The day had come for our scheduled sample run at Madison’s country club. As we stepped into the ballroom Suzanne led us to, an understanding about one thing hit me with clarity: Madison had no intention of making anything easy for us.
In the past week, she’d completely disregarded my demand to deal with her private event coordinator, Suzanne, directly. Every email I sent to Suzanne, Madison replied to it. When I redirected my response to Suzanne, Madison replied again.
Putting an end to her game, I decided to pick my battles. I began to send the damn emails to both of them. Let them sort out their shit.
My sisters, Hannah, and I stood in the ballroom set with various examples of how Madison’s team envisioned the event, complete with ridiculous floral centerpieces, fine bone china, and thousand-plus thread count table linens.
No need to guess whether or not Madison would show her new kinder-gentler side. She stood on the far side of the room, arms crossed, glacial expression.
Message received. Her territory? No chance in hell she’d show vulnerability.
Worked for me. This whole ordeal put me in a piss-poor mood, and my sadistic side clamored to butt heads with her.
I blinked. “You’re kidding, right? What part of bar mitzvah did you not understand?” I gave Madison a weary stare. “It looks like a fucking spring garden explosion in here.”
Ivory tablecloths, green linen napkins, frilly centerpieces with pink, purple, and yellow flowers arching out of small vases made every male cell in my body twitch to dump the tables in rebellion. The other two tables were worse. One actually had gold-rimmed crystal goblets. The other… “Are those pink napkins?”
Blinking in confusion, I lifted the offending color up toward the overhead lights, thinking I had to have gone colorblind from the bright sunlight outside.
Madison smirked. “It’s salmon. More coral than pink.”
Hannah coughed next to me. “Selfish Bitch.”
I snorted but inhaled a deep breath, forcing myself to relax. My words came out calm. Smooth. With no margin for misunderstanding whatsoever.
“I don’t give a good goddamn what you call it. They’re bringing their boys into the world, transforming them into men. We’re not ousting them out of the closet. If they want to throw that kind of party, I have no issues with it. But you aren’t making that poor-taste call.
“And you’re sure as fuck not deciding colors. I am. Keep the colors primary, the shades with names from the basic Crayola box. Black and green” —I lifted her idea of a green napkin off the table— “not this chartreuse shit. The other room can be in blue, as in ‘lake blue,’ not peacock. And if you want to go wild with a third color in either room, go with silver or white. That’s it. No other colors.”
Madison had the audacity to look bored. “Fine. What else?”
I sat my ass in the nearest chair. “Why don’t you bring around the food samples? Let’s hope your chef realized there will be teenagers at the party and opted for appetizers over hors d'oeuvres or, God forbid, an amuse-bouche.”
Yeah, I openly mocked her. But she started it. With her home-field advantage at her club, she boldly fucked with our event to our faces. I planned to end this bullshit waste of time.
We began to take seats at the first (least offensive) table, chairs enough for only the five of us. Madison and Suzanne stood a few feet off, hawking around, watching and waiting. I ignored them.
Finding some good in the middle of it all, I plucked one of the flower stems from the vase and handed it to Hannah. “For you.” I winked.
She smiled. Up the tall stem spiraled bright yellow snapdragon blooms. In one fell swoop Madison had given us something of value without realizing it, diffusing my anger with a good memory. The distraction grounded me a bit and seemed to bring joy to Hannah too. Secrets had that magical effect.
Hannah leaned closer to me. “So far she hasn’t sprouted horns or breathed fire. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sure you’re okay tasting without Madison and Suzanne participating?”
My lips twitched. “You think she’ll poison us?”
She shrugged. “I’m just saying, prepare yourself.”
I gave Hannah a quick nod, then tapped my leaded crystal water glass. “What do you think of the stemware, Kristen?”
“It’s too formal, completely wrong. We need simple glasses, basic plates.” Kristen stood and surveyed the options at the other tables. “These glasses.” She held a glass up until Suzanne typed a note into her electronic tablet. Kristen then tapped on a plain white dinner plate on the third table. “This place setting.”
Two waiters brought out trays of food. We proceeded to taste everything they supplied. Each item was introduced as they served, from tiny quiches to crab cakes to pigs in a blanket. The current waiter served the next item. “These are vegetable pot stickers with an apricot-mango spicy dipping sauce.”
I nodded, satisfied. “All of it will work, except for the pigs-in-the-blanket and crab cakes.”
