“How?”

Jessica studied her assistant, and it occurred to her that Marla could have been so much more than that. She could have been a friend. Her career wouldn’t have been threatened, the campaign still would have been wildly successful. The only difference would have been that Jessica wouldn’t have been so incredibly alone. “Obviously,” she said, “this goes nowhere, but you were right about Dan. He isn’t my old college boyfriend.”

Marla didn’t say anything. She just put her paper cup down on the table.

“He’s a friend of a friend. I hired him to act like my boyfriend. You already figured out why.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Only now, you’re kind of wishing he really was your boyfriend.”

Jessica winced. “I’m not. At least I don’t think I am. No, I’m not. I can’t get involved. It goes against all my better judgment. Every woman I know in business has had to choose between love and real success. I don’t want to have to make that choice.”

“Love?”

Jessica felt the heat in her cheeks. “It was rhetorical.”

“Right.”

“No, I don’t love him. At least, I don’t think I do. It’s just…”

“You can’t stop thinking about him? You feel like you’re a completely different person when he’s near? You want to share every new sight and taste and sound with him? The whole universe has come into focus and you didn’t even know it’d been blurry?”

She chuckled. “Something like that.”

Marla leaned forward and touched her hand. The small gesture was completely foreign to their previous relationship, and yet at this moment, Jessica welcomed the kindness so much she actually teared up.

“Jessica, jobs come and go. But to lose someone like Dan…”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It can be. If you let it.”

Jessica stared at her coffee, feelings she never would have imagined stirring deep inside, confusing her as nothing in her life had before. “I don’t know. I think I might know a way to have both him and my career.”

“Then go for it,” Marla said. “You deserve happiness, Jessica. Not just success.”

“I always thought success was happiness.”

“Oh, man,” Marla said, leaning back on her chair. “That’s, well, kinda sad, isn’t it?”

Jessica didn’t answer. Not out loud, at least.

Top 5 things men know about women:

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17

JESSICA’S PACE down the hotel hallways slowed to just above a crawl as she approached her suite. Yes, she wanted to see Dan, but she still hadn’t figured out the perfect way to ask him to be part of her grand plan.

Casual was the way to go, but not too casual; she didn’t want him to feel peripheral, as if any man could do the trick. But she also didn’t want to sound desperate and needy. If the plan was going to work, they both needed to want it. It would take some amount of coordination, and the whole scheme would crumple if Dan ended up feeling as if he wasn’t getting enough of her time, or attention, or whatever. She had to be passionate about the benefits of the intermittent affair. He could feel completely unencumbered when he went off to do research or consulting, or climbing Everest. She would never be jealous or possessive. He could do as he pleased, as long as he was careful, and when they both deemed it time, they’d come together in what she fully expected to be a mind-blowing week of unadulterated bliss. Then they’d go to their separate corners until the next time.

Think of how much they would have to tell each other if they didn’t see each other day after dull day. It would be like Christmas four times a year. Everything would be new and fresh and thrilling. In the downtimes, they could enjoy the benefits of singlehood, like not worrying about what time dinner was, or having to go to mind-numbing client parties.

To her mind, the arrangement was the best of all possible worlds. She just hoped like hell she could convince him. No. She would convince him. She was in the process of getting the whole world slathering to buy New Dawn cosmetics, and according to all reliable sources, she’d done just that. If she could convince a whole country, convincing one man would be a snap.

She finally reached her door. She slipped in the key card, turning the little light green, and went inside. “Hello?”

No answer. In her note she’d said she’d be back by one, and it was almost two. Dan had probably gotten bored and gone off for lunch.

Her shoulders relaxed as she put down her briefcase. What she wanted now was a bath. A big, long soak-extravaganza that would prune her skin and ease her aches. A nap would have been even more perfect, but she’d never trust herself to get up again. So a bath it would be.

She went to the bathroom and started the water in the big Roman tub. No jets, but plenty of room to stretch out. There was even a terry-bath pillow provided, along with two lilac-scented candles.

Her robe still hung on the bathroom door from this morning, so she didn’t have to fetch that. She did, however, need to get her cell, despite the fact that if anyone had the nerve to call her, she’d cheerfully wring their necks. But she was technically on call, so…

Undressing slowly, she got all the way down to panties before pinning up her hair. She thought about applying a mud mask, but what if Dan came back? She didn’t want to look like a Kabuki dancer.

The thought of him joining her in that great big tub gave her a little shiver, although really, she needed the rest. She’d decide if and when. No need to stress about it, or anything at the moment.

Peeling down her panties and tossing them in the corner, she lit both candles, turned off the lights, then turned off the water, pleased at the billowing bubbles that she had brought forth. Already sighing, she tested the water with her big toe, then her foot. Satisfied that she wouldn’t be scalded, she climbed into the tub, letting her body adjust in stages, until she lay neck high in happiness.

It took a couple of tries to get the pillow in exactly the right position, but it was worth it. She sighed one more time as she closed her eyes, her body floating, her mind at peace. All was right with her world.

She must have fallen asleep, because the sound of the door opening woke her with a start. She smiled, sinking down a little deeper into the water. Clearly she hadn’t been out for long, because the water was still toasty and the bubbles hadn’t dissipated.

“Hello,” she said, her eyes still closed. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Dan didn’t say anything, but she could hear the soft plop of shirt and pants hit the tile.

She squirmed under the soft cover of bubbles, anticipating the wonderfulness of Dan plus bath plus soap plus her. It added up to one spectacular experience with the extra-added bonus of not having to clean up.

His feet hardly made a sound as they crossed the room. She opened her eyes languidly, focusing in on his good parts.

With a flash of horror, she realized they weren’t his good parts at all.

It was Owen, wearing nothing but a pair of way-too-tight red bikini briefs, his chubby middle sticking out over the top. He smiled at her as if he were Brad Pitt, and if she hadn’t been so damn frightened she would have laughed out loud.

She put her left hand over her cell phone and without even looking at it, pressed speed-dial five. Then, very calmly, she said, “What are you doing, Owen?”

“I know all about your boyfriend.”

“Oh?”

He moved over to the side of the tub, and for a horrifying minute she thought he was going to climb in with her. Instead, he sat on the edge, casually crossing his legs as if they were at the Manhattan Ocean Club instead of her bathroom. “Oh, yeah. I know it all.”

“What do you know?