You May Kiss the Groomsman

by Samantha Chase

  “Come on,” Skye said, as she pulled back. “I think we both need to try to get a little sleep. The alarm clocks will be going off before we know it.”

  She had to agree and surprisingly, she did fall asleep for a few hours. When the alarm went off at six, she got up and showered, dressed, and packed. Down in the kitchen, she was sipping her coffee when Elliott walked in and she knew he was instantly uncomfortable. It was funny how Skye was usually there with them and in all the days she’d been staying with them, this was the first time they were alone.

  “Good morning,” she said, forcing herself to smile. “Want some coffee?”

  He nodded. “Please.”

  It would have been easy to make small talk and ignore the whole awkward situation, but…if she was going to move on, everything needed to be out in the open.

  “Thank you for showing so much restraint these last few days,” she said, handing him his coffee.

  Fortunately, he didn’t pretend like he didn’t get what she meant. “Yeah, well…Skye gave me like a million warnings not to upset you, so…”

  She chuckled. “Yeah, well…thank you for listening to her.”

  Elliott leaned against the counter and studied her. “What were you thinking, Jos?” There was no condemnation in his words, just genuine concern. “Why wouldn’t you talk to me first before agreeing to anything with Tyler?”

  The truth–though unflattering–was truly needed. “Because I knew you’d tell me it was wrong and I was making a mistake. I see that now. In the beginning, I thought you’d just tell me not to do it because of the grief I gave you and Skye, but deep down, I know you would have done it because it’s just so wrong.”

  He shook his head. “You take all the fun out of it when you say it like that.” Then he grinned. “You really should have let me be the big brother and straighten Ty out sooner.”

  “I know, I know…” She took a sip of her coffee before her curiosity got the better of her. “So, um…Skye said you went and talked to him?”

  “Yup.” And then he lazily took a sip of his own coffee and she wanted to strangle him. It just showed that it didn’t matter how old they got, as siblings they were always going to antagonize each other.

  Then she felt bad because clearly Tyler and Daniel never knew this kind of bond.

  The sound of the mug loudly hitting the counter had her looking at him. “What?”

  “I’m obviously trying to poke at you and you go and get that sad look on your face! You’re seriously taking all the fun out of our relationship.”

  “Sorry,” she said with a sigh. “I was just thinking how much I do love this aspect of our relationship–the poking and teasing–because it means we care about each other. Tyler and Daniel never had this. And after listening to all the ways Tyler hates his brother…” She shuddered. “I’m thankful for what you and I have, Elliott. I don’t say it enough, but…I am.”

  He muttered a mild curse before walking over and hugging her. When he stepped back, he was the one to sigh. “Let me tell you a little something about Tyler and Daniel’s relationship.” Then he motioned to the kitchen table for them to go and sit down. “Daniel left for the Navy the same year I started hanging around with Ty. I only met him a handful of times, but he seemed like everything you’d expect from an older.” Pausing, he took a sip of his coffee. “Anyway, the whole family was very vocal about how much they didn’t support his decision to enlist, and I did see where their father put some pressure on Tyler to become a lawyer.”

  Josie hated how long it took her brother to get to the point, so she nodded and sipped her own coffee.

  “By the time we were in high school, Ty was floundering a bit. He didn’t have the best grades, he was constantly being tutored, but he was determined to do what his father wanted. At one point I asked him why he was doing it, and he said it was so he could be better than his brother. I thought it was a stupid reason to go into a career that he didn’t like, but he was going to do it no matter what.”

  “Yeah, I basically know all this, El.”

  Holding up his hand, he said, “Just…I’m getting there.”

  “Today?” she teased, and the rat bastard just took another long sip of his coffee. “Okay, fine. Continue.”

  “Anyway, once he went to college, he seemed to embrace the whole thing and honestly, he’s a really good lawyer. He might not like how he got to be a lawyer, but he does enjoy it. He’s just not practicing where he should.”

  “So why doesn’t he change it?”

  “Laziness,” he replied simply. “As much as I love Tyler like a brother, he’s lazy and always looking for shortcuts. Just like that whole fundraiser thing you helped him with. The other guy didn’t get the promotion because of the fundraiser; it was just a coincidence. But Tyler thought doing something similar would speed up the process for him and maybe make him enjoy the job a little more. And when the fundraiser didn’t do it, he latched on to this crazy scheme of getting married.” He shook his head. “He tried to convince Katie to do it, but she was so offended and broke up with him.”

  “Yeah, I only recently found that part out,” she murmured.

  “If you ask me, he was really in love with her, but he completely offended her when he proposed solely to secure a promotion. For a smart guy, he’s really an idiot.” After another sip of coffee, he continued. “All that to say…Daniel’s a convenient target. Tyler made the decision to try to appease his parents; he could have said no just like his brother did. After talking with him, I think he knows that now. It might have caused an argument or two at the time, but he could have put his foot down and told them he wanted to do something different. And as for Daniel, well…Ty was young and followed their lead. Any time his mom asked if he wanted to talk to Daniel on the phone, Ty said no because he thought that was what he was supposed to do. The whole situation is a mess.”

