Tender Touch (8 page)

“Jade...” Shaena took a deep breath.

“Not that I care,” Jade said with a
force.

“There are men who’d give up a finger just
to get you to look their way. Girlfriend, you’ve got a lot going on
with you. I just wish you could see it.”

“A finger isn’t exactly what they’re
thinking of giving me, Shaena.” Jade snorted. “Getting that kind of
attention from a man is no big accomplishment.”

Shaena laughed out loud. “Well, a few maybe.
I’ll just bet Damon Knight is checking you out. He’s playing it
cool after that nasty divorce, I’ll bet.”

“He can be as cool as he wants, all right?
I’m about business, not getting a date. So if Mr. Knight thinks I’m
going to follow the old pattern of every other woman he meets and
throw myself at him, he can just think again.”

Shaena gave a groan of exasperation. “Fine.
I’m through with it then. You are one tough nut to crack when it
comes to this.”

“Thank you,” Jade answered.

“Say, did you get a chance to see that memo
on home health agencies? Strange stuff.”

“Not really. Bill is trying to avoid even
greater costs when people have to be hospitalized. I mean, care at
home reduces the number of folks who end up in the emergency
rooms.” Jade had long wanted to see more home-based health
care.

“I’ll buy that. But this new rule seems
really vague to me. Sets up the opportunity for abuse of the
system. I mean, the guidelines for home psychiatric care
are...loose.” Shaena drummed her fingers on the arm of her
chair.

“Well, Bill and Mike worked with the
Medicaid folks on it. They said they didn’t want to make them too
exclusionary. Anyway, the costs are coming down. Man, look at all
this paperwork.” Jade slapped a pile of memos and reports on her
desk.

“Yep, we kill a lot of trees in this
department. Back to the salt mines for me, girl.” Shaena heaved
herself out the chair. “Have a good tour at Gracie Street.”

“Thanks.”

“But Eddie Simon stuck a pin in your
balloon. How much fun can it be since Mr. Wow-He’s-Fine! won’t be
there. Bye.” Shaena winked at her then darted down the hall with a
chuckle.

“I’m not— He’s— I’ll get you!” Jade yelled
after her. She fumed for the rest of the afternoon.

* * *

“Thanks, man. I don’t think I should miss
being at court with LeVonne. He’s messed up, but I think his
probation officer will ask the judge to give him another chance if
we agree to work with him.” Eddie sat in the small conference room
next to his office with Damon.

“I understand. No problem,” Damon assured
him.

“I know you had other things with your
stores to take care of today. I’m sorry to put this on you, but
Christine had to be at the mayor’s office this morning.” Eddie
explained for the third time why the assistant director could not
take over for him.

“Eddie, I said it’s no problem.” Damon felt
guilty at being the source of Eddie’s discomfort. The fact was the
tasks could easily be handled by his district manager. Damon had
told himself he should stop dumping dull tasks on his subordinate
and spend more time attending to the family business. Yet he’d been
pleased when Eddie called.

“Well, it shouldn’t take more than an hour
and a half. At least you won’t spend too much time here.”

“Don’t worry about it, man. Besides, I’m
looking forward to it.” Damon traced a line on the table with his
forefinger.

“Yeah, Jade Pellerin is quite a woman—brains
and beauty in one nice package.” Eddie gazed at his old pal with
amusement.

“Who? Oh, I guess,” Damon said with a false
casual tone. “She seems nice.”

“Uh-huh. So you didn’t notice that
great-looking lady?” Eddie prodded him, trying to get a reaction.
Damon blinked rapidly at his words.

Damon cleared his throat. “Yeah, but I meant
it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to see the staff during
the day what with just dropping in for a few minutes here and
there.”

“Sure.” Eddie’s expression did not
change.

“And the board meetings are in the evenings
when the staff is gone.” Damon shifted in his chair. He cleared his
throat several more times during the long moment of silence.

“I’m sure they’ll enjoy seeing you, too.”
Eddie’s mouth twitched with the effort not to laugh.

