A footstep at the top of the stairs alerted Max to his date’s presence before he could decline the offer. In spite of himself, he watched Annabel descend.
A nervous smile flickered and softened her expression before it dimmed and faded into the more familiar lines of stern disapproval. And he hadn’t even done anything to annoy her yet. That he knew of.
Roger stepped forward. He adjusted the camera to zoom in and capture her entrance.
Waiting at the foot of the stairs, Max assessed her appearance. She’d reverted to full-on Ice-Princess mode. Black suit jacket buttoned up to her chin, and skirt hem hanging down past her knees. Sensible, boxy looking shoes. Hair slicked back so tightly at the nape of her neck he was surprised her eyes didn’t cross.
“Anna, I thought you were going to wear your hair down.” Carly’s artless comment inserted a drop of sweetness into the awkward moment.
Annabel smoothed her fingers over the sides of her hair, as if to harness any rebellious strands that dared to escape from their prison. “I’m more comfortable with it up.”
“You look gorgeous.” Roger panned the camera between the woman and girl. He nudged Max in the ribs, then pulled back to record Max and Annabel’s first greeting. “Doesn’t she look gorgeous? Give her a little kiss.”
Max’s gaze skimmed over Annabel’s body again. The classy, understated style suited her. Too prim and proper for my taste. Although the suit did hug her figure nicely. The slit up one side of her skirt showed an enticing bit of shapely leg and thigh when she walked. And that mouth with the peek-a-boo smile playing around the edges almost begged for a kiss.
But the expression of alarm that crossed her face sure didn’t. Or the backpedaling she employed as he reached for her.
“Oh, my.” She fluttered her fingers like crazed bats. “I guess I’m not very good on this side of the camera.”
“Just pretend I’m not here,” Roger said as if it would be possible to overlook a supersized gorilla with a forty-thousand-dollar camera glued to his face.
“Then quit trying to direct everything,” Max told him. “Just let things happen. And don’t worry,” he said to Annabel. “I’ll make him stay ten paces behind us at all times.”
“No, no, he’s fine. He’s just doing his job. Getting a taste of my own medicine will make me more sympathetic to my subjects in the future.” She flashed the cameraman an elusive smile.
She excluded Max from the offering of goodwill. Okay, he got the message. He shoved his hands in his pockets. “You ready to go?”
“Yes.” She turned to retrieve some kind of flimsy wrap from the closet. “Do you know where we’re going?”
“Nope. I was only told where and when to show up—and what to wear.” He pulled at the knot on his necktie again. Damn thing. He hated having to wear one on his day off.
“We have a reservation at Ernesto’s at six.”
Ernesto’s. The kind of restaurant Max tended to dodge. A stuffy, over-priced, pretentious place in Mt. Adams that served prissy little portions of nouvelle cuisine. Sighing, he resigned himself to the choice and tried not to yawn.
“From there, we’ll go to the symphony. I hope you like Wagner.”
He chuckled, assuming she was kidding. But when he checked, her expression revealed nothing but seriousness. “Wagner? Really?”
“His music’s quite stimulating. My husband and I used to have season tickets for the symphony. I gave them up when he—” She stopped and bit her lip. “I gave them up a few years ago.”
The symphony. Stimulating? Ri-ight. She must be older than he guessed. What decade had she been born in anyway? Oh, well, maybe he could catch up on his sleep.
And he’d given up his poker night for this.
Get Meet Your Mate now!
Acknowledgments
Thank you to RWA for providing me with so many positive Golden Heart experiences over the years and the opportunity to join loops and groups with other authors on a similar path. My writing life would not be complete without the talented Pixie Chicks, Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood, Lucky 13s, the FiveCorners, OVRWA (my previous local chapter) and the Southwest Florida Romance Writers (my new local chapter).
A special thanks to Leann W, Michele W, and Peggy G. for the cover input.
Thank you to editor Annie Oortman for her infinite patience, wisdom, and editing skills.
Much appreciation to Pennie A. for volunteering to Beta read this manuscript.
Additional thanks to mega-talented cover designer Kim Killion of The Killion Group.
Family is everything, and my daughter Sarah is instrumental in keeping me in line, on-schedule, and upbeat about this publishing journey we’ve undertaken. Could not do it without her.
Thank you to my son, Evan, for sharing my love of writing and always making me laugh.
As always, thank you to Goble, my husband, my hero, my reason for being. He makes everything worthwhile.
About the Author
Jacie Floyd writes contemporary romance, romantic comedy, and emotionally-rich stories about the kind of strong women and bold men you want to read about and know.
From the time she read her first Nancy Drew mystery, she's been an avid reader and writer in a variety of genres. After many years as a wife and mother with a nine-to-five job, the desire to create her own stories became her obsession. While polishing her craft as an unpublished author, she was honored to be named a six-time Golden Heart Finalist and two-time Golden Heart winner by the Romance Writers of America. Finally giving in to the inevitable, she abandoned her day job in order to self-publish the kind of stories she likes to read and write. She hopes you like them, too.
Jacie is happy to connect with readers at www.jaciefloyd.com, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. She also welcomes you to sign up for her newsletter.
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or they are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living are dead, is purely coincidental.
Everybody Knows: ©2016 by Jacqueline Floyd
Cover Design: Kim Killion, Hot Damn Designs
All rights reserved.
In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from this book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the author.
All rights reserved. Where such permission is sufficient, the author grants the right to strip any DRM which may be applied to this work.
Table of Contents
Books by Jacie Floyd
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Thank you!
Books by Jacie Floyd
Winning Wyatt Excerpt
Meet Your Mate Excerpt
Acknowledgments
About the author
Copyright
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