Catch Him If You Can

by Jennifer Shirk

  Still was.

  But Wade had never treated her as anything more than another “sister.” Then in his senior year he’d met Miranda Lipkin, head cheerleader and all-around perfect Barbie look-alike. Man, did Arden want to hate her. Unfortunately, Miranda was unbelievably sweet and friendly, too. No one hated Miranda. And no one was surprised when she and Wade became a couple and then, after college, had gotten married. However, people were shocked when Miranda developed brain cancer only a few years later.

  Poor Wade. Arden couldn’t imagine losing someone you loved like that. No surprise that he was so adamantly against relationships now and had shut himself off from them. He must have been devastated. But he was a good guy and deserved to be happy again.

  The tinkling of bells told them someone had entered the studio. Arden stood, about to go and greet whomever was there, but Wade popped into view before she made it around her desk.

  “Hello, ladies,” Wade said, with his deep voice and all too charming grin. He was working at the clinic today, so he wore jeans and an untucked scrubs shirt that peaked beneath his leather jacket. His brown hair was slightly disheveled from the wind or maybe from running his hands through it. That combined with the slight stubble on his cheeks and his crooked dark-framed glasses made him look adorably absentminded.

  More like a hot geek.

  Gosh, she was such a fool, fawning all over a man like that. She knew better. Even if Wade was supposed to be her fiancé. He was off-limits. He was Kinsley’s brother and he also did not hold back in telling her that he was not in the market for a real fiancée—or even a girlfriend for that matter. She was supposed to be just a front. Plus, she certainly didn’t need the distraction from her business right then, either.

  Jessica rushed over to him. “Wade Roberts, you little sneak, letting everyone in town believe you were going to be a bachelor forever. Well, I’m thrilled you noticed someone like our Arden. We were kind of worried about her, too.”

  “Hey!” Arden protested. “I’ve dated.” Sort of. Maybe. Once or twice.

  Maggie rolled her eyes. “Whatever. We were all convinced you were married to your job, honey. But I suppose that was all a ruse to hide your relationship with Wade.”

  Jessica shook her head. “You two had everyone fooled.” Then she glanced back and forth between Arden and Wade. “Oh, sorry. Don’t let us get in the way of greeting your fiancée,” she said to Wade with a knowing smirk.

  Wade’s smile dimmed as if he’d just realized he hadn’t given his so-called fiancée a proper hello. He hesitated a moment before walking up to Arden. “Hi, honey,” he said, then leaned in and pecked her on the cheek.

  Seriously? Couldn’t he summon up anything better than that?

  A girl’s ego had its standards after all.

  Wade turned and looked at the gawking women. “Um, if you two don’t mind, we’d like a little privacy.”

  “Oh, of course,” Jessica gushed. “I have a wedding proposal to work on anyway. Come on, Mag.”

  As soon as the women left and the door shut behind them, Arden sank back into her chair. “Good grief, that was terrible.”

  “I know. Pretending to be a couple will be awkward for a while.”

  “I’m not talking about that.”

  Wade raised an eyebrow. “Then what was terrible?”

  “That greeting. Wade, you don’t kiss a woman you’re supposed to be in love with like you’d kiss Mother Teresa. We are never going to convince my clients or anyone else we’re engaged at that rate.”

  Wade took his glasses off and ran a hand down his face. “Oh gosh. You’re right. I’m sorry. I guess I’m out of practice with the whole relationship dynamics. I’ll work on it. I promise.”

  Despite herself, Arden found herself smiling. His quick admission and look of utter helplessness took the heat out of her anger. “Look, maybe you better sit down so we can make sure our details match up.”

  Wade sat opposite her, stretching out his long legs as laid-back as you please and throwing an elbow up onto the back of his chair. He had a way of swallowing up the space around him, and her office suddenly seemed full of testosterone.

  “Word is spreading pretty fast in town,” he told her. “Kinsley practically disowned me as a brother for not divulging anything about us to her first.”

  “Kinsley knows the truth, right?”

  “She does.”

  “And…is she okay with it?”