“So LeVonne is in serious trouble?” Damon
shifted back to the subject of the young man Eddie was concerned
about. He didn’t like the way his friend was probing so close to
the sensitive area of his erotic bone-shaking response to the
enticing Jade Pellerin.

Eddie’s face transformed into a grimace of
worry. “He hasn’t been to school in two weeks. And a police officer
picked him up in a neighborhood after a woman reported a suspicious
man peering into windows.”

“Peeping Tom charge?”

“Nah, it was during the day when most of the
residents were at work. He was probably getting ready to burglarize
those houses.” Eddie shook his head. “That’s what he’s been
arrested for at least ten times.”

“Man, he’s heading straight for a long
prison sentence one day. When he turns sixteen, they can charge him
as an adult.” Damon had seen the same pattern countless times in
his work with troubled teens.

“The thing that gets me is how sharp this
kid is. He has so much potential.” Eddie looked at the clock on the
wall. “Twenty to ten. I better get a move on if I’m going to be in
Judge Taylor’s court on time.” He got up to leave just as the door
opened.

“Mr. Simon, Ms. Pellerin is here to see
you.” Eddie’s secretary, Tisha, stood in the door.

“Show her into my office. Thanks,” Eddie
said.

“Come on in, ma’am,” Tisha said a few
seconds later.

Damon smoothed his jacket, tugged at his tie
and adjusted the cuffs of his shirt all in quick succession. He was
thrown off balance by the rapid arrival of the disturbing female
presence whose effect on him he’d been unable to neutralize. Damon
stopped in the act of patting his hair when he glanced up to see
Eddie grinning at him.

“Let’s go,” Damon snapped softly as he
brushed past him.

Eddie was still smiling when he extended a
hand to Jade. “Morning, Ms. Pellerin.”

Jade went breathless for a split second at
the sight of Damon right behind Eddie. One thing she had to admit,
he wore a suit like few other men could. The charcoal gray wool
fabric was set off very well by the colors of dark red, blue and
gray in his silk tie and the light blue shirt. Jade felt a warm
flood of pleasure at seeing him. His deep voice turned up the
heat.

“Good morning.” Damon reached out a large
hand to her also.

Jade took his hand and felt her body begin
to melt at the touch of satin flesh. “Hello” was all she could
manage.

Did her voice actually crack and shake? Did
they notice? When Eddie turned to offer her a chair, she felt weak
with relief. Maybe she had not made an utter fool of herself. Jade
squared her shoulders and took control... she hoped.

“I’m afraid something urgent has come up.
One of the young people we’re working with has a court hearing this
morning. I feel I have to be there,” Eddie said.

“I see. Well, if you’d rather we
reschedule...” Jade was careful not to look at Damon.

“No, no. I’ve asked Mr. Knight to give you
the grand tour. I’m sorry I won’t be able to stay and show you
around.” Eddie watched her closely.

Jade sensed this was a test of some sort by
the searching look he gave her. She affected a cool, professional
demeanor. “I certainly understand, Mr. Simon. But really, I can
come another time. I know Mr. Knight had other obligations today.”
He isn’t having silly daydreams about seeing you again. He’s here
only out of necessity, so snap out of it.

“Not at all. Today is just fine. I’ve made
more than adequate arrangements with my employees,” Damon put
in.

“Then you’re all set, right?” Eddie looked
from Jade to Damon.

“Yes,” Jade said with a nod. She finally
looked at Damon again. She was already tired at the thought of
struggling to hide her strong physical reaction to the man for the
next couple of hours. “I appreciate this, Mr. Knight.”

Eddie’s dark eyes held a glint of mischief.
“Listen to us. We’re being so formal. I’m Eddie. May we call you
Jade?” He included Damon in his request.

Jade blinked at him. “Certainly, Eddie.”

Damon had watched her lips move and the
swing of her thick hair with each movement of her head. “Well,
Jade, let’s get started.” He surprised himself with the ease that
her name popped out. There was no denying the rush just saying that
lovely name gave him. He held open the door for her.

“Goodbye, you two,” Eddie called out.

“See ya,” Damon shot back. He gave him a
sharp scowl that told his friend he knew what he’d been up to. To
his chagrin, Eddie gave him a thumbs-up sign then darted off down
the hall before Damon could respond.

