Page 34 of Betting on Lizzie

“Not exactly. I’ll need your help designing the space.”

“Okay, let’s plan to meet next week. Tonight,” he said, raising his glass, “we celebrate.”

She sipped her champagne and almost spit it back out when a tall, dark, and very handsome man walked in. “He came,” she whispered.

“Who?” Lucy said. Of course Lucy heard her. Lizzie could have just thought it, and Lucy would have heard. It was a twin thing. Sometimes, reading each other’s minds came in handy. Other times, it was a bother.

Lizzie pursed her lips toward the door. “The fire inspector. Ben.”

Lucy whipped her head around to check him out. “Oh, my.” She fanned her face. “I can see why you’re all worked up.”

“What?” Lizzie said. “No, I’m not.”

Lucy raised both eyebrows. “Maybe not on the outside, but you know you can’t get anything past me. Twin.”

There was no sense in denying it. Lucy was right. Seeing Ben caused a flutter in her tummy, which was something not many men managed. It made her curious to figure out, why Ben?

She watched him stop, shake hands, and talk to Daisy’s husband, Noah. After a minute, he made eye contact and started her way.

“Take Jack and Adam and beat it,” she said under her breath to Lucy, who laughed but did as she asked.

“Hey,” Ben said. “Looks like a great turnout.”

“Yeah. Thanks,” Lizzie said. “I wasn’t sure you’d come. Do you know Noah?”

“Oh, kind of. When he was a cop, and I was a firefighter, we’d see each other at accident scenes and stuff. Couple of years ago, we played against each other in a Fire and Ice game.”

“The charity basketball game where the police department plays the fire department?”

“That’s the one. My coworkers are bugging me to play with them this year.”

“Sure it’ll fit into your busy schedule?”

“Ha. Ha.” He smiled at her teasing. “Maybe it’ll get Maya off my back for a minute. I could use some exercise too.” He patted his stomach. It was flat, and she assumed, hard.

“You look pretty fit to me,” she said, suggestively eyeing him up and down and smiling when he blushed.

“Hardly. Hey, Maya is going with your parents and Bella to check out UNC this weekend. You wanna go out tomorrow?”

“You want to hide it from Maya?”

He nodded. “First of all, I don’t want her to think her mischievous matchmaking worked. It would be like rewarding bad behavior, which I try to avoid. But I also don’t want her putting too much stock into it.”

Lizzie’s eyebrows inched up curiously.

“Nothing against you,” he said quickly. “I just mean, I don’t want her jumping to conclusions or getting too excited. Next thing, she’ll be picking out a bridesmaid’s dress and calling you Mom. And that would be awkward.”

Lizzie laughed. “That would be weird. Normally, I’m pretty suspicious when a man wants to sneak around, but I get it.” She pulled her finger across her lips to zip her mouth.

“I’ll pick you up at seven?”

“Sure.”

“Great,” he said, heaving out a breath as if he could finally relax now that he’d talked to her. For some reason, Lizzie found it more charming than lame.

“Well, I better mingle,” she said. “Bar’s that way.”

“Ah, yes. I believe I was promised a drink on the house?”

---