She didn’t say anything, because, well, she liked the flirting. Hell, who was she kidding? She liked him. That didn’t mean she trusted him.
Maddy and Rhys came over. “This is the best wedding I’ve ever been to,” Maddy said. “Seriously, Sam, everything is breathtaking. The carriage rides, the mason jar lemonades, this”—Maddy swept her hand in the air—“it’s so perfect that I can’t get over it.”
“Hey,” Rhys said. “Our wedding was perfect.”
“Of course it was.” Maddy kissed her husband. “Because I was marrying you, but you know as well as I do that we did it on the fly, shotgun style as a result of Emma.”
“Ah, that’s bullshit. I wanted to marry you the first day I met you.” Rhys nuzzled Maddy’s neck.
“Why don’t you guys go get a room and leave the rest of us alone,” Nate said.
Platters of tri-tip, mashed potatoes, and grilled vegetables started coming from the kitchen and Maddy and Rhys went in search of their own table.
Donna came by, balancing a few drinks in her hands, and told Sam, “You outdid yourself, girl. The open bar—phenomenal.” She tottered off to meet up with the rest of the Baker’s Dozen and their husbands.
“She’s a lush,” Nate said into Sam’s ear.
“She is not.”
The Rodriguezes sat across from them, and once again Sam noted how lovely Cecilia Rodriguez was and how sweet it was that Lucky had escorted her to the wedding. Jake Stryker, a detective with the Nugget Police Department, was also at their table and seemed quite taken with Cecilia. He showed her pictures of his daughters on his phone while Lucky scanned the crowd.
“Is your friend here?” Sam asked Lucky knowingly.
“That obvious, huh?”
“Just a little,” Sam said. “Is she here?”
He bobbed his head in the direction of the bandstand. “Over there.”
“You planning to go over and say hi?” Sam asked. Nate was listening in on their conversation but trying to pretend that he wasn’t.
“Nope,” Lucky said. “She can come over here if she wants to get reacquainted.”
“Ah.” Sam lifted her brows. “So you’ll just make yourself crazy tracking her every move?”
“Yep.” Lucky took off his hat and finger combed his hair. “That’s about the extent of it. If I haven’t told you already, this is one exceptional party. We gonna do some of these over at my place?”
“As a matter of fact”—Sam looked at Nate—“just the other day we were talking about the possibilities, weren’t we, Nate?”
He let out a sigh and touched her leg under the table. She wasn’t sure if he was using the opportunity to feel her up or telling her to shut up. “Yep. We’ll set up a meeting next week.”
She locked eyes with him as if to say
Really?
And he nodded his head. The table got quiet as everyone dug into their food—some of the most succulent beef Sam had ever tasted. Then again it was raised right here on McCreedy Ranch.
Harlee came over. She’d been taking pictures of the event for the
Nugget Tribune
, while Colin sat at a table with Darla and Wyatt, looking uncomfortable. Sam knew that Colin had trouble dealing with large crowds. She hadn’t been made privy to all the details, but knew that he was getting medical help.
Harlee scooted her butt onto Sam’s chair. “Are you going to make my wedding as good as this one?”
“Of course,” Sam said.
“This wedding could be on national television, that’s how good it is,” Harlee said. “I love the party favors.” They were mini honeypots filled with McCreedy honey. “Can we do something like that for me?”
“I have an idea for that,” Sam said. “But we’ll need Colin’s help. I want him to do little personalized boxes that we can put candy or chocolates in.”
“I love it,” Harlee said. “Oh, Clay’s about to make his toast. I’ve got to shoot it.” She dashed off, clutching her smartphone.
“You really did do a great job,” Nate said close to her ear.
He was clearly working her for something, she just didn’t know what.
After the toast and dinner, Lucky asked her to dance. She caught Nate scowling as Lucky spun her around the dance floor. When Lucky brought her back to the table, Nate took her out again and pulled her so close she could feel his body heat.
“Nate, what’s your game?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She put enough distance between them to squint up at him. “You want my help fixing the mess Tracy left you, don’t you?”
“Among other things.” He smirked.
“What other things?”
“Things we can only do if you quit, and since I need you to save the gala right now, you can’t quit.”
“Why didn’t you just ask me, instead of acting so smarmy? ‘
I like your dress. You really did do a great job on the wedding
.
I’m so attracted to you
,
Sam
.
I think I want to marry you
,’” she mimicked in a high-pitched voice.
“I don’t remotely sound anything like that,” he said. “Look, it’s not easy eating crow. I shouldn’t have rejected your help in the first place and now I’m desperate. But I meant every word I said, Sam. I do like your dress, the wedding is amazing, and I am attracted to you. I never said I wanted to marry you. I don’t know where the hell that came from.”
“Why should I help you if you won’t give me the vice president job?”
