She laughed. “It is dinnertime, so you didn’t make a bad assumption. But I don’t think that’s your real reason.”
“Why do you think I asked you out?” He leaned toward her.
“I assumed you wanted information on Daniel’s Rose Parade float.”
His eyebrows went up, and his blue eyes sparkled with mischief. “You caught me.”
Greer narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t think I was your type.”
“I like smart, funny women.”
The waitress brought their drinks. As Greer took a sip of the excellent wine, a shadow fell across the table, and she glanced up to find Daniel standing in front of them. A tiny, dainty-featured blonde woman hung on his arm. Greer recognized her from her TV show but couldn’t remember her name.
“Mind if we join you?” Daniel motioned the actress into the booth next to Logan and then pushed in next to Greer.
As Greer shifted over, she noticed Logan’s face. He looked completely surprised, especially when the blonde woman slipped closer to him with a tiny purr. Daniel simply smiled.
“What are you doing here?” Logan asked, his voice sounding choked.
“Got to eat,” Daniel replied. “You’re my best friend and I thought I’d join you. We don’t get to spend much time together.”
“You normally take your dates to your parents’ restaurant.”
“Not tonight,” Daniel said cheerfully. “Pass me the bread please, Greer.”
Greer pushed the bread basket toward him, shifting a little further away. “You’re interrupting my date.”
“I’m saving you from boredom. Logan has two subjects—himself and sports.”
“I do not,” Logan objected.
“You told me last week you wanted to meet Melody Wilkerson. So I called her up and invited her to meet you.”
Melody giggled, putting a childlike hand over her mouth. “I’ve been dying to meet you for years.”
Greer sat back and watched as the woman walked her fingers up Logan’s arm and pouted prettily. “Why did you bring that woman on my date?” she half whispered to Daniel.
“You shouldn’t be dating Logan.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because you should be dating me.” Daniel grinned at her.
“You didn’t ask me out.”
“I didn’t expect Logan to work this fast.”
“I see. So you brought Melody as a distraction while you fling me over your shoulder and carry me out.”
He laughed. “That wasn’t my plan, but I’m terrific at unexpected modifications.”
Greer shook her head, trying not to laugh. “You’re too funny.”
Daniel gave her a cheeky grin. “The only people who think I’m funny are my brothers.”
“Oh no, this was funny.” She gestured at Melody, who’d totally captured Logan with one hand on his arm and the other touching his hand playfully. She was so tiny, Greer wondered if she bought her clothes in the children’s department.
“Look at him,” Daniel told her. “He’s so easily distracted.”
Logan was studying Melody’s low-cut top and the perky breasts beneath it.
“I guess those things are mesmerizing. And most likely fake.”
Daniel shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.”
“Really?” Greer glanced back at Melody, who leaned into Logan’s arm, brushing her breasts against the sleeve of his jacket.
“Melody isn’t my type.”
“You brought her.”
“I’m just being a good friend.” He gave her an innocent, almost angelic look.
“I think you’re being diabolical.”
He gave her an evil henchman laugh, and she shook her head. Daniel Torres was charming. Too charming. And yet she could see that he’d chosen a good distraction. Logan was falling under Melody’s spell.
“You chose your weapon well,” she finally said. “Though why you two are dueling over me, I don’t know. Let me ask you something. Do you really want to date me, or just win? If my float had feelings, it would feel cheap, used, unappreciated.”
He leaned toward her and half whispered in her ear. “Do you feel cheap, used and unappreciated?”
“Goodness, no. I’m amused. You’re like two kindergarteners fighting over a swing.”
“Are you saying I’m a child?”
“Mmm. Let my silence speak volumes.” She took a sip of her wine.
“You and I should sneak out of here and get some burgers.” Daniel nudged her with his elbow. “Logan won’t notice we’re gone.”
Greer considered his invitation. “No. Logan asked me out to dinner, and to leave now would be extremely rude.”
Daniel sulked for a moment. “Okay. My mother did bring me up well.”
The waitress brought extra menus and returned a few minutes later to take their food order, patiently answering Melody’s questions about nutrition and the number of calories of different dishes.
Dinner turned out to be pleasant enough even though Melody greedily ensnared Logan’s attention throughout the meal. He looked embarrassed, but Greer patted his shoulder and told him to enjoy himself. She was enjoying herself watching the two men.
As they stood out on the sidewalk after dinner, Melody clung to Logan like a limpet. The valet brought his Mercedes and Melody climbed in, not even asking if Greer needed a ride home. As the Mercedes sped away, Greer’s Toyota came to a stop in front of her. She tipped the valet with a smile and as he held the door open for her, she looked at Daniel.
“If you want to date me, then ask.” She slid into her car, put it in gear and left before Daniel could answer.
Chapter 2
Daniel’s phone chimed. He glanced at the display. Greer had responded to his text, and he smiled. He’d sent several texts thanking her for an enjoyable dinner and telling her how great the float was going to look. Her dedication to her work showed, and he couldn’t have been more pleased.
