If The Shoe Fits (24 page)

Bella smiled and, again, Reese felt as if the
sun had dipped from the sky to sit beside him.

Oh, man. He needed to go see a horror flick or
something. Sit through a ball game. Go off-roading. Watch a
wrestling match. A marathon of them. Cage fighting.
Any
thing
to retain his man-card.

“
My grandparents did. It was the
only way they could get married.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
They were engaged to a brother
and sister. That’s how they met, and during their courtships, they
fell in love with each other. They couldn’t bear the thought of
marrying the one they were supposed to, so they had to find a way
to buy out the dowries and keep the family honor. But they were
immigrant kids—the only jobs they could get back then were in
factories. That kind of work wouldn’t give them enough, so they
came up with the idea of opening their own business. With my
grandfather’s gift of gab and my grandmother’s cooking expertise,
they started Casteleoni’s out of my great-grandmother’s kitchen. It
wasn’t long before they were able to buy out the contracts and get
married.”

So her family business had started
because
of a relationship. “That’s a great
story.”

“
I know. That’s why Casteleoni’s
means so much to me. It’s not just a business; it’s my family’s
history. Sophia’s and mine. Part of who we are.”

And who she was was so very special. Reese
fingered a coin in his pocket. God, he wanted to kiss
her.

“
So why are you here, Reese? I
thought we covered everything last night.”

“
We did.”

Well, not everything…

He kissed her. Took her beautiful face in his
hands, tilted her chin up, and claimed her sweet soft lips in the
way he’d wanted to since the kiss in the kitchen had whetted his
appetite.

God, she tasted good. Better than he
remembered. He traced the seam of her lips with his tongue, wanting
entrance—

What
was he doing?

Reese pulled away from the kiss. They were in
a zoo, of all places, her impressionable little sister—sister!—was
five feet away, and he had a plane to catch. Not optimal
circumstances for making out with her, never mind the fact that he
shouldn’t just walk up and maul her.

“
What was that for?” Her gorgeous
blue eyes blinked at him and Reese prayed that was desire he saw in
them, not disgust.

He shoved his hands back into his pockets, out
of temptation’s way.

But then she said, “I thought you didn’t like
kissing me.”

“
Where did you get that
idea?”

“
You apologized. In the
kitchen.”

Hell.
Utter lack of finesse, Charmant
.
“I thought you were married.”

Her eyes widened and whatever desire he’d
thought he’d seen disappeared. “You thought I was
married
and you still kissed me?”

He was botching this. “No, not then. Not when
I apologized. I didn’t want my attraction to you to interfere with
our business relationship yet I’d just kissed you and, well, it
wasn’t a good idea.”

“
So where does the married part
come in and how on earth did you come to that conclusion? I live
with my stepmother, for Pete’s sake.”

“
I thought you lived with Vincent.
And that Sophia was your daughter.”

It took her two heart-wrenching seconds to
react. Two seconds for Reese to wonder if he’d blown it even before
kissing her just now.

And then she laughed. Full-on,
belly-clutching, bending-over laughter.

“
Are you kidding me? You thought I
was married to Uncle Vinny? What kind of woman do you think I am?
And him? Oh my God. What does that say about him?”

He grimaced. “I’m not saying I’m proud of it,
I just put one and one together and—”

“
And came up with four thousand
nine hundred and eight-seven.” She bit her bottom lip. “God, Reese,
you couldn’t be more wrong.”

“
I know that now.” He wanted to
run his thumb over that bottom lip.

“
So why is it okay for you to kiss
me now? We’re still working together—you’re not firing me, are
you?”

“
No, Bella, it’s just…” God, he
was really screwing this up. He should have stuck to his rule, but
Bella made him forget the rules. Made him want to make up new ones.
“I’ve been attracted to you from the moment we met and, well,
you’re not married.”

“
So you kiss all the unmarried
girls you’re attracted to?”

“
Usually.”

He winced when she laughed.

“
At least you’re
honest.”

“
That came out wrong. What I meant
was, before. Back in my playing days. There were women. But not
recently. I haven’t kissed anyone recently.” God, he was babbling.
Make him stop.

Bella touched Reese’s arm. “Reese, I’m
flattered. Thank you. And I think you’re pretty wonderful, too, but
it’s not a good idea.”

“
Yeah, I know.” Didn’t mean he had
to like it. Especially when the woman was the one doing the turning
down.

“
I mean, we have a good working
relationship and I need this job. I don’t want to jeopardize
it.”

“
It wouldn’t have to be an
either/or thing, Bella.” He listened to himself rationalize and
wondered what he was doing. He’d never had to beg a woman to go out
with him before.

He’d beg Bella for so much if she wanted him
to…

That thought knocked him back on his ass. Good
thing he was sitting.

Bella, however, was not. She stood. “It
is
an either/or thing, actually. I just can’t. This is
business. I hope you understand.”

For two more weeks it was. He could last two
more weeks. “Okay, I hear you. We’ll get through the
auction.”

“
And after, Reese. It won’t be a
good idea then, either.”

“
Why the hell not?”

She wrapped her arms around her waist. “I just
can’t. Right now, the only relationships I need in my life are
professional ones, okay?”

No it wasn’t, but what was he going to do
about it? Knocking her over the head with a club went out a few
thousand years ago.

And since when had he felt caveman about any
woman?

“
Reese!” Sophia came skipping
over. “Come see the babies! You can talk to Bella
anytime.”

No, apparently, he couldn’t. Not unless it had
to do with set-ups or invoicing.

Man, the painful irony of having his own rule
tossed in his face after he’d made his peace with tossing it aside…
God, his arrogance. His ego.

