Hot Zone, Page 2

  “A source told me you were going to be on the ten o’clock news!” she announced gleefully.

  “And this is a good thing?”

  He wasn’t thrilled with the last media coverage he’d gotten, when that neighboring café went up in flames. Not that Flash had been at fault. Knowing her, she’d probably contained the story. Things certainly could have gotten worse.

  “This is a triumph,” she said. “That guy who was shooting the video of the picket line? He sold a local station on running footage…and I happen to know the news anchor. Personally. Very personally.”

  “So you got it pulled.”

  “And miss an opportunity to herald in the opening of Hot Zone? Not on your life! I simply got him to show me the footage so I could help him pick what to use…and what to add to the commentary. Trust me on this one, Luke. Gotta go. Things to do, people to entice. Ta!”

  Flash headed for the stairs and the temporary second-floor offices, set up for their use while they were in Chicago.

  Luke had no reason to doubt Flash. She was an expert at putting out fires. So why did a frisson of unease follow him as he got back to work? Undoubtedly, the clip wouldn’t go the way Helen had planned, which would make her one unhappy lady. Good thing it wouldn’t air until after their evening together. Or perhaps they’d be otherwise occupied into the wee hours of the morning….

  Not that he would regret anything if it meant protecting his growing coffeehouse empire.

  He’d come far from his raw beginnings, probably because he put every fiber of his being into his business.

  And every ounce of savvy and charm.

  Whatever it took.

  HELEN WAS STILL STEAMING as zero hour drew closer. She was working at one of the café’s computers, building a Web site for a new freelance client, when Kate Malone, her assistant manager, stopped to look over her shoulder.

  “What do you think?” Helen asked, pointing to the jazzy set of buttons and bars on the screen.

  “I think you should be getting ready instead of working. I thought you hired me so you could have some free time.”

  Helen glanced up at Kate with her short white-blonde hair and retro horn-rimmed glasses. The young woman was too thin and so pale she looked like a wraith, someone who could simply disappear in a crowd.

  “Unfortunately, time spent with Luke DeVries wouldn’t be free,” Helen muttered. Quickly, she saved the graphics set. “I’d be paying a big price.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “Never mind.”

  Helen didn’t know Kate well enough to confide in her—she’d only hired the other woman some weeks before. And her best friends weren’t available to lend their ears. Unfortunately she’d seen Annie climb on the back of Nate’s motorcycle and ride off with him. And Nick had said he was taking his girlfriend Isabel and her sister Louise to an early movie. So she had no one to gripe to but herself.

  Or maybe her time would be better spent figuring out a maneuver that would pay off. That’s what Luke DeVries was doing, she was certain. He hadn’t gotten into the picket line next to her without knowing who she was. He’d tricked her, had gotten her interested, then gone in for the kill—not that she wouldn’t have seen through him given a few more moments.

  Turn around was fair play, she mused. So he thought he could use her, charm her into seeing things his way…. Well, let him underestimate her.

  He would be in for a big surprise.

  She reopened the page she’d been working on. The Web site was for Muscle Beach, a new workout facility located on a beach overlooking Lake Michigan. This was the second of its sort, the one at North Avenue Beach so successful that another gym had been opened farther north. But their Web site had been created too quickly and with little panache. Helen had put in her bid to fix that and had easily won the contract.

  But this was a bad time to be working on something that took such concentration, she thought, trying not to look too closely at the provided photos, many of which were gorgeous young men showing off their oil-slicked musculature.

  Gorgeous musculature that reminded her of Luke DeVries’s body.

  Though he’d been fully dressed in trousers and a knit polo shirt, she hadn’t missed the breadth of his shoulders or the expanse of his chest or the trimness of his waistline. Imagining him in nothing but a scrap of swimwear made her pulse rush, and she realized she would love to see him like that…or in nothing at all.

