Page 74 of Summer Weddings
His plan backfired. Chrissiehadto show him her desk.
“I’m over here,” she said, taking him by the hand and leading him to the front row. “Ms. Ross let me pick my own seat.” Wouldn’t you know, his daughter had chosen to sit directly in front of the teacher’s desk.
He tried to make a fast getaway, but Bethany herself waylaid him.
“Good morning, Mitch.”
“Morning.” The tropical bird was back in full plumage. She wore a black skirt with a colorful floral top; it reminded him of the shirt Sawyer had brought back from Hawaii. Her hair was woven into a thick braid that fell halfway down her back.
She did have beautiful hair, he’d say that much. It didn’t take a lot of effort to imagine undoing her braid and running his fingers through the glossy strands. He could see himself with his hands buried wrist-deep in her hair, drawing her mouth to his. Her lips would feel silky soft, and she’d taste like honey and passion and—
“Are you picking me up after school?” Chrissie asked, interrupting his thoughts.
Thank heaven she had. Apparently all Chrissie’s chatter about Bethany was having more of an effect on him than he’d realized. His heart pounded like an overworked piston, his pulse thumping so hard he could feel it throb in his neck.
Bethany and Chrissie were both looking at him, awaiting his response.“Pick you up?” As a rule, Chrissie walked over to Louise Gold’s house after school.
“Just for today,” Chrissie said, her big eyes gazing up at him hopefully.
“All right,” he agreed grudgingly. “Just for today.”
Chrissie’s face shone with her smile.
He would’ve told Bethany goodbye, but she was talking to other parents. Just as well. The sooner he got away from her, the sooner he could get a grip on his emotions.
Mitch wished he knew what was wrong with him. After vehemently opposing all talk about becoming romantically involved with Bethany Ross, he found it downright frightening to discover the effect she had on him.
* * *
Sawyer debated what exactly he should say to his brother. It wasn’t often that he felt called upon to take Christian to task. But enough was enough. Christian had Mariah so unnerved the poor girl couldn’t do anything right.
“She did it again,” Christian muttered as he walked past Sawyer’s desk to his own.
Sawyer looked up. “Who?” he asked in an innocent voice.
Seething, Christian jerked his head toward Mariah. “She can’t seem to find accounts receivable on the computer.”
“It’s here,” Mariah insisted, her fingers on the keyboard. Even from where Sawyer was sitting, it looked as though she was randomly pressing keys in a desperate effort to find the missing data. “I’m just not sure where it went.”
“Don’t you have it on a backup disk?” Sawyer asked.
“Yes…”
“Who knows?” Christian threw his hands in the air. “The backup disk’s probably in the same place as the missing file. We could be in real trouble here.” Panic edged his voice.
“She’ll find it,” Sawyer said confidently.
Mariah thanked him with a brief smile.
“Let me look,” Christian demanded, flying out of his chair. “Before you crash the entire system.”
“I lost it, I’ll find it.” Mariah didn’t budge from her seat. The woman had long since won Sawyer’s admiration, not least for the mettle she’d shown in dealing with his brother.
“Leave her be,” Sawyer said.
“And risk everything?”
“We aren’t risking anything. There’s a backup disk.”
