One Night with the Best Man
Noelle Adams
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons,
living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Noelle Adams. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute,
or transmit in any form or by any means.
Proofreading: Vanessa Bridges,
One
Raney grabbed for her phone as soon as it started ringing, hoping vaguely that a miracle had occurred
and a working car would suddenly materialize in the parking lot.
One of her two best friends was getting married this weekend, and Raney’s old car had died
before she’d even made it out onto the street.
It would cost a fortune to take a taxi eighty miles to the resort in Newport Beach where the
wedding was taking place, but if she couldn’t arrange a ride, then that was what she’d have to do.
Raney had a decent job as a dental hygienist, but she was living with her parents at the moment
since she couldn’t afford to live alone, given the price of rent in Malibu. She definitely didn’t want to
waste so much money on a taxi ride if she could help it.
Meg, another bridesmaid and the other of Raney’s best friends, didn’t even greet her as she
answered the phone. She just announced in a pleased voice, “We found you a ride.”
“Oh, thank God,” Raney said. “I thought the rest of the wedding party would already be there.”
She hadn’t been able to take the whole day off from work, so she was driving up later than the others.
“Most of us are, but Justin is just leaving, and he said he’d swing by to pick you up.”
Raney’s relief took a sudden nosedive. “Oh.”
“What’s the matter?” Meg was sensible and efficient—the perfect person to tackle minor
crises. Raney, who had never been particularly organized, usually liked when Meg took charge of
planning.
But Meg wouldn’t know why Raney wasn’t too excited about being stuck on a road trip with
Justin Woodward, the younger brother of the groom.
“Nothing,” Raney said, trying to mask her response so her friend wouldn’t be worried. The
weekend was already going to be stressful enough. They didn’t need her minor problems adding to it.
“It’s fine. It’s nice of him to pick me up. Do I need to call him?”
“No. He knows where the dentist office is, and he said he’d be there in about twenty minutes.
What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.”
“Raney, you’re the world’s worst liar. Tell me why you sound upset. Do you not want to ride
with Justin?”
“It’s fine.” Raney cleared her throat. “It will be fine. He just doesn’t seem to like me.”
Justin had some sort of hot-shot job as a computer programmer for a major internet company.
He was cute in a slightly geeky way—not at all the kind of guy Raney was used to—but she’d always
gone out of her way to be nice to him, since they’d been spending a lot of time together leading up to
the wedding. At first, they’d seemed to hit it off pretty well, but for the last couple of months, all of
her attempts at niceness had led to a cold shoulder.
“What are you talking about?” Meg asked.
“He doesn’t like me. I think he must have gotten mad at me for some reason a couple of months
ago. He’s been kind of cool and snarky with me for a while.”
“I don’t think that’s right. He seems like such a nice, sweet guy. I thought you two seemed to hit
it off at the engagement party and then got along well at that cookout over at Jake’s on the beach.”
Raney sighed, feeling a weird kind of nostalgia at the memory of the first weeks after she’d met
Justin. “I thought we did too. I mean, we got thrown together a lot, which was kind of weird, but we
figured out things to talk about. I thought he was nice and funny. He’s way smarter than me, and he
likes all those geeky things, so we don’t have much in common. I liked him, though. He even
sometimes sent me funny texts and stuff. But lately he’s been kind of mean. I think I must have
accidently offended him.”
“You’re imagining it, Raney. Maybe he’s just been busy and stressed with work lately. Jake
says he’s got a really impressive job, but that probably means it’s high stress. And he’s a little shy, I
think. That’s probably all it is.”
“He’s never acted shy at all with me. And he’s snarky. He’s not busy.”
“He’s teasing, then.”
“I’m not an idiot. I know when people are teasing me. He doesn’t seem to be teasing. He’s
having fun at my expense. He thinks I’m silly and superficial.”
Meg didn’t answer immediately. She was obviously thinking it through. “I’ll pay attention this
weekend,” she said at last, “and see if I notice anything. But you’re the nicest, most friendly person in
the world, Raney. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think. But what does it matter if he likes you or not,
anyway? Didn’t you tell Anne you didn’t like him?”
Raney felt a weird churning in her stomach at the memory of the conversation with Anne, the
bride-to-be. After a lunch they’d all had together, during which Raney and Justin had spent the whole
time talking to each other, Anne had teasingly asked if maybe Raney was interested in Justin.
Back then, Raney had been sure the answer was no.
“I didn’t say I didn’t like him! I just said he spent the whole time talking to me about Lord of
the Rings, and I had no idea what he was talking about most of the time – so I couldn’t ever imagine
dating him. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like him. We just have nothing in common.”
Raney had been telling the truth back then, as she usually did. But, as soon as she’d said the
words to Anne, she’d started to wonder if they were right.
Justin wasn’t anything like the alpha-type men she was used to, but she kept thinking about him,
even after he’d gotten less friendly with her.
She thought about him a lot.
“Okay,” Meg said. “So maybe he figured that out too, and that’s why he got less friendly. I
mean, he’s not totally clueless so maybe he decided you weren’t interested in hearing about hobbits,
so he pulled back.”
“He wasn’t talking about hobbits. He was talking about the languages—elvish or whatever. He
could even talk in them, even though they were made-up languages.”
Meg laughed. “He was actually talking to you in elvish? Did you pretend to be interested in all
that?”
“I thought some of it was interesting. He was all excited about it. But I’ve never read the books
or seen the movies, so he had to go back to the beginning with the whole explanation. Anyway, that’s
all I meant to Anne. I didn’t mean I didn’t like him. And I can’t figure out what I might have done to
offend him.” She frowned, once again hit with that nagging question that wouldn’t go away, no matter
how much she told herself it didn’t matter.
“I’m sure he wasn’t offended. He probably just got busy with the rest of his life. But don’t blow
it out of proportion. It doesn’t really matter if he likes you or not, does it?”
Raney’s frown deepened. It didn’t matter. It just felt like it mattered. “I guess not. We’re so
different, it’s not like we’ll be best friends or anything anyway. But I normally get along well with
people, and I don’t want any sort of weirdness to get the way of the wedding.”
“No. Anne is already kind of nervous and tense, so I don’t think we want to worry her with
anything else. Justin is Jake’s brother and—“
“I know! That’s why I haven’t said anything. Please don’t tell her. I’m sure it will be fine. It’s
nice of him to pick me up. Maybe he has just been busy or distracted or something.”
“I’m sure you’ll get along great on the ride down. I really think it’s just because he’s kind of
shy. You’re so pretty that maybe he feels even more shy around you.”
Raney didn’t argue because she didn’t want Meg to worry, but she knew very well that Justin
wasn’t shy with her.
He’d never seemed awkward when he was talking to her. He’d never looked self-conscious or
anxious. He might have grown up a geek, but he didn’t appear to be socially challenged.
He was brilliant, successful, and kind of cute, and he probably made a lot of money at his job.
He wouldn’t have any trouble finding women to be interested in him. He wasn’t like the guys Raney
normally dated, but there must be tons of women who would jump at him with the slightest sign of
encouragement.
Raney had always been popular. She genuinely liked people—all kinds of people—and she
was small and blond and basically pretty so she’d never had any trouble getting guys to ask her out.
She wasn’t particularly smart or talented, but she was good with people. It was the one thing she’d
never had any trouble with.
Lately, she’d been feeling kind of aimless and at loose ends. She used to room with Meg and
Anne, but that had changed several months ago when Anne moved in with Jake. Now Raney didn’t
feel as deeply a part of her friends’ lives as she used to, and it was made worse because she was
having to live with her parents, which felt like a definite step backward in adulthood. She’d always
looked to relationships for emotional investment, but she hadn’t even had a boyfriend for a few
months—the longest she’d gone without a boyfriend since high school. She just couldn’t summon up
any interest in the guys who’d asked her out lately.
She was twenty-seven. At her age, most women had fully settled into their lives, but Raney just
didn’t feel like she was there yet. The only thing she had going for her at the moment was that she was
good with people, and it really bothered her that her gift was failing her with Justin.
But Meg was right. It shouldn’t matter to her that much. She would just be careful not to upset
Anne and Jake—particularly on their wedding weekend—so maybe she could just try harder with
Justin.
She would be extra nice. She would be super-friendly and make sure he knew she wanted to be
friends. She wouldn’t get offended if he said snarky things or treated her in a condescending manner.
This was her mission for the weekend. By the time the wedding was over, Justin Woodward
was going to like her.
***
Fifteen minutes later, Raney saw Justin’s car pull into the parking lot. She’d been standing in the
waiting area of the dentist office she worked for, looking out the window, but she walked outside
when he pulled up in front of the building.
He drove an old Volvo, although she was sure he could afford something nicer. Just like she
knew he could afford better clothes than the jeans and jacket he wore. He’d paired them with a tacky
t-shirt and sneakers, so his workplace obviously didn’t require business attire.
His brother Jake had built his own surf store business and was never anything but professional.
Justin was obviously made from different cloth than his older brother.
Justin returned her friendly greeting with an abrupt question. “What happened to your car?”
Raney held onto her smile. “I don’t know. I think it’s the transmission. It kept jerking really bad
until it just stopped working.” She gestured toward her sedan, which she’d parked at the far side of
the lot. “My stuff is in the trunk.”
“Hop in,” Justin said. “I’ll drive over so we don’t have to lug it the whole way, since I’m sure
you’ve got a ton of stuff.” He was about the same height as Jake but not as big. He was rather on the
skinny side, and he had lighter brown hair and hazel eyes instead of Jake’s steel gray. At the moment,
he had a coolly amused look on his face.
It was getting harder for Raney not to frown at him. “Why would you think I have a lot of stuff?”
His hazel eyes rested on her face before he drove over toward her car. “Don’t you?”
“Well, I need a lot of stuff for the weekend. I didn’t over-pack for the fun of it.” She tried not to
sound annoyed, but she was. He didn’t have to make it sound like something was wrong with bringing
a lot to a wedding.
She got out of the car, her shoulders stiff, and she had to remind herself that she was going to
make a point of being extra nice to him.
“So you’re saying you didn’t bring more clothes than you need this weekend?” he asked,
startling her by getting out of the car too and reaching for her case and garment bag before she could
pull them out of the trunk.
It was certainly more than she would normally bring for a weekend trip.
“It’s a wedding,” she said. “I have my bridesmaid dress and my dress for tonight and something
for tomorrow morning and something for Sunday—plus shoes and all the other stuff I need to get
ready. Did you expect me to fit it all in my purse?”
He seemed to be hiding a smile now—and it made him surprisingly attractive. His mobile
mouth, finely drawn features, and intelligent eyes seemed to convey a lot more than was actually
reflected on his face. “Of course not. Didn’t I just say I knew you’d bring a lot?”
She huffed and was about to snap at him for being patronizing when she remembered she was
going to get him to like her. So she made herself smile instead. “Well, I guess you were right.”
He looked briefly surprised, but she kept smiling at him as he closed the trunk.
He was peering at her as they got back in the car. “Is everything all right?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said, beaming at him. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I don’t know. Something seems strange.”
“Nothing is strange. We better get going, since we’re already running late. Thanks so much for
picking me up.”
“Sure. Any time.” He was still observing her in quick looks as he started the car. “I’m
surprised you don’t have a boyfriend to pick you up.”
Yet again, it sounded like he was judging her and finding her wanting. “Why are you surprised
by that?”
He gave a half-shrug as he steered toward the entrance of the parking lot. ”I just assumed you’d
have a boyfriend.”
Until the last few months, she’d always had a boyfriend. She’d had one relationship after
another that she thought would work out but then had fallen apart, either when the guy lost interest or
Raney discovered he just wasn’t what she’d thought. She was constantly getting crushed by how her
romantic dreams weren’t coming true.
But there was no reason for Justin to know that.
“Sometimes I have a boyfriend, but I don’t have one now. I could have gotten a date, but it
would be awkward since I’ll be busy with bridesmaid stuff all weekend. I see you don’t have a
girlfriend to bring either.”
“No, I don’t have a girlfriend.”
For some reason, she was glad to hear that. It put them more on an equal playing field. But
realizing she hadn’t been particularly nice so far, she added, “Well, I’m sure you could get one if you
wanted.”
“Is that a joke?”
She blinked. “No. Of course, it’s not a joke. Why would you assume it’s a joke?”
He peered at her again and didn’t say anything.
Be nice. Be nice. Be extra nice.
“Thanks again for picking me up.”
He frowned, looking both surprised and displeased. “You don’t have to thank me again.”
“Well, I appreciate it. You had to go out of your way, and it would have been a real pain for me
if I’d had to find another way to get there.” She smiled at him. Usually, her smile was enough to
disarm anyone’s bad mood. She’d always been able to get people to return it, even if they were in a
bad mood.
But Justin just frowned even deeper. Glancing over from the road, he scanned her face. “Why
are you acting that way?”
“What way?”
“I don’t know. Did you take something before I picked you up?”
She gave a little gasp and stopped smiling.
Her mission this weekend was going to be harder than she thought.
***
They didn’t talk that much for the next half-hour. Raney tried to make some casual conversation, but
somehow it all fell flat. Justin was never really mean, but he was either distant or kind of snarky.
Finally, she gave up and stared out the window as they drove.
When they first met, they’d been able to talk a lot. Sure, there had been a lot of discussion about
Lord of the Rings and computer games she’d never heard of, but they’d talked about other stuff too—
Jake and Anne and food and their parents and their jobs and places they wanted to travel.
Justin had traveled a lot, but Raney hadn’t, and at the engagement party she’d gone over her
whole list of travel destinations she wanted to get to before she died. She’d thought Justin had been
interested in them. It had been so strange—to feel like a guy was really listening to her and not just
thinking about how to get her into bed or how to get back to a TV to watch the game.
She tried again to remember if she’d accidentally said something he’d taken the wrong way.
The change had come after that lunch where he’d regaled her with elvish. But she hadn’t made fun of
it or anything. She hadn’t even wanted to. Maybe he’d misread her expression and assumed she was
judging him.
It honestly kind of hurt that he’d changed so much since that day. She’d liked the excitement
he’d had in going over the development of Tolkien’s languages. He’d been so passionate. She
couldn’t help but wonder if he would be that passionate about a woman.
The first thing she’d asked him about at the engagement party when she first met him was his
brother, and that had led to a good conversation, so she decided to try it again. After several minutes
of silence, she turned toward Justin and asked, “How much older is Jake than you?”
“Eight years.”
Raney blinked. Jake was in his late thirties, more than ten years older than Anne. She’d known
Justin was a lot younger than his brother, but that was even bigger a gap than she’d expected. “That’s
a big age difference.”
“Yeah. I was a surprise.”
“Oh, really? Your parents told you that?”
“Sure. They were happy enough, but they weren’t planning on another baby. They were both in
their forties when I was born.”
She was encouraged that he seemed to be answering for real, and she was genuinely interested,
so she asked, “Was it strange? To have such a big age difference between you and your brother?”
“I don’t know, since I didn’t know any different. We weren’t really close growing up, since he
was heading to college when I was ten.”
“Did you get closer once you were both adults?”
“Yeah. I think so. We’re pretty different, of course.”
“I guess so. Did you ever surf?”
Justin gave a little snort. “Yeah, right.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Do I seem like a surfer to you?”
“No, but Jake doesn’t really either. Now East—he seems like a surfer.”
East was Meg’s boyfriend, and was the most casual, laidback person Raney had ever met.
“He did surf for a while. That’s how Jake met him. I never much liked surfing.”
“I don’t either,” she said, truthfully, pleased they had something in common.
“But you like surfers. Don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I was just thinking you’ve probably dated surfers.”
