Orange Blossom Brides

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“I still lost Bart,” Max groused.

“Are you implying it’s my fault he got away?” Lilli planted her fists on her hips. Max leaned toward her and she couldn’t deny the sparks flaring between them as they squared off. Every flash of potent energy threw off tantalizing heat, yet she didn’t back down.

“No, I’m flat-out saying it.”

They were still glaring at each other when the chief stepped between them.

“Bart’s a slippery one, I’ll give you that. But I have no doubt you’ll get the job done.” He slapped Max on the back, as if giving Max his cue to leave. Max’s neck grew red again. He sent Lilli a curt nod and strode off.

“Our lunch hour is completely blown.” Jewel told Lilli as they left the station. “But watching you push Mr. Security Consultant’s buttons? Worth not eating.”

“Did I do that?” Lilli asked innocently while batting her eyelashes.

“Like a pro.” Jewel held up her hand for a high five. Lilli slapped her hand against Jewel’s. “So really, what’s going on between you two?”

Lilli adjusted her purse strap, her gaze following the path Max had taken. “Nothing.”

Jewel snorted. “Yeah, right.”

“I sort of know him.”

Jewel’s eyes went wide. “Explain ‘sort of.’”

Lilli squirmed. “We met twelve years ago. Just once. At the beach.” She laughed. “I got him into trouble with the police.”

“Do I even want to know?”

“It’s a long story. Suffice it to say, he’s still holding a grudge.”

“And now you’ve reconnected. Interesting.”

Lilli frowned. “There’s nothing to be interested in.”

“So you say.”

Okay, so maybe she missed their verbal skirmishes already. She squirmed under Jewel’s smug scrutiny, not wanting to delve too deeply into the matter here in the middle of the sidewalk. Bad enough she’d provoked the guy. She didn’t want to uncover the reasons why.

“Let’s not go there,” Lilli said.

“I knew it. You’re totally crushing on Max.”

“Am not.”

“Are, too. Why are you denying it? What are you afraid of?”

Flashbacks of the night on the beach were quickly overshadowed by the catastrophe that had been her wedding rehearsal dinner. The pain and humiliation. Afraid? Yes. But she’d never admit it out loud.

“My relationship with Max, if you could call it that, is difficult.”

“Looks like it.”

“He’s infuriating.”

“That’s half the fun.”

Lilli glanced down the empty sidewalk. “I knew you’d say that.”

* * ** * *

BACK AT WORK, Jewel continued her running commentary about Bart while Lilli tried to concentrate on the Natural Puppy account. She’d hoped that Jewel’s evaluation of Lilli’s attraction to Max would prove wrong, but with reluctance, admitted she might be right.

What was she going to do about it?

As the question swirled around in her brain, an annoying chime sounded from her purse. Digging through the tan leather bag, she found her cell.

She squinted at the caller ID, sighing heavily. Her mother’s timing could be uncanny. “Mom, I’m in the middle of a deadline,” Lilli said by way of greeting. “I can’t talk about the benefit right now.”

“Of course you can,” Celeste Barclay informed her only daughter in her cultured tone. “It’s for the good of the society.”

Lilli gripped the phone tightly. “I don’t even belong to the society.”

“Of course you do. I added you to the roster years ago.”

Lilli clenched her teeth. Of course she had. With her mother, every answer started with, of course you do. Or can. Or will. Of course you can swim, just pump your legs. Of course you’ll attend the ballet, we bought you a ticket. Of course I can upset your life, I’m your mother and I love you.

“You promised you’d be back in plenty of time for Tie the Knot,” Lilly reminded her.

“No, dear. I promised to do everything in my power to get back in plenty of time. My ladies are counting on you.”

Her ladies. Lilli rolled her eyes. Just because they were her mom’s ladies didn’t mean Lilli should inherit them. “So are you saying you won’t make it back in time?”

“If your father hadn’t left his tennis bag on the floor right by the balcony of our suite, I wouldn’t have tripped over it.”