How to Resist Prince Charming(55)

Braxton suddenly groaned. “Oh, hell, no. You did not just say that. Damn. Okay, you know, there’s nothing we can do here tonight that we can’t do in the morning. I’ll be home in fifteen minutes. Just...stay that frisky until I get there.”

Tom could almost hear the kid’s smile through the small speakers. He sounded so jubilant it reminded him of a long ago time when he’d been dating Maxine. The thrill of getting to see her again had always filled him, knowing that when he did see her, she’d let him do things her father would disapprove of.

“See you soon,” Braxton murmured. There was a pause as if he’d hung up. Ben leaned over to take the phone off the intercom but just before he pushed the button, their boss more quietly added, “I love you.”

Tom couldn’t help it; he glanced up to see the startled expressions on his co-workers’ faces, wondering if they were thinking what he was thinking: Braxton had been too chicken to confess his feelings before his little girlfriend had hung up. Then it struck him; great, his friends had sucked him into the soap opera of Braxton Farris too.

“Is he still talking to her or has he hung up already?” Tasha whispered.

“I want to marry you,” Braxton went on, “and grow old with you so that when we die, we can hold hands and go together like that couple on that movie you love.”

“The Notebook,” Tom murmured, blinking rapidly. When his co-workers glanced at him strangely, he shrugged. “What? It’s Lenna’s favorite movie.”

“Shut the phone off,” Charlie hissed suddenly. And Ben complied a split second before Braxton breezed back into the meeting room.

“Okay,” he announced, his blue eyes glittering with life and excitement as he rubbed his hands together. “I’m sure you all have homes you’d like to go to. Let’s wrap up and get out of here for tonight.”



Lenna made a surprise visit to her parents’ house in the suburbs. She burst through their front door, almost ripping the hinges off in her haste.

“Mom! Dad!” she yelled, exploding through the foyer and heading straight toward the living room.

Her father was struggling out of his lazy boy when she bounded into the room. Maxine hurried in from the kitchen with a dish towel in hand.

“What in the world is going on?” her mom demanded to know, looking bewildered.

“I got a job!” Lenna screamed. She was so happy, she swept Maxine off the floor when she hugged her and spun her in a circle.

“You...” Maxine’s eyes turned as round as saucers. “Oh, Lenna,” she murmured in delight. “That’s wonderful.” She returned her daughter’s hug fiercely. “When? Where?”

Setting her mom back on her feet, Lenna described her new position at ProTech. She turned expectantly toward her father. He stood and listened to what she’d be doing. When she was finished talking, he gave her such a blank stare she couldn’t tell what thoughts swam through his head.

Finally, a grin spread across his face. “That’s my girl,” he announced, proudly.

As he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, Lenna’s pulse accelerated. Since she’d appeased her father by getting a job he could be proud of, maybe she could tell him about Braxton soon without him blowing his top. Grinning, she crossed her fingers behind her back and made her decision.

Definitely soon. As soon as she figured out a way to make sure he wouldn’t retaliate against Braxton, she would tell him.





CHAPTER 18




Wearing navy blue slippers and a matching terry cloth robe, Tom stood by his bed, grumbling his nightly mantra under his breath as he tossed a load of throw pillows onto the floor.

“Why in God’s name do we need so many damn pillows we don’t even use? No man should have to—”

“I think she’s seeing someone,” his wife announced unexpectedly as she appeared in the doorway that led into their connecting bathroom, her nightgown backlit by the bright bathroom vanity lights.

Tom frowned. “Woman, what in the world are you talking about? Who’s seeing someone?” He aimed a pillow to land exactly on top of another he’d already pitched to the carpet. His face contorted with displeasure when he missed.

“I think Lenna’s seeing someone.”

Halting his pillow party, Tom turned to blink at Maxine while she smoothed lotion onto her face, dabbing gently under her eyes.

“Lenna?” he repeated. He had to shake his head to clear the befuddled idea from it. His wife thought Lenna was seeing someone? No way. “Where in God’s name did that idea come from?”

“I don’t know.” Maxine shrugged and turned back, disappearing into the bathroom. “It’s just a feeling.”

“Max.” He sighed, his shoulders deflating because he wasn’t sure which subject she’d bring up next. First she’d been asking him about Braxton Farris. Then she’d moved on to his daughter dating?

What a shift from one awful topic to the next. Next thing he’d know, his wife would be depressing him even more by asking how much his retirement investments had gone down this year.

“She’s not dating anyone,” he muttered. “She’d tell us if she was.”

“Maybe,” Maxine voice came back, sounding cryptic.