He smiled. “Yes.”
“But Maggie said ...” Then it dawned on her. Maggie. Of course. The little matchmaker. “Oh, I see. You talked to Maggie.”
“Your friends like me.”
She rolled her eyes and jerked her hand away. “Obviously all women find you irresistible.” She went to grab her purse.
“Except, apparently, you?”
His smirk indicated he wasn’t at all offended by her impending exit.
“I’m leaving. I don’t like being set up.”
He held the door open for her, which only irritated her further, as if he was going to just let her walk right out. She pushed it closed and laid her purse on the table by the door, then advanced on him. “Look, Mick. I had a great time with you. But it was a one and out, okay?”
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why was it a one and out? Didn’t we get along?”
“Of course we got along. You were there.”
“Yeah, I was there. We had great chemistry, in and out of bed.”
She opened her mouth to object, but really, what could she say? He was right. They did have great chemistry. And she’d enjoyed the hell out of that night. “I’m just not in dating mode right now.”
“Because of your career.”
“Yes.”
“Because it takes up every single minute of your time.”
She crossed her arms. “When you’re playing football, doesn’t it take up every single minute of your time?”
That smirk again. “No. I don’t let my career run my life. I like to actually have a life. You should try having one, too. And you managed to have one for a night with me, didn’t you?”
“That was different.”
“So is this. You do have to stop and eat now and then while you’re busy becoming rich and famous, so we’re going to eat.”
“I don’t appreciate your lying to get a date with me.”
He held out the chair for her. “Then stop turning me down.”
This was ridiculous. She should just walk out. Then again, she was hungry. And if he wanted to pay for her to eat an expensive dinner, then it was fine with her. He certainly owed her after setting up this ruse.
She took a seat. “Fine. But this is the last time.”
“If you say so.” He sat across from her, and the waiter came in bearing menus and a wine list.
“Would you like some wine?”
Tara looked up from her menu at Mick, who deferred to her.
“A Sauvignon Blanc would be nice.”
The waiter left while they looked at their menus.
Mick took a long swallow from his glass of water. “So, business is good?”
“It would be if you had been an actual client.”
He smiled over the rim of his glass. “How do you know I’m not?”
She arched a brow. “You have an event to plan?”
“Okay, not really. But I am interested in finding out more about you. What made you decide to become an event planner?”
“I fell into it, actually. I got a job working for a catering company while I was putting myself through college, and discovered I enjoyed the work.”
“Catering is a lot different than event planning, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is. But the woman I worked for wanted to be a wedding planner. She and I got to be friends and she told me her idea. It was so exciting. The thought of running an entire show like that, being in charge of everything from catering to entertainment to décor—it just clicked with me.”
“It’s a lot of responsibility, planning someone’s wedding.”
“It is, especially if you’re doing big weddings. But it can be so rewarding to take the bare bones and build it up, see it grow from nothing to something spectacular. Anyway, I helped her with the start-up, then went to work for her when she got it off the ground. It was fun, and her company really grew. But I knew even then I wanted something more than just doing weddings. I wanted to plan other events, too, and that’s when I got the idea to be an event planner. So I saved my money, started making contacts in the industry, and when I could, I started my own business.”
“Scary.”
Tara nodded. “Like the standing-on-the-edge-of-a-cliff kind of scary. I thought about it for months before making the decision, but I knew it was a now or never kind of thing. If I didn’t make the leap I knew I’d always regret it. So I did.”
“Good for you. How long have you been doing this?”
“I started The Right Touch two years ago. First year it was just me and one other person. It was all I could afford. We were very small, but Maggie and I worked our tails off building the business. This past year I managed to bring in enough business to add more staff. It’s going well enough that I’m scarily optimistic.”
“I take it you get a lot of business from word of mouth.”
“I take it you know more than football.”
He laughed. “I did more in college than just throw the ball around. I did manage to get a degree.”
“In business, I’m guessing?”
“Yes. You surprised it wasn’t in something like parks and recreation, or PE?”
She snorted. “I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“I’m impressed. A hotshot football player, and you’re smart, too. No wonder women flock to you.”
“They don’t flock to me because I’m smart. They flock to me because my agent is a PR wizard. She’s like a pimp for beautiful actresses and models. If they want to be seen and photographed, Elizabeth finds them and attaches them to me.”
Tara picked up a slice of bread and buttered it. “How nice for you.”
“It puts me on the cover of a lot of magazines, and that sells game tickets, which is good for the team.”
“It helps that you’re also a stellar quarterback. Your stats are amazing.”
He leaned back in his chair. “You’re a fan.”
She shrugged, took a sip of wine. “I like football.”
“Do you like it in the way of, ‘Hey, I know it’s on Sunday and Monday and Thursday,’ or do you like it like you can’t live without it and you know everything there is to know about the game?”
She laughed. “I know a hell of a lot about football. Why, are you going to quiz me?”