A Match Made Under the Mistletoe

by Diana Palmer

  Jody put up a hand like a witness swearing an oath. “I will never say a word to her.”

  Elise laughed. “Whew.”

  “So, you’ll be staying on as Jed’s assistant, then?”

  “God, no. I hate typing.”

  “But you’re so good at it and Jed pays big money, right?”

  “Money isn’t everything—and yeah, it’s easy for me to say, now I’m no longer destitute. I also happen to mean it. I am not typing one more word than I absolutely have to. Why doesn’t anyone seem to understand that just because a person’s good at something doesn’t mean they’re dying to spend their life doing it? As soon as this book is done, so am I.” She lowered her voice to a confidential whisper. “But if it all works out the way I’m hoping, I will be staying on with Jed.”

  Jody’s smile was soft. “I love seeing you happy. And it’s about time.” She held up her empty champagne flute. “Don’t move. I’m filling up my glass and then I have something to propose to you.”

  Right on cue, Clara stepped up with a tray of full ones. “More champagne, little sister?”

  “You’re a lifesaver.” Jody switched out her empty flute for a full one and they chatted with Clara for a few minutes—about how great the party was, and how big Clara’s one-year-old, Kiera, had grown.

  Then Clara moved off to share the bubbly with her other guests and Elise picked up her conversation with Jody where they’d left off. “What kind of proposal?”

  “First, are you still thinking of opening Bravo Catering again?”

  “I am opening Bravo Catering again. That was always the plan. It was just that for a few really bleak months there I had no clue how I would ever make it happen.”

  “Would you consider maybe going into partnership with me?”

  Elise got the loveliest rising feeling in her chest. “Bloom and Bravo Catering, together?”

  “Well, I mean before the fire, we did several weddings together, right? That went so well. And I liked working with you when you were filling in at Bloom, too. I think we make a great team. So I was wondering, what if we formally combined forces? We could still keep both companies, and look for a new, larger location, a shop where we would each have our own store, but adjoining, you know? Two separate entrances, one for Bravo Catering and one for Bloom, but we would design the space so the two shops kind of flow together. Food and flowers. I think it could be great.”

  Elise waved her hand in front of her face. “Jody. I think I’m going to cry.”

  “Good tears?”

  “The best kind.” Elise grabbed her sister and gave her a hug.

  Jody hugged her right back, then took her by the shoulders to look in her eyes. “So you’ll consider it?”

  “Consider it? I love it. I’m in. And I’ll have the money for it, no problem, thanks to Jed. But I’m working with him dawn to dusk on the book until he finishes the manuscript. I only have Sundays off and I need at least one day a week to run errands and decompress a little.”

  “I know. I get that.”

  “He’s ahead of schedule, so maybe he’ll be done early—sometime in October, if we get lucky. His deadline, though, is November first. I can’t commit to anything until then. But I promise, Jody, from the first of November, I’m your partner.”

  Jody squealed in delight—and then clapped her hand over her mouth and shook her head, blushing. “Okay. I’m excited. Tell me, does it show?”

  “Me, too. I really wasn’t looking forward to being completely on my own.”

  “I know. I always envied you and Tracy, to have each other to count on. Now, we’ll have each other. I’m so thrilled you said yes.”

  * * *

  Elise got back home at a little after five.

  She found Jed out on the catio with Wigs. “How are my guys?”

  Jed patted the spot beside him on the sofa. She took it. He wrapped an arm around her and she snuggled close, resting her head on the hard bulge of his shoulder. He rubbed his scruffy chin against her hair and asked, “So how was Addie’s baby shower?”

  “You would have loved it,” she teased.

  A low, disbelieving sound rumbled up from his big chest. “Did you play those silly girly games—‘pin the tail on the baby’? ‘Bobbing for nipples’?”

  “How do you even know about baby-shower games?”

  “I’m a writer. I have to know a little bit about everything—plus, I went to a coed shower once, back when I was married to Carrie. The experience was one I would prefer never to repeat.”

  “Oh, you poor man.” She patted his cheek.

  “You need to kiss me and make it all better, wipe the memory of that terrible time from my conscious mind.”

  “I’m on it.” And she kissed him, slowly and with a lot of tongue. “How’s that?”

  “I think I might be all right now.”

  “I’m so glad.”

  “But maybe you should kiss me once more, just to be sure.”

  With a happy laugh, she cradled his face and pressed her lips to his. When she lifted away, he tried to grab her close again. But she could not wait another minute to tell him about her conversation with Jody. She pushed at his chest. “I have news.”

  “About…?”

  “I had a long talk with Jody.”

  He grinned. “You should see your face. Apparently, Jody had something really good to tell you.”

  “She did. She had an offer for me.”

  His arms loosened around her. “What kind of offer?”

