Table for Seven (15 page)

“We did,” Coop said. Probably. To be honest, he couldn’t really remember. Not exactly. But he usually had a good time. And he remembered liking Julia. Just apparently not enough to call her again.

“Actually, you ended up doing me a favor,” Julia said.

Coop perked up. She didn’t sound particularly angry. And she hadn’t called him an asshole. At least, not yet.

“How so?”

“I was really upset for a while after you blew me off, so I decided to take some time off from dating. I started training for a marathon, which is something I’d always wanted to do. My gym was sponsoring a training group for marathon runners, so I signed up for it and ended up meeting my fiancé there,” Julia explained. “So really, in a weird way, my engagement is all thanks to you.”

“Does that mean I’m invited to the wedding?” Coop asked.

Julia laughed, this time sounding genuinely amused. “No. But maybe we’ll say a toast in your honor,” she said. “Why’d you call? I assume it wasn’t to ask me out again, fourteen months after our last date.”

“No,” Coop admitted. “But there is something I want to ask you.”

He hadn’t gotten this far in any of his conversations with the women he’d contacted. But Julia was decidedly less hostile than any of the others.
What the hell
, he thought. Might as well see what she says.

“Shoot,” Julia said.

“When we went out, you didn’t think I was full of myself, did you?”

“Yes,” Julia said.

“You don’t have to answer right away. You can think about it for a few minutes.”

“I don’t have to think about it. You were really full of yourself,” Julia said.

“Then why did you go out with me in the first place?” Coop asked.

“Good question,” Julia said. She laughed.

She had a nice laugh, Coop thought. A low, intimate chuckle that was really quite sexy. Coop found himself wishing he had called her again.

“You were also very charming. We had fun together,” Julia said. “Like I said, I was really disappointed when I didn’t hear from you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to keep saying that.”

“But it’s true.”

“Why the call? Are you having a crisis of conscience?”

“Not exactly.” Coop hesitated. “A woman I was interested in turned me down and told me it was because I’m too full of myself. I wanted a second opinion.”

Julia laughed her sexy laugh again. “I guess you came to the wrong woman for that.”

“No, I appreciate your candor,” Coop said. “And if things don’t work out with your fiancé …”

“They will,” Julia said. “But thanks for the offer. You’ve officially made my day.”

After he got off the phone with Julia, Coop found he was having a hard time concentrating on the footage he was supposed to be editing. Was it true? Was he cocky? Maybe. But was that necessarily such a bad thing? He was basically a good guy in all the ways that mattered. He’d never killed anyone, didn’t take drugs, and had excellent personal hygiene.

An unbidden image of Audrey flitted through his thoughts again, before Coop had a chance to dismiss her with an irritated shrug of his shoulders. A neurotic widow was the last thing he needed in his life right now.

AUDREY LAUGHED OUT LOUD when she read Leland’s email containing the menu for his upcoming dinner party.

“S and M chicken?” she said aloud.

“Excuse me?” Lisa asked from the doorway of Audrey’s office. Lisa was the receptionist at the Seawind Day Spa. She was young and pretty and not very bright. But what she lacked in intelligence, she made up for in dependability. Plus the customers liked her.

Audrey glanced up. “Oh, nothing. Just a funny email. What’s up?”

“The mail arrived,” Lisa said, handing over a packet of envelopes.

“Thanks,” Audrey said. Audrey shuffled through the mail quickly. Bills, bills, and more bills. Nothing that needed immediate attention. She put the stack in her in-box.

“The new mailman is so cute,” Lisa said, sitting down in the spare chair without being invited. Audrey had to stifle a sigh. She’d told Lisa over and over again that she had to stay up at the front reception desk, even if there wasn’t anyone there. You never knew when someone might stop in to set up an appointment or buy a gift card. And Lisa would always nod enthusiastically, say she completely understood, and then drift away from her post again at the first opportunity.

“I hadn’t noticed,” Audrey said.

“Really? He’s got amazing legs. Very muscular calves,” Lisa said dreamily. “But he’s not as cute as Marco.”

“Who’s Marco?”

“Our UPS guy,” Lisa said, giving Audrey an odd look. “You don’t know the delivery guys?”

