Happy Ever After

CHAPTER SEVEN

ALTHOUGH IT HAD BECOME TRADITION, PARKER WOULD HAVE PREFERRED to skip the sexy breakfast story. But motorcycles had a distinct sound, one Mac had heard clearly while she and Carter had been enjoying some time on their new patio when Parker had ridden off on Malcolm’s bike.

Mac may have dragged herself into the home gym when Parker was nearly finished and Laurel well on her way, but she had more than her biceps on her mind.

And she’d dragged Emma along with her.

“I asked Mrs. G for pancakes,” Mac announced. “I especially like pancakes with a sexy breakfast story.”

“Who’s got one?” Laurel demanded.

“Parker.”

“Wait a minute.” Laurel whipped around to where Parker stayed a bit longer than necessary in forward fold position. “You have a SBS, and didn’t tell me?”

“It’s nothing. Plus we’re jammed for the next several days.”

“If it’s nothing, where did you and Malcolm go on his bike last night for almost three hours? No, don’t tell us now.” Mac only smiled, gave an exaggerated wave when Parker straightened. “We need the pancakes.”

“I don’t monitor your comings and goings, Mackensie.”

“Oh, don’t pull Mackensie on me.” Mac waved that off, too, and started biceps curls with the Bowflex. “Carter and I heard Mal drive in, and I saw you leave because I was outside. So yeah, I kept an ear out for you after.You’d have done exactly the same.”

“Did you have a fight with him?” Emma asked. “Are you upset?”

“No, I’m not upset.”After dabbing her damp face with a towel, Parker walked over to drop it in the hamper. “I just don’t have time for pancakes and gossip.”

“Unless it’s one of us in the spotlight?” Laurel cocked her head. “We share, Parker. It’s what we do. If you’re pulling back from that about this, it tells me you’ve got concerns about where it’s heading.”

“It’s not that at all.” Yes, it was, she admitted.Yes, it was exactly that.“Fine. Fine.We’ll have the pancakes and the rest, but I have a lot of work—we all do—so we’ll keep it short.”

When she walked out of the room, annoyance in every stride, Emma looked at the others. “Should I go talk to her?”

“You know she has to stew.” Laurel grabbed a towel, swiped her face, her throat. “She’s a little pissed, but she’ll get over it.”

“You’re right about her being unsettled over this thing with Mal.” Mac moved from biceps curls to triceps kickbacks.“If it was no big, she’d have told us, or laughed it off when I brought it up. When’s the last time Parker was unsettled over a guy?”

“That would be over nobody back in never,” Laurel stated.

“That would be the who and when. Good thing or bad?”

“Good, I think.” Since she was there, Emma ordered herself onto the elliptical. “He’s nothing like her usual, which would be part of the unsettled, and there’s nothing that would have gotten her to go out with him if she didn’t want to on some level. Plus, Mac said she was wearing jeans and that really cute chocolate brown leather jacket. So she changed her clothes to go with him.”

“I wasn’t spying,” Mac said quickly. “I just saw. I mostly just saw.”

“Who’s saying otherwise?” Laurel flicked it away. “If I’d heard her go off with him, I’d have done the same. Jesus, it’s a good thing Del doesn’t know. And let’s just keep it that way until we get a better sense of this. I don’t want him getting worked up over Mal and Parker the way he did Emma and Jack. Now I’ve got to go shower, and praise Jesus, he had an early breakfast meeting. See you downstairs.”

“I thought she’d get a kick out of it,” Mac told Emma when they were alone. “I didn’t want to upset her.”

“It’s not your fault. Laurel’s right, it’s what we do.”

IT’S WHAT THEY DID, PARKER REMINDED HERSELF. BY THE TIME she’d showered and dressed for the day, annoyance had tipped over into guilt for snapping back at her friends.

She’d made too much of it all.And she’d internalized the entire business, something she admitted she tended to do too easily and too often.

So they’d have their tradition, just as they should. They’d have a few laughs, and that would be that.

When she walked into the kitchen, Mrs. Grady stood at the counter mixing the batter.

“Good morning, my girl Parker.”

“’Morning, Mrs. G. I hear we’re having pancakes.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Mrs. Grady waited until Parker poured a cup of coffee. “So, will you be getting a tattoo next?”

“What?”

“Seems like the next step after riding the roads on a Harley.”

Parker didn’t have to see Mrs. Grady’s tongue to know it was firmly in her cheek. “I thought, given what I do, maybe a small heart in a discreet location. Maybe with HEA inside it, for Happy Ever After.”

