“That’s because weddings are days built around emotions. And there’s no telling where those emotions will take you. I mean, people passing out, over-indulging, fighting.” She took a long sip and felt the caffeine surge through her system. “That’s just the people stuff. Then there are wedding dresses that don’t fit and you have to sew the bride into them, and missing wedding cakes—”
“Sat-in wedding cakes,” he added.
Desi smiled. “Yes and the sat-in ones. It’s always something. Something new, something different, and frequently something challenging. It keeps life interesting.”
“Interesting is finding that the lake’s clarity has increased by three percent. Interesting is following the new applications for fuel cells in automobiles. Interesting is not a plethora of over-emotional people collected in one location.”
“Seth, people are what makes my job so wonderful. I mean, my parents wanted me to do something … well, like you do. But I wanted the wild emotions, the unpredictability. I wanted to be part of happily-ever-afters on a daily basis.”
Seth just shook his head. “I’ll help you today, but after this, I plan to go back to my rational, orderly life and forget all about weddings.”
Desi looked at Seth and silently agreed. After today it was best he headed back to his lab. And she was determined that when he did she was going to forget about him as easily as he planned on forgetting about weddings.
“Forget it.”
Desi knew, despite their nice conversation that morning, Seth was going to be difficult. Not that there had been any mishaps today. No, he was just being ornery.
She sometime wondered if there was some sort of gene attached to the Y chromosome that made men so … mannish. Seth had been so contrite about last night that she’d almost forgotten that he was still all man and bound to be a pain.
“It’s all part of the job, Seth. And now that you’re working for me—”
“This is the last day,” he pointed out with a stubborn look on his face. “Next weekend you’ll have a new assistant and I’ll be back on the lake looking for samples, or in the lab analyzing them, or—”
“Even if it is your last day, this is part of the job and you’ll have to just deal with it.”
“I’m not playing stand-in-groom. The idea of being a groom, stand-in or otherwise, gives me hives. I’m not meant to be married, I’ve proven that. I’m mystified by the whole process of being in love. But I think the idea of smashing cake in each other’s face is even more confusing than the idea of marriage.”
“It’s just a piece of cake.” She laughed, though he didn’t even crack a smile. That was one of his problems. The man had no sense of humor.
No, she took that back. He did have a small sense of humor—she’d seen it in his cat’s name. But not enough to deal with cake smashing.
“Mary Kathryn and I had decided we wouldn’t indulge in this arcane, insane practice.” He gestured toward the beautiful five-tiered cake. “It serves no purpose.”
“It’s tradition.” She took a mini-veil from a bag stashed underneath the cake table.
“Well, it’s not a good one.”
Desi set the small veil on her head, pinning it in place as she said, “It doesn’t matter what you and Mary Kathryn planned, this bride and groom want it. They don’t want to tempt fates by abandoning a tradition, but the bride doesn’t want to mess up her makeup, so we’re the stand-ins.”
“Well, you’re standing alone.” He crossed his arms across his chest.
“Oh, no, bucko. You said you’d help me out, and this is part of it. You sat in a cake yesterday, how much more degrading could it be to have a little frosting on your face, rather than on your butt?”
She paused a moment and added, “Please?”
She was surprised at how breathy her voice was. What was it about being near Seth that sucked all the oxygen from her body? There must be a scientific explanation, but she wasn’t about to ask Seth for it.
“Do you ever let up?” he asked.
“Not when there’s something I want.”
Want.
She could want this man. And then suddenly it hit her. There was no could about it. There was something about Seth Rutherford that sucked up her oxygen, that made her want to tear off his clothes and …
Cakes and weddings.
When this wedding was over she was going to forget about Seth. She was going to put aside this vestige of her girlhood crush and she definitely wasn’t going to spend another sleepless night.
But first she had to get through this wedding. She had to get her mind out of the gutter and onto the job at hand. That spark of something she felt was nothing more than gratitude.
And this? She looked at the man standing next to her, the man who heated her blood. This was nothing more than leftover girlhood daydreams mixed with a smattering of lust.
Cakes and weddings.
“So, is that a yes?” she asked, her mind firmly fixed on the business at hand.
“Yes. But you’re going to be the one owing me when this is all said and done.”
“Fine.” She waved Seth away from the bar and closer to the table. And tapped on a glass with her knife. “May I have your attention?”
The room quieted. “It’s time to cut the cake. Tom and Susan, would you do the honors?”
The bride and groom took up their position in front of the elaborate, five tiered cake. No Leaning Tower of Pisa today, no Barbie cake topper, and best of all, no impression of Seth’s butt in the center of it.
No, this was a beautiful, traditional, un-sat-in cake. The photographer snapped pictures as Tom and Susan ran their knife through the sweet confection.
The happy couple cut two slices and placed them on a napkin then handed them to Desi, who in turn handed one to Seth.
She smiled and faced the crowd gathered around them. “I know that a modern-day tradition is that the bride and groom would now feed each other a piece of cake. And somewhere along the line, that sweet tradition turned into a smash-fest. But since the bride looks so lovely, we’re not going to mess with perfection. My assistant, Seth, and I will play stand-ins for the cake smashing.”