  “I wouldn’t say okay. I’d say just barely tolerating both our existences at the moment.”

  Arden closed her eyes and sighed. “Oh no. I’m sorry. I’ll invite her to lunch this week and explain everything.”

  “Not your fault. I pretty much told her I was to blame. After all, I was the one who started the lie in the first place. I know it benefits you, too, but you’re a real pal helping me out like this.”

  Pal.

  Pal? Arden tried not to make a face. “Pal” was even lower on the totem pole than friend. Not that she wanted to be anything more than a friend to Wade. They were already friends. Sort of friends. And just because she hadn’t been with a man in over—when was the last Pope elected? —well, just because Wade was a single, hot, intelligent man did not mean…

  Oh heck.

  It sure did mean she was attracted to him. More than that. She wanted him. There. She could admit that high school crushes were almost impossible to forget. And she wouldn’t mind at all if Wade wanted to pull her out of the friend zone for just one night or a few hours. Or even fifteen minutes. But she knew that was a bad idea. Good thing he annoyed her 99 percent of the time they were together, or she’d really be in trouble.

  “Arden?” he asked.

  “Hmm?” She blinked at him. Oh, had he asked her a question? “Um, sure, no problem, pal. You’re doing me a favor as well and I appreciate it.”

  There was a knock on her office door, then Maggie slowly opened it, covering her eyes with her hands. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said, hands still raised to her face. “Are you guys decent?”

  Arden rolled her eyes. “Oh for heaven’s sake. You don’t have to knock. I’m a professional. And please stop covering your eyes.”

  “Yeah,” Wade chimed in, a devilish grin curling his lips, “when I want privacy with my fiancée, you better believe that door will be locked first.”

  Arden ignored the hot tingle in her belly she got at his response and stood. “Was there something you wanted?” she asked her assistant.

  “Not me personally. Milena and her mother are here. They want to speak to you.”

  Arden’s stomach muscles pulled into a tight knot. “Oh gosh. I didn’t have an appointment with them. Do you think there’s a problem already?”

  “Hey, I’m not the expert here, but maybe you should go and ask them yourself,” Wade suggested.

  Arden gave him a curt nod. Of course. She’d go and ask like a normal professional person. It was probably nothing anyway. They had signed the contract. They seemed happy with her so far. Why was she so freaked out?

  Because you have your entire business riding on this one wedding, that’s all.

  On wobbly legs, Arden made it through the door. Milena and her mother greeted her immediately.

  “Oh, Arden, I’m glad we caught you,” Milena said, rushing over to her and giving her an air-kiss on the cheek. “I wanted to drop off a few pictures of some wedding themes I found on Pinterest.”

  Arden felt some of the tension leave her and a laugh threatened to bubble up from her chest. Pinterest! Here she’d thought it was something serious. But no. Just your average, all-around pop-in from a client. Wade was right, she needed to chillax.

  Arden gratefully took the pictures Milena had printed out. “That’s great. I’ll be sure to try to incorporate what I see here in the presentation I work up for you.”

  Mrs. Swenson’s lips were pressed together tightly as if displeased to be dragged back here when she could have been attending a charity luncheon or weekl
y bridge class, but she gave Arden a nod of acceptance gracious enough for the queen mother.

  Milena looked up and over Arden’s shoulder and her smile widened. “Oh, is this your fiancé?”

  Arden flinched. Wade. She hadn’t expected him to follow her out of her office.

  She turned and swallowed. “Oh, yes,” she said, wrapping her hands around Wade’s arm and pulling him closer. She couldn’t help noticing how tight his biceps were. Whoa. Like she had hold of a steel beam. Was that from lifting puppies all day? “This is my f—” For some reason she choked on the word “fiancé.”

  “This is my Wade. Wade, this is Milena and Elizabeth Swenson.”

  Wade smiled and shook each of the ladies’ hands. “So nice to meet you both.”

  “Congratulations!” Milena beamed. “My mother and I were so excited to hear about your engagement.”

  Wade grinned, throwing an arm around Arden and squeezing her tightly against his side. “Thank you. We’re excited, too. In fact, we’re so excited, I told Arden we should just skip the wedding and elope.”

