Glam Squad & Groomsmen(Enchanted Bridal #4)
by Samantha Chase
Kindle Edition, first
Published March 2018
Dressing up as a bride once a week is all fun and games until you come face to face with your ex.
Penny Blake loves her job with Enchanted Bridal. She gets to model wedding gowns and help brides plan for their big day. And yet…she’s wanting a little more. Besides wishing for her own happily ever after, she has big dreams of making her own contribution to the business in the form of her own glam squad. Her bosses all think it’s a great idea, but right now she’s needed in other ways – like helping out with the groomsmen.
Was there any greater form of torture than having to help your sister plan her wedding?
That’s what Spencer Buchanan is facing and although he goes into it with a bit of an attitude, running into the girl who got away – three times! – suddenly made this whole wedding planning thing a lot more bearable. Moving back home was never part of his plan, but once Spencer sees Penny again, all bets are off. And having her help him with his fittings on his tux turn into his favorite pastime ever!
EXCERPT
For a minute, he thought she was going to scream and the expression on her face said that she certainly hadn’t been expecting him. Actually, he hadn’t been expecting her either. His plan had been to come in for a tuxedo fitting – something he was seriously jumping the gun for Eva’s wedding – and figured it would be a legit excuse to see Penny. He’d casually stop in at the bridal shop and say hello and then…
“Spencer? What are you doing here?”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “Doing a test run on tuxedoes to help Eva and Brett out.”
At first he didn’t think she believed him, but then she visibly relaxed. “Oh. Okay.”
“So what are you doing in the tuxedo shop? I didn’t think you worked in here too.”
She quickly explained about the owner needing to get home to a sick child – again – and then she stepped away and began to explain to him about the tuxedo options that had been pulled for him.
If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear she was nervous and that pleased him a little. If she was nervous around him, that meant that she wasn’t unaffected by him – or by their kiss.
Good to know.
Because kissing Penny had been all he could think about all week. He should be back in Atlanta right now.
But he wasn’t.
He should be working on reports for the building he was designing.
But he wasn’t.
What he was doing was trying on tuxedoes when he didn’t need to just on the off-chance he could see her again. How twisted was that?
By now Penny was standing next to a dressing room and holding a tuxedo hanger in her hand. “Martin already placed a shirt and shoes in the fitting room for you,” she said, “and this is the first tux he pulled for you to consider based on your measurements.”
“I never gave him my measurements,” Spencer said.
“Um…what?”
He nodded. “All I did was call and ask if I could come in and try some on,” he explained. “No one asked for any sizes or measurements. I guess I can try this on and we can go from there, right?”
Then he watched as her shoulders sagged and she sighed. But she immediately went back into sales mode and gave him a nice but professional smile. “Okay, we’ll need to get your measurements first. No need for you to try to fit into a suit that isn’t your size. That’s just crazy.” She stepped away and hung up the suit she had in her hands. “Why don’t you step up on the platform over there by the mirror and I’ll go get the measuring tape.”
Wait…measuring tape? Couldn’t he just tell her what size he normally wore? That would certainly make things easier – especially since Brett hadn’t made any decisions on tuxedos and he wasn’t planning on ordering anything tonight. Then again, if he did happen to go in that direction, there’d be no need for him to stand up on the platform for measurements. And that would mean…
“Just step up on there and face the mirror,” she said. “I’ll need to make a note of your shirt and sleeve size, waist, outseam…”
Then he felt bad for giving her extra work. “Wouldn’t it be easier to give you at least some of my sizes so you don’t have to go through all of this?” he asked and hated that he was quite possibly depriving himself of some extra time with her.
“Under normal circumstances, yes,” she explained. “But for this sort of thing, we require specific measurements. Every designer is cut just a litter differently so it makes everyone’s job easier to just go by what the measuring tape says.”
“Ah…gotcha.” Doing his best to hide a grin, he simply stood and did as he was told as Penny’s hands roamed all over him – in a completely professional way – as she took the needed measurements.
Best. Friday. Night. Ever.
At first, he felt all kinds of wrong that even though there was nothing sexy about what she was doing, it was still mildly arousing – her hand skimming down his leg…her arms wrapped around him to get his waist measurements…
He cursed the fact that they were in the middle of a tuxedo shop and that he had on so many damn clothes!
Once she was done, she moved around the shop and pulled tuxes in his size and then sent him back to the dressing room to start trying them on.
They didn’t talk about much – she kept all of the conversation focused on Eva and Brett and their wedding and tuxedo style questions. Not that he cared. Basically, this was all going to be Brett’s decision and right now, Brett had no idea that Spencer was even looking at tuxes.
No one did.
If his sister caught wind of what he was doing, he knew he’d get her approval and possibly her help. And as much as he knew he was going to need some of that where Penny was concerned, he wanted to do it in his own time and in his own way.
He just never thought trying on tuxedos was a length he’d ever have to go through in order to spend time with a woman.
