by Lori Wilde
“There’s a guy.”
“A guy?” Jillian said from Delaney’s right.
“What did she say?” asked Rachael, who was on the other side of Jillian. She was having trouble hearing over the Eastern-flavored music.
“She met a guy,” Jillian relayed.
“But she already has a guy. She’s engaged.” Rachael broke her form to lean around Jillian and glare at Delaney. “What are you thinking?”
“I know.” Delaney’s legs wobbled as she struggled to hold her pose. Trust Rachael to be the voice of her conscience. “I’m a horrible, horrible person.”
“You’re not horrible,” Tish said. “You’re human.”
“Trust me. I’m horrible. You haven’t heard the worst of it,” Delaney said.
“What’s the worst of it?” Jillian dared.
“It gets worse?” Rachael groaned.
“I kissed him. No, he kissed me. No, we kissed each other. Oh, I don’t know what happened. I’m so confused.” Delaney pushed away a stray strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail and into her face.
All three of her friends lost their poses as they turned to stare at her. Delaney looked straight ahead, keeping up the pose, keeping up appearances.
“What?” Rachael gasped.
“Naughty girl,” Tish said.
“I didn’t believe you had it in you.” Jillian shook her head. “Way to go.”
“Don’t encourage her,” Rachael snapped. “This is serious. Delaney has broken her vow to Evan.”
“Lighten up, Rach. They’re not married yet,” Jillian said. “She just had to get it out of her system.”
“That’s exactly right. That’s what I told Nick.” Delaney nodded.
“Evan’s the only guy she’s ever been with,” Jillian said. “Cut her a break. It was just a little kiss, right, Del?”
Just a little kiss? That was like calling the Grand Canyon a little crack in the ground.
“I feel terrible about it,” Delaney said. But not so terrible that she could wish it never happened.
“Up dog,” the yoga instructor called out as the music changed tempo, becoming more languid. They all made an attempt to follow her command.
“Okay, so you kissed him. It’s not the end of the world.” Tish stretched her spine upward.
“It wasn’t just a kiss,” Delaney confessed.
“You slept with him too?” Jillian, who never sounded scandalized, sounded scandalized.
“No, no. It was just the best damn kiss of my life.”
“She’s cussing,” Rachael said. “Delaney hardly ever cusses. He’s got her cussing now.” She frowned deeply. “Who is this guy?”
“Up dog,” the instructor said again.
Everyone dipped their heads down and stuck their butts in the air, stretching their hamstring muscles.
“Breathe deep, class.”
Delaney drew in a deep, upside-down breath. “That’s the problem. He’s the grandson of the woman I’m doing the renovations for, and I can’t avoid him because he’s the one who’s filling in for my crew since Lucia can’t afford them.”
“Oh, my God,” Tish said. “It’s that gorgeous undercover cop, isn’t it? When I was at Lucia’s house filming I thought I detected a vibe between you two.” To Rachael and Jillian, she said, “He really is hot. You should see him. He’s got the tightest butt that’s just begging to be pinched.”
“Tish!”
“I’m just saying.” Tish shrugged and tilted her head toward the ceiling.
“There’s vibes now?” Rachael exclaimed, clearly upset. “You’re all vibey with the guy, Delaney?”
“And muscles out to here,” Tish waxed rhapsodically and measured off a thick chunk of space behind her own bicep.
“Shh.” Delaney frowned at her.
“Evan’s got muscles,” Rachael said.
“Not like these.” Tish’s eyes rounded in appreciation. “Evan has run-of-the-mill, workout-on-the-weekend muscles. Nick’s got oh-my-god-he-could-have-been-a-cover-model muscles. I bet anything his abs are equally amazing. What are his abs like, Del? Can you bounce a condom off them?”
“I don’t know what his abs are like,” Delaney cried, embarrassed by the attention they were drawing. Most everyone in the class had stopped striking poses and was staring at them. “I haven’t seen him naked.”
