Orange Blossom Brides (12 page)

Before long he arrived at the forum. Searching for a place to park in the rapidly filling parking lot, Max found an empty space and quickly steered the truck in.

He sat for a few minutes, scanning the people walking toward the building. Was this a good idea? Max stared at the building, uncertain.

Because of his past, he needed to meet this challenge head-on. He entered the building, the first hurdle in mixing with the mainstream. He approached a young woman with pink streaks in her hair, greeting people at the door. He recognized her from the day he’d seen her with Lilli after his pursuit of Bart.

“Welcome,” the young woman smiled. “I’m...Max?”

“No, I’m Max. You’re Jewel.”

She blinked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“What, no open arms?”

“Just surprised is all. Lilli didn’t mention you’d be here.”

Why would it matter to Lilli? He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m here for the forum, just like everyone else.”

“You’re not here to cause trouble like you did with Bart, are you?”

“No.”

“Good, because the jury’s still out,” Jewel informed him.

“I’m going to find a seat,” Max said, moving out of the line of fire.

He wandered into the gym. Waiting for the first speaker to take the podium, people milled around, introducing themselves and shaking his hand. Trying not to act like a fish out of water, he spoke to people, hoping they wouldn’t notice his unease. He kept waiting for his past to catch up with him.

A deep, familiar voice, greeted him with genuine pleasure. “Max Sanders. Long time, buddy.”

“Dane.” The two men shook hands and Max said, “Heard you’d moved to Tampa.”

Dane smiled. “I did for a while, but I’m back now. Bought the old Grand Cypress Hotel.”

“No kidding.”

“Yep. Been living there while I remodel the place. Right now only the restaurant is open.”

Max had been tight with Dane Peterson during high school. The two had become partners, of sorts, in vandalism. They’d taken turns being on lookout while the other guy boosted a car. Committed petty theft. They’d been young and known it all. Or so they’d thought. Them feeding off each other’s troubles and encouraging each other’s bad behavior had made both families tear their hair out in frustration. When Dane had suddenly gone to live with an uncle and Max had enlisted, they’d lost touch.

Dane regarded his friend with a serious expression. “I have to say, this is the last place I ever expected to run into you.”

Max laughed. “Ditto.”

“We stirred up a lot of trouble.”

“Who woulda figured we’d end up respectable business owners?”

“Not our families, that’s for sure.” Dane shook his head, a ghost of a smile playing over his lips.

Max found himself relaxing.

“I heard you’ve set up shop in town. I’d like to make an appointment with you about security at my hotel.”

“How about tomorrow?”

“Sounds good. I’m free in the morning.” Dane shook his head, chuckled. “You. Doing security work.”

“Looks like we both turned our lives around. I appreciate you considering Sanders Security.”

“Hey, we always had each other’s back.”

“We did.” Max said with a grin.

“It’ll be great to catch up.”

Before Max had a chance to agree, another voice interrupted their conversation. “Max?”

He spun around to face Lilli, who was looking very put together, having abandoned her casual style of last night. Today she’d pulled her hair back in a sort of wispy updo and wore a flattering pastel-pink dress. Understated gold jewelry glittered at her ears and around her neck.

“Hello, Lilli.”

“I’m glad you could make it to my forum,” she said in a tight voice. On closer inspection, she looked a bit harried.

“I guess I missed your name on the sign out front,” he teased, hoping to lighten the mood.

She had the good grace to look chagrined. “The town forum. I planned it this year.” That explained Jewel’s earlier remark. “I’m glad Blanche called to reserve a space. Networking will be good for your company.”

As if just noticing another person present, Lilli smiled distractedly at Dane. “Good to see you, too.”

Dane only nodded. His glance traveled from Lilli to Max and back again.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have to be, um, somewhere,” she said, before hurrying to the back of the gymnasium.

“Something I said?” Max muttered.

Dane chuckled. “Still smooth with the ladies, I see.”

“Only the pain-in-the-neck kind.”

“Yeah, you always did go for trouble.” Dane shook his head. “Let me guess. She roped you into the Tie the Knot charity benefit.”

“Yeah. You, too?”