  She sat back against the cushions. “It’s like this. As soon as the book is done, Jody and I are going into partnership together. We’ll get a new space and combine her flower shop with my catering business.” She kicked off her sandals and drew her legs up yoga-style. “It’s a stroke of genius, perfect for both of us.” A gleeful little laugh escaped her. “Jody suggested it and, well, I couldn’t say yes fast enough. Not only will we do weddings together the way we were doing before I had to close down, we each get foot traffic from the other.

  “I’m thinking I’ll have a bakery area—great coffee and pastries, you know? I’ll be open the same hours as Bloom. People come in to buy flowers and they can get a coffee and a muffin. Or they come for coffee and get tempted by Bloom. I can’t wait to…” Her voice trailed off as the expression on his face finally registered.

  He didn’t look the least bit pleased to be hearing all this.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  You’re not going into business with your sister, Jed thought but somehow had the presence of mind not to say. I need you right here, working for me.

  This was bad. He should have had this out with her before she managed to go off and make a deal with Jody. But he’d thought he had more time—weeks yet—to create a workable plan, to come up with an offer so tempting she’d realize there was no way she could refuse.

  What offer is that, exactly? mocked a knowing voice in his mind. And what if she still refuses, no matter what you offer her?

  She’d never given him the slightest indication that she might change her mind and continue as his assistant after the book was done—except for that time on the plane to New York. But then he’d only thought she might stay on; he’d heard what he wanted to hear. She’d meant she would stay with him, not that she would keep typing his books.

  And if he was any other man he would be telling himself he had to learn to accept her position on this.

  But he wasn’t just any guy. He had a certain process that worked for him and she was a big part of that process. She was not a cog in a wheel, easily replaceable.

  Without her, the damn wheel didn’t turn.

  Well, you are going to need to replace her. Get over it and move on. The voice of reason in his head was calm. Logical. Right.

  And he
refused to listen to it.

  That year after Anna left had been pure hell. He needed to find a way not to go through that again.

  And if there was no way, if she was leaving no matter what once he finished McCannon’s Fall, he damn well didn’t want to know that now.

  Now, the book had to come first. Having to accept her leaving would only mess with his mind and slow down his writing. That couldn’t happen.

  He would get to the end of the damn book and then find a way to convince Elise to keep working with him—so what if she had plans to work with her sister? Plans change.

  And she was looking at him strangely now. “Jed. What is it?” She put her soft hand on his. “What’s wrong?”

  He ordered his expression to relax, even managed to form what for him passed as a smile. “Not a thing.”

  “But you seemed so—”

  “There’s nothing,” he lied, turning his hand over, clasping her fingers, giving them a reassuring squeeze. “So. You and Jody, huh?”

  She looked so serious now—because she knew him better than anyone ever had before. She knew exactly what was bothering him, which her next words made painfully clear. “You said the day you hired me that if it worked out with me, you weren’t going to like it when I left. I get that, I do. And I don’t want to leave you—it’s just the job. Long-term, it’s not for me.”

  “I understand. Don’t worry. Everything’s fine.”

  She wanted badly to believe him. He could see it in those big dark eyes of hers. “You’re sure?”

  “Of course.”

  * * *

  Elise didn’t believe him.

  He definitely had something on his mind that he wasn’t sharing. But she’d asked and encouraged—and then prodded him for good measure. He didn’t want to get into it, whatever it was.

  Well, okay. She would leave it alone until he was ready to talk about it.

  They went inside, had some dinner and watched a movie in the media room downstairs. He took her to bed and made smoking hot love to her.

  That week, the book moved along at lightning speed. Jed was really on a roll. At the rate he was writing, they could be finished by the end of the month—a month ahead of his final deadline. That would give him weeks to go through it and clean it up before sending it on to New York. He was pleased at his progress and he said so.

  And when the workday was through, he was his usual sexy, gruff self. By Friday, she’d all but forgotten that something had been bothering him Sunday night.

  A week and a day after Addie’s baby shower, Elise checked her bank balance online and found that both Sean’s and Biff’s checks had cleared. Her nest egg was growing by leaps and bounds. She called Jody and they agreed that Jody would keep her eye out for a workable location to lease—or to buy.

  That week passed and the one after that. Jed was on the home stretch with McCannon’s Fall, writing faster and better than ever, he said.

  On the last Tuesday in September, Jody called during Elise’s lunch break. She had news. The art gallery next to Bloom was closing immediately due to a family emergency. The gallery owner had three months left on her lease, but she wanted out now. Jody had already talked to the agent for the building. He said they would let the gallery owner out of the lease if Elise qualified to take it over. Elise could sign a contract for two years with an option to renew for another two. The agent also said Elise and Jody could open up the wall between the two shops as long as Elise signed a rider agreeing to make all the changes according to code and have the work properly inspected and approved—and to pay a nonrefundable deposit to rebuild the wall at the end of her tenancy.

  Jody offered, “I’ll pay to fix the wall for us if you put down the nonrefundable deposit.”