“Because it would go a long way toward proving you deserve it. Come on, Sam, be fair. People work years to get promoted to an executive position in a big hotel company. You’ve been working for less than a year.”
“What about partnering with Lucky for the barn weddings?”
“You heard me before. I said I would set up a meeting to discuss it next week. See, I can be flexible.”
“Just because you want something.”
“Sam, it’s an all-expense-paid trip to San Francisco. I’ll put you up at the Theodore in the same suite you had before. Wine and dine you. It’s not like I’m asking you to stick needles in your eyes.”
“I just think the way you went about it was manipulative,” she said, trying to keep her voice down so no one would hear. “You could’ve just said,
‘Sam, I’m in trouble and need your help.’
I would’ve gladly helped you.”
“Sam, I’m in trouble and need your help.”
After the wedding, Nate spent the evening with Lilly, the only female on the planet who still seemed to like him. All right, he should’ve been up front with Sam. Hell, he shouldn’t have turned away her help in the first place, since she might be the only person who could save him from the mess Tracy had left him in.
But the accolades had been real, not just an attempt to sweeten her up.
Despite his doubts about Sam’s staying power . . . at Breyer Hotels . . . in Nugget . . . she was pretty terrific. Beautiful. Smart. Defiant as hell. A fantastic hostess. And always appropriate. Her clothes perfect for every occasion, her manners impeccable, and without ever missing a beat, she always knew the right thing to say. He supposed it was part of her moneyed upbringing. But beyond that, she treated people kindly, was self-deprecating, and worked her ass off. The woman also had an instinct for business, which Nate found especially hot.
He was starting to think that Royce had been the problem, not Sam. She’d certainly implied that her fiancé wasn’t exactly a prince. Nate got the sense that maybe Royce had cheated. If that was the case, good for her for dumping him.
Unfortunately, Nate was also on her shit list, though she’d agreed to help him get the gala on track. He might have lost the event due to Tracy’s negligence, but the organizer seemed more than pleased to have Sam on board. Actually, the old biddy had been ecstatic.
His biggest challenge would be keeping his hands off Sam while they worked so closely together. There had been a few times during the wedding where he’d come close to pulling her away from the festivities so he could work on getting that dress off her.
But he was a man of restraint and no good could come of them sleeping together. Not while she was his employee and not when they lived next door to each other, leaving him nowhere to hide when the affair ended. Because with him, they always did.
Chapter 18
“I
t seems ridiculous to fly when I can just ride to San Francisco with you,” Sam told Nate after their meeting with Lucky.
The meeting had gone far better than Sam had expected. Surprisingly, Lucky was all for the barn weddings and Nate had agreed to a partnership on the condition that the Lumber Baron ran the show and got the bulk of the proceeds. In return, Nate would pay for the refurbishment of an old barn on Lucky’s property, including adding heat and electricity and bringing the building up to fire code.
“I may leave a day early,” Nate said. “Plus you have a meeting with Landon Lowery.”
“It’s a phone meeting. I can do that on the road and leave when you leave.” She didn’t know why he was being so obstinate. By the time she got parking at the airport, went through security and dealt with any delays, it would be more time efficient to drive, which he was doing anyway.
“Trust me, it’s better this way.”
“Whatever.” She lifted her arms in the air. “Are you happy with the deal we made with Lucky?”
“I suppose. Just don’t leave me in the lurch by going back to Connecticut after you’ve booked a bunch of weddings. This is your baby, so don’t screw me up on it.”
Like your pet, Tracy
, she wanted to say. “If you’re so concerned, you should give me the vice president job.”
“Come on, Sam, we’ve been over this.”
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll see you at the Theodore.”
After work, she called her father, who’d left a couple of messages that he hadn’t been feeling well. But when she tried to pin him down on his symptoms, he admitted that he just wanted her to come home.
“I looked up that town you’re living in,” he said. “The place doesn’t even have a movie theater. What do you do all day?”
“I work, Daddy. Today we cut a big deal and the whole concept was my idea.” Of course she left out that the concept was throwing special events in a barn.
“I looked up Breyer Hotels too,” he huffed.
“And?” She was curious what he’d found.
“I could get you a job at a hotel company twice that size. Something like the Hilton Worldwide or Marriot International. They at least own hotels here in New York or Greenwich.”
“But I like my job, Daddy.”
“I would just hate to think that you’re staying there, in the middle of nowhere, to punish me for Royce,” he said. “I was wrong about that, Sam. I should’ve stood by you when you were having second thoughts.”
“I’m not punishing you, Daddy. I sincerely like it here. Besides, I’m vying for a new position.”
“What’s that?” he asked, and Sam described the VP position for Breyer Hotels.
She told him about Tracy, the gala, the Theodore, and how Nate was relying on her to mend the damage. For the first time she felt like George was actually listening. They didn’t resolve the fact that he wanted her to come home and she wanted to stay, but at least they were talking.
