At the Drop of a Hat
JULES
THERE WAS A GENUINE POSSIBILITY my ear was going to fall off.
And that was no joke.
For the past three days, Finn and I had done nothing but make phone call after phone call. The only place in the entire state of Georgia we were booking a wedding of this size on such short notice was the Moose Club, and that too was no joke.
Yet still, the pompous Dr. Jake Kissinger couldn’t even manage to meet me on time to discuss the alternative.
I glanced at my watch. He was late. Albeit only three minutes late, but nonetheless, he was late. Maybe he wasn’t coming. I wouldn’t doubt it. He hadn’t exactly been welcoming when I tried to correspond with him. In fact, he had been downright rude.
Looking down at my phone, I pulled up my text correspondence with him, and reread it to make sure I hadn’t misunderstood our date. Well, not our date, but our scheduled appointment.
Me: Having trouble securing a location for the date you gave me. Any chance I can move it a little later into the month of September?
Him: No. Rory and Remy have a long weekend, and I’ve already taken the time off. Make it work.
Me: Is there any chance you can meet me tomorrow to discuss?
Him: Do you have a plan to present?
Me: Not exactly.
Him: Then no, I can’t.
Me: I do have something to talk about though. Fifteen minutes is all I need. Please.
Him: Fine. Make it later in the afternoon. Where do you want to meet? The bakery?
Me: No. How about Octane at three?
Him: Fine.
Fine. Fine. Fine.
I really despised that word.
Okay, so there were no alternative dates. Labor Day weekend it was. Rory and Remy would have time off from school to get married. And, there was more to it, I knew, and I got it. However, like I said, there were no suitable locations available.
The only thing I could think to do was see if he could exert his influence to sway the manager of the Cherokee Town & Country Club to allow us to use the grounds. And that was why I was meeting with him, and the only reason. Because really I would have rather been pulling my eyelashes out one by one than sitting here.
All the ballrooms at the country club were booked, and the manager wouldn’t even entertain the idea of using the grounds. Yet, it was an option. Of course doing so meant if it rained we were screwed. Still, there was no other alternative other than the Moose Club.
It was all I had.
And I needed the sexy jackass’s help to get it done.
God help me.
Closing the text, I went back to pretending I was making progress by searching for the perfect invitation. While I was at it, I ordered myself to stop watching the door of the coffee shop. And then while I was at that, I pretended I was doing a great job of not watching it.
Sadly, pretending was all I could do.
I totally was.
Forcing myself, I flicked my gaze away. The colorful booths and stools were crowded with college students. The lights were too bright and the voices too loud. It was way too over-stimulating in here to truly concentrate.
In my college days, I’d hung out at this coffee shop all the time. It was strange how I’d forgotten how noisy the place could be. Forgotten how busy the place was. And not realized what a wrong choice it was for a meeting. I should have selected somewhere quieter. But I knew the brooding doctor would probably have to be to work by five, so I’d chosen Octane in Atlantic Station because it was halfway between Buckhead and Grady, and should have been convenient for him.
I was just about to text him and ask if he’d like to reschedule when I got a text from Finn.
Finn: Sunshine Farms had a cancellation.
Me: Are you serious?
Finn: Jules, get real. Why would I tell you that if I wasn’t?
Me: Sorry. Can you send me pictures of the venue? I’m not familiar with it. Where is it anyway?
Finn: I’m headed out. Pull it up on Google. It’s about an hour drive east. And they also told me they have a wedding tonight, so if you’d like a tour, you should be there before five.
Me: Thanks.
It was Friday, and he had been working twelve-hour days just like me, so I wasn’t about to fault him for wanting to leave at three.
Searching for the venue on my phone, I couldn’t believe my luck. Now I just hoped it was suited for a wedding of this stature.
With my anxiety level at an all-time high, I thumbed through the pictures. It looked decent. Not great. The hay barrels everywhere were an immediate turnoff, but I could have them removed and dress the shabby barn up. I’d have to go see it in person first before making a decision.
