Ain't She Sweet

by Marie Force

  Attending on Megan’s side were her sister Nina and brother-in-law Brett as well as Butch from the diner and many of the patrons who’d become friends over the years.

  As he greeted guests and laughed with his friends, Hunter looked as relaxed and happy as Charley had ever seen him. He kept an arm around Megan at all times, and the bride-to-be glowed with the kind of happiness that Charley could only imagine. It had taken, she knew, a huge leap of faith for Megan to end up where she was tonight, and Charley admired anyone who had the courage to take that leap.

  “They look really happy,” Tyler said in the intimate tone that Charley was becoming accustomed to. They were seated at a table with Ella and Gavin, Gavin’s parents and two of the Sultans—Austin and his wife, Debra, and Dylan and his new wife, Sophia.

  “I was just thinking the same thing,” Charley said to Tyler.

  She’d no sooner gotten the words out of her mouth when Jack, one of the perpetually single Sultans, came over to their table to talk to the others.

  As he caught up with Dylan and Austin, Charley avoided Jack’s pointed stare at the arm Tyler had around her. They’d had a brief fling years ago, right after Caleb died when her emotions had been raw, and she’d been looking for an outlet—any outlet—from the relentless pain of a loss that had left her and the rest of her family flattened by grief.

  Though she hadn’t slept with him in years, he always flirted with her when they saw each other, and she didn’t appreciate the possessive way he looked at her now.

  Apparently, Tyler didn’t either. The hand he had on her shoulder tightened as Jack continued to stare at them.

  “What’s up with him?” Tyler asked.

  “Nothing,” she said. “Now.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  “No, you don’t see anything, because there’s nothing to see.”

  “But there was? At one time?”

  “Eons ago.”

  “Am I allowed to invite him outside where I’ll ask him to keep his dirty eyes off you?”

  “You’re absolutely not allowed to do that.”

  “I won’t, but I want to.”

  “Thank you for restraining yourself.”

  He didn’t reply but his grip on her shoulder got tighter, and a tingle between her legs took her by surprise. Was she turned on by his possessiveness? Maybe just a little . . .

  They ate a delicious meal that consisted of every kind of barbecued meat and all the sides. Despite her worries about gaining weight through inactivity, Charley had a second piece of corn bread. Tyler kept a cold beer in front of her and made sure she had what she needed, the way he always did.

  After dinner, a band in the back room started to play, drawing everyone toward the music.

  “Who’s that dancing with Mary from your office? He looks familiar.”

  “Cameron’s dad, Patrick Murphy.”

  “The Patrick Murphy? The billionaire?”

  “Yep.”

  “How did I miss that he’s Cameron’s dad? That guy is a legend in my world. Totally self-made and one of the most brilliant financial minds of our time.”

  “Sounds like someone else I know.”

  “Aw, baby, I’ve got nothing on him. You’ve got to introduce me.”

  “I will,” she said, intrigued by his interest in meeting Cam’s dad. The opportunity presented itself an hour later when the band took a break and Patrick led Mary to the table next to where Charley sat with Tyler. “Patrick, I’d like you to meet my friend, Tyler Westcott. He’s a big fan of yours.”

  Patrick reached across the aisle between the tables to shake Tyler’s hand. “Pleasure. Why do I know your name?”

  “Uh . . .”

  “He’s a stock market whiz kid,” Charley said because Tyler had gone mute.

  “That’s it! I read about you in Fortune a couple of months ago.”

  “I’m surprised you still read Fortune,” Tyler said when he recovered his ability to speak. “You wrote the book.”

  “There’s always something new to be learned from others,” Patrick said modestly.

  He and Mary got up to join Tyler and Charley at their table so the two men could talk without shouting. Mary ended up next to Charley.

  “What’s the story, Ms. Mary?” Charley asked in an exaggerated whisper. “You and Patrick?”

  “We’re friends,” she said, but her bright eyes and brighter smile indicated there was more than friendship between them. “He’d like it to be more, but so far, we’re all about the phone calls.”

  “Mary! I had no idea. How long has this been going on?”

  “Since Will and Cameron’s wedding in October, but please don’t make it into something it’s not, Charley,” she said as some of the magic in her expression seemed to dim. “I was sitting at my desk yesterday, and the whole building started to shake. It was him. Arriving on his gigantic helicopter.” Mary shook her head. “What could possibly come of it? Our lives couldn’t be more different.”

  Regardless of her own thoughts about love and commitment, Charley found herself wanting to encourage Mary. “You don’t know that unless you try, do you?”

  “Look at him,” Mary whispered. “He could have anyone.”

  As she said the words, Patrick reached for Mary’s hand under the table without missing a beat in his conversation with Tyler.

  Mary’s face lit up with pleasure—and befuddlement.

  “Seems to me that you’re the one he wants,” Charley said.

  “He thinks so now, but what about a couple of months from now? What happens then?”

  “I suppose you won’t know if you don’t try.”

  “And what about you?” Mary’s brow lifted. “Are you prepared to take your own advice?”

  “Oh . . . Well . . . That’s different.”

  “Is it?”

  “I guess not,” Charley conceded.

  Mary smiled warmly. “Vivienne is a close friend of mine. I’ve known their family for years. You simply couldn’t ask for better people. She’s so proud of Tyler and all he’s accomplished.”

  “So you know then? About the money?”

