Bubby is making cow eyes at Jason and Dahlia is trying to ignore her and asked some pertinent questions of him.
Natalya and Casey walked in. Just as Dahlia was about to introduce the newcomers to Jason, both Jason and Casey say simultaneously “YOU!”
Dahlia nonplussed at this point on this odd night asks “Met before have you?”
Jason, “Not officially, this woman poured some amazing jam on my head after we were trapped in an elevator together.”
“And you are lucky we are in polite company or I would do it again.”
“Well sweetie, don’t let us stop you. Obviously he is the worst kind of cure to have gotten your gander up” Says Natalya, “Give me a jar, and I will help you.”
“Wait! No one is doing anything but explaining what is going on, but before you do, lets have drink. What does everyone want?”
The women all chose the delicious champagne Jason had brought. Jason went for a 60 year old single malt scotch.
Once drinks were in hand, the story begins.
Jason goes first because his side is shorter than hers. “I was in an elevator with Miss Anderson. The elevator stopped operating suddenly. I could see that she was about to panic, so I distracted her by telling her stories. The elevator door opens, she dumps jam on my head, which was delicious by the way, and that’s all there is to it for me.”
Bubby sighs deeply. “If we are ever trapped in an elevator together, you can distract me with kisses instead of stories if you would like.” She give him a cheeky grin.
Natalya pats Casey’s hand and says “Okay dear. You tell us the whole sordid story of how he took advantage of you and never called again and so on and so forth.”
Casey gaped at Natalya “That’s not even close to the story! Okay so I make jam. It is organic and I don’t mass produce. I make enough for a few select clients, my online business and now my specialty shop on the island. I wanted to get it into one upscale restaurant. It would give it cache and an upscale business could afford it — it’s not cheap to make. Any way, I have had several appointments with Mr. Billiards here, and every time I am kept waiting for hours and then told me he wouldn’t see me. I had just come from the sixth one of those meetings this morning when I was in the elevator with you.”
Jason was astonished. “You mean six times you have come to my office for a meeting and you were turned away after sitting in the waiting room for an extended amount of time?”
“Oh don’t act like you didn’t know.”
Natalya chimed in “Likely story…” Bubby shushed her.
“Well I didn’t! I never would have done that once let alone six times. If I can’t keep an appointment, I call well ahead of time to let the party know.”
“Not with me you didn’t.”
He pulled out his cell phone and pulled up his calendar for the last several weeks. “What name was it under?”
“It would have either been either Casey Anderson or Beach Jams. My marketing manager kept making the appointments for me.”
Jason passed around his phone to each lady so they could see his calendar never had either name on any date.
“I don’t understand.” Casey said perplexed.
“What was the date of your first appointment?”
“It was three months ago, April 5th.”
He scrolled back to April 5th “What time?”
“1 PM.”
“Look.” He showed the calendar again. “As you can see, I had a blank spot. The only time my schedule ever has a blank spot is when someone cancels on me last minute.”
“But I didn’t cancel.”
“I am sure you didn’t. For whatever reason, my secretary took a dislike to you, sent you packing and then made mock-appointments with you after that.”
“But why?”
“I have no idea but I will find out.”
Afterwards, they spend a very nice evening getting to know each other. When they were leaving, Jason offered to walk Casey to her car in front of her shop on the island. Natalya steps up and says, “You will do no such thing. I will walk her to her car.” She took Casey’s arm and dragged her out the door.
As Jason was leaving, he said to Dahlia “Do you believe in love at first sight?”
Dahlia laughed. “Of course I do, I married my husband the first night I met him, and my grandmother had met him the day before at a deli.”
“I only want to date Casey, make it happen.”
The next day Jason goes to work, talks to Sabrina about what happened, warns her and thinks it’s the end of it. Sabrina is determined that jam girl is not going to take her man and continues to manipulate behind the scenes.
Dahlia, Natalya and Bubby walk over to Beach Jams on the island and speak to Casey about going out with Jason, she agrees to go.
Dahlia goes straight to Jason, contacting him using his direct line, bypassing Sabrina all together, and helps Jason plan a real date with Casey. They decide she deserves a “Cinderella” kind of experience, as she has never experienced anything like that with the losers she always has dated.
Natalya will take her shopping for the perfect outfit, hair and makeup people will meet Casey at Dahlia’s, then a car will pick up Casey and take her to John Wayne airport where she will meet Jason. They will take a private plane to San Francisco and have dinner at The French Laundry.
The next day, two unique, nine-course menus are presented. No ingredient is repeated twice in the service, and inspiration comes from what’s fresh each season. The setting, just 15 tables inside a two-story stone house surrounded by heirloom flowers and fragrant in season with roses, is very romantic.
Chapter 9
The next morning Jason and Casey wake up next to each other, in the best suite at the Wynn in Las Vegas, very surprised they are wearing wedding rings.
Neither is usually impulsive, so this is a big shock, but both are pretty happy with it.
They take the private jet back to Orange County, then head straight to Dahlia’s to tell them the news. Jason needs to go straight in to work, since he has missed several meetings already.