“Hey, sorry I’m late. It took a while to find a place to park.”
I looked up as Jake slid into the seat across from me. He was in his standard jeans and Adidas, but this time he was wearing an Atlanta Hawks golf shirt instead of a T-shirt. It appeared his hair was once again wet, but it was hidden under his Atlanta Hawks baseball hat, so I couldn’t be sure. I wanted to ask him if he lived in the shower, but obviously, I didn’t. “Hi. It’s fine.”
Pulling off his cap, he ran a hand through his wet hair as he glanced around the shop. “I haven’t been in here before. Cool place.”
I kept an easy smile on my face, my breezy manner intact even though my excitement about the potential venue had me wanting to jump up and down. “I used to come here all the time, and I figured it was close enough to the hospital that you wouldn’t be late for work.”
His eyes flicked over me from my head to my chest. I had dressed to impress, and I thought I was doing just that. I had styled my hair straight and sleek in its bob-like shape. I wore a black and white printed silk tank top and black wide-leg pants with wedges. I was put together and professional, but not stuffy. His gaze came back to my face, and he heaved a heavy sigh of irritation. “I’m not working tonight. So tell me, what am I doing here?”
God, he really was an ass. “How about a coffee first?”
He looked around for the waitress, and then muttered, “Oh, shit.”
“Jake, this is a surprise. I’ve never seen you here.” The voice was sickeningly sweet.
The woman who came into view was not the waitress, but rather a very beautiful woman wearing Grady Memorial Hospital’s signature black scrubs.
Jake went to his feet. “Hey Carly, yeah, this is my first time.”
The nurse looked at me. “Hi,” she said, and I could tell right away she was accessing me.
“Carly, this is Jules Easton, she’s helping me plan my sister’s wedding.”
“Oh,” she said and in her tinkly laughter, “that’s why you’re here. It makes sense now.”
As if he couldn’t just be meeting me for coffee?
She batted her lashes and smiled at him, and it was a smile that left no question of her intentions. “Well, I should be getting to work. I’m sure I’ll see you soon,” she directed to Jake.
Jake looked very uncomfortable, and I could tell they either had something going on or were about to embark on that something. “Yeah, see you around.”
I wasn’t a jealous person, but a surge of venom coursed through my veins. “Bye Carly, it was nice to meet you.”
She gave me a little wave, and I looked over at Jake, who was frowning. “Girlfriend?” I asked.
“No,” he said quickly. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
Oh, that was good to know. “I was only asking for wedding planning purposes.”
Liar.
He stared at me. Did he see right through me? I was fairly confident he did. “So,” he said, tapping his fingers on the table, “tell me what I’m doing here.”
I squirmed a little under the intensity of his stare. “Well, I asked you here because . . .” I looked down at the table. “Because . . .” I looked back up to find him now glaring at me with a raised brow.
What the ever-loving hell?
Why was I so nervous and tongue-twisted around him?
I cleared my throat. “Because I found a venue for the wedding,” I finally said cheerily, although I felt a flush coat my cheeks at the mistruth.
It wasn’t really why I asked him here, but still, it was true.
“Then I suggest you do whatever it is you do,” he shot back.
Not a that’s great, or fantastic, or even a high-five.
I pushed down my irritation, reminding myself that in this most unusual case of the unavailable client, he was the closest thing I had to one. And, since I had recently figured out my focus hadn’t been entirely on the client as it should be, I had to play nice.
Although this client was all kinds of irritating, perhaps he didn’t understand and needed to be schooled. “That’s just it, Jake, I don’t act alone. I don’t make major decisions on my own. I need input from you about your sister’s wedding.”
His glare turned almost hostile.
I swallowed. Okay, perhaps I took it a bit too far, and he never did tell me to call him by his first name. I’d start with that. “Dr. Kissinger, I mean.”
