to grab my order clipboard off the counter. I wrote the order down and hung up.
Josh gave me an amused smile. “Wow, you’re so different on the phone. So professional.”
“I only cuss on business calls when I’m upselling my Son of a Bitch and Crazy Little Fucker shirts.”
Josh chuckled and cut another bite of lasagna with the side of his fork. “What did they order? Any stairs?”
A part of me hoped he asked because he liked coming over and wanted a reason. That same part of me purposely dropped lasagna on my shirt as penance. If I had one more inappropriate thought about Josh, I was going to have to see if I had some old curlers to put in my hair.
“He has my stairs in every room of his mansion already,” I said, wiping the red sauce stain with a napkin. “Dale’s my best customer. He’s got six Maltese and millions. He owns a strip club in downtown LA. Spent two years in prison for tax evasion. I love the guy. Every month he orders twenty-four shirts for his dogs. He likes me to deliver them in person.”
His handsome brow furrowed. “You deliver goods to a felon by yourself?”
I gave him a cocked eyebrow. “He’s eighty-three. He’s lonely. And how dangerous can an arthritic old man with a ponytail and a dog named Sergeant Fluff McStuffs actually be?”
He chuckled. “Fluff McStuffs? Do all little dogs have stupid names?” He took a drink of his soda.
I balled up the saucy napkin and picked up my fork. “You should name any dog according to how it will sound while yelling his name and chasing him down the street in a bathrobe.”
He laughed so suddenly Coke dribbled down his chin. He choked a moment and I handed him a napkin.
“So have you planned the bachelor party yet?” I asked once he’d recovered.
“I’m working on it. It’s not for another month and a half, so I have time. How about you?” He was still smiling and shaking his head.
“We’re going to a day spa first. Then Hollywood in a limo to go barhopping. And I’m making her a suck-for-a-buck shirt,” I said.
His forehead wrinkled. “A what?”
“Hold on—I’ll get it.” I went to my room and grabbed the shirt I’d been working on. When I came back out and held it up, he stared.
“Are those Life Savers?”
I’d sewn the candies onto the shirt every inch or so apart. “Yeah. Random guys pay a dollar per candy and they have to bite it off her. The ones on her nipples are five dollars. She’s going to hate it.”
He started laughing again.
“Where are you taking Brandon?” I draped the shirt carefully over the back of a chair and sat back down.
He chewed thoughtfully. “I’m thinking Vegas. No strip clubs. Maybe a nice resort, a round of golf. A steak house. This job is definitely helping me with the budget.”
You’d never find Brandon in a strip club. It spoke to their friendship that Josh knew that. I could see Brandon going to be a good sport, but that wasn’t his scene. He was kind of introverted. He didn’t like dancing, wouldn’t go near a karaoke bar. “He’d probably like a straight-razor shave. Maybe a bourbon tasting.”
He gave me an approving nod. “I like that. Anything else?”
“Can you get a motorcycle? He loves his bike. He’d want to ride there.”
That earned me a dimpled smile. “You’re good at this.”
“I’m full of ideas. Too bad they’d never let us do something fun for the walk down the aisle. Sloan wants it all dignified.” I rolled my eyes.
“What did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. Something viral video–worthy. Maybe the lift from Dirty Dancing or something.”
“We still could. It could be a surprise. You know they’d love it once they saw it.”
I eyed him. “Do you have those kinds of dance moves?”
“Hell yeah, I’ve got those moves. Nobody puts Baby in the corner. Let me know when you want to start practicing.”
God, those dimples.
The corners of my lips turned up. “You and I might just be the perfect best man–maid of honor match ever.”
He smiled at me a flicker of a second too long and something fluttered in my stomach.
I couldn’t help but think we were well matched in more ways than one.
And mismatched in the worst way possible.
SEVEN
Josh
Why I’d decided to go on this date was beyond me. There was nothing wrong with Amanda. She was beautiful and nice, but my heart wasn’t in it.