Yeah, I was cute enough and that was fine by me. But a guy like Rafe Montgomery, well he needed a woman who stood out. A knock out who’s very presence forced people to notice her. That wasn’t me, which was ok, because Rafe was good looking. No, he was too good looking for anyone’s peace of mind, mine especially, so I kept my distance.
And I wasn’t in Santa Fe to meet up with Rafe or anyone else for the matter. The only man I was interested in was the keynote speaker Michael Stromberg. A guy who’d managed to win a Pulitzer Prize, shoot more than a dozen different photo series in war torn areas around the world, and recently he’d been instrumental in uncovering a scandal in the fashion world. He was the only man I was after right now.
Stromberg’s speech was the kickoff event, followed by a cocktail hour, where hopefully I could talk to other photographers, mingle and network. Ignoring Eddy’s attempt to addle my brain, I dressed in a simple black dress that was comfortable and appropriate for the evening ahead, slipped on my favorite pair of shock red heels and grabbed my small digital camera.
“No thoughts of Rafe,” I told my reflection and left my hotel room, happy the event organizers had reserved a block of rooms in the same hotel for easy travel to and from the convention. “None at all,” I said again because now that Eddy was in my head, so was Rafe. I didn’t need to keep my eyes on the lookout for his dark mahogany hair or midnight blue eyes, or the way his jaw always seemed to sport a five o’clock shadow.
I wouldn’t think about Rafe, but maybe I did need to start looking for someone. Just because the man I fell for didn’t live in Tulip right now didn’t mean he wouldn’t someday. I could meet someone tonight, date him and fall in love. Then I could convince him move to Tulip.
When the elevator doors slid open I stepped out jauntily, feeling confident after my little pep talk and daydreaming session. After Stromberg’s speech I would be fired up enough to talk photography for hours with just about anyone. Armed with a plan, I squared my shoulders and walked across the lobby towards the big conference rooms, dodging what seemed like thousands of wide-shouldered, broad chested men. It would be heaven on any other occasion, but right now it was just an endless sea of obstacles.
“Whoa, what’s the hurry darlin’?”
I froze at that deep velvety voice. It was familiar, a little too familiar considering I was so far from home. Don’t look up, I told myself at least five times as my gaze crawled up his narrow waist that led to a wide chest and even wider shoulders, but if Rafe’s body was divine, his face was, well it was fallen angel gorgeous.
“Rafe.” My tone was breathless, though I couldn’t say why.
“That happy to see me?” His lips quirked into a smile, drawing my gaze to his soft lips, and especially that bottom lip that was just a little bit plumper. So dang enticing.
Oh God.
“Ecstatic,” I deadpanned. “Well, it was good to see you. Enjoy your weekend,” I told him and hurried towards the open conference doors, hoping that was my one and only interaction with him this weekend.
Rafe
The shock of seeing Janey last night hadn’t worn off by the time I woke up the next morning, leaving the hotel room with just enough time to make it to my skills panel with a cup of hot coffee in my hand. She hadn’t been surprised to see me though, well not that surprised. Like maybe she expected that I was around, but she didn’t expect to see me.
The look of shock on her face and that sexy little gasp she let out that was so low, only I could hear, it had me all twisted up in a way I couldn’t understand.
It was Janey. Pesky little Janey that I had known pretty much my whole life. She was a few years younger than me, a little too peppy and bubbly for my tastes, but she’d been a nice girl who turned into a nice woman. A nice looking woman, at that.
But I didn’t mess around with women from Tulip, and especially women like Janey with forever scrawled across their foreheads. Not that there was anything wrong with forever, but that wasn’t in my immediate plans and it seemed every woman over the age of twenty-five was hunting for a husband. Took all the fun out of dating and dancing, figuring out what would happen from one date to the next.
What fun was it when you already knew how everything would turn out in the end? No, I kept my affairs brief and confined to the bedroom, that kept things from getting too messy or complicated. And keeping those activities away from Tulip meant I could keep my life nice and tidy.