“Yeah,” she said slowly, thinking back through her history with men. “A few. What about it?”
“And other athletic types.”
That was true. She’d dated a lot of athletes. “I’ve dated a lot of different kinds of men.”
“Have you?”
“Why do you sound like you don’t believe me? I don’t date just one kind of man. I’ve dated
athletes and businessmen and artist-types and more than my share of losers. I dated one guy who was
into Star Trek.”
A little smile was tilting up on his mouth again. “Yeah?”
“Yes. He made me go to all the conventions and everything.”
“And what did you think about that?”
“It was…okay.” She’d actually found it pretty annoying. That guy had been so absorbed in the
fandom that he’d mostly forgotten about her. She wouldn’t have minded so much if he’d been like
Justin and tried to get her involved in it too.
But she didn’t want to say it was annoying to Justin, who might be a Star Trek fan himself and
could misinterpret it.
“Yeah, I can see how much you enjoyed it. Why did you go, if it wasn’t your thing?”
“I was dating him. It’s polite to do things that the other person likes, to be supportive.”
“And what did he do with you that you liked to do?”
She thought back. Finally admitted, “Not much.”
“Did you ask him to do anything?”
“I don’t know. What do you mean?”
“Did you ask him to do something with you that you enjoyed, after you went to all the Star Trek
conventions with him?”
She hadn’t. She never did. She poured herself into relationships—she had since high school—
and it always felt like she had to turn herself inside out to please the other person, try to pretend to be
the woman the guy wanted.
She didn’t answer. Just thought about it and wondered why she couldn’t remember anything
she’d ever done with a boyfriend that had only been because she wanted it.
“You didn’t, did you?” Justin said.
“I’m sure I did. I just can’t remember.”
“What would you have asked him to do, if you’d decided to? What do you like to do?”
She gave a little shrug. “I don’t have any real hobbies or anything.”
“What do you do when you’re alone?”
“I’m not alone very much.”
“Why not?”
“I’m a people-person. I like to hang out with other people.”
“So what do you like to do when you’re with other people? Other than Star Trek conventions?”
“I don’t know.” She felt strange, although there was no reason for it—like even his casual
questions were stripping her bare. “Normal things.”
“What are normal things?”
“You know, what most people do with other people. Go out to eat. Hang out. Watch movies.
Whatever.”
“Do you always say ‘whatever’ when people ask you what you want to do?”
She did. She always did. “What’s wrong with that? I don’t have strong opinions about what we
do, so I’m usually happy with anything.”
“Are you? Or are you just happy because the person you’re with is happy?”
“I like it when other people are happy. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. But other people should want you to be happy too, right? Have any of the guys you’ve
dated taken you on a trip?”
She stared at him, startled by the question. “No. Why would they?”
“Because you have that whole list of places you want to visit. No one has even suggested that it
might be nice to help you cross at least one of them off your list?” His expression was odd—urgent
and questioning, but like something was reined in, held back, about it.
She stared at him, strangely affected by the fact that he had remembered their conversation from
a few months ago, as if what she had said had mattered. “N—no. It’s never really come up. Why are
you going on about all this anyway?”
“I’m just trying to figure out who you really are, and it’s hard when you’re always molding
yourself around other people.”
“I don’t mold myself around other people,” she gasped. “Not everyone has to be pushy and
opinionated. It doesn’t mean I’m weak.”
“I’m not saying you’re weak.” His voice was a little softer now.
“It sounded like you might have been implying it.”
“I wasn’t. I think it’s great that you care so much about other people. Not a lot of people are
like that.”
She was surprised again, and she tried to read his face. It looked diffident all of a sudden, like
maybe he hadn’t intended to let all of that out. Her heart warmed as she thought about what he’d said,
like there was something really good and special about her.
He added, “But you should really expect people to care about you too.”
That sounded more like him. She scowled.
For some reason, he looked like he was hiding a smile.
“What are you laughing at?” she asked.
“I wasn’t laughing.”
“Well, you were trying not to, but I can read your face. What was so funny?”
“Nothing. I just like it when you get angry.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “Like I’m a kitten or something?”
“No.” The answer was so abrupt—like it had been surprised out of him—that she was sure he
meant it. His eyes turned from the road to rest on her face for a moment. “Like it’s the real you.”
She had no idea what to say to that, so she didn’t try. She turned her head to gaze out the
window, reminding herself that arguing with Justin would be counter-productive and would
potentially upset Anne on her wedding weekend. Raney would keep her annoyance to herself.
There was no reason for Justin to act like she had no strong opinions, though. She did.
For instance, she had a strong opinion about Justin. He was odd and abrupt and intrusive on her
privacy. And, occasionally, he acted like a big ass.
She was obviously not going to tell him that, though. Even if she hadn’t been on this mission to
make him like her, she wouldn’t have told him anyway.
She never said anything like that to other people. She wanted them to like her.
Justin was an ass, though, and she wondered how many times she’d have to think that privately
over this weekend.
They weren’t even to the wedding yet.
Two
They were pulling into the entrance of the resort at exactly 5:35, and the rehearsal was scheduled to
start at six.
The beach resort was beautiful, and Raney gazed around in pleasure at the landscaped grounds,
lush foliage in various shades of green, wide beaches, and elegant buildings, bungalows, and villas as
they circled through it.
Justin obviously knew where he was going, so Raney let herself enjoy the views, thinking how
nice it was that Anne got to have her wedding in such a lovely place.
“We used to come here for vacation,” Justin murmured, pulling his car to a stop on the short
drive in front of a small villa, secluded by foliage from the rest of the resort, just like the rest of the
residences were.
“Really?” Raney turned her head to focus on him again. “Oh, Anne mentioned that was why
Jake suggested it for the wedding.”
“Yeah. We came every year. It was our family tradition, I guess.” He was focused on the palm
trees outside the window, but he didn’t seem to be seeing them.
“That’s kind of cool.” Since she was interested and since this was a better conversation than
they’d had the whole trip, she asked, “Did you enjoy it?”
“Not really.” He shifted his eyes to meet hers.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. There were a bunch of families who always came back here, and it was kind of
a…a stuffy group of kids. Jake was a lot older than me, and he had all kinds of friends. So he always
enjoyed it more than me.”
Raney understood that slightly diffident look on his face. She leaned back, thinking about what
Justin might have been like as a child. “So you didn’t have many friends? Of those who came here, I
mean?”
“No.” He shook his head slowly and gave her a half-smile. “It was definitely not the apex of my
social achievement.”
She chuckled at his word choice. “So do you have bad memories attached to this resort now? I
mean, is it kind of weird to come back, after not liking it here as a kid?”
“I don’t know. It’s the first time I’ve been back in ages, and it doesn’t feel too bad. The
memories weren’t great, but I’m pretty much over them now.”
“Are you really?” She leaned closer, feeling like she understood him a lot better now than she
had even a few minutes ago. He seemed so complete in himself now, as a successful adult, with his
good job, his intelligence, his passions and interests. She hadn’t thought about the fact that he’d
probably been a geeky boy who other kids might have laughed at.
When she was a girl, she might have laughed at him too, although she never would have done so
openly. Even as a kid, she’d always gone out of her way to be nice to others. Her voice was gentle
now as she continued, “It seems like, even though you’ve moved past it, memories like that could still
bother you.”
His mouth twisted unexpectedly, and his shoulders looked a little tense. “You think I’m that
insecure? That I’m all hung up on a few kids being mean to me all those years ago?”
“No,” she said quickly, more upset than was reasonable at the idea that she’d somehow messed
it up again, just when she thought they were getting along. “I didn’t mean that. It’s just that…you
know, when I was in third grade, my family moved here to California. We’d been in Oregon before.
And I didn’t know anyone in my new class, and for some reason the girls all seemed to hate me. And
it was horrible. I came home from school crying every day.” She sighed, remembering those feelings
so vividly that her chest actually hurt. “Obviously, I’m grown up now and have put it in perspective,
but I still haven’t gotten over how it felt.”
Justin’s eyes had been focused on her intently as she’d been speaking, and it felt like he was
really listening, really hearing her, really thinking about what she said. His voice was a husky murmur
as he said, “That’s why you always want everyone to like you.”
She sat up straight, surprised by both his insight and that he’d somehow known that specific
characteristic of hers. She didn’t think her desire to be liked should have been obvious to anyone, and
yet Justin obviously knew it and accepted it as a given. She didn’t try to deny it, since it was
unquestionably true, but she said, “It’s not that simple. What happened in third grade didn’t make me
who I am.”
“I know.” He was almost smiling now, and in some indescribable way, his eyes had softened as
they rested on her face. It felt to her almost like a caress. “But the feelings linger. And sometimes they
still affect us.”
“Yeah.” She smiled at him, responding to his expression and the way it created a pleasant
tension in her heart. “That’s what I was trying to say before. Even if you’ve gotten past them, they still
linger.”
They sat in the car, smiling at each other, for far longer than was normal. Raney felt warm,
connected to him, not just like he was starting to like her, but like the attachment went both ways.
She was so filled with the feeling that she made a little sound of surprise and disappointment
when Justin abruptly turned his head and looked away, breaking off their gaze and the connection
formed through it.
It felt like a rejection. Like he was intentionally closing off the understanding between them.
Like he just didn’t want to meet her at that level.
Raney sighed and reached to open the door of the car. They needed to get moving anyway.
Maybe she’d just imagined the moment of shared experience.
Meg and her boyfriend, East, were coming out of the villa next door as Raney got out of the car.
“What are you doing sitting in the car?” Meg asked, looking worried and a little hassled.
“You’re already running late.”
She was pretty and freckled and slim, and she was carrying a clipboard of notes she’d been
making for herself over the last few months of planning the wedding.
“I’m sorry,” Raney said, feeling bad because she was sure Meg had been sitting at the window,
waiting for them and worrying that they’d be late and the rehearsal and dinner that followed would be
thrown off schedule. ‘It’s my fault. My stupid car.”
“It’s fine,” East said easily, coming up beside Meg and putting a hand on the small of her back.
“There’s no hurry.”
“There’s only ten minutes before the rehearsal starts.” Meg was frowning up at East now, as if
she were a little annoyed with him for not caring about the schedule.
East was as laidback as Meg was conscientious. He grinned down at Meg in a very particular
way, both his amusement and his affection plain to see. “They have ten whole minutes. That’s plenty
of time.”
“I can get dressed quick,” Raney said, turning back to see that Justin had gotten her luggage out
of the trunk of the car. “I promise.”
“Meg couldn’t.” East’s grin had transformed. Now it was a little naughty.
Meg gasped and elbowed him.
“What’s the matter?” Raney asked. “Why couldn’t you get dressed fast?”
“I broke my zipper,” Meg explained, still giving East a narrow-eyed look.
“How did you—“ Raney broke off the question when she saw the half-guilty, half-amused looks
East and Meg were making at each other.
It was suddenly quite clear to her how Meg’s zipper had gotten broken. They’d been together
for a few months now, but Meg and East still had trouble keeping their hands off each other.
Raney giggled at their expressions, and she instinctively turned to look at Justin, who had come
up beside her. He met her eyes with a knowing look and started laughing too.
As she watched him laugh, Raney was suddenly hit with the most intense wave of attraction she
could remember.
There was no apparent reason for it, but Justin with his warm hazel eyes and high cheekbones
and fine shoulders and the grin that almost made dimples in his cheeks was suddenly overwhelmingly
attractive, like everything she wanted.
And then it got worse because the attraction was so visceral, so physical, that she could feel it
in her body—in her breath, in the flush of her cheeks, in a tension located at her chest and even a little
between her legs.
And it was all in response to watching Justin laugh. Justin. Which was crazy because he wasn’t
her type at all.
He was obviously very cute. Any idiot could see that. But she’d always gone for much bigger,
darker, athletic types.
It was just bizarre that she’d be attracted to someone like Justin. It wouldn’t have been the end
of the world, but he seemed to have withdrawn from her, so the attraction would end up being a great
inconvenience that went nowhere.
Although there had been a few moments today when it felt like he was softening toward her,
closer to how they’d interacted before that Lord of the Rings lunch.
She’d told Anne after that lunch that she couldn’t be interested in him romantically, but she was
pretty sure by now that she’d been wrong.
***
The rehearsal was a mess.
The marriage ceremony was going to take place on the beach, and the wedding party milled
around aimlessly, despite the attempts of Meg and the wedding planner from the resort to herd them
into some sort of order.
After a while, both Anne and Meg looked visibly stressed, which was made worse because
neither Jake nor East cared at all that no one could get it together.
Raney felt stressed too—not because she thought the rehearsal had to go smoothly or quickly
but because her friends were so obviously upset.
That was inevitable, though. The only thing that really stressed her out was when there was
some sort of conflict brewing.
And she could see it coming. Even Anne and Jake—who had worked with each other for years
before they became a couple and so had one of the most stable relationships Raney had ever known—
were getting snippy. Or Anne was getting snippy because Jake was so blasé.
Raney didn’t want the evening to be spoiled by an argument between them, so she kept trying to
smooth over the rough seas.
“It’s always like this,” she murmured, coming over to Anne after her friend had made a rather
sharp comment to Jake about how they could get through this better if he and East would stop talking
about the quality of the waves.
Jake had been a professional surfer, so he cared about such things.
Anne obviously didn’t appreciate it at the moment.
Raney continued, “Rehearsals are always messy, but everything always goes fine in the actual
wedding. Don’t worry about it.”
Anne took a deep breath and visibly tried to relax. She had a fresh, wholesome kind of
prettiness that seemed to have bloomed even more as she’d grown increasingly happier in her career
and her relationship with Jake. “I know. I know it will be fine. It’s just…I’m just nervous. I have no
idea why, since I’m so happy about everything. But I am.”
Raney gave her friend a quick hug. “I think it’s normal to be nervous. It’s a big production and
everything.”
“Yeah. I think that’s it. And I hate to be on stage, and that’s what it feels like.”
“It’s just people who love you, though. People who love you and Jake. It will be wonderful.”
She noticed that Justin was standing nearby and had obviously heard part of the conversation, so she
asked him, “Can you tell her there’s nothing to be nervous about?”
He took a step closer, and his face was serious as he said, “There’s nothing to be nervous
about.”
Anne smiled, but Raney frowned at him. “I expected you to add a little bit to the point.”
He lifted his eyebrows with a very faint smile. “You must have more faith in my people-powers
than I do.”
“It doesn’t take people-powers to say something pleasant and encouraging.” She had no idea
why the man insisted on always making it hard to be nice.
“Okay.” There was undercurrent of amusement in his eyes again when he turned back to Anne
and said with a deadpan expression, “There’s nothing to be nervous about, because even if the
wedding is a disaster, no one will care.”
Raney gasped and gave him a little swat on the arm. “That was terrible! You’re supposed to be
telling her that everything will go smoothly tomorrow. Not that it might be a disaster.”
“Ah,” he said, as if enlightened. “I didn’t realize that.”
She knew very well he had realized it. He was just being difficult again.
“It’s really going to be fine tomorrow, Anne,” Raney said, trying not to get distracted by Justin
when Anne was more important. “Everything will be beautiful, and you’ll be married to Jake at the
end of it.”
Anne smiled at her, as if she really appreciated the little pep talk. “Yeah. I know. Just, maybe,
can you tell people not to look at me tomorrow, so I don’t feel like I’m center-stage?”
Raney burst into laughter at the idea of no one looking at the bride, and then Anne laughed too.
Seeing her laugh, Jake came over and gave her a hug, and Raney was relieved that at least things were
good between the two of them.
