Roses & Champagne Kisses

by Stacy Eaton

  “You really can’t do this for me?”

  “It’s not my damn wedding, Rye!” I growled. “Now get in your car and get to the café. I’ll call Autumn myself.”

  “Fine.” He hung up before I could say anything else.

  “I don’t get him.” I shook my head.

  “Maybe he’s getting cold feet.”

  “Maybe,” I hesitated, then decided I wanted to talk to her about it. “Remember I told you that I heard my brother talking to a woman when we were on the phone yesterday?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, he was with a woman. He said that he was actually thinking about having one last fling before he got married.”

  “Do you think that’s wrong?” she asked me.

  I sputtered. “Of course, it’s wrong. If you’re going to marry someone, you’re committed to them. You don’t go bang someone else because you’re not going to be single anymore. If you’re engaged, you’re not single, and cheating is cheating.”

  She didn’t respond, and I turned to see her frowning. “Don’t tell me you think I’m wrong.”

  “No, I don’t think you’re wrong.”

  “Let’s use us as an example: If we were going to get married, would you have a one-nighter with someone else just because you were getting married?”

  Her eyebrows were hiked up into her bangs. “You’re kidding!”

  “What?” I kept glancing toward her as I drove. “Why would you think I was kidding?”

  “Because you and I would never get married so I can’t answer that question.”

  “Are you telling me that you wouldn’t marry a man like me or just me?” I started to laugh.

  “Oh, no, I’d be lucky to have a man like you, but you deserve better than someone like me. You’re the cream of the crop, I’m the bottom of the barrel.”

  I slammed on the brakes and swerved to the side of the road so quickly, she was bracing herself in her seat to crash.

  “What the hell are you doing, Roan?”

  I put the car in park as soon as it stopped moving and turned to stare at her. “Don’t you ever say something like that again, you got that? You and I are the same, Finley. We both put our pants on the same way. We both need food, water, shelter, and love. Just because my house is bigger than yours or I have money in my bank account does not mean you and I are different. I thought we settled this last night.” She blinked rapidly as she listened to me. I took her hand and ran my thumb over the back of the soft skin, “The world takes all kinds to make it turn. You are a beautiful and intelligent woman, and I consider you an equal. Do you understand that? I’m not better than you, you’re not better than me. We are equals. If you can’t see that, then whatever this is that is boiling under the surface between us needs to be put on the back burner. I’m not looking to get involved with someone who puts me on a pedestal or feels she isn’t as good as me. I want someone I can share my life with, someone who wants to share equally in my life, maybe someone who wants to create a life with me that we can share together.”

  She was so still, so silent, that if her lids hadn’t blinked I would have thought she had turned to stone. Finally, she shifted her head the slightest bit and glanced away briefly.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked her.

  “Honestly?”

  I nodded.

  “I’m thinking: Wow. My entire life I’ve never had someone consider me an equal, or at least, I can’t remember someone ever saying that they thought I was, especially a man.”

  “Then you have been with the wrong men.”

  She shrugged and turned her face toward the window. I reached over and tugged her chin back toward me.

  “Finley, I don’t know what this is between us. We barely know each other, but I know that there is something that pulls me to you. I want to understand that, see if it works for both of us.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes, but I can’t do that if you are constantly thinking that you’re not good enough. I can only help you build your self-esteem so much. You have to do the work.”

  She frowned. “So you think my self-esteem is low?”

  “Yes, I do, and I think that’s because of the people you surrounded yourself with in the past. Those people wanted to control and dominate you, and you let them. I think that now that you are around people who don’t do that, you’ll grow on your own.”

  “Like a weed.” She laughed a little bitterly. “I’ll grow like a weed.”

  “No, you’ll grow into a beautiful flower. You’ll bloom like a beautiful rose,” I paused, “and I want to be by your side while you do.”

  Chapter 21

  Finley

  A rose, huh? Well, I definitely had the prickly thorns to go with the soft petals. I wasn’t going to argue with Roan, now was not the time. He believed what he wanted to believe, and while he might have thought I was a rose, I wasn’t stupid enough to wear rose-colored glasses to deflect the reality around me.

  “Thank you, Roan,” I whispered.

  “You’re welcome, Finley.” He caressed the side of my cheek and then focused on getting his car onto the road.

  His car alone was probably worth more than what I made in ten years—and that house he lived in. There was no way that house wasn’t worth over a million. I didn’t know how that didn’t bother him to know I came from nothing—and damn—nowhere. I didn’t even know where I really came from.

  So far today, I’d been able to put that out of my head, but now that we were finished with the police, it was like a neon sign on the fritz in an old barroom window, blinking half-on and then half-off while it buzzed frantically. My brain was crackling, and I sat back in the seat and let the conversation I’d just had with Roan go. No matter what I said, it wouldn’t change anything, so why bother.

  We arrived at the café to find Autumn standing beside her BMW, tapping her toe and looking miffed as all get out. I laughed to myself as I got out of the car. Miffed was a good description of Mrs. High and Mighty.