“Jake is fine,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Okay, Jake,” I said firmly, “what I do is work with the clients to make their dream day come true, and in this case, whether you like it or not, you are my client by proxy.”
His response to that was to sigh and relax against the booth. He crossed his arms over his chest and hit me with, “So, let me get this straight. You want to make my dreams come true?”
“Well, yes and no.”
That brought the most condescending smirk I’d ever seen to his hot lips. “You might change your mind after I tell you what they are.” His tone was sly, hot, and flirtatious.
Dirty, dirty, doctor.
I wasn’t insulted by his comment or agitated like I probably should have been, but rather my insides felt all warm and fuzzy.
Wait!
I had to get real here.
I had a job to do.
There was no time for crushes. Just as there was no time for resentment. He was acting difficult on purpose. That was clear.
“Look, Jake.” I held up my hands in surrender. “What I did was unprofessional and—”
“And what?” he asked coyly.
“And I apologize,” I hurried to finish.
“Hi.”
We both jerked our heads toward the end of the booth. Enough of the interruptions already. This time at least it was the waitress and not another want-to-be-girlfriend.
Jake mustered up a smile for the girl who had finally come to take his order. Damn, I should have asked him what his dreams were while we were in the moment. Then again, watching the way he lit up for this woman, maybe I didn’t want to know.
“I’m Sara. Sorry about the wait. It’s crazy in here today.”
“It’s fine,” Jake said.
Sara smiled at him. “What can I get you?”
He peered up at the menu board. “I’ll have an extra tall latte macchiato with an extra shot. No, make that two extra shots.”
Sara smiled wider. “That’s a lot of extras. You must really want to stay awake.”
The debonair charm he exuded in her presence agitated me because it was the same charm he’d shown me—before I’d smashed cake in his face. And the same charm he’d shown Carly, I reminded myself. “Just waking up, actually. I worked all night.”
“Oh, then I’ll be sure to make it extra strong,” she said with a wink.
Jake smiled in return, and I swear she started to blush right there.
Seconds later she looked at me. “Another Vanilla Latte for you?”
“Actually, no,” I smiled, but mine was more than fake, “I’ll have what he’s having.”
She scribbled the number two down. “Were you up late working, too?” she asked.
“No, but I’m going to be up late tonight.”
“Ah,” she remarked, like Jake and I were going to be going at it like bunnies all night long. The thought had me blushing.
“I have to . . . never mind.” I decided it was best to discuss the farm with Jake before just blurting the location out to the waitress.
She winked at me. “Gotcha. Two high-octanes coming up,” she said, and then walked away.
“Okay.” I propped my chin on my fist. “Get whatever it is you need to off your chest.”
He quirked an eyebrow at me. “You sure you can handle that?”
I ignored his sarcasm and answered directly. “Yes. I’m more than sure.”
The surrounding air thickened with my challenge. “Fine. Here it goes. I only agreed to work with you because I needed someone who was available now. Every other wedding planner is booked out for months.”
I threw my shoulders back in deference to his comment. “I don’t really care why you agreed to hire me, or what you think of me for that matter. The only thing that matters is that your sister has entrusted me to engineer her perfect day, and contrary to what you might think, I am more than capable of doing that.”
His already narrowed eyes shone with a spark of challenge as he said with threatening calmness, “That has yet to be seen.”
I closed my eyes.
Bleeding heart my ass.
He wasn’t patient, nor was he kind. What he was, however, was the prince of darkness. An arrogant ass I wanted nothing to do with. And what made matters worse was somehow he had figured out what my weaknesses were, and he was purposely exploiting them.
I could do this job.
I could do this job.
I could do this job.
So what if his opinion of me wasn’t positive. I didn’t care. I knew my capabilities, and I knew I could do this job.
I could do this job.
I could do this job.
I could do this job.
That damn self-help book and its silent chanting. That technique did not work, and I was proof positive of it.
I opened my eyes and stared at him stonily. “With that out of the way, now are you ready to move on to why I asked to meet with you?”
