If The Shoe Fits (12 page)

And that had been the biggest problem of
all.

Chapter Eleven

“
Hey, Reese.”

Luke. Great. Just the person he didn’t want to
see.

Then he saw Staci clinging to Luke’s arm like
a sucker fish on a shark, the analogy all too real. “Luke. Staci.”
He nodded, and thankfully saw an out in Connie and Anthony’s eldest
son walking up behind them. “Hey, Jimmy. Great party, as
usual.”

“
Yeah, Mom sure knows how to throw
them.” He ushered another girl forward and Reese had to stifle a
groan. So much for the escape. Stalker Chick. “This is Drew. The
third sister.”

“
Stepsister,” said the two women
at once.

“
Whoa. Okay, ladies. My bad.”
Jimmy held up his hands and backed up.

Right into Bella.

Reese grabbed her as she stumbled. It was a
becoming a habit. “You okay, Bella?”

Bella smiled, but it wasn’t one he was used to
seeing from her. Unless she’d tried the spinach donuts. “Um, yes. I
am. Here, Reese. You forgot your plate.”

“
Bella
?” Luke’s eyes,
shoulders, and probably a certain part of his anatomy perked up.
“
This
is the Bella I’ve been hearing about?” He took the
plate from her, shoved it at Reese, then raised her hand to his
lips. “So very nice to meet you, Bella.”

Reese gritted his teeth and had to restrain
himself from punching Luke out. He had no right to feel so
protective of her. It was The Husband’s fault for letting her out
of the house.

Let her out?
Now he had to restrain
himself from punching
him
self. Since when had he gone
caveman? He’d never felt like this before in his life. God, he
needed to get a grip—and release the one he had on
Bella.

Hell, he also needed to get laid, too. Just to
take the edge off. Maybe then he wouldn’t see Bella every time he
closed his eyes. And considering that he blinked probably
twenty-five times a minute—and saw her each and every damn
time—that’d be a good thing. Except the thought of touching anyone
else right now was enough to turn him off. Of everything and
everyone except Bella—which took him right back to the dilemma at
hand as Luke leered at her chest under the guise of bending over to
kiss the hand he held. He’d seen Luke pull that trick too many
times to count.

Staci, thank God, saw through it, too. If
Reese wasn’t mistaken, she pinched Luke’s ass. And not in a good
way.

Luke shot up and glared at Staci before
turning his charming smile on Bella. “I’m Luke Jamison. I
understand we’ll be working together on the hospital
auction.”

“
We’re
all
doing the
charity thing. Together.” Staci sidled close enough that her
breasts rested on Luke’s arm. For once, Reese and the bimbo were on
the same side. “We were just thinking that we should all, you know,
go take a look at the place this Friday night.” Staci included him
and Bella in the
we all
. “Go over how the auction is going
to be laid out and that sort of thing. You guys busy?”

Bella’s smile disappeared altogether as she
slid her hand from Luc’s. “Stace, I don’t think that’s
necessary—”

“
I think it’s a great idea,” Luke
chimed in. “It’ll give us the lay of the land, so to speak. Right,
Reese? Don’t want to leave anything to chance, you
know?”

It wasn’t
land
Luke wanted to lay. And
The Midnight Maiden
would play right to that. The top deck,
with its twinkling lights that reflected off the water beneath a
starry, moonlit sky, was one of the most romantic dining
experiences in the city.
That
wasn’t something Reese wanted
to chance.

“
We don’t need to go together,” he
said. He’d been there half a dozen times in the last week
alone.

“
Sure we do,” said Staci.
“Otherwise, how will Bella and I know what you and Luke
want?”

He had a feeling Staci knew
exactly
what Luke wanted.

“
Yeah, come on, Reese,” said Luke.
“I want to make sure I know exactly where it is and what’s expected
of me. Don’t want to blow it again.”

Which meant if Reese didn’t go and Luke
decided not to show up, Luke would blame him.

“
Fine. Let’s say seven. But Bella,
if you can’t make it…” Or if her husband wanted to have a romantic
dinner or something… He should probably invite the husband. That’d
be the polite thing to do. And would show him once and for all that
Bella was Off Limits.

But he wasn’t going to.

“
Great. It’s a date.” Staci
wiggled against Luke. “We’ll have so much fun. Right,
Bella?”

Bella blinked and that spinach-donut smile
reappeared. “Uh, sure. I’m going to have to get a babysitter for
Sophia.”

“
Oh Drew can do that.”

“
Hey!” Stalker Chick spoke up.
“What if I have something to do?”

“
Do you?”

“
Well, no, but you don’t know
that.”

“
I do now, so you’re on
babysitting duty.”

Jimmy whispered something in Drew’s ear. Her
blush was nowhere near as attractive as Bella’s.

“
Okay, then. That’s settled,” said
Bella. “But now I have to get back to work.”

A loud silence followed her departure until
Luke’s, “
That’s
the serving girl I’ve been hearing about?
She doesn’t look all that homely to me” broke it.

Reese wanted to break
him
.

Instead, he grabbed him by the other arm and
extricated him from Staci’s cleavage, then steered him away from
the others. “Knock it off, Luke. What the hell was that all
about?”

“
What was what about? You don’t
want to go? I thought this shindig was a big deal.”

“
Don’t fuck with me,
Luke.”

“
Trust me, Reese. It’s isn’t
you
I want to fuck.”

Reese got that. “What happened to staying away
from the caterer?”

Luke arched an eyebrow. “I am. We both know
Staci isn’t doing a thing for this auction. You never said anything
about steering clear of family members. Besides, I figure the event
will run much smoother if I keep her busy.”

His logic actually made sense. “Fine. But
another stunt like that hand-kissing move and we’re
done.”

