Catching Mr. Right

by Misti Murphy

  “Right.” I let her go, stumble back as I ruffle the hair at the back of my head. I’m starting to forget what is pretend and what’s real. Of course she would choose to spend time with him when she’s always been clear from the beginning that she’s going to land him by hook or by crook. It’s time to remember I’m only her fake boyfriend. And this was my idea in the first place.

  “I better go,” she says.

  “Yup.” I kick at a stone that bounces against the barn before rolling back in front of my boot. “Don’t want to leave him waiting.”

  As she hurries back the way we came a tear away group of older kids run past me with glow sticks in their hands. Their raised voices grate on my nerves as I jump out of the way. I don’t want to go back in the barn and watch her tell him she’s ready to leave with him. I head to the kitchen instead. May as well start on tomorrow’s prep. Whatever it takes to keep my mind occupied and away from Mandy’s pink tutu and what she’s hiding underneath.

  What she’s ready to give Sam Sweets.

  Chapter Seventeen

  SAM

  “Do you do this for all your friends?”

  Mandy sits cross-legged on the stainless steel counter of an empty Josef’s. The stoves and burners finally got hooked up today so I decided to cook instead of find somewhere to take her for dinner. With her fairy wings still strapped to her back, she sips wine out of a plastic cup, because the glassware won’t arrive for at least another week. Silver glitter catches my attention as it twinkles under the downlights. It’s dusted on her shoulders and across her throat. I’m not sure if it’s fallen from those fantastical wings or if it’s makeup she deliberately brushed there. She swings one pink suede wedge from her toes. Using her empty hand, she adjusts her fluffy tutu.

  “Sometimes.” I shake my head and smile to myself as I flip the contents of the sauté pan. A few green vegetables to go with the pork belly and roast potatoes in the oven.

  I’ve never met anyone who is so young and so truly themselves as she is. It’s enchanting. Most people with far more years under their belt don’t have themselves so together as she does. I certainly haven’t achieved as much as I thought I would. “I have a lot of friends who are chefs and sommeliers. Usually we do it together.”

  “Isn’t that awkward? Some of you would be used to being in charge, wouldn’t you?”

  “Sure.” I shrug, setting the pan back on the burner. “We just decide who’s doing what. We’re used to working together.”

  “So you and Cas could cook together if you wanted to?” She drains her cup and holds it out for me to refill.

  “We could if we had to, but I don’t think either of us really wants to.” I certainly would rather be spared having to spend time in the man’s company. I copped an eyeful of how he looked at her earlier. The possessive glares at me didn’t go unnoticed. Nor did the way he tracked her around the room as though he wants every moment of her time. But it was the way she gazed at him that made me wish she would look at me like that. With this intense kind of affection that was bigger than her skin could contain. I could practically see the electricity of it. I swear if I’d reached out I could have touched it. I’ve never looked at anyone like she looks at him. Never had anyone look at me like that. I didn’t even know it was possible.

  “I suppose not,” she muses while peering into the clear plastic cup. “But you would be surprised what I can do when I put my mind to it.”

  I chuckle as I move to take the roast out of the oven. “Don’t I know it.”

  Although she would never have gotten me to change my mind. I should be grateful that Casper came along, even if I can’t help but wonder whether I’m missing out on something great. Something crazy. Intense. Beautiful.

  Mandy Pearce makes me want to find out what the world looks like through her eyes. She makes me wonder if there’s more in store for me than what I’ve let myself believe I can have. Now, when I think about Claudia I can’t remember why we started dating in the first place. Was it all about Josef? About my place in his business? Just because our relationship made sense on paper? We were the same age? I pull the tray from the oven and set it aside to cool while I go to my laptop bag. Could I really settle for something with no spark just because it was safe?

  “We didn’t get a chance to do anything about your birth certificate last time.” I dig my laptop out and open it up on the counter beside her. Those legs are my damnation. That gap between her thighs as she uncrosses them makes my cock throb. Ignoring it to the best of my ability, I focus on pulling up the website for birth certificates. “I thought maybe you would want to do that first? It’s probably the easiest option as long as your biological parents didn’t want the information sealed. Might as well start with the most straight forward choice.”

