Perhaps it should have made a difference that today was her wedding shower, and that she was marrying someone else. But it didn’t.
Because she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
“Julie asked me to bring this.” He lifted the full tray of food a little higher.
Phoebe quickly came to intercept. “Oh good, RJ, you’re here with the rest of the buffet. I’ll let Julie and Andrew know.”
Rose stepped aside to let him in, but not before he breathed in her clean, fresh scent. RJ walked into the living room, put the tray down on one of the smaller side tables, and uncovered it.
“Everyone’s so busy, I should probably just take care of laying the canapés out properly,” Rose said.
Knowing she always wanted to make sure every last little thing was perfect, without any prompting he mirrored Rose’s movements as the two of them laid out the canapés with the rest of the food on the buffet table. Anything he could make easier for her, he would.
“Well,” she said when they were finished, “I think that looks pretty good. Hopefully, Donovan’s mom won’t be able to find fault with the food.”
“How could she possibly find fault with anything here today?” RJ asked, turning to her as he asked the question.
That was a mistake, because the dress she wore clung to her in a way that RJ couldn’t take his eyes off, matching the deep green of her eyes perfectly.
Though the truth was that she looked just as good in jeans and a slightly too-large old shirt when they were working in the chalet’s garden on a quiet morning when no clients were around.
Rose shifted nervously. “Well, there’s my mom…”
“You’re worried about your mother meeting Donovan’s mother?”
She sat down on one of the chairs in Anne’s living room, looking out the window. “They don’t exactly come from the same world. I just don’t want either of them to be uncomfortable with the other.”
RJ didn’t know what to say, even though he knew exactly what he
wanted
to say. Namely, that if Donovan’s mother wanted to disapprove of Rose or her mother, then that wasn’t Rose or Susie’s problem. It was Mrs. McIntyre’s.
“Maybe they’ll both get along famously,” he suggested instead.
Rose looked up at him from the chair. “I can’t see that happening somehow. I mean, Vanessa is a wealthy, sophisticated woman, while my mom probably earns half the salary of Vanessa’s house cleaners.”
There were moments when RJ wanted to shake Rose and remind her that her working class roots weren’t anything to be ashamed of. And she definitely shouldn’t be ashamed when it came to being in the same room as a woman whose major contribution to the world seemed to be giving birth to Donovan McIntyre.
That
was hardly a major achievement in RJ’s book.
But Rose was his boss, and his friend, and if RJ wanted things to stay that way he knew he would have to add that sentiment to the ever-growing list of things he didn’t allow himself say to her.
“I can’t imagine anyone not being impressed by the way you’ve made the Rose Chalet such a success. Vanessa McIntyre would have to be crazy to think you aren’t good enough for her son.”
“Thanks, RJ,” Rose said with a small smile that didn’t linger nearly long enough. “How is it you always know just what to say to make me feel better?”
Maybe because he knew her better than anyone else?
Or maybe because it hadn’t been intended as a pep talk, but as the simple truth. Because not only was Rose more beautiful than any other woman he’d ever met, but on top of that she’d made the chalet the premier boutique wedding venue in San Francisco.
“It’s just a knack, I guess.”
“Well, I hope it’s a knack you hang onto,” she replied, “because I get the feeling I’m going to need a few more pep talks before everything is perfectly in place for the wedding. You’ll do that for me, won’t you, RJ?”
Maybe he should say no. Or maybe, just maybe, he should say what he’d wanted to say for so long, that Rose should abandon the wedding and give him the chance to show her how good they could be together.
The trouble was, he could never break up someone’s relationship. He could never be the other guy. Not when he knew only too well how bad that felt. Hadn’t it felt like part of him was dying when he found his now ex-wife in bed with another man? A man he’d known from their social circle. A man he’d trusted with his wife.
So even though he wanted Rose so much he ached with it, RJ had told himself he could never get in the middle of her relationship with Donovan.
Still, how could he forget the one perfect kiss he and Rose had shared? Because when they’d kissed that one, unexpected time, it had felt like she understood everything about him, and that they were meant for one another.
