“Carter.” She reached out and took the other woman’s hand. “Yes, I know. Will you clear his calendar for five p.m.? And will you give him a message?”
Mrs. Lindsey cocked her head. “Why wait until the end of the business day?”
“I’m going shopping first.”
The faintest hint of a smile appeared on her lips. “What is your message?”
Ivy released Mrs. Lindsey’s hand and opened her purse. She needed paper. A pen. She rifled through her wallet and found an old Starbucks receipt.
Sugar.
“Here.” Mrs. Lindsey held out a pad of Burke Initiative stationery and a ballpoint pen.
“Thank you.” Ivy turned, rested the pad against the hotel wall, and began writing. Then she folded the note and handed it to Mrs. Lindsey. “Just so we’re clear. This is more important than ball gowns and fancy shoes.”
Chapter 28
“For your wildest adventure to date, meet me at five p.m. by the greatest carnivore to ever walk the earth.”
Carter read out loud the slip of paper his assistant had placed in his hand an hour earlier. He made damn sure his voice carried over the buzz of tourists and locals in the famous hall of fossils. Two women pushing strollers glanced at him. One man lowered his camera, took one look at Carter’s suit, and turned his attention back to the display.
Then the woman waiting beside the glass case met his gaze. He headed for her, weaving his way through the crowd.
“I didn’t think you would be able to resist,” Ivy said as he approached the glass case containing the massive T. rex skull. The full fossil loomed behind her, poised for the hunt.
“I thought about it. But my assistant practically pushed me out of my office.” Carter stopped within an arm’s reach of Ivy. She wore the same well-loved lab coat and black slacks that she’d had on at the shareholders’ meeting. “Mrs. Lindsey hinted you’d gone through a great deal of trouble. She mentioned something about shopping.”
“We’ll get to that.” She stepped forward and pressed her hands against the front of his suit jacket. Her fingers toyed with his lapels, but she stopped short of running her hands underneath and guiding his jacket off his shoulders.
“Thinking about tossing my clothes to the T. rex again?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Not this time.”
Then why are we here? Surrounded by sightseers?
He’d left the shareholders’ meeting while she was still answering questions. He didn’t want to know the answer to the one haunting him—was she only interested in his funding? His gut told him she’d stayed Friday night for him. But what if he was wrong? What if he’d fallen for a fantasy? He’d set out to wine and dine her Friday night. Instead, he might have walked into his own trap.
And he left believing the illusion was real.
“I owe you a kiss beside a carnivore.” She rose up on the balls of her feet and touched her lips to his.
He cupped her jaw in his hand. “You don’t have to do this, Ivy. A simple thank you—”
“I’ll thank you for the funding in the morning.” Her lips teased his as she spoke. “At your office. I’ll make an appointment. But right now, I want to finish what we started in front of this dinosaur.”
Her mouth claimed his and the rest of the world vanished. The ancient history spelled out on these walls. The dinosaurs. The tourists. The man demanding that they “get a room.” None of it mattered. His world narrowed to the feel of Ivy’s breasts pressed against his chest. The way her hips rocked against him. And her mouth, pressing onto his.
I could kiss her forever. Her mouth, her breasts, her thighs, her—
“Ivy.” He broke the kiss, breathing hard as he touched his forehead against hers. “This isn’t a just you, me, and the dinosaurs situation. We’re not alone.”
“Not yet,” she murmured. She stepped back and reached into the shopping bag at her feet. “I visited the gift shop before you arrived.”
He laughed. “I think Mrs. Lindsey was hoping you’d stopped by Barneys.”
“They had what I needed right here.” She pulled out a strip of fabric covered in red, orange, and blue dinosaurs.
“A new tie?”