Tempting The Best Man

A lesson in chemistry...

Back in college, Mia Hayes had a secret crush on fellow student Daniel Keegan, who was an obnoxious stuffed shirt. But she fantasized about turning Mr. Uptight into Mr. Hot Sex. Now Mia owns a successful event-planning business, and at a bachelor party she’s organized, she runs into Mr. Uptight himself. And she’s determined to show overly serious college professor Daniel how to loosen up a little...

Imagine Mia’s surprise when she learns that Daniel has a deliciously wicked side—one that makes her knees weak with lust. It turns out Daniel is a whole lot more than she ever dreamed. But tempting the professor might have been the riskiest thing Mia has ever done. Because in their case, opposites don’t just attract...they combust.

“I fantasized about you once or twice...”

“What kind of fantasies?” Daniel’s voice was silky, coaxing.

The air between them crackled. How would he react if she grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pulled him in for a kiss?

“Flirting lesson number one,” she said lightly. “If a woman admits you’ve starred in her fantasies, she’s probably interested.”

His mouth curved in a sensual smile. “Probably?”

“Gaze can be a good indication of desire,” she murmured.

“And if she’s looking at my lips like she wants to taste them?”

She gave in to impulse and traced his bottom lip with her finger. He shuddered out a breath, warm on her skin.

Her own breathing was unsteady as she slid her hand down his chest. “Go with your instincts.”

Dear Reader,

I love “opposites attract” stories. The chemistry between two people with different viewpoints and personalities can be incredible—if they can stop driving each other crazy long enough to explore it.

When Mia Hayes and Daniel Keegan first met in college, he thought she was a confrontational attention-seeker...who also happened to be distractingly gorgeous. And she thought he was a disapproving know-it-all...who would be unbelievably sexy if he ever figured out how to cut loose.

Years later, when Daniel runs into Mia at his best friend’s bachelor party, the attraction between them is stronger than ever. The resulting affair is blazing hot, but is it only a short-term fling? Or can they embrace each other’s differences well enough to fit into each other’s lives?

I hope Mia and Daniel’s story heats up your winter, and I’d love to hear from you! Join me on Twitter, @TanyaMichaels, or at Facebook.com/authortanyamichaels to chat about books, TV, travel, family and sassy house pets.

Happy reading,

Tanya

Tempting the Best Man

Tanya Michaels

www.millsandboon.co.uk

TANYA MICHAELS, a New York Times bestselling author and five-time RITA® Award nominee, has been writing love stories since middle-school algebra class—which probably explains her math grades. Her books, praised for their poignancy and humor, have received awards from readers and reviewers alike. Tanya is an active member of Romance Writers of America and a frequent public speaker. She lives outside Atlanta with her very supportive husband, two highly imaginative kids and a bichon frise who thinks she’s the center of the universe.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Extract

Copyright

1

“SO WHAT’S NEW with you?”

It was the third variation of that question Daniel Keegan had heard in the last fifteen minutes. He’d always dreaded parties where he had to make small talk with strangers, but tonight was proving that catching up with former acquaintances could be just as awkward.

Daniel sipped his beer, stalling. “Um...” Very articulate for a man with a PhD. He could share the story of how he’d proposed a few weeks ago. It had seemed romantic to pop the question at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s.

Would’ve been a lot more romantic if Felicity had said yes. She’d blurted out a panicked no and fled his parents’ lavish party.

Or Daniel could discuss how he was being considered for tenure at the university—never mind that he was up against three very qualified candidates all competing for the same vacated spot. Professional triumph would ease the sting of getting dumped, but even with tenure, he’d still be the underachiever in the Keegan family. His older brother was hoping to be the next governor of Georgia.

Fortunately, the opening trombone notes of a classic striptease score interrupted conversation. Men eagerly turned toward the makeshift stage. The chandeliers in the rented ballroom dimmed even further as a spotlight appeared. Leaning against a column toward the back, Daniel tried to look enthusiastic, but part of him would rather be at home in his Buckhead condo, grading papers. You’re the best man. Participation in the bachelor party is mandatory. Hell, he was just lucky Eli hadn’t asked him to plan it.