The audience clapped loudly.
Desi offered a slice to Seth. “Seth?”
They intertwined their arms and held the cake in front of each other’s mouth.
And for a moment, Desi looked into Seth’s deep blue eyes and she could almost believe that it was for real … that this was the man she loved and she had just promised to spend the rest of her life with him.
Desi smashed her piece into his face, hoping to break whatever spell he’d cast on her.
Seth grinned through the icing as he pushed his slice into her face with a twist.
“Kiss, kiss, kiss,” the guests all chanted.
Desi knew that they were talking about the bride and groom, heard their collective exhale and cheering as the happy couple obliged them and kissed, but she barely noticed it. What she did notice was how cute Seth was with icing all over his face, and he seemed to be coming closer, closer, closer, as if he was going to kiss her as well.
Only he didn’t.
No, Seth, took his napkin and wiped part of the icing off her face.
Desi tried to hide her disappointment as she tore the veil from her head and said, “Let’s leave the happy couple and go get cleaned up.”
Noting that the catering staff had started cutting and serving the cake and that everything else was in order, she led him into the kitchen. She kept wiping at the cake as they walked into the back office where she’d set up her command central for this reception.
She tossed the veil on the desk and turned to her assistant.
“For someone who didn’t want to do it, you certainly have a way with smashing cakes.”
He was wiping at his cake-covered face.
“Here let me help,” she said, moving toward him.
He took a step backwards. “I can do it.”
“But you�
��ve missed some frosting right here.” She wiped a bit of frosting from next to his left eye.
“And right here,” she said, moving down and towards his nose. “There. Did I get it all off me?”
“Not quite.”
“Could you help me?” He took a napkin and slowly, gently dabbed at her face.
He moved closer, studying her. “Did you know your face is asymmetrical?”
“Pardon?”
“It’s not quite the same on both sides. Your right eye is just a little larger than your left and …”
The napkin stilled on her face, as Seth stopped speaking.
“And?” she prompted.
“And looking at you makes me want to kiss you.”
He was echoing her own thoughts and rather than make her happy, it made her nervous.
She should simply walk away and forget about him. After all, Seth Rutherford was on the rebound. He wasn’t her type. She wanted a prince charming. No, he wasn’t her type at all. As a matter of fact, he was her parent’s type. He—
He had a cat named Schrodinger, which meant he had a quiet sense of humor.
He forgave his runaway bride, which meant he had a kind and generous heart.
She couldn’t wrestle out the why’s and not’s of kissing Seth, so she simply said, “So why don’t you?”
He didn’t kiss her, instead, he studied her, looking perplexed as he said, “I hardly know you. I can’t stop thinking about you, about touching you. That doesn’t mean I should kiss you.”
“It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”
“But …” Whatever he was going to say was lost as his lips touched hers. Or did her lips touch his?
She wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that their lips were touching. There was no gentle introduction here, just raw, hot need.
Desi was overwhelmed by the taste, the scent, the feel of him. Frosting on his lips. Sweet and strong. An underlying scent of the outdoors, wild and fresh. And the feel … she took a step closer, melding her body to his. There was so much warmth in his embrace and she wanted more of it.
“Seth,” she said, pulling back. “I was wrong, we shouldn’t do this.”
“What was that?” He stepped back and stared at her.
“Pardon?”
“You kissed me,” he said, an accusation in his voice.
“No,” she corrected him. “You kissed me.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Why did you kiss me?”
He shook his head and took another step backwards. “I don’t know and I don’t like it.”
“You didn’t like my kiss?” Granted, it had been a while since she kissed anyone, but Desi thought she hadn’t lost all her skills.
“No, I mean yes. I liked your kiss, but I don’t know why I liked it. When I kissed Mary Kathryn it was nice, but … well, this was different than that and I’m not sure why. As a scientist I need to know why. I mean, you’ve got great assets—I might have been drunk, but I notice when you put me into your car. And I’ve dreamed about them every night this week. But they’re just physical. Physical attraction is … well, it’s a chemical, hormonal thing. It’s nothing to base a relationship on.”
“Who’s talking about relationships?” she asked. She needed to remind both of them that this kiss couldn’t lead anywhere.
“But I kissed you,” he said.
Trying to adopt a cavalier attitude, Desi said, “Seth, this is the twenty-first century. Kissing me doesn’t compromise my virtue. I’m not waiting for a proposal of marriage based on it.”
“Good, because I’m not getting married. Ever. There are just too many variables involved. I could never be sure of it. But I’d like to compromise your virtue. And that’s what’s got me so confused. I was friends with Mary Kathryn for years, worked with her every day and I never once wanted to strip her naked in an office.”
“And that’s what we need to remember. We’re in the office, and there’s a wedding out in the hall. A wedding I’m responsible for. You made me forget about it. And though my parents might not think being a wedding coordinator is a lofty career, it’s mine and it’s important. I don’t forget about it.”
Seth didn’t say a word. He was staring at her in a rather befuddled fashion.
“Listen, it was just a kiss. Forget it. I’m going to. Let’s get back there and see to it this reception goes without a hitch.”
Forget about it?
