A Perfect Fit (10 page)

He nodded, but kept his thoughts to himself—if you didn’t
count the almost predatory grin sneaking onto his lips.

She rushed to finish, “And then I spent the day with you,
and discovered you’re well informed, funny, bright, great with people. The
rough edges only make you more appealing. So if you’re not offended by my
comments, I find I wouldn’t mind getting to know you better, and it has nothing
to do with what my father would think.” Or Trent, but she wasn’t about to get
that
honest. Not today, anyway.

Vince took a lock of her auburn curls and twisted it between
his fingers. “Well, as long as we’re doing confessions, I have one as well.”

The intent expression in his eyes made her nervous and she
tried to soften the mood. “Oh? Do you have a strange fascination with belly
dancers?”

His quick grin flared. “Yes, but most straight guys do, so it’s
hardly strange or worthy of confession. Actually, I was going to say I spent a
lot of time one-on-one with your father when we were developing the landscaping
plan for both the house and the hotel.”

“Not surprising, considering how much he loved gardening. He
planned the yard at his home as well.” She remembered him showing her the
latest layouts every few weeks as he refined them, followed by regular updates
on the improvements once work began.

“He mentioned it, and he talked about you a lot. All of his
girls, actually, but especially you.” His voice went low and a bit husky and
his gaze captured hers, making it impossible to look away.

“Really?” The thought her father had spoken of her so much
pricked the cold shell she’d been trying to keep wrapped over her heart, and
she didn’t want that. She forced herself not to move away from Vince despite
the emotional step back she took after his announcement.

He ran his fingers down her arm to her elbow, and back up to
the edge of her capped sleeves. “Yes, in fact, he went on and on about how much
alike we were in our dedication to serving our clients, and willingness to
think outside the box. He talked about your abilities with PR, and in charming
even the most difficult guest. He made quite a case for you, enough to remove
all doubt he’d like to see us together.”

Completely the opposite of what she’d thought, and how did
she feel about that? Manipulated again? There wasn’t time to process her
emotions. “Really? So you just fell in line? And so did I.” She muttered the
last as she finally put some space between them. Worse than she’d imagined. Her
father was behind Vince’s interest in her. George couldn’t stop himself from
meddling, but this wasn’t at all like the other times he’d suggested she
befriend
someone.

It was a small basket, though, and there wasn’t much room to
move around, so even with the shift away from Vince, they were still close. He
slid nearer, blocking her into the corner, a hand on the edge to keep his
balance, eyes solidly on her. He went on as if she hadn’t interrupted. “I
admit, my first thought was you must be very plain if he had to make your case.
Either that or you weren’t very good at personal relationships.”

Cami made a humming noise indicating she was listening. She
wasn’t sure how else to respond. His nearness made her chest tight and the
scent of his cologne had her pulse racing.

“I Googled you, found a photo from a news item. My thought
was, man, the woman has a face on her.” He slid a finger down her cheek.

She felt a light warmth of pleasure in her chest at his
words, but fought to appear unaffected. “Funny, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t
born with a face. Most everyone is issued one en utero.”

He refused to be distracted. “So I thought, hey, maybe she
just shows well in pictures. Jeremy has some serious skills with a computer, so
I know what can be done with a little time. But then I met you, and you wore
those great heels that made your legs look about a mile long, and this sweet
smile though I could sense you weren’t really happy to be there. And the face
was even better in person than it was in photos.”

He inched closer, ran his fingers under her chin so it
tipped up to him. “I thought it must be a faulty personality, because the
outside package sure is amazing. But last night you played with my dogs and
were sweet with my niece and parents, you chatted and laughed with my friends
and ate that diet-killer deep fried candy bar. I realized your dad wasn’t
trying to foist you off on anyone. I have the funny feeling we might make a
nice fit.” He shifted closer, and his mouth hovered a breath away from hers
until her lips tingled and ached for contact. “So I hope you aren’t going to
step back, just to defy your father.”

