If The Shoe Fits (21 page)

“
Why did she stop?” Staci
asked.

“
My dad asked her to. He had a
heart attack and, you know they say you re-examine your priorities
when things like that happen. She didn’t mind, actually. They’re
more in love than the day they got married, I think. They’re always
doing things together, especially spending time with the grandkids.
For all that my mom enjoyed the limelight, give her a baby and she
turns into Grandma.”

It sounded so perfect. A family. A real,
normal family. That’s all she wanted out of life. To find someone
to spend her life with and create a family.

An image of Reese and his child wound its way
through her mind. And lodged in her soul.

She closed her eyes, savoring it if only for a
second. She was, after all, playing
what if
tonight.

The conversation eventually turned to
football, and Bella actually relaxed and enjoyed herself. The
banter between Luke and Reese as they shared stories of games and
pranks players had played on each other had them all laughing
through dinner.

“
Metzner said you roped him into
donating a dinner.” Luke said when dessert arrived. “Can you see
him making small talk with people he doesn’t know?”

“
Hey, it’s for a good cause. The
proceeds benefit several children’s funds that the hospital
administers.”

“
Hey, Bella,” said Staci. “You
should ask Vinny to donate something.”

“
Yeah, that’s a great idea,” said
Luke. “Maybe a three-hole design for someone’s backyard. That’d up
the resale value. What do you think, Reese?”

“
It’s not necessary. We have
enough.”

And just like that, the mood was over. Reese
sat up straighter in his chair and fiddled with the edge of the
napkin he’d tossed onto the table.

She
knew
Uncle Vinny should have
behaved himself. “Oh, but I’m sure he won’t mind.”

“
It’s fine, Bella. All taken care
of.”

“
Yeah, but, just think, Reese,”
said Staci once more oblivious to anything but herself. “Vinny’s
got a big name in this town. People would bet tons of
money.”

“
Really, not necessary. The
auction is big enough.” Reese lifted his empty wine glass and
rolled the stem between his fingers. “But thanks for the thought.
No need to put yourself out on this, Bella.”

Message received loud and clear: stick to what
she knew and back off his end of the program. Okay then…

“
Well, sure. Fine. But if you
change your mind, all you have to do is ask.” She grabbed her purse
and stood up. “I’ll be going. Thank you for dinner. Staci do you
need a ride?”

Staci looked sideways at Luke. “Do
I?”

Luke stroked her arm. “You got one right here,
babe.”

Bella had to look away. Sure,
Staci
got
the guy. Bella got a lonely bed and useless dreams.

She nodded and made sure to look at Reese one
last time before she left. This was business and she was a
professional. “Thank you again for dinner. Have a nice
evening.”

“
Well, geez. I was only trying to
be helpful,” said Staci as Bella left. “I wonder what crawled up
her butt.”

Reese tried not to groan as he pulled his eyes
from
Bella’s butt. He was an ass. He’d overreacted and hurt
her feelings. God, what was wrong with him?

“
I know you were, Stace. There’s
no need to apologize.” Luke put his hand on hers, but drilled Reese
with his gaze. “You, on the other hand…”

Reese sighed. Luke was right. He tossed a few
bills onto the table. “Have a good night, you two.” Then he set off
to fix the one he’d ruined.

Chapter Twenty

“
Well, now.” Luke turned on his
charm. Not that he needed to; Staci was ripe for the, er, plucking,
but it was good to keep the skill up. “I thought we’d never get rid
of them.” He ran his hand up Staci’s arm. She shivered and he
grinned. No matter what Tanya said, he still had it.

“
I hope you don’t mind that I
invited her to stay tonight. She never gets out.”

Altruism? In Staci? This was
unexpected.

“
No. I don’t mind.” And he hadn’t.
It’d given him some foreplay time. Running his fingers along her
thigh, touching her foot with his… He liked to get that shit out of
the way early. Left more time for the main event when they got to
it. And they’d get to it, no doubt about it. “Want to dance? I’ve
been dying to get you in my arms all night.”

She blushed. Yeah, he still had it.

“
Okay. Let’s.”

She shivered again when he took her hand and
pulled her into his arms. Could be the breeze, but he’d take it.
Nothing like having a beautiful woman cuddle into him.

She smelled nice. He’d noticed at dinner.
Funny, but when he’d met her in Reese’s office he could have sworn
she had on some overly commercial sharp perfume, but tonight, she’d
toned it down. Like with the outfit.

Soft, frilly blouse that covered more than he
wanted it to, a skirt that let him know she had curves but not
quite how curvy… He’d been expecting something that left nothing to
his imagination, and this outfit made his imagination work
overtime—as in, getting her out of it. Undoing the buttons with his
teeth and licking every centimeter in between.

“
I had a good time tonight,” he
whispered. Women liked that shit.

She smiled against his cheek. “Me,
too.”

“
Good.” He moved his hand a little
lower.

Staci moved it back.

What the fuck?

He pulled back. “Stace?”

She smiled. Sort of. “I want to take it slow,
Luke. Savor the moment.”

Aw hell. Frustration razored along his back
and lodged in his balls. He wasn’t getting any, dammit.

Surprisingly, his interest in her picked up a
notch. Not that he hadn’t had anyone play hard to get before, but
there was something about the way she’d said it… the way she’d
behaved this evening.

“
Yeah, sure, Stace. That’s fine
with me. I’m not a Neanderthal, you know.”

Now her smile turned genuine. Real. And, shit,
it socked him in the gut more than that creep Mackenzie’s tackle
that’d broken his hip and put him out of commission for
good.

He just hoped that analogy wasn’t at work
here. The last thing he needed was another woman grabbing some real
estate in his life.