The music picked that moment to shift into another song, and for one brief second the only sound in the room was Delaney yelling, “Naked.”
“Ladies,” the instructor said sternly, “if you’re not going to concentrate on yoga, could you please leave the room so that the rest of us who want to relax and enjoy our exercise can do so?”
“Let’s get out of here,” Jillian said, yanking up her yoga mat. “Who’s for coffee?”
“Delaney is wrecking her life and you’re thinking about coffee.” Rachael shook her head.
“Maybe she’s claiming her life, not wrecking it,” Tish said.
“Oh, yeah, like what you did with Shane?” Rachael asked. “Maybe you’re not the most qualified person to be giving Delaney relationship advice.”
Delaney saw Tish freeze at the mention of her ex’s name. Although Tish denied it, they all suspected she was still in love with her ex-husband. “That was really cold, Rachael.”
“Ladies,” the instructor said sharply and pointed at the door.
Chastised, they gathered up their yoga mats and trooped out into the hallway.
Eyes flaring, Rachael faced off with Delaney. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to Evan. He’s such a nice, caring man. Why would you do this to him?”
Rachael was asking her the same thing that Delaney had been asking herself ever since Nick kissed her. It was wrong. So very wrong. She knew it. Regretted it and yet she still wanted to kiss him again.
“Hey,” Jillian said, hopping to Delaney’s defense. “Evan took off for Guatemala just before their wedding, and he was the one who came up with that celibacy thing. What did he expect her to do?”
“Unlike some people,” Rachael said pointedly and glared at Jillian, “I thought Delaney could control her hormonal impulses.”
“You calling me a slut?” Jillian challenged. “Is that where this is going?”
“If the stiletto fits…”
Delaney’s pulse leaped as she realized the consequences of her actions on her friends. It distressed her that they were fighting over her. This wasn’t just about her. She’d involved them and upset them, and now she had to step in and make things right before either Rachael or Jillian said something they couldn’t take back.
She stepped between them. “Please, you guys are my best friends in the world. Don’t do this to each other. Rachael is right, Jillian. I shouldn’t have kissed Nick.”
“You shouldn’t be marrying Evan is what you shouldn’t be doing,” Jillian said. “No matter how nice and caring he is, he’s wrong for you, and your heart knows it even if your head doesn’t.”
Delaney thought of Nick, whom she had known for only a very short time. There was chemistry there, yes. Lots of it. But what did they have in common beyond the attraction? Absolutely nothing. She tried to imagine him fitting in with her high-society world and failed miserably.
Then she thought of Evan, whom she had known her entire life. He was the man who’d been there for her during the bad times. He’d held her in his arms when her sister died. And when a bully at school made fun of the way she looked, Evan had punched him out, defending her honor. She and Evan were so much alike. They came from the same world. Knew the same people. Liked the same things.
She twisted her engagement ring on her finger. How could she throw away the history they had, the security Evan offered, for physical lust and sexual attraction with Nick?
And there was the issue of her mother.
At the mere thought of having to tell Honey she’d decided not to go through with the wedding, Delaney felt physically sick.
She couldn’t. She wouldn�
�t. Jillian was right. Nick was just something to get out of her system. This need for magic, for something special, was a childish impulse. Her experimentation had already caused discord between her friends. She had to stop this daydreaming and wishing for something more before it ruined her life and hurt those she loved.
Tish touched her arm. “You okay, Del?”
Delaney forced a smile. “I’m all right, or I would be if you guys would stop sniping at each other. I never meant to cause trouble in our little group. I just value your support so much, I had to tell you. Please, forgive me for dumping my problems on you.”
“There’s nothing to forgive,” Tish said.
“I’m sorry too,” Jillian apologized. “I’m far too reactionary at times.”
“Group hug!” Rachael held out her arms.
Grinning, they all came together for a hug.
“Now,” Jillian said, “let’s go for coffee. I’m buying.”
They walked over to the nearby Starbucks and Tish fell into step beside Delaney. “So, what are you going to do about Mr. Hard-Body Cop?”
