After he’d gathered everything he needed, he shook his head and said, “I own Craft.” He paused to look at me, searching for recognition.
“I was just there!” I told him. “Friday night. It was amazing.”
“That’s good to hear. We haven’t been open for very long. But since Killian has convinced half my staff to leave their good employment to take a chance working with me, I offered to work his wedding.”
“You know that was his game plan from the beginning, right?”
He laughed, but his eyes stayed focused on the drink in his hands. “I’m realizing that. I think the whole kitchen staff is here for the same reason.”
“They are,” I said seriously. “It’s why the wedding took so long to plan. They had to line up a quality catering staff that could please two very good, very picky chefs.”
“And their guests,” he added—another sly look.
I smiled. “And their guests. Who are mostly chefs.”
He grimaced. “Not an easy task. I think they ended up flying someone in from California.”
“Probably safe to outsource.”
A body slid onto the bar seat next to me. It was Vann. He didn’t bother looking at the bartender. He only had eyes for me.
“They’re looking for you,” he said, his voice pitched low and direct.
I licked my lips and tried not to look at his. Maybe I should forego the drink altogether. “Who?”
“The girls,” he said, not needing to give them names. “I think they want you to sit down before they bring the food in.”
“Ah. Okay. Sorry, I was just grabbing a drink first.”
At just that moment, the bartender slid my Old Fashioned across the counter. I could already tell it was a good one. The orange peel was curled perfectly, and he’d given me two cherries.
“How much do I owe you?” I asked, suddenly realizing I didn’t have my purse on me.
He winked at me. “Bridal party drinks for free.”
Had more beautiful words ever been spoken? “You probably shouldn’t have told me that.”
His laugh was deep and genuine. “Remember what I said about whiskey.”
That people shouldn’t regret drinking it. Maybe there was truth to that. Last night’s bad decision had been brought to you by tequila. Maybe whiskey would appeal to my more rational drunk side.
Not that I intended to get drunk three nights in a row. I wasn’t that girl anymore.
Still, a little something to steady the nerves was in order. Especially with Vann boring a hole into the side of my head.
“Thanks again…”
“Will,” he supplied. “Will English.”
“Thanks again, Will English. It was a pleasure to meet you.”
Vann was full on glaring by the time I stood up. He was apparently my escort in all ways tonight and stuck by my side as we skirted the outside of the room trying to get to the head table. “Who was that?”
“Will English.” Giving him a perplexed look, I added, “He just told us.”
“I meant, who is he? How do you know him?”
I shrugged, not understanding where the attitude was coming from. “I don’t. We just met. He made my drink.” I held up the cut crystal tumbler so he could see for himself.
“Huh.”
“What does that mean?” I didn’t like his tone is what I meant.
“It means, I thought you were a nice girl.”
Now that sounded like an insult. “Excuse me?”
“I used to date nice girls. They didn’t work out for me. So, I stopped dating them.”
“Okay.”
“And then I met you. I assumed you were a nice girl. I thought I would make an exception. Just for you. And you’re telling me we’re at The End. I was wrong about you being a nice girl.”
I stopped, whirling around and planting my free hand on my hip. “I am a nice girl. I’m a very nice girl. I’m the nicest girl you’ll ever meet.”
He leaned in, a surprising smirk tilting one side of his mouth. “No, Dillon, you’re not.” Just when I contemplated smacking him, he added, “But don’t worry, I think I’m into it.”
He turned away and made his way back to his seat. I mumbled, “You think?” to his back, but he was already gone. What did that mean? He thinks he’s into it? Into me?
I took a long sip of my Old Fashioned, even though I usually preferred to wait until the ice melted. I tried to decide if last night was a fluke or if Vann Delane was going to drive me to drink. Er, all the time.
* * *
Three hours later, I was full of all kinds of amazing food, the best drinks I had ever had, an insanely delicious honey, vanilla, and lavender wedding cake, and so much laughter.
The dinner had been one of the best I’d ever had. The toasts from Ezra and Molly had been heartwarming and moving, the cutting of the cake adorable, and Kaya happened to catch the bouquet—when Vera tossed it directly to her while she was sitting down.
Dancing had started an hour ago and I was having the time of my life moving around the floor with my friends and a string of single guys that never let me stop. I’d only had one other drink so I was also pleasantly sober.
This was a night for the books.
And I was so happy that Vera and Killian would have these perfectly beautiful memories for the rest of their lives.
I had just escaped the dance floor to take a break and sit with my brother for a few minutes—who had two left feet and hated anything but slow dancing where he could just sway back and forth—when I nearly bumped into another girl practically throwing herself at Vann.
The moment surprised me so much that I had to take a step back and regroup.
To be honest, I’d had my eye on him the whole night. Not that I was being a creepy stalker or anything. But after last night, and then today, there was just this awareness of his presence. I couldn’t help it! I was female after all.
It was in our DNA to know where available, attractive, mysterious men were at all times.
Er, at least I’d found that to be true in the last twenty-four hours. When it specifically applied to Vann Delane.
But let’s not analyze that too closely.