“I’m not usually at the front desk when they come,” Audrey said. She could have added,
That’s your job
, but didn’t want to sound bitchy. Besides, she had to admit, ever since Lisa had started working at the spa seven months earlier, there had been a definite step up in the quality of their deliveries. Packages used to get dumped by the front door; now they were all carefully hand-delivered to the pretty young receptionist.

“You should be. I bet Marco would really like you. He’s more your age than mine anyway,” Lisa said.

Ouch
, Audrey thought. And why did everyone keep trying to set her up?

“Thanks, but no thanks. Marco and all of his fellow delivery
men are all yours,” Audrey said. She turned back to her computer, hoping Lisa would take the hint and leave.

She didn’t. Instead, Lisa giggled and said, “I don’t think my boyfriend would like that.”

Ugh
, Audrey thought.
I walked right into that one
.

Lisa’s boyfriend, Jared, was a relatively new addition to her life—they’d only been dating for a few weeks—and Lisa was completely besotted. She required no encouragement to discuss him at length. Audrey had been forced to endure long, in-depth conversations about every word Jared spoke, every gesture he made. And since Audrey’s impression of Jared—based on a single meeting when he picked Lisa up from work one night—was that he had the personality and intelligence of a Labrador retriever, she found these discussions beyond tedious.

“I should get back to …” Audrey gestured to her laptop.

“Last night, Jared asked me if I’d drive down to Key West with him,” Lisa announced. She stretched her arms over her head, looking smugly content. “What do you think of that?”

“It sounds like fun,” Audrey said, although in truth, she hated Key West and all of its tacky, touristy trappings.

“No, I mean what do you think it means?” Lisa said, leaning forward.

“If I were going to take a wild guess, I’d say I think it means he’d like to go to Key West. And that he’d like you to accompany him,” Audrey said.

“You don’t think it means he’s ready to get serious?” Lisa asked.

“I have no idea. I don’t know Jared well enough to say,” Audrey said. Thankfully, the bell on the front door to the spa jingled just then. “You’d better get up front. Someone just came in.”

Lisa reluctantly got to her feet and clumped out of the office on four-inch platform heel sandals. She was back a moment later.

“It’s for you,” Lisa said.

“Really? Okay, I’ll be right there.”

Lisa didn’t move. She stood at the door, her eyes gleaming expectantly.

“What?” Audrey asked.

“It’s a guy,” Lisa said. “A really cute guy. Actually,” she said, lowering her voice, “he’s not cute so much as he is sexy. Like, really,
really
sexy.”

Audrey had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. “Did you ask him what he wants to see me about?”

“No, I forgot,” Lisa said, without a hint of apology in her voice. “I’ll go tell him you’re coming.”

Lisa turned and clattered off again, before Audrey had a chance to ask her to find out what the man wanted or perhaps get his business card. Audrey closed her email and stood, shaking her head. She was going to have to have yet another talk with Lisa about her professional duties.

She headed out of her office, took a left, and walked down the short hallway to the doorway that led into the reception area. Then she stopped dead.

“Hey, there,” Coop said.

He was leaning against the counter, propped up by one arm. Lisa was sitting in her chair, watching him with an avid sort of interest that Jared would most certainly not approve of.

“Oh. Hello. Can I help you?” Audrey said. She clasped her hands together, knowing she looked and sounded stiff, but not sure what she was supposed to do. Why was he here? Hadn’t she made it clear that she wasn’t interested in him?

“Actually, yes,” Coop said, grinning lazily at her.

Audrey knew that the smile was meant to be sexy—and, in truth, it was—but the fact that he
knew
it was sexy just irritated her. It was exactly why she’d turned him down when he asked her out. His ego was out of control. She folded her arms and waited.

“I’m interested in signing up for one of your treatments,” Coop said.

Audrey’s eyebrows shot up. “
You
want a spa treatment?” she asked.

“That’s right,” Coop said. He shrugged. “But I’ve never done this before, so I need some guidance.”

“Lisa would be more than happy to help you select a treatment and make an appointment for you,” Audrey said smoothly.

Lisa nodded enthusiastically. “Sure,” she said.

“I appreciate that,” Coop said, flashing his smile in Lisa’s direction. “But Audrey here was telling me all about the spa treatments she’s developed especially for her male clients, and I was hoping to get some of her seasoned advice.”

