crazy.
“What about?” I ask, though I have an inkling of where this is going.
“About Nadine and you. I knew you’d be perfect for each other since before I officially met her.”
“You want to hear me say it, don’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Fine, you were right. We’re taking things slow, so please don’t build any scenarios in your head that take this too far.”
“You mean already playing with the idea of the color theme of your wedding is taking things too far?” Pippa asks innocently.
I groan, putting my elbows on her desk. No matter what I say, my sister will go on with her scenarios. I promised Nadine that we’d take things slow, without any pressure, and I intend to keep that promise, even though I felt like going one hundred miles per hour yesterday. Just remembering her sweet, soft lips and her delicious moans as I kissed her is undoing me. I will be patient, though. Nadine is stronger than all the women I’ve dated in the past, but I want her to trust me completely before I take things further.
“You’ve sidetracked me,” I say.
“Sorry. So, Nadine’s designs are great.”
“Yeah. You’re the creative genius of the company; you have to decide if they’ll work for us. Can you ask her to show them to you? Don’t tell her I said anything.”
“And why is that?”
“Because she doesn’t like favors, and I don’t want her to think I’m overbearing.”
“You're sweet right now. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know as soon as you’re overbearing.”
Pippa scrunches her nose at the last word. She was the one who announced it was the signature word to describe me.
“I can always count on that.”
“Can I ask you something?” Pippa inquires.
“Saying no never stopped you, so go ahead.”
She smiles as if I gave her a compliment of the highest order. “Why are you so interested in her success?”
“Because she has passion and determination, and she can’t catch a break. If there’s anything I can do to change that, I will.” Also, if her business fails, Nadine wants to move back to North Carolina. No way will I allow that. Damn it, she’s growing on me more than I like to admit, and that is very bad news.
“Okay, I’m on it,” Pippa says. “I’ll figure out how to ask her, and I’ll make sure not to mention that you put in a good word for her.”
“Thanks. She’s proud and wants to succeed on her own. We have someone like that in our family, so I’m walking on eggshells.”
Pippa nods in agreement. “We’ll pull an Alice again, don’t worry.”
We both grin. When Alice opened her restaurant, she announced she didn’t want to use the Bennett name for any favors. We were already famous by then and had enough money to push her restaurant to stardom, but she made us promise not to get involved. So we promised then immediately broke our word, of course.
Pippa, Sebastian, and I pulled all the strings we could to convince influential reviewers to check out her restaurant. Now here’s the thing: said reviewers gave her completely objective opinions. The food was great, so really, she did it all on her own. Still, Alice doesn’t need to learn what we did.
“Well, I’ll leave you,” I say. “What are your plans for the weekend? Do you want to do something together?”
“I’ll probably watch reruns of my favorite shows Saturday and Sunday, but Friday night...” She inhales deeply. “I have a date.”
I’m so stunned I can’t even speak for a second. “With a man?”
Pippa stares at me as if I’m the world’s biggest moron. “No, Logan, with a chimp. Of course with a man.” She points her index finger menacingly at me. “Don’t say anything.”
“I wasn’t going to.”