She turned instinctively back to where Justin was standing. She was sure he’d been watching
her. “See?” she said. “No people-powers necessary.”
Justin took a step closer to her, and she suddenly felt that wave of attraction again. The sun was
getting lower in the sky, and it burnished his light brown hair and his skin so both looked golden. And
now he seemed to radiate some sort of masculine energy that she hadn’t noticed in him before.
Damn, she wanted to touch him. She wanted him to touch her.
“Raney,” he murmured, “Your illustration just proved the opposite. You have more people-
powers than anyone I’ve ever met. There’s no way in hell I can ever be like that.”
She was so surprised she just stood and stared at him, and as she processed the words, she felt
a kind of pride and pleasure overtake her—like she was somehow special in a way she’d never felt
before.
She’d never been particularly good at anything. She’d never excelled at school or sports or
music or art. She was smart enough and competent enough, but nothing about her stood out. And
lately, she’d been feeling even more like that, living with her parents and drifting away from some of
the things that had shaped her identity before.
But she suddenly felt like maybe there was something genuinely valuable about who she was—
because Justin seemed to think so, even in his rather abrupt way.
All she said was, “Oh.”
He opened his mouth like he would respond, but Meg called them over, so they had to go stand
in place.
They would be recessing back up the aisle together tomorrow after the ceremony, Raney
realized. She and Justin.
She wondered what that would feel like, and then she told herself to get a grip.
They made it through the main steps of the rehearsal, and the wedding planner was calling out
some final pieces of information when a strong wind picked up from the ocean.
It blew Raney’s hair and the skirt of her pink dress—which was already fairly short—so she
was distracted for a minute in trying to hold her skirt down—so as not to expose her panties to the
world.
She didn’t know why she looked, but she noticed that Justin was watching her maneuvers. She
was too distracted to read his expression, though.
“Oh, no!” Meg cried. “All my work.”
Raney turned from her discreet observation of Justin in time to see that several pages of Meg’s
notes had gotten picked up from the gust and were being blown down the beach.
East grabbed a couple of them before they got away, but the others were already far gone.
Raney saw Meg slump, as if she’d resigned herself to losing them.
It probably didn’t matter. Meg had always made a lot of notes and lists, and most of the time
she didn’t need them. Her enjoyment was in writing them—not referring to them afterwards.
Whatever was written on the pages was probably nothing crucial.
But Meg was unhappy about losing them, and Raney didn’t want anyone unhappy this weekend.
It needed to be perfect for Anne and Jake.
So she toed off her shoes and said, “I’ll see if I can catch them,” and she took off down the
beach after the loose pages.
She was a pretty fast runner, but the pages were very far away, and she was surprised to see
that, after a few seconds, someone else had caught up to her in running after them.
Justin.
He easily beat her, grabbing a couple of the pages that had drifted to the sand when the wind
died down briefly.
Raney kept running past him and almost managed to snag another page, but it got picked up by
the breeze just as she reached for it. “Damn it,” she muttered, feeling an irrational desire to at least
get one of them, since Justin had managed to snatch two already.
She started off after the page again, relieved when the wind died down and it slowly fell to the
ground.
She was reaching for it when Justin was suddenly beside her, grabbing it instead.
“Hey!” She straightened up and glared at him, wishing he weren’t so much taller than her. Most
guys were taller than her. Almost everyone was taller than her. And she normally didn’t mind at all.
But for some reason, she wished she could glare at him more effectively from a greater height.
“That was my page.”
He must have picked up another page along the way, since he now had four. He shuffled them
into a semblance of a pile, although they were so wrinkled it wasn’t very neat. “I didn’t realize you’d
claimed it.”
“I didn’t claim it. But I was getting this one. You should have gone on and gotten one of the
others.” She gestured toward the distance, where at least two of the pages had totally disappeared.
“Those were a lost cause. I thought the priority was getting these back for Meg—not a contest
for who could get more.” He had that same slightly smug, distant expression, but there was a glimmer
of amusement underlying it, and the corner of his mouth was occasionally tilting up.
He was definitely laughing at her.
“I wasn’t in a contest. You obviously got three. But that one, I was getting.”
“What does it matter?” He was breathing a little faster than normal from the run.
She was breathing faster too. “It doesn’t. But it’s general courtesy to let someone finish
reaching down to pick something up, if she’s run all the way down the beach to do it.”
“Would you like me to drop it again, so you can pick it up?”
“No.” She felt ridiculously flustered and annoyed with him, which was ridiculous because the
whole conversation was foolish. Why the hell was she getting so riled up about a stupid piece of
paper? “I would have liked you to be polite before. Now, the moment is lost.”
He let out a long sigh and said dryly, “I know all about lost moments.”
She found his statement decidedly suspicious, but she couldn’t figure out the sarcastic nuances.
He was so smart. Even in his small talk like this, he still came across as so smart.
Smarter than she was. By a lot.
She turned back to return to the others, feeling unexpectedly glum. The rest of the wedding party
was starting to make their way back to the main building where the dinner was taking place. She and
Justin were pretty much alone on the beach, and the sun was getting even lower in the sky, bursting out
in golds and purples across the water.
It was a beautiful evening in a beautiful setting, and she was with a man who seemed to get
more attractive as the hours past.
It would have been nice if he liked her a little more.
“Are you upset?” he asked, falling in step with her.
She was so surprised by the question that her ankle buckled in the sand and she almost
stumbled. “No,” she gasped, righting herself.
Justin reached out as she stumbled and supported her with a strong arm. She leaned against it.
She couldn’t help it. She really liked how it felt.
He wasn’t like any guy she’d ever known before. All of his characteristics weren’t on the
surface, for everyone to see. And so his humor and his sensitivity and his strength and his warmth kept
surprising her, coming somehow out of nowhere and thus hitting her so much harder than they would
have otherwise.
At least, she assumed this was what prompted her intense reactions to him.
“You okay?” he asked, his voice a little huskier than normal.
“Yes.” She felt so self-conscious she kept her eyes on her own hands, which had somehow
ended up gripping the lapels of his jacket. “I wasn’t going to fall.”
His arm was still around her waist. “It looked like you were going to fall.” He sounded just as
distracted as she did.
“I wasn’t.” She felt hot and excited and confused, and she finally dared to raise her eyes to look
up at his face.
Her breath hitched when she saw the expression in his eyes. Surely she couldn’t be mistaken
about that. His gaze wasn’t just clever and amused. It was filled with admiration and affection and
something very hot. And something else—something almost like awe.
It matched exactly how she was feeling herself, and she’d never been one to hesitate when she
felt something so strongly. So she flattened one hand on his chest and slid it up until she was stroking
his jaw.
His skin was just slightly rough, and the heat in his eyes got even hotter.
“I wasn’t,” she said again, remembering that was what she’d just said but having no idea about
what it referred to.
“You weren’t, what?” he asked, his voice very thick in a way that felt like it was caressing her.
The arm around her waist pulled her a little closer, and his other hand gently stroked the loose hair
back from her face.
“I wasn’t…” She had absolutely no idea, so she gave up trying. “Justin?”
“Yes.” He looked like he could swallow her whole, but he’d made no further moves.
So she made the move. She stretched herself up and pulled his head down toward her. “I kind
of want you to kiss me, if you don’t mind.”
He made a guttural sound and cupped the back of her head with one hand. “I don’t mind at all.”
Then she was kissing him, and he was kissing her back.
The pleasure hit her first—the sensations from his lips against hers, his tongue making a strong
advance, his hands holding her in place, the lean strength of his body against her, all of them worked
together to send her mind spinning in pleasure. But the deeper feelings followed immediately, a
mixture of excitement and certainty and security and delight. It overwhelmed her completely, so she
was barely conscious of intentions. She just pressed herself against him as closely as she could,
holding onto him so she could feel him even more deeply.
Her body responded to the emotional and physical pleasure so quickly that an arousal began to
pulse between her legs. And none of it felt like enough. She kissed him with shameless urgency, not
even caring if it made her seem too eager.
She was eager. She needed more of this kiss, this touch, this connection. This man.
She was groaning into his mouth as his hands moved over her body possessively until they were
cupping her bottom. He felt just as eager as she was, as if something had let loose in him that he could
no longer control or hold back.
And she needed that too. She needed all of it. All of him.
Finally, she was so overwhelmed that she was dizzy from it, so she pulled back slightly so she
could breathe through her mouth and clutch at his shoulders for support.
“Oh, God,” she gasped, flushed and excited and still deeply aroused.
This felt so different. So right. So real—like she wasn’t pretending to be someone different in a
relationship, like she didn’t have to pretend at all.
He was definitely into the kiss. He couldn’t completely dislike her. Maybe there was something
here that they needed to explore further.
She raised her eyes to check his face, and he looked just as flushed and disoriented as she did.
“That was...” she trailed off, not having words to describe that amazing kiss.
“Yeah.” He was trying to catch his breath.
“That was…”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, God.”
“Yeah.”
She was breathing better now, and he seemed to be in the exact same place she was, so she
reached up for him again. She was going to kiss him again. And again.
She might never stop kissing him.
In response to her move, he took her face in both hands, leaning down to press his lips against
hers, brushing against them and then pressing little kisses along her mouth and skin. Each one felt
gentle, special, just for her. She closed her eyes against the feelings.
Then suddenly Justin was straightening up, dropping his hands, forcing her to stand on her own.
It was so abrupt and so unwanted that she hugged herself tightly and stared at him.
“What?” she asked. She wanted to reach for him again, but she could read his body language
easily. He’d pulled back.
His face was suddenly cold, when it had been so hot just the moment before. He was trying to
catch his breath, but he looked at her with something that was defensive, almost resentful. “Is this
some sort of a bet?” he asked gruffly.
Her mouth dropped open slightly. “What? What do you mean?” It felt like he’d taken a hammer
and walloped her with it.
“Is this some sort of a bet? To see how quickly you can get me to kiss you or something? Is it a
bet? Did you win?” He took another step back and rubbed his face with the back of his hand.
Raney was almost numb from the reaction, from how much it hurt when she understood what he
was asking. He thought she was playing some sort of game with him, leading him on, using him.
He thought she was really someone who would do that.
He assumed nothing real could exist between them.
Even after that kiss.
She was so hurt she started to shake—feeling like she’d almost, almost had something she’d
always wanted, only for it to be taken away. But she hid it from Justin, not wanting to give him the
victory.
“If you say so,” she said coolly, pleased that her tone was mostly even.
Then she turned away from him and started walking.
The others were already in the building. The dinner was set to begin. There was no reason to be
wasting her time out here with Justin, when he obviously neither knew nor cared about her.
She’d always been wrong about the men she was interested in.
She was obviously wrong about Justin too.
Three
Raney stopped to pick up her shoes from the sand on the way to main building at the resort that held
the event space where the rehearsal dinner was taking place.
She knew Justin was behind her, but she didn’t turn to look at him. She didn’t want to see him.
And she definitely didn’t want him to see her expression.
She was way too upset about this. There was no reason for it. It wasn’t like she was that close
to Justin. So she’d kissed him and he didn’t think it meant anything. He obviously thought she was a
bitch. No big deal. It didn’t change anything significant about her life.
But it still felt significant, for some reason.
She was grateful when she saw a restroom, just as she entered the building. She ducked inside,
glad to get rid of Justin and pull herself together at the same time. She washed her hands and
smoothed her hair and put her shoes back on after wiping the sand off her feet. She looked windblown
and flushed, but everyone else probably did too. She would do fine for the dinner.
She’d just avoid Justin as much as possible, and soon the weekend would be over and she
wouldn’t have to see him anymore. Or, at least not much.
Feeling determined, if not really any better, she left the bathroom to head to the room. People
were milling around, holding drinks, obviously waiting for the cue to sit down in their places for the
formal dinner to begin.
Raney grabbed a glass of red wine and took several sips, scoping out the room. She told herself
she was looking for Anne and Meg, but her eyes landed unerringly on Justin, who was standing next to
Jake.
The brothers were nothing alike. Not in appearance—except something about the smile—and
not in personality. But they seemed pretty close. She liked that.
She noticed Justin glancing toward her, so she turned her head away, fortunately spotting Meg
and East. She headed over to them.
“Did Justin give you the pages we caught?” she asked.
“Yes.” Meg looked sheepish and a lot more relaxed than she had earlier. “You didn’t have to
do that. It was really nice, but I hate that you had to—“
“It was fine. It was fun. Really just a reflex to go after them.”
“Well, thanks, anyway.”
“Justin caught most of them.” Raney said this because she was by nature a truthful person, and
she didn’t want to give the wrong impression that she’d managed to get the pages herself. “I would
have gotten one, but he…” She trailed off, suddenly so sad she couldn’t even speak.
What the hell was wrong with her? It shouldn’t matter. It was one good kiss. It shouldn’t feel
like she’d lost something irreplaceable.
Meg made some sort of gesture to East. It was paired with an expression that he evidently
understood, because he murmured, “I see someone over there I should talk to.”
Raney watched as he left her and Meg alone.
“What’s the matter?” Meg asked quietly, peering at Raney’s face in concern.
Damn it, the concern only made it worse. Raney was so emotional she felt tears burning in her
eyes, which was absolutely ridiculous. “Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me. Did something happen with Justin?”
Raney looked down at the floor, wondering what she should say that wouldn’t blow this whole
thing into a big deal.
She didn’t want it to be a big deal. She wanted things to be normal. And they just weren’t.
“You’re definitely wrong about him not liking you,” Meg continued in a different tone. “I’ve
been watching, and he clearly likes you.”
“He doesn’t—“
“I don’t care what he says. He watches you all the time, and he’s definitely not thinking mean
thoughts when he does. I think he’s kind of crazy about you.”
“He is not,” Raney choked, the words making everything feel worse—like she might have
almost had him.
“Damn it, Raney, you’re about to cry. Tell me what happened.”
Raney couldn’t hold it back anymore. “I kissed him,” she whispered.
“What?” Meg’s eyes were wide and surprised.
“I kissed him,” she repeated, glancing around to make sure no one else was listening.
“Well, that’s good, right? Was it good? What happened?”
“Yes, it was good, but it doesn’t matter if it was good or not. He doesn’t like me.”
Meg made an impatient sound. “Would you stop staying that? It’s a ridiculous thing to think.
You’ve got it in your head and can’t get it out, but it’s just not true. If he kissed you, then
obviously…”
Raney turned her head away, twisting her face slightly to contain her emotion. She’d always
been emotional, but she hated feeling that way now, when she kept telling herself it wasn’t important.
“What’s going on?” Anne asked, coming to join them without warning.
“Nothing,” Meg and Raney both said, almost in unison. They were both silently agreed that
Anne shouldn’t be worried about anything tonight.
Anne looked at them suspiciously. “Why are you acting weird? And why is Raney crying?”
“I’m not crying,” Raney objected.
“Well, you’re trying not to. So what happened?”
Meg and Raney looked at each other, trying to decide whether it was worth the attempt to keep
it off her radar this weekend. But they seemed to come to the same decision at the same time.
Raney sighed. “You tell her.”
Meg cleared her throat, obviously thinking through the words. “Raney is convinced that Justin
doesn’t like her, so she was trying to smooth things over with him. But then she realized that she was
into him, and she kissed him.”
Anne made a visible start. “What? You kissed him?”
“Shh. It was just a random thing. It’s not important.”
“Then why are you crying about it?”
“I’m not—“
“One of you tell me what’s so upsetting about it.” Anne was starting to look annoyed. She
looked over at Meg, who shrugged.
“She didn’t get that far in telling me.”