“Not quite. There’s one more thing.” His gaze went to the counter. “Sara.”
She turned back from the counter. “I’ll have a piece of that chocolate cake as well.”
Surprise flared in my eyes. “You wouldn’t dare?”
Jake slipped on that intimidating mask of his. “Wouldn’t I?”
I gulped, suddenly wondering why I thought it was a good idea to poke the tiger. “Jake,” I warned. “I don’t have time to go home and get cleaned up. I have to drive out to Monroe after I leave here to meet—”
“Two high-octanes and one piece of chocolate cake.” Sara set the oversized cups on the table, along with a fairly healthy serving of cake. “Enjoy!”
As soon as she was gone, Jake glared at me. “Don’t stop now,” Jake insisted. “To meet with who, your boyfriend for a date? Your lover for a rendezvous?”
Enough was enough. I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and then placed both of my hands on the table to lean forward. “For your information, I do not have a boyfriend, and I have never had a lover who I’ve had to rendezvous with. What I am going to do with my Friday night is drive over an hour to the only place I can find that is available for your sister’s wedding besides the Moose Club or the grounds at your country club, which is what I wanted to talk to you about. And just so we’re both on the same page, you can smash that cake in my face, you can make me feel incapable, you can avoid talking to me, you can even act like a condescending, pompous ass, but I’m not quitting.”
Jake’s demeanor seemed to change almost instantly from anger to amusement. “A condescending, pompous ass? Wow. That’s pretty harsh.”
I shrugged. “It’s the truth.”
He forked a piece of cake and then leaned back to nibble on it as he studied me, and just like that his mirth was gone too, leaving nothing but seriousness in its wake. “Look, Juliette—”
I jutted my chin out in defiance. “I’d prefer you call me Jules.”
“Fine, Jules.” He set his fork down and stuck out his hand. “For the sake of my sister, I’m willing to move on from the cake incident and focus on the wedding.”
My eyes dropped to his hand in suspicion. What had triggered his abrupt change of heart?
My outburst?
My tone?
My own bleeding heart?
Or was he still going to smash that cake in my face, and just biding his time until I let my guard down?
His gaze was unwavering as he waited for me to accept his gesture.
Maybe he was being sincere?
I tried not to tremble when I reached out and slid my small hand into his large one. “Fine,” I said, using his very own annoying word on him.
Let’s see how he liked it.
As soon as our hands came together, though, I wasn’t thinking about what he liked or didn’t. I wasn’t really thinking at all. The friction of the rougher skin of his palm against the softer skin of mine was sending sparks shooting from the tips of my fingers all the way to my toes.
Oh, no! I was not going to allow myself to be attracted to this pompous ass.
Quite abruptly, as if he was thinking something along those very same lines, Jake ripped his hand from mine and reached for his coffee cup. “There isn’t much in Monroe. What is this place you’ll be looking at, a farm?”
Still shaken from the sizzle that had just passed between us, I answered hoarsely. “It is. The place is called Sunshine Farms. Have you heard of it?”
He swallowed his coffee, and then set his cup down. “No, I haven’t.”
“From what I can tell, it has a suitable size barn.”
He pouted his lip. “I think you need to understand something about my sister.”
“What’s that?”
An emotion I couldn’t decipher flashed across his face. “Rory has been treated like a princess her entire life. It’s not her fault. It’s just the way it is. So, when she says she wants to get married in a barn, I can’t help but think she doesn’t really mean a barn in the actual sense of the word.”
I scrunched my brows together in confusion. “Okay, then, tell me, what does she mean?”
At first, he said nothing. Then the corners of his lips twitched up. It wasn’t a smile, but it was close enough. “Knowing my sister, she thinks a barn is a magical place that smells like roses, not horse shit. And that it is a place where the ground sparkles with glitter, not littered with dirt and hay.”
Tension eased inside me, and I found my own smile easily enough. “You see, here’s the thing, I can make those things happen. That’s my job!”