“I’ll be there in a tux, escorting brides. Barclay women are very persuasive.”

Didn’t Max know it.

“Look at it this way. We’re doing our civic duty. All we have to do is get into a penguin suit and show up.”

Which, as he sized up Dane’s fashionable clothes, wasn’t a hardship for him.

Max told Dane he’d see him tomorrow and made his way toward the nearest empty seat, wondering where Lilli had run off to. Telling himself it didn’t matter.

* * ** * *

L
ILLI
STOOD
BEFORE
the restroom mirror, eyes wide, face flaming. Why had she reacted to Max Sanders that way? She didn’t begrudge him being here—he needed connections as much as the next business owner. Her reaction had to do with nerves, nothing more, she assured herself. She needed this day to go well. To wow her boss.

In the past few months, she’d put a lot of time and energy into making sure today would be a hit, hoping the success of the forum would go a long way toward getting her that promotion. She’d been in constant contact with Mr. Danielson, hoping to sway him to sign with KLC. She even stopped by the dealership this morning, checking in, making nice and keeping herself visible. He’d promised an answer by next week.

Now she had to wait and worry.

So she’d pasted on a sunny smile and greeted the attendees, using the nervous energy in a positive way. Until she’d laid eyes on Max.

Okay, this was selfish of her. She’d encouraged most of the town’s business owners to attend, so why wouldn’t she want the same for Max?

Because he flustered her? Brought out the prickly in her?
Wrong,
her inner voice taunted.
Because you’re attracted to him. Which is a thousand times worse.
She frowned at her reflection. Okay, she had to be honest with herself and admit that she was more than a little attracted to Max. Working with him for the fund-raiser excited her in a way she hadn’t felt in a very long time, even though he’d made it clear he wanted their relationship to be business only. Fine, really, since she had her own job to focus on. But still, she couldn’t deny the spark between them.

With a final shake of her head, she pulled herself together and retraced her steps to the gymnasium. As she crossed the room, her boss, Jim, pulled her aside.

“I made myself clear. No problems today.”

“There aren’t any.”

“Then how do you explain the entire town frowning at Sanders?”

“I don’t think you have to worry about Max.”

“You’d better be right,” Jim warned and headed in the other direction.

Great. She didn’t need Jim questioning her ability to plan and run this event.

Lilli made her way to her seat, noticing a tense buzz charging the room as the first speaker made his way to the podium. Not the kind of anticipation you’d expect for a speaker, though. More like a sense of pending disaster. She smiled and waved to people she knew as she crossed the room, but most seemed preoccupied.

Joining Jewel, she took a seat before noticing Max across the aisle, calmly reading a brochure. Did he feel the tension, too? If he did, his body language said otherwise. She had to admire that since her stomach had turned to knots.

As the speaker advised the business owners on better techniques to draw foot traffic into their shops, Lilli noticed people throwing looks over their shoulders. Concerned, she studied the movements, realizing the looks were for Max. Oh, no. This couldn’t be good.

Finally, time came for a fifteen-minute break. Lilli started to work her way to the front of the room when Mrs. Lyons, the shop owner from Milly’s Gifts and Things, stopped her.

“What is he doing here?”

Lilli stifled a groan and looked in the direction of the pointed finger at Max.

“Mrs. Lyons, this forum is open to all the businesspeople in town. Mr. Sanders is one of them.”

“More like a criminal element, I say.”

“No, he owns a business to stop criminals.”

The woman narrowed her eyes. “Are you in cahoots with him?”

Cahoots? She almost laughed. “No, we aren’t in cahoots.”

Another person in the group pointed to Max and said, “I heard he hired the pickpocket.”

“Doesn’t anyone around here use names?” Lilli heard Max mutter behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to find Max frowning at the group.

“Bart is my intern,” he clarified.

Surprised, she blinked, then turned back to the crowd. “Max is a guest today, just like every one of you.”

“I remember Sanders running with a bad crowd,” someone else added.

“He vandalized my home,” said another.

Lilli held her hands up. “Everyone, please. Mr. Sanders is not a threat to the community. As I pointed out, he has a security consulting business. If anything, we need his services.”

