“Forget the gel,” Matt said, moving away. “Enough with the fashion show. Let’s go.” He took Candy by the elbow and led her out the door. She wiggled her fingers good-bye at her friends. “Wish us luck,” she said. She had a feeling she’d need it.
An hour’s drive later, they found the luncheon ballroom festive with flowers in honor of the theme-Planting the Seeds of Women’s Leadership. Each seat held a small terra-cotta pot with a packet of seeds.
After they’d filled out name tags, Matt started toward the ballroom, no doubt to find a seat.
“Hang on. This is prime networking time.” She caught his arm. “Let’s talk strategy.”
“There’s a strategy?”
“Absolutely. Don’t forget our card-gathering contest. Before we settle on a table, we circulate and collect cards. You go that way, I’ll go the other and we’ll meet in the middle. Then we’ll sit with the strongest leads-where a longer conversation might net sales.”
“Ah. I see. There is a strategy.” He smiled at her, then surveyed the crowd of mostly women. “Looks like I’m seriously outnumbered.”
“Use that to your advantage,” she said, pressing his arm for emphasis. “You look very hot.”
“You’re suggesting I work it?” He raised a brow.
“If it makes a sale for SyncUp.”
“I didn’t realize you were so mercenary, Calder.” He looked her over. “A hot mercenary, at least. Since you agreed to go to the convention with me, what’s the winner of our little contest earn, anyway?”
“We should decide that, huh? Hmm. How about we do what Magellan suggested-have our own game of Truth or Bare? The winner asks a question the loser must answer.” She would ask about the marketing teams. Perfect. Her heart raced.
Matt leaned down to talk near her ear. “Forget the Truth. Let’s just go for Bare. That way we both win.”
She trembled in response, aware that no matter how business-focused she managed to be, Matt could fell her with a word. The smell of him made her knees buckle and his kiss melted her bones altogether.
“Go get cards,” she said, gently pushing him away from her. She moved in the opposite direction and paused at a group of women, determined to do her job.
Every time she looked up, though, Matt caught her eye, and it gave her such a rush. It was as if the ballroom smeared into the background so that all she saw was him. She ached to be alone with him again. They had something better to do than any one of the three-hundred people in this huge ballroom. It was their sweet secret.
Before long, they’d managed to work their way back to each other. Matt smiled at her as if to say, at last.
“How’d you do?” she asked him.
He fanned business cards like a poker hand, showing them to her in a way no one else would notice.
“Excellent,” she said, then turned to introduce him to the women she’d been chatting with. “I’ve been talking about Ledger Lite Personal, Matt. Sylvia thinks it would be a great idea.”
Matt turned to Sylvia. “I’m glad to hear that…” Candy was pleased to see him use the techniques she’d taught him while he talked with the woman about her needs as a real-estate broker.
All of a sudden, Candy was being yanked into the perfumed arms of a woman who was hugging her. “Candy Calder, am I glad to see you.”
She pulled back and recognized Claudia Stern, a woman who owned a mail-order infant-wear company. Candy had met her at a luncheon months ago. “You still with that computer firm, are you?” The woman hardly paused when Candy nodded. “Because I was wondering if you could squeeze in some freelance work. A bunch of us start-ups want to pool our cash and buy some ads and such. We’re all knees and elbows and where-whichever about it, and I bragged I knew people and here you are-people!”
“I wish I could help, Claudia, but SyncUp keeps me pretty busy. I’m not doing any freelance work.”
“Well, damn. That’s a drag. Could you refer us to someone? Could you do that for us?”
“I’d be happy to. I’m sure I can suggest someone.” They exchanged cards and Claudia pointed Candy’s SyncUp card at her. “You call me now. I’m counting on you! We all are!”
“Did that woman just try to poach you from us?” Matt asked.
“I’m happy where I am,” she said, then hesitated, realizing this was the perfect lead-in. “But now that you mention it, I did want to talk to you about ways I could be most useful to SyncUp. I’m ready for a new challenge and I was thinking that-”
“Matt? Is that you?”
They both turned to find a tall, sleek blonde smiling in surprised delight at Matt.
“Jane?” Matt said. “What are you doing here?”
This was Matt’s Jane? She reminded Candy of the young Kathleen Turner. In a tailored pin-striped suit, pink silk blouse and subtle jewelry, with her hair in a soft braided twist, she was the picture of classic elegance.
“More importantly, Matt, what are you doing here? This is a women’s luncheon,” Jane said, in the same whiskey voice Turner was known for. The woman was direct and sexy as hell.
Matt turned to Candy, then to Jane, flummoxed about what to say, she could tell. “Jane Roston, I’d like you to meet a colleague of mine, Candy Calder, who brought me here.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jane said, but her gaze returned immediately to Matt. “You look great, Matt. All tanned. Great suit. Good haircut and…contacts? Are you wearing lenses?”
“Candy helped me update my look.”
“Oh?” Her eyebrows went up and she looked Candy over, trying to figure out what was what.
“For work, of course,” Candy said quickly. If Jane knew about the vacation fling, it might wreck the reconciliation, which Candy was counting on. That and the return of Serious Matt when they got back to L.A. The idea of getting this out of their system before the vacation ended had begun to seem impossible.
“Scott wants me to get better at networking and Candy’s great at it, so she thought this luncheon would be a good place to work on my skills.” He gave a short laugh.
“I see. That makes sense, I guess.” She looked him over, a little puzzled. “So where’d the tan come from?”
“That. Oh. I’m at the beach. It was use it or lose it on my vacation days, so Ellie got me a place in Malibu.”
“Me, too,” Candy jumped in, then realized how that sounded. “Ellie’s a friend and she and I and another friend are in a beach house, too. Except I’m working, too. And by coincidence, so was Matt, so it was natural for us to get together. To work. Together.” Shut up, Candy. Shut up.
“Sure,” Jane said slowly. “I guess.”
Candy’s stomach churned. Silence swelled while they all avoided each other’s eyes. Her supposedly expert social skills seemed to have evaporated completely.
“What about you?” Matt asked Jane, finally saving them. “Why are you here?”
“Me? Oh. Our firm’s being honored.” She spoke slowly, as if still distracted by what was going on between Candy and Matt. “We did pro bono incorporations for some businesses and the partners needed a female to accept the plaque. I drew the short straw.” She seemed to catch herself. “Not that this isn’t a wonderful organization or anything, just that I’m swamped.” She laughed, shaking her head, eyes wide, as if her work was stacked a mile high, but she loved it.
“As always, eh?” Matt smiled. “Jane’s very dedicated.”
“And what about you?” she said, pretending to be wounded. “You’re at a business lunch in the middle of your vacation!”
This was a hot button for the couple, so Candy wanted to help. “But I had to drag Matt here. He’s been in party mode for the entire trip.”
“Party mode? Matt?” Jane tilted her head, quirking an eyebrow at him. “How have you been partying exactly?”
“Oh, with this and that,” Matt said, clearing his throat, glancing at Candy.
“What hasn’t he done? Karaoke…a limbo contest…beach volleyball…parasailing. I’ve been trying to get him to work with me on a project, but the man won’t stop playing.”