If The Shoe Fits (20 page)

Chapter
Nineteen

“
I wish Reese could have picked us
up. This van isn’t exactly my idea of a good ride.” Staci may have
changed her tune, but the whining melody was still the
same.

“
His car only seats
two.”

“
Well Luke’s then. A Beamer isn’t
something to sneeze at.”

“
And Madeleine would have seen
him. Isn’t that what you want to avoid?” They’d staged their
departures from the house so Madeleine had no idea what they were
doing or that they were doing it together.

“
Oh. Yeah. Good point.” Staci
rearranged her skirt. “But Luke’s bringing me home. Or…
not.”

“
Up to you.” Staci hadn’t changed
all
that
much, apparently. But the part she had, Bella was
grateful for. Not completely trusting of it, but grateful. She’d
take whatever help she could get in beating Madeleine.

Her stomach roiled. Sell the restaurant? No
way in hell. Not only was it her livelihood, but also her family
legacy. She wanted to be able to pass it down to her children
someday.

An image of a little boy with chestnut hair
and dark eyes flashed into her head, the same coloring as the guy
getting out of the Ferrari in the dockside parking lot.

Staci whistled. “Man, that is one sweet
car.”

“
Uh huh.” Bella didn’t want to
start the comparisons to the man.

“
I love that rearing stallion logo
on the front.”

Too late.

“
Kind of gets you all jumpy, like
anyone driving one would be all rearing and stallion-y.”

Bella groaned. Images she did not need.
“Stallion-y? Is that even a word?”

“
You know what I mean.” Staci
dragged her gaze from the car and looked at Bella. “Or maybe you
don’t. Maybe that’s the problem. You know, Bella, you really
should—”

“
Staci.” Bella put the van in
park. “Let’s stick to business. The rearing stallion can run out to
pasture, for all I care. Come on, let’s go.” She breathed a sigh of
relief as the conversation ended right before Reese reached her
van. That was one conversation she did
not
want him to
overhear.

“
Ladies.”

Good Lord above. One word and she was ready to
melt at his feet.

She tugged the neckline of the coral dress up
and pulled her wrap tighter around her shoulders. She should have
worn the suit. Would have, but Staci hadn’t let up, and, well, the
dress did look good on her. She’d even left her hair down. Not to
impress anyone of course, but it’d be windy aboard
The Midnight
Maiden
, so it only made sense to, pardon the pun, go with the
flow.

Stacy dashed around the front of the van.
“Hey, Reese. Where’s Luke?”

That’s what Bella had to admire about
Staci—her subtlety.

Reese didn’t do a very good job of hiding his
smile, but he coughed to cover it and pointed to the pavilion.
“Over there.”

Staci’s one track mind—and body—went full
steam ahead, leaving Bella alone with Reese, the evening crickets,
and the supreme awareness of how delicious he looked in a chest-
and shoulder-hugging navy blue crewneck sweater and camel jacket. A
pair of dark jeans molded powerful thighs that she could only
imagine—and, yes, she did—had been an asset in his football
career.

She wouldn’t mind getting in a huddle with
him.

Reese cleared his throat. “So, Vincent was
fine with tonight, then?”

Thank God he’d said something because she
wasn’t quite sure how to recover from the hormonal bath her nerves
were awash in. But Uncle Vinny? After the pissing contest they’d
had in Reese’s office the other day, she wouldn’t have thought he’d
want to discuss her uncle.

“
Fine? Um, yes. He was. Is there a
reason he shouldn’t be?” She took her iPad out of her purse and the
night breeze lifted her wrap and sent it fluttering to the
ground.

Reese bent down to pick it up, taking those
few seconds to get his emotions under control. There definitely was
a reason Vincent Casteleoni shouldn’t be fine tonight. Hell knew,
Reese
wouldn’t be, sending her off to a romantic locale for
a dinner with some guy who was lusting after her, looking way too
good in a peach dress that brought out the blue in her eyes and
clung in all the right places.

God, he really should be shot. He’d brought up
Vincent—The Husband—as a blatant reminder to himself to keep his
hands off. His eyes, too.

Right. Reese stood up and tried to find some
way to put this wrap around her shoulders without touching
her.

There wasn’t one. So he tried to do it with
minimal contact and probably ended up looking like a big,
uncoordinated oaf. Which was much better than a lascivious
wife-poaching bastard. “Uh, no. No reason. Shall we join Luke and
Staci?”

“
Okay. Thanks for getting my
wrap.”

“
No problem.” Reese tried to come
up with some small talk on the short walk over, but it eluded him.
Kind of like what he’d been trying to do all week when it came to
Bella. He’d even forbidden himself from checking her out online.
Look for wedding photos, that sort of thing. He’d made it a point
to immerse himself in other clients’ events and recruiting new
celebrities. Business. Where his focus ought to be. He was pretty
damn proud of his self-control.

But then she tucked some hair behind her ear
and he caught the slight lift of her breast in his peripheral
vision, and one part of him had absolutely
no
control. It
went to half mast in an instant.

God, he needed to get a grip. And
not
on that part.

“
Hey guys,” said Luke and Reese
had never been so glad to see him in his life, including the Hail
Mary play. God, the irony of needing
Luke
to provide a
buffer with a beautiful woman around.

Luckily, Staci and Luke ran interference on
his thoughts while they discussed the set up for the cocktail party
beneath the pavilion. Reese had a few changes to the initial plan,
they discussed the timing of the presentations, and generally
managed to get the job done.

If only he weren’t so damn tuned in to the
fragrance of her perfume, the fruity scent of her shampoo, and the
alluring essence that was all hers. She’d left her hair loose
tonight and the wind tossed it around her shoulder in a flowing
curtain his fingers were itching to caress.

