“I’m fine. It’ll be fine.” She hoped.
“Listen, I know I’m second choice, but why don’t I buy you dinner tonight?”
She stifled a snort. Oh, sure. What a perfect resolution to this day. A dinner out with a man she was attracted to who wasn’t her soul mate.
Like that would solve her problem.
“Tell you what, I’ll even give you some tips on how to get Adam’s attention,” he added.
Her eyes sprung open at that. A thread of hope dangled in front of her. Humanity still had a chance. “Really?”
He gave her a gentle smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Yeah, really. You look like you could use a friend.”
Friend. Huh. She hadn’t thought of Cal as a friend. But friendship was the only thing she could take from him. Besides, she needed somebody. Cosmo wasn’t around. In fact, she hadn’t seen or heard anything from him since he’d left her outside Adam’s condo that morning.
She smiled back at him. “Thanks. I’d appreciate that.” She stood up and sniffled. “I’ll go get my coat.”
Cal nodded, then stepped back to allow her to pass.
Once she reached the closet, she flicked the light on and opened the door. A hand shot out and yanked her in. “Hey—!”
Cosmo silenced her by slapping a finger to his lips. He glanced around, then shut the door behind him. “What do you think you’re doing?” he whispered heatedly.
“Me?”
“I leave you alone for less than twelve hours and you’re already planning a date with someone else? You’re supposed to be out with Adam.” He shook his head in disgust. “Mortals,” he muttered.
“Look, I’m doing the best I can since you”—she pressed her index finger down into his chest, nudging him back against a row of coats—“left me alone all day.”
“Cal’s not your soul mate, doll. Adam is. You’re wasting time. Stop letting lust trump love. That’s exactly what the hate gods want you to do. Who do you think caused Adam’s cell phone to go off just now? They’re out to foil any opportunity you have with him. Have you forgotten what will happen if Adam doesn’t kiss you by Valentine’s Day?”
No, she hadn’t forgotten.
She might have gotten sidetracked for a bit, but she’d never completely forgotten what she was supposed to do. She was about to tell Cosmo that, too, but he did his annoying disappearing act again, and then the closet door swung open.
“Problem?” Cal asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Pick one.
She held up the sleeve of her coat and waved it like a flag. “Just getting my coat,” she said, managing a weak smile.
“I thought I heard voices.” He peered around her, his gaze warily traveling over the coats and jackets.
“Nope. Just me. Talking to myself…again.” She swallowed. “Let’s go.”
Cal took the coat from her hands and helped her into it. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
Her body tingled when his fingers brushed her collar. She flinched and stepped out of his reach. “Uh, yeah, I’m fine.”
But that was a lie. She was experiencing a lot of feelings—especially over Cal. And none of them was fine at all.
Chapter Seven
The simple task of ordering a pizza and side salads gave Cal some much-needed distance from his hormones, which were in an uproar over his decision to think of Phoebe as nothing more than a friend. He couldn’t believe he’d actually agreed to help her gain Adam’s attention. Usually, he wasn’t this much of a sap. But the moment she’d turned those watery blue eyes on him, he’d been done for.
Phoebe’s friend. Yeah, right. He wanted to be quite a few things to Phoebe, but a friend was not at the top of the list.
Cal nudged the basket of garlic bread Phoebe’s way, but she didn’t notice. She was too busy gazing around the room as if she were expecting to see someone.
Her gaze finally traveled back and settled on his. She smiled shyly as the candlelight flickered warmly over her face. God, if he thought she was pretty before, she was absolutely stunning now. Despite her apparent interest in Adam and his vow to be her friend, Cal still entertained a crazy notion of reaching out and running his fingers through that red wavy hair of hers and pulling her in close.
Hell. He was worse than a sap. He was apparently founder and acting mayor of Sap City.
“So, why Adam?” he finally asked, after the waitress brought out their pizza. “What’s so special about him?”
A little laugh escaped her as she placed a napkin on her lap. “You’re friends with him. You should know.”
“Ah, but I also live with him. PS: he’s a slob.”
“What?”
He grinned. “Kidding.”
“Oh.” She chuckled, making a show of wiping pretend sweat off her forehead. “Well, there was something about Adam I noticed when we first met. I knew he was The One the moment I saw him.”
“You mean love at first sight?”
“No! Nothing like that.” She waved the comment away with a few flicks of her wrist, then reached for her wine. “Love at first sight doesn’t exist.”
He was about to take a bite of pizza but frowned at her adamant statement instead. Nothing could have surprised him more. He assumed most women believed in love at first sight. With the way she’d fixated on Adam, he’d figured she had to be a believer in that kind of stuff, too.
“How are you so sure love at first sight doesn’t exist?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Cosmo told me.”
“Cosmo?”
Her eyes went wide and she froze. “Uh, I mean…” She took a huge sip of wine and swallowed. “I mean I read it in Cosmo,” she blurted. “The magazine. It was a very convincing article. You should pick it up sometime. It’s full of informative, well-written pieces for men as well as for women.”
His lips twitched. “I’ll try to remember that.”