Bella jerked her head. “Go ahead, Reese. Make
Sophia happy. We’re still on for the auction. Anything else, well,
it just can’t be.”

He let Sophia tug him toward the monkeys. He
owed Devin a huge apology because he now knew exactly how she’d
felt.

And, man, did it suck.

Chapter
Twenty-Three

“
So where’s that Prince Charming
guy?” asked Drew a few days later, sashaying in on six-inch heels.
Madeleine’s next make-over victim perhaps?

Bella steered her stepsister to an unoccupied
booth, the gray day outside now matching her mood. “What can I get
for you today, Drew?

“
How ‘bout tall, dark, and
hunky?”

Yeah, that wasn’t happening. “All out of tall,
dark, and hunky. How about a chicken cutlet sandwich
instead?”

“
I guess.” Drew clicked her nails
on the table. “Staci says you’re pulling a fast one on
Mother.”

Bella looked around again. Half the regulars
would love to put one over on Madeleine and if word got out before
Bella actually managed to do it, the plan would be over before it
began. “Not really. Staci and I just decided it’d be better to let
Madeleine think we’re going along with her plan.”

“
She’s going to be pissed when she
doesn’t get on that stupid committee of hers.”

“
Nothing I say is going to put her
on that committee, no matter what she thinks. It’s up to her and,
really, it’s none of my business.”

“
Try telling
her
that.”
Drew nodded to something behind Bella.

Some
one.

Bella groaned. Madeleine, in another one of
her Hell-Froze-Over visits, was dressed in her country club uniform
that consisted of a lime-and-white striped golf shirt, lime green
pencil skirt, and the requisite string of pearls, with her hair
smoothed back into one of those ladies-who-lunch matching
headbands, and was dragging a little man in a business suit along
behind her.

“
Lucinda.” Madeleine had perfected
the queen-for-a-lifetime haughtiness. “Andrew.”

Bella cringed along with her stepsister.
Drew’s father, wanting a boy, had chosen her name, and the only
reason she hadn’t changed it was because of Drew
Barrymore.

“
Allow me to introduce Mr.
Giovanni Fiorello.” Madeleine, as usual, was oblivious to Drew’s
cringing. “He’s interested in buying the establishment and has a
few questions.”

A stripe of white in Madeleine’s black hair
would make her look more like the badger she was. Or a snarling
wolverine. Or a skunk. Yeah, definitely a skunk; she was a stinky
human being. And those eyes were definitely weasely. Just like her
personality. No way was Bella going to let the woman sell the
restaurant.

Bella smiled at the man; after all, the
situation wasn’t his fault. And answering his questions could buy
her some time and goodwill with Madeleine. “Mr. Fiorello, why don’t
you have a seat and I’ll be back as soon as I put Drew’s order in.
Can I get you something to eat or drink?”

“
Lemonade would be nice,” he
answered, fingering the collar of a shirt that looked about two
sizes too big for him. As did his suit.

Hmmm… How much money could he offer for the
restaurant if he couldn’t afford to outfit himself
properly?

Bella smelled a rat. One that could pass for a
skunk.

But she wasn’t going to call Madeleine’s
bluff. As long as Madeleine was occupied with fake buyers, she’d
stay away from real ones, and that’d be one less thing for Bella to
worry about.

Bella flashed a false smile at her stepmother
and turned to leave, but Madeleine was like a leech—yet another
animal comparison that was spot on.

Bella added
snake
to that list when
Madeleine slithered next to her.

“
What did you mean when you told
Andrew that it wasn’t your business?” Madeleine even hissed the
esses
at the end of her question.

Bella added
bat
to the comparison list
because the woman obviously had the ears of one.

“
Something Drew was talking
about.” She walked behind the counter and opened the small fridge
for the lemonade.

Madeleine, of course, didn’t dare follow. She
waited on the other side, tapping a designer shoe. “I hope you
weren’t referring to my Board activities. They most certainly
are
your business. Because—” Now Bella could swear she heard
the soft ripple of a purr in Madeleine’s throat. “Any hopes you
have of keeping this place are linked to me having a position on
the Board. If that opportunity disappears, there’s no reason for me
to stay in town, so you can kiss this place and that home of yours
goodbye.”

Bella counted to ten. “Madeleine, I don’t have
anything to do with you getting on the Board. I’ve given your teas,
I’ve done a good job for Connie DeLeo. I’ve associated our name
with a charity auction; what more do you want me to do?”

Madeleine wrapped her bony fingers around
Bella’s bicep. “I want you to stay far away from Reese
Charmant.”

Yeah, no kidding. Madeleine would want that
even if his mother wasn’t up for “her” Board position. But Bella
wasn’t supposed to know about that.

She tugged her arm free. “That’ll be kind of
hard since we’re working together.”

“
Quit.”

“
What? I can’t quit. It’s too
late. We’re too close.”

“
Let him find someone
else.”

“
No one is going to come on board
at this late date, Madeleine. Plus, if I did quit, I’d never get
another catering job in this town.” And she’d never find a way to
save enough extra cash to wage a custody battle. It was as if the
woman were picking her dreams apart one by one.

“
I don’t care, Lucinda. I don’t
want you working for him.”

“
You can’t stop me.”

Madeleine’s feral grin slithered across her
face. “Yes I can.”

Oh, hell. She shouldn’t have challenged
her.

Madeleine straightened her shoulders and
crossed her arms, the fingers of one hand strumming on her elbow.
“Quit working for Reese immediately or Sophia will be on the first
bus out of town. And Mr. Fiorello will be able to name his price
for this place.”