Before he leaves, he tells Casey they can live at either his or her place until they have a chance to find the perfect home. He leaves a key for her in case she wants to take a look at his place before making a decision.
Bubby with her school girl crush is giddy at the idea of seeing where he lives. All the ladies head over to his place in Emerald Bay. The house is great, with a beautiful ocean view. Casey is sold.
Jason gets to work in a tux. He has extra clothes from his dry cleaning that had just been delivered. Sabrina looks shocked when he walks in the door. He has never ever done anything like this. Jason waves to her as he goes into his office to change. After he has changed, he asks Sabrina to come into his office.
He tells her is got married the day before. She faints. After she recovers, he tells her his schedule would now change. No more evening or weekend appointments. He would work 7am to 6pm week days only.
Sabrina can’t believe the little jam-tart stole her man and starts plotting.
Sabrina shows up at Beach Jams. She is condescending and belittling about the shop, the jam and Casey.
She tells Casey she is not the right person for Jason and that if she cares about him she needs to release him from this horrible nightmare. He is too nice to do it himself, so as usual, she has to step in to protect him from his folly.
Casey at first tells her to take a hike, but the more Sabrina talks, the more she realizes Sabrina is right. She doesn’t belong in a world where a private jet takes you to dinner. She would have no idea how to even navigate in that world.
By the time Sabrina leaves, Casey is convinced that her marriage was a mistake.
She calls a lawyer and asks him to start the process of an annulment. She then calls Jason, doesn’t get him and is relieved she can just leave a message. She tells him she had a change of heart and has started the annulment process.
Chapter 10
&
nbsp; Jason is devastated and so is Casey.
Dahlia is ready to strangle them both. After a few weeks, Dahlia manages to trick them into a meeting at her house. She locks them in a room and won’t let them out until they talk everything through.
At first neither of them say anything, but then Jason asked some questions and the two of them got to the bottom of everything.
Jason explains that he is not a “take a jet to dinner kind of guy.” He had just wanted to give her a Cinderella experience.
He was a normal guy who was actually quite frugal and normal for someone of his income bracket.
Casey told him that Sabrina had actually come to her and told her all about this elaborate life he led and that Casey would never fit into his world.
Upon hearing of Sabrina’s disloyalty, he told Casey that he was going to fire Sabrina immediately, but Casey had a better idea.
Casey shows up at Jason’s office.
Sabrina tells her that Jason doesn’t want to see her so to stop wasting her time.
Casey informs her that Jason and her not only reconciled but they got married again. This time they wanted to remember exchanging their vows.
She then tells Sabrina that Jason had wanted to fire her but that Casey felt Sabrina was just misunderstood and that the things she did was because she honestly felt she was protecting Jason.
She then tells Sabrina that she talked Jason into keeping Sabrina under the condition that she stopped meddling in his life and got a life of her own, and with that in mind they made an appointment for Sabrina with Dahlia.
Casey went on to explain that the next step was her choice: she can pack up her desk and leave forever, or she can let Dahlia work her magic.
Sabrina smiles at Casey, holds out her hand to shake and congratulates her on her marriage. She then asks for Dahlia’s address and walks out the door.
Chapter 11
In the corporate offices of Billiard Enterprises, Sabrina’s boss and his wife (Casey) had just married, despite Sabrina’s best efforts to sabotage the relationship as she had always done in the past. It was her plan to marry her boss Jason, and his new wife derailed Sabrina’s efforts to push the other woman from her boss’ life.
Casey tells Sabrina that Jason had wanted to fire her but that Casey felt Sabrina was just misunderstood, that the things she did were because she honestly felt she was protecting Jason.
She then tells Sabrina that she talked Jason into keeping Sabrina under the condition that she stopped meddling in his life and got a life of her own, and with that in mind they made an appointment for Sabrina with Dahlia. Her choice, she can pack up her desk and leave forever or she can let Dahlia work her magic.
Sabrina smiles at Casey, holds out her hand to shake and congratulates her on her marriage, she then asks for Dahlia’s address and walks out the door.
David is at the radio station, he had just finished his morning show and was about to head home. That day he had had Frank Sands on the show, an amazing country artist who had made the crossover to top 40.
David asks him if he would like to come home with him for some lunch and to meet his new wife, Frank agrees.
They drive down PCH, as they pull into the drive way and park, a white Mercedes convertible pulls up to the curb. A striking woman gets out of the car and tosses her keys in their direction “Be careful when you park it” and heads to the front door. Frank had snagged the keys out of the air, shrugged and grinned at David “Guess I have a new job as a porter.”
Chapter 12
Sabrina rings the bell, the door is answered by Natalya, Dahlia’s mother who is usually nasty to everyone and spouts Russian sayings that no one understands.
Sabrina and Natalya look each other up and down. They are each aware they just may have met their match.
Natalya tests the waters by saying “Mustache is respected and beard is worn even by goats.”
Sabrina replies “A Clever person likes to learn, and the fool to teach.” Natalya grunts, the two women smile at each other politely in mutual agreement that taking each other on would be futile.
“I am here to see Dahlia, she should be expecting me.”