Again, he said nothing, but his lips had thinned and the look he gave me was filled with doubt.
“Jake . . .” I began, stuttering at the way my pulse sped up when I said his name.
The blank mask was back. He was so hard to read. “Yeah,” he answered.
The table between us was so small that when I shifted to sit up straighter, my knees bumped his. I couldn’t stop the hitch of my breath or the thump of my heart that resulted from the contact. “Why don’t you come with me to see the farm? If you don’t think it’s something your sister might like, I won’t pursue it. But you should know, the only other suitable alternative was Cherokee Town & Country Club, but I’ll need you to talk to the manager about it.”
He ran his hands down his face. “I really don’t like that place, but that aside, why would I need to talk to the manager?”
I stared down at the veneer tabletop and traced one of the lines in the hatched pattern.
“Jules,” he demanded. “Tell me.”
Drawing in a breath, I glanced up. He could be very domineering. “Because the ballrooms are taken, but the grounds are available. I just can’t get the manager to consider my suggestion.”
“You mean you want to hold the wedding outdoors?”
I slowly nodded.
“With no cover and no indoor facilities?” He practically shouted the words in a way that they didn’t really come out as a question and also made my idea seem ridiculous.
I attempted not to bristle at the clipped tone. “Yes.”
He shook his head adamantly. “That’s absolutely out of the question. My grandmother can’t be out in the heat all day.”
My stomach flipped. I hadn’t thought about that. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Then it has to be the farm.”
His eyebrows drew together.
“And if we leave right now, we can get there before the event starts and have a look around.”
Jake’s lips twitched, and he let out a low huff that wasn’t quite a laugh as he shook his head. “Do you ever give up?”
I struggled not to laugh. “No, I don’t.”
When he reached into his back pocket for his wallet, amusement might have been glittering in his eyes. I couldn’t be sure. “Yeah, I’m starting to figure that out.”
I reached in my purse. “I got this. I invited you.”
Standing up, he tossed two twenties on the table. “Consider it part of the deposit you have yet to ask me for.”
“About that,” I said, getting to my feet.
He waved a hand through the air to usher me forward. “You mean you want to get paid for what you’re doing? And here I thought you were doing it for the sheer pleasure of aggravating me.”
I gave him a shove as I passed him. And he liked it. I could tell by the small amount of wickedness that gleamed in his eyes.
The kinetic energy that zinged between us threw me off my game, not that I had game to begin with.
In my wedges, I couldn’t walk that fast, and I especially couldn’t walk and talk at the same time, so I stopped and jerked my head over my shoulder. “Actually, there is a set fee I should probably go over with you.”
His response was to place his hand on the small of my back and whisper in my ear. “I’m not at all serious. Just email me your requirements, and I’ll get you what you need.”
Had he actually been joking around?
He had.
Tingles of arousal shot through my core. I liked this side of him. Then again I was beginning to wonder if I wasn’t oddly attracted to all sides of him. “Yes, sure, I’ll do that, but don’t you want to know how much the fee is before you just blindly agree to make payment?”
He pushed past me and opened the door for me to walk through. “I never enter into anything blindly,” he said somewhat coyly, and I could feel his heat as I passed by him.
Oh, my.
Out on the sidewalk, the sun beat down on my skin, hot and humid. Quickly, I rummaged in my purse for my keys. “Did you want to catch a ride with me or drive yourself?”
When he didn’t respond, I looked up at him.
He was staring at me in utter annoyance once again.
“What?” I asked.
“I don’t catch a ride with anyone. But if you’d like, you can catch a ride with me.”
I was trapped in his gaze. “I can’t. My car is here.”
That stare of his remained pinned to mine, but it shifted to something other than annoyance. I think it was more like amusement. I didn’t care what it was because it was smoldering hot. “There’s an easy solution to that, Jules.”
“What’s that?” I asked, my voice husky, shaky, and totally off key.
