“Oh, Mia, that’s awesome!” Addison exclaimed, but then frowned. “Oh, hey, listen. I’ll stay somewhere else tonight.”
“No!” Mia protested. Her bouncing stopped. “I can’t let you do that.”
“I insist. Didn’t you say that there’s a furnished condo up for grabs? Let’s go move my stuff from your guestroom now before Cam arrives.”
“Addison, I don’t want you spending your first night here alone. We can hang out together. I want you to meet Cam.”
“Mia, how long has it been since you’ve seen your fiance?”
“Ten days, three hours, and five minutes,” she said with a small smile.
“Exactly.”
“I’ll get Addison home safely,” Reid offered, causing both women to look his way. “If you’d like to stay, that is.” He gestured toward the paper. “I’m pretty good at trivia.”
Before Addison could answer, Mia said, “I’ll get the keys from the front desk before they close. Do you have spare car keys?”
“Yes, but—”
“Super. Give them to me and I’ll put the instruction packet and keys in your car, in case you wind up staying here late. I’m pretty sure the condo will be on the ground floor. They keep a few of those open for families who come in to visit baseball players.” Without giving Addison a chance to protest Mia held out her hand for the keys. “Cam will most likely have to leave in the afternoon, but let’s get together for breakfast. Not too early, though.”
Knowing it was pointless to argue and not really sure that she wanted to anyway, Addison put her spare key in Mia’s palm.
“Great, I’ll see you in the morning. Nice to meet you, Reid,” Mia said as she scrambled from her seat. “Take good care of my cuz, okay?” She hurried toward the door without looking back.
“Did you just get railroaded into this?” Reid asked with a slight grin.
“No . . . I . . . well, kinda,” she admitted, but gestured toward a stool. “But since you’re so good at trivia, have a seat.”
“I might have embellished that statement a little,” he admitted as he sat down.
“That’s okay. I probably have enough useless knowledge for the both of us.”
“I doubt that there’s anything useless about you . . . I mean, your knowledge,” he added, and then raised the bottle to his lips. Addison tried not to be a bit fascinated at the strong column of his throat as he swallowed, or the fact that the first three buttons of his blue shirt were undone, giving Addison an enticing view of tanned skin and a peek at dark chest hair. Most California men shaved their chest and Addison found the masculine sight sexy as hell.
“So what should our team name be?” Addison asked, and picked up the pencil. “We have to turn our answers in with a team name.”
“How about City Girl and Country Boy?” Reid suggested with a grin that caused a cute dimple to dent his left cheek. When he leaned back a little his shirt gaped open wider, making Addison wonder what he looked like shirtless. She remembered how his tea-stained T-shirt had clung to his chest and decided he would look pretty amazing. “Don’t like the idea?” he asked when she failed to respond—well, at least not in a verbal way.
“Oh, um, no, it’s a good name.” Feeling her cheeks grow warm she dipped her head and wrote the name down and tried to cool off with the last sip of her drink.
“Oh, I forgot to order you a refill. What are you drinking?”
“A Redneck Sunset.”
Reid laughed, and just like his voice, his laughter was deep and smooth, and Addison decided that she liked the sound. “I’ll go up to the main bar and get you another one. It’s too busy to wait for a server.”
“Thanks,” Addison said. She pushed the glass his way just as he reached for it. Their fingers briefly brushed together in an accidental way, but Addison felt a warm awareness. What was it about Reid that made her feel like a lovestruck teenager? She watched him walk across the room, drawing female attention, and when a woman walked over and embraced him Addison felt a flash of jealousy. She wanted to slap her hand off Reid’s forearm, and suddenly felt foolish. She decided that she was suffering from some sort of postengagement-breakup syndrome that was making her react this way. And then she remembered what Mia had said in answer to how you knew when love was the real deal.
What would it be like to kiss Reid?
Would it feel different from when she kissed Garret? Garret had been a good kisser. She’d always enjoyed kissing him. Really, could a mere kiss be anything mind-blowing?
Addison decided that for the sake of curiosity she needed to find out.
A text message from Mia said that she was in the process of moving Addison’s suitcases into condo 129 and the keys would be in her car. Addison smiled at the message. There was no way she was going to intrude on Mia’s night with Cam. The dreamy look on Mia’s sweet face told the story. Her cousin was deeply in love and it showed. Addison wondered if her moment of realization that she was truly, deeply, madly in love would ever come.
“From This Moment!” she said with a snap of her fingers.
“From this moment . . . what . . . my little city girl?” Reid asked as he leaned in close and placed another Redneck Sunset in front of her. Deep in thought, Addison turned in surprise as he straightened. Their lips came just shy of brushing together. The moment was brief, but her heated response lingered.
Feeling a little bit rattled, Addison waved a hand through the air, nearly knocking over her martini. “Oh, I’m just thinking of names for my shop. I kind of like From This Moment,” she said a bit shyly.
“Like the Shania Twain song?”
Addison frowned. “I’m not sure . . . Wait. I think I know the song you’re talking about.”
“Not a country music fan?”
“No, you’re wrong. I love all kinds of music, country included. But that’s from a while ago, right? Still, I bet I know it. Can you hum a little bit?”
“I’d sing it, but all of that talent went to my brother Jeff. I think they have it on the jukebox. Pete Sully is a big Shania fan.”
“Oh, will you play it?”
“If you dance with me.”
“Oh . . .” Addison opened her mouth to decline dancing, but yes came tumbling out.
“Great, I’ll go select it now. It might be a while before they play it.”
Addison nodded mutely and then took a sip of her Redneck Sunset. As she watched Reid walk over and put coins into the jukebox she reminded herself that she was taking a break from men. But the devil on her shoulder whispered that this was just one night.
One dance.
One kiss.
Addison was simply having fun. What was the harm? She’d give herself tonight to kick back and forget about her mistakes. Tonight she’d simply go with the flow. No big deal. End of story. And Mia had a big imagination where kissing was concerned. Seriously, a kiss was just a kiss. . . .
Right?
9
This Kiss, This Kiss
WHILE REID PUNCHED IN THE NUMBERS FOR SHANIA Twain’s “From This Moment On,” he wondered what in the hell had gotten into him. Seriously, what in the world had compelled him to ask Addison to dance, of all things? He’d Googled her name after meeting her, and she was indeed Melinda Monroe’s daughter. That was intimidating enough, but he’d also read that Addison had been engaged to movie star Aiden Anderson and most recently to the son of rock star Rick Ruleman. He was sure there was more, but he’d read enough to make him