“Anyway, when Adam brought in his niece and nephew for pictures, I became a complete ball of nerves around him. I don’t know if he told you about the coffee incident.”
“He might have mentioned it after you left this morning.”
She flinched a little. “Oh. Well, you see what I mean. I was like an awkward teenager all over again. I could barely concentrate on taking the pictures.”
“You seemed to do all right today around him.”
“I was okay, wasn’t I? Hmm…maybe because you were in the room, I didn’t have a chance to be nervous.”
Cal would have agreed with her if she didn’t look so nervous now. She was even twirling that strand of hair again. He wanted to point that out and spoil her little reasoning for why Adam was so perfect for her, but he’d promised to be a friend. And friends listened to each other. They listened—even when one friend’s logic was so completely ridiculous that the other friend had to bite his tongue just to keep from responding in a foulmouthed manner.
Yes, that’s what friends did.
Friends didn’t want to pull other friends into their arms and kiss the breath right out of them.
He cleared his throat. “You certainly seem to be an expert.”
She snorted. “I wish. Unfortunately, a string of bad relationships and a broken engagement say otherwise. I had almost given up until I met Adam. I guess I’m just a firm believer in love.”
“How could you believe in love? You should be jaded, swearing off love and composing Alanis Morissette–type breakup songs.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “It must seem odd to you, but I know love is out there because I’ve seen it. I see it whenever I photograph a wedding or an anniversary. I’ve actually captured love—the raw emotion of it—with my camera. I want that for myself. Besides, you know what they say: pictures never lie.”
Cal frowned. “No, pictures don’t lie. But they can be airbrushed.”
“Now who’s the one who sounds jaded?”
“Not jaded. Realistic, and I think I need a little more convincing as to why you’re so
sure you can have that with Adam. What do you and he have in common?”
Phoebe’s eyebrows knitted together as if trying to decode some sort of secret message behind his question. “Um…we both like children?”
“Was that a question or a statement?”
She bit her lip. “A statement?”
He laughed and reached for his beer. “Stick with photography. You’d make a lousy lawyer.”
“Well, you’re just going to have to trust me, then. I know for a fact Adam and I are meant to be.” She picked up her crust but instead of eating it, she began breaking it into tiny pieces on her plate.
“So what about you,” she asked after a few beats. “Have you ever been in love?”
He’d anticipated that question. And no, he’d never been in love. Never cared about it before. But for some strange reason, when he looked into her eyes, the answer had to be pried off his tongue. “No.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Me eith— Wait, really? Never?”
“Yes, I can honestly say I’ve never been in love. But then again, I haven’t been looking.” Until…maybe now.
No. That couldn’t be true. He was not looking for love. He was only looking for some companionship. Anything more was ridiculous.
“You haven’t been looking for love? But why not?”
“My job keeps me pretty busy.”
“Your job? At the Marlstone?”
He gave a short nod.
Her eyes narrowed. “What exactly do you do there? It must be pretty important to keep you so…focused.”
“You could say that. I don’t just simply work there. The Marlstone is my family’s legacy. The last few years I’ve slowly taken over running it as well as the chain we have all over North America.”
Cal waited for the usual reaction. The sudden gleam in the eye, the newfound interest in him, the look women got when they realized they were in the presence of a single man sitting on a multimillion-dollar inheritance—the very reason he rarely entered into relationships in the first place.
But instead of what he expected, Phoebe’s eyes turned soft and full of sympathy. “That sounds lonely,” she said. “Surely you could have made time to meet someone special.”
He shrugged. “My work has been more important.”
Her expression stilled and grew serious. “What? Work is more important than love? You can’t believe that. Without love what are we, really? Do you honestly want to go through life like an automaton, not caring if there is someone at home waiting to hear about your day? It’s incredible—no, astounding—to think that somewhere out there, there is one person in the whole world who will love you no matter what you do, or how you look, or even what you say. Love is everything good and kind on this earth.” She paused as her breath hitched. “Nothing could be more important than finding that. And when you finally do find it, Cal, I bet you’re going to wish you had it sooner.”
Cal blinked. Her words and the passion behind them humbled him. He hadn’t expected that. He also hadn’t expected the feeling of longing that overcame him as well, although he shouldn’t be surprised at all. Not really. There had been an unnamed feeling simmering inside of him since he’d met Phoebe. And now it was as if it had finally surfaced and begun to take life.
He had never been interested in love because love never seemed interested in him. Even his parents cared more about the hotel business than their relationship, and so over the years, love had become synonymous with work. But the picture of love Phoebe painted before him made him feel like he’d been missing out. He could see why she was so desperate to not only find love, but hold on to it with everything she had.
Cal always prided himself on being a self-sufficient and successful man, never wanting for anything. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be loved by a woman like Phoebe, so fiercely and unconditionally, but at that moment he wanted to find out—badly. He finally wanted love.
He wanted Phoebe’s love.
And that realization made his breathing shaky.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her cheeks turning a charming pink. “I didn’t mean to ramble on about love so much. I guess it all must seem silly to you.”
