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Roberto kissed her on the forehead. “We wrote small and put them by the napkins so you wouldn’t see them, mi amor. If you had, that would have ruined the surprise.”
No one seemed to be in a hurry to find his or her seat. But Toni had been crouched in the kitchen in her heels and was ready to sit down.
After a few seconds, she found her name at a rectangle table for six by the window. She sat down and took off her shoes, leaving them under the table in case she needed to slip back into them.
That feels so much better.
She glanced at the other names beside hers.
The three names on the other side of the table she didn’t recognize, but she did recognize the ones on this side.
Zane was going to be on her left and Maddox on her right. Seeing whom she was seated between didn’t surprise her. Everyone had been trying to fix her up with the Kavanaghs for months, and the Sanchez brothers were in cahoots with Izzy and her two husbands.
She grinned. “But I’m on to them.”
She grabbed up Zane and Maddox’s place cards and her glass of champagne, jumped out of her seat, and marched to a table on the other side of the room. It would be easy peasy to switch their names with two others without anyone noticing, since most were still surrounding Cami and the Sanchez brothers.
She was less than a foot from the other table when she heard someone call her name.
“Toni.”
When she turned to see who it was, she bumped into Maddox, spilling her champagne down his shirt and her blouse and dropping the two place cards.
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, Toni.” Maddox’s voice was just as sexy hot as his brother’s. He bent down and retrieved the cards. “What are you doing with my and Zane’s place cards?” He smiled.
“Miguel and Roberto placed the three of us at the same table and I decided to play a trick on them and switch out your names with some others at another table.”
He smiled, as always, undeterred. “That’s another thing about you I like, Toni. Honesty.”
She thought about asking him what the other thing he liked about her was but knew better than to do that.
Maddox walked up to them. “What happened?”
“A little accident, but I think we can fix it, easy peasy.” Zane winked.
Easy peasy?
Toni realized where she’d picked up that silly phrase. From Zane and Maddox. They used it all the time. Before meeting them she’d never uttered “easy peasy.” Resisting these two had been harder than anyone realized.
“Excuse me, guys, but I need to clean up.”
“We both do.” Zane leaned in close. “Let’s duck back into the kitchen and see if we can find something to dry off with before anyone sees us.”
She could feel her cheeks burning, something that a forty-two-year-old woman shouldn’t experience. Blushing. She wasn’t a teenager. “Good idea.”
“I’ll make sure your getaway isn’t seen by the others. Hurry.” Maddox glanced down. “Toni, you’ve got the cutest feet I’ve ever seen but you better be careful in the kitchen since you’re barefooted.”
She looked at her naked feet. “My shoes are at the table.”
“Do you want me to go get them?” he asked.
“No, thanks. We better get cleaned up before I go back to my table.”
Maddox grinned and held up his and Zane’s place cards. “Don’t you mean our table?”
She laughed. “Fine. You win. Our table. Let’s go before someone sees me like this.”
