Page 32 of Hopeless Romantic
“I know. Between the two of us, this wedding will be smooth sailing.”
“Two of us?”
He ignored her protest. “We’ll need to meet weekly, of course. Make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Scratch that—twice weekly. I’d volunteer my place, but you made your feelings clear on my color schemes.”
“We can’t work together!”
“Why not?” The spark from simply holding hands told him they would work together just fine.
“Because,” she sputtered. “Because, well.... Because they hiredme. Yes. And you’re short-staffed and trying to hire new management, remember? I’m sure that means a lot of time devoted to interviewing, hiring, and training. So much training. Plus, there’s your countdown clock. I could never ask you to take time away from working on your boat.”
“Oh, I thought it was because you’re attracted to me.” His gaze landed on their still-clasped hands; hers followed.
“It has nothing to do with that.” She dropped his hand like a hot potato. “This is about Annie and Emmitt hiringmeto plan their wedding. A wedding that needs to be perfect. Having too many cooks in the kitchen will only complicate things. Simple as that.”
“Then why are you blushing?”
“I’m not,” she lied. “And this is why we can’t work together.”
“Because you blush whenever I’m around?”
“Because we need to take this seriously, something you can’t seem to do. So while I am so thankful you have agreed to have the wedding here, we all need to stay in our own lanes. I am the wedding planner. You are the venue owner, Mr. Rhodes.”
If she meant for the title to establish a modicum of professionalism, she failed. In fact, the way his name slipped so easily from her lips had more pillow talk about it than personal concierge. And the way she absently touched her lips said her mind had gone to the same steamy place.
As if sensing his gaze, she crossed her arms and sat back in the booth.
“Don’t worry, Miss Hayes. It was good for me, too.”
“Stop playing with me,” she whispered, and the distress in her tone had him backing off immediately. She could handle arguing with him, bantering, even tolerating his humor. But when it came to flirting or compliments or anything remotely personal, she became uncomfortable—shy, even.
It was as if Beckett was not in the habit of talking about herself or being singled out for any reason other than her job description. Something he looked forward to working on with her.
“When I’m playing with you, you’ll know it,” he said with gentle honesty. “As for the wedding, closing down for a private event involves a lot of moving pieces, and I can’t afford any surprises. So if the wedding happens here, then I need to be involved. Beyond just being the venue owner. I need to know the hows, whos, and whats of the event, which means you and I will be communicating and working together. That’s my Must Have.”
Emmitt was going to owe him big time. While having his best friend’s wedding here felt incredibly right, Levi was going to lose some serious money on the event. His mom loved Emmitt. No way would she accept payment for use of the restaurant and marina. Ida would also skin Levi alive if he charged Emmitt anything over the cost for the food and alcohol.
Yup, this wedding was going to cost Levi a pretty penny. In return, Levi would get the opportunity to appease his curiosity about the stubborn and sexy Dolittle sitting across from him.
“I guess that’s understandable,” she agreed, but he could tell she didn’t like it. “But when this is all over, and I prove to you how good I am at what I do, you will give Consider It Done a trial run as your exclusive delivery service. That’s my Must Have.”
She smiled, and the barely contained hopefulness radiating from her made it hard to say no.
“Deal.” He reached across the table to shake, but she eyed his hand as if it were a venomous snake.
“Don’t you want to know how long the trial will be and what the terms are?”
“We can talk about them Saturday. Anywhere that isn’t here.”
“As long as it’s strictly a business appointment,” she clarified, andman, she was the most suspicious and independent person he’d ever met. No doubt a result of constantly having to reshuffle the cards she’d been dealt.
“Until you say otherwise.”
A quick handshake later and, look at that, they were planning a wedding.
Chapter 7
Over the next few days, Levi learned something troubling about himself. He had lost his touch with the ladies. Not only had Beckett mind-tricked him into throwing a wedding at his restaurant, but his driving-challenged niece had argued her way behind the wheel of his truck.
