Tailored for Trouble (Happy Pants #1) - Mimi Jean Pamfiloff Page 0,75
large round table, directly across from Bennett.
Bennett slowly rose from his seat, his eyes bouncing between Chip and Taylor.
“Wade, old boy,” said Chip. “I believe you know my date, Taylor.”
Bennett frowned and dipped his head. “Ms. Reed. So you’re still in Paris.”
“You two know each other?” Mary asked, her eyebrow rising slightly.
“She works for me. Or used to anyway,” Bennett explained.
“I see.” Mary looked at Taylor. Although Mary had to be in her late sixties or early seventies, she didn’t look a day over fifty with her smooth creamy skin. Publicly, she attributed it to her products, but no one could look that good without a little help from a scalpel. “Well, Ms. Reed, it is a pleasure to see you again. I heard you left that headhunter company.”
“I did. I started my own business,” Taylor replied.
“That’s lovely,” said Mary, approvingly. “I am a firm believer in blazing one’s own trail.” That was certainly true. Mary had started Lady Mary when she was in her early twenties after her husband—an older man—ran off with his secretary, leaving her with a new baby and little income. What had started as a door-to-door business, with Mary selling hand-blended perfumes just to make ends meet, had resulted in a global empire. “Life is about living your most beautiful dream” became her company’s slogan, and it made her billions.
“Taylor was waiting outside my apartment,” said Chip, “and I insisted she join us for dinner.”
Mary gave him a harsh look. Chip had made it sound like Taylor had been hoping to seduce him or something.
“I was doing some last-minute shopping before heading home,” Taylor clarified. Or lied. Whatever. This is awful. “Just stopped by to say hi.”
“Well, pleased you could join us, dear,” Mary said graciously, although Taylor was sure that crashing a dinner was not on the woman’s list of proper behaviors.
Bennett’s cold eyes burned into Taylor from across the table.
“Um. Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude,” Taylor said, losing her nerve.
Chip put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. “Now, now. I wouldn’t dream of letting you out of my sight, Taylor. It’s been a long few months.” Chip pulled the chair out for her. “You’re always working and too busy for me, but your surprise visit makes up for all that time apart.”
Mary cocked a brow, clearly surprised by the news that they had some kind of relationship. “Well, there you are then. You will have to stay. My Chip insists. Mr. Wade was just explaining how he and Brigitte also happened to bump into each other today.”
“It wasn’t exactly a bump,” Bennett elaborated. “I also stopped by her apartment merely to say hello, but then I thought she might like to join us.”
Taylor felt her stomach knot with devastation. Not only had she been replaced as his date, just like that, but Bennett had gone on a booty call? Seriously?
Brigitte smiled. “I lobe it when my Bennett surprises me wit his bumps,” she said in a perky little voice with her perky little French accent.
Taylor’s heart dissolved right inside her chest. Brigitte had called him Bennett. Bennett. Only his mother and women he slept with got to call him that.
You call him that.
Yes, but only because I’m stubborn and he lets it slide.
But this woman—ugh—she was sexy and petite and had those full lips men were so into. Taylor had freckles on her nose, wide-ish hips, and plain old everything. She wasn’t ugly, but she wasn’t going to get stopped in the street and asked to model for a Victoria’s Secret catalog either.
Now, now. You sport the flannel animal-themed jammies with the best of ’em.
“It’s nice to meet you, Brigitte. I’m Taylor Reed.”
Brigitte flashed a sour little smile. “Hello,” she said, sounding more like “halo.”
“Yes, lovely to meet you, Brigitte,” Chip agreed, giving her his version of the charming lipless smile. “Any friend of Bennett’s is a friend of mine.”
“Chip, dear,” said Mary, “stop flirting with Mr. Wade’s date. It’s pathetic and I taught you better.”
“Yes, Mother,” Chip replied dejectedly.
“So, Ms. Reed,” Mary said. “Tell me about this new business of yours.”
“Um. Okay.” This was it. Time to come clean and take her licking. “Well, I developed a coaching course for executives to help them connect better with their employees and cut down on turnover. It’s a new way of thinking about leadership—a bottom-up approach versus top-down. It helps foster loyalty.”
“And would you call yourself loyal?” Bennett asked Taylor, his tone as frigid as his gaze.