There was no sense in trying to keep it from them. Eventually, the three of them found out
everything about the others. “After we kissed, he thought I’d made some sort of bet to get him to kiss
me. That’s why he thought I kissed him. He thinks I’m that kind of bitch.” She felt bad when she saw
Anne’s tense face. “It’s not that big a deal. I don’t want it to ruin your wedding. It’s just…it’s just…
not important.”
For some reason, on the last words, the emotion hit her again, and she had to turn her back to
the room so others wouldn’t see her trying not to cry.
“It is important,” Meg said. “You obviously like him a lot too.”
“What does it matter, if he’s not interested in me?”
“Oh, shit,” Anne breathed. “Oh, shit, shit, shit.”
“What?” Meg asked, and Raney turned to look at her friend questioningly.
Anne’s pretty face twisted in guilt. “This is my fault. Mine and Jake’s. I’m so sorry, Raney.”
“What are you talking about? What are you sorry about?” Irrationally, Raney felt a spark of
hope, like there might be an explanation for what made no sense.
“We gave Justin the wrong impression.”
Meg was frowning. “You wouldn’t have told him that Raney was mean or anything.”
“Of course not! Oh, Raney, I’m so sorry. But a couple of months ago, after you’d known each
other for a while, Justin was really getting into you. “Anne glanced away. “He was really getting into
you. He didn’t say anything, but Jake and I could tell. I mean, he was already crazy about you. And we
were afraid…well, I was afraid, and then Jake seemed to agree there was a good chance…we were
afraid…”
“What were you afraid of?” Raney asked, searching her mind for an explanation. Surely they
didn’t think she was some sort of user who wouldn’t treat Justin the right away.
“He’s not your type. He’s nothing like your type. You’ve never once dated anyone like him. So
I was afraid you wouldn’t be interested in him, and when I asked you about it, you said you definitely
weren’t.”
Raney gasped, remembering what she’d assumed was a light, teasing comment, but had
evidently been a genuine assessment of her feelings for Justin.
She’d told the truth, as she understood it then. She hadn’t known then how wrong she’d really
been.
“So I told him you weren’t interested in him and there didn’t seem to be much hope that you
ever would be. I was trying to be…kind. To nip it in the bud before his feelings got too far. I didn’t
want him to be hurt. And Jake seemed to think it was a reasonable thing to do, since he didn’t want
Justin to hope for something he’d never get.” Anne raised her hands to cover her face briefly. “Oh,
Raney, I’m so sorry. I was trying to help, but I totally messed it up for you.”
“That’s why he started acting weird with you,” Meg said, sounding almost excited. “He’s been
trying not to be into you, since they told him it would never happen.”
“But that…but that…” Raney’s throat felt like it was closing up, as she tried to interpret
everything with this explanation.
It made sense. It all made perfect sense. Even Justin’s cruel assumption that she was winning a
bet with him instead of genuinely wanting to kiss him.
“I’m so sorry,” Anne said again. “I would have told you about it, but Jake said we should
protect Justin’s privacy, and I think he was right. It wouldn’t have been fair to tell you his feelings if
you didn’t return them. He’s a really nice, sensitive guy, and I didn’t want him to get his heart broken.
I thought you meant it when you said you weren’t interested in him.”
“Who said I didn’t mean it?” She asked the question, already knowing the answer.
“This is actually good,” Meg said. “You can just go and talk to him and tell him the truth. He’s
obviously still crazy about you, no matter how much he’s tried not to be. Just talk to him, and
everything will be better.”
“What am I supposed to say? Sorry, my friend was wrong, but I am interested in you after all?”
Raney tried to picture herself doing it, tried to picture Justin’s face if she did.
“Sure,” Meg said. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Is that how it worked with you and East?”
Meg looked a little guilty. “Not so much. But that’s why I know it would be better. If we’d just
talked about it, East and I could have gotten together much quicker and without all the angst. Just talk
to him.”
Raney glanced over to where Justin still stood with his brother. The two men were talking, but
every once in a while, Justin’s eyes would slip over to where she was standing.
He did seem to be conscious of her—where she was, what she was doing. Maybe it was true.
Maybe he had been into her from the very beginning. Maybe he’d only acted standoffish lately
because he was trying not to let his feelings get out of control.
She felt a swell of excitement at the thought.
Maybe she would do the reasonable, adult thing and just go to talk to him. It would be
awkward. It would make her feel nervous and insecure. But maybe it would be better in the long run.
She could do it, but she would have to wait until the rehearsal dinner was over, since there was
no way they could have a private conversation until then.
***
The dinner was elegant and festive. It was obviously a very well-run establishment. The servers were
discreet and professional, and the food was excellent.
Raney tried to enjoy it, but she was in an emotional flutter and had trouble focusing on anything.
She was seated next to Justin, but she felt uncharacteristically shy and self-conscious, so she didn’t
talk very much.
She kept checking out Anne’s face, and she was worried when she saw her friend shooting her
anxious glances, as if she were distracted by Raney instead of enjoying her own wedding rehearsal
dinner.
Raney hated that. She hated that anything would have gotten in the way of Anne’s big weekend.
She was determined not to let her own situation interfere for the rest of the weekend.
Anne was the sweetest, most generous person she knew. If anyone deserved a perfect wedding,
it was her.
Raney had just come to this determination when she turned her head back in Justin’s direction
and noticed that his eyes were on her face. She gave him a little smile, since no matter what else
might be going on, she didn’t like things to be so awkward between them.
“Are you okay?” he asked in a low voice, leaning slightly toward her.
She was so surprised her hand jerked a little as she was raising her glass, and the water
slopped slightly over the rim.
Setting the glass down without taking a sip, she murmured, “Of course.”
“You look upset.” He’d shifted even closer to her, somehow making it seem like they were
private, even in the middle of a room full of people.
Raney didn’t usually get annoyed easily, but she couldn’t help but narrow her eyes and aim a
look over to him. Was he really surprised she was upset, after what had happened? Just how
oblivious could a guy be?
Justin put down his fork and pushed a hand through his thick hair. “I’m sorry. I really am.”
“What are you sorry about?”
He looked slightly surprised by the question. “I shouldn’t have implied you would have…used
me for a bet like that.”
He sounded sincere, with a rough edge in his voice, and she was absolutely convinced he meant
it. He did feel bad. He did understand why she would have been hurt by the implication. Her
shoulders relaxed. “If you believed it, then there was no reason not to imply it.”
“I don’t believe it.” He looked awkward and uncomfortable and like he wished he weren’t
having this conversation. “I mean, I did at the time, but that was wrong. I know you’re not like that.”
“Do you? It seemed like maybe you thought I was.”
“That wasn’t about…I know you’re not like that.” He met her eyes, looking strangely
conflicted.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” He leaned toward her even more, until his face was just a few inches away. “It
doesn’t seem like it’s okay. It seems like you’re just saying it is to smooth over things.”
Again, she was startled and rattled by the turn of the conversation. “What’s wrong with
smoothing over things?”
“Nothing – if there’s not much roughness there to begin with. But if you’re just smoothing things
over on the surface, then nothing real ever changes.”
She frowned. “Well, what am I supposed to say? That you were a big ass for making that kind
of assumption about me?”
He blinked. “You could say that, if that’s what you think.”
“It is what I think.”
“So say it.”
Ludicrously, she was getting kind of excited—just by the conservation, as strange as it was. Her
heartbeat had accelerated, and her skin had flushed warm. “You’re a big ass,” she said, staring down
at her plate of food.
She’d never in her life said something so mean to another person’s face. It was almost thrilling.
“I agree. I’m a big ass.”
She shot her eyes up to his face and saw his expression was sheepish, amused, and something
else…something almost fond.
She broke into helpless giggles and saw his expression change again. For just moment, it
looked so deep and warm and tender that she lost her breath. Her giggles faded away as a hot flash of
emotion overwhelmed her.
She’d never seen someone look at her like that before. She’d never seen someone look at
anyone that way before.
Trembling a little, she raised her water glass to take a sip, mostly for something to do.
She had no idea what to say or do. Or anything.
Justin’s expression had turned back to his normal clever, amused one when she put back down
the glass. “Why did you kiss me back on the beach?” he asked, his voice softer than before, but with
even more texture.
She dropped her eyes, embarrassed by how shamelessly eager she’d been. “What kind of a
question is that?”
“It’s a real question. I was hoping for a real answer.”
She gave a little shrug. “Because I wanted to.”
“I know you’ve got this idea that I’m nothing but a geek, but maybe you should look again.”
“I don’t! I don’t think that about you.”
“Did I or did I not spend two hours talking to you about the languages in Lord of the Rings?”
She raised a hand to her mouth to hide another giggle. “You did.”
“And didn’t you assume that meant we have nothing in common?”
“Yeah. I did.”
“So what do you see when you look at me?”
It was such an unexpected question that she raised her eyes immediately. His face was
questioning, serious, with an underlying urgency she just didn’t understand. She licked her lips before
she answered, “I…I don’t know. What do you mean?”
“I mean, what do you see?”
She saw a man who was smart and cute and funny and shockingly insightful, even when it
seemed like he should have been socially awkward. She saw a man who seemed to really know her,
more than anyone ever had, in some ways even more intimately than Anne and Meg, although she had
no idea how that was even possible.
But she couldn’t even begin to put all that into words, so she just dropped her eyes again. “I
don’t know what you mean. I don’t know what you’re looking for.”
She heard him release a breath. “I wanted to know the truth. I wasn’t looking for a certain
answer, and I wouldn’t have wanted an answer you gave me just because you thought I wanted to hear
it.”
He sounded disappointed. In her. And it was very upsetting. This had been one of the most
unnerving conversations she’d ever had in her life, and they couldn’t even finish it because Jake was
standing up and dinging his glass to get everyone’s attention.
It was time for the toasts, which meant she and Justin couldn’t talk anymore.
Raney was frustrated and relieved at the same time.
She tried to listen and appreciate the short, understated speech Jake gave, in which his love for
Anne was so obvious it almost brought tears to her eyes. And then Justin stood up for his toast, and
Raney was strangely breathless.
He clearly wasn’t comfortable, talking in front of all these people. He wasn’t the kind of man
who liked to be the center of attention. He wasn’t a master of social occasions like most of the men
she dated. He didn’t have that loud, obvious confidence. She wasn’t sure why it felt like there was
more depth to him because of it.
He told a couple of funny stories about Jake when he was younger, including one when Jake had
asked a senior girl to the prom when he was just a freshman and she had patted him on the head.
Literally patted him on the head.
After everyone had several good laughs at Jake’s expense, Justin’s tone changed. “I’ve spent
my life looking up to Jake,” he said, with a familiar kind of self-deprecating diffidence. “I spent my
childhood wishing I could be like him. I never told anyone, but I spent hours on the beach when I was
a boy, trying to surf as well as he did. As anyone who has ever seen me surf will testify, I spent most
of my time in the water.”
There were more laughs at this, but Raney didn’t laugh. She could suddenly see him as a boy,
struggling so hard for a goal he could just never reach.
Justin paused, smiling, until the laughter settled. “And it wasn’t all that long ago, after he blew
out his knee and had to give up the thing that had always meant the most to him, that he taught me
something really important about dealing with the hard things in life with…with a courage that just
doesn’t stop. I want to be brave like that.”
Raney saw their mother tear up and Jake glance away for a moment. Anne moved her hand over
to cover his on the table.
Justin continued, “I know now I’m never going to be like Jake in everything, and it’s probably
better for the world and for beaches that I’m not, but I still want to be like him in this. He’s found
someone really worth loving, and he loves her with everything he’s got. I want to be brave like that
too.”
There was an odd, emotionally tense silence that followed his words, and it felt like the room
was shuddering in front of Raney’s eyes. Then Justin, looking like he felt a bit awkward, raised his
glass and said, “To Anne and Jake.”
The room returned the toast and fell into soft small talk. Justin sat down without looking around.
Raney thought he seemed exhausted, and she reached out instinctively to put a hand on his arm.
“That was great.”
He slanted her a smile. “No need to pump up my ego.”
“I’m not. It was great.”
He met her eyes and his smile deepened. “Thanks.”
Raney had no idea why she was feeling this way, but now she didn’t just want to kiss Justin.
She wanted to hug him too. For a really long time.
***
Justin disappeared after the rehearsal dinner. Raney actually tried to find him, since she wanted to
talk to him, see what was going on between them, settle some of this flurry of emotions she was
feeling. But he was nowhere to be found.
She couldn’t do a full-fledged search because she and Meg were hosting a mini-shower for
Anne, so the female family members who lived far away and couldn’t attend the earlier shower they’d
thrown her could participate. The laughter and gift-giving lasted over an hour, so it was after midnight
by the time Raney was free to look for him again.
She checked the villa where he was staying, but his cousin said he wasn’t there. So Raney
wandered around and still couldn’t find him.
She ended up on the beach, which was really the only place left, since she assumed he wasn’t
spending the night at someone else’s villa.
It was dark, but the moon was full, and the sand under her feet was warm. It was very pleasant
as she walked on the damp sand where the tide was coming in and out. She approached a couple who
were silhouetted in the darkness, and didn’t realize until she was passing them that it was Anne and
Jake.
They were just standing on the beach in silence, Jake’s arms around Anne.
“Oh, sorry,” Raney said, feeling embarrassed, like she’d interrupted a private moment. “I didn’t
know it was you.”
“It’s fine,” Anne said with a smile. “We weren’t doing anything dirty.”
Raney couldn’t help but smile.
“Are you just walking?” Anne asked.
“I was just looking for…” Raney trailed off, now embarrassed for a different reason.
Jake nodded farther down the beach. “Keep walking.”
Obviously both he and Anne knew who she was looking for. It should have made her feel self-
conscious, but it didn’t. Not really.
“Okay. Thanks.” She gave them another smile and kept walking down the beach. She still wore
the cocktail dress she’d had on for the dinner, but her hair was a mess from the wind, and the makeup
she’d had on earlier had worn off. She wasn’t at her most attractive, but she still wanted to talk to
Justin right now.
Something was incomplete, unfinished between them, and she wouldn’t be able rest until it was
done.
She saw a tall male figure in the distance, and once she’d gotten a little closer she could tell it
was him. He still wore his dark suit, and his hair was being ruffled by the breeze as he stood staring
out at the waves of the ocean.
She didn’t think he was even aware of her presence as she got close enough to see his face. He
looked serious. Contemplative. Like his mind was very far away.
But as she drew beside him, he said without turning to look at her, “What are you doing out
here?”
“I was looking for you.”
He finally turned his head to meet her eyes. His brows drew together. “Why?”
“I wanted to talk to you.” Her pulse had intensified, but she didn’t really feel nervous. She was
excited—like something was about to change. “I feel like we didn’t finish our conversation at
dinner.”
He gave her a little smile and stared back out at the ocean. “What did you want to talk about?”
“I—I don’t know. It just feels like…there’s more to say.”
He didn’t respond or look back at her, and something in his expression looked resigned, at
peace—but not really in a happy way. She was suddenly anxious about the expression, that it meant
something she didn’t want it to mean.
“Are you okay?” she asked at last, since his mood seemed to be so deep and so unreadable.
“Yeah.” He shook his head, staring at full moon in the distance, which reflected cool, bright
light onto the vague motion of the water along the horizon.
“It doesn’t seem like you’re okay.”
“I am. I really am. I was actually just standing here trying to decide if I should go find you. It
just feels like I’ve spent my whole life tilting at windmills.”
She was only faintly familiar with Don Quixote, knowing vaguely that he’d attacked windmills,
believing them to be giants, but she understood what Justin was saying instinctively. She saw with
crystal clarity the story of his life, fighting battles he could never win, trying to become something as
futile and ephemeral as a dream, reaching out for things he would never get. Trying to be like his
brother, when that was someone he could never be. Her heart went out to him, and she was tempted to
pull him into her arms, show him that she understood.
