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She gave him a dubious look. “Not at all. I left the box in the car until I found out where I was going. I can carry it. But I’m running late for my next delivery.”
“Oh-kay.” He was lost. If she was in a hurry, why was she standing here talking to him instead of sprinting back to her car? “How about I bring the box in myself, and then you can leave for your next delivery.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.” Awe slipped into her gaze before she frowned. “I can’t leave for my next delivery. I have a flat tire.” There was the chin quiver again. “I cancelled triple-A because I never used it, and I’m new at this stupid job and now I’m going to be fired.”
Ah-ha. Now he was caught up. “We won’t let that happen, Mackenzie. First off, I can change a tire. And secondly, you have a cellphone. Film me changing the tire and you will have proof to show your boss that you weren’t lying about the delay.”
“Really?” He knew a look of hero worship when he saw it. The one Mackenzie wore now was reminiscent of the way his sister, Cassie, looked at him when he’d picked her up from a party at 2 a.m. and didn’t tell their parents she’d sneaked out.
“Lead the way.” He held out an arm and the courier bounced toward the exit, checking over her shoulder on the way like she was making sure he hadn’t vanished into thin air.
Walking outside was like walking into one of the circles of hell. The heat was stifling, taking his breath and causing sweat to bead above his upper lip. If Texas heat was hell, then air-conditioning must be heaven.
Heaven, kind of like Rylee’s pale pink lip gloss and dimples whenever she smiled at him. She’d smiled at him when he brought her lunch today. He was already trying to think of more ways to beckon those dimples forth.
“This is me,” Mackenzie gestured to the hatchback parked on the curb.
It’d been a while since he had changed a tire. He silently hoped it was like riding a bike. The box destined for Ariana and Xavier’s reception area was awkwardly shaped but weighed next to nothing. He helped unpack the shipment beneath it next. The boxes were considerably heavy by his definition and yet the young female courier lifted them without issue.
Once the boxes were out of the way, and he had the donut spare tire and jack in hand, he ratcheted up the car and got to work.
“I had a bit of trouble at the job today,” Mackenzie was saying. “And you will never believe who I ran into. A knight in wedding-crashing armor!”
He recognized the cadence of someone narrating a video. No stranger to being on camera, he raised a hand to wave before returning his attention to the tire.
“Trick MacArthur is at the Texas Cattleman’s Club!” Mackenzie whisper-screamed as she videoed herself. “What are the odds? I’m literallydead!”
He had to smile, even while sweating his ass off and simultaneously ruining his favorite shirt with a grease stain. And while trying to remember how to loosen and tighten a lug nut so that Mackenzie didn’t suffer a fiery car crash on the way to her next delivery.
Her being starstruck over their chance encounter had done more than boost his ego. It had reminded him the reason behind everything he did. Thepeople.
He’d always been about more than clicks, follows or beating the pesky algorithm. Sure, he’d been guilty of being caught up in the numbers in the past, but he’d grown up a lot since then.
Mackenzie, still filming and likely assuming he couldn’t hear her, whispered loudly into her phone’s speaker. “Isn’t he hot?”
Six
“Thanks so much, Keely.” Rylee accepted the hug from the dress designer, who was taller than her and then some with the added help of three-inch pumps.
“You know I have to see this all the way through.” The other woman’s smile could light an entire room, but the way she held herself kept anyone from thinking she was only here for the party. Keely was fastidious about her work, which Rylee related to, and respected.
“I’ll be seeing you at the wedding, I assume?” Rylee knew that Keely was romantically linked to Jay Chatman, a close friend of the groom.
“Yes,” Keely lifted a finger to smooth her eyebrow. “We will be there. I’ll also be in Royal a lot more. I have my own space at Jay’s, so I’ll be working in Texas whenever I can.”
A man in a cowboy hat opened the side door and held it for them. Keely’s flowy sleeves blew in the warm breeze that swirled around them as they exited.
“I’m sure our paths will cross again. You’re at the top of my list for a designer whenever a bride needs a recommendation. If you are able to carve out time in your soon-to-be exploding schedule and in between jet-setting across the globe as a famous designer.”
“Stop.” Keely gave Rylee’s arm a playful tap. “I’ll be jet-setting, but I’ll always make time for the people I care about. You’re one of the good ones, Rylee Meadows.”
Rylee was warmed by the compliment. She thought of Keely as a friend, and liked hearing that the feeling was mutual.
“Hey, isn’t that your wedding crasher?”
Rylee turned in the direction Keely pointed. Trick was grinning for the camera and chatting with a young woman standing next to her car. By her uniform, Rylee assumed this was the courier she’d sent for. A small crowd had gathered, and Rylee quickly deduced why. Trick held a jack in one hand and there was a grease stain on his shirt.
“He’s not technicallymine,” she grumbled.
