Anything You Can Do(48)

He raised his soft drink. "To your new status as a partner of Hoskins, Grier and Morris."

"My unofficial status," she corrected.

"Of course. But not for long. When it becomes official, we'll have champagne instead of soda."

They sipped their drinks and eyed each other warily, gleefully.

"Kind of a rough thing to do to a new partner, though," he said, leaning back into the corner of the sofa in pretended nonchalance. "Hitting you with such a major decision before you have time to catch your breath."

"Actually I'm flattered that they respect my opinion so much." She leaned back too, stretched her legs out, then remembered her attire and tucked her legs under her. Damn! If she had the guts to wear it, why didn't she have the guts to use it to advantage?

"I'm sure, as a new partner, you'll probably just go along with the majority." He clasped his hands behind his head and smiled.

"How simple you make things sound, assuming there is a majority to go along with." She returned his smile, swirled the liquid in her can. "And assuming I'm a follower."

He leaned forward, set his empty can on the coffee table, then flattened his palms on his knees, crushing the sharp creases in his dark slacks. She could almost feel the warmth from those hands, and instinctively her hands found the same position on her own knees.

"I'm sure it must be difficult, though," he said, "for somebody who's just achieved a small plateau to be able to visualize the larger scope of things, to conceive of attaining more distant but vastly more satisfying goals." He moved closer, leaned toward her urgently.

"Probably as difficult as it would be for an entity interested only in self-advancement to allow for anyone else's growth in a way that didn't benefit him."

"Or her." He raised his hands to her shoulders, and she thought for a minute he was going to shake her, but he only held her very still, forcing her to look directly at him. "If everyone else wants a chance to move ahead, it's not fair for one person to hold them back."

They were almost nose to nose. She could feel his warm breath on her face, reminding her of the warm night air. Her own breath came faster.

"I guess if everyone else wants something, one person's vote won't be enough to stop them, will it?" she asked, struggling to remember what they were talking about.

His hands moved from her shoulders to her face, gently caressed her cheeks. "One person can frequently change the way things are supposed to go." His voice had become softer but more intense.

She braced her hands on his chest to keep from toppling forward against him, to hold him in place while they settled this. "Not without cooperation." Whatever the hell it was they were trying to settle.

He was talking again, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. A great wind roared inside her head. Through a fog, she could see his lips moving, coming closer, so close she couldn't see them. Since there was no point in trying to see, she closed her eyes and raised her face.

The door slammed. "I think he's following me!" Paula announced. Samantha flew out from her position between Bailey and Austin to climb over the back of the sofa, racing toward the sound of Paula's voice.

Bailey pulled away from Austin, felt his touch leave her, drew in several deep breaths, tried to orient herself in time and space.

"Oh, crud!" Paula gasped. "Excuse me, I didn't realize—I'll just pop into my bedroom. If somebody comes to the door, you never heard of me."

"Paula, wait!" Bailey exclaimed. "Come back here. What are you talking about? Who's following you?"

Paula cast Austin a wary look. "Seven o'clock," she answered. "We'll discuss it later." She darted into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Her seven-o'clock date, Bailey interpreted. She glanced at Austin to see how he was reacting to Paula's erratic behavior.

He blinked rapidly a couple of times, but not before she'd seen the remnants of a glazed expression in his eyes. He cleared his throat. "Is Paula okay?"

Bailey sighed. "I doubt it. I think she's probably gone over the edge."

"Well, I guess you'd better check on her, and we'll have to reschedule our, uh, discussion."

Bailey nodded. And Paula had better be in extremely dire straits to justify her exquisitely bad timing.

She closed the door behind Austin, grabbed her soda off the floor, slipped into shorts and a T-shirt, and charged into Paula's room. "Your seven o'clock followed you home? I knew you'd get mixed up with a nut!"