But they didn’t have a relationship like that—not even close. She might want it to be different,
but he’d never made any moves in that direction, except for the one kiss, which could have meant
anything.
“Maybe that’s not always a bad thing,” she said at last.
He turned his head look at her again. “It’s not a good thing. It means you never get what you
desperately want.”
She frowned, wondering suddenly if he was talking about her—if she was the goal he thought
was futile. “Maybe they’re not really windmills,” she said, her voice wobbling slightly because her
emotions had spiraled up at the possibility. “Maybe the battle isn’t as hopeless as you think.”
He gave her a poignant little smile. “They’re definitely windmills.”
“Oh. Okay.” Her excitement died an instant death because she knew in that moment that, even if
he was interested in her, he wasn’t going to pursue her. Maybe he really didn’t think it could work out
between them—they were simply too different.
Or maybe he just didn’t want her that much.
But it didn’t feel right to her—not at all—so she couldn’t help but make one more attempt. “I
liked what you said in the toast tonight.”
He turned back to her, obviously surprised by the change in topic.
“About being brave,” she explained, at the question on his face. “I liked what you were saying.
And it seems to me…it seems to me that it takes just as much courage to fight the windmills as it does
to fight the real giants or the monsters or whatever it was in the story.” She only had vague memories
of the little of Don Quixote she’d read in school, so she hoped she didn’t sound too stupid. “Even if
they’re just windmills, you have to be just as brave.”
Justin stared at her without moving for a long time.
And Raney made herself accept the fact that this wasn’t going to happen.
It was fine. He wasn’t—and would never be—her type. They were so different it would
probably be complicated. Maybe he’d been kind of interested in her, but if he didn’t want her enough
to make a move, then his feelings clearly weren’t in the same place hers were.
She rehearsed all these facts to herself in the span of about five seconds, and then she turned
and walked away.
She wasn’t going to embarrass herself by pursuing it anymore, and it didn’t matter that the loss
of what she’d never had threatened to make her cry.
She walked for a full minute before she heard him behind her, his stride much longer and faster
than hers. He didn’t say anything, so she figured he was just going to fall in step beside her. He didn’t.
He grabbed her arm and swung her around to face him, and his face had transformed. It was
urgent and heated and determined somehow. It took her breath away.
So she was breathless and startled and completely unprepared when he grabbed her face with
both hands and pulled her into a kiss.
His hands, his mouth, his body were all so passionate, so hungry, that Raney couldn’t hold back
a whimper as she opened to the advance of his tongue. She grabbed for him, wrapping both arms
around his neck and letting him press the length of her body against his.
“Justin,” she gasped, when he finally broke away to trail little kisses along her jaw and then
down her neck.
“Fuck, Raney,” he muttered against her skin, his hands sliding down her waist to palm her butt,
pushing her against him so she could feel that he was already starting to get hard. “I don’t care if
you’re just a windmill—I’m going after you anyway.”
“Yes,” she whispered, raising her leg so she could grind herself against him eagerly. “Yes. Go
after me.”
She was so overwhelmed with feeling and sensation that she lost her balance in the sand. She
clutched at his body for support, but with her leg wrapped around his, they had an awkward moment
and both of them ended up on the ground.
It didn’t slow them down, though. As they shared a little giggle, he moved on top of her. He
kissed her again, and it was much easier for her now to get her leg around him. His tongue stroked her
mouth rhythmically, and their bodies rocked with the same motion, and soon Raney’s whole being
was pulsing with an intensity she’d never experienced before.
She’d had good kisses before. She’d had good sex before. But nothing had been anything like
this.
He was hard against her now, and he kept pushing the bulge of his erection against her lower
belly. She adjusted enough to get the pressure where she really needed it, wrapping both of her legs
around him. Her panties and his trousers didn’t seem to matter. She couldn’t help herself from rubbing
urgently against the hardness she felt in him—a hardness that seemed to embody all of the passion and
need and focus and determination in him.
She wanted it. She wanted him. And she couldn’t stop herself from taking it, now that it was
finally offered.
“Raney,” he rasped, his mouth trailing a hungry line down her throat. One of his hands had
found her breast and was cupping it possessively over her dress. “Raney, we better move this…oh
fuck, or I’m going to…oh, fuck.”
“No,” she gasped, tangling her fingers in his hair and grinding her arousal against his with wild
abandon. “I can’t wait. I need you now.”
“But…” He thrust against her tight little pumps, as if he were helpless against the urge. “I don’t
have…a condom.”
She gave a little sob, hating that practicalities would keep her from what she so desperately
needed. Her skin and dress and hair were covered with sand, and they were on a beach where anyone
from the resort might pass by, but she simply didn’t care. She squeezed her thighs around him. “Then
like this. Please, Justin. Like this.”
He let out a guttural sound and seemed to let himself go. They rocked together with clumsy
urgency until the pressure against her groin caused her body to tighten deliciously, and she gasped out
her pleasure as an orgasm finally broke.
Her legs were locked around him and holding him in a tight grip as she saw his own release
break on his face. He released a low groan, and she could feel his climax shudder through his whole
body.
She felt the most unexpected mingling of pleasure, excitement, and pride, watching him come
like that against her.
They were both gasping as they came down, and he leaned down to press more kisses against
her mouth and skin.
She stroked his hair, stroked his back, finally unwound her legs from around his thighs.
“Wow,” she said at last, having absolutely no other word to embody her feelings.
She sensed rather than saw him smile, since he’d ducked his head against the hollow of her
throat. “Yeah.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever…ever lost control like that before.”
He lifted his head and gave her a sheepish smile. “At least you didn’t come in your pants.”
She broke into helpless giggles and pulled him down into a hug. He returned the embrace, and
she could feel something like emotion shuddering through him now, the way the pleasure had earlier.
He finally raised his head again, but only to gaze at her with that same intense longing she’d
sensed in him a few times before.
She waited for him to say something, but he didn’t.
Finally, she asked, “Do you have a condom? In your room, I mean.”
“Yes.” His eyes scanned her face closely. “Did you want—“
“Well, it was good, but it didn’t feel like enough to me.” It was a risk to say so much, but she’d
always been honest, and she didn’t want them to go back to that weird tenseness between them again,
not after what had just happened.
“Me either,” he admitted, leaning down to give her a gentle kiss. “We can clean up a little, and
then I can come to your room, if you want.”
She shook her head. “I’m sharing the villa with your aunt. It might be a little weird.”
“Damn.” His face twisted. “I hadn’t thought about that. I’m with my cousin. I guess that
wouldn’t be quite as bad…”
“Isn’t there somewhere else? I don’t even mind if it’s outside, as long as it’s private.”
“The beach will be kind of uncomfortable once we take our clothes off.”
“I know. Sand is already in my underwear, and it’s not very nice.” She gave him a teasing grin.
He smiled back, and then he said, “Oh, wait. I know. There’s the sanctuary garden. It’s walled
off, so it would be totally private. If it’s empty, we can just lock the gate behind us.”
She remembered from the map of the resort she’d looked at where that little garden was.
“Sounds perfect. We’ll clean up and meet there, then.”
Justin stood up and helped her to her feet, and she did her best to wipe off most of the sand. He
took her hand as they walked back toward the villas, and Raney felt sheepish and naughty and almost
giddy at the same time at the thought of what they’d just done and what they were going to do.
“Don’t be too long,” Justin murmured, leaning down to kiss her before she went back into her
villa.
She wasn’t planning to be too long.
Four
Raney was as good as her word about not being slow.
When she got to her room, she cleaned up as best she could and got rid of the sand, but she
didn’t change clothes. Fortunately, Justin’s aunt was already in bed, so she could slip away without
drawing attention to herself.
She found the sanctuary garden, opened the gate quietly, and walked around, relieved when it
was empty. It was unlikely anyone else would be visiting the garden in the middle of the night, but one
never knew.
Another couple might have decided it was a prime romantic spot before they had.
The garden was filled with white and pale colored flowers that seemed to glow in the
moonlight—roses, hydrangeas, and peonies around the edges, and impatiens and pansies in pots and
boxes scattered around. There was a fountain in the middle that made a peaceful rippling sound
through the whole garden.
It was beautiful¸ fragrant, intoxicating, and Raney wandered around, enjoying the lovely setting
as she waited.
She also enjoyed a little daydreaming about what would happen when Justin arrived.
She heard the gate squeak and turned around to see him stepping into the garden. He met her
eyes with a little smile, and then turned to close the gate behind him, turning the lock before he made
his way toward her.
He looked as he’d always looked—lean, straight body, well-chiseled features, eyes that
seemed to see and know things no one else knew. But right now he looked even more than that. There
was a kind of intentionality, power in his stride that she’d never noticed before.
And, when he got close to her, his eyes…his eyes were almost fierce.
She thought for sure he’d pull her into his arms in a hungry kiss, but he didn’t. He stood beside
her, the tension she’d sensed coiled tightly inside him. “So what do you think?” he asked.
“About what? The garden? It’s perfect. It’s like something out a fairy tale.”
“I hope you’re not expecting a Prince Charming act from me. I don’t do romantic very well.”
She was about to respond in a teasing tone, but she saw a flicker in his face that made her
realize he was serious. He was worried she’d be disappointed with whatever happened between
them right now. So she murmured instead, “I’m not here to meet Prince Charming.”
He leaned his head down to study her face. “What are you here for, then?”
She knew the answer, and she knew exactly what she should say. “For you.”
He let out a visible breath. “And what do you see when you look at me?”
He’d asked her the same thing back at the dinner, and she’d had no idea what to say then,
although she’d known the answer.
She knew now. She reached up to put a hand on his jaw. “I see Justin.”
With a low groan, almost a growl, he grabbed her by the waist and swung her around until she
was pressed up against the stone wall of the garden. He wasted no time in claiming a hard, deep kiss.
Raney might have been taken by surprise by his sudden move, but her passion spiraled up with
shocking speed and she responded with equal fervor. Justin’s tongue plundered her mouth, stroking
and demanding as his lips moved against hers. His hands were all over her, hungry and seeking, as
she clawed at his shirt, trying clumsily to pull it out of his trousers so she could feel his bare skin.
He used the solid force of his body to press hers against the wall. He was hot—hotter than
anything—and the natural smell of him, his intensity, filled her senses. He was already aroused again,
and he used the bulge of his erection as another force. He pushed it against her belly, and the
sensation caused a corresponding contraction of her own throbbing arousal.
She lifted one of her legs, trying to wrap it around his thighs again, the way she had before,
desperate for more friction, for the feel of him between her legs. When he finally pulled out of the
kiss, she’d barely sucked in a frantic breath before he lowered his mouth to her neck.
She arched against the wall and gave a ragged gasp when she felt his teeth on her throat. Hard.
“Do you mean it?” he rasped, pushing his mouth, his arousal, his whole body against her.
She had to think back to remember what had last been said. Then gasped, “Yes, oh God, yes,”
she panted, tugging on his shirt until she finally managed to pull it out of his pants completely. She
reached under the shirttails so she could claw at his bare back. “Justin, I see you. I want you.”
“Are you sure?”
“I want you. All of you. I don’t want to wait anymore.”
Before she could process specific movements, he had her down on the ground. He kissed and
caressed her until she was deeply aroused and writhing in desire. Finally, she begged, “Justin, please.
What you waiting for? Take what you want.”
He pulled up for a moment to stare at her. “You mean it?”
“God, yeah. I want all of you. Whatever you have to give me. That’s what I want.”
With a stifled groan, he turned her over on her hands and knees and pushed her skirt up in a
bunch around her waist. He pulled her panties out of the way so his fingers could find her wet
entrance.
She whimpered as he penetrated her with two fingers. He pushed against her inner walls,
stretching and stimulating her. “Please,” she gasped, when the pressure at her center became tortuous.
She looked over her shoulder to watch him fumble with the button on his trousers. She
whimpered again at the sight of his erection, all the more thrilling because he was otherwise fully
dressed, as he rolled on the condom he’d brought with him.
He knelt behind her, aligning his erection with her entrance. “Raney.”
She was panting and flushed bright red as she looked over her shoulder. He stared across her
body to meet her eyes, and she saw the wordless question there.
“Yes! Damn it, Justin. I want you now!”
He entered her in one hard stroke, pushing into her with the hard substance of his erection. They
both gasped at the penetration, and she saw his nostrils flaring again as he stared down to the place
where they were joined.
He pulled back and thrust hard, pushing her forward with the force of his stroke. It felt so good
that Raney had to bite back a cry of pleasure. “Yes!” she hissed.
He started to thrust her for real then, his pelvis pushing against her bottom in a rough, fast
rhythm. She bumped back against him on each thrust, bracing herself with splayed hands on the grass.
She was completely overwhelmed with Justin—his body, his power, his scent, his visceral passion.
Improbably soon, she felt an orgasm coiling up, jarred closer with each of his thrusts. Instead of
making wet gasps, as she had before, she choked out little sobbing sounds that kept getting louder and
louder as her body began to tense. She usually wasn’t a noisy lover, so she was vaguely embarrassed
by the helpless noises. She bit her lip to stifle them. Made little smothered mews instead because her
body seemed out of her control.
Justin’s speed accelerated as she began to shake. Then her climax hit and she convulsed through
the waves of intense pleasure, biting her lip even harder to hold back a loud cry.
As her body tightened around him, Justin released a muffled sound of effort, his rhythm halting
abruptly and his fingers digging even more deeply into her flesh.
But before she’d fully come down, he started to thrust again, each stroke more agonizingly good
because she was so much tighter from her orgasm. She felt his palm then between her shoulders,
pushing her upper body down so only her bottom remained in the air. The shift in position changed the
angle of his penetration, and she couldn’t hold back a keening whine at the resulting pleasure.
Her face was nearly in the grass, and she could smell it strongly, mingled with roses and lilies
and the carnal scent of Justin and sex. She braced herself as best she could with her forearms, but his
motion had gotten more urgent, and her body could only rock in response. Her eyes blurred over as
she tried to take deep breaths.
She started making the sobbing noises again as she felt another climax approach. She muffled
her mouth with one of her arms and had to bite down hard into her skin when the pleasure unleashed
in new waves of release.
Justin gave a guttural cry as her channel clamped down on him even more than it had before. He
pushed against her contractions as her body rode out her second orgasm. Then, as she gasped hoarsely
and started to recover, he pulled out of her completely.
With demanding hands and hot, hungry eyes, Justin turned her over onto her back and pulled
apart her legs. She stared up him, letting him arrange her body, and in the brief lull in sensations, she
understood why Justin wasn’t comfortable with this part of himself.
He was so shaped by his intellect that this primitive side of who he was seemed to strip him
bare.
But it completed a picture for Raney, helped her understood the kind of passion that lurked
beneath the exterior, showed her all of who he was.
And that was what she wanted, what she wanted even more as he entered her again, pushing up
her knees to change the angle of penetration.
It was too much, too tight, too deep, too aching, too good. Raney arched up and whimpered as
she tried to adjust to the feeling.
“Okay?” Justin rasped, holding himself completely still with what looked like brutal effort.
“It’s good. Oh, it’s good.” She reached her arms out to clutch at the grass, desperately seeking
purchase.
He started to thrust. He didn’t go as fast or hard as he had before, but his pushes against her
seemed to match her deepest rhythm.
