Cougar Christmas Read online

  Did this couple remind her of herself and her ex, Charles? Come to think of it, Drew did remember Charles acting much like Stan was now whenever he had deigned to make an appearance with Gen at any of the company events. Always on his phone, always preoccupied… Was sitting at this table bringing back bad memories for her?

  Drew hoped not. He still didn’t know exactly what had been wrong with her before he’d managed to lighten her mood during the couples’ therapy art class. He didn’t need to add another worry to his list.

  When dinner was finally over, he was glad to take Gen’s hand—a gesture which now felt completely normal and right—and lead her out of the dining room.

  “Well that was…interesting,” Drew remarked, as soon as they were out of ear-shot.

  “Don’t you mean sad?” Genevieve sighed and crossed her arms over her breasts. Tonight she was wearing a little black dress that emphasized her curves and some high black pumps to match.

  “You mean the way our new dinner companions completely ignored each other?” Drew raised an eyebrow at her as they stepped into the elevator. “Or at least Stan ignored Georgia,” he added, pushing the button for their floor.

  “What a jerk,” Genevieve muttered, looking down at her shoes.

  “Remind you of anybody you know?” Drew asked neutrally.

  She sighed. “My ex, of course. Did I tell you he left me for his secretary? Twenty-three, platinum blonde hair, built like a model—she probably weighed eighty-three pounds soaking wet.” She shrugged, still looking down at her shoes. “I mean, who could blame him?”

  “I could,” Drew growled. “He was an idiot for leaving—an unfaithful idiot.” Cheating really pissed him off for personal reasons.

  “Yeah, well…” She shrugged again.

  “Look, Gen…” Drew reached out to lift her chin, making her meet his eyes. “If it’s any consolation, I know what you’re going through,” he murmured. “I had a girlfriend in college and we were serious—really serious. In fact, I was going to ask her to marry me—had the ring and everything.”

  “Oh?” Her eyes, which had gone dull and sad a moment ago, were suddenly sharp with interest. “What happened?”

  Drew sighed. “What happened was I was going to surprise her in her dorm room, get her to come out on a romantic date and then pop the question. I had it all planned out—candlelit dinner, horse drawn carriage—the works.”

  “And?” Genevieve was giving him a look of sympathy now but Drew found he didn’t mind—after all, she’d been through the same thing herself.

  “And when I walked in, she was making the beast with two backs with one of her professors.” He ran a hand through his hair. “So that was the end of that.”

  “Oh, Drew—I’m so sorry.” To his surprise, Genevieve took his hand and entwined their fingers. “It hurts, doesn’t it?” she murmured.

  “Hurts like hell,” he admitted. He hadn’t actually let himself think of his little college misadventure for a number of years but now he admitted to himself it was probably why he’d thrown himself into his job and hadn’t bothered much with dating. Well, until now—if you could call what he and Gen were doing dating. “I made it out all right,” he said, trying to shake off the bad memory. “Luckily, I was able to take the ring back.”

  Genevieve sighed and looked down at her left hand where the huge diamond sparkled. “I wish I could take mine back—pawn it, sell it, give it away—I just wish I could get rid of it. It’s a constant reminder of Charles and his unfaithfulness but I can’t take it off for fear people in the office will start asking questions.”

  “It is kind of noticeable,” Drew mused, looking at the glittering, pear-shaped diamond on her slender finger. I know it’s one of the first things I noticed about you—well, that and your amazing ass.”

  “Drew!” She slapped him on the chest but she was smiling when she did it. Drew was glad to see that he’d been able to lift her mood.

  “I’m serious,” he said with a straight face as they stepped out of the elevator. “I thought to myself—‘how am I ever going to concentrate on work when my boss has such an amazing ass?’”

  “And then you found out I was the Dragon Lady and my ass got a whole lot easier to ignore, huh?” Gen was still smiling but there was hurt in her big brown eyes too.

  “You’re not the Dragon Lady anymore.” Drew stopped walking as they reached the door of their suite and reached out to cup her cheek. “Not to me. Now you’re just…Gen.”

  “Thank you, Drew.” She blushed, her cheek growing hot under his hand. “Um…I guess we should go inside and, um, get on with it.” She gestured to the door.

  “Get on with it?” Drew frowned as he opened the door and ushered her into the suite. “Oh, you mean our ‘homework’—the erotic bubble bath Dr. Feel Good prescribed for us.”

  “Right.” Her body was suddenly quivering with tension—he could actually see her trembling.

  Drew hoped she wasn’t dreading the experience—he personally was really looking forward to it but he didn’t want Gen to feel too upset or freaked out to enjoy it.

  “Hey…” He put a hand on her shoulder and bent down to look into her eyes. “It’s gonna be okay, Gen. It’s just a bath.”

  “And…whatever other exercise we choose.” She looked up at him, her elbows cupped nervously in her palms. “Any thoughts on that?”

  Drew had all kinds of thoughts on what he’d like to do to her but he thought it was probably better to get through the bath first.

  “We can talk about it later,” he said soothingly. “For now, let me get the bath running.”

  He went into the bathroom and got the water going in the huge marble tub. There was a large selection of bubble baths to choose from and he was surprised to see an ice bucket with a bottle of expensive champagne chilling in it. There were two crystal flutes to go with it and a handwritten card which said simply, “Enjoy.”

  “Drew” he heard Genevieve’s soft voice behind him.

  “Hmm?” He turned around and saw that she was already undressed and wrapped in a fluffy white towel.

  “I hope you don’t mind.” She gestured at herself nervously. “I, uh, thought it would be better if I undressed myself this time.”

  Drew was disappointed—he’d been looking forward to taking off her clothing piece by piece—but he told himself not to be greedy. At least he still got to see her naked and wash her beautiful body in the tub.

  “Have a look at this,” he said, gesturing to the champagne. “One guess who sent it.”

  “Dr. Phillips.” Genevieve made a face. “He probably thinks that getting us tipsy will lower our inhibitions.”

  Drew cocked an eyebrow at her. “So we’ll put on a better show for him?”

  “Maybe.” She sighed. “Well, he’s not wrong—about the alcohol loosening us up. I’m, um, really nervous about this. Maybe we’d better break out the bubbly even if it was sent by Phillips.”

  “Good point.” Andrew popped the cork and poured two fizzing glasses. Then he turned back to Genevieve. “Can I help you in? It’s kind of slippery—I might have put in too much bubble bath.”

  “As long as there are plenty of bubbles I don’t mind.”

  “Why do you say that?” Drew asked, frowning. “You feeling shy, Gen?”

  “Very.” She bit her lip. “I can’t help it. I haven’t, uh, been naked in front of a man for a long time.”

  “What about your ex, Charles?”

  She shrugged. “Like I said, it’s been a long time. The, uh, sex was the first thing to go. I haven’t had a man touch me in over a year. Maybe two. Well, I mean, other than you, that is.”

  She was blushing again and Andrew thought how beautiful it made her.

  “That’s a damn shame, Gen,” he murmured. “You want to see if we can break your dry spell tonight? I mean, the not-being-touched dry spell. Not…anything else.”

  “I know what you mean. You really want to?” She cocked her head to one side. “Or