“Very pretty, and appropriate.” She set the batter aside while she prepared a bowl of berries.“We may bump heads over the boy, as he’s brought me flowers and asked me out to go dancing.”

“You’re enjoying this.”

“Of course. He reminds me of someone.”

“Oh?” Parker leaned on the counter. “Who?”

“I knew a boy with some rough edges, altogether cocksure of himself, and a gilded tongue when he wanted to use it. Handsome as sin and twice as sexy. When he set his eye and his intentions toward a woman, by God, she knew it. I was lucky. I married him.”

“Oh, Mrs. G, he’s not . . . Is he really like your Charlie?”

“He’s of the type, which isn’t a type at all. Pulled himself out of hard times, dealt with the scars from it, pushed himself to make a mark. A little bit of the wild side there, always.With my Charlie, I told myself, oh no, I won’t get tangled up with this one. And I said it again, even when I was already tangled up.”

The smile warmed her face and went deep into her eyes. “It’s hard to resist a bad boy who’s a good man.They’ll knock the legs right out from under you. I’m grateful every day, however short our time together was, that I didn’t resist very long.”

“It’s not like that with me and Mal. It’s just . . .” And that, Parker admitted, was part of the problem. She didn’t know what it was.

“Whatever it is, you deserve the attention, and to enjoy yourself more than you do. Aside from this.” Mrs. Grady laid her hands on Parker’s cheeks, patted them. “Which I know you enjoy every minute of. But aside from this.”

“I don’t want to enjoy myself into making a mistake.”

“Oh, I wish you would.” On that, she drew Parker closer and kissed her forehead. “I really wish you would. Go on, sit down and drink your coffee. What you need is a good breakfast and your friends.”

Maybe she did, Parker admitted. But after she sat, she took a call from one of the weekend’s nervous brides. Since it was second nature to handle someone else’s worries or problems, dealing with it settled her.

“Emma and Mac’ll be right down,” Laurel announced as she came in. “Need any help, Mrs. G?”

“Under control.”

“Hey, nice flowers.”

“My boyfriend sent them to me.” She added a wink.“The one Parker’s trying to steal away from me.”

“That slut.” Amused, Laurel got her coffee and walked to the breakfast nook to sit. “After our initial business, we can shift to event mode. We could have the meeting here, as I know damn well you have everything to do with tonight’s event on your BlackBerry. It’ll save the time you’re worried about.”

“All right. I shouldn’t have slapped at Mac.”

“Knee jerk. I probably would’ve done the same, only more so.”

“But we expect bitchiness from you.”

“Nice hit.” Laughing, she pointed at Parker.“I’m not going to say anything to Del for the moment, but—”

“There’s nothing to tell. As you’ll soon see once everyone’s here.”

“And here they come. Prepare to illuminate.”

“I’m sorry,” Parker said even as Mac sat down.

“Water. Bridge. Bygones.”

“Eat some fruit,” Mrs. Grady insisted, and set the bowl on the table.

“I made too big a deal about it.” Obediently Parker spooned berries into the small clear dish at her plate. “With all of you, and with myself. It’s just all so strange, and that’s why. And still, pretty straightforward.”

“Why don’t you tell us, and we’ll decide the strange,” Laurel suggested. “Because by stalling, you’re making that big deal.”

“All right, all right. He came by to bring Mrs. G flowers.”

“Awww” was Emma’s instant reaction.

“Since she wasn’t here, it seemed awkward not to ask him in while I arranged them, and he could leave her a note. Anyway, I wanted to make it clear I wasn’t interested.”

“You asked him in to tell him you didn’t want to see him?” Mac put in.

“Yes. He’s got this habit of . . . moving on me, and I wanted to make it clear—and all right again, I didn’t end the move the other night when—”

“The hot kiss,” Emma put in.

“It wasn’t—” Yes, it was, Parker admitted.“After he had dinner here, and I walked him out, he caught me off guard, and I responded. That’s all there is. I’m human. But, particularly since he’s a good friend of Del’s, I felt I had to make it clear I wasn’t interested.”

“Did he buy that? Mmm, thanks, Mrs. G.” Mac dove for the platter of pancakes Mrs. Grady put on the table.“Because if he did, my opinion of his basic intelligence drops several levels.”

“Apparently he didn’t, because he proposed this deal. I’d go out for a ride, a casual dinner, and if I didn’t enjoy myself, he’d back off.”

