Is there still something between you and your ex?
Are you kidding? Pipers grimace, complete with eyes rounded in horror, did Joshs heart good. Hes one of the reasons I need boyfriend camouflage this weekend.
Oh. Josh glanced at the doorway, noting that he and Piper were visible to anyone in the dining room. And your grandmothers fondest dream is to see you in the arms of a good man, right? Dont do it.
Right.
He took a step toward her. Maybe he shouldnt do this, but how could just once hurt? I have an idea that should make your grandmother ecstatic.
Pipers ocean-colored eyes grew so wide he could drown in them. She stood on tiptoe to meet him, and then his lips were on hers.
Fire raced in his blood. Too late he realized that the reality of kissing her was far more devastating to his senses than the fantasy, and his assumption that he could walk away from just one kiss unaffected had been foolish.
Still, as long as he was making the mistake, he should make the most of it.
Dear Reader,
One of the fun parts of my job is exploring the different ways two people can end up together. As much as I love stories about a man and a woman who make an instant connection, Im a sucker for stories about people who start out as friends. People who dont immediately realize (or want to admit) whats right in front of them, so they try in vain to fight the attraction. But the sexual tension and emotional undercurrent cant be ignored.
At least, thats the case for my heroine, Piper Jamieson, and her best friend, Josh Weber. Career-driven Piper has no time for romance in her life, especially not with a heartbreaker like Josh. When she needs a date for the weekend, though, her sexy best friend fills inwith unexpected results.
Piper and Josh are very special to me, maybe because I married my own best friend, maybe because they were just so much fun to write. I hope you enjoy their story and will check out the information about my other books and my story-themed giveaways at www.mindspring.com/~tjmic.
Happy reading!
Tanya
Books by Tanya Michaels
HARLEQUIN DUETS
96THE MAID OF DISHONOR
HARLEQUIN FLIPSIDE
6WHO NEEDS DECAF?
Hers for the Weekend
Tanya Michaels
www.millsandboon.co.uk
MILLS & BOON
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
1
PIPER JAMIESON SAGGED against the sofa cushions and rolled her eyes at the phone receiver. It could have been a wrong number, a pushy telephone solicitor, an obscene caller even, but nooo, it was her mother. Piper loved her mom, but all their conversations boiled down to the same argumentPipers love life.
She started to put her feet up on the oval coffee table, but stopped suddenly, as though her mother could see through the phone line and into her apartment. So, howve you been doing, Mom?
Never mind that. Im more concerned with how you are, her mother said. You dont feel acute appendicitis coming on, right? You arent going to call us tomorrow with a severe case of forty-eight-hour east Brazilian mumps or something?
Piper groaned. Although shed bailed out on all of the family reunions in recent years, shed used legitimate work-related excuses, never fictional medical ones. But this year shed made a promise to her grandmother.
This year, there would be no reprieve.
Ill be there, she assured her mother. And Im looking forward to seeing you all. Mostly.
Were looking forward to seeing you, too, honey. Especially Nana. When I went to visit her at the hospital last week
Hospital? Pipers chest tightened. She adored her grandmother, even if Nana did stubbornly insist women needed husbands. Daphne told me she was under the weather, but no one said anything about the hospital. As Nana advanced in years, Piper couldnt help worrying over her grandmothers health.
A worry her mother was not above exploiting. You know what would help your Nana? If she knew you had a good man to take care of you.
Ah, yeshere came the Good Man Speech. Piper knew it well.
Youve always been independent, her mother was saying, but theres such a thing as being too stubborn. Before you know it, youll wake up fifty, without anyone to share your life.
Knowing from experience that it did no good to point out she was decades away from turning fifty, Piper stretched across the maroon-and-black-plaid couch. Might as well be comfy while she waited for her mother to wind down.
Though shed escaped her small hometown of Rebecca, Texas, and now lived in Houston, Piper couldnt escape her familys shared belief that a womans purpose in life was to get married. Pipers sole brush with matrimony had been a broken engagement that still left her with a sense of dazed reliefhow had she come so close to spending her life with a man whod wanted her to be someone different? When her sister, Daphne, had married, Piper thought the pressure would ease, that their mother would be happy to finally have a married daughter. Instead, Mrs. Jamieson was scandalized that her youngest was married, now pregnant, while her oldest didnt even date.
As her mom continued to wax ominous about the downfalls of growing old alone, Piper stared vacantly at the dead ficus tree in the corner of her living room. I should water that poor thing. Although, at this point, it was probably more in need of a dirge than H2O.
Piper! Are you even listening to me?
Ymostly.
I asked if that bagel man was still giving you trouble.
Mercifully, her mother had moved on to the next topic. Too bad Piper had no idea what that topic was. Bagel?
Then realization dawned. Her mother must mean Stanley Kagle, vice president of Callahan, Kagle and Munroe, the architectural firm where Piper worked as the only female draftsman. Make that draftswoman. In Kagles unvoiced opinion, Pipers job description should be brewing coffee and answering phones with Ginger and Maria, the two secretaries who had been with the firm since it opened. Luckily, Callahan and Munroe held more liberated views.
You mean Mr. Kagle, Mom?
Whichever one is always hassling you at work. She paused. You know, you wouldnt have to work at all if youd find a nice man and raise some babies.
