Page 49 of Tempting the Player
Buzzing back and forth between their two desks, Madison was like a cracked-out hummingbird. “I can’t believe it.”
“Neither can I,” Bridget muttered dryly. After their first dinner last night, she’d gone home in a mood worse than when she’d left. And she’d still been starving.
“I mean, not that I can’t picture you with Chad. I can. But I just can’t picture him settling down.” She paused halfway between the desks and frowned. “Then again, I couldn’t picture Chase settling down, either, but he did.”
“This is nothing like you and Chase.” Bridget started color-coding her Highlighters. “Anyway, did we get final numbers on the catering yet?”
Madison was not derailed by the more important conversation. They’d been working on the Gala since last February. The damn thing had consumed both their lives and now Chad was consuming hers. “What do you mean, it’s not like Chase and me?”
Moving the pink Highlighters next to the green ones, she sighed. “It’s just not serious. Not like you guys.”
Madison stopped in front of Bridget’s desk and propped her hands on her hips. “Okay, when’s the last time you had a boyfriend or was dating someone?”
“Uh…”
“Exactly,” Madison said and then resumed her pacing. “You dating Chad is serious. It can’t be anything less than serious. Did you see the Washington Post online this morning? There were pictures of you two kissing.” She picked a pen up off her desk and threw it at Bridget. “Kissing! I’m pretty sure it’s on CeleBuzz, too. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”
Bridget picked up the pen and cringed. “I just didn’t think anything was going to come out of it.”
Madison stared at her, nose wrinkled in concentration. “God, are you ready for all of this, Bridget? It’s going to be insane. People are going to start following you around. Oh! I can pretend to be your assistant!”
Bridget rolled her eyes.
“And we can double date.”
Oh, dear…
“And Chad always comes to the Daniels Family Christmas Dinner Extravaganza, which you never come to even though I’ve invited you every year, you hooch.” Madison clamped her hands together. “Now you can’t get out of it.”
She so wasn’t a fan of the holidays, and honestly, it hurt to see Madison making happy plans. She was going to be so disappointed when, at the beginning of the year, Chad and Bridget went their separate ways.
Madison finally settled down, and Bridget opted to eat in for lunch. She was half afraid to visit any of the local joints. Just before three in the afternoon, their office door opened and a delivery guy stood there, awkwardly carrying four dozen red roses.
Four dozen roses.
Wow. Last night must’ve been amazing for Chase to send Madison an arrangement like that.
Bridget went back to staring at her computer screen. She needed to e-mail the catering company if they hadn’t gotten a definite amount back for the—
“Is there a Bridget Rodgers here?”
Lifting her chin, her gaze landed on the flower guy. Confused, she glanced over at a grinning Madison. “Um, that’s me.”
The man smiled as he moved toward her desk. She hastily cleared off a little section on the corner. “Someone must really love you,” the man said, placing the vase down. “Have a nice day.”
Bridget stared at the delivery guy as he strode out of her office, and then her gaze fell back to the roses. Holy crap…
Miss Gore must’ve ordered them or made Chad do it. That could be the only reason why they were for her, but they…they were beautiful.
“Is there a card?”
She looked up, barely able to see Madison from behind the forest of stems. There was a card, tucked neatly between a dewy green stem and baby’s breath. Very carefully, she pulled the card out and slid open the little envelope.
Written in pretty calligraphy was a short message that might not have told why the flowers were sent but definitely who had sent them.
I’m still very relevant.
Chad.