Seth wished he could forget about that darned kiss yesterday. But he couldn’t seem to. He’d spent the night definitely not forgetting it.
He remembered every detail of yesterday’s wedding in vivid detail. He was relieved he’d done better than the first wedding, that he hadn’t destroyed anything or anyone. No, it wasn’t the wedding that bothered him, but his reaction to Desi.
Even though he analyzed it, he couldn’t figure out what was going on between him and Desi. He’d never felt such primal responses to a woman. If it was just that elemental reaction, he could ignore it. But there was something more going on. He genuinely liked her. He’d showed up early at her apartment yesterday, not because he was always early—he wasn’t—but because he couldn’t wait another minute to see her again.
“Darn, Schrodinger, what am I going to do?”
“Merp.”
“Yeah, that about sums it up. Merp.”
He’d watched Desi handle the rest of the reception yesterday with grace and a deftness. She seemed to be everywhere at once.
Everywhere but where he was.
She’d kept her distance after they’d smashed the cake and kissed, almost as if he made her nervous.
But that couldn’t be. From what he could see, Desdemona Smith was fearless.
She ignored her parents wishes and chased after her dream. He wasn’t sure when she’d started Engaging Styles, but from what he could see, she was a success with it. She managed drunken grooms, runaway brides, smashed cakes, and even terminal hiccups with grace and style.
She was fearless and good at what she did … and she was avoiding him. When he’d said goodbye, she’d simply given him an absent-minded wave and thank you, but never truly looked at him.
He wanted to talk to her, to discuss their kiss with her. Maybe she’d have some additional data that would allow him to form a hypothesis, but she obviously was keeping her distance. He couldn’t come up with a theory without all the data and he couldn’t get all the data he needed without Desi’s help.
It was obvious she wasn’t interested in helping him analyze their almost chemical reaction to each other. She was avoiding him.
But he had an ace up his sleeve.
“Hello, Desi. Remember that tit-for-tat thing you talked about … well, you had your tits, now it’s time for my tat …”
Chapter Six
Sunday mornings were meant for lounging in bed reading the paper. They were meant for brunches and lazing about. They weren’t meant for taking life in hand and hitting the open sea—lake.
She’d promised herself she’d forget Seth Rutherford after the wedding, but then he’d called talking about tits for tats and since she owed him, she had to put off her forgetting for one more day.
Desi gulped convulsively, not sure she’d ever manage to forget this trip. She’d be okay if the darned boat stopped rocking so fiercely. Lake Erie seemed bigger from a boat in the water than it did from on shore.
“What kind of assistant has a freak bathtub accident?” she asked between gulps.
Bigger and rougher. Despite the bright afternoon sun, there was a brisk wind kicking up waves. And Seth’s boat, The Guppy, didn’t look big enough to withstand too many waves. It wasn’t much more than a rowboat with a motor on it. Oh, there were several seats near the steering wheel and a couple more at the side facing the water. There was some flat deck space, but Desi suspected the boat would be more at home in a tub than on the great lake.
She was sitting next to Seth, who was driving. A debt was a debt—but re
ally this was going to heck with the deal.
“And who names their boat The Guppy anyway?” She fought back another wave of nausea that crashed against her fragile stomach like the big waves crashed against the boat’s hull.
“My assistant fell in the tub and broke his ankle and as for naming my boat The Guppy. It’s a joke. You see, when Tony and I were about eleven, we went to swimming lessons together and he was miffed because I was put in the dolphin class and he was back in the guppies.”
“Seth?” Desi said, seeing a flash of pain on his face as he finished the swimming story.
“Mary Kathryn’s with him. We talked and she said that neither of them wanted to hurt me. I’m not sure about much, but I am sure about that. She sounded … well, happy. I loved Mary Kathryn. Still do. But I’ve spent the last week thinking about us and about what went wrong and I’ve realized I was never in love with her. I don’t really know if I’m capable of something that …” he paused, as if he was searching for the correct scientific term.
“Emotional,” Desi supplied.
“Yeah, maybe. It seems to me that phrases like in love are bandied around all the time, but judging from the number of divorces, it seems a rather fickle emotion. Tenuous. More of a chemical reaction that dissipates rapidly than any lasting relationship.”
“You told me before you weren’t in love with Mary Kathryn.”
“Kate,” he said.
Desi could hear the confusion in his voice.
“She says Tony calls her Kate. She says she always dreamed of being a Kate. I never knew that. To me she was always Mary Kathryn. She’s staying in Houston with him where she’ll be a Kate full-time. He runs an Irish Pub and Sushi Bar. She said on the phone that he was going to have to cook his sushi because of the contaminants. He was in the background yelling that his sushi isn’t contaminated.”
“Ah, see, they’re already fighting.” Desi felt almost gleeful. She’d like to smash Tony “The Guppy” Donetti for hurting Seth.
Seth might be behaving nobly about this whole best friend running away with his fiancée thing, but Desi didn’t feel noble at all. She was outraged on Seth’s behalf.
He might deny it, might rattle on about not feeling deep emotions, but he must be hurt and confused. She’d do just about anything to fix that.
How to Catch a Groom Page 6