Okay, so maybe I’d picked this side of the dance floor to walk off because he happened to be standing nearby. And maybe I’d totally nailed my aloof exit with a laughing conversation with Molly so that I could pretend that I had no idea he was over here. And maybe, just maybe, but probably not likely, I had been hoping he would stop to talk to me.
He hadn’t said anything to me since before dinner and I found that I didn’t like that he was also playing the aloof game.
It was okay when I did it. But frankly, he was annoying me.
Also, since when had I turned into this girl that was all, “Pay attention to meeeee?” I wasn’t that girl. I was levelheaded. I was unattached. I was perfectly confident in my single status.
Where were all these emotions coming from and what did I do with them? Because keeping them and dealing with them was not a viable option.
And now there was this female in front of me, who had deliberately blocked my path so she could have all of Vann’s attention and I was contemplating murder in the first degree. Basically, it was time for another drink and a scavenger hunt for my sanity.
“Excuse me,” I managed to bite out politely. Okay, politely-ish.
She barely turned her head to acknowledge my presence and just kept talking to Vann with enthusiastic hand gestures. I tried to step around her when one of her flailing arms nearly clotheslined me.
I took a step back and glanced at Vann. The damnable man was trying to bite back a smile. Those gray eyes shifted to mine, full of humor.
He was enjoying this.
“Excuse me,” I said louder.
The woman turned to finally give me her attention, an ugly sneer twisting her otherwise pretty face. “What?”
Okay, that was it. I tried to be nice. At least polite. And I could even admit, at least
to myself, that I was playing a game with Vann, but she didn’t know that. Now she was just on my nerves.
Leaning around her, I grabbed Vann’s hand and tugged him toward me. “I just need him,” I told the snotty woman. “For a sec,” I promised.
Vann let me pull him onto the dance floor, ignoring the evil woman and her demonic glaring from behind him.
“She is awful,” I told him as we naturally started to move with the upbeat music.
He finally let go of his smile. “She barely said anything to you.”
I growled, thankful he couldn’t hear me over the bass. “She didn’t need to,” I told him. “It was her attitude.”
His eyes lit with pretend understanding. “Ah. I get it now.”
“Thank you.”
He leaned in, brushing a stray hair over my shoulder. “Told you.”
My eyes naturally narrowed. “Told me what?”
“You’re not a nice girl.”
I continued to stare at him, wondering what this meant. He sounded like he was gloating, like he’d uncovered some great secret about me. But I didn’t get it.
I was nice. Most of the time. To the people I loved anyway.
And I had always been nice to him.
Nice-ish.
“I’m super nice,” I argued. “That biotch had it coming.” I realized something awful way too late. “Oh no, I’m so sorry, she wasn’t your wedding date or anything was she?”
His eyes bugged in a satisfying way. “Her? No. No. No.”
Three no’s was good confirmation he wasn’t into her. That shouldn’t have made me as happy as it did.
“If you’d rather dance with her…”
He rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around my waist, tugging me against him. “I’m dancing with the girl I want to be dancing with.”
He was always so straightforward with everything, so completely direct and unflinching. It was strange. Or at least different than the other guys I had spent time with. Even my brother had a tendency to dance around sensitive issues with me. Ezra was always afraid the truth would break me. Like I was this delicate flower that was at risk of losing her petals.
To be honest, Vann’s way was jarring. Like actual punches to my gut. But it was growing on me. I found I didn’t like to be treated as though I were fragile. Vann’s way seemed to convey more… respect for me. He trusted me to be a grown-up woman with her own mind.
And that was validating in a way I didn’t expect.
My jealousy was also appeased.
The music changed, slowing way down. The DJ said something about fulfilling a request, but all I could hear was the frantic beating of my heart as Vann wrapped his hands around my waist and I found my arms curling around his neck.
He looked at me from beneath hooded eyelids and thick lashes. “You don’t remember much about last night, do you?”
I shook my head, another blush creeping over my face, painting it in red with the admission of truth. “There were too many shots. It’s coming back to me, but it’s all jumbled and messy.”
His lips kicked with a smile. “I remember some messy parts too.”
Dropping my head, I pressed my cheek against his chest to hide. “Oh, my god.”
His laugh rumbled beneath me and I had to close my eyes against the rapid beating of my heart. Oh hell, I liked that feeling too much.
His head dipped, so he could press his cheek against my forehead. “It was a good night, Dillon. I’m disappointed you don’t remember. It’s making me insecure.”
I clutched him tighter, unable to look him in the eyes. It was making me question everything. But that wasn’t something I could admit to him. I tugged my tried and true fine personality tightly around myself. I was fine. Last night was fine. Everything was fine. “It’s not you. Seriously, I can usually hold my liquor better than that.”
“I didn’t realize you were too drunk to remember.” His voice had lost the teasing edge and was replaced with concern.
Shrugging, I stayed under cover. “It’s one of my superpowers. I’m usually more careful though.”
We danced in silence for a while, both of us lost in thought. Honestly, I could barely untangle mine to make them out. I couldn’t even guess at his.
