Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors)
Page 103
But then he was accosted. By a bunch of men.
Adrianne found herself shoved out of the way as five men pushed in and started gushing all over Mason.
âI thought you were dancing with Mason,â Phoebe Sherwood, her best friend, said as Adrianne took the chair next to her at a table on the near side of the dance floor.
Adrianne frowned. âI was.â And wished she still was.
Sheâd met the guy like a minute ago and she already missed him. Yeah, that was normal.
âYou looked like you were having a good time.â Phoebe gave her a wink that said she knew exactly how much Adrianne had been enjoying herself.
Unfortunately, Adrianne was never going to be a champion poker player. She had a hard time keeping her emotions to herself.
âHeâsâ¦a good dancer.â It was so stupid that she wanted to say more than that. He was a lot of things. She was sure of it. But that was stupid. She didnât know the guy at all. Her experience with him was fifteen minutes long. The fact that she felt a connection to him wasâ¦stupid.
âHeâs a good dancer,â Phoebe repeated with something in her voice that made Adrianne suspicious even though she couldnât define it.
âYes. Heâs a good dancer,â she said again. She watched Phoebe twirl one of her tight red curls around her finger nonchalantly.
Except that Phoebe was rarely nonchalant. She was nosy and bold and outspoken.
âGrant Hanson is a good dancer.â
Adrianne proceeded cautiously though she couldnât pinpoint why. âYes, Grantâs a good dancer.â
âYouâve danced with him a number of times.â
âTwo or three,â Adrianne agreed.
âLance Corbert is a really good dancer. Youâve danced with him too, right?â
There were always weddings and anniversary parties and street dances going on in Sapphire Falls. The people were dance crazy and it was simply easier to join in than fight it. Plus, she liked dancing.
âYes, Iâve danced with Lance.â
âHow about Tim Gordon? Heâs a good dancer.â
Adrianne sighed. âDo you have a point?â She knew Phoebe did. She just wondered how long it would take to get to it.
Phoebe leaned in, elbows on the table, and pinned Adrianne with a direct look. âYouâve never looked at Grant, Lance or Tim the way you were looking at Mason while you danced with him.â
Adrianne knew exactly what Phoebe was talking about. And it was stupid.
She decided not to play dumb. Instead, she groaned and slumped down in her chair. âI know.â
âIs it safe to say then, that Mason is a little more than a good dancer?â
He was. In fifteen minutes, the guy had managed to get to her like no one ever had.
It wasnât like Mason Riley was the first guy sheâd looked at like that. It had happened twice before. Because sheâd been in major lust. Twice.
âThis is really, really bad,â she said, dropping her voice to a loud whisper. âAnd impossible. I just met him.â
âChemistry is like that.â Phoebe sat back and took a long drink of her rum and Coke.
âChemistry?â Adrianne narrowed her eyes. âYou know about chemistry?â
Phoebe was single. Had been single as long as Adrianne had known her. She dated. But she was most definitely single.
âOf course I know about chemistry.â Her eyes focused on something, or someone, over Adrianneâs shoulder and Adrianne turned.
Matt Phillips was leaning against the bar directly in Phoebeâs line of sight.
She spun to face her friend. âMatt?â
Phoebe didnât look all that happy as she shrugged. âYou canât help who you have chemistry with. It just happens.â
âBut havenât you always been friends?â
âSince fourth grade,â Phoebe confirmed.
âAnd youâve fallen for him?â
âSince I was a sophomore in high school.â
âDoes he know?â Adrianne asked.
âIf he does, heâs not doing anything about it.â
âAre you?â
âDoing something about it?â
âYeah.â
Phoebe swallowed the rest of her drink. âNot yet.â
âWhy?â
âTiming is everything.â
Adrianne sighed. âYeah. So true. I almost said something stupid to Mason right before the guys cut in. Glad they saved me. And now heâs talking to Hailey, so Iâm safe.â
Phoebeâs eyes widened. âWhat did you almost⦠Haileyâs talking to himâ¦whatâ¦whâ?â She craned her neck, trying to find Mason.
Adrianne laughed at Phoebeâs obvious frustration with not being able to follow both trains of thought at once.
âShe found him?â Phoebe finally demanded. She sat straight in her chair and scanned the room. âHow long ago?â
âFound him?â Adrianne repeated. âShe was standing right there when he made that ridiculous three hundred dollar offer to dance with me.â
âYeah, but she couldnât get to him while you were dancing with him. Where are they now?â Phoebe lifted her butt out of her chair a few inches, trying to see over the people at the bar.
âRight after the guys interrupted our dance, she pulled him over to the bar. Theyâve been sitting there ever since.â
âHoly shit, Adrianne. We canât let her do that.â
Adrianne frowned and swirled the water in her glass. âThis is Hailey, remember? Everyone lets her do whatever she wants. Even me. Especially me.â She was Haileyâs assistant after all. âBasically, my entire job description can be boiled down to letting Hailey do whatever she wants. That and clean up the messes she creates.â
âWhy do you let her do that stuff?â Phoebe askedâfor the millionth time since Adrianne had moved to Sapphire Falls. âStand up to her.â
Adrianne knew that it could seem that Hailey walked all over her. It drove Phoebe crazy.