Raney didn’t expect to come again—despite the overwhelming sensations. She’d already come
twice, which was more than she normally did, and he wasn’t hitting her g-spot in this position. But the
sight of Justin’s face above her was the most erotic thing she could remember. His features were so
tight they twisted with the effort, and his eyes blazed with naked passion. He was grunting now,
clearly as overcome as she was by the raw nature of their coupling. His look, his scent, his feel was
primal, like an animal claiming its mate.
And he was the same man—the exact same man—who’d talked to her for so long about elvish
languages at lunch one day, who’d given that sweet toast earlier in the evening, who’d spent so many
hours trying to surf as a boy in an attempt to be like his big brother.
She felt a familiar pressure coil once more between her legs.
She bit her lips as the little sobs escaped her throat, each sound in tempo to the rhythm of
Justin’s motion. Tossing her head desperately on the grass, she couldn’t hold back her vocal
responses. In desperation, she stuffed her fist into her mouth, biting down on her knuckles to muffle
the sound and relieve some of the tension.
Justin adjusted slightly and grabbed her wrist, pulling her fist out of her mouth. “Let me hear,”
he gasped, clearly at the edge of his control.
Raney had no choice. Her body shook and twitched and throbbed with pleasure, and the
shameless, helpless sounds kept choking out. She opened her mouth in a silent cry of release when the
orgasm finally broke.
This time, when muscles contracted, Justin let himself go. He let out a rough explanation,
jerking against her as his own climax unleashed.
Tears streamed down Raney's face into her hair as she came down from the most powerful
orgasm she could remember. Justin managed to pull off her and help her straighten her legs and take
care of the condom before he collapsed on top of her.
She clung to him, could feel that he was just as affected by the aftermath as she was. There was
no way she could speak, but she felt his hot, heavy body on top of her, felt him grow softer, sated,
relaxed. Let that knowledge bring her back to her senses.
It was several minutes before Justin managed to roll off of her, groaning with the effort it took.
She was already sore. Her legs were stiff and tingly, and she was uncomfortably wet between her
legs. But she pulled her skirt down over her thighs and smiled at him. “That was…that was intense.
I’m not usually that…that wild.”
“I’m not usually that rough.” His face was deeply relaxed, infinitely pleased and content. But
there was a lingering question in his eyes.
She shook her head fondly. “Are you really worried? Couldn’t you tell how much I wanted it?”
He smiled at her too then, his face drenched in sweat and his breath still coming out unevenly.
He was once more the quiet, clever, dryly funny man he’d always been before. “Just making sure.”
She reached out and patted him on the chest, wanting to touch him again. “I guess we should go
to bed pretty soon. It’s really late.”
“Yeah.” He pulled her against him, and she nestled against his body, feeling a little flutter
inside her set at peace. “As soon as I can move.”
She saw something then, as the moon and accent lighting of the garden illuminated Justin's
sprawled, rumpled body on the grass beside her. She saw something on his face, in the softening of
his body, in the sated leisure of his gaze.
She wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but it was more than physical satisfaction.
She saw it. Recognized it as kin.
He’d needed her, just as much as she’d needed him.
Realized they really weren’t that different after all.
Five
Raney woke up at about nine the next morning feeling happy. Excited.
Positively giddy.
The memory of the night before hit her in a wave as opened her eyes, and she snuggled back
under the covers for several minutes, reliving what had happened, what it seemed to mean, how much
Justin seemed to really want her, understand her, know her.
She’d thought she’d been in love before—many times in the past. Over and over again, she’d go
into a full-fledged swoon over a guy, talking about him endlessly with her friends and waiting
pantingly at the phone for him to call.
It had never felt like this. She’d always been insecure with men in the past—wondering,
hoping, praying they’d like her.
This was so much different. She felt secure, certain, unquestioning about how much Justin cared
about her and wanted to be with her.
There had been no way to mistake what happened between them last night. Both of them had
been absolutely naked, absolutely exposed. No holding back. Completely open to each other.
And she realized that was what she’d always wanted and what had been always been missing
in her past relationships.
She wasn’t playing a role here. This was the real Raney, and she was with the real Justin. And
that was all she wanted.
Finally, she rolled out of bed, feeling a little sore between the legs. They’d been a little rough
last night. She felt a thrill as she remembered it. She took a shower, since there was a brunch this
morning, and then they’d scheduled some spa treatments to get ready for the wedding, and then there
would be the wedding itself and reception.
It was going to be a long day, but Anne was getting married. And she’d get to be with Justin. It
sounded pretty good to Raney.
The brunch was held on a large patio overlooking the ocean. The food was just as good as it
had been last night, and only about half the guests were present when Raney got her food from the
buffet and sat down next to Meg and East. It was breakfast. People tended to arrive at different times,
depending on how late they’d slept.
She’d done a search as soon as she’d arrived and realized Justin wasn’t here yet.
“How was last night?” Meg asked, her eyes doing a weird flutter from Raney’s face to her
food.
Raney felt like blushing but she frowned instead. “It was fine.”
“Anything…anything noteworthy happen?” Meg’s mouth was obviously trying to smile.
Raney sucked in a breath and stiffened her spine. “Does everyone know?” she whispered.
Meg burst into a grin. “I knew it. I knew it!”
Raney stared at her.
East was smiling very affectionately at Meg. “She had this whole thing planned out,” he told
Raney. “All morning she was rehearsing what she’d do when she saw you at breakfast. She’d act like
she knew about something from last night, and then see what you happened to reveal. I’m glad it
worked, or she’d have been terribly disappointed.” He leaned over to kiss Meg on the cheek.
Raney was torn between laughing and swatting at her friend, so she ended up doing both. “So
no one knows anything?” she asked, when the amusement had died down.
Meg shook her head. “Not that I’ve heard. But something did happen, didn’t it?”
Raney did blush this time. She stared at her plate. She would have been more willing to give
details had East not been at the table too.
“Where is he?” Meg asked, obviously reading the undercurrents and not needing any further
details at the moment.
“I don’t know. I guess he’s still sleeping.” Raney glanced around, fighting a sense of
disappointment that Justin hadn’t been as excited to see her again as she was him.
She sure as hell wouldn’t have been able to sleep through breakfast today—not if it meant a
delay in seeing Justin.
But that was silly. Men were different than women in that regard. They hadn’t had much sleep,
so he was probably taking advantage of as much as he could.
She would see him later. It would be fine.
***
Raney didn’t see him later.
In fact, at four o’clock in the afternoon, she still hadn’t seen him. After breakfast, she’d gotten a
text from him, which she’d jumped on in excitement.
Thank you for last night.
That was what he’d texted. That was all it said. She’d stared down at the words, wondering if
she was wrong to be disappointed. He was acknowledging her, acknowledging it had been good.
But she’d been hoping for a little bit more. What was she supposed to say in reply? You’re
welcome?
It was just a text, though, so she was determined not to blow it out of proportion. She’d begun to
text back, Yeah, it was…
She’d thought for a long time about the final word. It was fun? It was nice? It was mind-
blowing? It was life-changing?
She settled for great.
He’d sent her a smiley back.
She kept trying to rationalize it to herself—stop herself from reading into it, from assuming the
texts meant he wasn’t interested in anything more—but the truth was she was crushed.
His absence and his minimal contact felt significant. Either it was intentional—which could
only be bad news. Or it was because he hadn’t thought about her enough to bother making more of an
effort to connect with her—which would also be very bad news.
After she’d gotten the texts, she’d wandered for a while, trying to see if he was around. She
hadn’t been able to find him, but she ran into the cousin he was sharing the villa with, and he’d told
her that Justin had gotten up early. The cousin had no idea where he was.
No one seemed to know. He could have gone to do an errand or something, though, and pretty
soon Raney was too busy to look for him. She, Meg, and Anne had a few hours of spa treatments,
manicures, pedicures, and hair styling.
Then they had a late lunch, and it was time to start getting dressed for the wedding.
And Raney had still not seen or heard anything more from Justin.
So she was in her dress—a light, pale blue sun dress to suit the beach wedding—and she was
starting to wonder if she’d somehow imagined what happened last night.
Surely he would know she’d want to see him.
Surely he would want to see her too.
Surely he wasn’t so oblivious that he’d think everything would be the same between them after
what happened last night.
“I’m sure he’s just busy,” Meg said. She was fastening the back of Anne’s dress, but her eyes
had strayed over to where Raney stood, looking blindly into a mirror.
Raney turned back and smiled, not wanting anything to get in the way of Anne’s big day.
“Yeah.” She thought she would sound natural, but the one word cracked slightly.
Anne’s face twisted in concern. “Where’s my phone?”
Raney found it and handed it over to her.
“I’m going to ask Jake.” She was tapping out a text message as she talked.
“You don’t have to do that,” Raney began, feeling kind of embarrassed about the awkward
situation in the middle of a wedding. She’d obviously told her friends what had happened the night
before—they told each other everything—but she wished it wasn’t turning into a drama.
“Already done. I’m sure Meg is right though. He just had something to do this morning, and then
you were busy with us all afternoon.”
“Yeah.” Raney took a deep breath. “Maybe. But I would have thought I’d have heard a little
more from him. Don’t you think that would be normal?”
“Guys don’t always think of things the way we do,” Meg said, sounding as sensible as she
usually was. “It’s not that they don’t want to—it just sometimes doesn’t cross their mind. I bet it’s
fine. We always get this way and get all stressed out about a guy, only to find that there’s nothing to
be worried about at all.”
Raney tried to take comfort in this piece of good advice, but her gut was still telling her
something was off.
Anne was looking at her phone. “Jake said that Justin is with him, but he seems quiet.”
“Like something is wrong?” Raney asked, suddenly picturing Justin’s face so vividly and
worrying about him, even as she was worried that everything she’d thought she had with him might
slip through her fingers.
Anne was already texting again. They all waited for a minute until Jake’s text came back. “He
says it feels like something is wrong, but Justin says everything is fine.”
Raney’s face twisted. “See? I knew something was wrong. What could have happened
overnight? Do you think he’s regretting what happened and now he’s afraid he’s going to hurt my
feelings?”
“I can’t believe that,” Meg said, shaking her head. “I’m sure he’s totally into you.”
“Then why…” Raney cleared her throat when she saw Anne’s worried face. “It’s okay. I’m
sure we can work it out. Maybe it’s just next-morning weirdness. That happens a lot, right? I’m not
going to worry about it today.” When it looked like both Anne and Meg were going to object, Raney
added, “I mean it. It’s Anne’s wedding day, and we’re going to focus on that.”
The others seemed to realize she was serious, so they went back to getting ready. They laughed
and chatted and finished getting dressed, and Raney just ignored the tight ache in her gut.
Even if Justin wanted to pull back, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. It wasn’t like she was
that close to him. It wasn’t like he was an essential part of her life.
She’d only known him a few months, and they’d just spent one night together. Hardly anything.
She’d be over him before she knew it.
She looked at Justin’s text one more time, and then she turned off her phone completely,
determined not to think about it anymore.
When it was finally time to go down to the beach for the wedding ceremony, Raney had a bright
smile on her face.
No one was going to be upset about this thing, if she could help her. Not Anne. No Jake. Not
Meg or East. Not Justin. And not her.
It was a happy day, and she was going to make sure it remained that.
Music was already playing, and the guests were assembled. She saw Justin out of the corner of
her eye as he walked with Jake to the front of the guests. He was dressed in a gray suit, and he looked
so handsome and dear that her heart clenched.
There was also something about his stance, his posture that made her think he was tense.
Something was definitely wrong.
But there was no more time to think it through. It was time to process, and then she was standing
on the sand next to Meg while Anne and Jake took their vows. Anne’s face was radiant as she gazed
up at Jake, saying the traditional words. Jake was giving her a little smile—dry, tender, completely
absorbed by her.
The smile looked just like his brother’s, and it made Raney’s heart twist.
She was so happy that Anne and Jake had found each other, that their love and devotion and
commitment was being sealed before their family and friends right now. Raney tried to focus on that,
and not her uproar of feelings.
A couple of times, her eyes glanced over Justin, and whenever she did, he seemed to be looking
at her.
It made her feel weird and awkward because his expression was so sober and withdrawn.
She could only assume he wanted to let her down easy and he was worried she would be upset.
Of course, she would be upset. It felt like her heart had been stomped on. But she hid it because
Jake was kissing his bride and Anne was wrapping her arms around him in an enthusiastic hug.
Everyone was so happy, and Raney was determined to be happy too. The hardest part was
recessing back next to Justin, but she kept her eyes forward so it wouldn’t hurt too much.
The pictures that followed the ceremony seemed endless, and Raney stayed close to Meg and
East, so she wouldn’t be in a position to make awkward conversation with Justin. Finally, they were
able to go to the reception. Raney stopped by the bathroom first to settle her emotions and pull herself
together. She had a little clutch with her phone and her makeup, so she freshened her face and
smoothed her hair. When she came out she once more had a bright smile stretched across her face.
She just needed to make it through the next couple of hours, and it would be over. She could go
to her room and cry, and then she could leave the following day. She would ride back with Meg and
East. There was no way she was going to let Justin take her home, not if he was looking for a way to
let her down easy.
Thank you for last night. What the hell kind of thing was that to say?
The reception was absolutely gorgeous. It wasn’t a sit-down dinner, but it was held in a
ballroom with a wall of doors that opened onto the patio. There were twinkling lights all around, and
the sea air came wafting into the room, filling it with salty freshness. Everyone was well-dressed and
festive, and the music was wonderful. At any other time, Raney would have had an incredible time.
She would have been buzzing around the room, socializing. Instead, she spent some time pretending to
check her phone, which was still off, so she didn’t have to focus on conversation.
She was mostly just dreading the dance that would come soon—the one where the wedding
party joined the bride and groom, the one where she’d have to dance with Justin.
It was the last hurdle. She would just keep smiling. She could make it through the dance, and
then she could escape to the restroom for a while.
It was almost, almost done.
“Try to talk to him,” Meg whispered, as they watched Anne and Jake dance their first dance as
man and wife. “Just ask him what’s wrong. I bet it’s not as bad as we think.”
“How can it not be bad? You’ve seen how he’s acting. He’s not even smiling at me.”
“Well, then you might as well find out why. It will be better to know, right?”
They were being gestured at, which meant they needed to get up and go to the dance floor.
Raney sucked in a deep breath and summoned her courage. One dance, and the worst would be over.
She walked silently over to where Justin was waiting on the dance floor for her. He took her
hand and slipped his other arm into dance position.
He wasn’t really a bad dancer. His body felt lean and familiar. They moved together naturally.
It made the whole thing even harder.
Raney swallowed tightly and made herself focus up on his face. He was watching her, but his
eyes were guarded in a way that she knew couldn’t be good.
She remembered what Meg had said. Either way, it would be better to know. She cleared her
throat. “Did…” She couldn’t get any sort of question out until she’d cleared her throat. “Is everything
all right?”
His brows pulled together. “You got my message?” he asked. His voice was strange and stiff,
and he was studying her face closely now.
She blinked. He knew she’d gotten his message, as ridiculous as it was. So he must be implying
that his answer was in what the message had implied. It had been good, but a one-time thing. “Y—
yes. Of course.”
“So what do you think?”
What the hell did he expect her to think? She was suddenly angry and wanted to lash out at him,
but her instinct was always to smooth over conflict. She started to say it was fine, she’d had a
wonderful time, just so they could move past the moment with no drama.
But she remembered how it had felt to tell him the truth before, even at the risk of stirring
conflict—how freeing it had been—so she heard herself doing it again now. “Honestly, it…it wasn’t
what I was expecting.”
It felt like he was even tenser than before, but they didn’t break from the dance position. “Oh.
I’m sorry about that.”