Smug bastard
, Audrey thought, flushing. He was bringing up that night just to embarrass her. And
seasoned
advice? It made her sound geriatric.

Lisa’s head was bobbing up and down. “Actually, Audrey knows a lot more about all of the procedures and stuff than I do. I’m just the receptionist,” she confessed.

“Of course. How can I help?” Audrey asked smoothly.

Coop grinned at Audrey again and said, “What do you recommend?”

Audrey ran down the various treatments the spa offered, pointless as it seemed. He was surely going to opt for a massage. It was practically the only service straight men came to
the spa for. This thought reminded her again of when she’d made a fool of herself trying to talk Coop into a
man-
icure. She could feel heat staining her cheeks, and knew by Coop’s deepening grin that he’d noticed.

That’s it
, Audrey thought.
He asked for it
.

“Why don’t you just leave yourself in my hands?” Audrey suggested.

“I like the sound of that,” Coop said flirtatiously.

“Lisa, show Coop back to Farrah’s station,” Audrey said.

Lisa looked confused. “Farrah?” she said.

“That’s right,” Audrey said. “She has an opening for an m/p.”

Lisa looked from Audrey to Coop and back to Audrey again. “But I wouldn’t think …,” she tried again. Then, catching the quelling expression on her boss’s face, Lisa shrugged helplessly, stood, and said, “Come right this way. Would you like some ice water with lemon in it?”

“I never say no to ice water with lemon,” Coop drawled.

Audrey smiled, while fantasizing about kicking him in the shin with the pointy toe of her four-inch pumps. “Farrah will take good care of you,” she promised.

Lisa led Coop away. Audrey went behind the desk and busied herself checking the appointment schedule again, while she waited for Lisa to come back. When the younger woman returned, she looked perplexed.

“Are you sure about this? He doesn’t strike me as the sort of guy who’d want a mani-pedi. He looks more like the massage type.”

“I’m sure,” Audrey said. “Is Farrah with him?”

“Yes. She was just getting started with the manicure. He seemed a little confused when she told him to put his hand in the bowl of warm water, but he went along with it.”

“Good,” Audrey said with satisfaction. That would teach Coop not to play games with her. What was he thinking bothering her at work like this? Hadn’t she made it perfectly clear that she wasn’t interested when he asked her out to dinner? She had obviously been right about him. He
was
cocky, so much so that he obviously couldn’t
conceive
of any woman rejecting him.

“Where do you know him from?” Lisa asked, interrupting her thoughts.

“What?” Audrey glanced up. “Oh. We have mutual friends.”

Lisa smiled coyly. “You know that he’s into you, right?”

Audrey’s pulse gave a quick, nervous jump. “No, he’s not. Not really.”

“He totally is,” Lisa said with relish.

“Why do you say that?” Audrey asked, although the conversation was starting to make her feel like a teenage girl with a crush on the star of her high school lacrosse team.

“I could tell by the way he was looking at you. And he obviously came into the spa to see you,” Lisa said.

Audrey realized that this had officially become a conversation she didn’t want to have with her airheaded, twenty-two-year-old employee. “I’ll be in my office,” she said, turning away.

But once she was back at her desk, staring at her computer screen and futilely trying to make sense of the payroll, Audrey realized that Coop’s presence in the spa was making it impossible for her to concentrate.

Audrey’s eyes fell on a cardboard box full of organic face creams she’d stashed in the corner of her office. She’d been meaning to make room for them on the bamboo display shelving that lined the entrance to the spa. It was just the sort of mindless busywork she could manage in her current state, she decided, and grabbing the box, headed back out of
her office. But instead of taking the shorter route straight to the front, she hooked left and then right, so that she’d loop past Farrah’s station, tucked back next to the massage room. She hadn’t planned to spy on Coop, but once she was up and moving, she couldn’t help herself.

I’ll walk briskly past them and just sneak a peek
, Audrey decided.

But the sight that met her eyes stopped her in her tracks.

Coop was sitting in one of the two raised pedicure chairs, his faded jeans rolled up to his shins and his feet soaking in soapy water. Farrah—short and round, with hennaed hair and tattooed arms—was sitting at his feet, looking up adoringly at him. Coop grinned when he saw Audrey.