Best Man with Benefits (Wedding Dare, #4, McCade Brothers, #3)(6)
She was tired of lurking on the sidelines, observing life instead of participating, reading about passion and excitement rather than experiencing any firsthand. Deep down, she wanted what Colt had found—a life partner. Unlike her brother, she’d always dreamed of meeting that special someone, falling madly in love, and having the object of her affection love her back with equal intensity. Achieving her dreams meant making some changes. Mark, her neighbor and self-proclaimed “fairy godfather,” had summed it up best. “Want a life partner? Sweetie, the first thing you gotta do is get a life.” She’d promptly devised a three-step plan to New Sophie.
“So tell me, what are you hankering to do?” Logan’s question broke into her thoughts. “Skydive? Swim with sharks? Bike down the slopes of Haleakala?”
She bit back a laugh. “None of the above. I think we have very different ideas of challenge. I wanted to lose weight—”
“Why?” His brows drew together. “You don’t need to lose any.”
His response made her want to hug him. “Thank you for saying that, but six months ago I needed to lose a bunch. The process took more determination than I’d given myself credit for.” Discipline, too, but she’d learned to exercise every morning, and stop filling the voids in her life with mac ’n’ cheese and brownies.
Hazel eyes appraised her in a way that made her pulse quicken. “I think you can consider that particular goal achieved. What else is on your list?”
He angled his body toward her as he spoke. His forest-after-a-rainstorm scent seduced her just as effectively as his hard thigh brushing against hers. She clamped her fingers around the edge of the table to keep from shooting straight out of the booth like one of the homemade match rockets Colt, Reed, and Brock had loved to set off as kids.
“I wanted to advance at work.” She threw the words out a bit desperately and silently ordered herself to settle down. “I’ve been a web designer for the same firm for almost three years. I like the job, but it’s time for me to make the jump to lead designer and start managing client projects. Last week my supervisor told me they’ve opened up a new lead designer position, and asked if I’d be interested in applying.”
“And you said…?”
“I looked him square in the eye and said yes.” Her chest swelled just thinking about it. “I put the finishing touches on a proposal for our firm’s most important client before I left for Beaver Creek. Hopefully, I’ll hear something from my supervisor while I’m here, but…” She shrugged. “I think it was good. I think I have a shot at getting the promotion.”
Logan nodded. “Your supervisor wouldn’t have asked you to apply if he didn’t think you were ready. You’ve got lead designer in the bag. I promise. So, what’s goal number three?”
That brought her to the whole passion/excitement thing. The only area where she’d made absolutely no progress unless the inaugural bikini wax she’d subjected herself to before she left for Beaver Creek counted. And now that the moment of truth had arrived, she wasn’t sure she was bold enough to mention goal number three to him after all. But hey, here she was, sharing an intimate booth with the man she secretly cast as the lead in every erotic adventure she’d ever uploaded to the Eve’s Closet site…and she’d uploaded a lot. Sitting beside him, tingling from head to toe each time their bodies brushed, qualified as excitement and passion, didn’t it? She shifted closer to him until their hips touched, and prepared to speak, but the contact set off a flurry of vibrations along her leg.
Goodness, was he vibrating with need? For her?
He cursed under his breath. “Sorry, Soph. Let me take care of this.” Then he reached down between their bodies. His knuckles grazed her thigh. Oh, my heavens! She held her breath. Is he actually going to…?
He slid his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
Oh. So much for vibrating with need. The tingling sensation had been his phone signaling an incoming message. Her breath leaked out her nose and she sagged with relief…or disappointment. It was a close call. A half-hysterical fit of giggles threatened until she noticed him wince at the screen.
“Something wrong?”
He sighed, and for the first time ever, she sensed weariness behind his Mr. Perfect facade. “Probably. Defy Gravity is in negotiations to acquire a surf company. I thought we had every issue tied down before I left, but things are starting to unravel, and now my CFO is blowing up my phone every hour with new problems, and my board is asking for an update, and”—he tossed his phone on the table—“I might as well have stayed in Boulder if I was going to spend the whole damn week a slave to this deal.”
“Sucks to be in charge, huh?”
The comment earned her a weak grin. “Sometimes it feels like the company owns me. Growing the business used to be fun, before the money guys and the analysts and the lawyers got involved. Fun or not”—he heaved out a breath—“duty calls. I hate to ask, but will you excuse me for a moment?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks. I’ll be right back.” He picked up his phone and card key before pinning her with a serious look. “Don’t go anywhere.”
Amazingly, she didn’t have an urge to flee. She felt radiant from basking in his attention all evening, and she didn’t want to lose the glow. But as she watched him weave his way through the crowded restaurant toward the lounge, she noticed female heads turn like flowers to the sun as he passed, including a couple of the other bridesmaids. Some of the warm feeling dissipated.