Chapter 5
Terri
I review the to-do list on my clipboard as I hurry down the hallway. Photographer? Check. She’s here. Cake? Check. It arrived. Flowers? I pause with my pen poised above the item. Have the flowers arrived?
I snatch my phone from my pocket and dial the number for the florist. I don’t allow her to say hello.
“Where are you?”
Iris sighs. “We’re here.”
I frown. “I don’t see any flowers.”
“Sammy is blocking the service entrance to the resort.”
I growl. Don’t get me wrong. I love the seal as much as the other smugglers on the island. But he can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.
“Did you try moving him?”
She snorts. “Of course. He’s not budging.”
Crap on a seafood cracker. “I’ll be there in five minutes.” Because I have nothing else to do this morning.
I hang up and make my way to the ballroom. I’ll quickly check the setup for the reception before going to deal with Sammy.
I flip to another page of my checklist. Table settings? Done. Centerpieces? The little pirates are still chasing the mermaids. Good. Signage? Candles? Linens? Gift table? Everything is looking good.
I start to walk away, but something feels off. My nose wrinkles as I scan the room again. What’s off?
There! The mermaid ice sculpture is melting. I check the time. The ice sculpture shouldn’t even be outside yet.
I dig out my phone but it rings before I can answer it. Bridezilla 1 calling.
Yes, I have more bridezillas programmed into my phone and have numbered them. Welcome to event planning at the most sought after wedding location on the East Coast.
“Hello, Tiffany,” I answer the phone in a bright voice despite the dread rolling through my body.
“It’s a disaster. Everything’s ruined.”
Everything’s been ruined at least ten times since she arrived at the resort yesterday.
“What’s a disaster?”
“The ice cubes for my signature drink.”
“Nothing’s a disaster. We have hundreds of heart-shaped ice cubes ready to go.”
“Which is the problem!” she shrieks and I pull the phone away from my ear before I end up with permanent damage to my ear.
“I’m not understanding the problem. Your ‘Love You to the Moonshine’ signature drinks are ready. They are adorable with the cotton candy and edible glitter garnish. And they’re yummy.”
“You’re not listening to me.” I can practically hear her stomp her foot.
I tighten my grip on my phone until I’m crushing it, but my voice is perfectly pleasant as I speak. This is not my first bridezilla and it won’t be my last. “I’m listening. Go ahead.”
“It’s ninety degrees outside already, and it’s barely noon. By the time the reception rolls around, it’ll be one-hundred.”
Is this supposed to explain why she’s panicking? I warned her how hot it was going to be. June isn’t usually this warm, but we’re in the middle of a heatwave.
“Don’t you get it? The heart-shaped ice cubes are going to melt and RUIN EVERYTHING!” Her voice increases until she’s screaming.
“We don’t have to use the ice cubes.”
“But the aesthetic!”
I could kill the person who invented the whole aesthetic vibe. Between Pinterest and Instagram, brides now insist their weddings are picture perfect. Literally.
When I get married, I don’t want any fuss. Just me, my family, and the groom on the beach.
“We can use plastic heart-shaped ice cubes.”
Unfortunately, Tiffany is not the first bride to have a meltdown over heart-shaped ice cubes melting.
“Plastic? Ugh! No plastic. I want heart-shaped watermelon instead.”
I stare at the ceiling and pray to the mermaids for patience. “You want me to come up with five-hundred heart-shaped watermelons within a few hours?”
“Exactly. Thanks for understanding.” She hangs up before I can explain sarcasm to her.
“Great.”
“What’s great?” Nolan asks, and I startle so hard I stumble. He steadies me with a hand on my elbow. “Careful there.”
I wrench my elbow away from him. “Excuse me.”
I hurry away but he easily keeps pace with me. Stupid football players and their long legs. Stupid short legs. Stupid everything.
“We need to talk.”
I screech to a halt to properly glare at him. “Does it look like I have time to talk?”
“You’ve been running away with me since…um…”
“Since I made the stupidest decision in my life,” I fill in for him.
He growls. “Stupid decision? Do you regret being with me?”
With him? A quickie in a closet is hardly with him! I open my mouth to tell him as much, but his blue eyes are full of hurt. Hang a smuggler! I can’t be mean. Dad always says if you can’t say anything nice, shut your pie hole!
“No, I don’t regret it.” He smiles and steps closer. I hold up a hand. “But it can’t happen again.”
“Why not?”
“Ugh! I don’t have time to discuss this now. I have a mermaid ice sculpture to rescue, a seal to move, and five-hundred heart-shaped watermelons to make.”
He blinks. “I’m waiting for the punchline.”
“You can keep waiting. There isn’t one. Bridezilla number one is going to lose her mind if she finds out about the mermaid or seal. And she’s already teetering on the brink of insanity about heart-shaped ice cubes.”
“Your job is crazy.”
“I love my job, and I refuse to lose it.”
His brow wrinkles. “Refuse to lose it? Why would you lose your job?”
I guess we’re doing this now. Melting mermaids be damned!
“I can’t date you or hook up with you or be friends with benefits. Whatever the cool kids are calling it. I can’t do it.”
“Why not?” His eyes heat. “I thought you enjoyed our time together.”
I more than enjoyed it. Somehow Nolan brought me to orgasm faster than any man has before. And we were in a closet with our clothes mostly still on. How much pleasure can the man give if he has time and a bed?
Tingles travel from my stomach down to my core. What I wouldn’t do to find out? Nope. I shove those thoughts away. I can’t find out.
“I can’t lose my job.”
He frowns. “Explain.”
“Fine. Hudson has a strict policy. None of the staff at the resort are allowed to date any of the players on the Steel City Seals team.”
He scowls. “I’ll speak to Hudson.”
He starts to walk away. Is he going to speak to him now? I grasp his wrist to stop him.
“You can’t. I can’t lose my job. I have people depending on me.”
“What people? Are you married? Do you have kids?”
I roll my eyes. “Thanks for proving you know nothing about me.”
“Which is why I want to date you. To learn more about you. You fascinate me.”
I fascinate him? He’s a famous quarterback and plays for one of the best teams in the NFL. I’m nobody. A small-town girl who wasn’t enough for her mother to stick around for.
Pain lashes through me at the memory of my mom. Of finding her. Of realizing she was gone.
I place a hand on my stomach and inhale a deep breath to calm myself. I refuse to break down in front of Nolan Allen.
“Did you not hear me? Hudson doesn’t allow relationships between staff and guests.”
“And you can’t risk losing your job.”
I nod. “Exactly.”
He rubs a hand over his jaw. “I’m certain there’s a solution here. Hudson was probably trying to protect his staff from players like Tanner.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Tanner? He’s the player? Not you?”
“I am not a player,” he grumbles.
I want to berate him. Remind him how he had me pinned to a door within an hour of meeting me. But I’m not a hypocrite. I was a full participant in our tryst.
My phone beeps with a message. The flowers are beginning to wilt.
“I need to go. Sammy the seal is ruining the flowers.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
I snort. “Can you form watermelon into five-hundred heart-shaped pieces?”
His nose wrinkles.
“I thought not. Nice chat.”
I hurry away. This time he doesn’t chase me. Is he giving up? My stomach drops.
Knock it off, stomach. I am not jeopardizing my career for an affair with a football player who’ll leave the island at the end of the summer anyway. No matter how much I long to touch him. To taste him again. To dip my tongue into the dimple on his cheek.
Not happening.