Caroselli's Baby Chase Read Online Free

and her back too straight, as if she’d been cut out of cardboard and propped up in the chair. She was clearly no happier to see him than he was to see her.
    “Well, why don’t we get started,” his dad said, and everyone opened their folders. Rob tried to concentrate as they went over the contracts, and discussed Ms. Taylor’s credentials and her projected time line, but he found his mind—and his eyes—wandering to the woman across the table. She downplayed her looks for work, he assumed in an attempt to gain respect from men who might otherwise objectify her or see her as too pretty to be smart. But he knew what she was hiding under that shapeless suit. The siren’s figure and satin-soft skin. He knew the way her hair looked cascading down her bare back in silky ribbons, pale and buttery against her milky complexion, and how it brushed his chest as she straddled him. Even though parts of that night were a bit fuzzy, he knew he could never erase from his mind the image of her lying beneath him, wrapped in his arms, her breathy moans as he—
    “Rob?” his dad said.
    Rob jerked to attention. “Yeah, sorry.”
    “It seems we’ve covered everything.”
    Already?
    “Why don’t you take Caroline on a tour of the building while the rest of us have a short discussion. I’ll call you when we’re ready.”
    They had covered everything, and he hadn’t heard a word of it. Now they would make the final decision, and they were going to do it without him. He’d been clear from day one that he considered her presence there a waste of time and money, and he had never once swayed from that opinion. Still it was a slap in the face to be excluded, not just for him, but for the entire marketing staff that he represented.
    Or maybe, getting her alone for a few minutes wasn’t such a bad idea. And meeting her wasn’t “dumb luck” after all. Maybe a little time alone would give him the opportunity to make her see reason. See that she didn’t belong here. Then she would no longer be his problem.
    With a smile—a genuine one this time—he rose from his seat and said, “If you’ll follow me, Ms. Taylor.”
    She stood, spine straight, shoulders back, flashing the others a confident smile, as if she already knew she had it in the bag. “I look forward to your decision.”
    Rob held the door for her, then followed her out, closing it firmly behind him. He turned to her and said in a low voice, “I think we need to talk.”
    Her eyes shooting daggers, her voice dripping with venom, she said, “Oh, you think so… Ron? ”
    He gestured down the hall. “My office is this way.”
    They walked there in silence, but he could feel her anger reverberating against the walls like an operatic vibrato.
    His secretary’s chair was unoccupied as they walked past, and when they were in his office he shut the door. He turned to face her and thought, Here we go . “I can see that you’re upset.”
    “Upset,” she said, her voice rising an octave. “Not only did you lie about your name, but did you have to skulk away in the middle of the night?”
    If that’s all she was mad about, he considered himself lucky. “First off, I did not lie to you about my name. I said it was Rob. You called me Ron and I saw no point in correcting you.”
    “I can’t believe you didn’t make the connection. Carrie Taylor, Caroline Taylor? You didn’t at least suspect we might be one in the same person?”
    “It was loud in the bar. I didn’t even hear your last name. And we never discussed what we do for a living, so how was I supposed to guess who you were? I’ve met a lot of people named Carrie. You don’t have a monopoly on the name.”
    “And as for skulking off in the middle of the night?”
    “It was not the middle of the night. It was early morning and I didn’t want to wake you. You were so drunk I’m not sure I could have if I tried. And I did not skulk. I got dressed and left, end of story.”
    “First off, I wasn’t that