Follow the Signs Read online

  “So, the Best Man is here,” she prodded, trying to get those blue eyes off her breasts which seemed to be getting fuller the longer he stared at them. “Where’s the rest of the wedding party and guests?” The Best Man didn’t move; only lifted his eyes to hers and she felt blood rush to her cheeks. His eyes squinted slightly, little creases filling in the edges and Paige wondered if he’d seen her nipples.

  He laughed quickly and leaned closer to her and her swollen breasts.

  “Believe it or not, they’re on a scavenger hunt.” With that, he took another drink, this time taking it slow. Paige bet the alcohol was hitting him already because she felt drunk just having him in front of her. In fact, she felt a lot of things she hadn’t felt in a long time, most significantly an undeniable attraction which couldn’t have come at the worse time.

  “A scavenger hunt?” Paige asked curiously. She hadn’t been told that was on the agenda. She assumed once the wedding was over, the guests would arrive quickly and she could get her part of the happy occasion started.

  “Yeah, isn’t that a fucking riot?” he said. “Jason and Mia met when our fraternity had a little scavenger hunt so they decided to commemorate their wedding with one.” He sounded a bit pissed about the whole thing.

  “Why aren’t you out there, doing this ‘scavenger hunt’ with them?” Paige asked. She knew she should just be quiet and let him talk but she wanted more information from him, most importantly, when in the hell were the guests going to show up.

  “I’ve had my fill of scavenger hunts,” he said sarcastically. She wondered what he had against them. They were supposed to be fun. She always thought they were. The way he said the word, it sounded like a bitter pill.

  “Scavenger hunts are fun,” she said innocently, immediately thinking she should be quiet and go find Marlene and tell her to get her sorry ass behind the bar. Paige decided to stay put. She was sure the moment she left the bar, the Best Man would have the bottle of Jack in his possession and she knew the Best Man needed to be sober, at least until the first toasts. After that, she didn’t care what state he was in.

  “Oh, you’d love the one that brought these two together,” he laughed.

  “Tell me,” she said, wondering how Jason and Mia met.

  She loved to hear how clients met, curious about what drew people together and made them decide to get married. When she’d met Jason and Mia, there was something so raw, so sexual, she’d forgotten to ask. She’d been struck by the aura of them, that what they had was true love that couldn’t be denied. Currently unattached, Paige wasn’t sure how she would meet the man of her dreams, except the Best Man had come closer than anyone in a long time and that was only on his looks alone.

  He drank some more and she wondered if it was for courage, which she doubted he needed or possibly to darken his already somber mood. She should slow him down but she was mesmerized the way his Adam’s apple bobbed as the alcohol slid down his throat.

  “Jason and I are members of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity…ex-members,” he added as he looked her over. His eyes kept dropping to her breasts. She wished he’d step back from the bar so she could check out him out fully. She checked her shirt again. Nope; it was still buttoned. “The objective was to find women of the sun signs and Mia happened to be the sign that Jason was looking for.” He paused and something stirred in Paige. She nodded, wanting him to continue because there was something vaguely familiar about sun signs and scavenger hunts.

  “The objective wasn’t to just find the woman with your sun sign,” he said slowly. “You also had to take her to bed.” Paige felt her stomach do a back flip in excitement. “And there’s more.” He drank the rest down quicker than the previous two glasses of whiskey, if that’s possible and continued. “You had to provide video proof that you slept with your sun sign.”

  Paige felt as if she’d been kicked as the memory of one night months ago reappeared. She moved a little and felt wetness on her panties.

  “So, they met and today they got married,” he said quickly as he slid the glass across the counter. Paige stood still, remembering a night that seemed like ages ago.

  “We’ve met,” she said as each detail from that one night came into focus. She’d just landed a big account and was well into her third beer when he’d stopped in front of her and Marlene. How could she have forgotten this man or the question he asked?

  “Trust me, if we’d of met, I would remember,” he said as he lifted his glasses, tilting it to get her attention.

