Page 77 of The Paradise Plan

Blake took another sip of his drink and looked over to Harrison too.“Yes, how’s your girlfriend, Harry?”

“She’s feeling under the weather tonight,” Harrison answered smoothly.“How’s Tommy?”

“Good.”Blake gave a light laugh.“We’ve been to the hospital twice this summer, and I told him if there’s a third time…” He trailed off, and Lauren found herself wanting to hear the end of that sentence.

She looked at him, which was a huge mistake.His eyes locked onto hers, urgency in them now.“You look amazing,” he said earnestly.“That dress is just…you pull it off like no other woman would be able to.”

A bit of discomfort moved through her despite the compliment.Harrison cleared his throat as if to remind Blake he and Lauren weren’t alone, and she suddenly wished they were.

“Listen, I need a new marketing manager,” Blake said.

Lauren leaned away from him, shocked she’d started to move in.But she had.“Excuse me?”she asked.

“Blake,” Harrison said in a voice laced with warning.

“No, I do,” Blake said.“Lauren, you’d be perfect for the job.”

She blinked at him, sure this wasn’t why he’d brought her a glass of Prosecco.Was it?She shook her head, trying to get her thoughts to align.“Thank you,” she said diplomatically.“But I have a job I really like, and I doubt you could afford me.”

She picked up the glass of champagne and took a delicate sip.“But thank you, really.”

“Name your price.”

“Okay,” Harrison said.He scooted to the end of the bench and stood up.“Come on, Blake.You should get back to your party.”

In her peripheral vision, she saw him wave to someone.She couldn’t look away from Blake, however.She saw desire in his eyes, and she felt it swimming through her veins too.She’d always been attracted to him, stemming back two summers ago to the Fourth of July when she’d come to visit Bea that first time.

“Oh, you’re here with your firm.”Harrison tugged Blake to his feet.“Look.John’s here for you, Blake.Go on now.Get on back to them.”

Blake went, thankfully, because Lauren wasn’t sure what might’ve happened if he hadn’t.Harrison exhaled as he sat back down, and their eyes met across the table.

“He’s a great guy,” Harrison said.“Who’s been drinking with his colleagues.”

Lauren nodded, because she’d been out with plenty of businessmen and women who drank too much.He’d regret everything in the morning.

With shaking fingers, she lifted her drink again.Hopefully not this, she thought, but then she wondered if Blake would even remember this encounter.She almost didn’t want him to, and she found her eyes drifting in the direction he’d gone.

He wasn’t there anymore, and Lauren’s sadness bumped up a notch.

Harrison didn’t bring him up again, and he kept the conversation alive during dinner.They took home a meal for Cass, and Lauren immediately retreated upstairs to her bedroom while Harrison went down the hall to Cass’s.She didn’t care if they stayed in there or came out to the living room.

Cass was a grown woman and could make her own choices.As she passed the bedroom where Robbie and Sariah were staying, her step slowed.She had half a Texas-mind to go in there and berate the girl for adding to Cass’s burden.

In the end, that wasn’t Lauren’s role, and she went by the closed door, the scent of oily Chinese food floating on the air.

In her own room, she changed out of the amazing dress she’d worn that evening and into something far more comfortable.She wondered if she’d have caught Blake’s eye in her sweatpants and oversized T-shirt.

“Probably not,” she muttered to herself.Besides,catchingsomeone’s eye wasn’t the problem for Lauren.

It waskeepingtheir attention for longer than a few months she couldn’t seem to do.