Sherrilyn Kenyon Read online

  o everything there’s a season. A time to work and a time to

  play. And on that particular Friday afternoon as she sat in

  her posh office, Robyn Garrett was definitely in the mood to

  play.

  Robyn’s gaze slid longingly to the corner of her computer

  screen where the time glared mockingly at her.

  Four o’clock.

  Would this day ever end?

  Sighing, she drummed her purple manicured nails on her

  desk as she flipped through the pages of Vogue.

  What could she say? At nine-forty when she’d shown up

  late for work her productivity had been low, and then after her

  two-hour lunch it’d taken a massive nose dive into oblivion. No

  amount of anything could resuscitate it.

  The day was a complete wash.

  For a moment she considered telling her boss she’d devel-

  oped a stomach virus, but if she used that excuse one more

  time Alisha might call in a specialist.

  Leaning her cheek against her fist, Robyn glanced up as

  Trish Harris sauntered by. She loved the crisp, black Armani

  suit Trish wore. It was elegant and chic with just a bold touch

  of leopard print trim. The entire ensemble really set off the rich

  deep coffee color of Trish’s skin.

  “You know what I want, Trish?” Robyn asked.

  4 | SHERRILYN KENY O N

  Trish paused with her left brow arched in that look Robyn

  had dubbed the not-another-one-of-your-crazy-notions-Robyn

  look. “I can’t imagine.”

  Robyn turned the copy of Vogue she’d been reading to

  face their hotshot graphics artist and pointed to the model

  wearing a sack dress that showed her bones off to perfection.

  “I want a man who can look at this ad and think what I think.”

  Trish looked at the ad, then back at Robyn. “And that is?”

  “Someone throw that woman a cheeseburger and make

  her eat it before she dies of starvation.”

  Trish laughed. But as Alisha Bentley stuck her head out of

  the door of her office, Trish sobered and snapped to attention

  like a soldier facing her commanding officer. And indeed, that

  was exactly how Alisha ran their match-making company.

  “Tell me, Robyn,” Alisha asked in her usual distemper. “Is

  work for the day optional?”

  “It is for what you pay me,” Robin mumbled as she tucked

  the magazine into her desk drawer.

  Alisha stiffened, but by the puzzled frown on her face,

  Robyn could tell she hadn’t quite caught her words. “What was

  that?”

  “What was what?” Robyn asked, blinking her eyes in an

  innocent expression.

  Alisha glanced to Trish, then pinned her gaze on Robyn.

  “What did you just say?”

  “When?”

  Alisha gave one evil glare, then returned to her office.

  Trish took a step forward and lowered her voice to where

  Alisha couldn’t overhear them. “Girl, one day you are going to

  get fired for doing that.”

  And Robyn probably would too, knowing her luck. As the

  old song went, if it weren’t for bad luck, she’d have no luck at

  all. Doom, despair, rained agony on her.

  But she couldn’t seem to help herself.

  She loved Alisha and all the women here. They were more

  her family than the people genetically tied to her. But the devil

  T HE DAT E | 5

  in Robyn made it hard to keep such comments to herself. Then

  again, the devil in her made her do a lot of things she knew

  better than to do.

  Maybe what she really needed was a good old-fashioned

  exorcism.

  Shaking her head to clear her rambling thoughts, she met

  Trish’s concerned gaze. “I’m going to behave today,” she whis-

  pered, more for her benefit than Trish’s.

  “That’s the ticket,” Trish whispered before heading back to

  her office.

  Robyn turned in her chair back to the computer monitor.

  Work, Robyn, work.

  Work, schmerk. Who could work on such a wonderful

  summer day?

  Robyn’s attention drifted to the windows where the bright

  sun beckoned her with temptation. And Robyn had never been

  one to deny temptation.

  At least not for long, anyway.

  It was one of those wonderful D.C. summer afternoons

  where she’d like nothing better than to shed her stodgy pink

  office dress (and the lavender pantyhose that felt more like a

  torture device than fashion item) and pull on a pair of cut-offs

  and a tank top and walk barefoot around the Smithsonian.

  Closing her eyes, she could picture herself sitting down on the

  lawn by Capitol Hill, eating one of the scrumptious hotdogs

  from a vendor’s cart and watching the tourists flit by.

  And if she really wanted to make it perfect, Dave would be

  there as well.

  A smile curved her lips. “Dave,” she whispered with a sigh,

  wondering what he did during the daylight hours.

  For some reason, she pictured him like a seductive vam-

  pire who camped out in the daylight waiting for night to fall.