“That was a riveting presentation, Chief Montgomery.” Jessica Linwood was the deputy chief of fire at her house in Oklahoma, one of the few women around the country to rise in the all male ranks. She was smart and capable. She was also attractive. And aggressive. “Maybe you can give me some private tips for my panel? It’s later today.” Make that super aggressive.
I looked around in search of an escape, but three other firefighters, men I shared a meal with last night, looked on in amusement, offering smiles and thumbs up in encouragement. I didn’t need encouragement; I needed a crowbar to get out of Jessica’s grasp.
“Sorry Jess, I signed up for a few panels and since the department is paying for it…,” I finished the statement with a sorrowful expression that I didn’t feel.
Jessica shrugged, her gaze already looking around for her next target. “Maybe next time,” she said when her gaze landed on a young hot shot from California. “Maybe later tonight?”
“Maybe,” I told her, my tone noncommittal.
She got the hint and flashed a smile. “If you change your mind.”
I wouldn’t. Jessica was nice and any other time I would have taken her up on what she was offering, but today I wasn’t in the mood.
“What the hell was that, man? How does a dude with that face manage to screw it up with Jess?” Connor Sullivan clapped me on the back and shook his head in disappointment. “What a waste of pretty boy good looks.”
I shrugged off his touch at the pretty boy comment. Yes, I was good looking, some would say it was more than that, but it was just a face really. The rest was a result of all the hard work I put in. And reeling a woman in was only half the job.
“I didn’t screw it up,” I grumbled, my pride a little stung by his assumption. “I wasn’t interested.”
“What? You’re kidding! Why not?” His blue eyes went wide with genuine surprise. “Everyone in this whole damn room is interested,” he said and leaned in with a smile. “Even the women, which you could probably get her to work with.” Connor wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, just in case I didn’t get the hint.
He was right, of course. Jessica was a woman who went after what she wanted, and she’d made it clear she wanted me, and if I was interested it would be whatever I wanted. But for some reason I couldn’t muster up the proper energy to fully enjoy the attention from Jessica. I had a feeling I knew the reason why, but as Connor and I walked towards the bank of elevators, I knew that couldn’t really be it. Not completely.
“Not in the mood today.”
“Can’t you get in the mood for an old married guy like me? Please.” He turned and clasped his hands together, pleading.
“Old? You’re not even thirty and you’ve been married what, ten minutes?”
“Two years,” he clarified with a proud smile. “But Clara is shy, so we’ll work our way up to the kinky stuff. Hopefully.”
“Too much information,” I growled and punched the call button. Hard.
“Excuse me.” The voice was soft and feminine, and that familiar huskiness drew my attention.
I stepped to the side automatically and looked at the woman in purple pants that hugged her body in all the right places. “Janey. You following me, sweetheart?”
“Rafe, is that you? So many hot firefighters around here, you hardly stand out.”
“Hardly standing out is still standing out, Janey, and you’re standing out quite nicely in those pants.”
Her skin flushed pink all the way down to her neck and even the skin barely covered by the black lace shirt she wore. �
��Thanks, I think.” She tucked a thick black curl behind her ear and turned her gaze to Connor. “Fire Chief convention?”
Connor snickered and shook his head. “Something like that. How do you know Rafe?”
She smiled up at me before turning back to Connor. “We live in the same town. I’m here for the photography event down the hall.” The doors slid open and she stepped inside first. “Enjoy your weekend fellas.” She flashed a wide smile and gave a small finger wave as the doors slowly slid closed.
“Who would have thought the girl next door thing would do it for you?” Connor shook his head. “I mean she’s a wickedly sexy girl next door with that thick black hair, but damn, no wonder you gave Jess the brush off.”
“I didn’t,” I insisted, but not all that much because it was the truth, even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself. “But those pants were hot, right?”
