“I’ll pass that along,” I said. I looked down at the binder in my arms. “If you’ll excuse me...”
“Of course,” she said. “I’m sure the other Miss Breckenridge keeps you quite busy.”
I gave her another smile and hurried off, hoping I was heading in the right direction. I knew there were a million things that needed to be done. I just had to figure out the best place to start. I was pretty sure there was a schedule in the binder, but I already felt like I was showing too much in the way of nerves. I needed a moment.
Then I saw a means of escape.
“I’m going to run to the restroom,” I said suddenly. “I’ll be right back.”
I didn’t wait for Emmalyn to respond, but ducked through the door to my right. I closed the door behind me and leaned back against it. I closed my eyes and forced myself to take several deep breaths.
I could do this.
I graduated with honors, steadily been in the top five in almost all of my classes. I could handle this.
Besides, Juliette wouldn’t have entrusted it to me if she hadn’t thought I could do it. She would’ve asked me to come back and sit with the truck, or she would’ve put someone else in charge.
My sister believed in me, and I damn sure wasn’t going to let her down.
I exhaled again and opened my eyes.
Pep talk over, I set the binder down on the sink and looked at myself in the mirror. This wasn’t how I wanted things to go, but they were already in motion, and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it. It was time to prove myself.
When I stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later, Emmalyn was standing there, her face blank, but her toe tapping on the expensive marble tile.
“All right,” I said. “Let’s do this.”
***
I had absolutely no clue where the past few hours had gone. One moment, I was giving Emmalyn instructions that she clearly didn’t want, and the next, I was watching the servers clearing away empty plates and listening to everyone exclaiming over how amazing the food had been.
“And they haven’t even had dessert yet,” I murmured.
“Excuse me?” Emmalyn spoke up from my left.
“Nothing,” I said and gave her a tight smile. “Just grateful things have gone so smoothly.”
“They have,” she admitted. “Juliette will be pleased.”
“Thank you,” I said. At least I could be honest about this. “You were a huge help tonight. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
I could see the war on Emmalyn’s face. Part of her wanted to accept graciously, and I hoped that was because she could hear how sincere my gratitude was. Another part of her, I was sure, wanted to tell me to go fuck myself because while I couldn’t have done it without her, she could’ve easily done it without me.
She settled for somewhere half-way in-between. “The night’s not over yet. We still have a lot to do.”
She was right. Even though the main courses had been served, and the tables were being cleared, we’d only made it through part of Juliette’s list. We still had dessert to serve, drinks to monitor, clean-up, tear down, and, of course, making sure we left everything as pristine as we’d found it, or even more so. I was just glad I didn’t have to worry about things like the servers stealing or being rude to anyone. Juliette’s staff was amazing.
“I’m going to check on things.” I gave Emmalyn a polite smile. “If you could keep things in line back here, I’d appreciate it.”
She nodded and turned toward the kitchen. I almost felt bad for the workers I was leaving her with, but I couldn’t deny I was glad for the break. My nerves were still there, fluttering on the edge of my thoughts, but they’d eased as I’d let myself fall into Juliette’s role. As I stepped out into the main room, I admitted that some of that lingering anxiety was due to the constant watchful eye of Emmalyn.
“Miss Breckenridge.” A handsome older gentleman with silvery hair came up, a pleased smile on his face. “So good to see you again.”
Again? It took me a moment to realize that he was mistaking me for Juliette. She and I really did look alike, but I hadn’t realized it was that pronounced. Then again, it was also likely that this man had only met my sister once, and alcohol had probably been involved both times.
I opened my mouth to tell him that I wasn’t Juliette, but I suddenly remembered what Juliette had said about word of mouth in this business. If I corrected him, and he asked to speak to my sister, I’d have to admit that she wasn’t here. I doubted that was something Juliette wanted getting around.
“It’s nice to see you as well.” I shook his outstretched hand. “I hope everything was to your liking this evening.”
“It was.” He gave my hand a friendly squeeze before letting it go. “You have a wonderful night.”
“You too.” I kept smiling even as he walked away.
I just hoped he didn’t speak with anyone who actually knew I wasn’t Juliette. I made my way around the perimeter of the room, giving nods and smiles to anyone who looked my way while I attempted to appear too busy to stop. Hopefully, my presence would either make people think I was Juliette, or if they realized I wasn’t, they’d assume she’d sent me to check on things while she was busy somewhere else.
I almost made it full circle when someone stepped into my path. I stopped abruptly, nearly stumbling, and a hand shot out to grab my elbow, steadying me. Warmth flooded through me, both embarrassment at the near-collision and at the stranger’s touch.
I looked up at someone several inches taller than me and met a pair of slate gray eyes. He had a classically handsome face, just the right combination of pretty and rugged, with a strong jawline and only a hint of stubble so fair that it was nearly invisible. His hair was an unruly white blond, the sort I immediately associated with the beach and waves and surfers. The expensive tux he wore, however, was definitely not surfer chic.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a low voice. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
I wanted to step forward, let his hand slide up my elbow and around to my back to pull me into him.
So I stepped away instead.
“I was distracted,” I found myself saying. “Trying to make sure everything’s perfect.”
He smiled and a dimple appeared in one cheek. Of course he’d have a dimple too. Fuck me, he was gorgeous.
“I would expect nothing less, Miss Breckenridge.” He dropped his hand. “This company has quite the reputation to uphold.”
I nodded and tried to think of something that wouldn’t make me sound like an idiot. Fortunately, he kept me from needing to speak.