Cal had to clear his throat before he could bring himself to speak. “No, actually. Not at all.” Not now, anyway. “Nobody has ever laid it all out for me as you just did. Love is important. I guess I was one of those people who never made time for it, that’s all.”
“And I was one of those people who made plenty of time but could never get it right.”
“I suppose we both need a little bit of help in the love department, huh?”
She grinned. “Or…a little bit of Cupid. But since he’s not around”—she glanced up, giving the ceiling a lethal glare—“maybe you can give me some pointers on how I can get Adam to notice me. I need to see him before Valentine’s Day.”
“Is it really that important to you?”
“It is. More than ever.”
He stared at her lovely face, a slow ache growing in his chest. He was a fool for letting her get to him. Maybe it was the Valentine’s Spirit or just a genuine desire to see her happy, but he’d set aside his own feelings and get her and Adam together. So help his heart.
“The hospital is having a ‘Heart Healthy’ Valentine’s Day fund-raiser at my hotel,” he told her. “I could get you an invite. Even a seat at Adam’s table.”
Her lips parted, forming a tiny pink-glossed O. “Wow, you would really do that for me?” She reached out and laid a hand on his arm.
“I would. If that would truly make you happy.” He placed his hand on top of hers and smiled.
She gazed down at their joined hands and a little crease formed between her eyes. “Um, yeah, it would. Make me happy. I don’t know how to thank you.” She glanced back up and treated him to a smile. It was dazzling. The kind of smile that reinforced the fact that his feelings for her were real, because it swooped into his chest and took possession of his heart in a tightly closed fist.
Maybe there was such a thing as love at first sight after all.
He sighed. “Just save me a dance at the fund-raiser.”
“I think I can manage that. Hey, you know, you’re a pretty okay guy.”
“Thanks.” He rolled his eyes. “That’s quite the compliment.”
She laughed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to come out that way. I just meant that you’re…”
“Hot?” he finished hopefully.
She laughed again. “I was going to say special. But yes, you’re cute, too. I’m glad we became friends.”
Special. Cute. Friends. He wished she’d just cut his testicles off and be done with it already. Depending on the next adjective she chose for him, he would either qualify as a card-carrying member of the Emasculated Men’s Club or a Muppet. No wonder he’d avoided love for as long as he had. When it went unrequited, it truly sucked.
“Yeah, I’m glad we’re friends, too,” he muttered. He glanced at his watch. “We should go.”
She turned her round, disappointed eyes at him, like a regular Cindy Lou Who, which was ironic considering he wasn’t feeling that far off from Grinch status at the moment.
“Go?” she asked. “So soon?”
He threw a few twenties on the table and stood, not caring about the change, just wanting to get away from her—her scent, her eyes, her laugh, her smile—to think. “Yeah, it’s late,” he said. “Look, don’t worry about the fund-raiser. I’ll make sure they have your name registered. You’ll have Adam to yourself all night.”
“But—”
“But what, Phoebe?” he snapped. Rubbing his hand over his face, he sighed. He didn’t mean to sound so curt, but he couldn’t bear to spend one more second hearing her talk about what a great friend he was or how much she belonged with Adam.
If she only gave him a sign, a smidgeon of hope, he’d take her into his arms right then and never let her go. So he had to try. Had to give it one last shot. After all, he was a businessman first a
nd foremost, and in business you had to be 100 percent certain before walking away from any deal.
“But what?” he repeated. “This is what you want, isn’t it? You and Adam together and all that jazz. Soul mates forever.” She hesitated, so he took the opportunity to reach out and slowly tuck her hair behind her ear, memorizing the silky feel of it between his fingertips. “If that’s not really what you want, then tell me now,” he murmured.
Her lips parted. Those blue eyes of hers went soft and for one marvelous and wondrous instant, he thought she was about to tell him she’d been wrong about Adam and her feelings for him. But she blinked and it seemed to snap her out of her trance.
“No, it is what I want,” she told him. “It’s exactly what I want.”
That was all he needed to hear. He nodded, then walked out of the restaurant.
Chapter Eight
A waiter handed Phoebe a flute of champagne as she entered the ballroom. She took a sip and tried to inconspicuously search for Adam. As she’d told Cal, the hotel was stunning, with its brass and crystal fixtures and marble columns. Beautiful artwork placed everywhere—even on the ceilings—emanated a feel of old-world charm and elegance. If she weren’t so pressed for time, she would have loved to get her camera and take some pictures. But it was six o’clock on February 14 and she had yet to make any headway with Adam.
She suddenly spotted him, and hope filled her chest. Adam looked tall and elegant in his tux, talking with an elderly couple by the bar. His blond hair was slicked back like an old-fashioned movie star.
Okay, I can do this. She tossed back the rest of her champagne and smoothed out the front of her red velvet gown. Tonight was the night she would get Adam to kiss her.
Trying to rein in her growing nerves, she made her way over to him. She stood politely back a few feet so as not to intrude on his conversation, but he must have sensed her presence because no sooner had she settled into her stance than he glanced over at her.
A Little Bit Cupid Page 4