Tonight’s location-hopping party—dinner followed by a private burlesque show before winding down at a jazz club—had been part of a package deal with the same event planning service that was managing Eli’s wedding next Saturday. The company had even provided a luxury bus and chauffeur.

A voluptuous redhead in a rhinestone-studded mesh bodysuit sauntered onto the stage, asking where the lucky groom-to-be was and making jokes about the honeymoon. From there, she progressed to audience participation, gathering bits of trivia about Eli’s past. The spotlight followed her to the guest of honor, where she sat in Eli’s lap and serenaded him with an improvised song about his favorite childhood stuffed animal and the day he got his driver’s license. Her lyrics were met with laughter and applause, but the guests really went wild when she introduced the next act—a pair of dancers with large feather fans and teasing smiles.

“Get you another?” A petite blonde waitress, wearing not much more than the women on stage, nodded at the microbrew in Daniel’s hand.

“Oh, no thanks.” He’d been nursing the same beer since arriving, and it was only half-finished. Party animal. “I’m trying to set the record for how long it takes to finish a single drink.”

“Designated driver?”

“Nope, just really boring.” It was something Sean Clark, head of the university kinesiology department, heckled him about once a week. Sean was the poster child for impulsive fun—which was why Eli hadn’t asked him to be the best man. Sean was the kind of guy who would lose the rings. Or miss the wedding entirely because he’d skipped town with a hot bridesmaid.

“I’m sure that’s not true,” the waitress protested. She gave him a slow once-over and a mischievous smile. “You look like you would be very exciting under the right circumstances.”

“Maybe you’re right,” he agreed politely. “Maybe I’ll surprise myself.” Liar. It had been drilled into him from birth that he had a family name and image to protect; he’d repressed his wild side for so long it probably didn’t exist anymore.

Another lie. Daniel knew damn well he had a rebellious streak buried deep down. But after so many years censoring himself, if he ever gave in to it, how would he regain his self-control?

“I’ll be sure to check back with you later,” the waitress promised. “I like surprises.”

As she moved on toward the tables clustered in front, Eli Wallace appeared, clapping Daniel on the shoulder. “Did I see you flirting with the cute waitress?” His approving smile gleamed white against his dark skin. “Progress!”

“Just a bit of friendly conversation.”

“At least I can trust you not to get too friendly.” Eli’s smile vanished. “My dumb-ass cousin Terrence got a little handsy with the bartender. I questioned whether to even invite him tonight, but since both of his brothers were coming... Help me keep an eye on him? If he gets too obnoxious, we pour him into a cab and send his ass home.”

“Remind me, which one’s Terrence?” Daniel and Eli had gone to high school together before ending up as professors at the same university years later; Daniel had met many of the man’s relatives in passing, but only knew Eli’s parents well.

Eli pointed across the room to a man in a disheveled suit whistling at the dancers from his seat.

“I’ll keep an eye out,” Daniel promised.

“Thanks, man. If you’ll excuse me, I should mingle—and keep some distance between me and the performers. If anyone else ends up in my lap, Bex will kick my ass.”

Rebekah was tiny compared to Eli’s six-foot-five but the surgical resident was fierce. “Yeah, probably best not to piss off a woman with regular access to scalpels and bone cutters.”

Eli laughed, but his amusement gave way to sincerity. “All I want to do is make her happy.”

“You will. You guys are great together.” Daniel almost winced at the unintentional irony; Eli had said the same to him when Daniel was psyching himself up to propose to Felicity.

Sympathy flashed in Eli’s gaze, and Daniel waved his friend away. “Go. You’ve got other guests to talk to.”

Making good on his agreement to watch Terrence, Daniel glanced in the man’s direction a few minutes later, but his gaze snagged on the second waitress working the room. She had her back to him, her black hair swishing across her bare shoulders in a straight, shiny fall that reminded him of someone he hadn’t thought of in almost a decade. Mia Hayes. In college, she’d had hair like that, but streaked with turquoise.