“Let me know how that first one fits,” Penny called out to him.
And as he closed the dressing room door, he figured he had at least an hour to try to break down some of her defenses and convince her to go out with him again.
For a minute, he thought she was going to scream and the expression on her face said that she certainly hadn’t been expecting him. Actually, he hadn’t been expecting her either. His plan had been to come in for a tuxedo fitting – something he was seriously jumping the gun for Eva’s wedding – and figured it would be a legit excuse to see Penny. He’d casually stop in at the bridal shop and say hello and then…
“Spencer? What are you doing here?”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “Doing a test run on tuxedoes to help Eva and Brett out.”
At first he didn’t think she believed him, but then she visibly relaxed. “Oh. Okay.”
“So what are you doing in the tuxedo shop? I didn’t think you worked in here too.”
She quickly explained about the owner needing to get home to a sick child – again – and then she stepped away and began to explain to him about the tuxedo options that had been pulled for him.
If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear she was nervous and that pleased him a little. If she was nervous around him, that meant that she wasn’t unaffected by him – or by their kiss.
Good to know.
Because kissing Penny had been all he could think about all week. He should be back in Atlanta right now.
But he wasn’t.
He should be working on reports for the building he was designing.
But he wasn’t.
What he was doing was trying on tuxedoes when he didn’t need to just on the off-chance he could see her again. How twisted was that?
By now Penny was standing next to a dressing room and holding a tuxedo hanger in her hand. “Martin already placed a shirt and shoes in the fitting room for you,” she said, “and this is the first tux he pulled for you to consider based on your measurements.”
“I never gave him my measurements,” Spencer said.
“Um…what?”
He nodded. “All I did was call and ask if I could come in and try some on,” he explained. “No one asked for any sizes or measurements. I guess I can try this on and we can go from there, right?”
Then he watched as her shoulders sagged and she sighed. But she immediately went back into sales mode and gave him a nice but professional smile. “Okay, we’ll need to get your measurements first. No need for you to try to fit into a suit that isn’t your size. That’s just crazy.” She stepped away and hung up the suit she had in her hands. “Why don’t you step up on the platform over there by the mirror and I’ll go get the measuring tape.”
Wait…measuring tape? Couldn’t he just tell her what size he normally wore? That would certainly make things easier – especially since Brett hadn’t made any decisions on tuxedos and he wasn’t planning on ordering anything tonight. Then again, if he did happen to go in that direction, there’d be no need for him to stand up on the platform for measurements. And that would mean…
“Just step up on there and face the mirror,” she said. “I’ll need to make a note of your shirt and sleeve size, waist, outseam…”
Then he felt bad for giving her extra work. “Wouldn’t it be easier to give you at least some of my sizes so you don’t have to go through all of this?” he asked and hated that he was quite possibly depriving himself of some extra time with her.
“Under normal circumstances, yes,” she explained. “But for this sort of thing, we require specific measurements. Every designer is cut just a litter differently so it makes everyone’s job easier to just go by what the measuring tape says.”
“Ah…gotcha.” Doing his best to hide a grin, he simply stood and did as he was told as Penny’s hands roamed all over him – in a completely professional way – as she took the needed measurements.
Best. Friday. Night. Ever.
At first, he felt all kinds of wrong that even though there was nothing sexy about what she was doing, it was still mildly arousing – her hand skimming down his leg…her arms wrapped around him to get his waist measurements…
He cursed the fact that they were in the middle of a tuxedo shop and that he had on so many damn clothes!
Once she was done, she moved around the shop and pulled tuxes in his size and then sent him back to the dressing room to start trying them on.
They didn’t talk about much – she kept all of the conversation focused on Eva and Brett and their wedding and tuxedo style questions. Not that he cared. Basically, this was all going to be Brett’s decision and right now, Brett had no idea that Spencer was even looking at tuxes.
No one did.
If his sister caught wind of what he was doing, he knew he’d get her approval and possibly her help. And as much as he knew he was going to need some of that where Penny was concerned, he wanted to do it in his own time and in his own way.
He just never thought trying on tuxedos was a length he’d ever have to go through in order to spend time with a woman.
“Let me know how that first one fits,” Penny called out to him.
And as he closed the dressing room door, he figured he had at least an hour to try to break down some of her defenses and convince her to go out with him again.
Enchanted Bridal Series
About the Author:
New York Times and USA Today Bestseller/contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan's Return, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her 40's to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well.
When she's not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contemporary romances, playing way too many games of Scrabble or Solitaire on Facebook and spending time with her husband of 25 years and their two sons in North Carolina. http://chasing-romance.com
No comments:
Post a Comment
Due to time constraints we may not be able to personally respond to every comment made, but we do read and appreciate them all. 📚❤️🙂
✋ RBtWBC has a zero-tolerance policy for review harassment and author bashing. Such comments will be deleted at the the blog's discretion.