Connor flashed a smile as another door slid open and we stepped inside. “Hell yeah, they were. Ask her where she got ’em, I think Clara could kill me in those pants.”
He wasn’t wrong. If sweet little Janey could get my engine roaring in them, no telling what it would do for Connor. “Might be what brings you baby number four.”
He smacked me with the back of his hand. “Three, smart ass.”
I laughed. “You should ask her.”
“No, I think you should. Get back to me with the answer. Later.” Connor stepped off the elevator at his floor and waved me off. “I’m gonna call Clara and tell her about the surprise gift I got her. She’ll be so tickled.” The look on his face meant I had no choice but to ask. Connor was a friend of sorts and the way the kid talked about his wife, almost made marriage and commitment seem like something other than a death sentence.
I didn’t promise Connor anything, but I would ask.
If I ran into Janey before the weekend was over.
Janey
The purple tuxedo pants had been out of my comfort zone, by at least two whole time zones, but the look on Rafe’s face and even on his friend’s face had made it worth it. More than worth it. But as I stood in the hotel hallway staring at my reflection, with Bo on speakerphone, I had my doubts.
But this red dress, it wasn’t me. Not at all. It was too tight and too short and it showed of…everything. “What in the hell was I thinking?” My reflection didn’t look terrible, but it had to be the lighting because I felt like sausage stuffed into a casing. The color was striking and oddly didn’t turn me ghostly white, plus the sales chick had called me smoking hot in the dress.
Smoking hot. How could I pass that up?
“You were probably thinking that you look hotter than you ever have, and that’s no small thing,” she said in her signature matter-of-fact tone. The first time I bought something from Hope and Mikki, it blew my mind.” I smiled thinking of Bo’s trip to get something sexy and how awkward and uncomfortable she’d been.
“You can’t see this dress Bo. It’s indecent!”
She snorted and in my mind I could see her shaking her head, thick brown hair falling around her shoulders. “Let me see. You know I’ll tell you the truth.”
‘Too much of the truth,” I muttered and switched the call to video mode. “All right. Lay it on me.” I held the phone up to the mirror so she could get a full length view.
Bo looked at me, tilting her head this way and that, nodding to herself and mumbling. “You look hot Janey. Like for real hot. Like if you wore that around town, the rest of us would talk about you behind your back. For being hot instead of being pushy, like we do now.” Her smile softened the blow but I made no apologies for who I was, a girl always willing to help. Sometimes a hammer worked better than honey.
“Thanks, but doesn’t it matter if I don’t feel comfortable?”
“Of course, it matters but you just need to own you great you look. It’s a little short, yes, but all the important parts are covered so relax. Chill. Just be one of those girls who looks effortlessly hot.”
I snorted at that. “Effortlessly? I still have to do something to this hair and this face.”
“Gloss it up and get gone,” she said with finality. “Tell me all about it. When you’re back in Tulip.” With those last words, Bo ended the call. So typical.
I gave myself another view in the mirror. It was the last night of the convention and me and a bunch of girls were planning to go out, to leave the hotel and have a fun night in Santa Fe. And this red dress was exactly a fun night in Santa Fe kind of dress, which meant I had to get comfortable. To that end, I kept the dress on while I worked on my hair and makeup, refusing to adjust it with every move I made until the dress moved with me.
It took an hour longer than it needed to, thanks to all the not adjusting I did but finally by eight o’clock, I was ready to have some fun so I left my room with the tiniest silver clutch I could afford on my impromptu shopping trip and headed down to the bar to meet the others.
A quick glance at the clock said it was just after eight but there were not photo girls in sight. Not anywhere. Figuring I must be early, I slid up to the bar and decided to order something unusual. Something out of the ordinary. “A Mai Tai, please.”
The bartender flashed a bland smile and got to work. I watched him work, wondering where the life was in this man. He was young, barely old enough to drink the alcohol he sold but his face and hands were without lines, without signs of living. It was a pity because he could be a compelling subject. In a few years.
