Some Like It Charming - By Megan Bryce Page 0,28
of you climbing the fence in tomorrow’s papers.”
“God. Do you know how much I hate Ethan Howell O’Connor at this moment?”
Cassandra looked at her out of the corner of her eye. “Mm-hm.”
They parked in front of her neighbor’s house, sneaked through the gate and headed for the back fence.
Cassandra looked around. “They don’t have a dog, right?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Oh, you’re a riot.”
They stopped at the fence and looked up. Cassandra said, “If this doesn’t work, we are calling Ethan and telling him to send some bodyguards. Deal?”
Mackenzie clenched her teeth. “I am not calling him. So you’d better get yourself over this fence.”
Mackenzie jumped, grabbing the top and pulling with all her might, her feet trying to run up the side of the fence.
Cassandra yelled, “Stop flailing and I’ll push you over!”
She gave an almighty push and Mackenzie went over the top and landed with a thud.
A shout rang out from the front and Cassandra yelled again. “Go, go, go! Don’t stop! Zigzag!”
Mackenzie raced to the back door, her key in her hand, and flung open the door. She looked behind her to find no Cassandra and slammed and locked the door.
She leaned against it, laughing. Then groaned. She was a thirty-year-old woman, for God’s sake. And this was her house!
A loud ringing made her jump. It took her a second to realize it was her new cellphone.
She answered and Cassandra said, “I can’t get over the fence. I’m going to try the front. Watch for me, will you?”
“They’re going to eat you alive.”
“We’ll see. Just be ready for me.”
“Okay.”
Cassandra said, “You know, you’ll have to thank Ethan for the cellphone. It’s handy being able to just call you up.”
“Oh, yeah. When you need to sneak into your own home, it’s necessary to have a cellphone on you. Makes life so much easier.”
“It really does.”
“You could have just called my home phone.”
“Huh.” Cassandra hung up and Mackenzie nervously walked to the front room. She peaked between the blinds to find cameras pointed and clicking on her house. She knew, knew, they couldn’t see her, but she stepped back anyway.
A few minutes later a knock sounded and she let Cassandra in, making sure no part of her could be photographed.
Mackenzie locked the door. “You just waltzed up the front path?”
“I waved. They didn’t take too many pictures of me. I guess pictures of Ethan O’Connor’s fiancé’s best friend don’t pay all that well.”
“I hate you.”
“As much as you hate Ethan, hm?”
“Just about.”
“So, not at all.”
Mackenzie looked at her in surprise. “What do you mean, not at all?”
“I’ve seen the pictures. There’s not a lot of hate going on between you two.”
“Okay, I was playing softball against a worthy opponent. Of course I was having a good time.”
Cassandra laughed at her. “Good one. But I was talking about last night’s pictures.”
Mackenzie checked again that the door was bolted, then headed for the bedroom. “Ugh. They’re out already?”
“Yep. They got some good ones.”
“I don’t want to know. Did you purposefully look for them?”
“Of course I did. I wanted to see how it went. Plus, I like looking at him. I spent all last night looking him up on the computer. I can’t decide if he looks better in real life or in pictures.” Cassandra pretended to shiver, then said, “He definitely smells better. You’re going to have to find out what cologne he was wearing last night so I can spray some on my pillow. It made my insides go all mushy and my dreams go naughty.”
Mackenzie tried not to remember how her insides had gone all mushy. And she hadn’t needed to wait for sleep for the night to go naughty. But she would happily blame losing her brain on his cologne. It was better than any other alternative.
Mackenzie pulled a suitcase out from under her bed while Cassandra opened her closet and grimaced. “Let’s see. It looks like your choices are work clothes, boring work clothes, or hideous work clothes. Is he giving you a clothing allowance or something? Because I just can’t see Ethan O’Connor’s fiancé wearing any of this.”
Mackenzie poked her head over Cassandra’s shoulder. “It’s not that bad. It’s professional.”
“And you are no longer a professional. Now you’re a celebrity.”
“For six weeks.”
“Okay. What are you going to wear for six weeks?” Cassandra leered at her. “Unless you will be wearing nothing. I could get behind that.”
“No, there will be none of that.” Why did she have to keep saying that?
“Mm-hm. So what’s that one-woman man going to do for