Before We Kiss Read online

  He waited, knowing there had to be more.

  “Ryan isn’t getting the message.” Dellina rubbed her temples. “Probably because she hasn’t told him. Fayrene doesn’t want to tell Ryan she’s changed her mind. That wouldn’t be romantic. She wants him to guess on his own.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Sam told her. “If Ryan loves Fayrene, he’s going to respect her wishes no matter how much he wants to get married sooner. This isn’t a winning strategy.”

  “Thanks for your insight. I happen to agree with everything you’ve said, but unless you want to take that up with Fayrene, you’re telling the wrong person. My point is, the list isn’t about me.”

  Dellina faced him. “Look, Sam, I know you have no reason to believe me, but I don’t bring home guys I just met. Ever. Last Valentine’s Day was the first time I’d done anything like that.”

  She kept talking but he stopped listening long enough to revel in the fact that she’d picked him for her first one-night stand. Okay, it wasn’t up there with curing a disease, but still, nice to know. He returned his attention to her.

  “...and when you took off, I couldn’t figure out what had happened. Then I remembered this room and I knew you’d freaked.”

  “Understandably,” he added.

  “Yes. It is a bit off-putting. But you could have asked me what was going on.”

  He thought about the other women who had been in his life. His family. If Dellina knew about all that, she wouldn’t be expecting a rational response. But she didn’t know any of it and he preferred it that way.

  “You’re right,” he told her. “I should have asked. I reacted. It was late and we’d had sex and this room scared the hell out of me.”

  She smiled. “You run fast.”

  “I’ve had training.”

  Her smile widened, drawing his attention to her mouth. “You’ve done a good job avoiding me. Fool’s Gold isn’t that big.”

  “I noticed. You’re in a lot of places. You didn’t make it easy.”

  “I didn’t want to,” she admitted.

  “Then you must have been happy to find out about the party.”

  Her expression turned impish. “A little.”

  Because getting the party together had fallen onto him. Normally he would have simply hired someone. But the only party planner in town was Dellina. So he’d put off dealing with her as long as he could.

  “Now that you’ve had your fun at my expense,” he told her, “there’s still a problem to solve.”

  “Right. Score is putting on a party for its best clients. Three days of fun and frolic.”

  “Frolic? Did you really just say that?”

  She pushed off the wall and walked across the hall. “You know I did. Come on. Let’s go talk about how much extra you’re going to have to pay me to pull this all together in four weeks.”

  * * *

  DELLINA WAS MORE relaxed having Sam around than she would have thought. Now that they’d dealt with the past and the awkwardness of that night, they could get down to business.

  He followed her into her office. Unfortunately she hadn’t been prepared for visitors so there were stacks of papers everywhere. She wanted to point out that usually she went to clients’ offices or the venue, but knew that one of the key rules of business was not to apologize unnecessarily. There was plenty of time for that if she actually messed up.

  She reached for a pile of papers on a chair at the same time Sam did. His hand settled on top of hers. Instinctively, she looked at him and saw his gaze locked with hers. Probably because of the roaring heat, not to mention sparks, flaring from that single point of contact. Unless only she was feeling the attraction, in which case he was probably wondering what on earth was wrong with her.

  She pulled back, as did he, and the pile of papers thudded to the floor.

  Dellina stared at the mess. “Okay,” she said, circling around the desk. “Leave them. They can’t fall any farther.”

  Her office was in the smallest of the three bedrooms. It was maybe ten-by-ten, with her big desk in the middle. There were a couple of chairs, two file cabinets, corkboard on one wall, a window and a long table, which she mostly used to stack yet more piles. One of these days she really had to come up with a filing system.

  She sat down and reached for a folder. She colored-coded her projects and the Score party was going to be crimson. One of the L.A. Stallions colors. Something that made her smile even if no one else noticed.

  “About the party,” she began, and picked up a pad of paper. “What are you looking for?”

  “Taryn must have told you something.”

  “She did, but I want to make sure I understand what you’re expecting. So you tell me.” She smiled. “Don’t worry. I won’t get bored if it’s a repeat.”

  “How reassuring.” He leaned back in his chair. “We’re inviting twenty couples for a total of forty adults. Between them they’ll be bringing twelve children. Ages six to thirteen.”

  She began to write.

  “Our clients include sports celebrities, a company that manufactures rum and a jet time-share.”

  She looked up. “A what?”

  “A jet time-share. Private jets?”

  “I know what they are.”

  “With a time-share, you buy hours rather than having to own a whole plane. There’s an annual membership fee. You can buy a hundred hours, two hundred. Whatever you need.”

  She supposed that owning only part of a jet was better than having to pay for the entire thing. If one were in the position to worry about that sort of thing. She didn’t fly much, but when she did, she looked for a bargain online.

  “Another client is an international headhunter.” He paused, as if waiting for a question.

  “I know what that is,” she told him. “They fill executive positions for large companies.”

  “Very good.”