Natalya led her into Dahlia and Bubby’s home office. Dahlia and Bubby greet Sabrina and they just hand her the questionnaire to fill out when David and Frank walk in. David tells them that Frank was joining them for lunch and introduced him to Dahlia and Bubby, then Bubby jumped in and introduced Sabrina to both men, realizing her mistake out front with her car she turned a deep shade of pink, but really what was one to expect when they dressed like they were working in a barn. She still had no idea of who Frank Sands was but obviously he was “someone”.
Causally Frank walks over to Sabrina, he takes her hand with one of his and gently presses her keys into her palm with the other, she tries to pull away but he won’t let her, “I think you will find your car satisfactorily parked exactly where you left it. I did lock the doors for you however, no need to tip me.” And then he winked at her!
He had flustered her, miss cool as a cucumber was flustered and it showed. He was sure it was not something that happened every day, since she seemed to be accustomed to always being in control.
Bubby and Dahlia were very interested at the exchange, obviously there was something brewing between these two.
Dahlia told the two men they would see them at lunch. Once they were dismissed, Dahlia said to Bubby, “will you let mother know we will have two guests for lunch?”
Bubby replied “No need, I saw her reaching for her glass when she was leaving the room, she already knows.” Bubby turns to Sabrina, “Natalya carries a small drinking glass in her pocket and hold it up to walls so she can hear and not miss anything.”
Hmmm, Sabrina wondered how well it worked. She would have to ask Natalya some questions, something like that could come in handy for her at work.
While Sabrina finished with the questionnaire, Dahlia went to find David and Frank.
“Frank I was wondering something…”
“Yes mam?”
“Would you mind terribly filling out one of my questionnaires? I would love to help you find someone, if you are interested that is.”
“Well I would be, thank you very much.” Frank drawled “But what about Miss Oswald in there? Any chance at that?”
Dahlia put on her polite business smile. Many times people thought they could just choose someone based on attraction but it didn’t work that way, there were many variables.
“Well fill out the questionnaire and then we will see.”
Sabrina had ended up excusing herself from lunch. She really didn’t want to be around Frank Sands. He confused and intrigued her, and he seemed like the type of “bad boy” she had learned the hard way to avoid.
Frank was noticeably disappointed Sabrina was not at the luncheon table.
When Sabrina gets back to the office, both her boss Jason and his wife Casey are waiting for her.
“Well?” they both ask her in unison…
Giving them a typical Sabrina icy stare, she replies “I met with that woman and her grandmother. I answered some questions and now I have work to do so please go on with your day Mrs. Billiard. Mr. Billiard you have a conference call in 5 minutes, I will bring you the file.”
As both Jason and Casey jumped to do as she had told them, Sabrina started to feel more like her old self. Frank Sands and her reaction to him had really shook her up.
David and Dahlia were hanging out at the end of their boat dock. They had only a small sail boat, but as many of their neighbors did, their boat dock was decorated with table and chairs, an umbrella and plants. It was a nice place to sit and watch the harbor traffic. They were just unwinding from the day and having a glass of wine, laughing at the antics of two harbor seals who had commandeered a neighbors boat, which was a common problem. It was always funny and amusing until it was your boat. The stinky sea mammals could cause a lot of damage.
Bubby found them and poured herself a glass o
f wine from the bottle. She talks to Dahlia about Sabrina and Frank’s questionnaires. They do not on paper seem to be a fit, however Bubby thinks Sabrina is full of it and she thinks Sabrina had been less than honest.
Dahlia is still skeptical. Bubby reminds her of how Frank seemed to instinctively know how to handle Sabrina and instead of being put off or intimidated by the icy blond. He had been intrigued and set out to throw her off balance.
Bubby is finally able to sway Dahlia. When Dahlia asks Bubby what her thoughts were on the date, Bubby thought they should just leave it up to Frank as he seemed to be able to get a good reading on Sabrina. Dahlia decides to trust Bubby’s instincts and agrees to set them up.
Chapter 13
Dahlia and Bubby call Frank and let him know they decided to let him go out with Sabrina. They explain this was a one shot, if it doesn’t work then they are finding someone who fits her questionnaire. They also tell him the date planning is in his court. If he sinks or swims it is entirely on him. He tells them he won’t let them or Sabrina down.
That evening Jason and Casey come to dinner. Casey who owns a shop on Balboa Island called Beach Jams where she sells her organic jams she makes. She brings her limited edition jam flavors, from her dessert collection. It is Crème Brule, from the After 5 collection, Buttered Rum Toddy. Casey is one of the few people in this world Natalya is nice to, mainly because she loves Casey’s jams and Casey tells her she is pretty.
They tell Jason and Casey about Sabrina and Frank’s interaction. Both are surprised and pleased.
Dahlia warns them that she isn’t 100% convinced this will work, but if it doesn’t she will find someone else for Sabrina.
Dahlia also asks that if Sabrina balks at going out with Frank, they remind her she has agreed to cooperate in exchange for keeping her job after she had interfered in Jason and Casey’s relationship, almost causing irreparable damage.
Romance: Match Romance - A Billionaire Romance (Alpha Male Romance Series) (The Matchmaker Book 1) Page 3