“Reputation means a lot to me.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. “I realize that subbing isn’t exactly what you would prefer to do, but I’m hoping you’ll make an exception in my case.” He held out his hand, and I automatically reached out to take the card. “At least consider it. It could be very beneficial for you.”
I stared as he walked away, trying to decide what was throwing me more. How amazing those broad shoulders and muscular body looked in that perfectly-cut tux...or the fact that I was pretty sure I’d been offered a job.
I looked down at the card. Cross Phillips. There was a phone number and an email address, but nothing that explained who this man was or what position he was offering me. Or why in the world he’d walk up to a random person and offer them a temporary position working for him. Unless that was the way things were done out here.
Maybe he’d talked to Emmalyn and she’d mentioned that I was only filling in for the business manager position temporarily. That made sense in a way, especially if Emmalyn really wanted this job. What didn’t make sense was why a handsome, clearly rich man would want a business manager who was just out of school. Then again, he said it was a subbing position, so maybe he figured a recent graduate would cost less. Just because he had money didn’t necessarily mean he spent frivolously.
A noise from the kitchen made me jerk up my head, remembering the real reason I was here. It wasn’t to get job offers from handsome men. I already had work to do, and right now, that meant finding out what just happened in the kitchen.
I’d think about Cross Phillips later.
Maybe while enjoying a glass of wine and a hot bath. He was gorgeous.
But this wasn’t the time for that.
I hurried toward the kitchen, hoping that my good luck hadn’t run out and that it had just been something minor.
Chapter Four
I was exhausted.
Like bone-deep, fall-down-and-not-wake-til-morning exhausted.
I wasn’t unused to hard work. All of us kids had worked in the family store growing up and were all expected to maintain good grades at the same time. I’d worked a job through college while staying at the top of my classes as well. It hadn’t been unusual for me to go for weeks with only a couple hours of sleep here and there, especially during finals.
But tonight...I shook my head as I watched the last of the staff drive off. Juliette was on her way, finally having gotten everything taken care of. She asked me to wait at the business so we could go back to the apartment together. While I waited, I leaned back against the counter and eased off my shoes with a pained exhale. I’d been smart in choosing my shoes tonight, but even the most comfortable footwear wouldn’t have held up to the amount of time I’d been on my feet.
I reached into my bag and pulled out the business card Cross Phillips had given me. What could he want me to do? I had to admit, as much as I’d enjoyed the last week working with Juliette, I couldn’t deny that I was tempted to take up his offer. But I also had to admit that it was less because I wanted a different job, and more because I wanted to get to know the man who’d offered it.
It had been a while since I’d met a guy I found interesting.
“How did things go?” Juliette asked as soon as she came in. Her expression was strangely blank, as if she was keeping whatever she was feeling under tight control.
“It went well,” I answered. She’d had a bad day, and I couldn’t remember how she usually responded to stress. If this was her way of keeping a temper in check, I wasn’t going to call attention to it.
“Since I didn’t get any calls from the Breashears, I assumed that meant nothing blew up, and we didn’t give anyone food poisoning.” She gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “How’d you do?”
I ran my hand through my hair. “Um, not bad I guess.”
“Come on.” Juliette gestured toward the door. “You can tell me all about it on the way home.”
We caught a cab easier than I expected, and I spent the short ride back to the apartment giving Juliette a run-down of the party. She asked a couple questions, but already seemed to know the answers. I wanted to believe it was because she had enough faith in me that she knew I’d done a good job.
Except that wasn’t the sort of vibe I was getting from my sister. She almost seemed...distracted.
As we walked to the elevator, I frowned. Juliette was never distracted. By anything. She was a multi-tasker, but she was always focused on whatever she was working on. She had almost obsessive focus. I knew that and understood it, because I was the same way when it came to work.
So I wasn’t sure what was going on with her.
Before I could ask, however, Juliette changed the subject.
“What’s that you’ve been fiddling with ever since we got in the cab?” she asked as she flipped on the main light.
I didn’t understand her question at first, but then she motioned to my hand and I saw that I was still holding Cross’ business card.
“Oh, this.” I held it out to her. “He was at the party and offered me a job.”
Juliette took the card and I watched her face change as she read it.
“Cross Phillips.” The name came out flat.
“I believe so,” I said, giving her a curious look. “He didn’t introduce himself.”
“But he offered you a job.”
“Yeah.” I almost asked her for the card back, but I wasn’t sure how she’d react. “But not a permanent one. I figured I’d talk things over with you, see if you had anyone else you wanted to try out for the business manager position. You know, so it doesn’t look like you just gave me the job.”
Juliette frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“I think Emmalyn may have thought she would get the job–”
“Not that,” she cut me off. “I mean, why do you think he was offering you a temporary job?”
“Because he said it was.” I folded my arms, eyes narrowing. “What’s going on?”
“Cross Phillips is bad news,” she said. “That’s what’s going on.” She tossed the card into the trash. “Stay away from him.”
I stared at her as she walked over to the fridge and pulled out a beer. When she went into the living room, I grabbed a bottle of water and joined her.
“Why?” I sat down across from her. “What would be so bad about working for this guy?”
“Let it go, Hanna.”
I could hear the warning in her voice, but that just made me more curious. Juliette had gone to college before I’d really been old enough to date, and the few times she’d been home, she hadn’t exactly been policing my boyfriends. Pretty much the only dating advice she’d ever given me was to be smart and date only people I cared about rather than dating just to say I had a boyfriend.