You May Kiss the Groomsman

by Samantha Chase

  They were both quiet and Daniel wondered if Tyler was going to answer.

  But he was in no way prepared for the response.

  “Josie and I…it isn’t…we haven’t…we’re not…”

  “You aren’t sleeping with her?” Daniel blurted out much louder than he should have.

  “Hey! No need to say it like that!” Ty snapped. “Not everything is about sex, you know.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  Tyler jumped to his feet. “You know what? I think I’ll just drive home. I should have known better than to come here and expect you to be anything but judgmental.”

  Daniel rose and was in front of him before he could move. “That’s not fair! I’m not being judgmental, Ty; I’m just trying to understand! I come home to you doing a lackluster proposal to a woman you’re never with! Mom badgered the poor girl all through dinner last night about a wedding that Josie clearly didn’t want to talk about! Now you throw in the no sex thing, and even you have to admit it sounds bizarre!”

  Even in the dim lighting, Daniel could see the tension on his brother’s face and how hard he was trying not to argue–which seemed ridiculous for a lawyer.

  “How can you marry someone you’ve never even slept with?” he asked, desperate for an explanation that made some kind of sense. “And before you start spouting off some nonsense about waiting until you’re married, I’m going to call bullshit on that too. I may have been gone for a long time and I may not know you as well as I should, but I do know you’re not that guy.”

  Tyler’s expression went neutral and it was a little…unnerving.

  “Maybe it wasn’t my call to make,” he said simply.

  “So you’re saying Josie’s the one holding out?” he asked incredulously, because…yeah. He’d kissed her and that woman was way too passionate to be okay with waiting.

  Was she?

  Well…damn. Now he wasn’t so sure.

  “If you’re so bothered by this,” Tyler was saying, interrupting his thoughts, “then no one’s asking you to be involved. No one even knew you were going to be back so you weren’t part of the equation.”

  It was surprising how much that hurt.

  “Mom’s under the impression that I’m going to be a groomsman.”

  “Yeah, well, Mom’s not in charge,” Tyler countered before yawning broadly.

  “Try telling her that. Like I said, last night she did nothing but talk about her plans for the wedding.”

  Tyler let out a long breath. “I’ll talk to her.” Then he yawned again and there was no way Daniel was going to let him drive like that.

  “Come on. You’re crashing here.” He motioned to the stairs before leading the way. “I haven’t had the time to fully furnish and considering it’s a rental, I didn’t want to do too much, but there is a bed in the guest room and an attached bathroom.”

  “Thanks.”

  At the top of the stairs, they stopped and Daniel pointed to the room. “You need anything?”

  “Nah. I’m so damn tired I’m practically asleep. But I’ll get up early enough to go home and change.”

  There was an awkward silence. “You know it’s just a job, right? I get that you’re trying to impress your bosses, but…not at the expense of your life.”

  With a low snort, Tyler turned toward the guest room. “Says the man who risked his life for fifteen years.” He walked away and shut the door behind him, leaving Daniel standing there alone.

  “Well that went well,” he murmured before going to his own room and shutting the door.

  7

  “When you fall in love, the natural thing to do is give yourself to it.”

  Unknown

  “Absolutely, Mrs. Simmons. We can certainly accommodate a few extra people for the tasting,” Josie assured her client who had called with a last-minute request.

  “Thank you so much, Josie! It’s rare that both grandmothers want to go anywhere these days, but when Kelly told them about the tasting, they begged to join her. I thought it was incredibly sweet.”

  “It absolutely is.” She glanced down at her calendar. “Then I’ll plan to see all of you on the tenth at three.”

  “Wonderful! And thank you again.”

  “Our pleasure. Have a great afternoon!” As soon as she hung up, Leanna was standing in front of her desk, staring down at her. “What?”

  “You got here before me this morning and either you’ve been on the phone or I have, but it’s lunchtime and I have to know what happened last night!”

  She knew this conversation was coming and she wished she had something different to say. Standing, she grabbed her purse. “Okay, where are we going to eat?”

  “Here. I ordered us lunch and it just got delivered and it’s set up in the tasting room.”

  “Perfect.” Five minutes later they were sitting and enjoying a couple of grilled chicken salads.

  “So?” Lea prompted.

  “He showed up a little after ten and he was in a pissy mood and basically made sure I knew how hard he’s been working and how much he needs his sleep.”

  “Ugh. Such a baby.”

  She nodded. “I know. I told him how this was not what I signed on for–the whole family aspect and how he keeps sticking me with them while he stays at work.”

  “Good for you! And what did he say?”

  “Well…”

  Groaning, Lea balled up her napkin and threw it at her. “You caved, didn’t you?”

  There was no way to deny it. “I caved.”

  “Josie!”

  “I know! I know! You have no idea how much I loathe myself right now!”

  “So stop loathing and put an end to this!”

  “He’ll lose his job! I can’t be responsible for that!”

  “You’re not! Tyler is! He got this job under all kinds of false pretenses and he knows it! Now he’s going to try to guilt you into doing something you know is wrong. Don’t do it, Jos. You’re better than this!” She paused. “And what about Daniel?”