“Thanks,” told him and turned my attention to my drink. And my phone. There were no text messages or missed calls and I was starting to get the feeling I’d been stood up. Was it more pathetic to get stood up by one man or a group of women? Both felt terrible and I sucked down half the sweet drink in one big gulp.
Then another.
And another.
“One more, please.” The bartender nodded without judgment and I appreciated his discretion.
“Drinkin’ alone? That’s a shame.”
Rafe’s voice sounded right behind me, so close I could feel the heat of his breath on my neck. I turned so barely an inch separated us. “Not alone anymore. Have a seat.”
He blinked, surprised and I smiled, happy that I wasn’t the same old boring Janey. “Thanks. Great dress.”
I looked down with a smile of surprise because I hadn’t adjusted it once. “Thanks. Too bad it’s all for nothing. I think the girls stood me up.”
“You mean the group of women who left a few minutes ago? All dressed up to cause trouble?”
“Yeah,” I said and sat up, hopeful.
“Yeah, they were leaving when I got off the elevator.”
I slid off the stool, wobbling slightly until I was able to steady myself and go after them. “I could still catch them.”
“Uh, not quite.”
“Why not?” Arms folded, I frowned at Rafe, suspicious for some reason. “Well?”
“I watched you for a few minutes before I came to say hey, so they’re long gone.” I fell back against the stool, gasping softly when his warm hand reached out to steady me. “Can I buy you a drink?”
“Nope.” I leaned in and smiled at him, feeling bold. Okay tipsy and bold. “But I’ll buy you one. Bartender, something manly for my friend here. He fights fires for a living.”
“Friend? I’m your friend now?”
I shrugged. “Sure, we’re friends. I guess we’re more like frenemies, right?” I didn’t know why that was. I didn’t dislike Rafe, but something about him always rubbed me the wrong way.
“I don’t think you’re my enemy,” he said honestly and ordered a whiskey neat.
“But you like to tease me.” He was always teasing and mocking.
“That’s only because you look so damn cute when you blush. Your cheeks get all pink and then it slides down your neck and throat. Makes it hard to resist riling you up.”
“Uh.” That was it, all I said. There was nothing I could say that would sound like an intelligent, coherent adult at the
moment, so I said nothing else. I nodded and sipped my Mai Tai.
“I’ve shocked you.”
“A little, yeah. I thought you were just making fun of me.” And that made the tiny crush I’d been nursing since high school even more pathetic. But then, who didn’t have a crush on Rafe.
“Now you know.”
Yeah, but did that change anything? Not really. I had to ignore the pulse of awareness between us, the heat of his gaze on my body and the answering reaction. “Then we can be friends.”
“Friends.” His lips quirked up and Rafe held his hand out.
I stared at it for long time, like it was a live wire meaning to do me harm. Eventually I dropped my small hand into his large rough one, gasping at the shock of electricity between us and when I tried to yank it back, he held on tight.
“Rafe.”
“Janey.”
“What’s going on?”
“Hell if I know,” he shrugged, looking as sexy and as bewildered as I’d ever seen him. “But I’m not ready to run away from it yet. Are you?”
Good question. “I don’t know.”
He chuckled and turned away, reaching for his drink. “Then let’s sit here, talk and drink. Until you do know. How does that sound?”
Like heaven. “Like a really solid plan B.”
He laughed again, the sound was deep and rich. Intoxicating. “Cheers to always keeping my ego in check, Janey.”
“My pleasure.”
“Not yet. Maybe later.”
I gasped at his words, the satisfied smile that crossed Rafe’s face was irresistible, and I knew in that moment, I could feel the air shift, the atmosphere charge, and I knew something was happening here. Something big.
And I fought the urge to run like hell.
Find out what happens with Rafe & Janey Here.
Also By Piper Sullivan
Misters of Love: A Small Town Romance Boxset Page 52