Delaney sighed. “There’s only one thing I can do.”
“You’re going to break it off with Evan?”
“No!” She stared at her friend, and then lowered her voice. “Of course not. I’m going to have to tell Lucia I can’t stage her house.”
“But what about the American Home Design contest and your own dream of taking your business out of the realm of your mother’s friends and controlling destiny?”
“For now,” Delaney said, “I’ve got to let that dream go. For the good of everyone involved, I simply can’t trust myself around Nick.”
Chapter 12
What are we going to do?” Lucia asked Trudie as they pushed their shopping cart through the handy little community grocery store located two blocks from Trudie’s doorstep. Just before they’d walked out the door, Delaney had called with the bad news she was resigning as Lucia’s house stager.
“I’m telling you, Luce, you’re worrying for nothing. Delaney is a Pisces. Nick is Scorpio. They’re one of the most compatible matches in the Zodiac. Trust me on this.”
“Not to offend you, Trudie, but I don’t have much faith in astrology.”
“That’s fine, but what about your faith in the whammy? You do believe in that, don’t you?”
“I don’t know what the problem is,” Lucia fretted. “Delaney said she didn’t have enough time to do the house justice with her impending wedding plans. She never said a word about Nick. But I know that’s the real issue. But what if she’s telling the truth and she’s simply overwhelmed?”
“She’s only overwhelmed because the whammy has her rattled and she doesn’t want to tell you she has the hots for your grandson, especially since she’s engaged to someone else. She doesn’t want you to think badly of her.”
“But how are she and Nicky ever going to get together if she’s not going to help me sell my house? And besides that, now who’s going to help me sell my house?” Lucia turned their cart down the cereal aisle. “I knew we should never have meddled.”
Trudie took a box of Lucky Charms off the shelf and tossed it in the cart. “It’s not meddling when it’s kismet.”
Lucia fished the box of sugary cereal out of the cart and handed it back to Trudie. “You’re as bad as Leo with the sweet tooth. Get the All-Bran.”
Grumbling under her breath, Trudie put the Lucky Charms back and replaced it with bran flakes. “Happy now?”
“No, not at all. I’m worried about Delaney and Nick. I’m worried about selling my house.”
Trudie waved a hand. “You worry too much.”
“You don’t worry at all.”
“And that’s what makes us such good friends. We balance each other out. Can I get some fruit roll-ups?”
Lucia sighed. “Go ahead.”
Trudie scampered to the fruit roll-ups and brought a box to the cart. “You want Delaney back as your house stager?”
“Of course I do. Didn’t I just say that? But how can we get her to come back?”
“We’re going to have to meddle. Oh, and you might have to tell a little white fib or two.”
Lucia desperately wanted to see her grandson happy. He deserved the same kind of happiness she’d known with Leo. She wasn’t so sure of Trudie’s interfering, but she didn’t know what else to do. If Delaney married the man she was engaged to, Lucia knew the young woman would live to regret it.
She’d been there herself. She understood the pressure to comply with her family’s wishes, especially if you were the kind of girl who took great care not to hurt people. If it hadn’t been for Leo boldly taking matters into his own hands, she would probably be living in a hovel in Tuscany, waiting for Frank Tigerelli to get out of prison.
Lucia couldn’t stand by and watch Delaney make a terrible mistake. Her gaze locked with Trudie’s. “So what do you have in mind?”
Nick was caulking the front windows of Nana’s house when he looked up to see Trudie’s corvette pull into the driveway with his grandmother riding shotgun. Nana climbed gingerly from the low-slung sports car and then marched toward him, looking like she used to look just before she stuck his nose in the corner for bad behavior.
Uh-oh. Something was up.
He laid the caulking gun down on the window ledge and cocked a disarming smile. “Hey, Nana.”
“Don’t you ‘Hey, Nana’ me, young man.” She glowered darkly and shook an index finger under his nose. “What did you do to that girl?”
“What girl?”
