It Happened in L.A.: Ms Match / Shockingly Sensual / Playmates. Lori Wilde

in different circumstances Paul and she would never have crossed paths. Now he wanted to be friends?

      The question came up on the board. Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis was the first Commissioner of Baseball. Who was the seventh? Damn. It had to be Giamatti. If not, well, she was still one up on Paul.

      Giamatti, it was.

      She glanced at Paul’s machine, but couldn’t tell if he’d gotten it right. He’d shifted his seat so he faced the table squarely instead of tilting a bit toward her.

      Which brought her right back to feeling guilty.

      This time when the waitress came around, Gwen eschewed her club soda and went for the beer.

      If they hadn’t been in the middle of a table full of coworkers, she’d have talked to him. Asked him again what had really prompted his trip. He didn’t belong here, any more than she would belong at Fashion Week.

      He’d certainly sounded sincere, but that’s what he did for a living. Sadly, she wouldn’t put it past her sister to have made this evening some kind of test or maybe even a dare.

      Gwen had toyed with the idea of moving out of California. Rockland had other offices, including one in New York. She’d never lived anywhere but SoCal, still, being this close to her family simply wasn’t good for her health. There were birthdays and anniversaries and weddings and all manner of holidays and she could only come up with so many excuses not to attend.

      Next up her sister Bethany and husband, Harry, were having a big birthday bash for Gwen’s niece, Nickie, who would turn one. Gwen had been roped into bringing her famous red velvet cupcakes, which meant she really couldn’t bow out, even though she’d rather have a root canal.

      There were only a few questions left, and Gwen put all her energy into answering them correctly. No distractions allowed. She aced the first one. Dammit, she missed the second. Got lucky on the third. The last one, though, was a gift. She’d just read the answer in one of her dozens of baseball books. She pressed the button and sat back in her chair. No gloating yet. Not until she saw how Paul did. The final scores always took about ten minutes, so she’d just relax and wait.

      Holly appeared behind her and gave her a whack on her upper arm. “Come with me.”

      “Where?”

      “Just come with me.”

      Gwen knew that tone. She excused herself to Paul and obediently trotted behind Holly to the ladies’ room.

      Holly folded her arms. Not a good sign. “What are you doing?”

      “What are you talking about?”

      “First, you completely lied about how gorgeous Paul is.”

      “Hey—”

      “We can talk about that later. Now, I want to know why you’re being such a bitch.”

      Gwen tried to keep her temper. “I realize it might be difficult to think of Paul as a person, but try, okay? I didn’t invite him here. I hardly know him. Why should I bend over backward?”

      “Bend over? Please. You’re acting like he’s got the plague.”

      “I am not.”

      Holly’s eyes widened and she stepped closer to Gwen. This time, when she yelled, it was in a whisper. “I know when you’re being nice and when you’re not. You’re not. Even if you don’t like the guy, he hasn’t done anything bad. So ease up. Give him a break.”

      “You’re only saying this because he’s handsome. Well, screw handsome.”

      Holly sighed. “I wish. But it’s not true. I’m saying this because you’re not that kind of person. Even when you’re pissed off, you’ve got more class than anyone I know. Just, I don’t know, ease up. He’s a guest, invited or not. You don’t have to talk to him ever again if you don’t want to, but while he’s at our table…”

      “Yes, Mom. Do I have to wait for you, or can I go back and see the scoreboard?”

      “You may go back.”

      Gwen touched her friend’s arm. “I’ll try.”

      The smile she received in return let her know that all was well. At least with Holly.

      Was she truly being a bitch? She’d figured she was just being honest. But maybe the guilt didn’t have to do with what she said so much as her overall attitude.

      Paul stood as she came back to her funky chair at the beat-up old table. He sat only after her tush touched down. Yeah. He really fit in.

      “When do we find out who won?” he asked, but his voice was tight, his expression unreadable.

      “Any minute now.” She turned her chair so she faced him. “What did you think of the questions?”

      He took in a deep breath, then let it go. When he answered, it was Paul again. Completely confident and more than pleasant. “Easy, medium, hard. As warned. And the hard were really hard.”

      “That’s a good thing?”

      “Wouldn’t be fun if it was all two plus two.”

      “My thoughts exactly.”

      Paul’s shoulders relaxed. The smile he’d pasted on just a moment ago turned into something far more natural and pleasing. Maybe Holly had been right.

      “Look, about this friendship thing…”

      “Hey, I was rude—”

      “No.” Paul held up a hand to stop her. “I get it. Putting aside my exceptional dancing skills, I haven’t given you much to admire. Even if I win tonight, it doesn’t say anything real about me. And I know how you feel about Autumn, so…”

      “Yeah. I haven’t said many nice things about her, have I?”

      “She’s not all that bad, but I get your point. You two are night and day.”

      “Which has a lot to do with my, uh, curiosity about you showing up here. Did Autumn—”

      “Autumn has no idea where I am. Or with whom I choose to spend my time.”

      “I see.”

      “I realize it was out of line for me to just show up here—”

      “It wasn’t. It’s nice that you came.”

      He turned more toward her. “Really?”

      “Confusing, but nice.”

      “Confusing, huh? Yeah, I guess I see your point. Anyway, what do you say? Will you come with me to the game? You pick the day.”

      Nothing about this made any sense. She couldn’t quite get over the idea that Autumn had something to do with this, but man, she wanted to see a game from one of the suites. What was the worst that could happen? “Who else will be there?”

      “No one. Unless you want to invite some of your friends.”

      “You want me to go with you to the game.”

      He nodded. “Does that sound so strange?”

      Now it was her turn to nod.

      “Do it anyway. You won’t believe the view. Not to mention the food.”

      “Over first or third?”

      He grinned. “First.”

      “Can I still get a dog?”

      “All you want.”

      She sighed. “Okay. We’ll give it a try.”

      He put his hand on hers and gave it a squeeze. “Excellent.”

      She almost backed out right then. Not because of his reaction, but because of her own. Her throat had tightened and her belly was doing stupid