“There’s nowhere else to go.” She meant it literally, as her
back was to the wall of the basket, but that wasn’t all. Deciding she didn’t
care if Vince dug holes in the ground and barely scraped by, she leaned in and
brushed her lips across his.

He tipped his head to the side and pulled her closer, taking
the kiss deeper. One hand speared into her hair, while the other cradled her
cheek, a gentle taste, a growing quest to learn more. She slid her hands around
his waist and clung.

Vince lightened the kiss and stepped back. He glanced at the
instrument panel and hit the burner again and it filled the air with a roar for
several seconds. “I better not forget where we are. We need the altitude if we’re
going to find a good place to land.” His words sounded calm and unaffected, if
you ignored the husky note to his voice.

Cami sucked in a breath, trying to settle her whirling mind.
His kiss was unexpectedly more than she’d experienced before in a first kiss. Friends,
books and television said first kisses could be like that, but this was the
first time she’d ever felt her knees go soft. She let her mind settle while he
added altitude to the balloon so it would catch a different wind current.

“How are you doing?” he asked after a moment, his smile
growing.

In for a penny
. “If you were trying to find a way to
convince me I don’t want to spite myself just to show my father he was wrong,
you found it.”

He grinned at her “It wasn’t my intent, but I’m hardly going
to argue with results.”

They touched down on an empty baseball diamond twenty minutes
later after a return to neutral topics. The basket bumped against the ground,
jarring Cami’s knees, though she’d bent them slightly to cushion the blow as
Vince had directed. Joel, Jeremy, and the teens rushed to help them secure the
basket and begin pulling the balloon down. Cami climbed out of the basket,
laughing as she approached Sage. The kiss hadn’t been the only thrilling part of
the ride, and she hoped she got another chance to go up. “That was awesome. I
hope you weren’t too bored.”

“Joel entertained me. You’re glowing—it must have been a
nice ride.” Sage’s eyes sparkled at Cami. “What did I say about meeting your
match?”

“I don’t know about that, but the side trip should be fun.”
Cami straightened her ruffled hair. They almost overshot their destination when
the breeze had grown stronger than expected. “It was wonderful. I definitely
want to try it again someday.”

“Good. Hey, you were probably too busy to pay attention to
your cell phone up there, but Lana reached me a while ago and said we’d want to
check out a news story. She sent you a link.” She pulled out her phone, flashed
it. “Mine doesn’t have the Internet. Maybe you’ll have better luck.”

Cami pulled out her Droid and checked the screen, finding a
message from Lana. Strange she hadn’t heard it, but she’d been a bit distracted
for most of the trip. The cell signal had probably been stronger in the balloon
than it was now as she barely had one bar. She pocketed the phone again.

“I’ll have to wait until we get back into town.  The signal there’s
better.” She eyed Sage, realizing the strain between them had lessened and
hoped they could get back to being, well, not friends, but angry with each
other, either. “Why don’t you have a smart phone? You’ve got scads of things to
keep track of, and it’s only going to get worse. We’ll talk to Lana, have her
get you one. We can set it up to sync with your terminal at the hotel.”

Sage shook her head. “No way. Those things confuse me.”

“You’ll catch on soon, and then you’ll wonder what you ever
did without it.” Seeing the balloon back on the ground, she tugged Sage’s arm
and they hurried to help pack it.

~*~

The parade was about to start when they all jogged up to the
spot in the crowd Vince’s family had staked out. Cami greeted everyone, and
kept her ears open for names, to try to pick up the ones she’d confused or
forgotten since the previous evening. The event opened with the military
bringing the flags, followed by the golf course’s float.

Cami leaned over to Sage. “We need to think about doing a
float for next year. Maybe something highlighting your spa? Think about it; we’ll
talk to Lana.” They would be employing a lot of locals and wanted to find a way
to let residents feel the resort was part of the community.

“Speaking of, did you check out the link she sent you?”

“Oh, right.” Cami dug out her phone again and clicked the
link, she called out praise for the high school band as they marched past in
perfect rhythm. Gage made a comment which made his two friends laugh out loud.
Cami smiled at them ribbing each other, then glanced back at the screen.