  There was going to be a lot of money in the room, she thought as she took more notes. Not a big surprise. The owners of Score were rich, successful guys. Or in Taryn’s case, a rich, successful woman. They would attract like clients. She wondered why they’d chosen to settle in Fool’s Gold. A quiet, family oriented town with an obsession with festivals. According to Taryn, the guys had been the ones to push for the move. Which made Dellina wonder if they had been trying to get to something or away from something.

  Her gaze returned to Sam. He was just over six feet, with broad shoulders and a lean, muscled build. As a kicker, he wouldn’t need to be huge. Jack and Kenny were physically bigger. While she preferred Sam’s physique, she would ignore his hunky maleness and the recent sparkage and remember this job was a big deal for her. She was going to dazzle the partners and come away with both a healthier checkbook balance and a kick-ass recommendation.

  “The party starts Friday afternoon and goes until Sunday afternoon,” he said. “We’ve got a block of rooms up at the ski lodge.”

  “How many rooms?” she asked. “Also, what about meeting rooms and other facilities?”

  “I have that information back at the office. I’ll email it to you.”

  “Great. I’ll need to see copies of the contracts, as well. So I can review what they’re expecting and what you’re expecting.”

  His mouth tightened. “I reserved some rooms,” he told her. “There’s no contract.”

  She made a few more notes and told herself not to judge. She was the party professional, not him. “I’ll take care of that.” She’d learned to get everything in writing. That way the only surprises were good ones. “You’ll need activities, meals and goodie bags. Do you want a separate track for the kids? I’m guessing the parents would enjoy alone time, at least part of it.”

  “Sure.”

  “Lectures? Musical entertainment? Do you want si
tters for the kids?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Which meant he and the other partners hadn’t discussed anything past “Hey, let’s have a party.” The good news was there wasn’t a lot to undo. The bad news was the tight time frame.

  “We have just over four weeks to pull this all together,” she said, turning her attention to him, which was hardly difficult duty. Sam’s features were chiseled, his dark eyes intense. He looked like a model for one of those moody fragrances for guys. And sitting oh-so-close. Not that she was going to react. They were working together now. In business. Which meant what had happened between them before was interesting but not relevant.

  “I’m finishing up another project this week, then you can have me full-time until the weekend of the party,” she told him.

  One eyebrow rose slightly as he nodded. “We’re going to need all your attention on the event.”

  “How much do you want to be a part of the decision making?”

  “Run everything by me. We can set up regular meetings or you can simply drop by Score. I’ll make myself available.”

  “We’ll do both,” she said, writing more on her growing to-do list. “Okay—contracts for the rooms and figuring out a schedule will be my top priorities. I bill by the hour. There will be deposits on some items, but because of the tight time frame, others will have to be paid for outright. I prefer to run all the invoices through my office so I know what you were charged.”

  “Not a problem. When you come by the offices, I’ll give you an up-front retainer. This party is going to cost a lot. I don’t want you to stretch your cash flow on our account.”

  “Thank you,” she said, thinking he’d been just as thoughtful during their lone intimate encounter. He’d...

  No, she told herself firmly. That was not going to happen again. Nor was she going to get lost in remembering how he’d touched her or kissed her or...

  “I should have enough to get started on all this,” she said, putting down her pen. “Let’s meet in a couple of days and I’ll have more details worked out.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  They both rose and she walked him to the front door. For a second she wondered what would have happened between them if he hadn’t gone into the wrong bedroom that night. If he’d made his way back to her.

  Probably no difference at all, she told herself firmly as they said goodbye. He was a big-time ex-jock and she was a small-town girl. She doubted a guy like him was looking for something serious, and she wasn’t, either. What happened made for a funny story and nothing else. But, she admitted after he’d left, it was sure fun to think about.

  CHAPTER TWO

  THREE HOURS LATER Dellina had the rough outline of a plan for the weekend party. She’d already done some preliminary work, but knowing how many people were coming, and the number and ages of the children, made a difference in what she was going to suggest everyone do. She’d made appointments at the resort and arranged for tasting menus.

  She glanced at the clock, then stood and left her office. After grabbing her bag, she walked out of the house and started for the center of town.

  Fool’s Gold was set in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The town was at an altitude of about twenty-five hundred feet, which meant there were four definite seasons. Just one of the things she loved about living here. While tourists were the main source of income, there were plenty of small businesses in town, along with a big casino-hotel complex on the outskirts of town and a new outlet mall. To the north was a facility that constructed wind turbines and to the west were lots of vineyards.

  Dellina and her sisters had been born and raised here. Dellina had briefly thought about moving to a bigger town but had quickly realized she was a hometown girl at heart. Sure, growing her business would be easier somewhere else, but easy wasn’t always right. Her folks had taught her that.

  She turned on Fourth and saw the sign for Brew-haha up ahead. Taryn and Larissa had arranged for a coffee date the second she’d told them about her scheduled meeting with Sam. No doubt they wanted details. Dellina was prepared to say everything had gone well. She wasn’t going to confess to any tingles. That would be embarrassing for all of them.

  As she approached the coffee shop, she saw a tall curvy redhead pacing along the sidewalk. Bailey Voss wore a navy dress and jacket, along with sensible navy heels. A little on the business side for her. Realizing what the professional dress meant, Dellina hurried toward her.