  “Please.”

  “If the information’s sealed we’ll have to try something else though,” I tell her while we wait for the page to load. “You might have to take it to court, and there’s a chance you won’t be able to find out who they are.”

  “I still want to try,” she says, picking at the quicks around her fingernails.

  “Okay.” It takes a couple minutes to fill in the information with me asking her questions and typing in her answers. She laughs at the way I peck at the keyboard with two fingers. Not all of us can touch type. “We need to take a scan of your license to attach with the application.”

  “It’s in my purse.” She springs from her perch on the counter, but she’s had three glasses of wine and it must have all gone to her head because her balance is nil. Stepping back, I throw my arm out to catch her around the waist.

  She giggles as she smashes into my chest and tips her wine down both our fronts. Both palms between us, she glances up at me and bites her lip. “My hero.”

  Christ. Why is it that the harder I try to convince myself I’m not attracted to her, the more she gets under my skin? Can she tell that she does? Can she sense the way she makes me want to throw caution to the wind?

  Her hair is a silk waterfall of pink under the stroke of my palm. She licks her lips, leaves them open like an invitation. There’s no way she doesn’t feel how hard that one look makes me. She could turn this grown man’s world upside down. That’s the power this little girl has in her pocket. I’m not sure how long I can resist.

  I’m not sure that I want to try anymore. Bowing my head, I capture her mouth and taste the wine on her lips. Her arms coil around my neck as her tongue thrusts and parries with mine. I groan with how good she feels crushed up against me. My fingers find the curve of her ass, and I rub my hardness against her thigh. Once. Just once I need to experience her as a woman. “Come back to the hotel with me?”

  She breaks away to stare at me, her fingers curling in my shirt. “What are you saying, Sam?”

  I press her back to the counter and tilt her chin up. “I’m asking you to spend the night with me.”

  “Just one night?” She wets her lips as I lift her onto the steel, her knees squeezing my hips.

  “Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. My life is complicated at the moment.” There’s Claudia and Josef. There’s the restaurant, and what the hell I’ll do if I don’t have a job at the end of this trip. I’m not even sure I want to go back to L.A. anymore. I have no idea where that last thought comes from. Los Angeles is my home. My life is there. But what kind of life is it anyway? “And you have a boyfriend.”

  He’s barely a thought in my head, but he is another hurdle. Her gaze pops wide open, and she drags her hands from my neck. “I do. I have a boyfriend. I’m not going to hurt him for one night in a shady hotel room, Sam. It isn’t fair to ask that of me.”

  “You’re right.” I slowly relinquish my hold on her. What the hell am I doing? I’ve never been this guy before. The other one. The seedy asshole that takes what isn’t his.

  Carefully she slips to the floor. “I think I better go.”

  “You don’t want dinner?” I don’t know why I mention the stupid food. I shouldn’
t stand in her way, not after I asked her to do something morally inexcusable. It’s just I might be falling for her after all. Despite all the reasons I don’t want to. Despite her age. My age. The fact that I want to settle down with a reasonable woman and maybe have a dog or a cat or a kid. But maybe Mandy is worth changing my plans for. Maybe Mandy Pearce is the one you break all the rules for.

  “I don’t want dinner,” she says. “I’m sorry. I’m sure it would have been wonderful. It smells amazing. But I think I need to go and see Cas. And maybe I need to ask him to forgive me.”

  “Is that what you want?” I run my hand shakily over my head. My heart keeps skipping a beat. Almost as if it’s trying to remind me that I’m too old to be making a play for the kind of girl who takes over a man’s world. His sensibilities. His ability to be happy with anything less than the kind of fantasy relationship he knows can’t exist.

  “I don’t know.” Her eyes are glassy. She shakes her head. “I have no idea what I want anymore.”