  Flustered, hoping Kate wouldn’t notice the flush she felt warm her cheeks, Helen quickly finished adding buttons to the page, saved her work and copied it to disk before taking herself off to the rest room. There she touched up her makeup and finger-combed her wild curls. Most women with naturally curly hair tried to straighten it—often in vain—but Helen worked with what she had to her best advantage.

  Just as she would with Luke DeVries, she mused, thinking she would get a grip on herself and remember why she was going through with this charade. She returned to the café and looked at its crackled yellow walls, row of computers and upholstered couch and chairs around the fireplace. She’d seen to every detail, picked every chair and every decorative item herself.

  She even knew her regular customers by name and knew what they drank. Books stacked next to one of the computers, Sam the student was hard at work. He drank his coffee strong and black. Laura the housewife and mother parked her toddler Jenny on one of the couches. The little girl slurped chocolate milk while Laura drank a mochachino. And Tilda, the old homeless woman, sat in a corner window with her plastic bags and watched the world go by as she poured more sugar into her decaf. Somehow, Helen had gotten attached to them and her other regulars, as well—people who’d found a second home here.

  None of whom fit the Hot Zone profile, so where would they go if Helen’s Cybercafé ceased to exist?

  Her baby was in jeopardy.

  The entry door opened and in walked Annie, jiggling a bag. “Hey.”

  “I thought you and Nate were off somewhere.”

  “He just took me to the drugstore. Got some photos developed.” She dropped the bag down on a table and sat. “I came back to show you.”

  “Hah! You came back to see what I would do when Luke DeVries walked through that door.”

  Annie grinned and a dimple puckered her cheek. “You know me too well.”

  Helen checked the clock. “Fifteen minutes more, assuming he’s punctual. Kate, could you please get us a couple of cappuccinos?”

  “Sure thing.”

  While getting jazzed just thinking about Luke, Helen attentively looked over the photographs. She couldn’t deny the twinge of envy she felt. The photos were mostly of Annie and Nate. Together. A real couple who would someday be man and wife. Not that she resented their happiness. Or Nick’s with Isabel, for that matter. Her two best friends being attached and her having no one simply changed the dynamics a bit.

  Her being the fifth wheel didn’t change how the three friends felt about each other, she assured herself. They would always be there for one another.

  “So what are your plans for tonight?” Annie asked, stacking the photos in a neat pile.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t give me that innocent face. I know you better than that. You always think the worst of men, just like you did about Nate. The things you said about him are nothing compared to your comments about Luke DeVries. So why are you going out with him? I mean, I’d like to say, great, go for it, but I know you, Helen. You compartmentalize everything, including your heart.”

  “All right, so I’m looking out for myself. I’m going to get to know Luke DeVries better so that I can find his Achilles’ heel,” Helen said, ignoring the way her heart beat a bit faster at the thought of being alone with the man.

  “That’s not like you.”

  “I don’t care. I want leverage. I don’t intend to let him put me out of business. How do I know he hasn’t already started his campaign to ruin me?” Helen asked. “If I hadn’t caught it last
week, that carton of spoiled chicken salad could have sent several of my customers to the emergency room. And, before that, I had the electrical problem that shut me down for a day and a half.”

  “Which Nate assured you was simply a glitch in the system,” Annie reminded her.

  Nate was not only Annie’s fiancé but their commercial landlord, as well.

  “Whatever,” Helen muttered.

  “Maybe you ought to give the guy a break,” Annie told her. “Take a wait-and-see attitude.”

  “If I wait and see and find I’m right, it’ll be too late for this business.”

  Kate delivered the cappuccinos. “All businesses have problems of various sorts. So a couple of cafés closed when a Hot Zone opened nearby. Could be nothing more than coincidence. And are you sure it’s all true…or is some of that rumor generated by bored busybodies?”

  “She has a point,” Annie said.

  “I can only hope so.”

  Before they could further discuss the issue, Luke DeVries himself walked through the door.

