Strictly Business Read Online Free

her.
    “This is not what you’re thinking,” she began. The younger man must be devastated by what seemed like a betrayal, she thought. She’d been in his position herself, and knew only too well how hurt and humiliated he must feel. She prayed that Mikaris would just be momentarily embarrassed that she knew about his sexual preference. Unfortunately, she didn’t think calling on the Almighty would help. She had a feeling her chances for the job were one big zip. “There seems to have been some kind of mix-up by the hotel, and your … ah, anyway, somehow we were given the same room.”
    “Given the same room?” Tony asked, arching his eyebrows in clear disbelief.
    “We only slept together—” Jess exclaimed, then realized how that sounded.
    “Shared a bed,” Nick corrected.
    “We didn’t know it … we were sleeping …” She snapped her jaw shut in frustration, counted to five, and said, “Look, it’s just a foul-up on the hotel’s part. But I know how it looks to you to catch a … loved one in a hotel room with another woman. I mean man. No, woman.” She groaned, finding it difficult to keep the genders straight. “We didn’t doanything! After all, Mr.… well, he’s gay, and you’re gay. It’s just a very innocent mix-up, that’s all—”
    A bellow of pure outrage blasted through the room. Shocked, Jess stared wide-eyed at Nick.
    “I’m not gay!” he shouted. “Why the hell would anyone think I’m gay?”
    “But you looked gay last night!” she said, hopelessly confused. “At the show … staring at him like—”
    “This,” he said through clenched teeth, “is my brother!
My brother!
And I wasn’t staring at him the way I was staring at
you!
”
    There was a moment of charged silence, then Tony burst into laughter. It took Jess a moment to realize that he was laughing. In fact, he was leaning against the wall as if he couldn’t hold himself upright.
    “You were perfect,” he said, gasping. “You thought Nick was gay! I couldn’t have done better if I’d written a script.”
    It suddenly dawned on her that this had to be a joke. A practical joke!
    “I’m the jokee?” she asked in shock. “Dammit! I’m really this year’s victim, right?”
    Still laughing, Tony nodded.
    Jess started to laugh from sheer nerves. She couldn’t help it, even though she had to press her palm against the top of her head to stop the pain her laughter caused. Sandy had suckered her beautifully, she thought, and she would kill her good friend later.
    “I should have known it,” she finally said, shaking her head.
    “What the hell is this about a joke?” Nick asked angrily.
    “Your downfall, Nick,” Tony said. “And it was even better than I’d planned.”
    “My downfall?” He glared at Tony. “Do you mean you planned this little stunt?”
    Tony grinned. “Let’s just say I took a joke one step farther.” He turned to Jess. “I borrowed Sandy’s joke to play one on my brother, Ms. Brannen.”
    At her name, Nick instantly shifted his gaze to her. Jess realized that he hadn’t been amused at being the victim of a practical joke, and he wasn’t about to start now. The joke wasn’t funny anymore. Not funny at all.
    Fate, she decided, had a warped sense of humor. Facing Nick, she pulled her courage together and lifted her chin. “I started to tell you before that I’m Jess Brannen, but we were interrupted. It would seem, Mr. Mikaris, that our interview was moved up to this morning. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get dressed, go home, and have a good scream.”
    “But I don’t understand,” Sandy exclaimed into the phone. “The joke was supposed to be that you’d wake up to find a man in your room who would act like you’d picked him up. You’ve never done that in your life. But it was supposed to be Tony Mikaris! I didn’t even know Nick was going to be there.”
    “Well, he was.” Jess wished she could yank her friend through the telephone wire and into