what are you saying?”
“I don’t know. See, that’s the problem. I can’t think straight.” There. She’d admitted it. He was messing with her head.
“So, call Shelby up and grill her about this guy. That girl loves to talk.”
It was true. Her younger foster sister was a motormouth, which was great considering the quiet, withdrawn kid she’d been when she’d shown up as a thirteen-year old. Natalie was adaptable and she got along well with almost all the kids her parents took in, but she and Shelby had really bonded. “She’s never met him.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Cynthia said, stirring a spoonful of sugar into her tea. “There’s no way Caitlyn didn’t talk about her home life, about him. Find out what Shelby knows.”
Shelby had had plenty to say about how overprotective Caitlyn’s big brother could be, but that was simply from overhearing conversations and Caitlyn’s complaints.
“I don’t want her to think I’m…” Natalie hesitated.
“You’re what?”
Natalie crossed her arms over her chest. “You know…interested.” She gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Personally or anything.”
Cynthia’s spoon clanged against the side of the cup and her mouth dropped open. “Oh my God, you are, aren’t you?”
“Definitely not. So not my type. And he’s obnoxious. And he wastes my time. And I made out with him.” She buried her face in her hand.
“Sheep shit on a stick. You made out with him? Define ‘made out.’”
“You know, he kissed me. Then later I kissed him.” She left out the part about masturbating to the thought of him going down on her. Some things were just better left unsaid.
“I’m totally confused. I thought you said he’s obnoxious.”
“He is.”
They left the stockroom.
“And you were kissing him, why?”
“To prove a point…and he is obnoxious…in a hot way. I mean, not hot according to my standards but hot according to a lot of other standards.” Natalie dropped back into the chair at her desk and Cynthia perched on one of the two chairs on the other side.
“Right. That just clears everything up…not. Exactly what point were you proving by making out with him?”
It had made sense at the time. “It’s complicated.”
“Apparently. I can’t wait to meet him. He’s the first man I’ve ever seen get you all discombobulated.”
“I am not discombobulated. Okay, well, maybe a little.” And she didn’t want to think about him anymore. She’d already thought about him half the night. Make that three-quarters of the night. She was now desperately trying to adhere to out of sight, out of mind before she got to just plain old out of her mind. “Sara Gastoneau is coming in this morning—”
Natalie’s cell phone interrupted with the instantly recognizable Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Her clients loved that ring tone and so did she. The traditional recessional signaled yet another wedding completed and the start of a new life together as husband and wife. Caller ID flashed Caitlyn Stillwell’s name.
“Natalie! You are such a doll.”
“Hi, Caitlyn,” Natalie said with a smile. Caitlyn Stillwell possessed an infectious enthusiasm. “How’s life on the road and why am I a doll?”
Caitlyn offered a dreamy sigh at the other end. “Life on the road is wonderful…mostly because I’m with Cash. But we’re getting some great video footage.” That had been a biggie among many challenges in planning their wedding. Not only was it on short notice, but the bride-to-be was touring the country by bus with her fiancé and shooting video footage for what they hoped would be a reality show or documentary. Natalie had never planned a wedding before with the bride out of town. “And you’re a doll because I just got off of the phone with Beau. You are the best.”
Why did that have an ominous ring? “I’m glad you think so but I’m not sure I’m following you here.”
“He told me about you helping him out at Belle Terre.”
“No problem.” Sometimes her business called for a little white lie. “I was more than happy to help.” He’d wasted several hours of her time. And sometimes it was a whopping white lie.
“I bet no other wedding planner would do what you’re doing. Even Cash is impressed.”
Yay! This was exactly the response she wanted, exactly what she wanted Caitlyn to put out to the public. Once Caitlyn and Cash were married, Caitlyn would be Nashville royalty.
“That’s why I’m here. I don’t want you stressing about the wedding. I just want you to have fun and look forward to it.”
Caitlyn laughed on the other end. “I’ll admit I was stressing a little over the renovations, but now that you’re personally assisting Beau with the remodel and building…”
What the hell? She wasn’t personally assisting him with anything now that they’d made that list. “He swears he’d never be able to get the project done in time for the wedding if you weren’t willing to come out and help him with the project,” Caitlyn steamed on. “Cash and I think you’re the best.”
She’d already said that once. Natalie forced a smile into her voice, “Well, I’m not sure how much—”
Caitlyn interrupted. “Don’t be modest. Beau said not many professionals would be willing to go that extra mile of meeting him at Belle Terre at six-thirty in the morning and then again in the evenings to work around your other projects. He was impressed with your flexibility.”
“Coming from him that means a lot.” She couldn’t help her dark sarcasm. And it was better than screaming. What was he up to? Because he was definitely up to something. They’d no more discussed her squeezing renovation help into her already packed schedule than she had monkeys flying out her tush. Hel-lo. It was high wedding season. She was busy. But she couldn’t say that to Caitlyn. He’d pretty much manipulated Natalie into a tight spot.
“Hey, can you hold on a minute, Natalie?” On the other end, someone was talking to Caitlyn. “Yeah…Okay…Right…I’m just wrapping up here. Hey, I’m back but I’ve gotta go. Call me if anything else comes up. Otherwise, I’ll talk to you later.”
The phone clicked in Natalie’s ear. She turned to Cynthia, who’d eavesdropped unabashedly. Not that she blamed her for that.
“I guess it would be counterproductive,” Natalie said, “to kill him before the renovation is done and he’s walked her down the aisle, huh?”
It was sheer annoyance at his blatant manipulation that had Natalie’s heart pounding and not the thought of being in close proximity to his wickedly distracting mouth and hands and his big, hard body.
No, that particular