She was starting to get annoyed, resentful. She’d had every reason to expect what happened last
night to mean more than a one-night stand. “So that’s it? We’re going to leave it at that?”
He opened his mouth but no words came out. His arm tightened slightly around her waist. After
a minute, he closed his eyes briefly and gave his head a little shake. “We can’t talk about this here.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, we can’t talk about this here. We can talk about it later.” He sounded almost cold.
It felt like a slap. She almost choked on a surge of hurt and something akin to betrayal. This was
not the Justin she’d known last night, not the Justin who’d shared his real self with her.
She didn’t even know who this man was.
She clenched her jaw because it felt like she might cry at any moment, and she kept it that way
until the dance finally ended.
She yanked her hand away from Justin’s and was suddenly so angry with him she was sure it
was reflected in her face. She opened her mouth to let it out, but remembered Anne and Jake just in
time.
“What were you going to say?” Justin asked, his brows coming together. He still looked stiff,
but something seemed to have softened just a little in him now.
It didn’t make a difference. And, since he’d asked, she wasn’t about to lie. “You’re a big ass,”
she told him in a hoarse whisper, whirling around to walk away from him.
She had to leave the room because the tears were going to come whether she wanted them to or
not. She couldn’t leave the reception, since they hadn’t gone through all the rituals yet, but she found
the restroom and ducked into the largest stall.
She closed the toilet and sat on it—then she covered her face with her hands and cried.
***
Twenty minutes later, Raney was still in the bathroom stall.
She’d stopped crying and had mopped her face with tissues from her clutch purse, but she
couldn’t bring herself to come out yet.
She heard the door open but wasn’t concerned about it. A couple of women had come in and out
as she’d been sitting here. They hadn’t bothered her.
But she gave a little jump when she heard Anne’s voice from outside the stall door. “Raney,
what happened?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly, standing up. If she opened the stall, though, Anne would know
she’d been crying. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. You’ve been crying in here.”
“How do you know?”
“I can hear it in your voice. What happened with Justin?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“He said he couldn’t talk about it now. We could talk about it later. But it’s pretty clear what
he’s going to say.”
“But I think there’s more going on than him just wanting to dump you, Raney. I’m sure there is.”
“He can’t dump me. We were never really together.”
“Don’t be silly. Everyone knows there’s something between you.”
“Obviously, there’s not.”
“Well, wait until you talk to him at least, before you get all upset.”
“Okay,” Raney said, hating the concern she heard in her friend’s voice. “I will. Give me a
minute, and I’ll come out.”
Anne was silent for a minute. Then she said, “Okay.”
Raney breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the restroom door close. It was silent in the room.
She was alone. She sniffed and wiped at her face with her ball of tissues, trying to pull herself
together so she could return to the reception.
It wasn’t fair to Anne, having a breakdown at her wedding like this.
She was about to open the stall door so she could check her hair and makeup in the mirror when
she heard the main door of the bathroom open again and someone walked in.
It was probably Meg or Anne, checking on her again.
This time, she was going to be fine when they asked her how she was.
“Raney?” The voice was low and male and familiar and right outside her bathroom stall.
She gave a little squeal of shock. “What are you doing in here?”
Justin cleared his throat. “I was told that you weren’t coming out of the stall.”
“That’s none of your business,” Raney said sharply. “This is the ladies’ room. It’s private. It’s
not your concern what I do in this stall.”
“Well, right now, you’re just standing there in front of the door. I can see your feet.”
“I don’t care what you can see. You shouldn’t be in here. It’s the ladies’ room. What if another
woman comes in? What if I was doing something private in here?”
“Are you doing anything private in there?”
“That’s not the point.” It was a ridiculous argument, but it actually made Raney feel a little
better, since Justin’s slightly dry tone sounded so much more like the real him. “You shouldn’t be in
here.”
“Well, I was told to come in here, so I imagine they’re guarding the door to keep anyone else
from coming in.”
“Who told you?”
“Everyone. Anne was about to snap my head off, and Meg said she was going to throw her
glass of water at me if I didn’t get in here immediately. Jake said he wouldn’t be the best man at my
wedding if I didn’t get my head out of my ass. I really don’t think I could have left the premises in one
piece if I hadn’t come in here.”
“Well, nobody is forcing you to say anything, now that you’re in here.” Her voice cracked
again, which she hated, since it seemed such an obvious sign of how upset she was.
Justin must have heard it too. “Oh, fuck, Raney, please don’t cry. It’s not that bad. I’ll get over
it.”
She almost choked. “What?” She blinked a few times. “What? What? You’ll get over it?”
“Yeah. I thought you were…why are you crying?”
“Why am I crying?” She was so angry now she was shaking with it. “Why do you think I’m
crying, you heartless bastard? You fucked me and then dropped me with a thanks-for-last-night. Why
wouldn’t I be upset?”
She heard him take a few raspy breaths from outside the stall. “I thought you got my message.”
“I did. You said thanks for last night and then you sent me a smiley face. Bastard.”
He was breathing even more heavily. “Damn it, Raney. I saw you on your phone earlier. Didn’t
you check your messages?”
“What?”
“Check your phone.” His voice was urgent now, strangely excited. “Have you not checked it?”
“Since when? It’s been off. Do you think I wanted it to ring during the ceremony?”
“If it’s off, why were you…Never mind. Just turn it on and check the messages.”
Raney’s mind was in too much of a blur to really predict what was about to happen, but her
hands were trembling as she opened her clutch and pulled out her phone. She had to wait for it to
power on. When it finally did, she saw that she had a new voice mail message.
“There’s a message from you on it,” she said in a wobbly voice. The time showed he must have
left it right before the wedding ceremony. She pressed play and raised the phone to her ear.
“Are you listening to it?”
“Yeah.”
And so she heard what he said. Everything he said.
“Raney, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I’ve been avoiding you today. Last night was the best night of
my life. Hands down. I’ve never had another that even came close. It felt like all my dreams had come
true. And then I woke up and I convinced myself they were just dreams, that I was just tilting at
windmills again, like I have all my life. Maybe I am. Maybe you aren’t in the same place I am. I don’t
know. I know we both thought it was good last night, and maybe you think that’s all it was. Maybe you
think it was just a wedding fling. I know we’re really different. I know I’m into geeky stuff that only
bores you. I know I’ve been kind of rude to you because I was trying so hard not to fall any harder. I
know you said you weren’t looking for Prince Charming last night, so you probably aren’t thinking
relationship at all. So maybe all I’m doing now is making a fool of myself. But I want to be brave,
and the wedding is about to start, so this is the only thing I can do right now. I want to be with you,
Raney, for so much longer than just one night. I’ve never met anyone with such a sweet heart and such
a bright, honest soul and such courage. Such courage. I know I’m the last kind of guy you probably
want, but I have to at least try. So this is me trying. And—shit, Jake and I have to go down now. Sorry
about this long, embarrassing ramble.”
She made a little sobbing sound as the message completed. “I hadn’t heard this,” she gasped.
“You thought…you thought…”
“I thought you had, and you were avoiding me, so I assumed that had to be bad news. Then you
said it wasn’t what you were expecting.” His voice from outside the stall was hoarse and thick. “So I
treated you…like a big ass.”
She gave another little sob.
The door moved slightly, and she realized he was leaning against it. “I’m so sorry, Raney. For
everything. For being a big ass for way too long. It all seemed to be falling out the way it always has
for me. It seems like that’s the story of my life, you know. Nothing I want the most ends up being real.
I fell so hard for you, and then Anne said you wouldn’t ever be interested in me. And then last night I
started to think it might be possible, that maybe you were, but then today seemed to confirm that it was
just a mirage all along.” He gave a long, hoarse sigh. “I’m so sorry, Raney. I’ve gone about this
whole thing with my normal abysmal social and emotional skills. But I was so afraid that you were
just another windmill.” The last words seemed to be forced out of him.
Something exploded in Raney’s chest, and she unconsciously raised a hand to rest it on the stall
door, where she could feel him leaning. “I’m not a windmill,” she breathed. “I’m a giant.”
It was silent on the other side of the door, except the sound of Justin’s urgent breathing.
Justin made a choked sound and moved against the door. “Do you mean it? For real?”
“Yes. I’m really a giant,” she repeated, more confidently now. Her heart and mind and vision
were all spinning with rising joy, as she understood everything he was saying, everything that it
meant.
He gave a half-laugh, half-gasp. “I think we need to work on our analogy. You’re about as far
from a giant as possible.”
Raney giggled as all the emotional tension was suddenly released. “But you know what I mean.
I’m real. Justin, I’m real. And, if you set out to get me…” She took a shaky breath. “…you will.”
There was another stretch of silence—just more ragged breathing from both of them. Then
finally, Justin said, “Okay, if you don’t unlock this stall right now I’m going to be climbing over the
top of it to get to you.”
She had the door unlocked before he finished his sentence, and then he was hauling her into his
arms. And she was burying her face in his suit jacket—which smelled exactly like him—and he was
holding her so tightly she was concerned for the state of her ribs.
Finally, he drew back, and his expression was ablaze the way it had been the night before,
hungry and urgent and needy and possessive and filled with something like awe.
“Just so you know,” she said, wiping a few silly tears away. “I don’t tend to check my phone
during a wedding.”
His mouth twisted in half-amusement, half-embarrassment. “I saw you pretending to be on it
earlier. I didn’t know you were faking it. Then you said you got the message.”
“I meant your first horrible message this morning,” she gasped, giving him a light swat on the
chest. “God, what a mess we both made. I was so completely crushed because I thought you were
dumping me.”
“Oh, God, Raney, can you forgive me for this morning? I should never have hurt you that way,
even if you didn’t want the same thing I wanted. I just still had trouble believing I’d ever be important
enough to hurt you.”
“Well, you are. You can. So don’t do it again.”
With a muffled groan, he took her face in his hands and kissed her with almost clumsy
desperation, and she returned the kiss with every bit as much urgency. They were just starting to
really get into the kiss when there was a tap on the restroom door.
Meg poked her head in. “Is everything okay in there?”
Raney pulled out of the kiss and kind of collapsed on Justin’s chest, gasping and giggling. “Yes.
It’s fine.”
“Okay, good. I’m glad. But don’t do too much making up, all right? We still need to cut the cake
and throw the bouquet. Then you all can have some real private time—hopefully somewhere other
than a bathroom.”
“Okay. We’ll be out in just a minute.”
She gave Meg an emotional smile, and she saw the feeling reflected on her friend’s face before
the door closed again.
Raney and Justin looked at each other for a minute, and then Justin pulled her into another tight
hug. She felt safe and protected and loved and home.
“I’ve heard through the grapevine just now, when they were all yelling at me,” he murmured
against her hair, “that you think I don’t really like you.”
She sniffed and couldn’t contain her smile. “That’s what I thought. Is it true?”
“You know very well it’s not true.”
She pulled back again so she could look him in the eye. Both of them were grinning like fools.
“So you do? Like me, I mean?”
“I do.”
Epilogue
Four months later, Raney stretched out on a lounge chair next to Justin’s pool, put down her copy of
Return of the King, and closed her eyes behind her sunglasses.
She was almost done with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and finishing it was quite an
accomplishment. She’d enjoyed the movies, which she’d watched with him in extended versions, but
the books were slower and it took some effort for her to make it through them.
Justin would be home soon, and she was already getting excited about the prospect, but it had
been a long week at work so she wasn’t opposed to taking it easy in the sun for a while before he got
here.
It turned out that Justin’s job was quite lucrative. Very lucrative. She’d known he had a good
job, but she hadn’t realized how good before they’d gotten together, and it would likely have
intimidated her if she’d known. His house wasn’t huge and it didn’t have an ocean view, but it was
very nice with a good-sized yard and this lovely pool. In Malibu, this piece of property didn’t come
cheap.
She was still living with her parents, since she simply couldn’t afford a place of her own in this
area, and it didn’t seem worth trying to find new roommates at this point—not since things with Justin
were going so well.
She didn’t want to get ahead of herself. They’d been together for four months now, but that
wasn’t really long in the scheme of things. In her past relationships, she’d started planning the
wedding after the first date, and she wasn’t going to do that now. Meg kept telling her not to be stupid
about rushing things, and she was taking that piece of advice seriously.
But still…
She thought it was possible that it wouldn’t be that long before she was living with Justin, and
she didn’t think it was a good use of her time and resources to try to move out of her parents’ house
right now.
Justin had been out of town on a work trip for a full week. It was the longest they’d been apart
since Anne and Jake’s wedding, and she’d been rather taken aback by how much she’d been missing
him. She was so excited about seeing him that she’d had to come over here early so she could wait
for him. It shouldn’t be long now, though. His plane had landed almost ninety minutes ago. Hopefully,
traffic wouldn’t be too bad.
He better not get stuck in traffic. That could delay him for another full hour.
She had her eyes closed when she heard the door to the house open behind her. She smiled. He
was home.
Because of her sunglasses, he wouldn’t be able to tell if she was awake or not, although her
eyes were opened and watching him when he walked over to her. She kept her body fully relaxed, but
she saw him gazing at her as he approached.
He wore a comic-book t-shirt and a beat-up pair of gray trousers. His hair was sticking up
strangely, so he must have been tugging at it during the flight.
He was adorable, and he was Justin, and he was finally almost with her again.
She couldn’t keep her lips from tilting up just a little at the sight of him.
Justin smiled back and lowered himself into the lounge chair beside her. “That’s a very naughty
suit.”
“I thought maybe you’d like it.” She laughed at the dryness of his tone, but then she frowned as
Justin leaned back in his chair. “What are you doing over there?”
His face conveyed fond amusement, but he was obviously trying to look cool and aloof. “You
looked like you were relaxing, and I didn’t want to disturb you.”
With a little huff, Raney rectified the matter by climbing on top of him as he reclined in his
lounge. His body was warm and lean and familiar, and she’d missed him so much. “You did disturb
me,” she murmured, her voice a little textured because she was starting to think about sex. “I was
reading my book.”
He glanced over at the table beside them. “Where are you at?”
“Sam thinks Frodo is dead.”
“That’s a good part. Maybe you want to keep reading.”
She giggled. “I think I can wait. This is more important.”
Justin reached up to take off her sunglasses. His hazel eyes gazed up at her with a sudden blaze
of heat and tenderness that made her chest ached with matching feeling.
Having straddled his hips, she stroked his chest over his shirt and then slid her hands up to cup
his face. She tried to keep up their playfulness, but she just wasn’t good enough at hiding her feelings.
“Oh, Justin, I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’ve missed you too.”
They held the intense gaze for a long time, and Raney knew they were in the same place. She
didn’t have to worry about being stupid in this. Justin felt for her exactly what she felt for him. They
hadn’t said the words, but she was sure they would soon. She wasn’t letting her imagination get out of
control in this.
It was real.
She could have said it herself, but she was waiting for him to say it first. She thought it was
important for him—for both of them—for that to happen.
Feeling happy and sexy again, Raney gave him what she hoped was a naughty smile. “Did you
notice my new bikini?”
There was a smile in his voice that matched his face as he replied, “Didn’t I just tell you it was
naughty?” His hands had settled on her hips.
She straightened up so he could see her bikini better. “Look at these little ties. I thought they
were a very good features. It’s very easy to take off.”
Justin chuckled, although his body had tightened with obvious interest as his eyes crawled
heatedly over her body in the little purple suit. “How convenient.”
“Although, I think it was made for women with bigger boobs than me.” She adjusted the top,
which was a little loose over her breasts. “It keeps slipping down.”
He raised his hands to cup and squeeze the features in question. “You’ll hear no complaints
from me about the slippage. And your body is absolutely perfect.”
