Laura Wright - The Ashtons - Paige, Grant & Trace - The Highest Bidder / Savour the Seduction / Name Your Price

And she’d looked damn near triumphant when he called the Marketing Department to tell Tessa he’d hired an outside consultant to do the event.

Suddenly Paige pushed her chair back and stood. “Excuse me for a moment, please.”

They both stood up as she left the table, their similar heights bringing the two men face-to-face.

“I thought you were doing a good deed.” Walker’s voice had no humor.

Matt rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he considered a response. “I’m taking a business associate to lunch to discuss an event we’re planning. I fail to see how that’s a bad deed.”

Walker’s thick native-American brows knotted and his dark eyes narrowed. “When you bid on her, Matt, you said, ‘I’m only doing a good deed.’ You felt sorry for her or something.”

“That’s true.” He felt… something. Not sorry, but this wasn’t the right time to explain that. “Then I hired her to manage an event. Something she happens to be very good at. Is that a problem?”

“It could be.” Walker was far too familiar with Matt’s track record for him to easily buy that excuse. Matt had even confided that he had no intention of ever getting serious with a woman again after his divorce; he’d been very clear about his “sex without strings” personal philosophy.

“I don’t intend for it to go beyond the boardroom, Walker,” he added, lowering his voice and holding his friend’s slightly hostile gaze. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’m not in the least bit worried about you.” Walker glanced in the direction where Paige had gone. “I’m worried about my little cousin. She does her best to be tough but…”

“But what?”

“She’s got a soft heart.”

And soft lips. And soft hair. “I can tell,” Matt admitted.

“And she’s shy.”

Shy? Could Walker—or the other Ashtons—not know the same Paige he did? She was definitely not shy. Quiet, thoughtful and intelligent, but not shy. “She’s not timid, Walker. She knows how to get what she wants.”

“That’s just a front,” Walker insisted. “She tries to be as in control as her sister Megan, and as shrewd as their mother. But she’s tender, not tough. She’s…she’s not…”

“She’s not what?”

“She’s not your type.”

Now that was debatable. “I know what you’re trying to say,” Matt assured his friend. “You can trust me.”

Walker put his hand on Matt’s shoulder and gave him a quick squeeze. They went too far back, had too much history and friendship, for either one to doubt the truth of Matt’s promise.

“I know that, Matty boy. I know that.” Walker cocked his head toward Paige’s empty chair. “Tell her I had to run.”

When Walker disappeared into the dining room of The Terrace, Matt caught a glimpse of Paige approaching the table. Her slender hips swayed a bit with each step, her breasts moved just enough to make his mouth water.

She moistened her lips ever so slightly and kept her gaze locked on him.

Matt knew women. And he knew for a fact that this one most definitely had something on her mind other than a time line or a budget.

But he’d made his promise. To himself. And, more important, to his friend.

Paige had to give him credit. Matt was doing everything humanly possible to keep their interaction strictly business. Or at least not personal.

And hadn’t she planned to do the same thing on their first date just a few nights ago? She’d failed miserably…and he would, too.

For one thing, their “meeting” had started at ten, then continued on through a two-hour lunch, and showed no sign of ending now that they were strolling through Ghirardelli Square like a couple of tourists.

Like a couple. Period.

It was unspoken that they didn’t want the “meeting” to end. He’d suggested they drive over to the square after lunch to soak in the incredible autumn California day, and she hadn’t argued. The sun warmed the golden brick pavement of the sprawling park, and their easy conversation and comfortable silences warmed her heart. Nothing intimate, nothing personal. But not exactly business, either.

“I haven’t been here for years,” Paige said as they passed the historic chocolate factory. “I forgot how quaint and inviting this place is.”

“It’s touristy,” he noted. “But there’s a reason the tourists like it.”

They entered a tree-lined plaza, pausing at a storefront to admire the hand-blown glass in the window.

“We can’t leave the square without making a wish,” Matt said suddenly, taking her hand. “Let’s visit Andrea.”

Her fingers curled around his much stronger ones. Oh, yes. This was feeling more like a date and less like a meeting every minute. “Andrea?”

“The mermaid of the fountain.” He tugged her toward the massive sculpture of two mermaids nursing their babies and surrounded by a pool of sun-drenched water. “Gotta make a wish.”

He dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a handful of change. “Pick a lucky one,” he told her.

She plucked a shiny penny from the group, and he took another. As they approached the gray slate steps that surrounded the pool, he dipped his head close to her.

“Andrea listens, you know. So be sure you wish for something good.”

She grinned and flipped the penny toward the water. “I know what I want.” I wish Matt would kiss me. It hit with a tiny splash.

“Wow. You sure do know what you want,” Matt noted. “I generally have to think about it for a minute.”

“This wish didn’t take any thought at all,” she said, squinting in the sun as she looked up at him. “I know exactly what I want.”

“You know what they say.”

“What do they say?”

“Be careful what you wish for.” With that, he arced his penny in a perfect curve shot.

The water rippled as his coin drifted to meet the coppery cluster at the bottom.

“What did you wish for?” she asked.

He gave her a lopsided grin that made her insides ripple just like the pool. “You tell me first,” he said.

“Doesn’t that mean my wish won’t come true?”

He considered that as they found an empty bench tucked under the branches of a gnarly shade tree, the leaves already beginning to take on the golden hue of October. “I’m not sure how strict Andrea is about revealing your wishes,” he said as they sat.

“Then I don’t want to risk it,” Paige laughed. “I really want this wish to come true.”

He crossed his long legs and draped an arm across the back of the bench. Not exactly touching her but not strictly professional, either.

“Why don’t I guess?” he suggested. “Then technically you really haven’t told me.”

She smiled, feeling coy and flirtatious. Not a sensation Paige Ashton was used to, but one that sure sent a few lovely tingles through her. “Okay. You get three guesses.”

He laughed. “Oh, there are rules, now. Hmm. Okay. Let me guess.” He studied the fountain in front of them, then said, “You wished for a flawlessly executed, well-attended, completely successful launch party for VoiceBox.”

She just stared at him. Was he that unromantic? “I don’t have to wish for that. I’ll make that happen without the help of any mermaids or wishes.”

“Touché.” He thought for a moment. “I know. You covered all your bases. You wished for happiness and a lifetime of contentment.”

She shook her head. “I wouldn’t want to strain Andrea’s powers with anything that monumental. My wish was simple. And it was nothing I could control. Someone else has to make it happen.”

“You want all your family problems to go away.”