Back Check (Aces Hockey #4)(35)

 

"Tanner."

 

"What?"

 

"We can't do this."

 

He gave her knee a gentle squeeze and went to remove his hand, but she shocked him by covering it with her own. Her fingers curled around it and gave him a squeeze back.

 

"I'm getting mixed messages here, Katie. Just so you know." With a slight turn of his head, he met her eyes, and his lips quirked.

 

"That's because I'm conflicted," she admitted.

 

"Ah. Well, if I can help you work things out, let me know."

 

Her mouth curved into a smile. "Thank you. That's very generous of you."

 

The air still hummed around them, but humor had taken it from dangerous to excitingly risky. He wanted her, and apparently she wanted him too.

 

They let go of each other's hands as servers came around to take their dinner orders. They'd barely looked at their menus, so they picked them up to study them.

 

Ordering a steak at Jack's was a given. Tanner requested the filet and lobster tail, added crispy onion strings and steamed asparagus. Katelyn ordered the same steak and lobster, medium rare like him, and he remembered the Valentine's dinner they'd had at the country club that year they'd been together, how they'd splurged on a fancy night out, how impressed he'd been when she'd ordered medium rare beef and whiskey.

 

Platters of appetizers appeared-calamari, ceviche, tuna tartare, oysters Rockefeller. Everyone passed them around family style while waiters refilled the champagne glasses.

 

"What else are you working on right now?" Tanner asked Katelyn as they sampled the amazing food. "Besides this wedding."

 

"I just did a corporate event, and next week I have a birthday party and an anniversary party. I have a wedding that's been put on hold a few times, so last week I spent a bunch of time canceling things and getting refunds on deposits I made."

 

 

 

        

          

        

         

 

He frowned. "Does that cost you money?"

 

"Possibly, but I also have a non-refundable deposit that my clients pay me, which helps protect against things like that. I'm not sure if this wedding is ever going to happen, honestly. And it's not the bride who's the bridezilla, it's the groom's mom."

 

"It must be challenging dealing with all different people when you're organizing a big event. Family dynamics … "

 

"Yes. Families can definitely be challenging. But sometimes corporate events can be a challenge too, with bureaucracy and budgets. Any job where you deal with people and provide service to them is going to have that, though. I love making people happy, but it's hard to please everyone."

 

"True. What's the weirdest event you've ever organized?"

 

She tipped her head to one side as she lifted a ring of calamari. "Well, I recently did a wedding with a Walking Dead theme. Here, I can show you." She popped the calamari into her mouth, rubbed her fingers over her napkin, and reached down to her purse.

 

She brought her phone up and scrolled through some photos, then held it out to him. He looked down at a picture of a couple in full zombie makeup-the bride's eyes and mouth blackened and dripping blood beneath her white bridal veil, the groom with freaky eyes and stitches.

 

"Jesus Christ."

 

"I know, right?" She swiped and brought up another photo.

 

"Who did the makeup? You?"

 

"No, I hired a makeup artist to do that. Someone who works in movies and theater."

 

"It's good. Really good. But fucking weird."

 

She laughed. "Another one that was unusual was when I worked for Constance Beck. The bride and groom wanted a Shrek theme. They both had their faces and bodies painted green like Shrek and Fiona, and the venue was decorated to look like a castle."

 

Tanner stared at her. "You've got to be fist-fucking me." After the words left his mouth, he snapped it shut. "Uh … " That was how he talked in the dressing room with the guys, not with women. And yet, Katelyn had never been offended by crude talk. For a delicate, feminine girl who liked pretty things, she'd hung out with the hockey team in all their foulmouthed splendor and laughed at their dirty jokes. In fact, she'd had quite a filthy mouth herself at times, another thing he'd loved about her.

 

Now she was laughing. Like, laughing hard. "Oh my God, Tanner."

 

He grinned. "Sorry."

 

He fucking loved making her laugh.

 

"Anyway, yeah, not kidding. Shrek. Sometimes my job tests my creativity. And my ability to be tactful."