  “I highly doubt that. You seemed pretty drunk.” At the time, it had been a passing thing, some guy acting crazy in a bar. She had laughed it off along with Marlene, thinking he was just another guy who’d had too much to drink. “You asked me if I was a Scorpio.”

  He winced, his eyes shutting as if he could pretend it never happened.

  “Are you?” he asked shaking the glass again.

  Paige grabbed it and refilled, placing it right in front of him again. She looked into his eyes, wishing she had been a Scorpio.

  “No. I’m a Sagittarius.”

  She recalled seeing him, quickly moving down the bar. She’d watched him as he spoke with women at random and had been surprised when he stopped in front of her. She had thought he was a good-looking man. She must have been very drunk not to notice the blue of his eyes or the dimple that appeared when he grinned. Those two things would have had her lying through her teeth.

  “I’m Mike,” he said his voice a little husky. He watched her, his eyes moving over her face and then lifting to take in her reddish-brown hair that was pulled tightly into a bun. “I wish you had been a Scorpio.”

  Paige felt an instant flush of excitement heat her skin. His statement was bold and she felt a bit intoxicated. Her cheeks had to be turning a nice shade of red. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She was supposed to be working and she wasn’t a Scorpio. She was a Sagittarian on a mission and men like Mike were not on the schedule.

  “Sorry,” she said as she quickly grabbed a cloth to wipe the already clean counter. “Sagittarian through and through.” Paige focused on wiping, not wanting to see the look on his face. She wasn’t sure how to read it but it looked seductive and raw. She liked the look but now wasn’t the time.

  “Excuse me?” another voice said and Paige looked over. She had another customer. Where the hell was Marlene?

  “Excuse me,” she told Mike as she moved toward the elderly gentleman.

  “Hurry back,” Mike said and Paige looked at him over her shoulder.

  The smoldering look in his eyes made her want to give up her sun sign and her plans, even if it was just for an hour with him.

  Chapter Two

  Mike watched Paige as she took the man’s order and moved to mix his drink. He made a promise after he drank half a bottle of Jack last night that he would not fuck everything he fancied. He vowed he would get his priorities straight and try to find a woman who could rock his world for more than an hour or two. He wanted a woman who would be there at the end of the day. He should be choosey and selective on finding such a woman instead of treating relationships like trips to the ATMs.

  He’d promised himself after he finished fucking Christine for the third time that he was done with the game.

  However, Paige—a name he knew he could never forget, especially since it was on the nameplate she wore over a set of breasts he wanted to see—had him rethinking everything. He wanted to do an ‘in and out’ with her right now.

  He didn’t know a thing about her except that she was hot. Her hair was the same colors as Mia’s, a fiery red that made his blood boil. Her green eyes had a hint of gold in them and they lit up as she spoke. Her body was all curves and he couldn’t stop looking at her breasts. He wanted to unbutton the vest she wore, hoping she was braless underneath. The sheer white material would glaze over her nipples and he bet they were hard. He wanted them in his mouth.

  Mike couldn’t recall their first meeting. He must have been very drunk to pass
her by. But then again, he was on a scavenger hunt and when on the hunt, he let no man or woman get in his way. The shitty part was that they had met before and he had missed an opportunity. He had been more interested in beating Jason, no matter what it took. He’d hunted high and low for Scorpios and when he found them, they didn’t act anywhere near like what their sun sign alluded to. They all turned him down.

  He knew he was good-looking but he didn’t think he was vain. He just wanted to have sex with a Scorpio, videotape it and win the prize. He wasn’t asking for marriage. Scorpio’s were supposed to be the most sexual of the sun signs but he thought that the ones he’d met were a bunch of prudes. That night, there wasn’t an adventurous one in of the lot. Jason won with Mia and Mike’s life went to shit and he was trying to get it back on track.

  He knew he had some choices to make. He could come right out and ask Paige to meet him after the reception and maybe they’d end up at his place. That thought made his cock stir. He could ask her to go into the pantry in kitchen right now and get it on. His cock was tightening in his underwear. Or he could go slow, ask her out on a date and see where it took them. His cock saw no immediate relief in that option.