  Arden choked. “Now, honey, you know what I do for a living, right? We have to have a wedding.”

  “But you plan weddings all the time. We should do something different. Something crazy. Much more romantic. A justice of the peace at city hall. Then maybe a private island. Just the two of us. Do we really need all the fanfare?”

  Arden leveled him with a glare. “Um, yes, we do. Weddings are much more than fanfare, honey.”

  “I don’t know.” Wade shrugged. “Seems to me weddings are more for everyone else but the bride and groom.”

  Ohmygosh. She wanted desperately to reach out and throttle him. What in the world was he trying to do? Murder her wedding planning business before her very eyes?

  Somehow Arden collected her composure before speaking. “Honeybun, there is nothing I want to do more than plan our wedding. I want this to be a memorable moment that we can cherish the rest of our lives.” If I let you live that long…

  “I still think we should consider just running off and coming back married. Besides, I don’t need a wedding. All I need is you,” he added, squeezing her tight and making a show of sweetly kissing the side of her temple.

  Mrs. Swenson appeared even more annoyed than when she first came in. But Milena looked starry-eyed and let out a wistful sigh at the elopement idea. Actually sighed! Not the reaction Arden wanted from a client whose wedding she was supposed to be planning. Arden tried to break free of his embrace, but he only held her tighter.

  “Wade,” Arden said, between clenched teeth, “maybe we can discuss this later in private.”

  “Anything you want, honey,” he said as his hands traveled down to her butt and lightly swatted it.

  Oh, that was it. She was calling off this fake wedding way ahead of schedule—and quite possibly making funeral arrangements instead.

  Mrs. Swenson’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “We should go, Milena. I’m sure Ms. Pearson and her…fiancé have things they’d like to get back to.”

  Arden finally disengaged herself from Wade’s octopus arms. “Oh, no, Mrs. Swenson. If there’s anything else you or Milena need to discuss, I’m completely free now.”

  Milena brushed her long, dark hair off her shoulders and grinned. “I’m good. We have lunch plans anyway. I’ll let you get creative with the rest. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

  “I’m sure if it’s nothing that pleases us, you can always elope, dear,” Mrs. Swenson said snidely.

  “Oh, Mother,” Milena said with a laugh.

  Arden smiled faintly. “I’ll be in touch soon.”

  “Wonderful,” Milena said, then looked to Wade. “So nice meeting you. See you again soon.”

  Thankfully Wade didn’t feel the need to throw out any more of his opinions on weddings and simply nodded.

  Arden said her goodbyes, then immediately ushered Wade back into her office, slamming the door behind her. “Oh my gosh, you are the worst fiancé on the planet.”

  Wade pushed his glasses up his nose. “I’m sensing you’re upset with me.”

  “Upset? Upset?” Arden flailed her arms around, trying to summon up more words and failing.

  Wade blinked. “Okay…I’m sensing you’re really upset with me. But I don’t understand. I thought you wanted me to be more convincing.”

  “Yes, you were convincing. Very convincing. You just about convinced my clients I shouldn’t be planning their wedding, you probably convinced them we’re not planning our own wedding, and you completely convinced me I should have my head examined for ever thinking you could help me with my wedding planning business!”

  “I think you’re reading too much into this. I was just trying to convey that we were so in love we didn’t need a wedding to validate it.”

  “Yes, that’s very nice, Wade. And maybe—just maybe—if it were anyone else in town, any other client, I wouldn’t be so prickly. But that was the A-list client I was telling you about. The client who wants me to be engaged and plan my wedding.” She slumped on top of her desk. “My business is finished.”

  “Okay, ch—relax. I’m sorry. I thought I was helping. But I wouldn’t worry. That woman did not seem the type to suddenly change her mind and run off to elope with her fiancé because of something I said.”

  Arden huffed out a breath. “Oh, now you’re a relationship expert, too? And what was with all the handsy stuff? Is that another one of your ways of being convincing?”

  Temper flared in Wade’s brown eyes. “Yes, as a matter of fact, it was.”

