The way she looked. He liked the way Kate looked.
For the last two years he’d seen her only in her work clothes, which were pretty uninspired. Seeing her in her vamp outfit last week had been a revelation, and he’d enjoyed seeing her in jeans the next day and yoga pants the day after that.
But this . . .
He’d been to more red-carpet events than he could count, and in this dress Kate could stand shoulder to shoulder with any actress he’d ever seen.
It was chartreuse, which was not a color he’d ever expected to drool over. But it was the perfect complement to Kate’s fair skin and red hair.
The material was satin, or maybe silk—something shiny, anyway—and it had a high neck and short sleeves and was slit up the side. More importantly, it outlined Kate’s bodacious body with loving fidelity.
His jaw sagged when he first saw her, but by the time she noticed him he’d closed his mouth and was looking less like a demented schoolboy.
Kate’s eyes widened when she spotted him. “I thought we were meeting out front,” she said pointedly, her cheeks turning pink.
That got everyone’s attention, and he found himself being stared at by every woman in the room, including one who was little and blonde and sat in her chair like a queen holding court.
Bridezilla, he presumed.
“I know,” he said. “But I had to check you out in your fancy dress. And I’m glad I did,” he added, letting his eyes move down her body and back up to her face.
A little blatant ogling was in character, right?
“You look like every man’s fantasy in that thing,” he went on. Then he turned towards the little blonde. “Are you the bride?”
“Yes,” she said, rising to her feet and coming towards him. “I’m Jessica,” she added, holding out her hand and flashing a smile.
“I’m Spike,” he said, catching Simone’s sudden grin out of the corner of his eye. “I’ve got to say, I admire your courage.”
“My courage?”
“Yeah. I thought the idea was to make your bridesmaids look hideous, so you look even better in comparison. You must have a lot of self-confidence to let Kate walk down the aisle looking like that.”
“Thank you,” Jessica said after a moment, her voice a little stiff. She dropped his hand and turned her back on him, and Ian took the opportunity to return Simone’s wink.
“Well, ladies, I’ll leave you to it.” He looked at Kate again. “See you out front, babe.”
He left the room without waiting for a response, smiling to himself as he shut the door behind him.
She came out of the boutique about ten minutes later, but he didn’t recognize her at first. Her red hair was tucked under a baseball cap, and she was wearing—
He peered out the car window. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Jacob grinned. “Yeah, Kate’s a Red Sox fan. Didn’t you know?”
Of course she was. It made perfect cosmic sense.
She opened the car door and slid in next to Jacob. “Hi,” she said brightly, smiling at him under the brim of her ancient cap.
The state of that cap told him that she hadn’t dressed like this just to annoy him. That cap, along with her faded jersey, spoke of many, many years of rooting for Boston.
He sighed and spoke to the driver. “Okay, Dave—take us to Yankee Stadium.”
Dave grinned at him in the rearview mirror and pulled away from the curb.
Ian shook his head. “I thought you were a New Yorker,” he said to Kate.
“I’m a transplant. My mother’s a New Yorker, but my dad’s from Boston. That’s where I grew up.”
“Is your mother a Yankees fan, at least?”
She shook her head. “Mets.”
“Figures.”
He’d never pegged Kate as any kind of sports fan—but he’d obviously been wrong.
“I’m excited for the game,” Jacob said, and Ian stared at him.
“You are?”
“Uh-huh. Kate’s been telling me all about the Red Sox. Fenway Park and selling Babe Ruth and Ted Williams and Carlton Fisk’s home run and the ball between Bill Buckner’s legs and the 2004 ALCS when they were down three games to none against the Yankees and the Yankees still managed to lose the series. She said it was the worst choke in sports history.”
He glared at Kate, who was looking smug. “If you turn my nephew into a Red Sox fan, I will hold you morally and legally responsible.”
“That decision is entirely up to him. I’m just giving him the information he needs to make an informed choice.”
“Life’s a lot easier in this town when you root for the Yankees.”
“True—and Jacob is certainly entitled to take that into consideration as he ponders his options.”