  All he knew was that he was attracted to Paige and this time, he wouldn’t rush by, looking for the next best thing. This time he would do what Jason did and stay focused on the target. This time…

  “Do you need anything else?” Paige asked when she returned. She held a clipboard and Mike thought she suddenly looked serious.

  “What time do you get off?” he asked before he could think of anything else.

  “Late,” she replied, looking around the back lawn of the estate. He glanced around as guests had begun to arrive.

  “I thought,” he started to say and then realized he wasn’t thinking. He was going after what he wanted. “I thought we could get together.” Paige didn’t return his smile and he wondered what happened from the time she went to serve the other man to now.

  “I can’t,” she replied.

  “Can I get your number?” he asked, trying a bit harder to lock her in.

  Paige’s eyes narrowed a bit and she put her clipboard down. “Look, Mike, you seem like a nice guy…” Mike felt as if he’d been slapped. He’d heard this speech before. It always started with ‘you seem like a nice guy but…’ and usually ended with ‘go fuck yourself’.

  “But I think you drink too much,” she told him outright and Mike instantly pushed his drink away.

  “I don’t really care for weddings,” he said casually, knowing full well it was a lie. He just didn’t know how to handle the fact that the woman he’d been lusting after had just married his best friend.

  “Yeah, for some guys, I’m sure this is very daunting but you’re the Best Man and you’ve got a job to do and if you’re drunk, you’re going to ruin Mia and Jason’s day and I can’t let that happen.” Mike nodded. He figured if he got drunk, he could forget this day ever happened. However, things were changing before his eyes and being drunk would mean missing out on Paige, again.

  “So, lay off the booze and eat something. You can drink later, after they’ve left.”

  “I want to see you later,” he said, finding his opening because when Mia and Jason left, his job was done.

  “I’ve got work to do,” Paige replied. “You see all those waiters lined up?” Mike looked at the twenty-some men and women in white shirts and ties, waiting to begin delivering hors d’oeuvres. “They work for me and until the last guest is gone, I’m working.”

  “What about after that?” he asked, ever hopeful.

  “Then I’m going to bed.”

  “Sounds good to me,” he said quickly, grinning as his brow lifted.

  “Alone.” Paige smiled slightly but didn’t take the bait.

  “So,” Mike said slowly, wanting to make sure he got it right. “I stop drinking, start eating, do my job as Best Man well and you still won’t see me afterwards.”

  Paige shook her head and laughed. “I’ve got a long night of head of me and I don’t know when I’ll be done.”

  “But we could still meet. If not tonight, some other night then?” He had to pin her down to something. He was starting to feel desperate and he didn’t like the feeling.

  “No,” she replied.

  Mike let out the breath he was holding. He kept his eyes on Paige, not understanding her reluctance to at least see him. He was trying to go about the whole thing casually except he wasn’t. He was being pushy as usual.

  “Is it me? Because I feel like there’s something here. I don’t know what it is but I want to explore it.”

  Paige blushed and he saw a smile creep to her cheeks.

  “No it’s not you. There’s something here all right but it’s not going anywhere.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s not you. It’s me.” Mike stared at her, not following and not liking the statement. He’d used it plenty of times on women he dated and now he realized how painful it was to hear those words. “You aren’t in my cards, Mike. At least not for another six months.”

  “Hey,” a woman’s voice interrupted as she came traipsing forward wearing a similar outfit to Paige. She looked at Paige and smiled. Paige gave her a strained smile and told her she was late.

  “Sorry, this morning sickness is killing me.”

  “Marlene, it’s four-thirty in the afternoon,” Paige replied.

  “I know,” she said as she smiled. “It’s kind of an all day thing.” She looked at Mike and then asked him what she could get him to drink.

  “Nothing,” Paige said and Mike almost laughed at her quick response. “Mike has already had his fill for a while.” Mike covered his glass, liking the way Paige took charge of his alcohol intake.