  I’m silently thankful as I cross the room to reach her before she gets out the door. Grabbing her elbow, I keep her from leaving. “If he doesn’t forgive you he’s a fool.”

  She glances at me, her brows scrunched tight over her eyes, her eyelashes sweeping her cheeks. A dimple plays peekaboo momentarily. “Cas isn’t a fool. He’s one of the best men I know.”

  “I’ll be here. I’ll be waiting. If you need me.”

  She clasps my cheek and shakes her head. “Don’t hold your breath, Sam.”

  Opening the door, she leaves me behind. I watch her traipse down the street, the dark punctuated by streetlights overhead. This glittering fairy spreading her magic over everything she touches now looks a little like I broke her wings.

  It’s a shitty feeling.

  Chapter Eighteen

  CASPER

  Mandy: Cas, are you busy? Can you come get me?

  I don’t know.

  Mandy: Please.

  Is everything okay?

  Mandy: I think so. I don’t know. I’m not sure.

  Where are you?

  Mandy: I’m at home. At Summer’s. Honk when you’re here.

  Be there soon.

  Mandy slips through the front door, locks it behind her and makes her way to my truck. She’s still wearing her costume from earlier this evening. I grip the steering wheel tighter as she climbs into the cab and her skirt lifts a little high. I catch a glimpse of ass cheek as she settles into the seat and crosses her legs. Fuck, she has no idea how many times I’ve wanted to bend her over the kitchen counter while we’re working and spank that sexy ass for not paying attention. My palm itches to swat across that firm, supple flesh.

  “How was your date with Sam Sweets?” I pull the truck out of the driveway, turn toward the ranch. I ask to make small talk, not because I want to know. If anything, the last thing I want is to hear about what they did, but it’s weird to be taking her home with me at this time of night. Not that it’s late. It’s barely nine-thirty. “I didn’t think you’d be done with him this early.”

  “I’m dating you, remember,” she says quietly.

  “Faking it,” I correct. Wish I could forget.

  “Yeah. We’re great at faking.” She props one pink wedge on the dash, her thigh completely exposed. Along with a flash of white leotard between her legs.

  So unladylike. So fucking hard to ignore. I tamp down on the urge to run my fingers along the curve of her thigh. “Are you going to tell me about it?”

  “He propositioned me.” She bites her thumb and stares out the window. “Asked me to spend the night with him.”

  My heart gives a sickening lurch before I remember she’s here in my truck. Not in a hotel bed with him. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”

  “I wanted him to love me,” she whispers. I barely hear her over the hum of the engine. She speaks a little louder. “I want someone who will love me, Cas. Who will be there through thick and thin and whatever else comes our way. I-I’ve never had that stability in my life. I want it more than anything. That’s why it has to be him, right? Because he can provide that. He wants to settle down. He’s content with the idea of being content. He’s amazing with his sister. He’s Mister Right for a reason. When he asked me to go back to his hotel room, it would have been so easy, but it’s not enough. I wanted him to want to be with me. Really be with me, even if it’s never some heart stopping whirlwind romance.”

  “You’re worried he’s not going to?” Because she’s wrong. I saw the way he looked at her in the barn. It’s only time that stands between her and what she wants. If she’d gone back to his hotel tonight it would have been the beginning of the end. I’m just glad I won’t still be here to watch it happen. The summer’s going to wind down in another few weeks and I’ll take Soldier and find temporary work in a new town, a new kitchen.

  “What if it’s not enough?” She turns bright eyes on me. “What if stability isn’t enough? What if belonging isn’t enough? You loved hard, Cas.”

  “I couldn’t breathe without her,” I mutter. But I’m not so sure now. Maybe it was infatuation, maybe it was all one sided. I would have waited for her forever, but she was more in love with her career than she was with me. It’s odd to come to that conclusion after so long. I loved her enough for both of us. Loved her as hard as she would let me and more. And she gave me as much of her as she could, but I was never going to be the love of her life, and the realization doesn’t hurt half as much as I expected it would.