She smiled down on him, feeling beautiful in the face of his possessive, awe-filled gaze. She
heard his short intake of breath when she shifted around his hips.
He gently pulled on the string around her neck and then on the other tie between her shoulder
blades. The top fell away from her skin, leaving her breasts bare to his view.
She could feel him hardening beneath her as he stared, and her own body reacted to the look.
He raised his hands again, and her nipples tightened as he twirled them between his fingers and
thumbs.
Her head fell back as his touch triggered ripples of pleasure. “I guess this means you don’t want
to wait until we get inside.” The pool and yard were private with a tall fence and trees along the
perimeter, so none of the neighbors would be able to see them.
“I don’t think I can wait a minute longer.” He slid his hands down her sides to her hips. His
fingers lingered on the two strings tied into bows, the only things keeping the bottom of her suit on. He
gave her a questioning look.
She nodded her permission, her breath accelerating with her heartbeat, and Justin pulled the
strings, freeing her of the rest of her bikini.
He raked his eyes over her completely naked body, and she felt him grow even harder beneath
her. She rubbed herself against the bulge in his trousers.
With a low groan, he pulled her down into a deep, hungry kiss. She opened for him eagerly,
squirming against him as he stroked her skin and plunged his tongue into her mouth.
She loved the way his whole body had tightened like a coil, like he was already having to hold
himself back from releasing all his deep need for her. The obvious knowledge that he wanted her
every bit as much as she wanted him washed over her, soothing her heart and firing up her senses
even more.
She was gasping when she tore her mouth away and started clawing at his tacky t-shirt. “Why
are you wearing so many clothes?” she grumbled, trying to get it off over his head.
With a chuckle, he helped her until together they’d pulled the shirt completely off. As she
rubbed his chest with shameless enthusiasm, he said in a thick voice, “Should I have torn off my
clothes the minute I got home?”
She was already working on the button on his pants. “Well, that would have helped. I was
thoughtful enough to make it easy for you, and you’re making me fight to get you naked.”
Amusement and tenderness were obvious in his voice and his touch as he pulled her into a hug,
shaking with laughter. “I’m sorry,” he murmured, burying his face against her neck. “I’ll do better next
time.”
His response triggered a matching emotion in Raney. She hugged him back, clutching at him
with naked passion. Her heart overflowed to such an extent that it seemed to spill out of her mouth.
“Justin, Justin, Justin!”
After a minute, Justin’s arousal seemed to push him into new urgency. He released Raney and
together they managed to free his erection.
He hissed at the first contact of his bare ass with the lounge chair.
Raney giggled.
He made a face but, by that point, they were both too urgent for much teasing. He lifted his shaft
into position as Raney aligned herself above it, and they both moaned as she lowered herself on top
of him, sheathing him with her body.
“Fuck, Raney,” Justin muttered, arching his hips up as she squeezed around him. “Fuck, you feel
so good.”
He felt so good, so right, so home inside her that she could hardly handle the feelings. Her head
fell backward, her mouth opening in a silent cry of pleasure. She couldn’t imagine how she’d gone so
many years of her life without him and not have recognized the loss.
Then she began to ride him, bracing herself with her hands on his chest. Her motion wasn’t
slow or controlled. She was too far gone to do anything but bounce with wanton abandon above him,
taking him exactly as she wanted to, knowing with full certainty that he wanted, needed, to be taken by
her.
Justin groaned as she moved above him, his face twisting with obvious desire. The muscles of
his belly and thighs were tensing up, and his hips were starting to buck up into her motion.
“Fuck, Raney,” he bit out, his hands clamping down on her hips. “Slow down. Slow down or
I’ll—“
She mewed out a wordless response but didn’t slow down. She couldn’t slow down. It was
like some force had taken possession of her body, demanding that she bring to fruition that powerful
feeling in her heart and body. Realizing he was losing control just as quickly as she was, she stuck
one of her hands down to where they were joined and massaged her clit rather clumsily.
Her inner walls clamped down around him even more tightly, and Justin released a hoarse burst
of sound. His hips started working frantically, thrusting up into her bouncing. “Raney, Raney, fuck!”
“Oh God!” she gasped, her spine arching dramatically as the orgasm hit her with both speed
and power. “Justin!”
He came with her. He obvious couldn’t stop it. He roared as he lost control, jerking his hips
and tightly holding her pelvis down on his.
Her body kept squeezing around him as she continued to rub her clit. He released inside her in
several hard spurts until both of their spasms finally faded.
She collapsed on top of him, slumping against his chest and giving him sloppy kisses in the
delicious pleasure of having somehow lived out everything she was feeling. He returned the embrace,
holding her close as his body began to relax too.
When her mind finally came down from the surge of need and visceral compulsion, she was
overtaken with a wave of amusement at how fast they’d both lost control. She shook in his arms,
trying not to laugh too much, just in case he might be sensitive.
He tightened his arms around her and gave another groan. “Well, that was pathetic,” he said
very dryly, although there was a smile in his voice.
She stopped trying to stifle her giggles. “No, it wasn’t. It was wonderful.”
“We lasted all of two minutes.”
Raney raised her face and gazed down on him with both laughter and deep affection. “We
missed each other.”
“Clearly.” Despite his dry tone, he didn’t look particularly disappointed. He looked sated and
relaxed and just as happy as she was.
“We can try again this evening. But right now we probably need to start get ready. The others
will be here in an hour or so.”
Justin stroked the length of her hair, continuing the caress until he’d cupped her bottom. “Okay.
In just a minute.”
Raney shifted above him, letting him slip out of her body and settling herself more comfortably
against his side. She rested her head on his chest and rubbed his belly. “Sounds good. I already made
a salad and the steaks and bread and beer are all ready to go.”
Jake, Anne, Meg, and East were coming over for a cookout this evening, but it was a very low
stress get-together so she wasn’t in a big hurry to leave Justin’s arms.
She was sighing in pleasure when she started to notice something change about his body. It was
very easy for her to notice, since she was pressed up so tightly against it in the lounge chair.
He was tensing up again, but not with desire like before. It was like he was uncomfortable or
something.
She lifted her head to look down at him. “Am I taking up all your room?” she asked. “I can
move to my own chair if—“
“No,” he interrupted, tightening his arm around her. “Don’t you dare go anywhere. I had to go a
week without holding you. It wasn’t any fun.”
She smiled and settled against him again, but she still sensed that tension in his body. “Then
what’s the matter? You feel like…I don’t know…tense or something.”
He released a slow sigh. “I’m reminding myself that you’re not a windmill.”
This surprised her so much she lifted her head again so she could study his face. He still looked
fond but now he also looked dryly self-deprecating with a note of tension underlying it. She frowned,
“What are you talking about? You know very well that I’m real and I’m yours.”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat and lifted one hand to cup her face. “But I wanted to say
something, and now I’m all nervous about it.”
Her heart started to accelerate, although she still quite obliviously had no idea what was about
to happen. “What did you want to say? Is something wrong?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Nothing is wrong, Raney. Do you really not know what I
want to say?” He cleared his throat. “I love you. I love you. I love you so much it feels like the sky
has blown off of my heart. That’s what I wanted to say.”
She stared down at him, the rush of joy so forceful and so overwhelming that she couldn’t
speak, move, breathe for a few moments.
Justin shifted restlessly. “That’s, uh, okay, isn’t it?”
When it finally caught up to her, she threw herself back into his arms with a little sob of joy.
“Of course, it’s okay.” She was pressing kisses all over his face as she spoke. “I love you too, Justin.
I love you, I love you, I love you.”
He groaned in relief and a deeper feeling that matched hers, and his arms tightened almost
painfully around her.
“And I’m hoping you have some vacation time coming,” he murmured against her hair.
“What for?”
“Because I want to take you somewhere. Wherever you want. Any place on your list you want
to start with. We’re going to do them all eventually, but you can pick out one to cross off first.”
And then she was so happy she was crying with it, so much that Justin finally said that he hoped
this was a good thing. But Raney could hardly process the joy and satisfaction she felt—the sense of
being fully known and valued by this amazing man—so the only thing she could do was keep kissing
him.
They didn’t have sex again, but it was quite a while before they managed to stop hugging and
kissing and mumbling out a lot of embarrassing endearments.
And then later their friends came over, and Jake and Justin grilled the steaks, while East made
them all laugh by telling a funny story about playing piano in the bar the previous night. Meg had been
there, since she liked to see how he was doing with his music, and he’d had a succession of
customers who’d all wanted him to play the most sappy, maudlin songs instead of his original music,
which he was now working hard on. As he told the story, East sang parts of all the requested songs in
exaggerated emotion, until all of them were roaring with laughter.
Then East said, without changing the tenor of his storytelling, that he’d been so overcome with
sappiness that he’d had to ask Meg to marry him, and she’d said yes.
They sat for a few seconds, their minds catching up to what he’d just said. Raney covered her
mouth with her hand and looked over at Meg, who was sheepishly pulling out her left hand and
showing them the ring.
So then there was more laughter and excitement and congratulations before they finally got a
chance to eat.
Afterwards, Anne came over to ask if her new bathing suit made her butt look too big, and Meg
told her not to be stupid.
Raney was so happy she almost started to cry again, sitting there in her chair as the sun started
to set.
Then Meg told her not to be stupid too.
Raney didn’t think it was stupid. It just felt like they’d all come so far. When Justin came over
to kiss her and whisper that he loved her into her ear and then said she might start thinking about
whether she’d want to follow Meg and East’s example sometime soon, Raney knew that they really
had. Come this far.
It had taken time and a lot of effort and love and courage.
But it had also happened in only one night.
***
If you enjoyed One Night with the Best Man, you might check out the other One Night novellas. An
excerpt from One Night with her Bodyguard can be found on the following pages.
If you want to keep up with my new releases and sales, you can sign up for my newsletter through
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Excerpt from One Night with her Bodyguard
Claire Kenyon was getting a second cup of coffee when Michael barged into her apartment without
knocking.
She’d finished her first cup in the process of dressing, so she wore nothing but a black bra and
little red cotton panties.
She choked in surprise at the sight of Michael Lyle where he wasn’t supposed to be.
He was big—more than six inches taller than her with a broad-shouldered, athletic build—and
he seemed to take up all the room in her small kitchen. He wore his normal outfit of dark trousers and
a dress shirt.
“Hey! What the hell are you—”
Before she could finish the outraged exclamation, Michael had pushed her backward into the
pantry.
His icy blue eyes were dead serious. “Don’t move. Stay here.”
Then he shut the pantry door in her face.
Michael had been the head of her father’s personal security team for almost six years. She
hadn’t lived with her father since she was twenty-one, but she was over at his place a lot, so she’d
known Michael for a long time. She’d seen him more often than usual for the last two months, ever
since her father had received a threat aimed at her and had ordered his team to watch her around the
clock.
Being an extreme introvert, Claire was often tongue-tied around people she didn’t know, but
she hadn’t been shy around Michael for years. In fact, she’d been known to bark like an obedient dog
when he told her to “stay” in that curt way.
She didn’t this morning. His expression—invariably stoic—was tenser than normal, and he had
a gun in his hand.
Something was wrong.
Her pantry was a walk-in, but there wasn’t a lot of extra room. It was also pitch black, since the
light switch was on the outside.
She didn’t particularly like to be trapped in small, dark places, but fortunately claustrophobia
wasn’t one of her neuroses. She could handle the lack of light and space. What she couldn’t handle
was knowing there was danger somewhere out there but having no idea what it was.
She was trembling ten minutes later when Michael finally opened the door.
She blinked several times as her eyes adjusted to the light. When she could see clearly, her gaze
landed on Michael’s clean-shaven, square-jawed face and his ever-unrevealing expression.
His eyes scanned her closely as she squinted up at him.
She assumed he was just checking her condition, but she was uncomfortably aware that she was
still just wearing her underwear.
He turned around without speaking and left the kitchen. In someone else, the abrupt departure
might indicate rudeness, but Michael was just being himself.
He never spoke unless he had something to say. It was a quality she appreciated in him.
When he returned, she snatched for the fuzzy snowflake robe he’d brought her from the
bathroom.
“Remember, I’m just part of the furniture,” he murmured, avoiding looking at her until she’d
tied the robe closed.
That was his refrain—whenever she complained to him that a member of the security team was
hovering or that she needed more space. They were part of the furniture, he always told her, and she
should treat them as such.
She wanted to snarl every time she heard it.
“I don’t care if you saw me in my underwear,” she said. “Just tell me what’s going on.” Her
voice was a little wobbly since she hadn’t yet caught her breath.
“Everything is fine. No emergency.” He poured coffee into the mug she’d left on the counter
earlier, added the cream, and handed it to her.
She held it with both hands as she took a sip, the liquid warm and comforting as she
swallowed. Then, “Well, what did you think was the matter that caused you to stick me in the
pantry?”
He put a hand on her back and pushed her out of the kitchen and into the dining area, where he
pulled out a chair for her at the table.
She sat because her knees were a little shaky. Not because he’d bossed her into it.
“Tell me what the hell is going on,” she demanded as he sat down across from her.
There had been a time when she’d hated Michael more than anyone else she knew. She’d
believed he was cold, pushy, obnoxious, and utterly heartless.
Now she just thought he was pushy and sometimes obnoxious. She didn’t hate him anymore.
“You work for me,” she insisted when he remained silent. “Tell me.”
“I work for your father,” he corrected.
“But I’m not a child. I’m twenty-five years old, and I have the right to know about something
that affects my life—as this clearly does. Tell me.”
“There was someone unauthorized in the building,” he explained, his tone as calm and
impersonal as always.
Michael wasn’t a mean man, no matter what she’d thought five years ago. In fact, in the time
she’d known him, she’d sometimes noticed him being surprisingly considerate—like when he’d
searched for hours for the lost cat that belonged to the daughter of one of her father’s housekeeping
staff. He hadn’t stopped looking until he’d found the cat.
She knew he was a good man in his own detached way, but never once had he been friendly
with her—or even just casually good-natured. No matter his mood, no matter how she behaved, no
matter the situation, he was always, always professional.
“Who was it?” she asked. Her hands weren’t shaking quite as much now, and her voice had
returned to normal, much to her relief. She didn’t like feeling weak and silly with Michael. He was
the kind of man who respected strength.
“It was the ex-boyfriend of a woman on the floor below yours. He’d snuck in to see her since
she wasn’t answering his calls. It had nothing to do with you.”
She nodded and kept sipping her coffee as Michael checked something on his smart phone. She
assumed he’d gotten a text with further information.
Since she was feeling better, she got up to pour Michael a cup of coffee as well. She’d learned
not to ask, since he would just say “no” to the offer, but he would always drink it when she just set it
in front of him.
As she took her seat again, she realized her robe was gaping open, showing a lot of cleavage
and a hint of lacy bra.
Not that Michael would ever leer at her—he was evidently completely impervious to any
potential feminine charms she possessed—but still… She pulled the robe closed.
***
You can find out more about One Night with her Bodyguard
About Noelle Adams
Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she
hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia,
where she teaches English, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very
spoiled cocker spaniel.
She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in
graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary
romances. For more information, please check out her website:
Other Books by Noelle Adams
One Hot Night: Three Contemporary Romance Novellas
A Negotiated Marriage
Listed
Bittersweet
Missing
Revival
Seducing the Enemy
Playing the Playboy
Holiday Heat
Married for Christmas
Salvation
Engaging the Boss
Excavated
A Baby for Easter
Duty Bound
Overexposed
Honor Bound
Road Tripping
One Night with her Boss
Stripping the Billionaire
Forever Bound
A Family for Christmas
One Night with her Roommate
Reconciled for Easter
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