Trying not to ogle, he resisted the urge to compare the waitress’s body to Mia’s. Déjà vu aside, they couldn’t be the same woman. Mia had been in the MBA program. With her intelligence and aggressive nature, she’d probably taken over a company by now. Or a small country. Seeing people from his past tonight had simply triggered a sense of nostalgia.

Still, details about Mia came rushing back with startling clarity. The flaming feather tattoo on the back of her neck, her lush curves, her husky laugh. Her utter disdain for him. Daniel had made a woefully bad first impression, and she’d been unforgiving. The few times they’d been forced to work together in class had only made the situation worse.

Putting aside the past, he checked again on Eli’s cousin, who was now stumbling toward the men’s room. Free to watch the show, Daniel turned to the stage. A tall woman was asking for volunteers. She and another performer with great comic timing did a parody of a magic act, full of tricks that “failed” and innuendo-laden explanations.

It wasn’t long before his undisciplined gaze scanned the crowd for the dark-haired waitress bustling between thirsty guests and the bar. He still hadn’t caught a clear look at her face, but her curves were evident even in the dim lighting. Black shorts cupped a generous ass, and although she was probably only average height, the seamed fishnet stockings she wore with sparkly stilettos made her legs appear endless. Anxious to see the purple brocade corset she wore from the front, he considered walking to the bar just to cross her path.

Don’t be sleazy. Let the woman do her job.

But then he saw Terrence approach her on unsteady feet. Daniel bolted toward them as Eli’s cousin gripped her elbow. Everyone else’s attention was on the stage. As Daniel got closer, he heard the man remark in slurred speech on how cold she must be in her outfit and offer a vulgar suggestion of how he could keep her warm.

“If my choices were you or frostbite,” the woman said in a low, don’t-fuck-with-me tone, “I’d happily freeze to death. Now let go of me before I knee you so hard your dentist will be giving you your next prostate exam.”

Daniel was struck by shock and recognition. “Mia?”

2

NO WAY. THAT DEEP, rich voice slid up Mia’s spine like a caress and she whirled around, temporarily forgetting the dipshit she’d been about to neuter. Finding herself eye to V with the unbuttoned collar of a black suit shirt, she lifted her gaze to a chiseled face that had only grown more arresting in the last decade. Her breath caught. “Ta—Daniel?” She’d almost called him Tall, Dark and Disapproving, her private nickname for him in college.

“Glad you remember.” He gave her an uncharacteristically warm smile before his expression hardened as he glanced past her to the guy who’d finally released her arm. “You are taking a cab home. Immediately.”

“What the hell business is it of yours?” The man thrust out his chin belligerently. “I don’t even know you. And—”

Daniel took a step forward, his silvery eyes glittering with menace. “Would you like to step outside where we can get to know each other better?”

Mia was impressed despite herself. Damn, he’d grown up well. Not that they’d been kids when they’d had Psych together. She’d been twenty, and he’d inspired a few very adult fantasies. Swallowing hard, she stepped away from both men to regain her composure.

Daniel gave her an assessing look, his gaze sliding over her in a way that made her shiver. Then he turned and led the dipshit away, either to hail him a cab or to pummel him in the parking lot. Either option was okay with Mia. She could take care of herself, but the more she thought about what had happened, the angrier she got. If one of the waitresses who routinely worked for her hadn’t called in sick at the last minute, the younger woman would be here now, harassed by unwanted attentions. There was a risk that Mia’s hostile words to a guest could get back to the client and upset him—although Mia had more faith in Eli than that—but as a self-employed party planner, Mia could take that risk without fearing reprisals from a boss. Would the waitress have felt free to stand up for herself, or would she have tolerated the pawing because she needed the job? Mia’s anger surged higher.

When she saw Daniel return, she abandoned the empty bottles she’d been collecting and strode toward him. “Did you beat him up?” Wishful thinking. Rigid rule-follower Daniel Keegan in a fight? Never. Yet he’d looked so deliciously sinister when he’d challenged the guy.