Yet he’d obviously been wrong, because she’d never so much as mentioned the moment since. And if their kiss—their connection—hadn’t meant as much to her as it had to him…well, then he would just have to keep adding to the list of things he wouldn’t say to her.
Hating how nervous and worried she looked, he had to assure her, “Your wedding is going to be perfect. Even by
your
crazy standards,” he teased.
“My standards are not crazy,” Rose insisted. “They’re just meticulous.”
He grinned. “Meticulous, huh?” It was so easy to fall into this playful banter with her.
Rose glanced around the room with a look that he recognized all too well after working with her for five years, as if she might go around and check everything for the party just once more.
“Maybe if I
—
”
RJ put his hand on her forearm. “Everything is going to be fine. Better than fine. The wedding shower is going to be perfect. Trust me.”
Rose sighed as she relaxed slightly beneath his fingers. “What would I do without you?”
It was so good seeing her finally relax a little. Just those small changes as she loosened up slightly, the tension leaving the corners of her mouth and around her eyes.
He wanted so badly to reach out and pull her closer. It wouldn’t take much to drag Rose tight against him, his hands going up to soothe the tension from her shoulders while his lips moved down to hers.
Suddenly, Rose seemed to sense how close they were too, because her breathing came a little quicker. Or was that RJ’s imagination?
Well, the heat in her eyes wasn’t, nor was that slight parting of her lips and the flush in her cheeks as she stood up. He stood up, too, knowing all he needed to do was move an inch closer and then he could
—
“
There
you both are,” Anne said, sweeping into the room with Julie at her side.
When Julie pulled Rose away, asking a question about wedding cake designs, Anne took RJ’s arm. “It’s almost time for this bridal shower to start. Which means no men. Even you. So out you go. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
As RJ let Anne lead him to the door, He said,
“
Take care of her today, Anne, will you?”
She gave him a look that spoke volumes. “Of course I will, RJ. She’s my best friend and all I want is for her to be happy.”
That was all he wanted, too.
Chapter Three
Rose was trying to pay attention to Julie while she talked about cake frosting and decorations, but all she was really doing was watching RJ leave Anne’s house out of the corner of her eye.
Why did she always find herself watching him like that these days?
And why did she also find herself thinking about him even when he was no longer there?
And why, when Anne had drunkenly asked her months ago whether there was anyone who had made her feel cherished and loved when they kissed, had Rose thought of him?
After all, they were just friends.
And they’d only had one, little kiss...
The bar was full. Full enough that the two seats at the bar were the last two in the place. Couples and small groups were laughing and enjoying themselves while music blared from speakers bolted to the corners of the room. The atmosphere was just this side of raucous.
They’d been working on back-to-back-to-back weddings at the chalet for three couples who were willing to pay nearly twice Rose’s usual fee to get married on the most romantic day of the year. They’d all worked late to put on the celebrations, with Tyce providing the music, Phoebe and Anne helping out at the reception, and RJ dealing with the last minute problems that always seemed to crop up. By the time the last wedding was wrapped up, they left the chalet at an hour when most people were already home celebrating Valentine’s Day with the one they loved, out at a restaurant for a romantic meal, or toasting each other in a bar like this one.
“I can’t believe Donovan stood you up on Valentine’s Day,” RJ said, sitting down next to her.
He looked good, as usual, wearing a slightly more formal shirt and pants so that he’d fit in with the wedding guests as he worked around them during the events. Right then, though, his shirtsleeves were rolled up to show the muscles of his forearms.
Muscles she liked looking at far too much.
“Donovan didn’t stand me up,” Rose said defensively. “He called to let me know he’s going to be late.”
Donovan had been planning to take her out for a meal at a five star restaurant, but an emergency had come up at his clinic. He’d often had to wait for her to finish up with a wedding, so she told him she could certainly wait another hour or two for their Valentine’s Day dinner.
“It sure felt like he was standing you up when we were standing out in the rain,” RJ pointed out in what she felt was a particularly unhelpful way.