  She stood and realized she was still barely eye level with him even in her high heels. “Well,” she said, poking him in the chest, “you’re going to have to do better than a secondhand impersonation of the kraken.”

  “The what?”

  “The kraken.” She waved her hands around like tentacles.

  “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “Hardly,” she said, growing bolder and angrier by the second. “But your hands on my ass in public is not going to convince people we’re crazy about each other. Just crazy.”

  “Oh really?” He stepped closer, his eyes holding her face. A ripple of sensation skittered over her skin. “So what exactly do you think we should do to convince people we’re crazy about each other then?” he said in a low, husky tone.

  “I, uh…” Her mind went blank. His gaze bore into hers, and she felt her knees go weak. She’d never seen him so…intense. He was usually so affable, so easygoing. She swallowed a few times. “I’m not sure,” she finally croaked.

  “How about this for starters?” he said, loosely wrapping his arms around her waist.

  Oh yes. He smelled heavenly, like Tide and a scent that was pure male. She wanted to curl into his chest and breathe him in deeply. But instead, she stayed where she was and said, “Yeah, that’s okay.”

  “Are you sure? Don’t want to be mistaken for the kraken.”

  “N-no, that’s f-fine.” Fine enough to have her stuttering at least. Did he have any idea the effect he was having on her?

  “Just fine?” he asked, baiting her with his grin. “I obviously have a lot to learn.” Then before she could tell him he did have a lot to learn about fake relationships and being convincing, he leaned in and brought his mouth down on hers.

  Well, well. Maybe Wade didn’t have that much to learn after all. Or he was a dang quick study.

  He kissed her lightly at first, his lips gently grazing against hers as if testing the waters of her reaction. Then like a light switch had been flipped inside both of them, he deepened the kiss and pulled her in closer.

  Oh, my, Wade Roberts was really kissing her. And not just kissing her. One hundred and ten percent kissing her. And…holy heck, the man knew how to use his mouth. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she parted her lips and kissed him back. His hands came up to cup her face possessively as his tongue circled around hers in hot, slow sweeps, making her dizzy. It had been so long since she�
��d been kissed like this, made to feel like this. She sank her fingers into Wade’s hair and pressed him farther to her.

  “Oh, jeez!” Maggie yelped. “Sorry, boss.”

  Arden froze and Wade’s mouth slowly lifted, his lips barely an inch from hers. “Don’t your employees ever knock before entering?” he asked, his voice thick as if he’d been drugged.

  She could relate. She was experiencing the same mind-numbing reaction.

  Maggie frowned. “Hey, you said I didn’t have to knock and that you’d lock the door if you wanted privacy. And from the looks of what I just witnessed, you guys definitely needed privacy.” She wagged her eyebrows up and down and let out a slow whistle to drive her point home.

  Arden’s face felt like it had been sunburned. It was enough to snap herself from her stupor and wiggle out of Wade’s arms. She smoothed her hair off her forehead and tried to even her breathing before speaking.

  Well, she had asked Wade to be more convincing. Next time she’d be careful what she wished for.

  “You’re right, Maggie,” she said. “Sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  “With the door unlocked,” Wade mumbled.

  Maggie chuckled. “Amen to that. I’m sorry to interrupt but we have a 9-1-1 from Linda Sklar. Her bridesmaids’ dresses came in and she’s having a major freak-out. I told her you’d meet her at the dress shop.”

  Arden nodded, thankful to get her mind back on business matters and away from Wade Roberts’s lips. “Yes, of course. I’ll leave in a minute.”

  Maggie gave her a thumbs-up. “Great. Now carry on, you two,” she said with a light laugh before leaving.

  Arden turned and met his gaze.

  Her heart was still shooting out of her chest. She could see by the pulse in Wade’s neck that he was just as affected by that kiss.

  He gave a slow, sexy smile. “So how was that?” he asked, folding his arms.

  “How was what?” She knew darn well what he was referring to but couldn’t bring herself to give him the satisfaction. She just wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened. Ignore how it made her feel. Fat chance.

  “That kiss. Pretty convincing, huh?”