Ethan laughed hard. “Okay, I’m just being myself. I’m sorry.” He paused. “I admit its fun to tease you.”
I squared my shoulders. “Let’s get back to what we were talking about. You love sunsets. What are the others?” I asked. I really was curious about what a man like him liked to do, but I cast a warning glare in his direction. “Keep it clean.”
“Okay, you have to remember I’m a simple country boy, so don’t look for anything super interesting.” He raised his hands, clasped them together over his head and stretched. That move made his perfectly sculpted abs ripple. I had to fight to keep from staring. “If you’re going to make me expose myself I hope I’m going to get the same from you.” His lazy, knowing smile made me wonder if I’d fought staring at his abs hard enough.
I felt my face flush. I wasn’t committing myself. I nodded. “Go on.”
“You already know I enjoy flying. Horseback riding. I love the beach…even in the winter. I like to go for long car rides. I like to stay up late at night watching old movies like Cape Fear. It’s one of my favorites. I like to cook Italian food. I even know how make pasta by hand.”
I was impressed with his list. It was so romantic that I wanted to disappear in it.
“But,” he added, “my second favorite thing to do in the whole world is work with kids.”
“Really?” I remembered how great he was with that child in Palermo’s.
“I’m nuts about them. They’re much more fun than adults. Anyway, I’m working on a business plan to open fitness centers for kids.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Really, kids working out?”
“There’s an obesity crisis. You’ll remember I was a chunky kid.”
“I do, but you started playing sports. Isn’t that what kids should do?”
“Maybe, but everybody doesn’t like sports. I don’t recall you ever playing one,” he said, “And a kid can’t play outside alone. If their neighbors are inside moving their thumbs across a game controller or surfing the internet, what’s a kid to do?”
“Interesting,” I said. “I guess when you don’t have children, you don’t think about their challenges. Fitness centers for kids. I’ve never heard of that.”
“Good, I’d like to think of myself as a pioneer.” He smiled. “Anyway, it would work well in urban areas. We’d also teach the kids about nutrition. Very few schools still have home economics programs, so we’d offer some cooking classes too. It would be kind of an afterschool recreation center with a twist.”
“It’s brilliant.”
“I thought so.”
Our eyes caught and we held our gazes for a moment. I broke the stare with a question. “Are you trying to get federal grant money?”
“Not initially. Maybe once I prove my model.”
I smiled.
“You like?” he asked.
“I’m impressed. Have you decided where you want to put the first one?”
“Kind of. It’s going to depend on some things.”
“Like?”
He zipped his finger across his lips. “I’ve revealed. Now it’s your turn.”
“You said working with kids was number two. What’s number one?”
That devilish look flashed across his face again. “I promised to keep it G-rated.”
I smirked. “I guess I walked into that one.”
“Yes you did.” He took my hand. “Okay, come on you have to share.”
“I’m not near as interesting.”
“I find that hard to believe.” His voice had gotten husky again, too husky for two people sharing a room.
“Well,” I replied allowing my eyes to lock with his. “I –” My cell phone rang. “Let me make sure that’s not Janette.”
I stepped back through the door and followed the ring to my phone. Janette’s face flashed, so I answered. “Hey how are…what? When?”
I heard Ethan come in and the balcony door closing behind him.
“No, that’s horrible. Yes, I know, but try not to upset yourself, remember you’re watching your stress.” I listened to her go on a bit more and then interrupted her wailing. “Yes, Janette but these things happen. Don’t worry. It’s my job. I’ll take care of it.” Ethan placed his hands on my shoulders. He began to gently massage as if he knew I needed it. “No,” I turned toward him. “I won’t be back tonight. I told you. Yes, I’m…Janette, let me do the job you asked me to do. Okay, goodbye.”
I ended the call, turned in Ethan’s direction and dropped my head back for a moment.
“What is it?”
“The caterer had a fire. The entire place burned down. All their equipment is damaged.”
Ethan whistled. “Wow, that’s messed up.”
“Yes, messed up for them and me. I’ve got no food.” I grabbed my handbag and pulled out my iPad. “I’ll have to see what else I can come up with.”
“Now? It’s eight p.m. at night?”
“It’s actually not a horrible time. I’ll try a few restaurants that do catering. The manager or assistant manager would still be there. The dinner rush is over, so they’ll be able to talk.” I tapped on the app that held my Atlanta restaurant contacts. “I had a list of backups I can start with. I might be able to get the preliminaries out of the way.” I sat down and pulled up my list.
“Anything I can do?” Ethan asked.
I looked up at him. He was doing a good job hiding it, but I could tell he was disappointed.
“No,” I replied. “I need to start making calls.”
He nodded. “I’m going to go down to the gym.” He swiped his room key off the desk and walked out.
I sighed. I didn’t like disappointing him, but it was for the best that we were interrupted. We were getting too close. This was a business trip, not a getaway. We were stuck here because my vendor had an emergency. I wasn’t going to let it turn into some kind of romantic excursion, lose my head over this gorgeous hunk of a man, and let him discard me as easily as he did an old pair of soccer cleats by hopping on the first plane headed for Africa. I was already nursing a bruised ego from all this wedding business. I didn’t need a broken heart.