Her smile died as the news article popped up on the Chicago
area gossip magazine.

DiCarlo heiresses squander time and money at summer
retreat

Hotel magnate George DiCarlo has been in the ground only
six weeks and already his daughters are sitting back enjoying their freedom. Many
people have questioned their ability to put together the quality of hotel that
has long given DiCarlo his good name. Concerns seem to be justified, as the
daughters don’t appear to be working hard to get things ready for opening day
in less than two months.

While vacationing in the Rocky Mountain town of Juniper
Ridge this week, eldest daughter, Camellia DiCarlo, and second eldest, Sage
Parker mixed with locals, enjoyed fair food, and got it going on with a few of
the down-home country boys.

A picture of Cami and Vince standing beside her Z4 the
previous evening, close enough they could have been kissing popped up next. The
caption read, “Lawn mower extraordinaire seems to have caught Camellia’s
fancy—and her lips—during a heated embrace in public before they took things to
a more private venue.”

Directly below it was a shot of Sage sitting between Gage
and Jeremy, laughing with them, her eyes lit up. “Sage seems unable to choose
one of the handsome hunks—ski bum or photography buff.”

The article went on to question whether any of the sisters
was taking their responsibilities seriously and what it portended for the
business’s chance of success.

Cami was speechless, unable to decide whether she was more
shocked, horrified, furious, or amused by the mix of ridiculous supposition and
outright lies.

“What is it? You look ready to punch someone.” Sage reached
for the phone.

Cami scrolled the article back to the top and handed the
phone over, trying to keep her reaction under control. Sage wouldn’t be used to
the horrible things the media came up with. “Don’t take it too seriously.
Gossip rags are always searching for an angle.” The idea of the article winding
up all over the country at grocery store stands made Cami’s stomach tighten in
a knot, however. She’d have to call Lana as soon as she could pull away for a
minute.

There was a noise almost like a whimper, and Cami saw Sage
with her hand over her mouth. Her face had lost all color. “It says where we
are,” she whispered. “I knew something was going to happen, I just didn’t know
what.”

“And no publicity is bad publicity,” Cami said, though as
they weren’t rock stars, it wasn’t true. She wasn’t buying into Sage’s
prescience. She eased the phone from Sage’s white-knuckled grip. She wasn’t as
sanguine as the comment made her sound—not nearly—but Cami was at least used to
living in a fish bowl, and Sage was not. “Everyone pretty well knew where we
are anyway. Most of the terms of the will were spelled out pretty clear, and we’ve
been touting this new hotel everywhere.” Still, she found herself checking for
cameras pointed their direction, and eyeing Jeremy with suspicion as he picked
out a shot of the cheerleaders dancing by.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Vince asked as he leaned in to Cami
from the other side.

She pasted on a smile and hoped she could ease the concern
in his eyes. This was not the time. “Nothing much, minor hotel stuff. Nothing
that can’t wait until after the parade, at least. Tell me about the horseback
riding club. Do you know of anyone in the area who takes paying customers out
for trail rides?”

He didn’t appear convinced that there was nothing to worry
about, but he allowed the change of subject. Cami squeezed Sage’s elbow comfortingly
when the worry continued to crease the woman’s brow, then buried her own concerns
until she had time to think it over later.

When the parade ended and they had made the rounds of the
park again, Joel dropped the girls off at home to pick up Sage’s car and the
cake Mrs. Grady had made for them the previous day and followed them to Vince’s
parents’ home. Cami rode with Sage while Vince swung by his place to grab the
two elephant hybrids he said were dogs. Cami took the opportunity to call Lana
and chat.

“It’s about time you called. It’s been hours since I sent
you the link. I called four times in the past hour,” Lana said in lieu of
hello.

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear it over the parade. Vince has been
introducing me to lots of the local business owners. It’s been very productive.”

“Yeah, yeah, can we get back to the issue at hand?”