A One Night Affair

Chapter 5 - Trouble Magnet

Please, please let her eyes be deceiving her. It had been a very long day. Maybe, with luck, she was seeing things. Jenna dug her index finger and thumb into her eye's sockets, rubbed and dropped her hand. Nope. Ana Santiago was standing next to Hunter Price...

Actually, she was standing very close to Hunter Price! God, what was with that man? Why did he keep turning up in the center of trouble?

And what the hell was Ana Santiago doing here? Jenna had heard Teresa telling the security staff to be on the lookout for her, that there was a possibility she'd be crazy enough to gate crash the party. It was Teresa's worst nightmare and it was playing out in front of her eyes.

Which narrowed as Ana placed a kiss on Hunter's cheek. She didn't like the sharp bite of jealousy. Why did she even care? Oh, maybe because he was the first man in years who made her hot.

And, because she was a magnificent idiot, she had to be attracted to a man who was obviously a player, far too charming, and the most popular bachelor in town. Hell, in many towns. Possibly the country.

She'd been working with flour and butter for far too long. Her brain was turning to batter.

And, really, Hunter wasn't important. Rebecca's archenemy invading the territory of this party was. Very bad. Terrible. God, she needed to tell Teresa.

Spinning around on her seldom-worn heels, Jenna looked around for a bouncer. Seeing one guarding the stairs, positioned there to keep the guests from wandering into the Rhodeses' private quarters, she hustled up to him and pointed to the bud in his ear.

"Can you get on that and tell me where Teresa is?"

"She's right behind you, ma'am."

Another spin, another wobble and Jenna hustled over to the cool blonde, dressed in a fluid, sexy white pants suit. She also had a bud in her ear and carried an iPad.

"Teresa, we've got a problem."

Teresa listened to something in her ear and barely reacted to Jenna's statement. "Scale of one to ten?" she asked, distracted.

"Six hundred and twenty-two," Jenna retorted. Yeah, that got her attention. "Ana Santiago is here."

"Okay, that's not funny."

Jenna had already received that memo. "I'm not joking. She's here, dressed in a canary-yellow cocktail dress showing a canyon of cleavage, a lot of leg and big hair. She's pretty damn unmissable."

Teresa, obviously needing support, grabbed Jenna's biceps. After releasing a series of curses, she lifted her head and nailed Jenna with a look. "How did she get in?"

Jenna lifted her shoulders. "I'm not sure, but she was getting up close and personal with Hunter Price."

"Now, isn't that interesting?" Teresa said, her tone cryptic.

"We need to find Ana before Rebecca finds her and blood is spilled," Teresa continued, her lovely face determined. She issued a description of Ana into the microphone attached to the collar of her suit and then turned back to Jenna. "Let's go find Hunter."

Jenna and Teresa pushed their way through the crowd, easily deflecting offers of drinks and dances. Thankful that Hunter was a great deal taller than most of the men, they found him easily, talking to group of men by the bar. Grabbing his sleeve, Jenna tugged him away.

Hunter placed his hand on her bare shoulder and magic danced across her skin. Really? Now?

"Are you okay? You look frazzled."

"Cut the crap, Price," Teresa snapped and Jenna's eyes widened. Okay, Teresa could be super tough. "What do you think you were doing sneaking Ana Santiago into the party?"

"Who?"

"The brunette in the yellow dress."

Hunter's eyes reflected his confusion. "I came in with a 'Diana' wearing a yellow dress. She'd been stood up. I thought I was being a nice guy." He shot Jenna a look. "Just like I thought I was being a nice guy this afternoon helping you source the gold leaf."

"Look, I admit that was nice of you but—"

"We don't have time to discuss that now. Where did she go?" Teresa demanded.

Hunter nodded to the entertainment area. "Maybe she's out there? I haven't been tracking her movements."

Teresa walked away but Hunter's hand on Jenna's elbow stopped her in her tracks. Jenna looked over her shoulder at him and raised her eyebrows.

"You look stunning, Jenna."

Jenna wanted to bask in his admiration but reminded herself that this was Mr. Smooth. Compliments probably rolled off his tongue. Then she noticed the bright red smudge of lipstick on his cheek. "Pretty hard to believe anything you say when you're wearing another woman's lipstick, Price."

Jenna heard the curse he dropped but her attention was whipped away by the exquisite-looking woman standing in Teresa's path, wearing a scarlet cocktail gown, diamonds dripping.

"Hello, Teresa. Good evening, Jenna."

Jenna gulped. "Good evening. "

Mariella Santiago-Marshall. Fabulous. Exactly whom they didn't need to run into right now.

"Ana is here, she got in," Teresa informed Mariella.

Mariella's only reaction was a brief tightening of her lips. "I will take care of Ana. She will not cause any trouble, I will see to it." She turned to Jenna. "Nice work on the cake, Ms. Lynwood. I see gold leaf trumped the pearls."

Jenna nodded. "Hunter Price arranged to have some gold leaf delivered here."

"Nice of him," Mariella stated, her tone dry. She and Teresa exchanged a long look that Jenna couldn't interpret.

A man called Mariella's name and when she turned away, Jenna felt Teresa's hand between her shoulder blades pushing her away from Hunter. Once they'd reached a quiet corner, Teresa faced Jenna. "You didn't tell me Hunter sourced the gold leaf for you. How do you know him?"

"I don't. I met him today."

"What's the big deal? What happened between him and Stephanie earlier was, I'm convinced, a misunderstanding. Besides, Mariella calmed Rebecca down to a mild panic."

"What happened with Stephanie?" Teresa demanded, looking like she'd swallowed a bug.

Jenna filled her in and Teresa's worry deepened. "What the hell is he playing at?"

"I don't think he is playing at anything," Jenna responded.

"Grow up, Jenna. Industry rumors are flying that Hunter is establishing an event company to rival MSM. What was he doing here earlier? What's he doing here now? How do you know he's not trying to sabotage this event, that he hasn't poisoned the gold leaf to make us look bad?"

Oh, God. Was Teresa paranoid? "Genuinely, I think you're overreacting. He's not that type of guy."

Was she wrong? Was she just hoping he wasn't that type of guy?

As if their conversation conjured him, Jenna saw Hunter approaching. He stopped, stared at her and lifted two glasses of champagne in what was an obvious invitation to join him.

"Stay away from him, Jenna. He's not good for you."

"I think you mean he's not good for you, Teresa. For MSM. I'm just the baker, remember?"

"And bakers can be fired."

She really hoped it wouldn't come to that, Jenna thought as she walked toward Hunter and his offer of champagne.