  Though still dressed casually, he had changed clothing. Helen squirmed a little since she was still wearing the same calf-length pants and crop top she’d donned that morning. She hadn’t had a chance to get home, shower and change. But he certainly had.

  His tan trousers were perfectly pleated and his soft gold polo shirt set off his tan and picked up the highlights in his freshly spiked hair. He set his hands in his pockets as he looked around approvingly, and Helen noted he wore a gold Rolex on one wrist and a gold linked bracelet on the other.

  GQ, she thought as his dark gaze finally found hers. Definitely GQ.

  And if she wanted him for the evening, he was all hers….

  For a moment—for one heart-stopping moment— Helen forgot every objection she had about the man.

  2

  LUKE TOOK ONE LOOK at their faces and knew Helen had been talking about him to her friend and the pale employee who whipped around and headed back behind the counter.

  “Did I interrupt something?”

  “We were just chatting,” Helen said, her long magenta fingernails tapping against a mug. “Passing the time until you arrived.”

  “Uh-huh. Well, I’m here now, darlin’.” Luke gave her his widest grin. “And you’re ready to go?”

  From the expression that crossed Helen’s stunning features, Luke figured he’d been right to wonder if he would have to sweet-talk her. But in the end, she got to her feet and he realized she’d sweet-talked herself into an evening with him. He could tell she was anxious to get out the door. Afraid she might change her mind?

  He looked past her to her friend still seated and politely held out his hand. “Luke DeVries.”

  Giving him a no-nonsense shake and a once-over that would intimidate a lesser man, the woman said, “Annie Wilder.”

  Luke inclined his head. “Annie’s Attic. I’ve heard nothing but praise for the way you handle your business. And that display window of yours is a real eye pleaser.”

  Behind her glasses, Annie’s eyes blinked and took on a new shine. “Well…thanks.”

  Helen cleared her throat. “So are we going somewhere or what?”

  Luke turned his grin on her. “I guess we are.”

  She opened the door before he could get to it, but he took it from her and placed a light hand on her back. On her bare back. She hadn’t changed her outfit and her midriff was still exposed. Her skin seemed to come alive under his hand. He came alive and took a deep breath to steady himself.

  “What are you driving?” Out at the curb, she looked around for a vehicle.

  “I thought the walk would do us good,” he said, taking her elbow and hurrying her across the busy intersection. “You know…stretch the muscles…relax.”

  “We need to relax?”

  “You certainly do, darlin’. You’re wound up tighter than a diamondback rattler.”

  She flexed and subtly freed her arm as they walked up Milwaukee Avenue. “You’re comparing me to a snake?”

  “Why, snakes can be right sexy.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I’m serious. Ever touched one?”

  “No.”

  “They’re long and firm and smooth to the touch. And when you hold one in your hand—”

  “I don’t care to hold one…” Her voice trailed off and her expression turned suspicious. “We are still talking about snakes, aren’t we?”

  “You tell me,” Luke said, laughing.

  Helen laughed, too, though she tried to cover and it came out more like a snort. She didn’t seem to mind, though. At least she had a sense of humor.

  He congratulated himself. The ploy had worked. While his beautiful nemesis probably wasn’t totally relaxed, she did seem a bit more at ease with him.

  Which lasted only a moment before she asked, “So what is this really about, Mr. DeVries?”

  “Call me Luke. What do you mean ‘this’?”

  “Dinner. Coffee. Whatever.”

  “Simple. I thought if we spent some quality time together, you could get to know me and my business better and realize I’m no threat to you.”

  “That’s to be seen,” she muttered, and he wasn’t certain she was referring to their businesses.

  And then her gaze seemed to fix on the building ahead and her spine seemed to lengthen and she seemed to grow an inch. She gave him an intent look.

  “Hot Zone? That’s where you’re planning on taking me?”

  “How else can you see how the work is coming along?” he asked, unlocking the door and smoothly ushering her inside.

