be worried or something.”
“You shouldn’t. I don’t know Nick very well, but I’ve known his brothers a couple of years now and they’re both good guys. Crazy artists, but decent men. As for Nick being better than the project—if he doesn’t think so, I would say go with it. I’ve seen Mathias spend two days on a vase that will sell for fifty dollars because he needs to get it exactly how he wants it, and don’t get me started on Ronan. Talk about a guy who needs to chill out. They take pride in their work, and when something captures their attention, they’re all in.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
As they walked back out to the patio, Pallas told herself she would do as Natalie suggested—in other words, shut up and be grateful. She smiled to herself. She was very lucky when it came to her friends. They were there for her and kept her grounded. As she took in the walled garden, the pretty house, and thought about her business, she once again thanked Gerald for giving her a wonderful life.
NICK SANDED THE sliver of wood so the point was sharper, then used tweezers to carefully put it into place. This time the fit was perfect. The restoration of the panels was painstaking work, but worth it, he thought. Something this beautiful deserved to be made whole again.
“Do you have a second?”
He looked up and saw Pallas in the doorway. Not a surprise—this was her business and from what he could tell, she was in the office every day. However, right now something was very different and every cell in his body noticed.
Instead of her usual work uniform of jeans and T-shirt, she had on a long dress. But not just any dress. It was low-cut, with a tight, black leather corset over a white short-sleeved puffy blouse and full, black-and-white vertical strip skirt that fell to the floor.
She had curves he hadn’t noticed before—the kind of curves that got a man to thinking about touching and tasting. While he’d known that Pallas was female and someone whose company he enjoyed, he hadn’t exactly seen her that way before. That he did now was unsettling. Worse was the possibility that now there was no way to unsee her.
She held out the skirt with both hands. “I have a princess wedding with a black-and-white theme. My friend Violet wants to make these changes to the server costumes.” Her voice sounded doubtful. “We’ve used this basic style forever, but she added the corset and the overlay on the skirt.”
She spun around for him to see the back, then bent over to look at the—well, he didn’t know or care what. Not with her breasts practically spilling out. Was it him or was it hot in here?
“I can’t figure out if it’s sexy or slutty. I thought I could get a man’s opinion.”
He had to clear his throat before he could speak. “It looks good.”
“Really? Do you think it will be a distraction?”
“Probably, but is that bad?”
“As long as the bride isn’t pissed.” She smiled. “I guess we’ll risk it. I’ll tell her we’re a go with the slutty dresses.”
“Sexy, not slutty.”
“I can only hope.”
She released the skirt and crossed her arms under her breasts. The full curves seemed to swell toward him, which made it difficult to think about anything but walking over and pulling her close. What he would do after that wasn’t totally clear. Mostly because there were so many possibilities—there was no way to pick just one.
“I always worry when we go outside the box.”
Her words were so at odds for what he was thinking that it took him a second to respond. “What do you mean?”
“There’s a menu the brides get to pick from. All the things we offer. This time it’s different.”
“How? Don’t you usually coordinate colors with the wedding party?”
“Yes, but not this much. She wants weird things. Matching horses and other things. There are packages. I understand them. But when people want to...”
“Color outside the lines?” he offered.
“Something like that. I get nervous. I’m not like you.”
“In what way?”
“You’re an artist. You’re trained to see possibilities. The unexpected. I’m too sensible for that. I always colored inside the lines. I like the lines.” She winced. “Oh, no. I was going to say ‘I like the rules’ but I won’t. I refuse to turn into my mother.”
An interesting assessment but one that made sense based on what Alan had told him about her. “You’re saying you’re not spontaneous or fanciful, but you throw weddings for a living. By definition, you’re fulfilling people’s dreams. That’s a little outside the box.”
“Maybe. I just worry that when we try different things, something will go wrong. A wedding is a big deal. I want everything to be perfect.”
“You can’t control every aspect of what’s happening.”
She smiled. “I can sure try.”
“Sometimes the mess-ups are the best part. It’s where the magic happens.”
“I’m too pragmatic to believe in magic.”
“Now you do sound like your mother.”
Pallas’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t say that. You’ve never met her.”
“You told me all I need to know.”
She drew in a deep breath, which was a hell of distraction.
“I want to say you’re wrong, but you’re not. It’s funny, I was just thinking about this last night. I’m Libby’s daughter and sometimes she’s the voice in my head. I’d love for that to change, but I don’t know how. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was a good voice, but mostly what I hear from it is disappointment.”
“Tell the voice to shut up.”
She smiled. “Good advice. I’ll try it next time.” She tilted her head. “It’s funny how we’re all so different. I have a twin brother—Cade. He and I are so completely different. He never wanted to go into the family business. I know he loves our mother but he never worried about making her happy. He always did his own thing.”
“You envy that.”
“I do. I hate disappointing her but I can’t seem to fall into line. It’s not a comfortable place to be. I envy Cade’s ability to simply be his own person.” She wrinkled her nose. “You know, now that I think about it, a lot of my friends are creative. Violet made this. Silver has her business and it has a creative side.” She wrinkled her nose. “Natalie’s a super gifted artist.”
“Natalie Kaleta? Our Natalie?” The part-time office manager-slash-artist
