Page 34 of The Wedding Deal
She lowered the pillow and shot him an admonitory glare, and he held up his hands.
“I’m not going to. I know better.” He slowly dropped his hands and rested his forearms on his knees. “So you started telling them the truth? Or did you make up a fake job?”
“That’s the thing, isn’t it? If you lie and you start to genuinely like the person, you’re screwed because you’ve already ruined things. Finally I figured I might as well weed them out as soon as possible. If their first response at hearing where I work is to ask for tickets or for me to introduce them to their favorite players, I move on.”
Two creases formed between Lance’s eyebrows as he pressed his mouth into a flat line. Clearly he had some thoughts on the matter, and she instinctually knew she wouldn’t like whatever they were. And yet curiosity still got the best of her.
“What?”
“My grandpa owned a team, and I’ve been around players most of my life, and still, if I met a woman who worked for any NFL organization, I’d probably ask that without even thinking. Not so much for tickets, but for an inside look.”
She frowned. “I guess that puts you in the nope column. You’re already in there, of course, since we work together, but…” She shrugged like it didn’t matter. He didn’t understand. Her last boyfriend had acted like he understood when she said she didn’t cross business and pleasure, but in the end, it was one of the things that tore them apart. When she couldn’t “hook him up” he told her it was embarrassing and selfish, and he dumped her.
“I didn’t mean to upset you. All I’m saying, James, is that you might end up putting every guy in the nope column.”
“So it’s expecting too much for a guy to like me for me?” This conversation was getting too personal. “Not that it really matters,” she said, scooting forward to grab her laptop again. “Like I said before, I don’t believe in that fairy-tale stuff, and I’m not looking for a relationship right now anyway.”
He curled his hand around her wrist. “Charlotte—”
The phone rang, and it was go time, and she was glad for it. Even if she also really wondered what he’d been going to say.
…
Lance looked across the coffee table at Charlotte. He arched a brow, his silent way of asking if she had any more questions for Sean Bryant, their prospective head coach.
A pale pink fingernail ran down the lines in her notebook, where she’d scribbled answers and thoughts. Theclick-clickof her pen filled the air, and she shook her head. Several of the questions she’d asked, he never would’ve thought to, and they’d given him a lot of insight into the guy on the other end of the line.
Another eyebrow arch from him, along with a thumbs-up, closely followed with a thumbs-down.
Charlotte flashed two giant thumbs-up, her enthusiasm catching. This could actually work.
“We’ll let you go,” Lance said, leaning closer to his phone. “But we’d like to fly you to the facilities early next week, so you can take a look around and we can talk more about a possible future together.”
“Yeah,” Coach Bryant said, excitement pitching his voice higher. He cleared his throat. “I mean, yeah, that sounds…” He lost the reins on his emotions again. “Awesome. Can we do it Monday? Pretty sure I’m not doing a very good job of playing it cool, so I’m just gonna go ahead and admit I’m not going to sleep until after our meeting.” A self-deprecating laugh came out.
Charlotte’s grin lit up the entire room, and Lance wondered if Sean could feel it, even from several states away. “Don’t worry, we always have a strong pot of coffee in the break room, and if you’re not a masochist, I have this amazing creamer that makes it feel like you’re drinking a caffeinated dessert. And while Lance here plays it cool rather well, I say squeal and high five and do the type of dance that’d earn you a penalty.”
“Oh, I’ve been dancing this entire time,” he joked, and Charlotte laughed.
Her eyes met his, and Lance’s heart jolted in his chest. She was such a natural when it came to putting people at ease. Yet she’d also asked the hard questions, pushing and challenging Sean so they could see how he’d react.
“Monday it is,” Lance said. “I’ll make a few calls and send you the information for your trip once I have it.”
Charlotte hugged her notebook to her chest the second after he’d disconnected the call.
“If we hire him, he’d be the youngest coach in the NFL, which will bring extra scrutiny but also extra publicity, and yeah, he’s a risk, but I think we could use more fresh blood and people who think outside the box, and you heard what he’d like to do with the team.”
“More than that, I heard that he has a plan how to do it.”
“I have a really good feeling about him. I think he’d be good for the team, and it’d be great to have his help as we reassess and narrow down our draft picks to fit his plan.”
“I agree.” His phone chimed, thegroomsmen photosalert flashing onscreen. “Shit. I’m supposed to meet my family and the photographer in the lobby in ten minutes.” He’d put on the tuxedo pants and shirt, but the rest of the getup was scattered around the room. He managed the bow tie, but one of his cufflinks wouldn’t snap into place, and with his left hand, it was a losing battle.
“Here.” Charlotte took over, easily securing it and reaching up to straighten the bow tie.
“I still think this trend of taking wedding photosbeforethe wedding is bad luck.” Today the groom and groomsmen were taking photos, and tomorrow Mitch would be banned from a certain area of the hotel as Stacy and her bridesmaids took pictures. In theory it meant getting better staging, more shots, and less hassle the day of. It also allowed for more goofy pictures without the other half of the party impatiently waiting.
“It does seem a bit like tempting fate. What if there’s a runaway bride or groom situation? Not that Stacy or Mitch strike me as the running type.”