“Where would you like to go first?” Damon
walked beside her down the hall leading from the main offices
deeper into the center.

Jade felt good being near him. “You choose,”
she said with a smile.

Damon forgot about Eddie or his annoyance as
he looked into her eyes. “Let’s start with the large community
room. It’s where we have lectures and workshops open to the folks
in the neighborhood.”

Jade followed him into a room that could
seat up to fifty people. Rows of chairs were set up. At the
opposite end of the room, across from the double doors leading
inside, a podium with a microphone was set up. Several large tables
were scattered around with pamphlets spread on them.

“What kind of workshops?” Jade forgot to be
uneasy. It seemed quite natural to be here with Damon.

“We have speakers on a wide variety of
topics. Mostly we set up events based on our surveys of the folks
and comments we get from them. For instance, you can see the last
lecture was on crime prevention.” Damon pointed to a brochure on
home security.

“That’s great.”

“Yeah, a prominent police chief from North
Carolina credited with turning his city’s crime problem around
came. He talked about making the community better with recreation,
neighbor-hood events for families and things like that as a way to
reduce crime. We had a tremendous turnout,” Damon said with
pride.

Jade strolled around reading the few
brochures left scattered along the tables. “Yes, but what I meant
was how you based your programs on what the people who live here
said they wanted. That’s unusual. Most of the time, a group of
professional social workers decide what kind of programs they think
are needed.”

“Well, Eddie and the other social workers
here have a very grassroots approach to their work. After all, this
is really their center—which is why our policy requires that at
least fifty percent of the board members live in the Gracie Street
area.”

“That must make a difference in how this
center is run compared to more traditional programs.” Jade could
not help but catch his excitement at what was happening here in one
of the poorest, most neglected parts of the city.

“A huge difference.” Damon launched into a
full-fledged description of the governing body as he led her toward
another section of the center.

For another thirty minutes, he talked about
services offered such as the day-care center and parenting classes.
They met staff and some of the neighborhood residents. Jade
marveled at how the relatively modest center seemed to compare to
full-service agencies in cities twice the size of Baton Rouge in
terms of its comprehensive approach.

She felt a growing appreciation for this
man, who seemed as dedicated as any social worker she’s ever met.
Strange for a businessman to take such a personal interest. He had
not grown up facing the hurdles of those who lived in the inner
city. Yet he showed genuine compassion for the poor people who face
daily hardships—something quite exceptional in most of those born
to a family with money and status.

Jade watched his face brighten when they
were surrounded by the toddlers in the Headstart class. He was
relaxed with the elderly students in a nutrition class. This caring
man intrigued her more than ever. Damon Knight seemed a far cry
from the wealthy playboy she’d built him up to be in her mind. Jade
began to think Shaena was right.

“I must say, the people in this area are
fortunate that you made your vision a reality.” Jade turned to
him.

Damon blushed. “It was a shared vision. I
couldn’t have done it alone.”

“But you were the guiding force. And you put
your money where your mouth was, exact quote from Eddie.” Jade
matched his slow pace as they walked back toward the administrative
offices. She followed him into the conference room.

“They’re both special people. In fact,
everyone from the janitor up to the president of the board put
their heart and soul into this place. It’s not just me.” Damon
pulled out a chair for her to sit down. When she was seated, he
poured them both a cup of coffee.

“Come on, Mr. Knight—”

Damon waved a finger at her. “Now, you heard
Eddie give specific instructions before he left. Call me
Damon.”

Jade’s professional demeanor slipped just a
notch. He looked adorable with that teasing glint in his eyes.
“Damon, accept the accolades. You have reason to be proud. You’ve
shown leader-ship, a valuable commodity in the face of the kind of
obstacles this area of town faces.”

“Thank you, Jade,” Damon said. He looked at
her for a long moment with a thoughtful expression.

His voice saying her name was like a hot
brand against her skin. She watched his mouth in fascination. Her
whole being longed to make him call her name but for a very
different reason. She imagined guiding those wonderful, long hands
toward her.