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“No…” She makes a face. “Speaking of growing up, maybe I need to get past what she was like in high school…” She bites her pretty lower lip. “But still, there’s something about this that doesn’t add up.”
“Like what?” I lean forward, feeling a little like we’re in a spy movie together. I feel it too, that there’s something off about Scarlett and her presentation, but I can’t put my finger on it.
Blaze stares intently into the distance, and I can practically see the wheels in her pretty head turning, then she shakes her head. “I don’t know. But I’m going to find out as much as I can about Scarlett and her spa.”
“How’re you going to do that?”
That smug expression crosses her face again. “I’m a reference librarian,” she replies. “Finding stuff out is what I do best.”
I chuckle again. I like her self-confidence.
A college-age waitress swings by and asks if we want anything else. We both shake our heads, and she produces a check, which she puts between us. Both of us immediately make a grab for it, and it ends up suspended between the two of us, each tugging on it.
“I can get this. You got the coffee.” Blaze’s tone is silky but there’s a thread of iron underneath it. We may be on the same side of the table for now, but she’s making it clear we’re still rivals.
“No, no. Let me,” I reply in my most polite voice. “I’m an old-fashioned guy. I don’t like to let a woman pay.”
“It’s not a date,” she growls. It’s a wonder the check hasn’t ripped in two yet. “It’s a business meeting, and your sexist Neanderthal habits have no place here.”
I let go of the check so quickly that her hand rebounds and she looks embarrassed. “We could just go Dutch,” I point out.
She looks miffed that she hadn’t thought of that herself. “I guess we could.” She puts the check down to reach for her purse and I snatch it up with a grin.
I’m rewarded with a look of absolute fury on Blaze’s face. I don’t know why I get such pleasure out of annoying her. It’s childish, but the way her pretty blue eyes spark with anger sets off matching sparks in my chest.
You’d think a guy like me would know better than to play with fire.
Suddenly and unexpectedly, she burst into laughter. “Fine, fireman. You get this one. I’ll get you next time.”
Sounds almost like a challenge. I tamp down the heat that rises in my chest as I take out my wallet and put some cash on the table. “I’m looking forward to it.”
13
BLAZE
“Honestly, it seems like an awful lot of fuss.” Bailey sounds apologetic.
“It’s your wedding, for crying out loud!” Lucky flips through a rack of white satin. “Fuss is the entire point.” She pulls off another dress and hands it to the saleswoman. “Be a doll and put that in a dressing room for us.”
The poor saleswoman started off in control, pouring us each a glass of champagne and asking Bailey about the wedding, but she never stood a chance against Lucky. Few people do.
Lucky pulls another dress down. “Wait, this one too.”
The saleswoman, who is now all but hidden behind a pile of wedding gowns, staggers off obediently to the fitting room.
Lucky puts her hands on her hips and looks around the shop like a military commander surveying the terrain. “Bailey, get into one of those dresses, then come out and show us. We’ll start on the bridesmaids’ dresses. Ladies, we’re looking for something in lavender or soft green to go with Bailey’s colors.”
“They don’t have to—” Bailey, always accommodating, begins, but Lucky cuts her off.
“Yes, they do. Trust me, Bay. I know all about weddings. I had one of my own.”
“You almost had one of your own,” Joyce corrects her. “You ran away from it by hiding in Anthony’s truck, and that’s how you ended up here.”
“It was still a wedding,” Lucky argues. “And if my stepmother hadn’t effed up the flower arrangements, I might have gone through with it, so I know how important it is to get everything right.”
“Well, I’m not going to not marry Nikko just because the bridesmaids’ dresses don’t match the flowers!” Bailey sounds exasperated, which by her standards means her nerves are almost shot.
“Of course not,” Lucky agrees. “But you’re marrying a celebrity, Heather’s arranged that the press is going to be there, and we are going to make sure everything is absolutely perfect,” she insists. Heather is Nikko’s manager and one of his grooms-people.