By the time Sam got to San Francisco, she was up to speed on the gala and where negotiations had collapsed between Tracy and the organizer, Fifi Reinhardt. And she had to admit that Fifi sounded like a handful. The Reinhardts were wealthy West Coast philanthropists who had made their money in real estate. They weren’t on the same social rung as the Dunsburys, so Sam had never met the Reinhardts personally. Still, she knew their ilk well.
She had some ideas on how to smooth Fifi’s ruffled feathers, but it would take some compromise. From Sam’s experience, people like Fifi didn’t like to compromise.
True to Nate’s word, he’d put her in the same suite she’d had before. This time, instead of the basket, a large gift box tied in a big bow sat on the coffee table. Much to her delight it was filled with adorable items from the Theodore gift shop: a hoodie with the hotel’s logo, a San Francisco Giants baseball cap, a blingy nightshirt depicting the Golden Gate Bridge, a pair of furry slippers, a plush Theodore spa robe, and an industrial-sized container of aspirin with a note from Nate that read, “You’ll need this.”
Cute.
She called the front desk and asked that Nate be paged, as per his instructions, and ten minutes later he rang her room. “Thanks for the gifts,” she said.
“You make this happen and I’ll give you the gift shop.”
“I’ll do my best,” she said.
“I thought we could work through dinner in my suite. We could get room service or have one of the hotel restaurants send up food.”
“Sounds good.”
They agreed to meet in an hour, giving her time to unpack and freshen up. She dressed in a skirt and blouse, not sure how professional she should be or whether others would be attending the meeting. But when she got to Nate’s suite just down the hall, he was in jeans and a T-shirt.
“My assistant was supposed to be here, but she had an emergency at home,” he said.
“I hope everything’s okay.”
“Her refrigerator went out and her husband is out of town. Maybe we should take this downstairs to one of the meeting rooms?”
“Why?” she asked, taking stock of the suite, which was as nice as hers but not particularly homey. “It’s just the two of us.”
“Precisely.” He homed in on her skirt and blouse and then higher to her lips, where his eyes seemed to linger.
She cocked a brow. “Afraid for your virtue?”
“Nope. I’m afraid for yours, so stay on that side of the couch.”
“You want me to get some tape and put a line down the middle?”
He laughed. “Food’s on its way, smart mouth.”
She sat down and tugged down her skirt, which had hiked up. When she looked up, he was staring at her legs, but quickly turned his head. Luckily, the awkward moment was interrupted by a knock on the door and someone announcing room service.
“I didn’t know what you wanted, so I got a little bit of everything,” Nate said while the attendant rolled in a table covered in dishes.
“I can see that,” Sam said, and watched Nate tip the guy before he left.
She lifted a few of the silver domes and checked out the offerings. Everything looked delicious, including Nate, who’d dragged a couple of chairs to the table. He’d evidently taken a shower before she’d gotten there, because his hair was still damp and curled at the back of his neck. His shirt, stretched across finely honed muscles, made her mouth water. And he smelled so good, like a combination of citrusy aftershave and soap, that she wanted to nuzzle against his neck.
Instead, she pointed at the plates and asked, “Which is yours?”
“Whatever you don’t want.”
“There’s enough here for us to have some of everything.” She took it upon herself to serve them both plates of salmon, steak, wild rice, fried artichokes, and French fries. “We’ll have the rest for breakfast.” After the words left her mouth, she realized how they must’ve sounded and felt herself turn red.
Nate raised his brows. She couldn’t tell whether he was amused or thought she was being overly suggestive.
Between bites and back to business, Nate asked, “So what’s your game plan with Fifi?”
“The truth: I’m planning to kiss her derrière and give her what she wants.” Sam cut into her steak, which had been prepared just the way she liked it. Medium rare.
“There’s no way in hell we’re getting Thomas Keller. And as much as I want this event, I don’t want to go into the hole putting it on.”
“I know that,” Sam said. “Have a little faith, Nate.”
“Have a little faith.” Nate raised his face to the ceiling as if he was talking to the heavens. “Wait until you meet our chef, Richard, and tell me that. He’s as high-maintenance as Fifi. If finding a good executive chef weren’t so difficult, I would’ve fired his ass months ago.”
“It’ll be fine, Nate. I’m good with these kinds of people.”
“I know.” He stood up and paced the room.
“Do you like living here?” she asked.
“Yeah. What’s not to like?”
She got to her feet and joined him at the window. “You’ve got great views, but it seems . . . impersonal.”
“That’s what my Nugget house is for. I like the pictures you put on the walls, by the way. Especially the ones of Lilly.”
“I wasn’t sure,” she said. “I felt like I might’ve been overstepping, so I’m glad you like them.”
He went back to the couch. “I have to be careful about not intruding on their family too much, but the pictures are okay . . . I think.”