“And you agreed?” Laurel grabbed the syrup. “You didn’t squash him like a bug or level him with the Parker Brown freeze ray?”

Parker lifted her coffee, took a slow sip. “Do you want me to tell this or not?”

“Proceed,” Laurel said with a wave of her hand.

“I agreed because it seemed simple, and yes, because I was a little curious. He’s Del’s friend, and there’s no point in having bad feelings. I’d go, then he’d back off. No hard feelings either way. Then when we got outside, he told me about the bet.”

“What bet?” Emma demanded.

Parker filled them in.

“Carter bet?” Mac threw back her head and laughed. “And on Mal? I love it.”

“I love it that he told you before you got on the bike.” Emma shook her fork.“He had to know it gave you an excuse to flip him off.”

“And I give him that. And he’ll give me, at my insistence, half his winnings. Fair’s fair.”

“Where’d you go?” Emma wondered.

“Into Old Greenwich, some little pizza joint. Nice, actually. And I won’t deny it’s fun to ride the bike—it’s great fun—or claim it was a painful experience to split a pizza with him. He’s an interesting man.”

“How many calls did you take while you were out?” Laurel asked her.

“Four.”

“And how did he take that?”

“Like business is business and go ahead. And yes, points for him. But the thing is we had a perfectly pleasant evening, then the minute we’re back and at the door, he . . .”

Emma wiggled in her seat. “Here comes the really sexy part.”

“He just takes over. He has this way of cornering me, and my brain shuts off. He’s good at it, and my brain just closes down. It’s reflex,” she claimed. “Or reaction.”

“Is he all hot and fast, or slow and easy?” Mac asked.

“I’m unaware if he has a slow speed.”

“Told you.” Mac elbowed Emma.

“After my brain started working again, I told him I wasn’t having it, that he couldn’t just grab and go whenever he wanted. And he just looked amused. Pretty much like the three of you—and you, too, Mrs. G, because I see you over there—are looking now.”

“Kissed him back, didn’t you?” Mrs. Grady pointed out.

“Yes, but—”

“So even if he hadn’t knocked your legs out from under you, you wouldn’t have one to stand on.”

She wanted to sulk, badly. So she shrugged instead. “It’s just a physical reaction.”

“I don’t know about that,” Laurel began, “but if it is, I have to say, so what?”

“I’m not going to get tangled . . .” She remembered Mrs. Grady’s phrase, cut her eyes in that direction and saw the housekeeper raise her eyebrows.“I’m not going to get involved this way with someone when I feel it could be a mistake. Especially when he’s a friend of Del’s, of Jack’s, of Carter’s. Especially when I really don’t know him well, or know that much about him.”

“Isn’t dating someone part of the process of finding out about him?” Emma reached over, laid a hand on Parker’s. “You’re interested, Parker. It’s all over you.You’re attracted. And you’re nervous about it.”

“You had fun with him, Parks.” Mac lifted her hands. “Why not have some fun?”

“He’s immune to your Back-Off Cloak, and your freeze ray. He doesn’t act or react in a way you can predict or control.” Laurel gave Parker’s leg a pat under the table. “So you want a reason to say no.”

“I’m not that shallow.”

“Not shallow. Nervous about letting him get too close because he could matter more than you bargained for. I think he already does.”

“I just don’t know. And I don’t like not knowing.”

“Then take a little time,” Emma said, “and find out.”

“I’ll think about it. I will.” How could she not, Parker admitted? “And that’s all there is of this morning’s sexy breakfast story. I appreciate everything, I really do, but we have to switch modes. We’re already running behind with the meeting.We have an event to prep for.”

MAL INSTALLED NEW MOTOR MOUNTS ON A HONEY OF A ’62 T-BIRD Sports Roadster. At the customer’s directive, he’d all but rebuilt the engine, and when the job was done, all 390 cubic inches would growl down the road like a big sleek cat. He’d already replaced the brake pads, fixed the cooling system, and refined the three two-barrel Holley carburetors.

By his calculations, in a few hours he’d be taking this big bastard for a test drive.

“That’s a beauty.”

He pulled his head from under the hood to see Del, lawyer-suited-up, inside the cavern of the garage.

“She is that. Sixty-two, M-Code,” Mal added, “bullet sleek. One of about two hundred sold back in the day.”

“Really?”