“Has anyone hired him?” Mrs. Lyons asked.

“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Max answered. “The Merchants Association, of which most of you are members.”

Mrs. Lyons frowned.

“And the historical society,” Mrs. Rumpold announced as she made her way into the throng. She batted her eyelashes at Max then spoke to the others. “We’re looking forward to having him spend time at the office.”

The entire community of business owners started talking at once. Lilli tried to calm them down, but couldn’t yell over all the arguing. She silently counted to ten.

“I warned you about this,” Jim said as he materialized beside her.

“It’s not like I planned it.”

“Get this thing under control.”

Before she had a chance, someone tapped on the live microphone at the podium.

“If everyone would quiet down, I’d like to say something.”

The crowd turned as one to find Max at the podium. Lilli’s stomach dropped. As a group, they all stood in the center aisle.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Max Sanders. Some of you remember me from my teen years. I’ll admit, I did cause some trouble in town, and for that, I apologize. Call it lack of guidance or a kid acting out. That would be both for me.”

Lilli swallowed, her heart aching that Max had to stand there and prove himself. Proud that he did.

“But I won’t apologize for coming back to Cypress Pointe to start a business. I’m good at what I do and there is a definite need here. I also won’t apologize for taking Bart on as an intern. I haven’t seen one of you step up to help him instead of complaining. In time, I hope you find that I’m not mistaken, that Bart will become a vital part of our town, just as I plan to become an active part of the Cypress Pointe business community.”

He paused and when no one spoke up, he continued. “Most of you know my grandmother. And you all know the chief. They trust me. I’m asking you all to take a chance and know that Sanders Security is here to help you.” He held up the itinerary in his hand. “Now, let’s get back to business. Mr. Ronson is up next to talk about...” he paused, raising an eyebrow as he read from the program “...the town working together as a team.”

Lilli watched the townsfolk make their way back to their seats. As Max passed Mrs. Lyons, she stopped him. “I’ll be watching out for you.”

Max didn’t miss a beat. “Then you should have one of these.” He reached into his shirt pocket and extracted a business card before making his way back to his seat. As he passed Lilli he winked.

Lilli shook her head. Disaster averted, thanks to Max’s honesty and willingness to address the crowd. Another reason she admired his business skills. And his integrity.

As Mr. Ronson spoke, she noticed glances sent Max’s way, only this time the looks came from some of the younger, single women. Lilli ignored the tingle of jealousy.

“Awesome business forum,” Jewel whispered in Lilli’s direction.

Lilli rolled her eyes at her friend. Could this day get any more bizarre?

By the time the speakers had finished, it was four o’clock. Volunteers began to clean up while attendees mingled, exchanging ideas and business cards. Lilli noticed a group around Max and hoped they were asking about his services, not griping at him about crime in this town. Needing air, she gathered her things and headed outside to take a seat at a picnic table on the lawn beside the gymnasium. The temperature had warmed up, and it was another lovely Florida spring day. She didn’t want to be cooped up inside any longer.

Preoccupied by the many thoughts bombarding her, she stared into the distance for a while before fixating on the upcoming charity event. She had her lists with her, as well as some of the wedding magazine clippings, hoping she and Jewel could brainstorm after the forum.

She dropped her tote bag on the table and some photos spilled out. Gathering them together, she noticed a sticky note attached to the corner of one picture.
One true love.
She squinted for a moment, trying to remember why she wrote that. Then it came to her. Just before she’d dozed off to sleep a few nights ago, she’d gotten the idea to personalize the wedding theme. Take one great love story and feature it during the benefit. Let those in attendance get the feel of more than a fashion show. Let them experience a story of true love from a real couple.

A glossy picture cut from a magazine caught her eye. A couple, probably at their wedding reception, perched on a balcony with a gorgeous sunset as the backdrop. The bride’s veil lifted in the breeze. Her dress, a silk A-line gown, sparkled with embroidered sequin swirls dotted with seed pearls. The groom, in a dark tux, wound his arms around her waist, as if protecting her from the world. Together they would face whatever came, from that point on.