He shoved his hands into his pockets since his
imagination and libido didn’t seem to be on board with tonight’s
agenda.

“
I think that covers all the bases
here.” Bella made a few more notes on her tablet.

She looked up at him with those beautiful blue
eyes and lips he’d tasted and all he could think about was tasting
them again. About taming her hair by wrapping it in his fists and
kissing her senseless. Pulling her soft, curvy body into the hard
planes of his, one hardness in particular, and ripping the thought
of Vincent right out of her head.

“
Yes, we’re done here.” He more
than the rest. “Let’s finish up with the auction itself. We’re
planning to have the dinner on the deck of
The Midnight
Maiden
. I’m concerned about the baked Alaska presentation if
the wind keeps up like this. The captain won’t be very happy if
your fire burns up his ship.” Never mind that her fire was burning
up his—

Yep, he was going to hell. One way ticket.
First class.

“
It should be fine unless it’s
really windy,” said Bella preceding him past the line of people
with dinner reservations as they made their way up the roped
gangplank. “Typically it’ll burn out by the time we reach the
farthest tables and you’ll have the effect. But if it’s too much,
we can do a controlled flame. I’ve done it before at weddings with
small pitchers of brandy that we’ll light at the table. It takes a
little longer and you won’t have that wow factor, but we’d rather
have people safe than sorry.”

He was sorry he’d let her precede him up the
stairs to the top deck. The wind was doing riotous things to the
hem of her dress which did riotous things to his libido. Tanned,
smoothed, toned legs in sexy-as-hell heels. He hoped it was ten
degrees cooler on deck because he’d need it.

Except then the wind messed up her hair
exactly as if she’d spent a night of hot, sweaty sex, and the chill
did nothing to cool him down.

He took a deep breath, trying to regain that
self control he’d been so proud of minutes ago. “The hospital
administrators will sit here.” He motioned toward the starboard
side of the bow and put a few extra paces between them. “And we’ll
put the band over there. The dance floor will be cleared of tables
after the fireworks.”

“
How long is the band playing?”
Staci asked.

“
You won’t have to stay until
they’re finished.” Reese said. “Dinner’s usually over by eight and
the auction rarely goes past ten or so. We’ve got the band until
one, but once dessert is over, you and Bella will be free to enjoy
the party. The bartenders will be earning their tips at that
point.”

And if there was a God, Bella would leave and
Vincent would never show up in the first place and he’d never have
to have the torture of watching Bella in the guy’s arms.

“
We’re going to have a lot of
serving dishes to run up and down that gangplank. Where do you want
us to park?” Bella, thankfully, dispelled that image with her
question.

“
There’s a reserved area by the
service entrance at the back.”

“
Okay, then. That all sounds
good.” She powered off her iPad and stuck it into her purse, then
turned to Staci. “I guess that covers everything. Ready to
go?”

Staci propped a hand on her hip. Regardless of
the clothes, that pose was designed to get attention and Luke’s
eyes were all over her, the lucky SOB. At least the woman
he
lusted after wasn’t married.

“
Aren’t you forgetting something,
Bella? Like, uh, dinner?”

“
We hadn’t planned on staying for
dinner, Stace.”

“
I had.” Staci grabbed Luke’s arm
and plastered herself to his side. “Right, Reese? We’re having
dinner?”

It took Reese a few seconds to process that
Staci was asking
him.

Took Luke a few, too. “Stace, I
thought—”

“
No, no.” Staci linked her other
arm with Bella’s. “We need to have dinner here to get the full
experience. And I’m sure one of you guys has enough of a name to
bypass all those people down there in line, am I right?”

She definitely knew which button to push for
Luke; his ego wouldn’t let that challenge go unanswered.

“
I’ll be right back.” He sprinted
toward the maitre d’.

Yeah, the guy was a sucker for a pretty face.
Or easy lay as the case may be—except Reese couldn’t figure Staci’s
angle. He would’ve thought she’d want to be alone with Luke. Use
the opportunity to get her claws into him.

“
I really can’t, Staci,” said
Bella. “Remember, I’m taking Sophia out tomorrow? I should get home
to bed.”

There was an image he didn’t need.

“
Oh no you won’t.” Staci trapped
Bella’s arm tighter to her side. “You’re staying. We’re going to
have some fun.”

Fun wasn’t the word Bella would have used. Not
when she’d been trying to concentrate on what they’d been talking
about and not notice the way the twinkling lights danced across the
planes of Reese’s face. Or the way the wind rippled through his
hair like her fingers wanted to. Or the flex of his abs beneath
that shirt… She’d been way too aware of him for her own good and
spending another minute, let alone hour, in his company was really
going to be a test.

“
It’s all set,” said Luc,
returning. “They have a table for us below deck.”

“
There. See?” Staci didn’t let go
as she followed Luke back to the stairs. “No waiting. You’ll get
home at a reasonable hour.”

So Bella found herself sitting across a
candlelit table in the darkly intimate belly of
The Midnight
Maiden
, with hurricane glass lamps providing soft lighting, and
the tables way too small and close together for a supposed business
meeting, and all she wanted to do was, just once, forget about her
responsibilities and her problems and let herself pretend
what
if
.

“
So what celebrities are coming?”
asked Staci once the waiter had taken their drink
orders.

Reese rattled off an impressive list for this
part of the country. He’d really put a lot of work into this event.
She was proud that the Casteleoni name would be affiliated with
it.

“
And my mother, of course.
If
I can convince her. She doesn’t seem to think anyone
remembers who she is.”

Staci, was obviously a fan. “
Carolyn
Charmant
is coming? Ohmygosh, I
loved
her last
movie.”

“
Don’t tell her that,” said Reese,
setting down his wine glass. “The word
last
in conjunction
with
movie
is a sure way to get her to cry. She loved
performing.”