Her mother had let the silence ride just long enough that Kerry knew they weren’t yet done discussing him. “Yes, I’ve heard he’s a very nice man. Especially when he’s around beautiful women.”

Kerry hadn’t been able to keep from defending him—and, she supposed, herself at the same time. “He’s been nothing but kind and generous. A true friend.” Surely, her mother had to know that Kerry wasn’t foolish enough to fall in love with an utterly unsuitable man, not after having done such a good job of steering clear of bad love her entire life.

“I’m not sure friends look at each other the way you both were during your dance, darling—or that men and women are ever very good at being friends without complications ensuing. But I’ve never had any reason to doubt you before, so I won’t begin now.”

Her mother’s warning to stay away from romantic entanglement with Adam hadn’t needed to be explicitly said to be perfectly clear. Of course, Kerry couldn’t possibly have told her mother that both she and Adam knew the rules and had a strict arrangement where the nights they spent together couldn’t possibly become more than hot sex between friends. If her mother ever found out about Kerry and Adam’s hotel hookups, she would be beside herself with worry.

And yet, even knowing how deeply her mother disapproved of even the idea of Kerry spending time with Adam wasn’t enough to convince Kerry to cancel her night with him. Not when she was really looking forward to seeing him tonight at the hotel.

Not just for sex—although she was definitely looking forward to that—but because she wanted to hear about everything in his life. Things like the projects he was working on and whether he’d spent time with his family this week. She wanted to hear about the good parts, and the frustrating ones, too. And then she wanted to tell him all the little things she knew he’d appreciate, like the incredible historic house of one of her new clients and the little boy who had given the funniest wedding toast she’d ever heard.

Kerry was halfway to the hotel when her phone dinged from inside her purse. Though ignoring a ringing phone was strictly against the rules of all wedding planners—even higher than dancing with one of the wedding guests—she was tempted to turn it off. The last thing she wanted was for work to derail her night with Adam. They’d both been so busy this week that the only contact they’d had with each other since Sunday’s wedding were a few emails and text messages about the house she was in the process of trying to buy.

He’d sent over the original plans from the county for her to study so that she could discuss what she’d like to change inside the house. But she loved it just as it was. She didn’t want to change anything about it. She simply wanted to see it come back to life—and know that she could spend hers there, as well.

Fortunately, the number on the screen was the only one she wanted to pick up tonight. “Adam, hi.”

She knew he could probably hear the smile on her lips, but she didn’t need to hide her pleasure at hearing from a friend. One of the best she’d ever had, actually, despite whatever her mother believed about a woman and a man not being able to be friends.

“Kerry, I kept trying to get away to call, but there are so many problems with this renovation project I just took on in mid-rebuild that if I so much as left the room it was likely to collapse on everyone’s heads and take out all ten of the guys I brought in.”

“What can I do to help?” Adam had been there for her again and again. Tonight, she’d be there for him. And she’d also stuff down her selfish disappointment about not getting to be with him in the hotel.

“You could hire a sniper to take out the guy who was running this project before me.”

“How did you know that all wedding planners have a sniper on speed dial?”

He laughed. “Damn it, I didn’t want to be late tonight. Any night but this.”

Hearing how much he regretted having to bail on their night together had her chest squeezing tight. But it was a good kind of squeezing, almost as if he’d put his arms around her and was holding her close.

“Where’s the building?”

The address he gave her wasn’t far from where she was standing. “I’ll bring everyone dinner.”

“Dinner?” She could hear a half-dozen male voices chiming in behind Adam. “You can’t even imagine how big a hero you’d be if you brought us dinner, especially since we skipped lunch, we’ve run out of snacks and drinks, and we’ve got hours left here tonight.”

Kerry made a quick call to her favorite caterer, who also ran a great deli close to the building they were working on. Judy didn’t ask questions when Kerry said she needed munchies and drinks for twenty ASAP. Adam had said he’d brought ten men with him, but she figured they’d each eat for two if they’d missed lunch. With Judy on the snack delivery, Kerry headed into the Mexican burrito place on the next corner, one she’d heard great things about.

Twenty minutes later, she was getting into a taxi with four huge bags of food. No one would go hungry tonight, that was for sure. And even if she didn’t get to spend an entire night with Adam, at least she’d be with him for a few wonderful minutes.

* * *

“Kerry, you’re a goddess.”

Adam’s smile lit her up from the inside out as he popped a hard hat on her head, then took the bags from her and handed them to his guys. His men all agreed that she was indeed the best as he quickly introduced her. Each of them was polite and charming as they took turns shaking her hand. It was an awful lot of testosterone in one place, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t just the tiniest bit overwhelmed by them.