  “Was it worth it?” She worries the side of her thumb. “Was trusting your heart over your head worth it?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know.” Would I go back and do it again with Juliette? I’m not sure. Would I toss caution to the wind for the girl sitting in the cab with me? This flesh and blood girl who is so full of life. Who is so outspoken and brave about who she is and what she wants. She pulls me apart and slots the pieces back together in a new way that makes the past a little less who I am. For her it would be worth it. I’d trust my heart with her if she asked for it. In a heartbeat. But that isn’t what she wants to hear.

  “Me either.” She falls quiet as I pull into the driveway of the ranch.

  I park the truck on the gravel near the barn and slide from behind the wheel to go and open the door for her. She jumps from the cab, and I put my arm around her to steady her. A grumbling noise comes from her belly.

  “Hungry?”

  “A bit. I didn’t stick around for dinner.”

  “There’s some leftover lamb in the kitchen. I’ll make you a sandwich.” I push open the kitchen door for her.

  She steps inside our space and hesitates. Glancing around she brings her gaze to me. Her green eyes are troubled. “Cas?”

  “Yeah.”

  She shakes her head and plasters a fake smile on her face. “Never mind.”

  As if I’m not going to spend the rest of the evening hoping she’ll come back around and tell me whatever she has on her mind. No point dwelling though. I clap my hands together as I head to the fridge. “Okay, I’m going to make you the best lamb sandwich you’ve ever had. And then we can do whatever you want. There’s a TV in the room I’m staying in so we can watch a movie or just talk. Anything you want.”

  “That sounds good.” She steals a scrap of meat from the container as soon as I take the lid off. “Maybe, could I stay the night? Sleep over?”

  My pulse speeds up. My cock pounds and gets so fucking hard. “In the spare room?”

  “In your bed with you,” she says, lacing her fingers with mine. “I just need to be with you.”

  Trapping her fingers, I sweep her between my torso and the counter. My other hand cups her jaw as I kiss her. With a whimper, she sinks against my chest, her hand grasping a fist full of my shirt. This relationship of ours doesn’t feel fake, and I don’t want it to be. I let go of her hand, and she curls her arm around my neck as I smooth my palms down her hips and pick her up. “Tell me to put you down. Tell me you want your sandwich
and bad TV and to top and tail. Tell me that I’m being too serious and too literal and that you didn’t mean it those other times we talked about—”

  “Cas.” She slaps her hand across my mouth. “I want to be with you. Now. However you’ll have me.”

  “Fuck, Mandy.” I turn and march from the kitchen still carrying her, still eating up her mouth and stroking one hand through her hair. My long strides take up the space between us and some privacy, where I’ll be able to tear off her ridiculously sexy tutu. Where I’ll be able to strip her naked and touch and taste every inch of her. I’ll have her in whatever way she wants to give herself to me.

  Without breaking our kiss, we enter my room and I close the door while setting her on her feet. My heart beats so damn hard. My muscles tremble. I never expected to end up in this situation after what happened with Juliette. Not with anyone. Vowed I wouldn’t.

  Fuck, she’s worth it though. Every damn flutter of nerves. Every shaky breath. Every terrifying moment. My need to be with Mandy is so much stronger than my memories. Not that they’ll ever fade away completely, but she makes me want to take a chance on living. And on sex. This night won’t end like that one did.

  Her hands tug at my T-shirt, yanking it up over my abs to my shoulders, until I grab it from her and pull it over my head to toss in the corner. I toe off my boots as I stalk her toward the bed. She’s all smiles and glittering green eyes, hard breaths and tight nipples. I grasp her wings. Bright, colorful tulle that feels so fragile in my hands and leaves a smattering of that silver glitter on my skin.

  She yelps as she stops backing up so it doesn’t tear. “Let me.”

  I nod as I let go of them, and she slips the elastic that holds the wings in place off her shoulders and sets them on top of the dresser before she squares up to me. Brave girl. Irrepressible. Christ, I want her.