“I’ll bring you back here after.”
Dah! was what he didn’t say. He didn’t have to though. Okay, I wasn’t thinking clearly because I’d have had to do the same thing.
Seriously though, there was no way he didn’t know the effect he had on a woman when he did that whole intense-look thing. Like I could say no even if I wanted to. “Sure. If it isn’t too much trouble.”
And there he went shocking me with a dose of that charm of his. “It’s no trouble at all.”
A smile prodded my lips. “Okay. I just need to get my briefcase.”
“Where are you parked?” he asked.
I pointed up the street. “In the garage at the corner.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “That’s where I am as well.”
“Good. That means we will be able to get on the road quicker,” I said.
He shook his head and started walking. “Do you always go one-hundred miles an hour?”
I shrugged. “It’s just that I want to arrive at the farm before the event starts so I can see it without people everywhere.”
“Oh, we’ll get there on time. Trust me.”
The heat practically radiated from the concrete as we walked. That’s how hot it was. And it didn’t help it was radiating off him as well. Neither of us said much. We just looked around at the chaos of the upcoming rush hour and walked.
At the garage, I pressed the elevator button, and when the doors opened, we both stepped inside. Surprisingly, we didn’t gravitate to opposite corners like is the norm.
Standing beside Jake in the coolness of the elevator, I looked over at him and asked, “Were you really going to smash that piece of cake in my face?”
Throwing me a quelling look, he answered with, “Do you really want to know?”
The doors opened, and the blast of hot air was almost unbearable. “Yes, I do,” I answered, and then I stepped out.
Walking beside me, he leveled me with that heavy dark gaze of his. “It’s probably best if I don’t answer that.”
“So you were.” I frowned and hit the button on my remote before pulling on the handle to my car door.
He gave me a slight shake of his head that was so much hotter than it should have been. “I didn’t say that.”
I got inside and grabbed my big leather bag. When I went to get out, he offered me his hand in assistance. I took it and hadn’t realized how close he was until I was standing on my feet and only inches from his face.
Teetering on my wedges, I froze, but my pulse sped up. “But you didn’t say you weren’t, either.”
He didn’t move.
Neither did I.
He didn’t speak.
Neither did I.
Surprise had transformed into a quell of nervous flutters in my belly.
This close, I could see his blue eyes. I could see the way his shirt sculpted his body and the superb strength in his shoulders and arms. I could see his strong jaw. And I could see how pillowy soft those lips might just be. All he had to do was lean in a little more and kiss me, and I would know.
Oh God, oh God, oh God.
For a moment I forgot I didn’t really know him and got lost in time. I wasn’t even sure I was breathing.
His gaze seemed to go liquid with a heat I felt between my thighs. “Some things are better left unknown,” he whispered.
Staring at him, I felt my palms turn clammy as my heart rate increased. “And some things are better when you know what to expect.”
His beautiful eyes flickered to my lips. “That can be true, too.”
We were no longer talking about the cake, and I suddenly felt overwhelmingly, deliciously surrounded by him.
“Hey, Miss, are you leaving?” a man yelled from his car.
Jake stepped back and shoved his hands in his pockets like we’d just gotten caught doing something we shouldn’t be doing “No, she’s not,” he called, “but I am. I’m right over there if you want to wait a minute.”
My head jerked to where he was pointing, and I stood openmouthed. The vintage black jag I’d seen pulling into Rosewood days ago was his. And I was going to get to ride in it. It made me feel giddy. Or maybe it was him that made me feel the way I did.
Closing my door, we started toward the car.
All of a sudden I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.
It wasn’t because I had the insurmountable task of planning the wedding of the decade in less than five weeks. Instead, it was because this man with his brooding disposition and impatient temperament did something to me no one had ever done. He penetrated a layer buried somewhere deep inside me. It felt like an arrow had been speared through my heart.
And that made me want to turn and run the other way.
As fast as I could.
Wedges or not.