“Of course not. I got him a taxi. Although...” He pursed his lips, unexpected mischief lighting his eyes. “While I was helping him into the car, he may have hit his head. Twice.”

She grinned up at him, and when he returned the smile, her pulse fluttered. The pull of attraction was even stronger now than when he’d given a presentation on social motivation and she’d spent the class wondering what it would take to motivate him to misbehave. She’d concluded he wasn’t capable of it. Yet here he was enjoying an evening of strippers and booze. Promising.

Had he changed over time, or was he only in attendance because he was a friend or colleague of the groom-to-be? Another thought struck her. Was Daniel married? Her gaze slipped to his left hand, and she felt something ridiculously similar to relief when she didn’t spot a ring there. Daniel Keegan hadn’t been in her life in years—and, even when he had, his role had mainly been judgy classmate—so who cared if he was single?

When she realized the silence between them had become officially awkward, she blurted, “I can’t believe I ran into you here.”

“Same. I’m surprised you ended up a cocktail waitress. Although, I suppose you—”

Her hackles rose; he’d always been too quick to judge based on superficial appearance, too arrogant in thinking he knew a damn thing about her. “You suppose what?”

“Well.” He shifted uncomfortably. “Even with your grades, the idea of you in the business world...”

Was what, laughable? Ridiculous? He didn’t think she could cut it. Given the hours she put in, sacrificing the last few years of a social life to make her party-planning business successful, his offhand dismissal was infuriating.

“Same old Keegan,” she snapped. “Still leaping to the nearest conclusion based on cursory observation. What a shame. For half a second, I was thinking about how much fun we could have had if you’d changed.”

* * *

What kind of fun? The unspoken question kept Daniel rooted to the spot even as Mia spun on her heel and abandoned him to deliver another round of drinks.

Mia Hayes had always been sexy, but tonight—in that outfit, with those glinting amber eyes that alternately threatened and promised—she was lethally seductive. When she’d smiled up at him after he’d admitted Terrence had bumped his head, Daniel had been struck with sheer lust. He’d rarely been on the receiving end of her smiles; he might be willing to bust a few more skulls to see it again.

Unfortunately, based on that final glare, the head she wanted to see bashed was his own. He hadn’t meant to insinuate she couldn’t be more than a waitress...or that there was anything wrong with waitressing, for that matter. But he’d obviously put his foot in his mouth.

Not the first time.

When she’d knocked on his door in college, looking for his roommate, Daniel had made some assumptions based on the women his roommate usually dated. During small talk while they’d waited, Mia had made a comment about majoring in business and, taking in her blue-streaked hair and controversial fashion choices, he’d legitimately thought she was kidding. Laughing had not endeared him to her.

Twice before the dancers’ finale, he tried to approach Mia to apologize, but she evaded him, moving with impressive speed in her high heels. He didn’t want to make a scene by cornering her, but as he and the other men boarded the party bus for their next location, he regretted not having the chance to say he was sorry.

“Saw you escort Terrence from the building,” Eli said quietly. “Thanks.”

Daniel nodded. “Your cousin was having trouble taking no for an answer, and the waitress was about to eviscerate him. Damnedest thing—I went to school with her. Mia Hayes.”

“Isn’t she great? Not only has she made the entire wedding process painless, she stepped in tonight when one of her servers canceled last minute.”

Daniel blinked. “What do you mean ‘wedding process’?”

“She’s our event coordinator. She arranged everything for tonight and hosted a bachelorette scavenger hunt for Bex.” He reached into his wallet and pulled out a business card, which he handed to Daniel.

As Eli continued happily chatting about the arrangements Mia had overseen for next weekend, Daniel stared at the writing on the card. She ran her own company. So...not a cocktail waitress, then. Although it had seemed like a valid assumption under the circumstances, he was embarrassed by his reaction to seeing her. When would he learn that Mia Hayes didn’t meet simple expectations? On the plus side, he now had the phone number for her office.

