I wouldn’t say Iadoredthe planning exactly. It was stressful and, more often than not, involved working for impossible people. Sometimes I just wished I could call people, tell them what to do over the phone and hang up. Skip the hustle and bustle. Skip the runaround, the begging and calling in favors, the behind-the-scenes efforts to make sure everything went without a hitch. You know…the dirty work.
But that didn’t pay.
“It really fucking should though,” I muttered and laughed to myself at the idea of having a hotline for party planning advice.
“Something I said?” the familiar voice called just before he stepped beside me on the curb.
Scott. It was the tall, green-eyed charmer who basically chased me out of the venue. Like it wasn’t bad enough I struggled to find my tongue when he approached me earlier, which by the way, I choked up to be because I was afraid I’d been caught in my damage control act. Andnotbecause he was incredibly handsome.
Did I sayhandsome? I’d been sucking in way too much of this pretentious socialite air.
I meant heart-throbbing gorgeous. Rugged features, chiseled jaw, wavy brown hair, and a crooked smile that lit something in my stomach I wouldn’t admit twice. Though it could have just been that innate confidence in him that I’d kill for most days.
Days like this. When I was caught completely off guard and felt interrogated by the man instead of…well, pursued.
Caution alarms went off in my head.Don’t engage. This man was the reason I was out here, standing outside the venue instead of in it. Pretending to be a guest waiting for a car rather than what I really was—an overdressed staff member trying to figure out a way to get the hell back in there.
I smiled politely and responded honestly. “No, actually it was something I said”
“Ah. I’ll try harder next time,” he looked past me and whistled, holding up his arm.
I turned in a daze, blinking as the yellow taxi pulled up in front of us and waited. I stood frozen—my usual quick thinking failing me.
Scott stepped in front of me and opened the door. “Just Isabel, it was an unbelievable pleasure meeting you tonight.”
You can say that again,I breathed silently.
My frozen features somehow warmed into a smile, not my usual plastered on polite grin, no. This one was a reaction to me being…charmed. Which rarely—no—never happens. I was a world-class expert at dodging, evading and casually slipping away unnoticed.
Iwas the one who charmed my way out of a sticky situation. How the hell did this man manage to get me to lose so much control that I ended up waiting for a cab on the curbwhileI was working? “Scott Weston, the unbelievable pleasure was all mine.” I avoided shaking my head and slid into the waiting car.
Scott closed the door once I was in and I gave a quick wave as the driver pulled away.
I released a breath and sank in my seat.
Finally.
Wait. I’m leaving? I can’t leave.
I needed to get back. There were…guests to see out, gratuities to be paid, and I still had all my stuff back there.
I told the cab to go once around the block and take me back. I was no amateur. Even from around the block, I could handle all the necessary wrap ups for this evening. I tapped on my earpiece and began operation damage control of the century.
This time, it was one I caused all on my own.
The next morning, the driver in the black BMW made it perfectly clear he wasn’t stopping when I raced in my heels to catch the city bus.
Growing up in Manhattan, I knew when it was a safe bet to cross, and when it was best to wait.
Today however, I may have misjudged. Which can happen easily when running late for work…and it was barely my second week.
I could have sworn the angry sedan brushed against my flared skirt as I just barely made it across the intersection and onto the bus.
The night before, I had to wait until it was confirmed that every last guest had left the venue before going back for my stuff, which unfortunately hadn’t been until nearly one o’clock in the morning. And I couldn’t risk one of those guests—a certain Mr. Weston, who I noticed speaking with Donovan Hayes—to recognize me wandering about instead of being halfway home. Especially after the brief internet search I’d done on the man. Besides being first on the Hayes event guest list, the man was as close as anyone could get to the CEO of Hayes Enterprises. And Donovan Hayes himself, seemed to be a big deal to the firm that currently employed me.
Yeah, too close for comfort.
You couldn’t just be a nobody, could you, Mr. Weston?
