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Dallas’s parents had been cordial enough, but that didn’t mean he’d like to make small talk with them. They were different, too serious in his opinion; both scholars, he a judge, she a professor. Tony was strictly blue-collar. A college dropout. No regrets. He liked his no-headache job, liked living life on his own terms, not getting calls in the middle of the night like his pop did.
Nancy sat next to him. She was the only other person here he knew besides Dallas because they’d all worked on the same construction crew at one time.
At first he thought Nancy had bumped his knee by mistake when she scooted her chair closer to the table, but then she did it again. He looked over at her.
“Why do we have so many forks?” she murmured, her lips barely moving.
“Beats me. But I know you’re supposed to work from the outside in.”
“Okay.” She dubiously glanced around at everyone else and, mimicking them, placed her white linen napkin on her lap.
“The hell with it, I’m eating with my fingers.”
Her stricken gaze flew to him.
“That was a joke.”
She gave him a reproachful look, and then smiled at the white-gloved waiter as he set her Caesar salad in front of her.
Tony sighed. That was the trouble with these high-class places. You couldn’t relax. Have fun. Of course he’d keep his opinion to himself. He’d never hurt Dallas. This wasn’t just her wedding—these were her people.
His attention strayed to the door. Still no Dakota. No one seemed concerned. Not even Mr. and Mrs. Shea. In fact, from what Dallas had told him, they probably approved that she put work ahead of everything else.
Man, he didn’t understand these people. His parents would’ve given him or any of his three siblings a lecture right then and there. In front of everyone. The deal had always been, if the kids were willing to screw up in public, then they got reprimanded likewise. Even though none of them were kids anymore.
While being on time for a party in the San Angelo family was never a problem. When his older sister had gotten married the party had started two days before the wedding and didn’t end until three the morning after the reception.
The salad plates were cleared and the rack of lamb was just being served when Dakota showed up. Still dressed in her navy-blue power suit, she had her hair pulled back in an awful, matronly style. Nancy and the other bridesmaid were all gussied up, Dallas more causally elegant in a simple cream-colored silk dress.
Dakota looked directly at him, and he smiled. Her gaze fluttered away and his smile broadened.
“I’ve never had lamb before,” Nancy whispered. “Have you?”
“Yeah.” He briefly glanced over to see her skeptically staring at her plate, and then his attention went right back to Dakota.
She took the vacant seat Dallas had saved next to her, and damned if Dakota didn’t slide him another look.
“Tony?”
“What?”
Nancy made a face. “Are you listening to me?”
“What did you say?”
“I want to know what this green stuff is. It looks like jelly.”
“It is. Mint jelly. It goes with the lamb.”
“Right.” Nancy snorted. “Come on. If you don’t know just—what are you looking at?” Until Nancy followed his gaze, he hadn’t realized he’d been staring. “Oh, Dakota’s here.” She waved excitedly, and Dakota waved back.
Only at Nancy. Not at him. Good sign.
He smiled, thinking about the first day they’d met. The only day they’d met. She’d appeared at the job site to see Dallas. It was love at first sight for him. Okay, more like lust. Dallas had noticed his interest. Told him to forget it. But the eye contact he’d made with Dakota told him otherwise. If it had lasted one second less, it would have been a different story. And when she got to the end of the block and turned around, he knew.
“How do you know her?” he asked Nancy.
“Well, duh. She’s the one who helped us with all our legal stuff to scare Capshaw into taking our harassment complaints seriously. For free, too.”
Tony’s gaze returned to Dakota. A woman full of surprises. He thought she’d be too busy to help a group of women fight discrimination against the state’s second largest construction company.
“You haven’t met her.” Nancy leaned closer, eyeballing him with far too much interest. “Have you?”
“Why?”
“Have you?” She darted a look at Dakota, probably wondering why she hadn’t acknowledged Tony. Nancy seemed to arrive at her own conclusion, judging by the smirk on her face as she settled back in her chair. “She shot you down.”
“What?”
“There’s actually a woman in this city who isn’t gaga over you.”
“Get out.” He grabbed his beer and took a deep pull.
“Tell me you don’t know that all the women at work are in heat over you.”
“Yeah, right. Especially Jan.”
Nancy rolled her eyes. “I meant the straight ones. So what happened?”
“I met her once for about forty seconds.”
“You must be slipping.” She grinned. “It usually takes only ten for women to start getting stupid over you.”
“That how long it took you?”
Her grin disappeared and her cheeks got pink. He knew that would shut her up. What he didn’t know was that he’d been the subject of gossip.,
Shit.
Hadn’t he been the only guy on the work crew who’d been willing to speak up on the women’s behalf? Although most of the other guys were guilty of the harassment management chose to ignore. Still, he could’ve kept his mouth shut. But he hadn’t. And now he wasn’t working for Capshaw Construction anymore.
Fine by him. Being discussed by a bunch of chatty women wasn’t.
Through the rest of dinner, he and Nancy didn’t speak much.
She was busy choosing forks and eating, and he was busy trying not to stare at Dakota. The woman really needed to smile more. She looked too damn serious. The way she wore her hair pulled back didn’t help.
All of a sudden, her gaze swept toward him, meeting his eyes dead-on. She locked into him for one long hypnotic moment, and then blinked and looked away.
Excitement thrummed through him. The awareness in her gray-blue eyes was like a vice around his neck, restricting air, making it hard to breathe. To say nothing of the effect she was having on him south of the border. The woman definitely had him by the balls. What did she intend to do with them?…was the question.