“What? One too gauche, the other too highbrow?” Madison crossed her arms but nodded to Suzanne who took notes.
“No, Einstein. They’re Jewish. They don’t eat pork or shellfish. Even if some would, I’m not risking it.”
“We could serve beef hot dogs instead of pork,” she countered.
“No. I don’t want guests concerned, whether or not it’s warranted.”
“Fine. Any other requests?” Her lips pressed into a firm line as she stared at me, jaw clenching.
Yeah, well, she had only herself to blame for being the brunt of my fury. With at least half of this shit, she should’ve known better. Either she was incompetent in her role, or she was goading me.
“I’ll send over a list of additional requests for each room. We want wood flooring in the centers for dancing, tables along the perimeter. We’ll determine table count and seating and send those over by the weekend. Do you have access to two popcorn machines?”
Madison glanced at Suzanne, who then confirmed, “We have one. I can rent another.”
“And photo booths.” Kiki twisted in her chair to face them. “Rent a photo booth for each room too.”
We all nodded in agreement.
Suzanne gave a short nod. “Done. If you think of anything else, email me by Friday. That’ll give us a week to arrange for any last-minute details.” She stepped away from Madison toward me. “Cade, could I borrow you for a few minutes? I’ve got some paperwork in my office for you to sign.”
“Sure.” I stood while giving Hannah’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I’ll be back in a few.”
I was done with this meeting. We’d accomplished what we’d come for on the surface, and Madison hadn’t shown her hand regarding our suspicions. “Meanwhile, if you have any questions” —I looked pointedly at Suzanne— “or clarifications let me know. These events need to go off without a hitch, which will make the client happy. Then we’re all happy. Right, Madison?”
Her eyes narrowed imperceptibly, but I caught her irritation. Good. Enough dicking around. We were here to conduct business, not a pissing match.
I suspected this stupid setup was all an elaborate test to see how far she could push us.
The answer? Not at all.
I followed Suzanne out of the ballroom, down hall, and around the corner to her office, the first door on the left. Normally efficient, Suzanne suddenly appeared to be disorganized as she rifled through one file after another on her desk. She frowned, then moved over to a file cabinet and opened the top drawer. “Sorry. I thought I left the file in the center of my desk.”
“Is it something you can email? Can it be digitally signed?”
She shook her head. “Give me just a minute. It has to be here somewhere.”
I remained in the doorway while she searched.
“Madison gave me a few new files this morning.” She moved back to her desk, then moved files one by one off a stack on the corner. “Here is yours.”
I stepped closer as she slid the bottom file out and opened it on her desk. From it, she grabbed two sets of standard agreements. After signing the obligatory liability releases, I handed her back the pen and one signed set. “Thanks for your help with the events. I’ll keep in touch through the week.”
Eager to return back to my sisters and Hannah, I left Suzanne’s office. Suddenly, I came to a jarring halt, nearly colliding with Madison, who stood right outside Suzanne’s office.
Fuck. The hairs on the back of my neck raised. The instant adrenaline spike forced me to take a deep breath. “What do you want, Madison?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
I dropped her a deadpan look. “No. Enlighten me.”
She stepped closer. Too close.
I refused to back down from her and held my ground.
“I want you.” Her fingers touched my forearm, and it took every ounce of restraint I had not to flinch. Her head tilted. “I only didn’t want to get tied down before…”
Before fucking your way through Europe?
She opened her mouth, but I spoke first. “Not gonna happen, Madison. Accept it. Then we can all get these events done with minimal stress.”
“Why? Because you’re with Hannah now? Don’t you remember how good it was?”
“Yes, I do.” I lowered my voice to a near growl. “Right up to the point you told me what a slut you were.”
“I explained why. I’m better now. I’m done with all that. But I’m not done with you.”
I gave her a tired sigh, shaking my head. “What’s it gonna take to convince you I am done?”
Her lips twisted into a smirk. “Let me give you a taste. You know I’ll be better than the flavor of the month you’re hanging with right now.” She licked her lips suggestively.
I almost puked in my mouth. Then I shook my head. “Take care, Madison.”
It was an unreal struggle to remain professional (yeah, I got the irony of that after what an asshole I was at that ridiculous tasting), but I didn’t want to get dragged down any further by her tactics. I sidestepped around her to continue toward the end of the hall.
When I rounded the corner, my sisters came out of the ballroom. Kiki was in the lead with her cheeks puffed full, a napkin on her hand holding a pyramid of pigs in a blanket.
