“Sounds like he’s wooing you.”
“Why?” Greer asked. “I’m not sure I’m worth wooing. I don’t have time for romance.”
“Yeah, I know. Your last date was two years ago.” Chelsea rolled up her tape measure, tucked it back in her pocket and wrote on her clipboard. “Where do you want your life to go?”
“I want to design floats and grow the business.”
“I mean your personal life.”
Greer leaned against a float. “You’re the one getting a divorce.”
“Which just proves I’m at least out having a life. I may be making bad choices, but I’m trying.”
“My little glass-is-half-full sister. What would I do without your boundless enthusiasm?”
Chelsea crossed her arms over her chest. “Mom received tickets to the preview of Henry Ossawa Tanner’s show, and I know she and Dad can’t make it. She’ll give them to you if you ask nicely. Why not call Daniel and ask him to go with you?”
“You’re kidding me.”
Chelsea shook her head. “I never kid about men. Men are no joke.”
Chelsea should know. Her husband, a research biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, took life very seriously, as well as all the cute little interns who came along to help him count bunnies. Chelsea hadn’t made a bad choice. She’d had a lot in common with her soon-to-be ex-husband. He was the one who couldn’t keep his hands to himself.
“And that could be our problem,” Greer said. “We don’t laugh enough about men.”
“Are you going to call Daniel?”
Greer didn’t know if she had the guts to call him. She liked what she knew about him but...did she want to take a risk? She took risks at work, but she liked to play her personal life safe. It was easier that way. “I’ll think about it.”
“Okay, I’ll accept that. Let’s get back to work. This flower order isn’t going to get itself done.” Chelsea moved on to the next float, Greer following in her wake.
* * *
It was hours later when Greer headed back to her office.
“You have a visitor,” her sister Rachel called out as Greer passed her open door.
Greer stuck her head in her sister’s office. It was piled high with files, bankers’ boxes and assorted supplies. Her sister, the company accountant, looked frazzled, her hair frizzing around her face like a halo. At twenty-five, Rachel was the youngest of the three sisters and also the most logical. Like the other Courtlands, she was an extremely hard worker.
“Who is it?” Greer asked.
“You’re new bestie, Daniel Torres.” Rachel turned back to her computer, her fingers flying over the keys.
Greer made her way down the hall. She loved her office. Her parents had given her carte blanche in decorating it. She’d chosen a red leather sofa and two floral wingback chairs flanking an oak coffee table. Her desk was a slanted artist’s table facing away from the huge window that overlooked the parking lot. A rolling chest sat next to it containing her art supplies. She’d painted the walls bright white and then hung drawings of her prize-winning floats along with her diploma from Cal Poly Pomona.
Daniel stood in front of a painting of a float that had won her a first-place ribbon in an art show her senior year in high school. He turned to her as she stepped in. “You’re very talented.”
“Thank you. What are you doing here?” Greer asked.
“Your sister Chelsea called me to go over the final flower order, and I thought I’d stop in and say hi to you.” He strolled around her office, pausing briefly in front of each drawing.
She couldn’t decide if she was irritated or flattered. “That’s nice. Chelsea is in the warehouse.”
“I’ll get to her.” As if waving her off, he continued to gaze at the drawings. “With all this talent, why did you go into structural engineering?”
“I wanted to make magic.”
“And you do.” He pointed at a drawing of a jaguar that looked as though it were about to leap. “I really like this one.”
“That’s the float I did for Carnival in Rio this year. I like it, too.” Since he didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave, she politely asked, “Would you like some coffee, water, tea?”
“Nothing, thank you.” He gestured at her drawings. “This is magic for you?”
“I get the chance to create something that is enjoyed for a day. It’s a challenge. Besides that, I get to hang with the coolest people in the world—my family.”
“I understand. I like my family, too.”
“Did you really intend to sabotage my meeting with Logan by showing up with Melody?” she asked him bluntly. No one would accuse her of subtlety.
His eyebrows rose in surprise. “Logan was hoping the meeting would turn into a date, but another shiny girl came along and he got confused.”
Greer’s eyes narrowed. “With a lot of help from you.”
“What are friends for?” He kept grinning at her as though he’d pulled something over on her, too.
She didn’t know whether to be irritated, amused or flattered. “Since you’re here, I’m wondering if you’d like to attend the preview party on Saturday at the Norton Simon Museum for Henry Ossawa Tanner. I have tickets.” That really came out of her mouth? Oh, Greer, you silly girl.
“Are you asking me out on a date?”
“Sure, we’ll call it a date. But...I have some rules. No Melody. No other starlet. No Logan hijacking me. And do you think we can ditch the paparazzi? I managed to avoid being a part of that love-triangle story, and I don’t want to see my face on a tabloid.”
He looked like a kid who’d just been handed the best present ever. “I can manage that. It’s not like I’m Kanye, or Madonna, or Beyoncé. The paparazzi don’t really follow me around hoping to snap a photo of me doing something disgraceful.”
“Done.”
“Are you going to let me pick you up, or do you want to meet at the museum?”
She paused, thinking. “On a first date, I like to have my own escape route if something doesn’t go well.”
“Technically, it’s our second date.”
He looked so hopeful, she didn’t have the heart to decline. And he was sort of right. She conceded to him on this. “Pick me up at seven. I’ll text you my address.”
Chelsea poked her head into Greer’s office and grinned at Daniel. “Good, you’re here. I want to go over some things with you for final approval.”
With a quick goodbye and a dazzling smile, Daniel followed Chelsea down the hall, leaving Greer to think about what she’d just done. She had asked him out on a date! But she had to admit it—Daniel had something about him that she just liked. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. He was charming and good-looking and had an interesting sense of humor. His baiting of Logan at their dinner had been fun in a very odd way. Bottom line: she wanted to know more about the man who was Daniel Torres.
* * *
The gym smelled of damp clothes, overheated bodies and good, honest man-sweat. Daniel had finished