“Travis, please! I just spent the last fifteen minutes convincing Mila Rotterdam not to get in her car and drive to L.A., spreading poison about Pinyon all the way there. What was going on back there? Did you do something to her food?” She eyed him suspiciously.
“What?” Travis spread his hands. “How would I know the lady’s allergic to pepper, huh?”
Celeste hesitated. The prank was so much like something he would pull, but he had a point—how would he have known about Mila’s allergy? The VIP dossier with all that information had been on her clipboard all week, and Travis had never seen it. Besides, he’d never out-and-out lied to her before. Celeste shook her head. It couldn’t have been Travis. The party was winding down.
She had to just keep moving.
“Look,” she said firmly. “I cannot spend this whole night trying to keep your obnoxious friends out of trouble. Get them out of here! They’re all drunk. I don’t want to deal with any more shit tonight, Travis—
please.” Celeste knew she was begging and she didn’t care.
“Trav!” They both turned. Kevin gestured from the main doors. “Come on! We’re going back to the golf course.”
Travis turned to go and Celeste grabbed his arm. “Are you really going to just leave without saying anything to me about all this?” she asked incredulously. She couldn’t believe he would act like this.
He looked down at her like he’d forgotten who she was. “Oh yeah. No, look, just stop freaking out, okay?
You want to come hang out with us?”
She stared up at him in disbelief. “No, Travis, I have to go run a party,” she said as if talking to someone very, very slow. “I cannot go hang out right now.”
He shrugged, totally missing the sarcasm. “Okay. See you later.” He turned and headed back to where Kevin was still waiting for him. Celeste watched as they slapped hands and then pushed through the doors. All should be well now—Mila Rotterdam calmed down, Travis and the guys safely out of the way—but somehow, Celeste
couldn’t stuff down the sense of disaster that was swiftly growing inside her.
Chapter Twenty-four
Celeste pushed through the little gate around the deck. The pool area looked amazing. Torches flared all around the perimeter, throwing their glittering light into the perfect, still water. The lounge chairs had been removed, and easy chairs and low, padded stools had been scattered about in their place. The palm frond arches stood in different corners, with soft blue couches underneath them. At one end of the deck, the tent stood gracefully, blue and green lights strung underneath it. At the other end, the band was tuning their instruments on the stage. Sloan caught Celeste’s eye as she walked past, and actually nodded. Overhead, the desert sky was sprinkled with stars, like a gorgeous velvet blanket stud-ded with diamonds. The air was deliciously warm and soft and scented with pine carried in from the desert sands just behind the resort boundaries. Celeste spotted Nick leaning against the bar at the far end, near the huge white screen.
She went up to him. She knew she had a huge smile pasted on her face, and she didn’t care. She couldn’t resist doing a little ballerina twirl as she approached, making the full skirt of her silk dress flare out. He was twisting a glass beaded with moisture in one hand, but when he saw her, he quickly set it down on the wooden bar. He inhaled as she stood in front of him. There was a pause as they both looked at each other. “So, what do you think?” he asked, gesturing at the scene around him.
“It looks perfect,” she said.
A big grin lit his face. He stepped forward and took her arm. “Come here. I want to show you everything.”
He placed her hand on the crook of his elbow as they slowly strolled along the perimeter of the pool deck. The bartender and waiters lounging against the fence looked up and smiled as they passed. The breeze lifted Celeste’s hair and caressed the back of her neck. She only half listened as Nick pointed out the bar, the drinks table, the catered food laid out in long rows. She was very aware of the scratchy wool of his suit sleeve under her hand, and the warmth of his arm underneath. As he turned toward her for a second, she inhaled. Cedar. Celeste stared at Nick’s face as he described dealing with the catering chef. His blue eyes, so piercing in the sunlight, looked dark and velvety in the twilight. His white teeth flashed as he spoke.
“Mmm.” Celeste nodded in agreement, even though
she’d heard hardly anything he’d said. She moved a step closer to him and hugged his arm a little. All of a sudden, Nick stopped talking. They locked eyes. Then, without thinking, Celeste lifted her face toward Nick’s lips.
He tilted his head down to hers.
Suddenly, the clash of dishes at the bar woke Celeste from her spell. She looked around. The first guests were trickling in, some still clutching glasses from the other party. Celeste and Nick could hear little “oohs” of appreciation as they took in the scene. “I can’t believe it’s really starting!” she whispered excitedly.
Celeste’s parents came through the gate and hurried over to Celeste and Nick. The Saunderses followed close behind.
“Celeste, Nick,” her father said. “This all looks fantastic. I have to say, you two really rose to the occasion.”
He clapped Nick on the shoulder and gave Celeste a squeeze.
“Absolutely,” Mr. Saunders concurred. “Excellent work, both of you. We had wondered if giving Nick his own movie screening was the right thing to do, but after seeing how you both have pulled this together, I’m very happy we did.”
Nick beamed. Guests were pouring through the gate now, laughing and talking. Sloan started the band on a fast, up-tempo song, and some people began dancing in an open space on one side of the deck.
“All right, we need to circulate,” Mr. Saunders said.
The