There was a lot to think about. A lot to be embarrassed about. Just all around a lot.
“I’m not planning to take you home tonight,” he announced.
I pulled back, unable to not look at his face and gauge whether he was serious. “Are you for real right now?”
His gray eyes turned silver with emotion I couldn’t read. “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me. I’m not usually so… easy.”
My mouth dropped open. Was that a dig at me? I honestly couldn’t tell. Forget what I’d just decided about this man. He wasn’t open and honest. He was an enigma. A total and complete mystery. Who was he? “Are you insulting me?”
He laughed and pulled me tighter against him. His lips dropped to my ear. “No, not insulting.”
We danced in silence again. I was hypnotized by his body so close to mine and his lips at my ear, his breath floating over my bare skin. I was glad he didn’t think he was going to get laid two nights in a row. That wasn’t a thing I did.
Mostly because I didn’t sleep with anyone anymore. Mostly because I was basically a monk.
Nor did he need to know how disappointed I was at the same time I was utterly relieved. How did that even make sense?
And yet there was a part of me that wanted to go back to his place and remember everything this time.
I needed to know if he was as good as all my drunk memories popping up uninvited.
Picking my head up off his chest, I finally found the right thing to say. “I have to work tomorrow anyway.”
His furrowed brow was enough of a question.
“You got this random snapshot of me being totally irresponsible and reckless this weekend. But I promise, I’m usually way more settled down and focused than this. Tomorrow it’s back to work and my schedule becomes total insanity. So… what I’m trying to say is…”
“Yes, please tell me what you’re trying to say.”
His impatience made my heart skip. Was I doing the right thing? I was doing the only thing. “I’m trying to say thanks for hanging with me this weekend and making sure I always had someone, so I didn’t feel like a total loser for being single.” There, that should do it. I was complimentary, direct, and to the point. He should get the point.
And he did. Only it didn’t feel like the right thing. It felt awful.
His chin jerked back, and his eyes widened in surprise. “Am I being dismissed?”
That was a yucky way of putting it. “No! No, it’s not like that.”
“Then what’s it like?”
I nibbled my bottom lip and tried to figure out the right way to explain what I meant. This would be a super good time for an uprising, by the way. Or an apocalypse of some kind? An alien invasion? I wasn’t picky. Any world-ending scenario was fine with me.
“I work an impossible schedule,” I explained more carefully. “I’m just saying, I have no time in my life for commitments or obligations. I have to get Bianca back on her feet. I have to figure out how to run a kitchen by myself. I’m just trying to be good at my job, pay bills, and find time to go to the gym. It’s not you, Vann. I think you’re amazing and so funny. You’ve helped me in so many ways. I just don’t want to… get your hopes up.”
I wanted to snatch all those words out of the air and shove them back in my mouth. God, could I be a bigger idiot?
Wasn’t I the same girl that couldn’t keep her shit together all weekend? And now I was turning down the only good guy I’d been around in years, maybe even my entire life, just because my work schedule was busy?
I wanted to slap my hand over my face, but I resisted the urge.
Besides, my heart knew the truth. It was currently calling me a liar.
It wasn’t my schedule that was making me take a s
tep back from Vann—it was fear.
I was terrified of him and what kind of relationship he wanted. It obviously wasn’t the one-night stand variety. Or the slip me a roofie and take advantage of me kind. That launched us firmly into uncharted territory and I just wasn’t ready to tackle another new thing.
He smiled, but it was forced and shadowed. “I get that. I’m busy too. I wasn’t… I hope you didn’t think we were like a thing. Obviously, it was one night. I’m just saying, it was a good night. If you ever have the night off, we should do it again.”
My heart squeezed painfully. This was what I wanted, I reminded myself. This was how I was with dates now. I tried them once and then I ran—usually before the check arrived. And I was okay with that.
So why did it feel so awful now?
And why was I such a fucking psycho who couldn’t make up her damn mind?
He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Have a good night, Dillon. Good luck tomorrow.”
Now he was brushing me off? But isn’t this what I’d asked for? I had made this bed. Now I needed to lie in it. “You too, Vann.”
He stepped away from me mid-song and I wanted to cry at the loss of his body heat. Why had I said all of that? Why couldn’t I just recognize a good thing when I had it and shut up for once?
He started dancing with the mouthy girl that had bumped into me before. He might not have wanted to dance with her earlier, but now he seemed to be having a great time.
I tried to make the best of the night after that, but the magic of the wedding had been crushed beneath my frightened foot. I danced with friends and stayed until Vera and Killian said their goodbyes and then snuck out the kitchen entrance, so I didn’t have to talk to anyone else.
By the time I stumbled inside my apartment, exhausted and frayed, I was glad it was all over. Vann wasn’t close enough to be in Ezra’s wedding, although he might go. But other than that, I wouldn’t have to see him anymore.
We would officially go our separate ways, which would completely uncomplicate my life and give him the freedom to do whatever he wanted.
I could finally relax.
I could finally focus on my job and stop obsessing over him.
The Something about Her: Opposites Attract book four Page 17
