He shrugged as his eyes moved back to where Robin had been. Yeah, he knew all the ins and outs of this place. It wasn’t a difficult business to follow. People paid the sisters a lot of money to organize and host parties. There were flowers, desserts, food, and decorations.
It seemed simple enough to him.
Lilly nudged him again. “You know, for the best location and angle to video from. We’re going to be standing in the center. Just there.” His sister pointed to the middle of the dance floor. “Each couple will pull one of those strings.” She motioned to the two white strings that had been tied to the banister on the second-floor balcony. “When we pull those, the balloons will come down and fill the dance floor, so you’ll want to be somewhere you can see all four of our expressions clearly as well as get the balloons and the crowd’s reaction.”
Grabbing his phone, he stood up. “I’ll walk around and see where the best location is.”
“You have half an hour before the reveal,” Lilly warned.
“I’ll be ready,” he promised and started walking towards the dance floor. He’d had every intention of finding the best place to record from, but then he spotted Robin heading up to the balcony and, without thinking, he followed her up the stairs.
All of the guests were down on the main level of the barn where more than a dozen large circular tables had been rolled into position, covered with pink and blue tablecloths and filled with decorations. Long tables sat along the side of the room, holding all of the food and drinks for the guests. Two massive tables with plaques marked with each couple’s names were piled high with gifts.
He had just come up behind Robin when she suddenly turned and bumped solidly into his chest.
“Oh!” She gasped as his arms wrapped around her to keep her from toppling over. When she recognized it was him, she pasted on one of her hostess smiles he’d seen so many times before.
He’d seen it every time she’d worked a party or event. He’d been wondering what her real smile looked like. The one she used when she was truly enjoying something. That made think about what she looked like laughing or even what her laughter sounded like. He’d heard her giggle politely several times in the past, but he had yet to hear her real laugh.
His eyes ran over her flawless skin, her soft brown eyes, her perfect mouth. She had the kind of lips that begged to be kissed.
“Did you need something?” she asked, getting his attention. Her eyes bored into his and, for a moment, he completely lost his train of thought.
She slowly crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head at him as if she were waiting for him to talk.
“Videos.” He pulled out his phone from his pocket. “My sister put me in charge of finding the best spot to record from.”
Her smile slipped slightly when his eyes moved down to her lips again. It was as if a magnet kept pulling his eyes down there and his mind kept thinking about what it would be like to taste them.
“The best place to video from is just…” She placed her hands on his shoulders and, for a moment, he noticed something change in her eyes. Then, before he could figure out what it was, she nudged him forward until he stood looking over the balcony. “Here. You can see everything from right here. You’ll get the best shot of the balloons dropping and of the crowd below.”
When he noticed that her hands were still on his shoulders, he smiled and glanced down at them. She stepped back and dropped her hands with a slightly shocked look on her face.
“I…” She glanced around and, before she could move away, he took her elbow.
“Robin.” He didn’t know what had caused him to reach out to her, but he didn’t want her to go just yet. He frantically searched for something to say that would keep her there with him. Something smart. Something witty that would make her laugh. “How do you know which rope goes to who?” Not that, he thought.
She glanced down at the two ropes in her hands, the ones she’d come up here to untie and take down to the waiting soon-to-be parents so they could pull them and release the colored balloons.
When a genuine smile crossed her face, he lost his breath.
“I have my ways,” she said with a slight chuckle.
He moved a little closer to her. “So, you already know what they’re having?”
She laughed again. “Dr. Stevens was instructed to tell only me. I ordered the balloons and have arranged everything.”
He glanced over to the two massive black bags, which he assumed held the balloons that would reveal what gender both his sister’s and cousin’s babies would be.
“How did you get those up there?” he asked, suddenly worried as a flash of Robin standing on a ladder all by herself as she arranged the display flooded his mind.
She shook her head as a slight frown played on her lips. “I… used a pully.” She motioned to the ropes. “These will release the pully. I normally use them to put streamers up.”
He remembered seeing streamers hanging from the ceiling during several of the recent parties but had never asked her how she’d accomplished the feat before.
This time, Robin glanced down at his hand, which was still holding her arm gently. Instead of letting it go, he took a step closer to her.
“I… My uncle has said that he thinks you’ll be safe enough for me to return to school by the end of the month.” He didn’t know why he was telling her this, but he figured she had a right to know.
He watched an array of emotions cross her eyes before she gathered herself and gave him a brisk nod.
“I can’t thank you enough for all your help over the past few weeks,” she said.
“I was thinking”—he moved a little closer—“that with our remaining time, we could entertain ourselves a little.” His hand moved up her arm until he was cupping her face. He heard her breath catch a moment before he bent down and placed his mouth over those lips he’d been dreaming about.
Chapter Three
What was going on? Robin tensed for a moment before her body completely took over as George’s lips brushed against hers.
How long had she dreamed of this? Since the first day he’d shown up to protect her and her business.
She had chalked it up to going so long without getting a man’s attention and, suddenly, there had been a good-looking man watching her every move.
She knew what he was and there was no way she was going to waste her time trying to gain a little of his attention. She had far too much work to do.
That thought seemed to jolt her back to reality. She was standing within eyesight of everyone in his family plus half of the town of Pride, kissing George.
She jerked back quickly, almost losing hold of the two ropes she’d come up there to get in the first place.
“I… need to…” She turned and left without so much as another word to him.
For the next hour, she stood by and watched the happy couples celebrate the coming births of their new babies.
Lilly and Corey were expecting a boy, and Riley and Carter a girl. Both families seemed completely thrilled at the news.
Robin wondered what gender her eventual child would be. Of course, most people hoped for one of each. She supposed she would be happy with either.