Broken heart. Had I just thought that? I’d been in town four days and hadn’t seen Ethan in five years. I was not falling in love. He was just fine and sexy and smart and cultured and interesting and attentive and…Oh God! He was too much. I shook my head, sighed again and picked up my phone to call the first restaurant on my list. I needed to focus on work, so I could get the thought of Ethan flexing his muscles downstairs in the gym out of my mind.
***
The next morning I felt a cool breeze blowing from Ethan’s direction. Last night I’d made a few calls and jumped into bed before he returned from the gym. He showered for a long time, opened the pullout sofa, and crashed. I’d listened to him toss and turn all night. I felt horrible about it. I hoped that his exhaustion wouldn’t affect his ability to fly the plane and get us back to Atlanta safely, but I knew I had to take the bed because there was no way he was going to let me sleep on the sofa. I couldn’t invite him into the bed because even though it was king sized it would not be big enough for the two of us.
I was determined to remain celibate until I got married. Every person really trying to live a celibate life knew you never put yourself into situations were temptation might get the better of you. Ethan was some serious temptation. Sharing the room was bad enough. We could not sit up talking into the night becoming more and more interested in each other.
I’d felt like a coward at first, but now looking at the angry set of his jaw across the breakfast table I realized I’d done him a wee bit wrong. The man had driven me into the city, helped me shop, borrowed his friend’s plane, driven around to hotels so I could stay overnight and finish doing what I needed to do and what had I offered him in return? A lie wrapped in a fake snore. I shouldn’t have pretended. I could have explained how I felt. I sighed heavily. I didn’t know what else to do. I needed to keep our relationship where it needed to stay…in th
e friend zone.
After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and headed to “Weddings and More”. We arrived ten minutes before the store opened. I couldn’t stand Ethan’s sour disposition, so I opted to escape the chill in the car.
“I’m going to wait outside.” I pointed in the direction of a bench in front of the store. I thought Ethan was going a bit overboard in the pissed off department, but still, I had a big “G” for guilty on my forehead. He probably knew I was faking sleep when he came in last night.
After five minutes of reading a book on the Kindle app on my phone Ethan joined me on the bench. “Did you find a caterer?” he asked. His jaw line was noticeably softer. I guess he’d tossed my sins into the sea of forgetfulness.
“I might have,” I replied. “It’s a popular restaurant in Atlanta. The price isn’t bad and they have a good reputation.”
“So, what do you have to do to get the deal done?”
“They’ll give me a call this afternoon to let me know if they can accommodate us. If it’s a yes, I’ll probably drive in tomorrow and sample some of the items on the menu.”
Ethan rested his back against the bench and stretched his arm across the back of it. “You don’t want to do that today?”
I hesitated, refused to look him in the eye. “I didn’t want to ask you for anything else.”
“I don’t mind. I like,” he paused, “…I don’t have anything else planned today.”
I didn’t respond. The “G” that had been on my forehead was now over my mouth.
“We’ll already be in the city, so –” he paused again. “Look, Nectar, I’m sorry about last night.”
The shock I felt had to show on my face. I was the one who had done him wrong. “Sorry about what?”
“Sorry that I was trying to turn our down time into an opportunity.”
I raised an eyebrow, curiously. “An opportunity?”
“To get to know you better. You’ve been pretty clear that you’re not interested in me, and I keep pushing.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but I wasn’t sure what to say that wouldn’t contradict what I’d been saying.
“I’m cool with us being friends. I can’t expect you to break all your rules just because I want you to. Rules are in place for a reason right?” he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
I hesitated and replied, “Right.”
“Plus, I didn’t even ask you if you involved in a relationship. Kind of presumptuous of me to assume that you’re not.”
I shook my head. “Ethan.”
The closed sign in the window was flipped over to open and we could hear keys in the locks.
“Really, I got the message last night,” he said. “You go do your shopping. I’m going to browse in some of the stores.” He stood and walked away.
We were obviously not cool, because yesterday he seemed to enjoy helping me pick out every item I needed and didn’t seem to mind the painstaking process.
I stood just as the shop door opened.
“Good morning,” the shopkeeper said. She removed the handwritten note about the early closing. “How nice to open the door to a customer.”
I swallowed the disappointment of not having Ethan with me, put on my game face and introduced myself. The woman was the owner and she recognized me from all the e-commerce business I had given her over the years. We made some small talk about the industry and then about my upcoming event and proceeded to fill my shopping cart. The owner knew her inventory, which made the process go quickly, but it wasn’t nearly as fun as it had been yesterday when I was explaining to Ethan what the various items I was picking out were for. By the time she and I were done, I had all the items I needed to create the perfect setting for the sanctuary and reception hall. Tulle, tea lights, a fuchsia floor runner, candy tins, ribbon, the list of items was nearly endless.
She and I closed the trunk on the rental SUV just as Ethan exited a store down the street. “All set?” he asked, opening the passenger side door so I could slip in.
“Yes,” I said, noticing he didn’t have any bags. “You didn’t find anything while you were shopping.”
