Chapter 7
Lucy slipped her fingers into the long, white glove. She drew the fabric to her elbow and studied her appearance in the vanity mirror.
Freshly laundered ball gown? Check.
French twist? Check.
Rosy cheeks? Perfect.
Smile?
Her lips formed a pained grimace.
If you messed with my smile, Jared Mitchell, I’ll . . .
But the threat faded as quickly as it had appeared. He hadn’t stolen her princess grin with a single kiss. He had shocked her back to life and opened her eyes. He’d left her wanting a fairy tale that would never be written—the playboy billionaire bachelor and the girl with the broken heart.
“That’s me,” she told the mirror. “You want to know who I am Jared Mitchell? I’m the one who knows better than to trust you.”
Even if you deliver fireworks in a storage closet.
And oh, Heaven help her. If one kiss left her raw with pure, electric lust, the grand finale would blow her away. One kiss and she knew a single night in his bed would redefine magic.
But once he fixed her definition of “fireworks” to match his, he’d walk away. She’d watched him for years. He solved problems, rebuilding companies only to move on when the transformation was complete. He spent more time on his work deals than on the women in his life. Still, she suspected that it didn’t take long to upend his former girlfriends’ worlds. He’d turned hers upside down and inside out with a single kiss.
“Lucy?” Emma called through her bedroom door. “Are you ready? We need to get to the hospital.”
“I’ll be right down,” Lucy called as she rose from her dressing table.
She heard Emma’s heels on the hallway’s hardwood floor. But she didn’t turn to follow. Before she left her pink princess haven, before she did her part to entertain the children at the hospital, she needed to reclaim her smile.
She pressed her glove-clad palms against her dressing table and studied her reflection. Who was she? A woman who didn’t need Jared Mitchell.
But I want him.
She closed her eyes. She’d wanted her cheating ex too and look where that had landed her. Her stable future had been knocked off course. She owed it to herself to choose wisely next time.
“Jared’s a reckless choice,” she told the princess in the mirror. “He stays out of my bed.”
Rejected. Dismissed.
Jared turned the words over in his mind. On the mammoth, wall-mounted T.V., the Marlins’ pitcher threw a curve ball that didn’t come close to home plate. Great, they’d walked another player from . . . hell, he couldn’t remember which team his Miami Marlins were playing.
“Did you see that?” Finn demanded. Seated in the leather easy chair positioned at the head of the living room set up, Lucy’s brother leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs.
I can’t follow the game right now, Jared thought. I’m having a fucking vocabulary crisis.
“Ignored,” Jared murmured. That was the word. He’d left packs of juice at the princess palace five mornings in a row. He’d written notes and waited for Lucy to take him up on his offer and share a box of mixed berry. Then he’d kissed her breath—and the memory of her lunch date—away in the storage closet. He’d touched her. He’d felt her come alive with a desire that matched his.
But then she’d run.
And he hadn’t heard from her since. Not one damn word. He’d sent a text.
Are you ready to show me?
No response.
He’d sent another.
Lucy, can we talk?
Nothing.
Logic suggested he should move on. A dozen other women had reached out. He’d received everything from dinner invitations to old-fashioned booty calls. But he wasn’t interested. He didn’t want to know more about those women. He didn’t care about their latest trials at work.
Because I want to talk kids’ parties with Lucy.
“Did you say ignore it?” Finn picked up a longneck bottle from the coffee table. He held the beer to his lips and took a long drink. Lowering the bottle, he added, “How the hell am I suppose to ignore a pitch like that?”
“I wasn’t talking about the game.” Jared reached for his tumbler. He’d bypassed a Saturday afternoon beer in favor of tequila.
“No work,” Finn said. “Not while we’re watching baseball. You can bitch and moan about your sugar deal when it’s over. I was up at five this morning building a model. And I can tell you this one’s a shoe-in. I’ve lined it up perfectly for you. You can fly back to New York tomorrow, and we’ll still close the deal.”
Jared shook his head. “This isn’t about work.”
“If it’s not about baseball,” Finn growled. “I don’t want to hear it.”
“I’m trying like hell to date your sister.”
There. He’d spread his cards on the table. Now it was Finn’s turn to make the next move. Eyeing the man who’d been his best friend since before either of them fully understood what those words meant, Jared downed the rest of his tequila. Then he poured another shot. If he was going to get his ass handed to him, he wanted to be drunk. Jared boxed and lifted weights. But Finn was built like a Viking warrior. And when he fought, which didn’t happen often, Finn usually won.
I can take him.
But that was probably the tequila talking now.
Finn leaned back in the leather recliner holding his beer in one hand. His blond hair matched his sister’s coloring, but he kept his cut short. His blue eyes appeared thoughtful—for now.
“Lucy,” Jared clarified.
“I only have one sister.” Finn’s brow furrowed. “She hasn’t said a word to me.”
Jared ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve been leaving juice on her doorstep. She knows why.”
“But I don’t.” Finn set his drink on the side table. “Start at the beginning.”
Jared offered the cliffs notes version. He skimmed past the bad date that had homed in on her thighs. His friend let out a low, soft curse when Jared described Nick’s drunk dad hands. But Jared sidestepped the phrase “wild, bathroom sex,” and he didn’t go into details about how he’d pulled Lucy close when he’d rescued her.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Finn demanded when Jared paused for another tequila shot. “Leaving her juice? You need to up your game, not come on the field one level above the scum chasing her. You go all in when you’re after a company. You commit and stand by your word. That’s what Lucy deserves.” Finn leaned forward again. “Unless you’re playing with her—”
“I’m not.” Jared met Finn’s gaze. Nerves of fucking steel reinforced by tequila allowed him to say the next words. “I interrupted her lunch date yesterday and kissed the shit out of her in the storage closet. Afterward—” when I could still taste her—“she made it clear she’s not one of my affairs.”
