsked at him as he headed for the door. “Tell her you love her, you great stupid.”
     
    Jen was tapping away at a spreadsheet on her computer when Cam stuck his head around her office door. He looked rumpled and frustrated and as sleep-deprived as she felt. “Got a minute?” he asked.
    “Of course,” she said in a manner she hoped combined cool professionalism with personal detachment. “I have a week of minutes.”
    As if she’d change her return date because Cameron Crane figured if she slept with him she’d follow him around like a lovesick fool until he decided it was time for her to go. He stood there, staring at her, and if there was a lovesick fool around, she sort of thought it was him. She didn’t want to soften toward him, but when he looked at her that way, she was lost.
    “What can I do for you?” she asked, hoping her professional tone hid the crazy hammering of her heart.
    “I wanted to apologize. I . . .” He seemed to be in pain, as though the words hurt as they came out of his mouth.
    “You?”
    “I’m sorry about last night.”
    Jen picked up a stapler and put it down. “Probably it’s a good thing last night didn’t go any further than it did. I wasn’t thinking clearly. Sleeping together would be a terrible mistake.” “
    Have dinner with me tonight.”
    “I’m not sure—”
    “I finished your report last night.”
    Her heartbeat quickened. “And?”
    He grinned at her. “Wear something swish. We’re celebrating.”
    Okay, it was a little high-handed, she thought as he left her office, but she was prepared to let a lot go when the man was accepting a marketing proposal that was both aggressive and expensive. Because she wanted to prove to him that his decision was the right one, and she and her company were worth every one of the considerable number of pennies he was about to fork out, she got on the phone immediately to get started implementing a plan as focused and forceful as the man behind the company.
    If she could get a line on a spokesman in the next week, she could do everything else from her office in San Francisco. She called every ad agency in town and asked for portfolios. Then she called her office back home and got Lise Atwater, who’d handle the advertising, working on locating any suitable Australian actors or models already in the States.
    Cam had told her to wear something swish. While she showered she reviewed her options. Since she was living out of a suitcase, they weren’t limitless, but she had brought a soft, blue-green silk chiffon halter dress that she loved. She slipped it on and tried to imagine Cam doing “swish.” She spent extra time on her hair and makeup and wondered if she really knew what she was doing. Cameron Crane was a man who could explode her ordered existence, and her conception of herself and her life. Did she want that? Mark was a good man, she reminded herself, but was he the right man? If she was so easily attracted to another, how could she be ready to marry? She grabbed the silk wrap that went with the dress and decided to trust her instincts.
    She left her room and made it to the bottom of the stairs when her heart almost stopped. Cam was wearing evening dress. He glanced up at where she’d stalled about five stairs from the bottom and sent her a crooked grin.
    “You look beautiful.”
    How did he know that a man in a tuxedo was her greatest weakness? Oh, and he filled his out so nicely. Under the smooth, urbane tuxedo she saw the play of powerful muscle. He was smoothly shaven, he’d had his hair cut—not very short, but shorter and neater than before. It was even freshly combed, but he still wore