Still, she politely said, “Thanks for waiting with me, RJ.”
“It was my pleasure,” he said. And, strangely, it sounded like it actually was.
She looked around the very boisterous bar. “Though I’m not sure we should have gone off to a bar. We could have waited at the chalet.”
“We’ve been cooped up there all day long, working triple time. And you’ve been run off your feet today by needy brides and panicking grooms. If anyone deserves a drink tonight, it’s you.”
Rose couldn’t argue with his excellent reasoning. “You’re right, he can call my cell phone when he gets to the chalet.”
As RJ raised his arm to get the attention of the bartender, Rose decided that this was a good moment to let her hair down a little, literally, as she pulled out the clip holding her hair back in a ponytail, then shook her hair out.
“Do that too much,” RJ observed after the bartender slid their drinks over, “and you’ll have half the guys in here hitting on you.”
“I’m pretty sure that if they’re here on Valentine’s Day, they’re already with someone,” she pointed out.
He shook his head. “Trust me, there are plenty of single guys in a bar like this, and all of them are waiting for a woman like you.”
She laughed, flattered by the admiration in RJ’s eyes despite the fact that she had a fiancé. “I don’t think that’s very likely.”
His eyes darkened as he gazed at her across the table. “I think you might be surprised, Rose.”
She wasn’t able to pull her gaze away from his when, suddenly, the bartender cut the music and waved his hands for silence.
“All right, everybody. We all know that today’s a very special day. Which is why we’ve decided it’s also the day you all get a chance to win five hundred bucks. The rules are simple. Ladies, grab your gentlemen and give them a big Valentine’s Day kiss. The best kiss of the night takes the money. Are we all clear?”
That got a few cheers from the crowd, especially when one bubbly and frankly quite drunk-looking woman grabbed the surprised-looking man next to her and planted a kiss on his lips.
“Well, it looks like we have someone to get us started,” the bartender said. “Now, who else do we have? Who wants that five hundred dollars?”
Rose laughed along with the rest of them, but she could see how uncomfortable RJ looked right then. Given that he worked at a wedding venue, he surely couldn’t have a problem with seeing people kiss in front of him, so it had to be something else, didn’t it?
What then?
The bartender was walking past couples in the bar by now, asking them one-by-one to give it their best shot. If anything, that seemed to make RJ even more uncomfortable.
Was it the money?
RJ was such a talented landscaper that she knew he could have made big bucks with his own business. Instead, he’d chosen to work for her, for a salary that was perfectly fine, but would never make him wealthy.
Was he thinking about everything he could do with that five hundred dollars, if only she could loosen up and help him win it?
“Would you like to take a shot at it?” Rose asked him.
“What?” He looked shocked by her suggestion.
Since she couldn’t bring up the money and bruise his pride, she said, “You probably cancelled your own Valentine’s Day plans to wait with me. The least I can do is help you win the big prize here tonight.”
RJ shook his head. “I didn’t have any plans.”
Now that was hard to believe. A great looking, wonderful guy like RJ didn’t have some girl waiting for him on Valentine’s? There was something very wrong with the world if that was the case.
With tequila buzzing around inside her on top of the champagne she’d had earlier at the wedding, Rose couldn’t help feeling that there ought to be laws against men as good looking as RJ being left alone on Valentine’s Day.
“Why not?” she asked him.
He shrugged. “You know how things get. Everything’s booked, and then when you actually decide to make plans, there’s nowhere left you want to take someone.” He paused. “And no one you really want to take.”
To Rose, all of that sounded like a lie. Like RJ wouldn’t have been able to book the perfect date ahead of time? Like he wouldn’t have been able to make it special for some lucky girl?
Unless…well, everyone knew how much prices went up for Valentine’s Day. After all, hadn’t they done so at the chalet for the three weddings?
Maybe she’d been right with her first guess, and he simply couldn’t afford to take a woman out on a night like this. Considering she was going to be spending the evening in a restaurant with Donovan where the meals cost enough to bankrupt a small country, that didn’t seem fair. Not at all.