He shrugged. “Nothing I couldn’t get in Atlanta. I was just killing time.”
Just putting distance between us, I thought.
We made the forty minute trip to the airport. To Ethan’s credit, he did ask me about my purchases and genuinely seemed interested in my finds. He also told me a cute story about an elderly couple in the bookstore.
“I love to read,” he said as he wrapped it up. “One day I’m going to find a woman who likes to read too and we’ll lie in hammocks in our backyard and read to each other.”
OMG! Was he for real or was this man so good at running game?
“Sounds like a nice afternoon, right?” he asked.
I swallowed. “It does. I’m guessing that hammock is hanging up in Argentina or Africa somewhere?”
“It’ll be where ever she wants it to be. I’ve seen the world. I can settle down,” he said. “With the right woman.”
“I’m told every man settles down with the right woman.”
“You’ve heard that right. If a man won’t make a serious commitment then he’s not serious about the woman.”
“So does that explain why you broke that supermodel’s heart last year? What was her name? Concei?”
“Concei and I had a great relationship. She just wasn’t the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I’m not setting myself up for drama. I don’t care how fine she is.”
“But you can date her?” I said, gruffly.
“Uh, yeah, I can definitely do that,” he chuckled. “You know all of my business, because the paparazzi are taking pictures. I still don’t know if you have a man.”
I reached for my soft drink and took a sip. “I’m not seeing anyone right now.”
I stole a glance at him. He nodded and raised an eyebrow. “It’s a shame I’m so young, because I make a really nice boyfriend.” He turned off the rental car and climbed out.
I pressed my head against the window and sighed deeply. My instincts told me he was telling the truth about that, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do about it.
Chapter 11
Janette’s bridal shower was held in our backyard on late Sunday afternoon. We decided to do a barbeque since the weather was forecast to be gorgeous. The caterer provided chopped barbeque pork and chicken and yummy side items that included potato salad, macaroni and cheese, baked beans and a few other casseroles and vegetables. I’d ordered a cupcake tower from the bakery and it turned out beautiful. They’d created ten different designs of white and dark pink cupcakes and filled the centers with raspberry colored pudding. We served dark pink colored drinks – lemonade, sangria and even tinted the Sprite.
I rented a huge canopy and decorated it with fresh pink heather and used white taffeta as a drape. It served as the place for Janette’s chaise, which the girls and I covered, in a glittery fuchsia fabric. We strung tiny gold lights through the canopy and across the back of the chair.
The decorations were beautiful. Unable to contain her joy, Janette stepped out of the house and burst into tears. The makeup she’d spent so much time making perfect for the pictures was ruined.
Mother Wright and I stood near the rear end of the canopy enjoying Janette’s reaction. “Just think, this is the shower. I can’t imagine what you have in store for the wedding,” she said.
“The vision is gorgeous. Hopefully we can pull it off.”
Mother Wright took my hand. “I’m sure you’ll far exceed the idea you have on paper.” She smiled at me. “You know, I always thought you’d be my daughter-in-law.”
I took a deep breath and shook my head. “Not meant to be, apparently.”
“But I wasn’t wrong. I know my son. You were close.”
“We were,” I said with a nod of my head.
“Terrance can be private, but I sensed a deep heartache when you left after your father’s funera
l.”
“I think it was a hard time for both of us. We realized that we weren’t going to be together. I was going back to New York no matter what.”
Mother Wright didn’t say anything. I suspected she didn’t understand a woman like me. One who put career ahead of marriage. Not when she’d sacrificed everything for her husband and children and their church.
“Janette is better suited for him,” I added.
“It’s not the ideal way to begin a marriage, but Lord knows they’re not the first to go this way and they won’t be the last. I just hope they know each other or even if they don’t, that they’ll find a way to work through their individualities,” Mother Wright said. “My son can be stubborn.”
“So can my sister, but I’m sure they’ll find their way.”
We were interrupted by Ethan. He squeezed between us and put an arm around both of our shoulders. “Deniece did a great job with the decorations, didn’t she Auntie?”
“We were just talking about it,” she replied.
“My truck was packed from front to back,” he said.
“I’m sure Deniece appreciated having your help.” Mother Wright swept a look between us and smiled at me. “I’m going to get some lemonade. Can I bring some for either of you?”
“I’m fine.” Ethan and I both said at the same time.
Mother Wright looked amused by that. She wagged a finger and walked away.
I looked over toward the grilling area. The men had refused to be left out of the festivities. Terrance, Ethan, and a few of their friends, manned grills that smoked with the scents of steak, shrimp, chicken, hamburgers and sausage links. I was glad to see Ethan. I’d been busy, but I still missed him much more than I cared to think about.
Hands on my hips I turned to him. “I thought you were on shrimp duty. We don’t want it blackened by mistake.”
“I delegated,” he said, authoritatively. “Leaders do that.”
“Always the funny guy. So, I haven’t seen you in a few days. You’ve been busy.”
“I decided to get started on my kid’s fitness center. I threw myself into the business plan.”
Breaking All The Rules (Book 1 - Second Chances Series) Page 10