  It was a lot of information and it helped her to understand that Daniel had to choose his brother over her. Whether he was telling the truth about his relationship with her or not, he needed to make things right with Tyler.

  She was just collateral damage.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  Elliott nodded. “Sure.”

  “If Daniel hadn’t come home–if he wasn’t even a consideration in all of this–would you have stopped me from marrying Tyler?”

  “In a heartbeat,” he said without missing a beat. “And as someone who lived through having a friend try to talk them out of making a mistake, I would have pushed even harder for you to listen to me.” For a moment, he just looked at her. “So what’s next for you? Are you going to go talk to Daniel?”

  She shook her head. “No. I can’t. But I will go talk to Ty. We’ve been friends for a long time and…it was just a crappy situation all around. I hope he’ll be able to forgive me.”

  Elliott’s eyes went wide. “Forgive you? Josie, you did nothing wrong here.”

  “I did, El, and I’m mature enough to own it.” Standing, she kissed him on the cheek. “I need to get going. We have a big wedding this weekend and I’ve got a lot to do. Tell Skye I’ll call her later.”

  Her luggage was already by the door and she looked back and smiled at her brother one more time before she left.

  Outside, the sun was shining, and she took a minute to simply breathe in the fresh air. And then kept reminding herself to breathe because this was her new normal.

  Alone and lonely.

  “Heads-up, your brother’s here,” Xander said as he walked by Daniel’s office–and kept going.

  It had been two weeks since everything in his life went to hell. After Tyler left his house that night, they hadn’t seen or spoken to each other. It probably wasn’t the best way for them to work on their relationship, but it was what it was.

  Tyler appeared in the doorway. “Hey, can I buy you lunch?”

  Was it lunchtime already?

  Standing, he nodded because he was going to put in the effort. “Yeah. Sure. Than
ks.” Walking around his desk, he grabbed his phone and keys. “There’s a good burger place not too far from here,” he suggested.

  “Sounds good.”

  It was strained and awkward and honestly, he’d rather be dropped into an active-duty training exercise than be doing this, but…

  Tyler drove and he talked about the case he was working on and asked Daniel about how the business was doing. It was all very…normal.

  Maybe I’m the only one holding a grudge…

  It wasn’t until they were seated and placed their orders that his brother dropped a bombshell. “I’m having dinner with Josie tomorrow night.”

  He almost jumped up and lunged across the table at Tyler.

  Almost.

  Staring down at his hands–which were clenched into fists on the table–he nodded. “And you’re telling me this…why, exactly?”

  With a careless shrug, his brother looked like he didn’t have a care in the world.

  The bastard.

  “Because we need to be able to talk about this. Josie’s been a part of my life for a very long time and that’s not going to change. I guess I wanted to make sure you were okay with it.”

  “It’s not my place to say who you can and can’t be friends with,” he reasoned gruffly.

  “That’s not what I meant.” Then he paused. “Okay, maybe it was. A little. It’s just…there’s a lot of history there and at some point, there’s a good chance you’ll see her with me. And again, I wanted to make sure you’re okay with it.”

  He was never going to be okay with it.

  Never.

  However, for right now, he’d say what he needed to say to prove he was trying.

  “Look, Ty, you want the truth? You asked me the other night if I loved Josie and I gave you a vague answer, but if you still want to know, I do. I love her and it pisses me off that you’re hearing it and she never will.”

  “Daniel…”

  “But I’m going to step aside because I don’t want to keep having this shitty relationship with you.” Swallowing hard, he continued. “I’ve already gotten out of my lease so I won’t be anywhere near Josie.” He looked up at Tyler. “I’m not standing in your way with her, okay? It may take me a while to be okay coming to family events or anything where she’ll be, but eventually…we’ll get there.”

  “So…wait. What about everything you said at her place that night? That you were basically just vetting her to get information to prove I was making a mistake?”

  Ugh…kill me now…

  That’s when he confessed to meeting Josie before the night of the proposal–how he was attracted to her and what a shock it was finding her getting engaged to Tyler. “Then you were majorly flaking out on her and I kissed her. More than once. But never more than that until she finally admitted that the whole engagement was a farce.” He shook his head again. “I’m sorry.”

  “I appreciate you telling me all that, but…I’m afraid I owe you an apology too.”

  That was…surprising.

  “For what?”

  “For reacting the way I did.” With a loud sigh, he leaned back in his seat. “It was kind of a shock to see you like that at Josie’s, but…it was a knee-jerk reaction that totally wasn’t justified.”

  “I’m…not following you.”

  “Have I always had issues with you? Yes,” he admitted. “Did it seem like you always got to do what you wanted? Also yes. When I saw you there, it was like…” Pausing, he muttered a curse. “To me, it looks like everything is effortless for you. You didn’t want to follow in Dad’s footsteps, and you didn’t. You wanted to become aSEAL, and you did. But me? Everything is so damn hard. Getting this promotion was like…you have no idea the hoops I jumped through. The fundraiser, losing Katie, coming up with the idea to marry Josie…” He stopped and closed his eyes for a moment. “You came home, started a business, and had one of the greatest girls in the world sleeping with you. I mean…how can I ever compete?”

