Catching The Corporate Playboy. Michele Dunaway

slid into his car and waited while he closed her door. As he got in she ventured brightly, “Does the top go down?”

      Somehow she managed to suppress her laughter when a look of sheer panic and disbelief crossed his face before he masked it. “You want the top down? I’m at the Adam’s Mark. It’s only a few blocks away.”

      “I’ve never been in a Mercedes before. Put the top down and let’s go for a drive! I’ll take you to the best place to watch the sunrise. It’s a park on the south side. Take 55 South. Besides, I’d feel much safer if we went there. I’m not dressed for the Adam’s Mark. Is it nice? I’ve never been inside.”

      “It’s great, as is your idea to go to a park.” The car roared to life and Darci leaned back against the seat and bit back another grin. She’d always been one to figure out the solutions to problems, and right now the solution was to play Cameron O’Brien like a piano concerto. Given his ego, it was turning out to be easier than she’d ever have thought.

      He now had her pegged as a stereotypical blond bimbo. Dumber than a stump, nothing but fluff upstairs, and too idiotic to do much else besides wait tables in a diner.

      She chuckled. “Oh, how wrong you are.”

      “Did you say something?”

      “No.” She shrugged and smiled.

      He put the top down and began backing up. Darci stuck her hands straight up and waved at a passerby. The man waved back. “Wow! This is great. I’ve never been in a convertible.”

      “Really?” he asked, keeping his gaze on the road.

      “Really. Ma always had junk heaps, if her car ran at all.”

      His voice sounded noncommittal. “I see.”

      They were passing the domed football stadium and Darci studied the billboards circling the top in order to hide her grin. She hoped she wasn’t laying it on too thick. She didn’t want to overdo her story too much. They passed the exit for the Adam’s Mark, and drove past the hotel itself.

      “Ma wasn’t big on knowing about cars. One time the man at the garage told her she’d ruined the engine by not changing her oil for over two years. She told him she didn’t know you were supposed to do that.”

      “Really,” he replied, concentrating on maneuvering through where Highway 55 divided from Highway 44.

      “Yeah. She said she should have kept Dave around. He at least knew how to fix cars. He only lived with us a few months though. I don’t know what happened to him.”

      “So, do you still live at home?”

      “No. I’ve got my own place. Ma moved to Cape, and as I got older she couldn’t entertain her boyfriends. I’ve been on my own since I was eighteen.”

      Oh the webs we weave, Darci thought as she took in Cameron’s horrified reaction. She’d have to remember this story. Personally, she thought it pretty good. She silently said a little prayer asking her mother’s forgiveness. A former vice president of the Junior League, her mother would die of mortification if she’d just heard her daughter’s outrageous lies.

      He slanted a gaze at her. “So how old are you?”

      “I’m twenty-five.” That much was true. “Oops! It’s this exit. Sorry, I never drive, you know.”

      Cameron, driving over the speed limit in the fast lane, jerked the wheel quickly. Much to the annoyance of the other drivers that he cut off, he made it to the exit. Darci waved at a man who flipped them off.

      “Boy, you’re a great driver. You know, I think you might be an okay guy after all.”

      “Thanks. As for the driving, I’m from New York. The stories about the cab drivers are true.”

      “The big apple?”

      Cameron cringed. “Native New Yorkers don’t call it that.”

      “Really? Why do people call it that? Does it look like an apple?” Darci bit her lip to check her laughter when he refused to answer her.

      Instead, she pointed out where to turn by flinging her hand in front of his face. Using gestures she directed him to the riverside park, and its parking lot. “We’ll need to walk,” she told him.

      “Walk?” Cameron looked shocked. “Are you sure you don’t want to go back to the Adam’s Mark?”

      “Yeah.” Darci hiked her skirt up and hopped over the car door. She giggled as she righted herself. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

      He looked absolutely aghast. “Well, you just did.”

      “Yep.” She flashed him a childish smile to cover her internal satisfaction. Poor Cameron. You thought this bet would be easy, didn’t you? Still, she had to admit he was being a sport for being such a fish out of water.

      “Come on, slowpoke. I think the path’s over here. Oh, here it is. It’s a bit overgrown, but not too bad.” She turned and studied his shoes. Custom-made loafers. Too bad it had rained yesterday. She gave him a beguiling smile.

      What was a little mud between friends?