"Just by an hour," Kit said. She'd been in too good a mood to let the delay bug her. "It's great to see you, Baby."

"Same here. I take it you had nice weather. You've got some gorgeous highlights."

Baby was a blond fanatic. She dyed her grey hair a gorgeous champagne color and wore it like a prized crown.

"I'll tell you all about it, but first fill me in. Everything okay?"

"Well, I'm up to my a.s.s in ikat," Baby said, nodding toward the fabric pile. "After this particular job I refuse to do another throw pillow in it for as long as I live."

Kit laughed. "What about West 87th Street. You said in your email there were some problems."

"Oh, the husband's suddenly bullied his way into everything. He thinks blue is for sissies and that the slipper chairs in the bedroom look like they were made for Tinkerbell. Says he's a 'Mission furniture kind of guy' and thinks the place should have a huskier feel. The man actually said that. I once had a woman say she wanted a bedroom like a harlot's, but in forty plus years I never heard anyone ask for husky."

"I thought the wife said she had free reign."

"Apparently she did until the bills started to roll in."

"You'll work it out," Kit said, smiling. "You always do."

Baby was brilliant at many things but one of her specialties was negotiating what she called ICDC: Intense Couple Decorating Conflict.

"Where's Dara?" Kit asked, referring to their a.s.sistant.

"I had her run to the D&D building, and she's going home from there."

"Don't stay late on my account, Baby. We can do a real catch-up tomorrow, and I'll go through paperwork tonight."

The next few days rushed by. Kit spent a good chunk of her time on site at a Greenwich Village apartment she was decorating, checking on the paint job the contractors were doing in the living room. It ended up perfect, a gorgeous, gleaming shade of aubergine. When the clients, the Griggs, saw the final results on Thursday they were agog. Kit felt both thrilled and relieved. The wife, Layla, had turned out to be a fussbudget, and Kit had been micromanaging the project even more intensely than normal.

But she knew there was another reason for her good mood. Her dinner with Matt Healy was just hours away. She felt herself craving both his company and his touch.

She chose a pale grey jersey dress for the night, one that was loose fitting, but clung in the right places. And she picked the s.e.xiest bra and panties she owned.

She treated herself to a cab uptown so she wouldn't feel frazzled. The building turned out to be a high-rise luxury, not far from Lincoln Center. She gave Matt's name to the concierge and he nodded, lifting the intercom phone out of its cradle.

"Is he expecting you?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. She felt a rush of nervous excitement.

Before the concierge could buzz the apartment, a woman interrupted, asking about a package delivery.

"18C," the concierge told Kit, confirming what she already knew. "I'll tell him you're on the way up." Then he redirected his attention back to the other woman.

Kit rode the elevator to eighteen, feeling her pulse rate accelerate. "Easy, girl," she told herself. "You don't want to be foaming at the mouth when you arrive." After finding the right apartment, she pressed the buzzer. The door began to swing open and she smiled expectantly.

But the man standing on the other side of the threshold wasn't Matt. Kit's eyes darted toward the number on the door. Yes, this was C. Had she heard the letter incorrectly?

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm looking for Matt Healy. I must have the wrong apartment."

"Well, I'm Matt Healy," the man said. "Who are you?"

about the author.

KATE WHITE, the former editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, is the New York Times bestselling author of the standalone novels Hush and The Sixes and the Bailey Weggins mystery series. White is also the author of popular career books for women, including I Shouldn't Be Telling You This: Success Secrets Every Gutsy Girl Should Know. She lives in New York City with her family.

www.katewhite.com.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

also by kate white.

FICTION.

So Pretty It Hurts.

The Sixes Hush.

Lethally Blond Over Her Dead Body 'Til Death Do Us Part.

A Body to Die For If Looks Could Kill.

NONFICTION.

I Shouldn't Be Telling You This.

You on Top 9 Secrets of Women Who Get Everything They Want.

Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do.

end.