  Helen started. The click of the lock behind her sounded so…final. Her heart fluttered and she could hear the rush of her pulse through her ears.

  What was wrong with her? Of course Luke would lock the place up for safety’s sake. And if he had other ideas, so what? She certainly didn’t have to go along with them.

  But she certainly had been going along with him to this point. And she continued to do so by following him from the red-hot foyer into the golden-walled main room with windows to the street on one side and a glass-block wall on the alley side.

  “Have a look around,” Luke said.

  Helen was already looking. She noted an alcove on the far side of the spacious room with steps up to a gigantic hot tub. Two doorways led to locker rooms, if the Ladies and Gents signs were any indication. Past the locker rooms, she noted another alcove with a steam room and sauna.

  Seating for the coffeehouse itself was split between three levels, the top level being where they’d come in. Helen stepped forward and peered down to the lower levels with their mosaic tiled walls in blues and greens and golds. The groupings of white-wicker sofas and chairs on the middle level had cushions of gold and red with touches of blue and green to connect with the tile.

  “This used to be the swimming pool and the tile is original,” Luke told her, so close behind her that his breath ruffled her hair and tickled the back of her ear. “What do you think?”

  Sensation rushing through her, Helen thought she wanted to have sex with him right then and there on one of the exotic print couches. The effect he was going for, she was certain. Hot Zone was meant for seduction. She turned to face him, subtly giving herself some breathing space.

  “Do you rent rooms upstairs?”

  He laughed at her sarcasm. “Sorry, I’m not running a brothel.”

  “Could have fooled me.”

  “So you don’t like it?”

  “It’s well executed,” she admitted, not wanting to get too enthusiastic about her competition. “And you’re going to pay for all this selling coffee?”

  “And light fare and desserts…back massages and spa passes on the weekends.”

  “So you’ve done this before.”

  “Nope. Every Hot Zone offers something different. The one in Hollywood is in an old movie theater, for example. And one in Santa Fe is also an art gallery. We offer programs and craft demonstrations along with refreshmen
ts. Speaking of which…dinner or coffee? What’s your pleasure? We intend to induce a lot of pleasure around here.”

  He heard her breath catch in her throat. She was trying to hide her reaction but the tiny sound was so revealing.

  He also saw it in her face—her features softening like a woman contemplating being satiated in every way. And he saw it in her gemstone eyes, emeralds that shone with depth. For the first time, he noted the tiny mole at the corner of her right eye.

  Fascinated, he couldn’t help but stare.

  Her stomach growled, breaking the intimate moment. “Um, dinner, please,” she finally said with a shrug and added, “You said to be hungry.”

  “Do you usually follow orders?”

  “Only if the whim takes me.”

  He stepped closer and was a little surprised when she stayed put—they were almost touching. “Now, why don’t I get the feeling that you’re a whimsical sort of a girl?”

  “Woman. So what kind am I?”

  “Pragmatic…opinionated…stubborn…”

  “Be still my heart. If you’re not careful, Luke DeVries, you’ll turn my head.”

  Knowing this was his cue to say something equally witty, Luke went straight for the truth instead. “You didn’t let me finish. I meant to add exceedingly beautiful.”

  Then she took a step back and the sparkle in her eyes dissipated. A moment ago, she was interested. Now she was wary. Because he’d told her she was beautiful? How odd.

  “So, where are we off to?” she asked.

  “Your choice.” And as she headed for the foyer, he said, “Pick a table. Any table.”

  “Here?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  He simply wondered how much of his plan she would be willing to go along with.

  DEFINITELY IMPRESSED with Luke’s plans for this Hot Zone, Helen tried not to show it. The man was too confident…too full of himself…too tempting. Thus, the reason she’d chosen a table on the top seating level. Below, those couches looked sinfully comfortable and she didn’t want to let down her guard. An opportunist, Luke DeVries would pounce on any weakness, she was certain…definitely he would pounce on her.