Piper could actually hear her blood pressure rising. One of only a handful of female students in her degree program at Texas A&M, shed busted her butt to excel in her drafting and detailing courses, and was now working even harder to prove herself amid her male colleagues. Why couldnt her family be proud of that? Proud of her?
Mom, I like my job. I like my life. I wish youd just accept that Im happy.
How happy could you be? Daphne says youre underappreciated and that one of your bosses has it in for you.
And thank you so much, Daphne, for passing on that information.
Daph caught me after a rough week, and I was just venting, Piper said. I love the actual drafting part. And loved the feeling she got when she was in the middle of a drawing and knew it was damn good, the pride of passing a building downtown and seeing one of her suspended walkways. If things continued to go well, Piper was hoping her next review with Callahan would lead to her first project as a team leader.
But better to argue her point in a language her mom could understand. Ill admit to occasional work-related stress, but are you trying to tell me that marriage and motherhood are stress-free?
Silence stretched across the phone line.
Aha! I have you there.
Then Mrs. Jamieson sighed as though this conversation epitomized her motherhood stress. Honey, you arent getting any younger, and women cant
Recognizing the introductory phrase of her Dont You Hear Your Biological Clock Ticking Speech, Piper interrupted. Id love to chat more Mom, but She thought fast, determined to rescue herself from this black hole of a conversation. I have to run because I have dinner plans.
You have a dinner date! With a man?
Did she really want to lie to her mother? Piper gnawed at her lower lip. Shed already told one white lie. Besides, if it would save her from another round of youd be such a pretty girl if you just fixed yourself up, why not? Her imaginary person might as well be an imaginary man.
Yes. Guilt over the uncharacteristic fib immediately niggled at her, but she pressed forward. Its a man.
Good heavens. I cant believe you let me go on all this time and didnt say anything about having a boyfriend!
Boyfriend? Shed only meant to allude to a dinner date to buy herself some peace and quiet, not invent a full-blown relationship. Wait, I
What does your young man look like, dear?
Piper blurted the first thing that came to mind. Tall, dark and handsome. Oh, very original! Dark-haired with green eyes, she elaborated.
And youll bring him home with you for the reunion, right?
Well, no, I
We cant wait to meet him. I was hoping this weekend would give you the chance to get reacquainted with Charlie, but I didnt know you had a boyfriend.
Charlie? Piper would invent a dozen fake boyfriends before she let herself go down that road again. Mom, I dont want to see Charlie.
Her mothers uneasy silence made it clear that it was too late for Piper to avoid her ex-fiancé.
Youve invited him for dinner or something, havent you? What did it take to convince people that she and Charlie were over? Not over in the-timing-just-wasnt-right, maybe-later kind of way. Over in the stone-cold, do-not-resuscitate, rest-in-peace kind of way.
Piper, hes like one of the family.
More so than she was, it would seem.
And I dont know why you sound so appalled whenever you mention him, her mother continued. Charlie Conway is a good man, and hes the most eligible bachelor in the entire county.
That was probably true. Handsome, funny and smart, Charlie Conway had been a fellow Rebecca native and A&M student. Hed been so sought after in high school that Piper had been surprised when he pursued her in college. Hed claimed to love her because she was so refreshingly different from the girls theyd grown up with, and hed eventually proposed. Their engagement had been strained, however, by his decision to return to Rebecca and carry on the Conway mayoral tradition, and Piper had returned the heirloom diamond ring when she realized that the allure of refreshingly different had faded. The longer shed been with Charlie, the more hed tried to change her.
Mom, I dont care how eligible he is. Hes not right for me. Shed tried to explain this before, but since she was rejecting the very lifestyle most of her family and childhood friends had chosen, they didnt quite understand. Piper knew they were fond of Charlieshe had been, too, at one pointbut she hadnt liked the person shed become when she was with him. Promise me youre not going to spend the weekend trying to throw us together.
Well, of course not, dearnot with this new young man in your life. We cant wait to meet him! her mother repeated.
Ill, um, see if hes available. Piper hated the blatant dishonesty, but not as much as she hated the thought of an entire weekend explaining why the countys most eligible bachelor wasnt good enough for her.
This is so exciting, her mom said. I cant wait to call everyone and let them know. Oh, and honey, if youre going out tonight, I hope youll think about wearing a dress for a ch
Ding dong!
Piper jumped at the unexpected pealing of her doorbell. Who Remembering that she was supposedly expecting a date, she swallowed the last of her question. Gotta go now, see you this weekend. Love to Dad.
The doorbell shrilled again as she hung up, and a familiar male voice called through the door, Piper? You home?
Josh. Thank goodness, because a day like shed had called for one of two things: venting to her best friend or a Chocomel, a chocolate-covered bar of caramel-and-nougat-filled nirvana. Talking to Josh was calorie-free.
Hey, she greeted him as she opened the door. Joshua Weber was a co-worker whod become her best friend after moving into her downtown Houston apartment building two years ago. Did we have plans tonight and I forgot? Im sorry, its been a horrible day, and
Relax, darlin. His lips curved into the sexy smile that had no doubt been instrumental in seducing many women. Luckily for Piper, seduction wasnt high on her priority list. We didnt have plans. I just wanted to see if you were interested in going with me for a bite to eat.