Perfect Partners

you?”
    “Well, yes. Yes, I read something about it, but I wouldn’t ask you to do that. I couldn’t.”
    “You’re giving the orders tonight, remember? You have to be very specific.”
    “Good grief, Joel, this is hardly the kind of thing a woman orders a man to do.”
    “Try it.”
    She could not stand it any longer. His breath was so warm, and his fingers felt so good. “All right,
do it
.”
    “You got it, boss.”
    And then his mouth was on her in the most intimate, the most exotic, the most passionate caress Letty had ever known. It robbed her of breath for a single, exquisitely painful moment.
    It was too much. It was all far too much.
    “
Oh, my God, Joel
!” Letty screamed as everything inside her came undone and shattered into a thousand bright shards. The world fell away.
    When it was over, she collapsed like a rag doll.
    She wanted to laugh.
    She almost burst into tears.
    She did not have the energy to do either, so she closed her eyes and floated.
    At some point Letty realized that Joel was sliding up alongside her and pulling the covers up over her. She turned on her side and nestled into his warmth, utterly exhausted. A part of her registered the fact that he was still wearing his jeans.
    “Joel?”
    “Go to sleep, Letty.”
    “Philip thinks I need therapy.”
    “What kind of therapy?”
    “For this kind of thing. You know. To improve my sexual responsiveness.”
    “Lady, if you were any hotter or more responsive, we would have set the damn motel on fire. Now go to sleep.”
    She relaxed blissfully. Then she belatedly realized what the fact that he was still wearing his jeans meant. “Joel, you didn’t…”
    “Yes,” Joel growled. “I did. I’ll admit the last time I came in my jeans was when I was sixteen, but what the hell. I’m only a man, and you are pure dynamite.”
    Letty smiled. She felt suddenly content and sure of herself in a way she had never been before. A heady sense of feminine power swept through her. “You really think so?”
    “I know so. I’ve got the singed fingers to prove it.” It was Joel’s turn to fall silent for a moment. Then he stirred slightly, pulling her more firmly into the cradle of his thighs. “Letty?”
    “Hmm?”
    “I didn’t thank you for what you did tonight.”
    She yawned. “What are you talking about?”
    “I’m talking about you walking out on Victor Copeland because you wouldn’t tolerate your CEO being insulted in public.”
    “Oh, that.”
    “Yeah, that. Thanks. I doubt if anyone has ever walked out on Victor Copeland. And as for me, I’ve never had anybody try to protect me like that.”
    “Noblesse oblige,” Letty said grandly. Then she started to giggle.
    Joel gave her a small admonishing squeeze. “Shut up and go to sleep, boss.”
    This time she did as he said.

    The ringing of the bedside telephone awakened Letty the next morning. She groped for it without opening her eyes.
    “Hello?” A dial tone was the only response.
    “Wrong phone,” Joel muttered into the pillow. He was sprawled on his stomach beside her, taking up three-quarters of the available space.
    When the phone rang again, Letty realized what was happening. “It’s my phone.”
    “Don’t worry about it.”
    But Letty was already scrambling out of bed. She blinked as she caught sight of herself in the mirror and realized she was stark naked.
    The phone rang again.
    Letty found her glasses and pushed them onto her nose. Then she grabbed her nightgown up off the floor and pulled it on over her head as she hurried through the connecting door into her own room.
    “Hello?”
    “’Morning, Letty. Victor Copeland here. Hope I’m not calling too early?”
    “No.” Letty sat down on the edge of her bed and tried to blink herself awake. “No, this is fine. What can I do for you?”
    “I’d like to buy you breakfast if I may. I want to apologize for my daughter’s behavior last night.”
    “That’s not necessary, really.”
    “Please.” Victor sighed wearily into the phone. “Look. We both know there’s a hell of a lot at stake here. To be real blunt, I don’t think there’s any way I can do business with you as long as you’ve got Blackstone hovering over your shoulder. In case you don’t know it by now, he hates my guts.”
    “Look, Mr. Copeland—”
    “Victor. I have to talk to you, Letty. You’re the president of Thornquist Gear, and I’m in charge of Copeland Marine. Let’s do business together like a couple of