A couple next to them briefly bumped them. A
chorus of “sorry”s followed, but Staci wasn’t sorry. She was
enjoying this moment. Sure, Luke felt good against her—there was
not denying that body—but he’d gone with her moving his hand away.
Hadn’t gotten all pissy like she’d thought he might. Which just
proved that he wasn’t some player. Wasn’t after only one
thing.

Mother was right. Who knew?

Except she wouldn’t know that Staci was using
her newfound look on Luke. Reese didn’t want her, and, frankly,
Staci didn’t want him and Mother would just have to
deal.

She wanted Luke. For a lot longer than a
couple of hours. Which meant that she had to play her cards
right.

Well, she’d take a page out of Bella’s book
and try the classy act—
not
that her stepsister had any clue
how close Reese was to drooling over her. Poor guy; all through
dinner he’d been like a deer in the headlights while Bella had been
oblivious. Heh, maybe there was something Staci could teach her
when this was all said and done.

But like Bella, she wasn’t going home with
anyone tonight. She was done being an easy lay. If Luke wanted
her—and that bulge pressed against her abdomen said he did—he was
going to have to work for her. No matter how much it hurt both of
them in the interim.

The band segued to the next slow song and
Staci was all for enjoying Luke pressing against her a little
longer.

Their thighs brushed as the soft strains of
Spandau Ballet’s “True” wove around them.
True
. Ha. She’d
had a lot of
true
s tossed her way lately, the biggest being
that her mother was an overbearing tyrant. Staci was ashamed that
she’d fallen in line with Mother’s plans so easily.

But no more. Mother wasn’t going to run her
life or ruin Sophia’s; Staci was taking charge of it all as of
now.

Luke’s hand moved lower.

Okay, so maybe she wasn’t going to take charge
of anything
right
now. Once this song was over would be soon
enough. Luke’s arms around her felt good. And she liked allowing
him to lead—the guy not only knew his way around women, he knew his
way around the dance floor and it’d been a long time—try never—that
she’d been with someone who had his flair.

Something flared all right—right in the middle
of her stomach when his fingers made little circles on her back,
warming her flesh as heat seeped through her shirt and traveled
south. It was going to be tough to stick to her decision if he kept
doing that.

“
Any chance you want to get out of
here, Staci?” Luke whispered in her ear, sending shivers all over
her body.

Yes.

No.

Hell.

Damn her conscience and re-awakened common
sense anyhow…

“
Yeah, let’s go.”

***

Reese followed Bella, needing to apologize for
overreacting. It wasn’t her fault he was a jealous ass. But there
was only so much he could handle, and having Vincent Casteleoni on
the agenda was his breaking point. He had to be civil to the guy,
he had to keep his hands off his wife, but he did
not
have
to do anything more than that.

And what about the kids who would benefit from
the auction? Weren’t they important enough to set his ego aside and
suck it up?

Hell, yes, they were. And not having Vincent
on the agenda wouldn’t change the fact that the guy still went home
to Bella every night.

He caught up with her by her car. “Bella,
wait.”

She slowed, and looked at him warily.
“Yes?”

“
I’m sorry if I was a little sharp
back there.”

“
Sharp? Try deadly.” Her tone
stung and wouldn’t let him off the hook. Not that he deserved to
be.

“
I know. And I really don’t have
an excuse except that I—” What? Was a jealous ass? A stupid, horny
bastard? A lowlife scum lusting after another man’s wife? What?
What could he say to salvage this?

Hell, he didn’t need Luke to screw up the
catering part of this business for him; he was doing a damn good
job all by himself.

“
You’re what?”

“
I… I’m sorry.”

“
That’s it? Sorry for embarrassing
me? Sorry for humiliating me? Sorry for insulting me? Which one,
Reese, are you sorry for?”

That he hadn’t met her before
Vincent.

Yeah, he
was
a horny, lowlife scum
bastard to lust after her this way. “All of the above? Forgive me?
Please? And you can ask Vincent. We’ll make room for
him.”

He held his breath as she looked at him,
hoping he hadn’t screwed up everything.

“
I guess I have to forgive you
since you owned up to all of it.”

She gave him that same smile that Sophia had,
blinking those big blue windows into her psyche and Reese blew out
a breath. At least he was still a good judge of character—if not of
marital status.

If he were Vincent Casteleoni, he’d make damn
sure she wore thick, horn-rimmed glasses tinted a nice shade of
gray to hide the impact of those eyes because they could turn a
rational man’s thoughts to mush. And another part of his anatomy to
stone.

He took a huge breath and willed himself to
take a step back. He did not hit on someone else’s wife. “So, um,
we’re okay then? No hard feelings?”

She shook her head, the ends of her hair
swishing across the bit of cleavage above her neckline and Reese
wanted to follow its path with his tongue.

Jesus.

He grabbed her driver side door handle and
yanked it open, being sure to stand behind it as she climbed in,
away from any part of her that he could inadvertently touch, or
stroke, or…
lick
. He motioned for her to get in.

Of course, she stopped before she did so. And
of course she put her fingers on his arm.

“
Oh, I wanted to ask you…” She
nibbled her lip and Reese was so freaking glad there was a big
piece of steel between them. “Is there, that is, do you have an
extra pair of tickets to the auction? I’d pay for them of
course.”

Two tickets. Sophia and Vincent. It only made
sense.

“
Sure, Bella, no problem. And
don’t worry about paying for them. They’re on the
house.”

And then he sent her back to
her
house.
The one where Vincent waited.

Chapter
Twenty-One

Reese’s bad mood carried over to the next
morning. Given that he’d left the parking lot in one after Bella
had driven away to come home to an empty house, that shouldn’t be a
surprise.