  “What about him?” Because Josie had been desperately trying not to think about Daniel. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw his face, felt his lips on hers, and wished more than anything that they had met at some other time. If she and Tyler had never started this venture, meeting Daniel would have been a dream come true. But now it was so complicated that she knew nothing would ever come of it.

  And it bothered her.

  A lot.

  “I know the two of you just met, but the fact that you’re sharing sexy kisses and he’s licking frosting from your lips tells me that there’s something there! Don’t you want to explore that? There’s your potentially real relationship!”

  But she was already shaking her head. “If we met a month ago…”

  “No,” Lea said firmly. “No, I refuse to let you finish that statement.”

  Her sad laugh was out before she could stop it. “You can refuse to hear it but it doesn’t make it any less true. Nothing can happen with Daniel because…because it can’t. Maybe if their family never knew any of this, it would be different. But they do. And if I pursued anything with him, his parents would always look at me as the girl who dated both their sons.” She shook her head. “And if things were to go really well and we fell in love and wanted to get married, I’d be the girl who was engaged to both their sons.” Picking up her fork, she pushed her salad around a bit. “And he’s already told me that he’s not looking to get married. He’s starting a business and that’s his priority right now, so it’s better to just let it go. I’m going to make a real effort not to be alone with him again and I told Tyler that I will not be going to any family dinners unless he is already there and waiting and I get to hold his phone so he can’t take any calls.”

  “Wow. Part of me loves that you told him that, but the other part of me still thinks you’re making a huge mistake. Friendship or not, job or no job, this is putting way too much pressure on your life and happiness and it isn’t right.”

&n
bsp; Josie would have to agree, but…she would see this through.

  “I’m actually thinking of just pushing the envelope and telling Tyler we need to just go to the courthouse ASAP and do it. This way it takes the pressure off from his family and we can start our year sooner rather than later.”

  “Please don’t,” Lea begged. “Maybe–given some time–you’ll both see how it’s not necessary.” Before she could say anything else, her assistant Emilie was standing in the doorway. “What’s up, Em?”

  “We just got our delivery from Ashley’s Baking Supply and it’s messed up. I told the driver to wait because I knew you’d want to come and check it out. Sorry to interrupt your lunch.”

  Lea wiped her mouth and stood. “It’s fine, it’s fine.” She looked down at Josie. “Promise me you’ll think about it.”

  “I promise.” And unfortunately, it was all she could do. Her appetite was gone, and she leaned back and tried to think logically about what the repercussions would be if she called the whole thing off.

  It was highly likely that Tyler would lose his job if they found out he lied, but maybe if he said she was the one to have a change of heart they’d be okay with it. Plus, once the promotion is secured, it’s not likely they’d demote him, right?

  Okay, feeling slightly better about that, she thought about what would happen if they went through with it. It was only a year out of her life–something she was definitely going to want in writing from a lawyer and not something Tyler writes up himself. A year could go by very fast, and with her work schedule, it would feel even faster. It wasn’t like she had an active dating life so…she doubted she was suddenly going to find someone who wanted to date her.

  Maybe Daniel does…

  Yeah, he was suddenly the elephant in the room that she couldn’t ignore.

  There was no doubt he was attracted to her and the feeling was definitely mutual, but…there was no guarantee it was going to go anywhere and if it didn’t and she screwed Tyler out of his dream job, she’d really hate herself.

  But what if it did and Tyler got to keep his job? Shouldn’t I at least try?

  Sighing, Josie pushed her lunch away. When she and the girls came up with the idea for Meet Me at the Altar, she was the one who believed in it from the get-go. In her mind, there was no way they could fail, and she was the one to encourage Skye and Lea to take the chance. As the business grew and they had to invest more, she never second-guessed the decision to put more money into the business. She was confident and seemingly unafraid to take a risk.

  But that was business and this was personal.

  And she had a history of making a bit of a mess of her personal life.

  Something she still blamed her brother and his lousy example for.

  Of course, now she knew what a healthy relationship looked like thanks to her friends–and Elliott (albeit begrudgingly)–and she had somehow managed to get involved in the most unproductive and seemingly unhealthiest kind.

  So much of this wouldn’t be an issue if Tyler’s family hadn’t shown up that night. If that hadn’t happened…well…Josie would like to think she and Tyler would have talked things through and discussed her doubts and uncertainties. But they were there to witness this charade and it complicated everything.

  And she could only imagine what would happen if her own family–beyond Skylar–found out.

  It was a miracle they hadn’t already.

  For all the wedding talk at dinner Monday night, she couldn’t believe Mrs. Alexander hadn’t reached out to the Sullivans yet.

  “And now that I just put it out into the universe, that will be the next nightmare to come my way,” she murmured.

  “Who’s having a nightmare?” Lea asked as she walked back in and sat down, immediately digging into her salad.

  “I was just wondering when the Alexanders are going to reach out to the Sullivans and out me and this whole situation.”

  Eyes wide, Lea put her fork down and finished chewing. “Holy crap, I didn’t even think of that! They’re friends, right?”