“Bitch was pricey. Customer bought this at an auction, had it restored. Rangoon Red exterior, two-toned red and white in.White-walls, wire wheels. He got a clue after he’d had the exterior and interiors restored that the reason it might be giving him some trouble on the road was the hundred-twelve original miles on the engine.”

“And that’s where you came in.”

“We fix.Take a look.”

“Sure, as long as I’m not required to know what I’m looking at, or half of what you’re talking about.”

“This baby has the chrome dress-up package.”

Del looked in, saw a big engine, a lot of black, some gleaming chrome, and various parts stamped with Thunderbird. Because he knew his job, he nodded. “So, what’ll she do?”

“When I’m finished? Just about anything you want her to except kiss you good night.” Mal pulled the bandanna out of his back pocket, wiped his hands. “Are you having trouble with the Mercedes?”

“No. I had a breakfast meeting in town, so I swung by after to drop off the papers you asked me to draw up. I can give you about ten minutes if you want to look over them now. Or I can leave them in your office, and you can read them when you’ve got a chance, call me with any questions.”

“I’ve got my hands full here, so I’ll read through them later. As long as I’m not required to know what I’m looking at, or half of what you’re talking about.”

“I’ll walk you through it whenever.”With a thoughtful frown, Del looked under the hood again.“Maybe one of these days you’ll walk me through an engine.”

Mal’s office consisted of a cubbyhole off the garage outfitted with a metal desk, a couple of filing cabinets, and a swivel chair. Del stepped in, took the file out of his briefcase, and set it on top of the inbox.

Mal stuck the rag back in his pocket. “We may want to take that ten minutes to talk about some personal business.”

“Sure.What’s up?”

“I took Parker out last night.”

After one slow take, Del shook his head. “You talked her back onto the bike? Did you have a gun?”

“We made a deal.We’d take a ride, grab some dinner, and when I dropped her back home, if she hadn’t had a good time, I’d back off.”

“So you—” A faster take this time. “Back off from what?”

“From her, and this thing we’ve got going.”

“What thing would that be?”

They shared that, Mal thought, the instant Brown frost. “You really want me to spell that out for you?”

“And when did this thing start?”

“For me? About two minutes after she first opened her mouth to me, and it’s been clicking up some levels since. For her? You’d have to ask her yourself. Since she did have a good time, and I won’t be backing off, I’m being up-front with you.”

“Just how far has this thing gone?”

Mal paused a moment. “You know, Del, I get how you are about Parker, about all of them. Switch the circumstances, I’d probably be the same, so I get it. But I’m not going there with you, not about Parker. If you want to ask her, that’s between the two of you. But I’ll say this, if you think I’m just after a quick score, you and me? We don’t know each other as well as either of us thought.”

“She’s my sister, goddamn it.”

“If she wasn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. She’s also a beautiful, smart, interesting woman.And she’s nobody’s push-over. If and when she wants to shake me off, that’s what she’ll do.”

“And if she does?”

“I’ll be sorry, because, like that car, she’s a rare breed. Classy and powerful and fucking gorgeous. And worth a hell of a lot of time and trouble.”

Frustration radiating like sunlight, Del shoved his hand in his pocket. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to say about this.”

“Can’t tell you.” Mal shrugged. “By the way, you can pay her my hundred. After we made the deal, I figured I should be up-front with her, so I told her about the bet in case she wanted to get pissed off and flip me off.”

“Great. Perfect.”

“She didn’t get pissed. She just wanted a cut of the bet. Jesus, who wouldn’t go for a woman who thinks like that? Anyway, it seems fair her take comes from you. I’ll collect my share from Jack, and the two of you can settle it with Carter.”

“I don’t know if we’re square on this. I have to get my head around it. But I know this: If you screw with her, if you hurt her, I’ll kick your ass.”

“Got that. How about this? If I screw with her, if I hurt her, I’ll let you.”

“Son of a bitch. Read the damn papers.” Without another word, Del strode off.

Could’ve been worse, Mal considered. Del could’ve punched him in the face the way he had Jack over Emma. So, he figured he and Del were one up there.

He shrugged it off, then went back to work on the engine, on something he knew, absolutely, how to fix.

KNOWING HER SCHEDULE, DEL MADE IT A POINT TO GET HOME early enough to corner his sister. She had rehearsals, and an event, which might have equaled an overfull plate for anyone else. But he knew damn well Parker routinely built in time for emergencies.

This, to his way of thinking, qualified.