  “Sounds great to me. I’ve been through the gallery a couple of times. It’s a nice space. I’ll need to measure it, but I’m pretty sure I can put my kitchen in the back and a little bakery area with a counter and café tables in front.”

  At the rate Jed was writing, the rough draft could be done within the week. He typed his own rewrites, so he wouldn’t need her for that. Maybe she would get lucky and be able to start working for herself again next month.

  But even if he needed her right up until November first, getting the shop next to Bloom for Bravo Catering was as good as it was going to get. Jody wouldn’t have to shut down and reopen elsewhere and possibly lose customers in the process. They could build on what Jody already had.

  “So are you saying we’re going for it?” Jody asked.

  “Oh, yeah. I’m in.”

  After she hung up with Jody, Elise called the agent for Jody’s building. He agreed to meet with her on Thursday. Then she called her brother James. Addie’s husband was the family lawyer. James said he would go with her to meet the agent.

  That settled, Elise still had fifteen minutes left of her lunch break. Time enough to ask Jed for Thursday afternoon off.

  She found him just where she expected him to be—in the office looking over the pages he’d written that morning.

  He turned in the chair when she came in. “You’re early. Eager to get back to work?” It was a joke. She always took the full hour at lunch to rest and recharge for the second half of the workday, which sometimes went past seven at night.

  And why was her pulse suddenly racing and her stomach all queasy? All right, when he’d hired her she’d agreed to work all day, every day, six days a week. But surely he could spare her for a few hours on Thursday after more than three months of scrupulous adherence to his killer work schedule.

  “Elise?” he prompted when she failed to say a word.

  She had to make herself tell him and she hated how hard it was to do that. “I need Thursday afternoon off. The shop next door to Jody in the same building is becoming vacant on the first of the month and I’m going to take it. I need to deal with the owner’s agent and get the paperwork going to make it happen.”

  * * *

  Jed opened his mouth to remind her that she would be working for him on Thursday afternoon, that she knew very well what the job with him entailed when she took it.

  That she damn well was not signing a lease on a space for a shop she was never going to open.

  But he knew none of that would fly. She had a right to a day off now and then, no matter what unreasonable demands he’d forced her to agree to when he hired her. The book was a good two weeks ahead of schedule. And even if it hadn’t been, his acting like a domineering ass wasn’t going to help him convince her that she should stay on with him.

  Uh-uh. To get her to stay, he needed to treat her right.

  And also to stick with the plan—which was to do nothing until the book was done. So what if she rented a shop? He could pay the lease for her until another tenant came along and took it off her hands. It wasn’t a big deal.

  “We’re ahead,” she offered hopefully. “And I’ll work Thursday evening if you need me.” He rose from his desk and went to her, taking her by the shoulders, running his hands down her arms, linking his fingers with hers. She gazed up at him, apprehension in her eyes.

  He squeezed her fingers. “Thursday afternoon is all yours.”

  Her sweet smile bloomed and she let out a sigh of obvious relief. “Wonderful. Thank you.”

  “I love it when you’re properly grateful.” He lowered his mouth to hers and banished all thoughts of her leaving from his mind.

  * * *

  Elise signed the lease for the shop next to Jody’s that Thursday afternoon. She floated on air all the way back to Jed’s house.

  At dinner, she told him that Jody had already called Nell. Bravo Construction would open up the wall between their two shops and design an attractive iron gate they could close when one shop was open but not the other.

  Jed seemed happy for her. He listen
ed to her ramble on about where she might get her kitchen equipment at bargain prices and her vision for the bakery and how much she loved her family.

  “The Bravos are really pulling together now,” she told him proudly. “For years Nell and I couldn’t stand each other and I thought Jody was a snake in the grass. We had all these jealousies, so many simmering resentments, you know? Because my father never could choose between their mother and my mother and essentially he had two families at the same time. We all felt cheated and we took it out on each other. But we’ve worked through it, united our family. Now, we’re always finding reasons to get together. We like being together. Nell’s got my back and I’d do just about anything for her—and Jody and I are business partners.”

  He brushed a touch across her hand. “I’m glad it’s worked out so well with your family.” He really did seem to mean it.

  So why did she feel that something was off with him?

  Let it go, she reminded herself. He’ll tell you when he’s ready. “So then—shall we work after dinner?”

  He gave a low, sexy rumble of laughter. “I can think of better things than work to do after dinner.”

  They went upstairs early. He drew a bath and they shared it. She surrendered joyfully to the wonder of his big hands on her yearning body.

  Had she ever been this happy?

  No. Never.

  After long months of worry and disappointment, she had everything: enough money, a new business she couldn’t wait to make a big success—and most important of all, Jed.

  She had love. Real love, deep and true. At last.

  Now, if she could just get him to accept that she was moving on professionally…

  * * *

  A week and a day later, Jed got to the end of McCannon’s Fall. They went out to dinner to celebrate.

  The next day, she asked him if her work on the book was through. He evaded, said he had a few scenes that required serious reworking. He might need her for those.