  “I mean…sort of? Considering Elliott and Ty have been friends since middle school, our parents got to know each other but I don’t think they’re like besties or anything. Still…how long can it be before Tyler’s mom reaches out? She was a bit of nightmare at dinner with all her wedding plans.” She groaned. “Like I would need help planning a wedding!”

  “Yeah, I think she’s just caught up in the excitement and didn’t realize that you wouldn’t need help in that area. I’m telling you; you need to just put a stop to this and go out with Daniel!”

  “Not going to happen. I am going to avoid seeing him at all costs and just…see the rest of this through.”

  “Have you thought about just being honest with everyone? Like Tyler’s family?”

  Josie stared at her in disbelief. “You know what? I haven’t. In all this craziness, I never even thought of that!” She jumped up. “That would solve everything! It would get his family off our backs and we could just go to the courthouse and…”

  “Or you could just not get married!” Lea shouted with annoyance. “Oh my God, are you annoying with this! You’re an extremely intelligent woman, Josie! Can you please start acting like one?”

  “Hey! That was a little uncalled for!”

  Standing, Lea faced her, looking more determined than ever. “I am done listening to you go back and forth over this. You’re making a mistake and you know it. I don’t support it, Skye doesn’t support it, and if Elliott found out, I can guarantee that he doesn’t support it. So what does that tell you?”

  There were times in her life when her friends had done things that she didn’t agree with and every one of those times she was vocal about it. Hell, being vocal was what she was known for. This was the first times the tables were turned and her friends weren’t backing her up and she didn’t know how to react or what to say.

  So she did the only thing she could think of.

  She left.

  Sunday night, Daniel found himself driving slowly through his neighborhood–and not because he was hoping to catch a glimpse of Josie. There were police cars lining the street and it just so happened they were parked in front of her townhouse. The officers waved him through and he immediately pulled into his driveway before racing over to find out what was going on.

  The first officer he came to gave him the once-over before Daniel could even utter a word, but he didn’t let that stop him. “What’s going on?”

  “Break-in,” the officer replied. “A domestic dispute.”

  He glanced over to see if it was Josie’s place or the unit attached to hers and immediately had to wonder if his brother was involved.

  And hated that his mind immediately went there.

  “May I ask which unit?”

  The cop eyed him warily.

  “My future sister-in-law lives in 202 and I just want to make sure she’s alright.” He heard the gruffness in his voice as well as the concern and hoped the cop would show a little compassion and give him the information.

  “It was 200 with the issue,” he said quietly.

  Relief washed over him as he scanned the area for any sight of her. He told himself it was only to make sure that she was okay and not alarmed by what was going on, but he knew that was only the partial truth.

  Then, as if he had conjured her up, she walked out onto her porch with another police officer, likely answering questions. Even from here he could tell she was more than a little uncomfortable–her arms were wrapped around her middle, her shoulders were hunched, and she kept looking at the ground.

  The cop followed Daniel’s gaze and gave him a nod. “You can go over but stay out of everyone’s way. It looks like they’re done questioning her so maybe take her over to your place while we finish up.”

  “Will do.”

  She spotted him before he was even halfway to her and he saw her look of relief. When he reached her, he fought the urge to wrap her in his arms and comfort her. Ins
tead, he had to remember his place. “Hey,” he said softly, nodding to the officer beside her. “Everything okay?”

  Josie glanced at the cop and thanked him before he walked away. Then she looked at Daniel. “This is all just so crazy! I’m rarely home this early on a Sunday night, but when I got inside, I could hear all kinds of banging and things breaking. I thought it was odd because all the lights were out next door when I pulled up. Then the yelling started. I wasn’t sure what to do and just figured they were a couple having a fight.” She shook her head. “Then I heard a scream and called the cops.”

  “You did the right thing,” he assured her, physically forcing his arms to his side.

  “I hope so. I’m just a little scared about what happens now. I mean…it turns out it was her ex who broke in and even though I know they’re going to arrest him, I’m afraid he might come after me since I’m the one who called it in.”

  “He probably doesn’t know that.”

  She looked up at him, wariness written all over her face. “But he might.” Pausing, she shook her head. “I’m going to call Skye and see if I can crash there tonight.”

  “Don’t,” he said a little too quickly. “I mean…she’s the one who just had the baby, right?”

  Nodding, she sighed. “That’s true. The last thing they need is another person in the house. I guess I’ll call Lea. It’s not a big deal. Just…I can’t stay here tonight.”

  Daniel completely understood her fear and didn’t want to make light of the situation. “Do you have a security system?”

  “No. I didn’t think it was necessary because this is a safe neighborhood.”

  “It’s always a good idea to have one.” Pausing, he considered his next words. “How about this–we go inside and you pack an overnight bag and come home with me.”

  Her eyes went wide but she didn’t utter a sound.

  “Hear me out,” he went on. “I’ve got a guest room and you’d totally have privacy. Then, first thing in the morning, we install a system. This way you can go home tomorrow night and know you’ll be safe.”