  “All right,” Marlene said slowly, looking at Paige then back to Mike. “I got it, Paige.” Paige nodded and grabbed her clipboard and turned to go.

  “Paige, wait,” Mike said. “What did you mean I’m not in the cards?”

  Paige stopped, giving Marlene a glance which sent her scurrying off to the other end of the bar.

  “I said I was a Sagittarius, right? I had my chart done and I can’t even begin to think of a relationship until sometime next year.” Mike was dumbfounded. Next year was like three-hundred and sixty days away. He couldn’t wait that long.

  “Why would you follow some chart that said you can’t date or anything for like a year?” he asked dumbfounded.

  “Because so far, that chart has given me everything I want.”

  * * * *

  “What in the hell are you doing?” Marlene asked Paige. Paige lifted her head and noticed Marlene’s pouching belly, her hands on her hips. She put the finishing touches on a tray and nodded to the waiter standing by to take it out to the party.

  “This is called working, something you should be doing. Don’t you have a bar to attend to?” Paige asked sarcastically. She loved Marlene but tonight she wasn’t in the mood for one of her speeches.

  “Never mind the bar,” Marlene replied, crossing her hands over her chest, cocking a stance that said she wasn’t moving until she got some answers.

  “It’s my job to mind everything.” Paige knew her reply came off kind of snotty but this job would hopefully bring in more work and more work meant money, prestige and everything else she ever wanted.

  “Why did you just blow that hunk off?” Marlene asked.

  “What hunk?” Paige asked knowing full well who she was talking about.

  “That stud at the bar. He is Grade-A Prime male perfection and you gave him some bullshit about your sign…”

  “It’s not bullshit,” Paige said defensively. After having her reading done, she’d followed the path her astrologist had given her and things fell into place. She landed her first big account, business picked up, her name had been mentioned in the newspapers and it was all because she stuck to the plan. “Does your husband know you’re eye-balling other men?”

  “It’s called window shopp
ing and what Robert doesn’t know won’t hurt him. And yes it is ‘bullshit’ and you know it. Nowhere on your chart does it say you can’t have a relationship.”

  Paige said nothing, knowing it was true. There were peaks and valleys in the reading about relationships. Some months were better for starting a relationship. It all depended on her planet, Jupiter, but it never stated she couldn’t have a relationship.

  “You’re just afraid.”

  “No, I’m not,” she said, sounding kind of whiney. Really, she wasn’t.

  “So when he asked you if you were a Scorpio, why didn’t you jump at the chance?” Paige was surprised. She thought Marlene had been drunker than she was.

  “You remember him?”

  “Remember him? Hell, when he asked for a Scorpio, I said I was one.”

  “That’s because you are,” Paige stated the obvious.

  “Yes, but he wasn’t interested in me. In fact, if I recall correctly, he didn’t even ask me. He asked you.”

  “But I’m not a Scorpio…and you’re married.”

  “For being one of the smartest women I know, Paige, sometimes you are so dense. He’s interested in you.”

  “And I’ve got a business to run.”

  “Which you do extremely well but there are tons of women who run their own businesses and make time to have relationships with men. It’s not unheard of, you know.”

  “Yes, I do know but this is really important to me and I want to make sure I meet all the objectives I set out for this company and I…”

  “You’ve met the objectives and then some, Paige. We’ve got engagements for the next eight months. We are booked solid.”

  “And what about the eight months after that?”

  “We keep on adding them. It’s called business, Paige. It is not your life. This is something you do. Relationships are what you have for the rest of the time.”

  “Don’t you have a bar to run?”

  “I do it so well I’m not needed.” Paige wondered which new hire she shanghaied to run the bar in her absence. “Just like you’re not needed to do the clean-up. That’s why you hired Greg and his crew. They do the set up and the clean up. You just get in the way. You could be alone with Mr. Tall, Blond and Handsome, burning up the sheets instead of watching Greg and his crew work.”