“I guess there’s no protocol on these things. You just have to play it by ear.”
“Nope,” he said. “There’s no guidebook to being the biological father of another couple’s child when said couple also happen to be your best friends.”
“You seem to be handling it rather well. It’s a very beautiful thing you did for Sophie and Mariah, Nate.” When he had his own babies, he’d be a good father.
She grabbed the folder she’d brought with her and moved to the loveseat across from him. “I was able to get ahold of the American Society of Hematology and figure out where Tracy left off with their conference. Same with the Gleasons’ anniversary party. We’re pretty much up to speed on everything now.”
“Except for the opera party.” He was back to gazing at her lips.
“Mm-hmm.” She tried to focus, but kept thinking about his kisses, about how good they felt. If she closed her eyes she could taste him. “You sure you don’t want to attend the meeting with Fifi and me tomorrow?”
“Yep. You’re the one she wants to meet.”
That seemed odd to Sam, since Nate was top dog. But she enjoyed a spark of pride at his sudden trust in her. Or maybe the spark was lust, because she couldn’t help but wonder what he’d look like with his shirt off. Ripped, for sure. And a good bet, given the nice masculine smattering of hair on his forearms, that there would be a trail running down his chest. She felt hot just thinking about it.
Nate tilted his head sideways and tried to get her attention. “What are you doing?”
Uh-oh, she must’ve been staring. Hopefully she didn’t have drool on her chin. “Nothing. Just thinking about the meeting.”
“Is that all you’re thinking about?” The side of his mouth quirked up.
“Of course.” She tried to act like she couldn’t imagine what else he could be talking about.
“Liar.” This time he gave her a full-blown grin, and she noticed the five o’clock shadow on his face.
He must’ve forgone shaving when he’d showered. She briefly fantasized about how his bristle would feel rubbing over her entire body before reining herself in.
Nate got up to get a drink of water and stood behind the counter in his tiny kitchenette. “Maybe we ought to table this for tomorrow morning.”
“Why? I wanted to go over some ideas with you about my presentation for Fifi.”
“You know why. You’ve been sitting there for the last ten minutes, distracted. And I passed distracted a long time ago.” His eyes moved down to his southern region and he smiled. “That’s why I’m standing back here.”
“Fine.” She stood up and got her purse. “If you can’t control yourself, I’ll leave.”
“I think that’s an excellent idea. You won’t mind if I don’t walk you out, will you?”
“You’re pathetic, Nate.”
“Not pathetic, just a man.”
She didn’t know what possessed her, but she went right up to him, pressed tightly against his body and kissed him. “Is this a problem for you, boss?”
He held his arms up in the air. “Not touching you back.”
She snugged up against his hardness, taking the time to watch his expression turn tortured. “How’s this?”
“Good. Stay there as long as you like. But I’m still not touching you back.”
“How about now?” She undid his belt.
“All good.” But his voice sounded strained.
She pulled his jeans down and stroked him over his shorts. His eyes shut and she could feel him shudder. “Still good?”
“Never better,” he said on a moan. “But still not touching you.”
She pushed away from him and unbuttoned her blouse until it hung open, revealing her lacy demi-cup bra. His eyes heated as they wandered over her breasts and Sam could’ve sworn that he licked his lips.
“Shit!” Nate leaned his head back into a cabinet and squeezed his eyes closed. “I give up.” He hitched up his pants, grabbed her around the waist, tossed her over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold and carried her into his bedroom, where he dropped her in the middle of his Calking bed. “You up for this? Because if you’re not, I suggest you go, now. Fast.”
She stared up at him, a little smile playing on her lips. “I’m good.”
“Honey, I’m planning to make you a whole lot better than good.” He came down on top of her and kissed her until she thought she’d die from the pleasure of it.
She rubbed against him, wanting to twine her legs around his waist so he could nestle himself inside the part of her that ached for him, but her skirt was too tight. The damn thing needed to come off, but she didn’t want to stop kissing him to make that happen.
Nate, on the other hand, was a multitasker, because he managed to get her blouse off and her bra unhooked without ever leaving her mouth.
“Mmm,” he hummed as he fondled her breasts and rubbed her nipples with his thumb. “These are good.” He lifted up to examine them. “They’re big.”
Sam reached for the blanket.
“What? You’re suddenly shy?”
“No,” she said, and squirmed to get under the covers.
“Hey.” He pressed down on the top of the quilt so she couldn’t pull them over her. “Don’t. I like looking at you. You’re beautiful.”
“You don’t have to say that.”
“I don’t have to, but it’s the truth. Come on, you’ve got to know how stunning you are. It’s not just me, everybody thinks so.”
“Not everybody. But thank you.”
He kissed her again, letting his hands wander reverently over her breasts and belly. “So pretty,” Nate whispered. “Let’s get this off too.”