Of course, given how devastatingly attractive and in charge he looked in his pressed clothes, why mess with a formula that worked?
"Hi," she said, hoping her smile didn't betray her nerves. "What brings you here?" Please Lord don't let him say he needed help finding something sexy for another woman.
"I, uh..." His gaze skittered to Marissa, who was folding camisoles on a nearby shelf. Though she wasn't looking at them, her curiosity was palpable. "Any chance I could buy you a cup of coffee?"
"Sure. I was due for a break anyway."
Bent over the camisole display, Marissa snorted. Meg had only arrived at work about thirty minutes ago. Her first regular break was hours away. But being co-owner had its benefits. Temporarily ditching the store to grab a latte with a gorgeous guy was one of them.
"There's a great coffee shop two doors down," Meg said. "Riss, I'll be back in a few minutes." Then she followed Bryce out the door. She imagined most women would happily follow him through the Sahara.
"I hope you don't mind my coming down here," he said, sounding almost shy. "I don't usually bother people at work for personal reasons. But I wanted to, ah, find out your last name."
He'd tracked her down early on a Saturday to ask her name? "Rafferty."
"Thank you. It seemed odd for me to ask a woman out when I didn't even know her full name."
She almost tripped over a nonexistent crack in the sidewalk. "You're asking me out?"
"That was the plan, yes."
His phrasing, along with years of cautionary advice from Dani, dimmed her immediate euphoria. Hadn't she just split up with a man who'd had her whole life planned out for her? Dani was always telling her she fell too hard, too fast. And if ever there was a guy who would tempt a girl to fall, it was Bryce Grayson.
"Um, what did you have in mind?" she asked as he held open the coffee shop door for her.
"I was hoping to take you to dinner."
Based on what she knew about him, it would probably be someplace classy. Which meant candlelight and a nice wine list. Bad idea.
"Maybe we could do that sometime," she said noncommittally. "But, in the meantime, how would you like to come to a cookout Dani and I are throwing?" It was an impulsive act of self-preservation. Surely her friend would understand. If Meg was going to avoid rushing headlong into another romantic folly, she needed to control the circumstances, make them less intimate. Dani would be proud of her-if slightly vexed about the imaginary barbecue.
"That sounds wonderful. When is it?"
She had enough of a mental grip left not to say tonight. "Um, tomorrow. But I need to double-check the time with Dani. If you give me your number, I can text you."
She couldn't believe she'd just scored the hot guy's number and a date. If it weren't for the nagging concern that her best friend was going to kill her, Meg would be floating.
* * *
"YOU TOLD HIM WHAT?" Dani backed away from the stove, convinced she'd misheard over the sizzle of sesame oil she was heating for stir-fry.
"That we were having a cookout tomorrow and he's invited. I knew it would be what you wanted me to do."
Dani blinked at the blatant lack of logic in that statement. "Why would I want you to lie to him? I don't get your moral code." The woman who was staunchly opposed to uttering any four-letter words apparently had no problem with convenient fibs.
"He wanted to take me to dinner. I figured the two of us alone, over a nice meal, and I'd be putty in his hands. This way, I have you to smack me upside the head if I start getting too dewy-eyed. Please, Dani."
"Sean and I have plans. We're supposed to see that movie we never made it to last night." She couldn't imagine asking for a rain check for their rain check.
"If we eat early enough, you can still make it to one of the seven-thirty or eight o'clock showings," Meg pointed out. "I will do all the work. Let me buy the groceries and cook dinner as a belated thank-you for giving me a place to crash. And if you're afraid the whole double date vibe will be awkward, I can invite Marissa and Ned. I'm sure they'd love a few kid-free hours."
"I don't know..." But she was weakening. It wasn't as though eating a hamburger before the movie was such a hardship.
Meg switched tactics. "Having dinner here first would give you even more time with Sean. You can't deny how much you enjoy his company. I saw the way you were beaming this morning."
Guilty. Normally, Dani didn't look forward to early morning house showings, especially on the weekend when most of the workforce was entitled to sleep in. But today, she'd rolled out of bed with a smile on her face and a song in her heart.
"You were practically glowing," Meg added. "If I weren't so happy for you, I'd be unbelievably jealous."
She couldn't deny that she was already looking forward to seeing Sean again. "I'll go to the main office and see if anyone's signed up to use the patio tomorrow," she relented. There were a few battered picnic tables and a community grill that tenants could reserve. "But this is awfully short notice. You may be out of luck."
"I don't think so." Meg's characteristically buoyant optimism was once again shining through. "Our luck is changing! You just have to be positive."
That attitude seemed simplistic, if not outright naive. In her last relationship, Dani had bought a wedding dress. Wasn't that being pretty damn positive? There were no guarantees.
Then again, Dani didn't allow defeatist thinking in her career. She approached each deal with confidence-while simultaneously working her ass off to make sure she got the results she wanted. Perhaps she should approach dating with the same blend of self-assurance and strategy. If she wanted to avoid getting hurt again, it was up to her to make sure she didn't allow that possibility. Have fun, but don't get too close. No problem.
She smiled at Meg. "Maybe you're right. We make our own luck." As long as neither she nor Sean had unrealistic expectations, there was no reason they couldn't fully enjoy this affair.
* * *
ALEX PAUSED BY the watercooler in the trailer, staring in Sean's direction.
"Something wrong?" Sean asked. Sunday was their shortest shift, but they'd put in a productive day's work. Most everyone who'd clocked out in the past few minutes had been in high spirits.
"Do you realize you've been whistling for the past two days? It's starting to border on creepy. Being that happy ain't natural." His expression turned sly. "Let me guess. Did your mystery woman who wasn't interested change her mind?"
Am I really that transparent? Not that he cared. Let Alex or anyone else on the crew razz him. Time with Dani was worth any amount of mockery.
"Yeah, she did. In fact, I'm headed over to see her now." He'd been amused by her explanation that they were having an impromptu cookout, but that his brother wasn't supposed to know the impromptu part.
"Why, Ms. Yates," he'd teased over the phone, "surely you aren't asking me to participate in deception? I know you have very strong feelings about that."
She'd made a garbled noise that was part laugh and part growl. "Just be here by four-thirty, and I'll owe you one."
He liked the sound of that.
Halfway across town, he caught sight of himself in his rearview mirror and realized he was grinning. Maybe Alex was right. Maybe being this happy wasn't natural. But, damn, it felt good.
He pulled up to Dani's building about the same time as Bryce. When he saw the familiar box in his brother's hand, he chuckled. "You and your imported beer."
"What's wrong with it?" Bryce asked. He eyed Sean's empty hands critically. "At least I brought a contribution."
Crap. He had a point. Sean had been so preoccupied with seeing her again-and trying to get here by four-thirty-that it hadn't occurred to him to stop for wine or flowers or any of the usual hostess offerings. I'll make it up to her later. That thought had him smiling again.
He knocked on the apartment door, and a woman he'd never seen before answered. From her freckles and vaguely familiar eyes, he guessed she was Meg's sister. She looked as though she was in her late-thirties, with just a touch of gray creeping into her strawberry-blond bob.
Her eyes were wide with surprise. "Well, hello there." Apparently, no one had warned her to expect identical twins. "I'm Marissa Talbot, Meg's sister." Her gaze darted between them before landing on Bryce, the brother with the more expensive clothes and conservative haircut. "I believe we've already met?"