“DID MOTHER TALK to you about the photographer?” Dakota foolishly asked her sister, in a vain effort to keep her mind and eyes off Tony.
“No.” Dallas frowned, immediately setting down her wineglass. “What about him?”
“Oh, nothing. I mean she wants to make sure the wedding party knows they don’t have to stop at his studio before the reception.”
“Right,” Dallas said slowly, her frown deepening. “I knew that.”
“Good. Just checking.” Dakota gave her a weak smile and then finished off the rest of her chardonnay.
The corners of Dallas’s mouth twitched and she glanced toward the far corner of the table. At Tony.
Damn.
Dakota clenched her teeth. Was she really that absurdly obvious? Probably. Her sister knew her better than anyone. Which also meant Dallas should understand that Tony was unquestionably the wrong kind of guy for her.
The thought struck like a bolt of lightning, coming from some dark void and stunning her. Shaming her. She glanced around worried that someone could read her ugly thoughts.
Her parents were chatting with Eric’s friend Tom and his wife Serena, both of whom were in the wedding party. Nancy, a woman who’d worked with Dallas, and Dallas’s roommate, Wendy, both sat on the other side of Eric.
And then there was Tony. Looking directly at her, his dark eyes sparkling in the mellow glow of the crystal chandelier. His lips curved slightly, and then he winked.
She lowered her gaze, removed the white linen napkin from her lap and brought it to her lips. Even though she’d yet to take a bite of her entree. The others were already being served dessert and coffee, and she could have easily skipped eating altogether except she didn’t want to upset her mother.
Sighing, she picked up her fork and knife. At least while she ate she could politely ignore Tony. Dallas and Eric were t?te-?-t?te and Cody had vacated the seat to Dakota’s left five minutes ago to make a phone call. Not that she had much to say to him. Being with her brother at the office for twelve hours a day was quite enough.
She slid a glance toward Tony. The chair next to Nancy was empty. Dakota jumped at the hand on her shoulder and swung her gaze around.
Tony grinned, his teeth brilliantly white against his tanned face. “Dakota, right? Dallas’s sister?”
“Yes, we’ve met once before, haven’t we?”
The corners of his mouth quirked up slightly and he gestured to Cody’s vacant chair. “You mind?”
“Suit yourself.” She cringed at the defensive lilt to her voice.
He didn’t seem to notice, just lowered himself into the chair, mindless of the way his thigh brushed hers. How when he angled toward her, his knee touched her knee. When he stretched his arm along the back of her chair and leaned close, her heart nearly exploded through her chest.
“I have a question.”
“Yes?” She inched back to look at him without coming nose to nose. Bad enough his warm sweet breath managed to caress her chin. God, he had such thick dark lashes. So not fair. And his smile as he got closer…
“It’s kind of personal.”
She swallowed. What could he possibly—
“Ah, Tony.” Dallas leaned over. “Glad you decided to slum it.”
“Right.” They exchanged the look of longtime friends.
“You remember Dakota,” Dallas said, the impish gleam in her eyes all too familiar.
“Yeah, we were just getting reacquainted until you butted in.”
Dallas laughed. “So charming, isn’t he?” She glanced briefly at Dakota and then turned a more serious expression toward Tony. “I need to talk to you before you disappear tonight.”
“Disappear?” He grinned at Dakota. “My motor is just getting revved.”
She tried to keep a straight face. Tried not to look around to see if anyone heard. Especially not her mother. She picked the napkin off her lap again and pushed back her chair. “Excuse me, please. I have to make a phone call.”
“Something I said?” Tony asked, his amused dark eyes watching her rise, lingering briefly on her breasts. Not long enough to be rude, but long enough to make her feel as if she were twelve again, awkward, nervous and wanting to suddenly disappear rather than face her parents’ reaction, her mother’s accusing eyes because Dakota had put herself on display.
She dropped the napkin over her plate and pushed in her chair.
“Aren’t you going to finish your dinner?” Tony couldn’t quite keep his amusement in check. “No dessert unless you clean your plate.”
She ignored him and addressed Dallas. “You two go ahead and have your talk.”
“Come on, Dakota. You just got here. Besides, I need to talk to you, too.” Dallas gave her a pleading look that almost had her caving. After all, tomorrow was Dallas’s big day….
As hard as it was to say no to her sister, Dakota shook her head and picked up her briefcase. Tony was headed someplace she didn’t want to go. At least not here. Certainly not with an audience. “I’m leaving.”
“I’ll have them bring your bananas Foster.”
“Think I’ll pass.” In spite of herself, Dakota glanced at Tony.
“Hmm, that’s what you call that stuff. Some guy named Foster must have come up with it, huh?”
Dallas laughed.
Dakota couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not.
“They’re supposed to offer cognac and then we’re done here,” Dallas said, looking over her shoulder at the headwaiter, who’d already brought out the bottles of brandy. “So if you can’t stay—”
“What?” Tony spread his hands. “No dancing?”
“Down, boy. That’s tomorrow night,” Dallas quipped. “As if you can dance.”
“You talkin’ to me?” Tony scoffed. “Do you have any idea who taught Travolta his moves for Saturday Night Fever?”
“What were you, about three?”
He shrugged, a grin curving his mouth. “I’m just saying…”
Dakota shook her head, a little envious of their easy camaraderie. “As I said, I’m leaving.”
Tony stuck out his chin in acknowledgment. “See ya tomorrow.”