He’d felt a little sorry for crashing Logan’s date. Not sorry enough to stop himself. Greer wasn’t for Logan. She was too down-to-earth, too practical. Logan liked winsome, waiflike women who barely looked old enough to vote. Greer would have run circles around him.
The door to his office opened, and his twin entered.
“Hey, bro,” Nicholas said with a disarming grin. They might have been twins, but they were opposites. Nicholas was the creative type. Tall and lean, he’d always liked to dance, and somehow along the way dancing had evolved into choreographing. Any man who considered dance and choreography unmasculine had never met Nicholas. How many men could catch a woman who’d just flung herself into the air and then lift her above him and make it all look as though she was as light as a feather?
“What brings you to my studio?” He set down a stack of papers. Daniel had been working on material for his next show. His special guest would be a rising young actor who was thought to be the next action-adventure hero, and Daniel wanted interview questions that weren’t the run-of-the-mill, media-hype questions about his next movie.
“Thought you might be interested in this.” He handed Daniel a tabloid magazine. “I’m impressed.”
Daniel’s photo was prominent on the cover. He stood next to Logan with Melody in between as they left Craig’s. The headline Love Triangle was splashed across the top. A tiny bit of Greer’s elbow could be seen at one edge.
“Why do you bother reading this stuff?” Daniel shoved the tabloid back at Nicholas.
Nicholas sat down in the leather chair across from Daniel. “Because the fun is in finding the grain of truth inside the speculation.”
“These magazines are all about speculation. They throw information at you from undisclosed sources and hope the reader will come to some sort of salacious conclusion.
” Daniel hated being in the tabloids. Usually he managed to avoid them, but being with Logan the other night had changed that. A few photographers had been dogging Logan the last couple of days, hoping for that one sensational photo that would bring them the big bucks.
“That’s the fun,” Nicholas said cheerfully. “I know where this night ended up in my head.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Nicky,” Daniel growled. Nicholas hated being called Nicky. But his brother just grinned in delight. “Why are you here?”
“Just needed a chat with my bro.”
Daniel eyed his brother. “What do you want?”
“I want be on the float with you.”
Daniel was so taken aback he could only stare. “You do? Why?”
“Why not? Me dancing on the float would be great advertising for the next season of Celebrity Dance. After all, we’re on the same network. I talked to my bosses, and they will be talking to your bosses.”
Daniel rubbed his temple. “I guess that means you’re going to have to meet with Greer. She has this complex rule about weight and positioning and stuff I would never think about.”
“She thinks like a dancer.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“In my world that’s a good thing,” Nicholas replied. “Explain what happened to you and Logan.” He tapped the magazine.
“I crashed Logan’s date with Greer and I took Melody along to distract him.”
“And you did this why?”
“I didn’t want him going out with Greer.” He sounded childish even to himself.
“You’re not five years old anymore, bro.” Nicholas shook his head.
“He’s just not her type,” Daniel objected.
“And you are?”
“Of course I am. Or at least, I’d like to be.” Daniel realized he deeply admired her. “She’s fascinating. She was a Rose Queen.” He remembered her teasing wave.
“That’s not the only reason you’re interested in her.” Nicholas eyed Daniel with a sparkle in his dark brown eyes.
“Something about her is real. She’s smart and funny, and I’ve always liked smart and funny. Who knew a person could make a living designing and building floats? They’re beautiful.”
Nicholas shrugged. “She’s certainly different from the normal actress/model/singer you ordinarily date.”
“Why are we talking about girls?” Usually Daniel and his brother talked about everything, but for some reason Daniel was reluctant to talk about Greer.
“We talk about girls all the time,” Nicholas said with a short laugh. “You’re just uncomfortable, and I’m enjoying it.”
Daniel ignored the comment and focused on the real reason for his brother’s visit. “Like I said, you’re going to need to talk to Greer, because I don’t know how you’re going to dance with the butterfly.”
“I’m dancing with the butterfly, all right. I’m bringing Michelle Mercer.”
Michelle was one of the other professional dancers on Nicholas’s show. They had danced together before when Nicholas had first started out and landed in a Broadway show. Daniel had met her once and thought she was nice enough, but a bit flighty.
“I’ll set up an appointment, and we’ll head over to the warehouse where Greer works.” Daniel made a note to himself to call her later.
Nicholas let himself out with a small wave and a thank-you.
Daniel sat back in his chair, wondering why he liked Greer so much. Most of the women he dated were beautiful models, or actresses, or in the industry. He dated them to be seen. He saw them as stepping stones for his career. But Greer was different. Different in a way that he liked.
He wanted to explore his feelings more, but a ton of work awaited him on his desk, and he needed to get back to it.
* * *
Greer stood to the side of the skeleton that would be Daniel’s float. The caterpillar was a long piece of plastic tubing, articulated in a dozen sections. The head would move back and forth on its own little motor. The chrysalis hung from a tangle of wire shaped into a branch. And three butterflies flew out the rear of the float. As Chelsea operated the hydraulics, the wings moved in a stately flight pattern, and the butterflies went up and down.
