One
She shouldn’t be so nervous about catering for a bunch of muckety-mucks, but Pippa Laingley wanted everything to be perfect for her friend Ashley Carter’s housewarming.
And really, why should she be nervous? Just because the net worth of the assembled guests was more than the national debt shouldn’t be cause for her to sweat. Okay, and there was the fact that Pippa was on the verge of opening her own storefront café and catering business and she needed this to go off without a hitch so there would be good word of mouth and maybe a few referrals.
She spun around in Ashley’s huge kitchen, mentally taking stock of what was ready to go out. Where were the damn waiters?
On cue, the door swung open, and a guy who couldn’t be more than twenty hustled through. Pippa took one look and groaned.
“Where’s your uniform?”
He gave her a blank look.
She sighed and closed her eyes. “White shirt? Black slacks? Nice polished shoes? Preferably well-groomed hair?”
His mouth worked and then he snapped it shut. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m the emergency fill-in. I just assumed whatever I needed would be here.”
Pippa blew out her breath. “First day on the job?”
“Yeah,” he mumbled. “A friend told me about part-time gigs that paid good money. I’m sort of filling in for him.”
Her gaze narrowed. Great. She wasn’t even getting an official employee. Some moron had decided to skip and had worked a deal with his buddy to split the proceeds for a night’s work. No way he was going to handle a room full of people. Which meant she was going to have to wade in and help.
So much for having a nice glass of wine with the girls and gushing about Ashley’s new house.
Grabbing the kid by the arm, she pulled him toward the stairs. “Come on. You have to get into something better than that.”
He blinked but allowed her to drag him all the way to Ashley and Devon’s bedroom. She barreled into Devon’s closet and hurriedly riffled through his clothing until she found something appropriate.
“Strip,” she ordered crisply.
A dull flush rose up the kid’s neck.
The sound of a clearing throat was Pippa’s first warning that she and the kid weren’t alone.
“Perhaps I should come back later.”
The low drawl shivered over Pippa’s nape and she squeezed her eyes shut in mortification. Now she and the kid both were blushing fools. She turned to see Cam Hollingsworth leaning lazily against the door, his eyes flashing with amusement.
“Why, Pippa, you cradle robber.”
She could never understand why the man always caught her at a disadvantage. She was an intelligent, well-put-together, very articulate career woman. She owned her own business, never took any crap off anyone and people rarely intimidated her. And yet, every single time she crossed paths with Devon’s friend, she always made an ass of herself.
No way she was going to let this spiral into a mire of humiliation. She glared at Cam and then stalked over, tossing him the shirt and slacks.
“Get him into this. I need him downstairs in two minutes.”
To her utter delight, Cam blinked in surprise. She’d caught him off guard. Then he frowned and looked beyond her to where the kid still stood.
“What the hell? Aren’t these Dev’s clothes?”
“I need a waiter or no one is going to get food or drink,” she gritted out. “He’s all I’ve got. I’m not letting Ashley down tonight and neither are you. So get your ass in gear.”
She stomped past him and hurried down the stairs, not waiting to see Cam’s reaction to her dictate.
When she got back into the kitchen, she quickly lined up the trays, set wine and champagne glasses out and then grumbled under her breath about having to help ferry food and drinks to Ashley’s guests.
She’d asked for three servers. She’d gotten some college kid in need of beer money. Just great.
A moment later, college kid presented himself, and to Pippa’s surprise, he’d cleaned up well. The pants and shirt were a bit too large for his lanky frame, but he looked neat and presentable. His hair had been combed back until he looked almost polished.
She gestured him over, shoved a tray of lobster tarts into his hands and then pushed him out of the door toward the living room, where Ashley and Devon were entertaining their guests.
Then she returned to the island and began pouring wine into half the glasses. She filled the rest with champagne.
“Would you like some help?”
She whirled around, still holding the bottle, and darn near tossed the contents onto the floor.
“Help?”
Cam nodded slowly. “Assistance? You look as though you could use it. How on earth did you think you’d manage this on your own? Ashley was nuts for allowing you to cater the event.”
Pippa was horrified by the offer and then, as she processed the rest of the statement, she was just irritated as hell.
“I’d hate for you to sully those pretty hands,” she snapped. “And for your information, I’ve got this under control. The help didn’t show. Not my fault. The food is impeccable if I do say so myself. I just need a way to deliver it into the hands of the precious guests.”
“I believe I just offered my assistance and you insulted me,” Cam said dryly.
Her eyebrows drew together. Oh, why did the man have to be so damn delicious looking? Why couldn’t he be a toad? Or be bald? Although on the right guy, bald was totally hot. Why could she never perform the simplest functions around him?
“You’re Ashley’s guest,” Pippa said firmly. “Not to mention this isn’t your thing. You’re used to being served, not serving others.”
“How do you know what my thing is?” he asked as he reached for one of the trays.
She had absolutely nothing to say to that and watched in bewilderment as he hefted the tray up and walked out of the kitchen.
She sagged against the sink, her pulse racing hard enough to make her dizzy.
Cameron Hollingsworth was gorgeous, unpolished in a totally sexy way, arrogant and so wrong for her in so many ways, but there was something about the man that just did it for her.
She’d seen him often enough ever since Ashley had become involved with Devon Carter. Cameron and Devon were close friends and business partners in a consortium of luxury hotels and resorts. As Ashley’s best friend, Pippa had been to many of the same social events as Cameron. He’d been paired with her at Ashley’s wedding, and that had been ten sorts of hell, being close enough to smell him, and him so perfectly indifferent to her.
She sighed. That could be what irritated her the most. He was a luscious specimen of a male and he couldn’t be any less interested in her.
Maybe she just wasn’t his type. The problem was, she didn’t know what his type was. She never saw him with other women. He was either intensely private or he didn’t have much of a social life.
She was itching to shake his world up just a little.
Realizing she was spending far too much time mooning over Cam, she grabbed another tray, took a deep breath to compose herself and then headed toward the living room.
Pippa smiled brightly, hoping her lipstick at least was still visible. The rest of her makeup had probably melted off by now. She made her way through the room, relieved to see that many of the guests now held wineglasses. Cameron had indeed delivered the goods.
“Pip, what are you doing?” Ashley hissed.
Pippa jerked around to see her friend staring aghast at her.
“Hey, Ash, how is everything going? All your guests arrived?”
“Stop acting like the hired help,” Ashley said with a frown. “Why are you and Cam walking around serving dr
inks and hors d’oeuvres? And who’s the kid wearing Devon’s clothes!”
“Don’t get worked up, Ash. It’s not good for the baby,” Pippa said cautiously.