They found Mike and Christina in the kitchen with Davidson, eating bagels and drinking coffee.
“Any chance we’ll get to meet your wife today?” Piper asked before sinking her teeth into a warm, sesame seed bagel.
“Looks like we won’t see her until tomorrow. She has some dance business she’s attending to for the girls. Last minute planning fell through the cracks.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. I’m excited to meet her.”
Piper spotted Rachel and Steve making their way into the kitchen followed by Kent and Deanne. They all headed for the coffee station first.
Davidson shifted away from the coffee pot, giving them room. “She feels terrible that she’s missing this. After all, I made a big deal about the candidates for partnership bringing their spouses so I could see what they’re made of, and here I am wifeless.”
“I won’t hold it against you,” Trevor said.
“Good man,” Davidson said, clapping Trevor on the back. “I appreciate it. I’ve been especially hard on you. I hope you understand. Partnerships aren’t just about how much money you bring in.”
Trevor took a sip of his coffee and stole half of Piper’s bagel as she walked by. “I get it. You want someone dedicated and planning to stay on. I can’t fault you for that.”
Piper stopped, looked down at her plate, then whipped around and gave him a look. “You’re lucky you’re cute, or I would trade you in for a loyal dog.”
He set his coffee down, curled a hand around her neck, and pulled her in for a lingering kiss. Her muscles went limp, her skin heated, and liquid lust pooled in her center. God, the man and his mouth would be the death of her.
“I’ll make it up to you, Trouble,” he said when he released her lips.
“You stole the woman’s food, that calls for Tiffany’s,” Davidson said.
“Daisies. Fresh picked daisies are better than anything he could give me in a Tiffany box,” Piper said, her eyes never leaving Trevor’s.
She didn’t want flash. She could do that for herself. She wanted a man to walk through the tall grass and go through the effort to bring her something full of natural beauty.
“Ahhh, an interesting woman you’ve picked, Trevor. I like her,” Davidson said.
He gave her a flirty wink. “Yeah, I think I’ll keep her.”
They were just words, words to put on a show for his boss. She’d do good to remember that. But she couldn’t help the flutter in her heart. A part of her wished it was real. In just under twenty-four hours, she had become so embroiled in Trevor that all of her business worries had flitted away.
As a matter of fact, she had hardly checked her messages since she left. She really ought to do something about that. Rafe was her righthand man, but with the decision to expand looming right before the beginning of the fall dance season, she needed to be a united front with him. As an investor, and her best friend, it was the right thing to do.
“Do I have time to make a quick call before we get into our plans for the day?” Piper asked.
“Sure. I figure we’ll be heading out in about twenty minutes or so,” Davidson said.
“Thanks.” She slid her phone out of her pocket and stepped out onto the deck. Small signs of fall had started cropping up. The morning air had turned crisp as the temperature started dipping cooler and cooler at night. The leaves lost their bright green luster the way they did every year right before the first spots of color streaked through the trees like their own distinguished way of graying at the temples as they aged.
She brought up Rafe’s number. Not even one full ring and he was all over his phone. Not entirely surprising, since it spent most of its time glued to his hand.
“Good morning, Gorgeous. Tell me you’re having a blast wherever you ended up.”
“Hi…yes, a blast. The couple’s massage was fun. Nothing like going from zero to naked within the first ten minutes of arrival.”
“Oh, I so need to hear about this.”
“I’m sure you will. I’m almost certain I’ll have plenty to rant about when this is all said and done. In the meantime, I have to get ready for couples’ kayaking, but I wanted to check in. Anything important happening?”
“That Marla woman called again. I can’t lie, she sounded pretty desperate. Before she was just excited about us, but now, I guess Blush had promised her community troupe costumes and they’ve backed out. This isn’t a small troupe either; we’re talking over a hundred dancers.”
“Oh no!”
“Yeah, so I know you have a waiting list of people who want your designs, and they’re all waiting for you to expand, but my advice, expand and bump her to the top.”
Piper bit her thumbnail, and remembering how long it had taken to grow pretty nails after years of chewing them, she pulled it out. “I was thinking about that last night.”
“Shouldn’t you have been preoccupied with hot and hunky?”
“That’s why I was awake.”
“Not what I would do with a hot guy if I was awake.”
She laughed. “I know, but seriously, I only have a few minutes, so question: How many seamstresses do you think you can round up? Ones you know personally and can trust.”
“Off the top of my head, I’d say ten to twelve. Why?”
She took a deep breath and when she let it out, she took the plunge. “I’m thinking we can do a partial expansion. Get our feet wet. We can increase production, but buy ourselves some more time to find a couple of designers to work with. What do you think? Stupid? Too safe?” She flinched as if she had spoken the words right to his face. As successful as she’d become, sometimes she still shied away from making the big decisions. She worried about making the right choices with the people closest to her. Their opinions mattered to her more than anything.
“Actually, I think it’s smart. We never even considered taking this in steps. It’s been an all or nothing proposition.”
“The idea made me nervous. Once it popped into my head, I didn’t give it much thought, just decided to go with it. I’ve had the same problem, thinking this was an all or nothing step, and that’s why it all just seemed so overwhelming. This way, we still follow through on the business requirements to expand, but with fewer employees out of the gate, it’s manageable and far easier to keep a close eye on quality control.”
“It’s your name on the label, we’ll keep as close an eye as you need to.”
“I love you, Rafe. I can’t thank you enough for being my partner in this.”
“You do things all the time to thank me. Just keep being you, Piper. It’s enough.”
His words burrowed inside her and niggled at the problem she had buried in there and didn’t want to acknowledge. Just keep being you…the words were a stark reminder that who she was behind closed doors was not who she presented to the world. Here she was giving Trevor crap about the same thing.
Only, maybe it wasn’t quite the same. He seemed to live this new version of himself. She erased her outer persona with every swipe of makeup remover.
Her situation was totally different. She was representing her brand. That was all.
Trevor popped his head around the corner. “Hey, we’re about to head out. You almost ready?”