  Then, he would come alive and work his sexy spell on her.

  With a face to rival Leonardo di Caprio and the bod of

  Brendan Frasier, Steve was truly scrumptious. She’d ogled him

  from afar many a night at the Dark Blue Club where he played

  6 | SHERRILYN KENY O N

  piano better than Van Clibourne. But she’d only found the

  courage to speak to him a time or two.

  Normally, she had no problem at all walking up to a guy

  and doing what she wanted with him, but Dave was different.

  Very different.

  If only she knew why.

  “You still here?” Donna Royale broke Robyn out of her

  daze.

  “What?” Robyn focused on Donna’s face.

  “It’s five forty, Robyn. Normally you bust out like a bat out

  of hell at five-to-five.”

  Robyn started, then glanced to the clock on her computer

  screen which read 4:30. Times like this, she wished she wore a

  watch. Then again, if she did that, she’d have no excuse for

  being late from lunch.

  “All right,” Robyn said in a loud voice, “which one of you

  trollops reset my clock?”

  “I’m only a trollop if you want to draw unemployment,”

  Alisha Bentley said as she sauntered out of her office and

  closed the door.

  Robyn smiled her sweet face which could normally get

  Alisha to forgive her anything. “I didn’t mean you, Alisha. I

  would never have said it had I known you did it.”

  “Uh-hm. I’m sure you wouldn’t.”

  Robyn laughed. “I still love you, even if you did trick me.”

  “Trick you? Consider it penance for the fact that you’ve

  been forty-five minutes late every day this week.”

  Robyn clicked out of her spread sheet and word processing

  programs. “What can I say? I’m just a little too friendly with the

  s
nooze button.” Holding down the alt and F4 keys on her key-

  board, she brought up the shutdown menu. “Then again, I’m

  surprised it still works given how much wear and tear it goes

  through every day.”

  Alisha rolled her eyes. “Go on and have a great weekend.

  And for God’s sake, Robyn, try not to get into any trouble this

  time.”

  T HE DAT E | 7

  Robyn collected her purse and gave Alisha a military sa-

  lute. “Yes, ma’am. I promise, I’ll be real good this weekend.”

  The last sound Robyn heard from her coworkers was a

  sharp reprisal of her name as she swept through the door and

  headed for her red Mustang parked behind the brownstone

  office building.

  She got in and checked her car clock. It was five thirty-five

  and she was supposed to meet her best friend Rachel in less

  than an hour.

  “Oh well.” She switched the ignition on. “Rach would die

  of shock if I ever got there on time, anyway.”

  Backing up, she peeled out of the lot and headed to her

  townhouse in Georgetown that “Daddy” had non-graciously

  donated to her when he found out she’d been living with Gun

  Club.

  Robyn nicknamed all her boyfriends. So far there had been

  Duh-man, the Boor, Tightwad, and Mullet. The six-foot-tall,

  macho marine, Gun Club had just been another in a long line of

  guys who were fun to hang with, but weren’t the type of guy a

  woman settled down with unless she was completely stupid or

  totally desperate. And in spite of what her co-workers thought,

  she was neither.

  Robyn knew what she wanted. A nice, ever-so-slightly-

  dangerous-in-a-good-way guy who could make her feel what

  she’d never felt before.

  Unconditionally loved.

  Her parents had never had a minute to spare for her. Mom

  had always been the social queen while good old daddy was

  too busy running his company to even notice he had a daugh-

  ter.

  The girls at work were good friends, but they were more

  censorious of her behavior than an old-biddy school marm.

  What she needed was someone who could appreciate her

  for just being her. Someone who could appreciate her unique

  views of the world.

  8 | SHERRILYN KENY O N

  It was the only thing in life she had ever wanted. And it

  seemed to be the only thing in life she couldn’t have.

  Gearing down into third gear, Robyn drove around Dupont

  Circle and changed her destination. Forget about going back to

  her place, she needed to cut loose tonight and the sooner she

  picked up Rachel, the sooner she could set herself free.

  ###

  “Freedom,” Robyn grumbled four hours later. “Yee

  freakin’ hah.”

  Growling low in her throat, she pulled up in front of her

  townhouse. “Of all the lame things to do!”

  Okay, so Jason No-neck had been cute enough in the face,

  but all those bulging Arnold muscles were not to her tastes.

  “You won’t mind if I cut out early, Robyn? I know we were

  talking, but Jason has a Range Rover.” Robin mocked Rachel’s

  words.