But it wasnât a big deal. Usually.
In her past life, Adrianne would have never let someone order her around and dump all of the work on her. Sheâd had twenty-two people reporting to her at one time and sheâd been on top of each one of them. She was certain at least eighteen of them had regarded her as a demanding bitch. The other four hadnât liked her but had wanted to be her. All twenty-two had respected her.
And she was over it.
Here in Sapphire Falls, things were small and simple. There werenât millions of dollars at stake. There wasnât a family reputation riding on anything. Her own self-respect wasnât wrapped up in sales figures and new accounts and getting all the credit so her superiors thought she was worthwhile.
Here, the most pressing matters were if they should replace the stop signs on Main or if it could wait for the next budget year, what color to paint the new fence around the soccer fields and, now, Sapphire Hills.
She loved that. She had a stress-free schedule, a beautiful view of Main Street out her window and an office chair that heated up and massaged her back with the press of a button.
And coffee and donuts on advisory-board-meeting days.
Life was good here.
Adrianne could put her foot down, demand Hailey say please more often, but why? Adrianne liked her job. It even had its rewarding moments. She took pride in a job well done, even if no one knew she was the one whoâd done it.
And Hailey was mostly harmless.
At least, until it came to Mason Riley.
âWell, weâre going to prevent this pending mess.â Phoebe was texting someone as she spoke.
âWhat do you mean?â
She hit send on her phone and then focused on Adrianne. âHoney, we have to keep Hailey and Mason as far apart from each other as we can.â
Adrianne shook her head. âWhat are you talking about? Hailey invited him here.â
âYeah, I wish youâd told me that.â
âWhy would I have told you that?â
âYouâre not from here. There are lots of things, history and stuff, that you donât know. You should really tell me everything.â
Adrianne snorted. Phoebe would love that. She was the high school English teacher, and Adrianne was stunned by the things that she found out at that school. But she didnât quite know everything.
âI canât tell you everything.â
âWell, anyway, we canât let her spend time with him now that heâs really here.â
âBut he probably came because she was the one that invited him, or at least came with the expectation of seeing and talking to her.â
âDoesnât matter,â Phoebe said.
Matt slid into an empty chair at their table. âTheyâre at the end of the bar.â
As his comment seemed in response to some inquiry, Adrianne guessed he was the recipient of Phoebeâs text of a few seconds ago. âHailey and Mason?â she asked.
Matt nodded. âAnd they made plans to meet at the building site tomorrow morning at ten for a private look at the plans.â
Phoebe scowled. âWhatâs she drinking?â
Matt hesitated. âMojitos,â he said, almost apologetically.
Phoebeâs hand met the top of the table with a sharp smack. âOkay, we have to intervene. Now.â
âMojitos mean something?â Adrianne asked.
âFlirting. She always drinks mojitos when sheâs flirting,â Phoebe said.
Adrianne gave Matt a puzzled look but he nodded in affirmation. âItâs true. She drinks red wine with girlfriends, light beer when sheâs hanging out at parties or barbecues and mojitos when sheâs flirting.â
Adrianne couldnât believe that they knew that. Or that it was true. And how had she missed it? Probably because sheâd never cared, or hadnât known she needed to care, about what Hailey drank.
She couldnât help it. She craned her neck to find Hailey and Mason. Hailey had stolen Mason away from the guys who had stolen him from Adrianne, but Adrianne told herself that they were high school acquaintances. It made sense that she would greet him. Her enthusiasm was directly proportional to the amount of money he could potentially donate to Sapphire Hills. It all made sense.
The flirting not so much.
âWhy do weâ¦â She caught sight of Masonâs dark head above the others at the bar. Then someone shifted and she could see his face.
And the way he was looking at Hailey.
âCrap.â She slumped back down in her seat and wished for more than water as she tipped her glass back. Hailey might be flirting with Mason, but he was looking at her with what Adrianne almost had to label as affection. Double crap. Her stomach felt heavy and sick.
âWhat?â Phoebe asked, looking over her shoulder. Her back was to the end of the bar where Hailey was perched on a high stool next to where Mason leaned on the bar. He was facing the room and Adrianne. Phoebe could only see the long mane of blond hair against Haileyâs bright red, tight dress, but there was no mistaking that was her. Adrianne knew that hair toss. It was Haileyâs signature.
âHe likes her.â Adrianne knew she sounded dejected and knew that was ridiculous. She barely knew the guy and he and Hailey had a past. She could hardly expect him to ditch Hailey to hang out with her. Plus, there were plenty of other people clustered around chatting and laughing. It was a reunion. He was a part of that. He was from here.
Adrianne wasnât.
âHe does like her,â Phoebe agreed, looking almost as unhappy as Adrianne felt. âThatâs the problem.â
Adrianne agreed it was less than ideal. For her. But why did Phoebe care?