Greer had to figure out where to place the two additional bodies Daniel had told her about. She tried not to be irritated, especially because Daniel had told her that the studio wanted to hire her to design their annual Hollywood Christmas parade float. The lucrative offer tempered her irritation.
“Where are you putting the two other people?” Chelsea asked as she jumped down off the chassis.
“I think if we move the caterpillar back a foot, there’s room to put a small dance floor,” Greer replied. “It’ll be cramped but doable. And Daniel’s brother is a professional dancer. I’m sure he’ll know how work in that small a space.” Daniel had his spot to one side of the driver, and one of his coworkers would occupy the other side. He told her he hadn’t decided yet who that would be.
“I’ve watched Celebrity Dance, and I have to admit, he’s all kinds of yummy,” Chelsea said. “Are you okay with him being all kinds of yummy?”
“A girl has to be flexible.”
“I remember the great axle disaster of 2010.” Chelsea laughed and picked up her clipboard from where she’d placed it before crawling onto the float.
“We were all being flexible that year. Who knew we could tear a float down and put it back together in four days on a completely different chassis?” Greer had just about torn her hair out because the new chassis had been slighter higher and longer, which meant extra surface, more flowers for coverage and a rebalancing of the weight.
Greer shrugged. “I guess after that challenge, this is a piece of cake.”
“I knew you’d say that.” Chelsea had moved to the next float and jumped up on the chassis. Trident Airlines was a longtime customer, and every year their float won a trophy. This year their float was unusually intricate and long. It was actually two flatbeds in length, and getting it around corners had been a problem Greer had eventually solved by installing clamps in the center that could be loosened enough to make the float flexible in the center and then reattached once it was straight again.
“I think I’ve finalized the flower order,” Chelsea said as she walked back to Greer. “Can you look it over and make sure I didn’t forget anything?”
“Here’s hoping a Kodiak bear doesn’t hiccup in Alaska and cause a tsunami somewhere and wipe out the flower harvest.”
“Think good thoughts, girl. If we get into trouble, we’ll do a commando raid on Mrs. Allenworth’s greenhouse. Her orchids are looking spectacular this year. And her roses are so beautiful, I have to pinch myself to keep from stealing some.”
“You criminal you,” Greer said with a laugh. “It’s a good thing she has that bloodthirsty Chihuahua to keep you a law-abiding citizen.” Mrs. Allenworth had been a Rose Queen in the sixties and now donated flowers. Chelsea spread them out over all their floats as a way to honor the elderly woman.
Greer followed Chelsea to the next float. A workman on scaffolding bent over the high end of the float with a blowtorch, adding wire to finish the branches on a metal tree. The float represented the Tree of Life, and Greer was delighted with the final look.
“How was your date with Logan-slash-Daniel?” Chelsea asked as she took out her tape measure to reassess an area that would be covered in grass. She was big about measuring everything twice. “I saw the tabloid with Logan, Daniel and that actress on the cover. How did this love triangle happen?”
Greer just shrugged, pretending to be busy.
“Weren’t you there?” her sister prompted.
“I was there,” she replied with a little sigh, resigned to discuss the evening. “Daniel turned up about ten minutes into my meeting
with Logan—by the way, it wasn’t a date—with this Melody on his arm. Before I knew it, he’d deposited her on Logan, and he was sitting with me. I’m not quite sure how he managed it. That man is smooth.”
“Sounds like he’s wooing you.”
“Why?” Greer asked. “I’m not sure I’m worth wooing. I don’t have time for romance.”
“Yeah, I know. Your last date was two years ago.” Chelsea rolled up her tape measure, tucked it back in her pocket and wrote on her clipboard. “Where do you want your life to go?”
“I want to design floats and grow the business.”
“I mean your personal life.”
Greer leaned against a float. “You’re the one getting a divorce.”
“Which just proves I’m at least out having a life. I may be making bad choices, but I’m trying.”
“My little glass-is-half-full sister. What would I do without your boundless enthusiasm?”
Chelsea crossed her arms over her chest. “Mom received tickets to the preview of Henry Ossawa Tanner’s show, and I know she and Dad can’t make it. She’ll give them to you if you ask nicely. Why not call Daniel and ask him to go with you?”
“You’re kidding me.”
Chelsea shook her head. “I never kid about men. Men are no joke.”
Chelsea should know. Her husband, a research biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, took life very seriously, as well as all the cute little interns who came along to help him count bunnies. Chelsea hadn’t made a bad choice. She’d had a lot in common with her soon-to-be ex-husband. He was the one who couldn’t keep his hands to himself.
“And that could be our problem,” Greer said. “We don’t laugh enough about men.”
“Are you going to call Daniel?”
Greer didn’t know if she had the guts to call him. She liked what she knew about him but...did she want to take a risk? She took risks at work, but she liked to play her personal life safe. It was easier that way. “I’ll think about it.”
“Okay, I’ll accept that. Let’s get back to work. This flower order isn’t going to get itself done.” Chelsea moved on to the next float, Greer following in her wake.
Blossoms of Love Page 3