“
Fine. No hand-kissing. I hear
you.”

Problem was, he thought Luke saw right through
him, too.

***

Luke massaged his wrist as Reese stalked away.
So
that’s
the way it was, huh? Reese was all hot and
bothered by one pretty little caterer.

Luke almost laughed. He hadn’t ever seen Reese
this tied up over anyone. And it had only taken one comment to set
him off. That could make things really interesting.

He tucked that morsel away as he rejoined
Staci, Drew, and Jimmy. “So what’s the deal with your stepsister?”
he asked the girls. “Is she seeing anyone?”

Jimmy’s mouth fell open and Drew
giggled.

Staci, however, turned to stone. Ah, good. He
liked his women a little jealous and a lot unsure of his
intentions. Though, seriously, the way her tits were all over him,
she couldn’t be
that
unsure of what he intended
tonight.

“
Bella? Seeing someone?” Drew
snorted. “Depends if you count a ten-year-old as someone. Bella
never dates. She’s always at the restaurant or taking care of her
little sister, Sophia.”

“
Oh, yeah, she’s a
whole
lot of fun.” Staci straightened which
just so happened
to
make her tits the center of the conversation again.

God, he loved cheap and tacky. And easy. Easy
was good.

“
Any guy Bella ever dated dropped
her after about a week. She’s too boring.” Staci leaned back into
him, tits and all. “But let’s not talk about her. I’d much rather
hear all about that Super Bowl catch you made.”

And then she got that calculating look in her
eye just like Tanya had had when they’d first met. He’d thought
it’d been genuine interest. Instead, it was the sign of dollar
signs calculating in her head. He’d learned from that mistake big
time.

Still, a man did have needs and the way Staci
curled his arm around her and leaned her head against his shoulder
might as well be a written invitation. Looked like someone was
going to get lucky tonight and it definitely wasn’t poor
Reese.

He grabbed Jimmy’s newly-opened beer and
allowed himself to be sidetracked by football. Hell, he’d told this
story so often he could do it in his sleep.

But all the time he was reciting the
thirty-yard reception and three tackles he’d avoided for the
winning touchdown, Luke was thinking about Reese. And
Bella.

The guy needed to loosen up and live a little.
Too much stress wasn’t good for anyone. Luke knew that first
hand.

In the old days, it would have been fun to see
if he could win her out from under Reese, but he really didn’t want
to trash the repairs he was making to his business relationship
with his old friend. Especially over some chick.

Maybe he could help Reese and Bella along.
That could cement things with Reese once again. He’d fucked up big
time on the business end, and with Tanya pulling her shit, he
couldn’t afford to be out of a job. He needed Reese’s
gigs.

He also needed Reese to keep his mouth shut
around Tanya’s lawyer and the best way to do that was keep it busy
with something—
someone
—else.

Yeah, he could be as calculating as Tanya and
Staci, but Luke had to look out for Number One.

His son.

***

Reese checked his watch and was surprised to
find it was so late. He’d stayed. He hadn’t been planning to, but
when Metzner had pulled him into a conversation about the playoffs,
well, hell. He missed the game. The camaraderie. His injury had
stolen it; he wasn’t about to let Coach’s stubbornness and the
ill-advised attraction to Bella to take it from him,
too.

So he, Metzner, and Baldwin had hung out on
the patio until everyone else had gone. Bella, too. She’d broken
the set up down almost an hour ago. It was safe to head
out.

And how ridiculous was it that he was avoiding
her? He was a grown man, for chrissake.

Connie had walked the other guys out while he
and Anthony closed down the outside. Anthony was off to the pool
house to kill the lights while Reese headed into the kitchen to
dispose of the trash.

Bella stood at the sink washing dishes. Her
back was to him, her black outfit a bold contrast to the blonde
ponytail resting between her shoulder blades. It swished as she
turned and he had a momentary image of those strands swishing over
him.

Good God, what was wrong with him? She was
just another pretty woman.

Yeah, and his Ferrari was just a
car.

“
Need some help?” he found himself
saying instead of doing the smart thing by leaving.

Those gorgeous eyes of hers widened. “That’s
not necessary. I’m almost done.”

“
Well, then, let me help you get
out of here quicker.” He took a breath; he didn’t want to say it.
Really he didn’t. Why punish himself more? But he said it anyway,
if only to remind himself that someone else had already staked a
claim on her. “I’m sure you’re anxious to get home.” There—he’d
been magnanimous. Even if it killed him. Somewhere on the big tally
sheet in the sky he should get very high marks for this
offer.

“
Oh. Thanks. I
am
tired
after being at the restaurant so early.” She handed him a dishtowel
and they worked in a silence that, if it wasn’t comfortable, at
least it wasn’t strained.

“
Bella.”

“
Reese.”

They spoke at the same time, then
laughed.

“
You first,” again in
unison.

He spoke first. His conscience had been
gnawing at him. Plus, if she was going to quit on him, he wanted to
do a pre-emptive strike. As he’d said to her in her kitchen, it was
better to be on the offense. “I wanted to apologize again for that
kiss. I had no right and it won’t happen again. I don’t want it to
affect our working relationship. I was really impressed with what
you put together for tonight so quickly. If this is how you do
business, the auction is going to be a big hit.”

The look on her face told him nothing. Was she
mad? Offended? Disgusted? He had no clue—and that didn’t sit well
with him either. “Your turn.” He finished the last dish, then
rested his hip on the granite countertop.

Instantly Bella shoved him off the counter,
her hand searing into his skin like a branding iron, knocking the
breath from his lungs as if a dozen linebackers had just tackled
him.

“
Sorry.” She yanked her hand away
as if she’d been burned—he sure as hell had—then pointed to the
water pooling next to where his hip had just been. “Your pants...
they were going to get wet.”