âDo you have a thing for him?â she asked.
Phoebe looked confused. Then she laughed. âFor Mason?â She glanced at Matt. âNo, not for Mason.â
âDid you date him in high school or something?â
Phoebe was even more amused by that. âNo. Mason didnât date anyone. And thatâs not why I want to keep them apart.â
âThen why?â
âThey have a history,â Matt inserted. âNot a good one.â
âThey seem to be getting along fine now,â Adrianne muttered, tipping an ice cube into her mouth and chewing hard.
âIt wonât last,â Phoebe said. âWhich is why we have to keep them apart.â
âIâm confused,â Adrianne said, watching Mason smile at something Hailey said.
âHailey will flirt with him just long enough to get what she wants. Then sheâll tell him that they should stay friends, Mason will get mad, pull his donation and weâre screwed. Itâs better if he has nice feelings for her, but not too much contact.â
âHow do you know sheâll only want to be friends with him?â
Looking at him, Adrianne could think of at least sixteen really good reasons Hailey might want to see him again, and his broad shoulders and heart-tripping smile were just two of them.
âBecause she had more than one chance with Mason in high school and always kept him very much at armâs length. Everyone knew it. If there was any doubt, there was one pretty public denouncement that I remember.â
âOuch.â
âYeah, Iâll tell you that story sometime,â Phoebe said. âBut right now we have to run interference here. Seriously. We canât let her get him all worked up and then break his heart. We need his money and we have a better chance of getting a real check in the bank if we keep them simply saying hi on the street and nothing more.â
Adrianne hated, irrationally, that Masonâs heart was at risk with Hailey.
But Phoebe wasnât known for being melodramatic. She was a straightforward, smart, funny woman who had lived in Sapphire Falls her whole life and who Adrianne liked a lot. Adrianne had absolutely no reason not to believe her.
The problem was that Mason had given Hailey more than one chance in high school and he was here now looking at her like she was incredibly interesting. âBut how do we do that?â Keeping Mason away from Hailey seemed like a great idea at the moment. Really any moment Adrianne could foresee in the future too. âIf he wants to spend time with herâand vice versaâthereâs not much we can do about it.â
âOh, weâre gonna do something about it,â Phoebe declared. âI have a plan.â
Adrianne crunched on the last ice cube from her glass. âWhatever. Go for it.â
âI need you.â
Adrianne looked at Matt, but they were both looking at her. âMe? For what?â
âTo step in.â
âFor?â
âHailey.â
âI have no idea what youâre talking about.â
âSomeone has to fill him in on all of the plans, and how great Sapphire Hills is going to be and how much we need his help.â
âThat has to be me?â
âYou know the plans even better than Hailey does. Youâd do a better job selling it anyway.â
That was completely true. It wasnât even arrogant to say it. It was a fact. Adrianne was great at sales. Especially when she was passionate about something. She was passionate about Sapphire Hills.
âBut he agreed to meet her. How do you propose we change that?â
âHaileyâs not going to be able to make it. We canât leave the poor guy out there all alone, and he
does need to know the plans. So youâll meet him instead,â Matt said.
Adrianne wasnât sure she should ask the next question, but she heard herself say, âWhy canât Hailey make it?â
âSomethingâs going to come up.â
âSomething?â Adrianne repeated.
âSomeâ¦mayoral emergency,â Phoebe said.
Matt winked at her and Phoebe grinned.
âA mayoral emergency in Sapphire Falls?â Adrianne asked. âThat she wonât need her assistant for?â
âDonât worry about it. Weâre a team. You play your position and let us play ours,â Matt said with a this-is-gonna-be-good grin. âFocus. Commitment. Execution. Thatâs what we need from you.â
Adrianne rolled her eyes at Sapphire Fallsâs head football coach. âYouâve been to too many coaching clinics.â
Matt chuckled and took a drink of his beer.
âYou want Sapphire Hills too, right?â Phoebe asked Adrianne. âWhat about your shop? You want that to happen, donât you?â
Adrianne sighed. She really did. âOf course.â
âThen you need to help make it happen. If youâre not part of the solution, youâre part of the problem. Or something like that.â
Adrianne knew she was going to regret this. âWhat do I need to do?â
âShow up at the build site at ten in the morning and be prepared to wow Mason.â
âOkay,â she said slowly. âWow him?â she repeated.
Phoebe regarded her for a moment. âWear your blue sundress,â she finally decided.
Adrianne felt her eyebrows rise. A sundress? That was her church outfit. âWhy?â
âYou have great legs and breasts.â
She turned to look at Matt. âDid you say I have great breasts?â
He shrugged. âYou do. Sky is blue, ocean is deep, you have great breasts. And legs.â
Adrianne wasnât sure what to say. She glanced at Phoebe wondering how she felt about the observation by the man she was in love with. She seemed lost in thought.
âDonât you think I should try to wow him with information about the project and the building plans?â Adrianne asked.