  Her mouth gaped open when I came around the rear of the car. “What are you doing with her?” she asked indignantly.

  “I’ll meet you guys inside,” I said to Roan and hightailed it out of there while Roan told her my car had broken down. He didn’t even want her to know I was staying at his house. I’d bet my next paycheck that if his brother hadn’t walked into the guest room and found me, Roan probably wouldn’t have told him I was there.

  That thought bothered me more than I wanted it to. I hurried inside and shoved the frustration away. I would have plenty of time to think over all that later. Luckily, the minute I got inside, Sadie needed to speak to me about a problem, and I promptly forgot about my personal woes and dug into the issue with an upcoming event.

  I’d asked Sadie to let Roan and Autumn know that I was going to be a few minutes and by the time I was done dealing with the hot potato, Rye had joined them in the café. While many men didn’t want to take part in these types of activities, Rye looked especially unhappy to be here. His demeanor was more bored than irritated as he twisted a straw wrapper around his finger again and again. Autumn was unnaturally quiet as she played on her phone, and Roan stared out the window. The three of them certainly did not look like they were here for a happy occasion.

  As I gathered the things I would need, I glanced around the café. A handsome man sat on the opposite side of the café, typing on his phone with a slight lopsided grin that made him even cuter. He paused and seemed to be waiting for something. A moment later, Autumn grabbed my attention when she began to laugh, and I forgot about the man and approached the table.

  “I’m so sorry for keeping you all waiting. There was a fire that needed to be put out.”

  Both men immediately came to life and graced me with smiles, while Autumn glanced at Rye and rolled her eyes. Roan patted the booth seat beside him, and I slid into it with my notebook and a list of things that we needed to finalize.

  “Nice to see you again, Finley,” Rye sa
id as I got situated.

  “You, too, Rye. I’m glad you could make it.” He lifted his shoulder in a quick, oh-well-what-was-I-supposed-to-do kind of move, and I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh.

  “There are only a few things that we need to fin—”

  “I want to change all the mushrooms to stuffed with crab,” Autumn jumped in before I could finish my sentence.

  “I thought we decided it was going to be half and half.”

  “No, I want them all crabmeat.”

  I glanced at Rye. “Is that alright with you?”

  “Yeah, if she wants crabmeat, she can have crabmeat.”

  I plastered on a smile and made a note on my pad. “Stuffed mushrooms with crabmeat only. Alright, the only other food—”

  “I want the crêpe table to have cheese crêpes, not fruit.”

  “What?” Roan blurted. “You were so excited about the fruit crêpes.”

  “Well, I’m not anymore, Rye.”

  His brows popped, and he spoke drolly to her, “I’m Roan, your groom is the one sitting beside you.”

  She waved her hand in the air and said in a huff, “I know you’re not Rye. I was thinking of him, and I’m so used to talking about this stuff with you.”

  “Alright, so now you can talk to him about it.”

  Rye sighed wearily, “What are the choices?”

  “You don’t want to know,” she snipped at him.

  “Autumn, honey, I’m here, and you’re right, I’m not thrilled to be here, but I am now. Tell me what the choices are so I can help you make a decision.”

  She was pouting, and unfortunately, that was not a good look for her. She looked more like she’d sucked on a lemon than anything remotely attractive.

  “Rye, originally Autumn had chosen the crêpe table as an alternative dessert to cake. The crêpes would be made to order by one of our chefs and filled with a light fruit or chocolate mousse filling. If we went with the cheese filing, Autumn, it would be more of an appetizer. Generally, we do a cheese, or nut sauce, sometimes a seafood filling with them as an appetizer.”

  “But people eat cheese for dessert, too. You know, like cheesecake. I don’t want to distract from the cake.”

  “I don’t think it will. In fact, I wanted to confirm with you the filling for the cake. You said you wanted a hazelnut frosting—”

  Rye’s face snapped toward her. “You can’t have hazelnut frosting on the cake.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m allergic to it, Autumn. You know that.”

  She pursed her lips and her shoulders dropped as she muttered, “Well, you don’t have to eat it.”

  “Autumn, it’s our wedding cake. I’d like to be able to share that with you, so yes, I do have to eat it.”

  I held my breath, waiting to see what bitchy reply would come off her perfect lips, and was shocked when she smiled and leaned forward, pawing at Rye. “Oh, baby, of course I want us to eat the cake together. You just haven’t been interested in anything to do with the wedding.”

  “Well, I’m here now, and I’m interested.”

  She beamed at him like a ray of sunshine, and I wanted to shield myself from the annoying brilliance of it. “What flavor would you like? You choose, I picked everything else.”

  Rye turned his attention to me. “What is the cake flavor?”

  “Lemon chiffon.”

  “What would you suggest with that?”

  “Either a stronger lemon or raspberry would be good.”

  “Raspberry it is.”

  “But—”

  Rye turned to Autumn. “You said I could choose, I chose.” He tapped her on the nose. “What’s next?”

  Just like that, Rye took over. Autumn cozied up to his side, and the two of them finally looked like a couple about to get married as they smooched on and off and made decisions together.