  “Is it today?” she asked by way of greeting.

  Bailey turned toward her and nodded as she pressed a hand to her stomach. “In about half an hour. I got ready too early and then... I was afraid to stay home, but once I left, I didn’t know what to do with myself.”

  Dellina turned the other woman toward Brew-haha. “Come inside. We’ll distract you until it’s time.”

  “Thanks,” Bailey said, then bit her lower lip. “Just don’t be so entertaining that I forget where I’m supposed to be.”

  “We’ll set an alarm,” Dellina promised, and guided the other woman into the store.

  Brew-haha was a bright, cheerful place with small tables by the big windows. There were the usual coffee and tea drinks, along with pastries. Dellina spotted Taryn and Larissa right away. They’d already collected their lattes and were seated.

  Taryn, one of the partners at Score, was in her mid-thirties. Tall with long dark hair and violet-blue eyes, she dressed as if she was a high-fashion model. Today Taryn had on a fitted jacket over a tight skirt. Her heels were at least four inches high; her bag was a leather-and-snakeskin Hobo. Dellina would guess that the combined cost of the outfit would be about the same as a decent used car.

  In contrast Larissa wore a brightly colored T-shirt and yoga pants. Her long blond hair was pulled back, she wasn’t wearing makeup and she had daisies painted on her toes. Taryn spent her days ruling Score with an iron fist while Larissa gave massages and acted as Jack’s assistant. It was an interesting dynamic.

  Both women looked up and saw her. They waved.

  “Look who I found,” Dellina said as they approached the table.

  Bailey twisted her fingers around the strap of her handbag. “I have my interview with Mayor Marsha in a few minutes.”

  Taryn pulled out a chair. “Sit here. You can tell me everything that has you nervous and we’ll work through it.”

  Bailey sank down and sighed. “I’m just scared I don’t have enough experience.”

  Dellina walked up to the counter and ordered a latte. “Bailey, you want anything?”

  Bailey shook her head. “I’m afraid I’ll spill.”

  Something Dellina could understand. No one wanted to go to an interview wearing a stain. As she waited for her latte, she studied Bailey’s subtle makeup and the frown between her eyebrows. Being a single parent wasn’t easy. Dellina had lost her folks and become responsible for her sisters at an early age. While that had been devastating, she’d been able to return to Fool’s Gold where she knew everyone and there were plenty of people to look out for them.

  Bailey and her husband had moved to town a couple of years ago. Neither of them had any family to speak of. There’d been an uncle or great-uncle around but he’d passed only a few months after their arrival. Then Bailey’s husband, a soldier, had been killed in Afghanistan. Dellina hoped Bailey got the job with Mayor Marsha so that she could feel financially secure. That would go a long way to healing a broken heart.

  She returned to the table with her drink. Bailey turned to her. “You grew up here. Any Mayor Marsha advice?”

  “Be yourself,” Dellina told her. “If Mayor Marsha didn’t already like you, you wouldn’t have the interview.”

  “I hope my skills are good enough,” Bailey said. “I took that refresher course at the community college, but I haven’t been in the job market
for a while.”

  Taryn smiled at her. “Relax. As much as it pains me to admit it, the wily old woman knows what she’s doing.”

  “You’ll do fine,” Larissa told her. “And when you get the job, you’ll have the inside scoop on the town gossip.” She leaned forward and grinned. “I remember when I interviewed for my job at Score. Wow, was I nervous.”

  Bailey glanced at Taryn. “Yes, I can see why.”

  Taryn’s eyes widened. “Hey, if that was about me, I’m a very gentle interviewer.”

  Larissa grinned. “She wasn’t the problem. I had to talk to Jack. I was so scared because he was this famous, hunky guy. At least you won’t have to worry about being tongue-tied because Mayor Marsha is good-looking.”

  They all laughed.

  Dellina smiled at Bailey. “Larissa’s right. Once you get the job, you will have the inside track on all the town gossip.”

  “Delicious,” Larissa said.

  Taryn looked at her friend. “You don’t have time for gossip. You’re too busy trying to kill people with poisonous snakes.”

  Larissa hung her head. “I’ve apologized about a thousand times for that.”

  “Give me a thousand more, I’ll consider dropping it,” Taryn teased.

  Dellina didn’t know much about Larissa beyond the fact that she had a soft heart and liked to rescue critters of all kinds. Unfortunately it seemed she didn’t always think through her plans. A couple of months ago she’d been transporting snakes for a local wildlife organization. The snakes were going to a sanctuary somewhere in the southern part of the state. When the top of the container had come loose, one of the snakes had gotten out and Larissa had immediately stopped the car and jumped out.

  Angel, Taryn’s now-fiancé, had offered to help. He’d found out a bite too late that the snakes were poisonous and had spent the night in the hospital. Angel was fine and the snakes had made it to their new home, but Taryn was still torturing Larissa about the incident. In this case, Dellina found herself on Taryn’s side. Helping animals in need was one thing, but dealing with poisonous creatures should be left to the professionals.