”Don’t play dumb,” Nana snapped.
Surprise widened Nick’s eyes. His grandmother rarely lost her temper, but when she did, she got really steamed.
“I know what you’re up to, young man.”
His shoulder muscles bunched in defensive protest. “I’m not up to anything.”
“Flirting with Delaney to chase her off so I can’t sell the house. She called me up and quit today.”
He felt a mix of relief and regret. The regret startled him. He had nothing to feel sorry about. “Is that what she said? That I was flirting with her?”
“Delaney has too much class and respect for other people’s feelings to say that. She laid all the blame on herself. But I know the real truth, mister. Don’t forget who raised you.”
“I didn’t chase her off,” Nick mumbled and ducked his head. Nana had a way of making him feel seven years old all over again.
“You can’t fool me, Dominic Vincent Vinetti. You’ve done it before.”
“Done what before?”
“Ran off a perfectly nice young woman because you were getting too close, feeling too much, and couldn’t deal with it.” Her eyes sparked angrily and she reached over to snap the head off a dead bloom on the rosebush beside him.
Nick gulped.
“Yes,” she said. “I know about your tactics. Probably more than you know yourself. For instance, I know you’re at least fifty percent responsible for what happened between you and Amber. Maybe even more than fifty percent.”
Now that was a low blow. Nick narrowed his eyes. “Amber left me. On our honeymoon. To run off with another man.”
Nana sank her hands on her hips. “And why was that?”
Fear slid down his spine. Nick clenched his jaw, dropped his gaze, and picked up the caulking gun. “I’ve got to get this caulking done before it rains.”
“That,” Nana crowed. “Right there. That’s why Amber left you.”
“What? Amber left me because I like to caulk?” Was his grandmother losing it?
“Don’t play dumb.”
“Maybe I am dumb.”
“Humph. You run away from your feelings, that’s what you do.”
“I married Amber, didn’t I? How could I run away from my feelings if I married her?” he growled. “And look what happened.”
“You married a woman you knew would break your heart. You damn well did it on purpose. Subconsciously, of course, but still p
urposefully.”
His mouth dropped open and he stared at his grandmother, bewildered by her accusations. She was losing it. “Think whatever you want to think,” he said, not knowing how else to respond. He’d never seen his grandmother like this and didn’t know what to make of it.
“You’re terrified,” she accused. “Scared to death that if you really let yourself love a woman who truly deserves your love, she’ll end up dying on you the way Dominique died on your father.”
Nick studied the window casing, trying to ignore his grandmother, who was now systematically snapping the heads off all the dead rose stems and slinging them viciously to the ground. Hmm. Looked like he’d missed a spot with the caulk.
“Stubborn,” Nana muttered, and he heard the crisp snap of another dried bloom being broken off.
Nick dabbed a white bead of caulk into the spot he’d overlooked, cocked his head, studied his handiwork. Nice.
“Arrogant.” Snap, snap.
Let’s see. There were three more windows in the front. Would he have enough caulk? Or would he need to make another run to Lowe’s?
“I swear you’re just like your grandfather. He would rather putter around in the garage than express what he was feeling.”
“What are you taking about? He kidnapped you from your wedding. That sounds like he was expressing his feelings to me.”
Nana waved a hand. “Grand gestures came easily to him, it was the quiet moments—the moments that count to a woman—where he froze up. I loved your grandfather with every beat of my heart, Nick, but he was so stubborn. He never told me about his heart condition. Arrogantly, he wanted to shoulder the burden alone, spare me the worry.” She snorted and then tears sprang to her eyes. “I never knew he was dying. He robbed me of the special conversations we could have had. The extra moments we could have savored. The ones your father and mother got to share.”
Awkwardly, Nick wrapped his arms around his grandmother and she sank her head against his chest. He didn’t know how to deal with Nana’s tears. He patted her shoulder, his own emotions a tight clot in his throat.
Nana pulled back, dabbing at her eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have broken down on you like that.”