He timed it strategically, arriving at the end of the first rehearsal, while Laurel was busy in her kitchen, Emma and her team already dressing the house for the arrival of the evening’s bridal party, and before the second rehearsal.

Mac, he knew, would be occupied with her camera.

He strolled up as Parker waved off the first clients and their party.

“You’re home early.”

“Yeah, I juggled some things so I could get back and give you all a hand.”

“We can use it. The next rehearsal’s in about fifteen minutes, and tonight’s bride and party are due in about thirty for hair and makeup.We’re on schedule, but—”

“Good, let’s take that fifteen.” He took her hand to stroll onto the lawn.

“Should I assume someone saw me with Malcolm last night, and reported to you?” She smoothed down the line of her suit jacket. “We know each other too well, Del.”

“I’d have thought. But then I wouldn’t have thought you’d be out doing an Easy Rider.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Look it up.”

“Fine. If you’re going to try a lecture on the risks of motorcycles, you have to first provide me with an affidavit stating you haven’t ridden on one or driven one within the last thirty-six months.”

Okay, he’d bench that argument. To buy a little more time, he took out his wallet, pulled out a hundred, and passed it to her.

“Thanks.” She folded it, tucked it into her pocket.

“Did you go out with him because of the bet?”

“I went out with him despite the bet.”

“Since all bets are off, are you planning to go out with him again?”

“He hasn’t asked me, and I haven’t decided.” She turned her head to give his face a long study. “Since you show no signs of being in a fight, and I imagine Malcolm can give as good as he gets, I have to assume no punches were thrown when he told you I knew about the bet.”

“I don’t make a habit of punching people. Jack was an exception,” he qualified before she could speak. “And Mal avoided that by telling me about . . . all this straight off.”

She paused. “He told you himself ?”

“And you didn’t.”

Considering Malcolm’s tact, she answered without thinking. “Del, are you really living with the illusion I tell you about every man I date?”

“So you and Mal are dating?”

“No. Maybe. I haven’t decided. Do I give you a cross-examination over everyone you date, or dated before you and Laurel? And if you say that’s different, I may punch you.”

“I’m trying to find a phrase that merely alludes to ‘that’s different.’” Because it got a snicker out of her, he took her hand as they walked. “Let’s back up to the point that none of the guys you’ve dated have been friends of mine. Good friends of mine.”

“True. And did I get in the middle when things changed between you and Laurel? My brother and one of my closest friends? And, no, Del, it’s still not different.”

“I’m not getting in the middle. I’m just circling the outer perimeter, trying to get a gauge of the ground.”

“I don’t know the ground yet. We went for a ride, had pizza, and . . .”

“And?”

“And completed the standard hat trick of dating with a kiss good night.”

“So you’re interested in him.”

“I’m not disinterested. It surprised me, but I’m not disinterested. I had a good time last night, and I didn’t expect to. I relaxed and enjoyed myself, and it’s been a long time since I’ve done that with a man. Just enjoyed myself. He might be your client, Del, or a casual acquaintance, but the fact that he’s your friend says you not only like him, but you trust and respect him. Is there any reason I shouldn’t?”

“No.” He sucked in air and scowled into the distance. “Damn it.”

“And the fact that he told you about this himself, it matters. I didn’t tell Laurel or any of the others until this morning. And I’m not sure I’d have done it then if Mac hadn’t heard the bike, and seen me ride off with Mal.That doesn’t speak as well of me.”

“You didn’t want to put them in the middle, an awkward place between you and me.”

“That was part of it—not the main, but part.” She paused, turning so they stood face-to-face. “Don’t put me in the middle, Del, between you and your friend. Please don’t make me a point of contention.”

“I won’t. Unless he screws it up. Then I’ll kick his ass. He already knows that. Actually, he agreed if he screwed it up, he’d let me kick his ass. And yeah,” Del admitted,“that speaks well of him, too, because I know him, and he meant it.”

She wrapped her arms around Del to hug. “I’m really good at taking care of myself, but it’s awfully nice to have a big brother I know will do it for me, whenever I need it.”

“Count on it.”

“I do. Now.” She drew back. “If you’re here to help, go find Emma. She’ll be the one most in need of extra hands. And here comes the next group.”

She left Del to cross toward the parking area to greet the first arrivals. It was odd, wasn’t it, she thought, that she’d barely acknowledged to herself she had a genuine interest in Malcolm Kavanaugh, yet she’d spent a good deal of her day talking about him.

And more, she admitted, thinking about him.