  As soon as we were done, Rye said he had to get going and kissed her goodbye. Autumn didn’t seem the least bit upset that he was leaving so soon, and instead took her phone out and got busy on it. Roan followed me over to the counter as Autumn waved her fingers in a hasty goodbye.

  I was setting my stuff on the counter when I turned and noticed the man on the other side of the room head toward the door. “Hey, Roan, do you know that guy?” I whispered toward him.

  Roan turned toward the door, but the guy had already disappeared out. “I don’t think so. Why?”

  I shrugged, “No reason.” I had no idea why the guy had even claimed a moment of my attention, and now that he was gone, there was no reason to think any more about him. He’d had a cup of coffee and then split.

  “What else do you need to do?” Roan asked as he slipped onto a stool across from me.

  “I actually have quite a bit of paperwork I need to gather and take over to Robin. I wish I had her laptop with me here so I could input all the invoices now instead of taking them back and forth.”

  “Oh, damn, I totally forgot about the laptop.” Roan pulled out his phone and then put it to his ear a moment later.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Getting you the work tools that you need.”

  “Roan, wait!” I said quickly, but he held his hand up as he began to speak.

  “Hey, Chris, I have a question for you. Do you have an extra laptop around there that Finley can use for business? It would help both her and Robin out a lot if she could do paperwork from here instead of constantly bringing it out to Robin.”

  I gnawed on my bottom lip. I hated asking for anything, and a laptop was a big deal.

  “That’s great! Okay, we will be heading over soon.” He was about to hang up when he called out to Chris, “Hey, does Robin have a business plan with her cellphone?”

  No! Not the phone, too! Man, I must look like such a loser for him to be asking for both of those expensive things for me.

  “The phone that Finley has isn’t very adept for business. Maybe Robin can think of adding a phone to her plan for Finley to use now that she’s taking on more responsibility.”

  He nodded as he listened to Chris speak, and I wanted to curl up behind the counter and pretend I wasn’t here.

  He hung up a moment later, a smile on his face as if he’d won a grand prize or something. “Well, by the time we get to Robin’s house, you will have a laptop, and Chris thinks you having a business phone is a great idea, so he’s going to talk to Robin about it.”

  “Roan, that’s too much. You shouldn’t have done that.”

  “Finley, computers and cellular phones are imperative to getting the job done these days. I’m actually surprised they hadn’t already thought of those things.”

  “I get that, Roan, but I don’t like asking for a handout.”

  Roan laughed, “If you were working in the business world, and you went to work for a corporation, wouldn’t they supply you with an office, or at least a desk, with a phone and a computer? You’re working for Robin doing her admin stuff, helping her run her business, a cellphone and a laptop are your office. What’s the difference?”

  He made sense when he put it that way. “Uh, I never thought about it like that,” I paused, “but I wasn’t hired to help her with her business. I was hired to work in her café and assist with catering.”

  “Does Robin tell you what to do here in the café? Does she oversee everything here, or does she let you make decisions?”

  I frowned. “Actually, she doesn’t tell me anything about the café. She lets me do what I want.”

  “She’s letting you run her café because she trusts you, Finley. Do you think she would let you do that if she didn’t think you could handle it? This is her baby.” He spread his arms wide to encompass the café.

  “It is,” I said thoughtfully. Did Robin really think I could handle this? She had been giving me more duties recently, or more accurately, I’d been doing things for her so that she could focus on other things.

  “In a way, aren’t you managing the café on your own?”

>   My eyes wandered around the small room, and I thought about how I was here five days a week, sometimes six, and I would stay late and come early to take care of inventory and ordering. “I guess I am.”

  “So—you deserve a phone and a laptop.” He laughed, “You probably deserve a raise, too.”

  I nailed him with a serious look. “Let’s not get greedy now.”

  Roan winked. “Not being greedy. Sometimes the best way to get something is to ask for it. Doesn’t mean you are being greedy, it means you feel you are worth it to ask.”

  Was I worth it, though?

  Chapter 22

  Roan

  I had to admit that I enjoyed watching Finley work. She was very adept at handling the meeting with my brother and future sister-in-law. When Autumn tried to sidetrack the conversation or make changes to something that had already been decided, Finley was able to redirect the conversation with the help of Rye.

  If only Finley could see it. I hated that she didn’t think enough about herself to feel confident in her abilities. If only she could see what I saw, then maybe she’d stop stressing over the little things like laptops and phones.

  Once she had her paperwork, we headed out to the Landrys’ place. Chris was waiting for us, and Robin was situated on the couch.

  “I thought you were supposed to remain in bed,” Finley commented as she took a seat on the floor in front of Robin.

  “I’ve been making Chris bring me out here for a couple hours during the day. I’m going nuts staring at the walls of our bedroom and the guest room.”

  I kissed Robin on the cheek. “Well, I’m glad you’re doing well.”

  “Thanks, Roan. How did the meeting go today with your brother and Autumn?”

  “Great, actually. Finley has a knack for handling indecisive brides.”

  Finley laughed. “It helped that your brother put his foot down a few times.”