Slow Ride. Carrie Alexander

sigh. Naturally she couldn’t get away that easily.

      “Yes? Is there something else I can help you with, Maureen?” She held the phone between her shoulder and ear while she scrubbed her hands with the disinfectant wipes Katya had passed along.

      “I’m also following up on a few leftover details from the party.” The timbre of Maureen’s voice lost its usual brisk confidence, signaling that she was about to approach a personal area where the outcome was less assured. “I noticed that you haven’t arranged a date for your Painter’s Cove weekend. Is there a problem with the trip?”

      “No, of course not.” Rory slowly dried her hands, trying to think up an excuse. “It’s a fabulous prize.”

      Silence on Maureen’s end, except for a rapid tapping sound.

      Rory imagined her friend’s arched brows and puckered lips, her tapping fingernails. Maureen would delve as deep as necessary, which meant that if Rory gave her no satisfaction she’d call Tucker next. The woman had boundary issues.

      “Is the problem your key partner?”

      “Um…”

      “Because I ran into Tucker Schulz at the construction site and aside from looking like quite the dish—” Maureen broke off to make a low humming noise of appreciation. “Oh, sorry. Well-hung tool belts distract me. As I was saying—”

      Rory interrupted, not wanting Maureen to say whatever she might say, which with Maureen would likely be something terribly pushy, such as that she’d taken charge and arranged Rory’s weekend for her. “There’s no problem, Mo. Really. I’ve been busy, that’s all.”

      “Yes, that’s what Tucker claimed.”

      Oh, yeah? Rory clamped her lower lip between her teeth. She’d made one attempt to reach Tucker and had left a message on his machine.

      He hadn’t returned the call.

      So rude. Since then Rory’s stubbornness had kicked in and she was determined to wait for him to make the next move. That he’d be willing to dump an expensive prize to avoid her was not humiliating, not at all.

      She’d admit to galling.

      “Is there a time limit to use the weekend?” she asked, ready to keep Tucker in a holding pattern for months if she had to. Maybe by then her attraction to him would have fizzled out.

      Maureen paused. “I believe you have a year.”

      “An entire year! Then why is everyone on my case about scheduling this trip immediately?”

      “Everyone?” Rory could hear the smile in Maureen’s voice. “I may be an important personage, but I hardly qualify as everyone.”

      “Uh-huh. Everyone, as in my interfering sisters. Was it Mikki or Lauren who set you up to call me on this?”

      Maureen laughed, but she didn’t answer.

      “Mikki, I’ll bet.” Lauren was less pushy, whereas Mikki had been riding Rory’s back like a howler monkey, going on about what a great guy Tucker was and how his connection to Nolan didn’t have to put the brakes on his and Rory’s relationship.

      Sure, Rory thought. It didn’t have to. But she’d had enough experience with these things to know that it inevitably did. She might tell herself that she was willing to overlook the potential problems in favor of a shot at great sex, even the short-term version, but reality was another matter. Men got weird about mixing their social and private lives.