  “That’s just it, Ty; it’s not a competition,” he said roughly. “Stop making it one!” His frustration was obvious, but he also wasn’t looking to fight in the middle of a restaurant. “Things don’t come easily for me. Trust me. This business has been in the planning stages for over three years. And becoming a SEAL nearly killed me. I didn’t just breeze in and become one. It took a lot of hard work. And Josie…” Hell, he couldn’t even talk about it because he’d fallen for her pretty much at first sight and had been too stupid and stubborn to realize it.

  Great time to realize it, dumbass…

  “Nothing is easy,” he went on. “If there’s something you want–I mean really want–you have to work at it. I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but anything worth having is worth fighting for.”

  Too bad I can’t take my own advice…

  “I think it’s time for you and me to…start over,” Tyler suggested. “I know that sounds ridiculous considering we’re brothers but…maybe now that we’ve cleared the air, we really can work on getting to know each other.”

  “I’d like that,” he agreed and then sat back when the waitress served their food. Once they thanked her and she was gone, an idea hit him. “Hey, what if you and I did something this weekend? I hear there’s a whitewater rafting center in Charlotte. We can make a day of it!”

  It was almost comical how uncomfortable his brother looked. “Um…yeah, I’m not the most athletic guy. I do play basketball on a rec league, but…that’s about it.” He shrugged and then started to smile. “Or how about I come to your office and you show me what your training there is like?” His eyes actually lit up. “I saw the obstacle course and I’m a little intrigued.”

  “Seriously?” he asked with a small laugh. “You want to do that?”

  “Hell yeah! I’m a little self-conscious about my lack of…you know…athleticism, and maybe this is what I need!” Then he gave him a genuine smile. “I need my big brother’s help.”

  It was ridiculous how much that meant to him.

  “Then far be it from me to say no. Saturday morning, bright and early.”

  “You’re on,” Tyler said.

  It was the first time in perhaps their entire lives that Daniel finally felt a connection to his brother. It was a small step but hopefully the first of many to come.

  They ate for several minutes in companionable silence before Tyler shocked him with another confession. “Actually, you’ve kind of inspired me.”

  “I did? When?”

  “Right now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Tell you what, you hear me out and then hopefully I can return the favor.”

  It was a little cryptic, but Daniel was more than a little intrigued.

  15

  “A person that truly loves you will never let you go, no matter how hard the situation is.”

  Unknown

  She wanted to throw up.

  Like seriously throw up everywhere.

  Unfortunately, that would be frowned upon in the middle of a fancy restaurant.

  Josie couldn’t believe Tyler invited her back to Winston’s for dinner. It was like returning to the scene of the crime, but…she was a mature woman and far be it from her to turn down a gourmet dinner.

  If she didn’t run screaming from the building first.

  Naturally she was there before him and when she spotted him walking through the door, her nerves had her nearly bolting for the ladies’ room.

  He was there before she had a chance to move, and she forced herself to smile. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” he said, sliding into the booth. “How are you?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve been better.”

  Nodding, he replied, “Yeah. Me too.”

  Josie figured he’d make some small talk and possibly apologize, but…he didn’t.

  “I’m getting married,” he said, grinning.

  There was no way she heard him correctly. “Um…excuse me?”

  Nodding again, he said, “Yeah, I’m g
etting married.”

  “To who?” she asked, suddenly pissed off that yet another Alexander brother was able to just move on from her without a second thought.

  It was an unreasonable reaction, but it was there.

  “Katie.” At her shocked expression, his smile grew. “And I owe it all to you.”

  “Great,” she muttered.

  “I guess I should start at the beginning, huh?” Rather than wait for her to say anything, he went into a lengthy story about how so much of what they had together–meaning the two of them–was because he was rebounding from Katie. She’d been the girl he was in love with all along.

  Ugh…I should have run while I had the chance…

  “That’s why it was so easy for me to accept what you and I were going to do,” he was saying. “It wasn’t about actual feelings, right? I mean, I’m not in love with you or even attracted to you, so…”

  “You know what, Ty? You really don’t need to share all of this with me. Really,” she said snidely, wanting to kick him.

  “No, I do, Jos, because…well…I realized something–something that really opened my eyes.”

  She literally had zero interest in this conversation but figured she’d just agree so they could move on. “What was it?”

  “I was letting other people dictate what should make me happy and I wasn’t doing anything to go after what it was that I wanted. I went after that promotion because my father told me I should. Then when I saw how you could possibly benefit from it, I thought…why not?” He paused and gave her a sheepish grin. “You may not believe this, but…a few of the times that you told me you wanted to break things off, I was relieved. Then I remembered how much Meet Me at the Altar was going to benefit and…”

  “And that’s why you always brought it up…,” she finished for him as things started to fall into place. “Why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you talk to me? We spent so much time together while planning the fundraiser; why didn’t you ever talk to me about how unhappy you were?”

  “I figured you’d take my parents’ side and tell me to suck it up. But I’m beginning to see how I do that a lot–decide in my mind what others are going to say and then use that as an excuse not to say anything. I’m working on that.”