Considering their history, further contact could be disastrous. Yet Daniel caught his own grin reflected in the window. He couldn’t say whether or not a conversation with her would end in disaster. But he was damn sure it wouldn’t be boring.

* * *

“HOW DID I LET Penelope Wainwright talk me into organizing a formal tea?” Mia asked, grateful to be back in the office before Monday was completely over. After showing her client three potential venues in the Roswell historic district, Mia had lost an hour plodding behind school buses and swearing at afternoon traffic. “High-society crap isn’t my area.”

Shannon Diaz, receptionist and one-woman IT department, closed a drawer in the metal filing cabinet. “You agreed because she caught you after a weekend of binging on Downton Abbey episodes,” the brunette reminded her. “And because Penelope is one of our best paying clients. And the tea is a fund-raising event for a good cause. Not to mention, you secretly adore her.”

“Ha! Well, I admire a couple of her qualities,” Mia relented. The sixty-year-old woman did not suffer fools, for instance. “But she’s a pain in the ass to work for—demanding, opinionated...”

Shannon shot her a pointed look over the top of her playfully retro multicolored horn-rimmed glasses.

Mia scowled. “Is it wise to imply I’m an opinionated pain in the ass when your job security is in my hands?”

“You’d be lost without me. My job security is just fine.”

“Too true.” Pausing at Shannon’s desk before heading into her office, Mia added, “You know, as wonderful as your professional confidence is, don’t you think that—”

“Want to hear your messages? No point in wasting office time on my personal life.”

“You’re brilliant and beautiful and not without a sense of humor. Plus, we already know she likes you. All you have to do is ask her out.”

“When I’m ready,” Shannon mumbled.

Timing had been a major hurdle between Shannon and Paige. The woman who ran the French café on the third floor of the office building once asked Shannon on a date, but, emotionally raw from recent heartbreak, Shannon had refused more abruptly than intended. By the time she changed her mind a few weeks later, Paige was seeing someone.

“You’re both single now,” Mia said.

“I’m aware. But what if it’s too soon after her breakup? Besides, it’s been ages since she asked me out. Who knows if she’s even still interested?”

“You—”

“So about these messages.” Shannon waved squares of pink paper at her. “A prospective client set up a meeting to get price quotes, Wren had a brainstorm about the venue for her sister’s engagement party and Dara Abrams returned your call about flower deliveries.” Mia was trying to set it up so that, rather than being thrown out afterward, any remaining live flowers from events she coordinated could be donated to nursing homes. “And a man called after lunch.”

Mia arched an eyebrow at the vagueness. Shannon was usually a stickler for details. “Did the man have a name?”

“One assumes. But he didn’t leave it.”

Even though it was an illogical leap, Mia’s mind immediately went to Daniel Keegan. It had been a shock to run into him for the first time since college. There were millions of people in the Atlanta metropolitan area; she and Daniel didn’t exactly run in the same circles. He’d looked so damn good. That part wasn’t unexpected—his physical appeal had always made her lady parts twitch with interest—but she’d been startled to find that he was even more attractive than she’d remembered. For a few brief, titillating moments, she’d believed the attraction was mutual.

But even if he thought she looked drop-dead sexy in a corset—which, frankly, she did—it was difficult to imagine him contacting her. In the past, he’d wanted as little to do with her as possible.

His loss. She banished all thoughts of Daniel and his mesmerizing eyes and the corded forearms that made her yearn for a look at the muscles hidden beneath his well-tailored clothes. She didn’t need mental images of him for fantasy fodder. She had cable.

Mia took the messages. “So what did the mystery caller say?”

“He asked to speak with you and seemed disappointed to hear you were out of the office. In lieu of leaving a message with me or on your voice mail, he asked if I knew when you’d be back. Maybe he’s planning to call again. Maybe you have a secret admirer!”

“I’ve never found the idea of a secret admirer romantic. It actually runs the risk of being a little stalker-y, if you think about it. Someone lurking on the edges of my life but without the nerve to walk up and say hi directly? I’m attracted to people who put their cards on the table.” She paused a beat. “Maybe Paige appreciates the direct approach, too.”