Finn snorted.
Cheers erupted on the T.V., but his friend didn’t glance at the screen. Finn reached for the remote and turned off the game. Baseball came before business on weekends. But Jared had a feeling even Finn’s precious Marlins wouldn’t steal away his friend’s attention now.
“Affairs was her word,” Jared clarified. “Not mine.”
“You’re going all in,” Finn said, no question in his voice.
Jared nodded and reached for the tequila. “If she returns my texts.”
Lucy’s big brother leaned his head back and laughed. And hell, Jared would bet the sound resembled Finn’s warrior ancestors. “Maybe she doesn’t want you,” he said, still fucking smirking.
“She wants me,” Jared said flatly. He tossed back the shot and set the glass on the table next to the bottle. “She kissed me like she was one second away from . . . ”
Stripping off her clothes and fucking me in the closet.
Jared glanced at the tequila and then at Lucy’s brother. There wasn’t enough liquor in the sunny state of Florida to make him say those words to Finn.
“If you sleep with my sister,” Finn said softly. “You’d better be ready to make her dreams come true.”
Jared nodded. He’d known that from the minute he touched his lips to hers. If he pursued Lucy, he needed to transform her life into a fairy tale.
“But let me guess, Lucy is still twisted in knots about that jack-ass, Barrett.” Finn leaned back in his chair. “She doesn’t trust you’re in this. And shit, she doesn’t realize I’d kick your ass if you hurt her.”
“Is that a promise?” Jared asked.
“I’ll take you out.” Finn spoke in a low and lethal tone. “And then I’ll bring down the Mitchell Fund.”
“The hell you would. That’s your money too.”
“I’ve saved enough.” Finn offered a familiar grin, one Jared had seen him use to benefit their deals when they moved in for the kill. “But that’s not going to happen. You’re already all in. Leaving juice boxes at the princess lair.” His smile widened. “You should have come to me before you hit this point.”
“For your expert dating advice?”
“For my Lucy advice.”
“I could ask her girlfriends for that,” Jared pointed out. “I came to you so you’d hear it from me first. Not Minny or some other cook at The Taco Bar.”
Finn reached for his beer. “Minny knows you’re after her?”
Jared nodded. “I asked him to call whenever she goes on one of her blind dates. She still thinks the love of her life is waiting for her on Tinder.”
Finn cocked his head. “Then get your ass on Tinder. Hell, join every dating site out there. Find her profile. Do your homework. Woo her.”
“Woo?” Jared choked back a laugh.
“I’m not the one who needs help convincing a smart, beautiful, single woman to settle down with me instead of some jerk cruising for his next lay online.” Finn pressed his palms together. “If you were acquiring a business, you’d get online and do your homework. You’d make your case until the company woke up to the fact that you’re their best bet. Same rules apply here. If you want to win her, you need to be prepared to do whatever it takes to make your case. You need an online dating profile.”
“No.” Jared pushed off the chair and headed for the condo’s kitchen. They needed more beer, a bag of chips, and a plan. “I’m not—”
“Yes, you are. Get a six-pack and your laptop.”
“You’re drunk,” Jared called over his shoulder. “Or lost your damn mind. I must have pushed you too hard on the sugar deal.”
“I’m closing the deal for you,” Finn shot back. “I’m not drunk yet, but you bet your ass I will be after creating the perfect hook to snag my sister. Hell, I should probably walk away.”
“Why aren’t you?” Jared opened the fridge and scanned the bottles lining the door. He selected two. If Finn was serious about this scheme . . . shit they needed to stay close to sober.
“She’s my family,” Finn said simply. “With Mom and Dad gone, I’m it. I’m all she has.”
Jared nodded. Finn’s dad had died their senior year from a heart attack while his mother battled breast cancer. Mrs. Linden had given up the fight after that. Finn’s mom had kept up the chemo treatments, but she’d lost her drive. She’d passed away a year later.
“She has the princesses,” Jared said.
“Yeah, I really want Belle and her man-hating friend giving Lucy advice.”
Jared walked back into the room and handed his friend a bottle. “Nicole hates men?”
“Like an ice queen.” Finn twisted off the top and set it on the table. “But Emma’s worse, always trying to play matchmaker and encouraging Lucy to keep looking for the perfect man.” Finn gave him a pointed look. “You’re the only guy I know worthy of my sister, and you’re sure as fuck not perfect.”
“I’m the only one you can threaten to beat the shit out of while tearing apart his company,” Jared said dryly.
“Nothing beats leverage.” Finn took a sip and then set his beer down. “Now get out your computer and find your best glamor shot.”
“You’re having too much fun with this.” But he pulled out his laptop.
“Setting up the deal is the exciting part,” Finn said. “It’s the day-to-day steering the ship that I hate. But that makes us a damn good team. Where do we start?”
“I need a picture with a girl I haven’t slept with.”
Finn raised his eyebrows. “What the hell?”
Jared handed over the laptop. “You can type while I explain the world of online dating according to Lucy. By the time I’m done, you’ll be jumping at the chance to work on financial models again.”