Blogger Bundle Volume VIII: SBTB's Harlequins That Hooked You Read online

  “His name is Michael Thackery,” Nina told her. “I edited his memoirs, which are the dullest thing I’ve ever read, and he came in to the office today to talk about the line edit and asked me to dinner. And I thought, well, it’s a start. But now I need some help.”

  “Wait a minute.” A grin spread across Charity’s face. “This is the twit we’re talking about, right?”

  Nina glared at her. “Charity, this isn’t funny. I need help.”

  “Right. Sure.” Charity stood up. “Well, first of all, you have to stop wearing those blah colors. Gray and black do not suit you.” She moved around the shop, gathering up red lace and redder cashmere before she came back to Nina. “Here, go try these on.”

  Nina looked doubtfully at the clothing in her hands. At least there was no red feather boa. “What is this stuff?”

  “Red cashmere scoop-necked sweater,” Charity said. “Red lace panties. Red lace Incredibra.”

  Nina fished the bra out of the pile draped over her arm. “This thing is an Incredibra?” The bra dangled from her hand, round and shapely without her. It practically had cleavage without her. “I’ve heard about them, but I’ve never seen one.”

  “Yeah. It sort of pushes everything together and then shoves it up.” Charity shook her head. “I tried one on once, but since I’m a C-cup to begin with, it just made me look like I had a very large double chin with a cleft in it. My customers who are B-cups swear by it.”

  Nina glanced down at her own B-cups. “Okay, I’ll take it.”

  Charity frowned at her. “Don’t you want to try it on?”

  Nina shook her head. “I’m on my lunch hour. I’ll just trust you.”

  Charity shrugged. “Well, bring back what doesn’t look right, and we’ll try something else.”

  That afternoon after work, Nina tried on the clothes, while Fred sat bored at her feet, waiting for his walk. The Incredibra lived up to its name, incredibly bright red and incredibly structured so that her breasts moved up nearer her chin than she thought possible, creating cleavage that was clearly impossible. Combined with the red cashmere sweater, the outfit made Nina look like a very good time. I wonder what Alex would think of this, she thought, and then stamped on the thought. Alex was never going to see her red-cashmered cleavage.

  On the other hand, Michael was.

  She studied herself in the mirror, not sure she wanted red-cashmered cleavage with Michael. Michael looked as though he hadn’t had a sexual thought in his life, but maybe he came alive at night. Maybe incredible breasts were not a good move in Michael’s case. Maybe nondescript was better for a first date. No sense promising what she had no intention of delivering.

  She stripped off the sweater and the Incredibra, dropping them both on the bed, and started for her dresser to get a regular underwire. Fred put his paws on the bed, grabbed the bra and trotted to the door, and Nina ran after him and grabbed it back.

  “Just like a guy,” Nina said to him and tossed the bra farther up on the bed as she went to change.

  The regular underwire was much better, and the blue sweater she put over it was pretty without being a come-on, and her black skirt was knee-length, no slit. The outfit made her look attractive and responsible. It in no way said, “Yo, come jump my bones,” which was the message Charity said a good date outfit should send. The last thing Nina needed was a good date outfit that sent messages. The Incredibra was definitely going back…

  Nina looked at the bed. The Incredibra was gone.

  “Fred!” She took a quick lap through the apartment—kitchen, bathroom, living room—and stopped in front of the open window. Fred had found his own way of paying her back for putting off his walk. “You’re in big trouble, Fred,” she said and climbed out the window.

  She spotted him down beside the Dumpster, the bright red bra in his mouth. “Fred!” she yelled again, and he ducked behind the Dumpster. “You’re dead meat, Fred,” Nina told him as she ran down the fire escape. “You’re yesterday’s news, boy.”

  She trapped him behind the Dumpster, so he crawled farther behind it, into the cavern made by the open lid against the brick wall. She got down on her hands and knees and peered into the cave and saw Fred sitting there, morose as ever, her Incredibra at his feet.

  “Give me that,” she said to him. “Right now.” She crawled a little way under the lid, and Fred lowered his head and growled at her.

  Nina stopped. “You’re growling at me? You’re growling at me?”

  “Let me guess—De Niro,” Alex said from behind her, and she straightened in surprise and banged her head on the Dumpster lid.

  “You’re going back to the pound,” she told Fred as she backed out, rubbing her head.

  “Is your head all right?” Alex said when she was standing. “Let me see.” His hand was firm against her cheek, tilting her head down so that all she could see was the clean white T-shirt stretched across his broad chest. It was an extremely good chest, but she’d already been staring at it with lust for five weeks, so she closed her eyes to keep her concentration and to keep from grabbing him. He explored the incipient bump on the back of her head, and she drew a deep breath as his fingers moved through her hair and sent inappropriate chills down her spine. If she leaned forward another inch, she could lick his neck.

  That would be bad.

  Alex tilted her head back up to him. “The bump’s not too bad. We can still go jogging.” He let go of her chin and rested his hand on her shoulder. “I saw you streak past my window. Why are you down here braining yourself on a Dumpster?”

  “Fred,” Nina said, trying hard not to visibly enjoy his hand on her. “He’s going through a Stage. It’s the Terrible Twos. Or in his case, the Terrible Fourteens.”

  Alex let go of her and stooped down on his haunches to peer behind the Dumpster. “Fred? What’s wrong with you? Get out here.”

  Fred came trotting out and dropped the bra at Alex’s feet.

  “The hell with the pound,” Nina told Fred as she snatched for the bra. “I’m going to kill you right here.”

  Alex was too quick for her. He stood, holding the bra by one end, and squinted to read the tag. “The Incredibra.” He raised an eyebrow at Nina. “I’ve heard of these, but I’ve never seen one.”

  “Well, now you have.” Nina made another grab for it, but he moved it out of her reach again.

  “I mean, I’ve never seen one on an actual woman,” he explained. “In the flesh. It’s probably something I should experience. For my professional advancement.” He smiled at her encouragingly, and it took all of Nina’s self-control not to smile back and leap on him.

  He was a rat. He was waving her bra around in public. He was gorgeous and she wanted him.

  “You want me to model my underwear for you for your professional advancement,” Nina said, trying not to think about it.

  “It’s all right.” Alex stopped smiling and made a pathetic effort to look serious and adult. “I’m a doctor.”

  “I’m going to take you back to the pound with Fred,” she told him. “You’re both completely un-trainable.” Then she snatched the bra out of his hand and went back up the fire escape before he could talk her into taking off her clothes right there in the courtyard.

  She was going to have to do something about the effect he was having on her. She was going to have to think of something later, when she was calmer. Like when she was with Michael. She’d definitely be calmer then.

  “You’re never going to see an Oreo again,” she told Fred when he followed her back through the window. “Never.”

  Chapter Four

  Six hours later, at what Nina prayed was the end of her date with Michael, she was abysmally grateful she’d passed on the Incredibra for the evening.

  Now if she could only pass on Michael.

  It wasn’t that he was awful. He was just intense and boring, his black eyes so sharp and his gray suit so well pressed that he looked like an eager beaver while he talked like a drone. It was a bad combinati