I stared in amusement.
She shrugged, mumbling around her mouthful, “What? I’m not Jewish.”
“Where’s Hannah?”
“She just went into the ladies’ room. We told her we’d meet her in the lobby.”
“Why don’t you guys head out? I’ll take her home.” Hannah appeared by my side before I finished my sentence. I wrapped an arm around her and gave her a gentle squeeze. “I’ll email last-minute items later tonight for Loading Zone’s event.” Although everything was lined up for the anniversary, I needed to triple check to be able to sleep at night.
Kristen nodded. “We’re set. Fire away when ready.” She waved, then joined my other two sisters, who were already involved in an unrelated conversation and didn’t bother to look up.
Once we were alone, Hannah nudged her hip into me. “You were gone awhile. Everything okay?”
I glanced down at her and gave a short nod. “Yeah. Suzanne had a problem finding our file.”
“Madison left the ballroom about a minute after you and Suzanne did.” Her tone dropped, heavy.
“Really?” My mind raced, wondering what might’ve happened.
Hannah pulled away and stared at me.
I frowned. “Nothing happened in the ballroom after I left, did it?”
Her brows drew together for a beat. “No.”
“Were you okay in there with Madison today? Did you feel like knocking Selfish Bitch on her ass at any point?”
She sighed. “I feel like knocking her down now.”
“I feel the same. C’mon. Let’s go find a way to work through our frustration.” I tugged her hand and led her out the back patio doors.
The moment we stepped outside, she jolted to a stop, tugging her hand out from my grasp. “I overheard you and Madison talking in the hallway.”
“Which part?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Does it matter? Why didn’t you tell me?”
I had no easy answer. Instinct? Protecting her? Self-preservation? I hadn’t a clue. “Not sure. Everything she says keeps pushing me further away from believing her. It’s actually pissing me off. Didn’t seem worth mentioning to piss you off too.”
She put her hands on her hips. “What affects you, affects me too. Of all the people needing to believe and trust each other, it’s you and me. A few months ago, you wanted to help me with Dumbfuck. Now you have to keep me in the loop to help you with Selfish Bitch. That’s how this relationship thing works. We support each other. Don’t cut me off so I’m not able to do that.”
I stood there a moment, absorbing her words. Then I gave her a hard nod. “You’re right. We’re a team in this. Sorry that I’m keeping too much shit to myself.” Stepping closer to her, I pulled her into my arms. “I’ve kept this whole thing with Madison a secret for so long, I’m just used to working through it on my own. Please be patient with me. I’ll work on it.”
She nodded, wrapping her arms around my waist. “That’s all I’m asking. Include me.”
“Deal.” I exhaled a relieved breath, then gave her a soft kiss. Pent-up energy pulsed through me, reminding me why I’d pulled her out here in the first place. “Where’s that spa area you visited the other day?”
“In a separate building, toward the back, why?” She glanced at me.
My guttered thoughts must’ve reflected in my eyes, because hers narrowed at me.
“Because I need to defile these grounds. And I need you.” I tilted my head with a smirk, eyes devouring her curves before meeting her gaze again. “Find me a dark corner.”
She hesitated, concern crossing over her face.
Determined, I tugged her forward again and finally broke through her subtle resistance.
I leaned down and pressed my lips against her neck. “Do they have a sauna?” I murmured as we crept into the spa’s unmanned lobby area.
She nodded and led me around the front corner. At the end of a long corridor, a door with a cedar frame and glass insert appeared. She yanked it open and steam poured out. I grabbed an armful of towels off the shelf and followed her inside. She turned around, then bit her lip.
I blew out a slow breath. She looked sexy as fuck.
I had an undeniable urge to mark my territory. Primal. Couldn’t explain it if I tried. Thank God I didn’t need to—Hannah had a sudden wild look in her eyes, totally onboard with it.
“Come here, Maestro.” I crooked my finger at her.
With a smile, she grabbed one of the thick towels, tossed it onto the floor, and dropped to her knees. “You first.” She pulled her top off and unfastened her bra before tossing both aside. Then she unbuckled my belt and ripped open the button fly on my jeans.
During a last flash of rational thought, I wondered if we should’ve gotten naked before the steam soaked our clothes. Then her lips surrounded me, and I groaned as coherent thoughts scattered.
She expertly worked away my stress and anxiety. I didn’t have to ask. She sensed what I needed, knew before I did.
And with a shaky exhale, I let sensations overtake me.