  Letting go of her anger, Robyn sighed. She should probably

  hate her friend, but that would be like hating a leopard for

  having spots. Rachel was one of those tall, gorgeous types who

  drew men out of the woodwork. They couldn’t go any place

  that guys didn’t embarrass themselves trying to impress Ra-

  chel.

  “That’s what I get for letting her take me to The Pub House

  on a Friday night.” Of course, Rachel wouldn’t stick around

  while a gob of men were salivating for the model-thin bru-

  nette.

  Slamming shut the car door, Robyn caught sight of herself

  in the window. She barely cleared five feet with shoes on.

  Her lank, light brown hair was mousy when not bleached.

  It took a mountain of mouse every morning to get it to hold

  the chic tousled look she preferred and her gray eyes barely

  had a color to them at all.

  And never mind her bod.

  Yeah, compared to Rachel’s statuesque beauty, she was a

  poor substitute.

  T HE DAT E | 9

  Robyn placed her fingertip against the tip of her upturned

  nose and forced the flesh down into the semblance of a nor-

  mal, aquiline nose. “Maybe a nose job would help?”

  She scoffed at her reflection as she released her nose. “On

  second thought, a head transplant would be best.”

  Tossing her small purse over her shoulder where it dan-

  gled down her back, she started for her front door.

  She’d only taken a step when she decided she didn’t want

  to go in right now.

  No, not when she felt like this. Alone. Tired. Discouraged.

  For a woman of twenty-four, she felt ancient.

  If only she knew what she wanted out of life, perhaps that

  would help. Trish, Alisha, Alice, and even Donna had always

  known what they wanted, and they had headed straight for it.

  But not Robyn. All through college she had changed ma-

  jors, seeking something new, something exciting. Flitted from

  one guy to the next, all the while searching for...

  “A raison d’etre,” she whispered.

  She wanted her life to mean something.

  Robyn rubbed her hands over her eyebrows and shook her

  head. “Stop it, Robyn, right now! No more pity-party. What is

  wrong with you?”

  No more moping.

  Pivoting on her feet, she headed toward the street. She

  refused to go inside her house and make love to the chocolate-

  chip Hagen Daz! There were things to see and men to do, and

  right now she was going to head off toward the club and see

  what man she could find to silence all the ringing doubts eating

  her alive.

  Life was too short for this, and she was finally in the mood

  to corner Dave.

  ###

  It was only a short walk to the pub, but the place was

  completely packed. And worse than the exorbitant ten-dollar

  cover charge they had Fridays was the fact that Dave wasn’t

  playing.

  10 | SHERRILY N KENYO N

  “Just perfect,” she mumbled. “A perfect end to a perfect

  day.”

  What would happen next? Would Gorbechev drop the

  bomb on the city?

  Robyn blinked. Was Gorbechev still in power? Hell, for that

  matter was he even still alive? She never could keep her cur-

  rent events current.

  “Who cares? Alive or dead, he’s probably having more fun

  tonight than I am.”

  Even more deflated than she’d been ten minutes ago, she

  turned to leave and walked straight into a wall of hard muscle.

  Robyn opened her mouth to apologize as she looked up the

  tall, lean body and into the dark blue eyes she’d been longing

  for.

  “Hi.” Dave cracked that gorgeous smile that made her legs

  weak.

  “Hi,” she repeated, too awed by the feel of him just milli-

  meters away to come up with anything more witty to say.

  She’d never before been so close
to him. So close that she

  could actually feel the heat of his body. Smell the tart Brut af-

  tershave and see the faint stubble on his angular cheeks and

  jaw line.

  Pierce Brosnan had nothing on this guy. Nothing at all.

  He glanced around the crowded bar. “If you’re looking for

  your friend, she left about an hour ago.”

  “My friend?”

  “The tall long-legged blond—what’s her name? Dana?”

  It took her a minute before she caught his meaning. Seiz-

  ing it, she nodded. “Oh yeah, Donna. Darn!” She snapped her

  fingers. “I was hoping to catch her.” Anything beat admitting to

  the love-god that she’d only come here to bask in the hand-

  someness of his bod, or sigh at the sound of his deep baritone

  voice.

  “Darn?” he repeated with a short laugh. “Now there’s a

  word I haven’t heard in a while.”

  T HE DAT E | 11

  Robyn shrugged. “Hang around me and you’re sure to hear

  lots of words no one else uses.”

  One corner of his mouth lifted in a devilish grin. “Is that an

  open invitation?”

  For the first time in forever she actually felt heat creep up