  “I do, and if you know about it, that means something. He doesn’t talk about it.”

  “Our situations are not all that dissimilar.”

  “Except that Tyler lives here, and Patrick’s in New York—a place I haven’t even visited. He’d like to change that, but there’s something holding me back. I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

  “I understand that feeling.”

  Mary looked down at Patrick’s hand, which was wrapped around hers. “What if we were to make a deal, you and me?”

  “What kind of deal?”

  “That if I try—really and truly try with Patrick—you’ll do the same with Tyler. We’ll hold each other up and take the leap together. What do you say?”

  “Oh, I, um . . . I don’t know if I can. I’ve started to feel like I might want to, but I don’t know how.”

  Mary laughed. “Neither do I. I haven’t the first clue what I’m doing, but he’s worn me down.”

  “Sounds like he and Tyler have more in common than their financial prowess.”

  “I’m to the point now where I know if I don’t at least try, I’ll spend the rest of my life wondering what if. What if I’d had the guts? What if I’d put aside my fears and gone after what I wanted, when it might not be what I need? What if? What if?”

  Charley’s chest tightened. She glanced across the table and looked at Tyler. Tonight he’d worn one of those pressed dress shirts she used to disdain. His hair had gotten long in the weeks since her accident, and he hadn’t bothered to shave in a day or two. His contacts had been bothering him earlier, so he’d worn the sexy black-framed glasses. As her body zinged with awareness of him, she tried to remember why she’d thought he res
embled Hunter.

  Other than a similar taste in shirts and a bent toward honorableness, there really was no comparison between them.

  “What if indeed,” Charley said in reply to Mary.

  “I don’t want to have regrets, Charley. Do you?”

  Charley shook her head. “No, I don’t.”

  Tyler glanced over at her and found her staring at him.

  His mouth lifted into a small, intimate smile that fanned the fire burning inside her. Then Tyler was shaking hands with Patrick and getting up to come to Charley.

  “Let’s dance,” he said, helping her up and matching her pace on the way to the dance floor.

  The band played a slow song that Charley didn’t immediately recognize. They walked slowly to the back room, where the dance floor was crowded with couples surrounding Hunter and Megan—her parents, Will and Cameron, Ella and Gavin, Gavin’s parents, Lucy and Colton, Hannah and Nolan, Dylan and Sophia, Austin and Debra.

  Tyler put his arms around Charley and drew her in close to him, hardly moving as they swayed to the music.

  “What song is this? I haven’t heard it.”

  “‘Thinking Out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran.”

  “I like it.”

  His lips found the spot behind her ear that made her go weak in his arms. “I like it, too. It’s how I feel when I’m with you.”

  The song was about finding love right where you are.

  “Does your knee feel okay?”

  Charley nodded.

  “Good, because I couldn’t wait another minute to hold you.”

  “You didn’t enjoy talking to Patrick?”

  “I loved talking to him, but I wanted to get back to you.”

  Patrick had lured Mary to the dance floor, and she floated in his arms, her eyes closed as he whispered in her ear.

  Charley hoped they’d make a go of it somehow. She liked him for Mary, who’d been single as long as Charley had known her.

  One song became two and two became three.

  “We should take a break,” Tyler said. “You don’t want you to overdo it.”

  Only because her knee was beginning to ache did Charley nod in agreement. But she was nowhere near done with wanting to dance with him.

  They were on the way back to the table when Megan waylaid them. “Could I borrow Charley for just a minute?”

  “Sure, but make her sit down.”

  “I will.” Megan hooked her arm through Charley’s and led her away from the noise.

  They sat together at a table.

  “What’s up?” Charley asked.

  “I have something for you, and it may seem kind of weird, but well . . . They have very romantic rooms upstairs, and they gave us keys to two of them as part of the package for having our rehearsal dinner here. Hunter and I are going to take one of them, and I thought you might want the other one.”

  Charley glanced at the keycard that Megan held in her hand. “Wow, why me?”

  “Because you’ve been through such an ordeal with your knee. And I saw you and Tyler dancing, and you two seem so well suited for each other. Oh, Charley, I don’t know,” she said with a laugh. “I’m so damned happy, and I just want everyone we love to be as happy as we are. If I’m overstepping, please feel free to say so. I’m sure I can find someone to take the other room.”

  Charley thought about what Mary had said about regrets and what her mother had said about following her own heart. She took the keycard that Megan offered. “Thank you for thinking of us.”

  “I hope you enjoy it as much as Hunter and I did the first time we came here.”

  “I’m sure we will.” Charley hugged Megan. “Welcome to the family, Megan. I’m so thrilled for you and Hunter.”

  “Thank you. I’m rather thrilled for us, too.”

  Charley laughed at the stupidly happy smile on Megan’s face. She bore little resemblance to the grim, humorless woman she’d been before she fell in love with Hunter and found her bliss. “I’d better go find Tyler and tell him the good news.”

  “You think he’ll like your surprise?”

  “Oh, I know he will.”

  “He’s really cute, Charley, and he always has you in his sights.”

  She looked over to where he sat with Will, Cameron, Patrick and Mary to discover that what Megan said was true. He was engaged in conversation but keeping watch over her at the same time.

  “Could I say something that may be way out of line, considering we don’t know each other all that well?” Megan said tentatively.

  “Of course. We’re going to be family after tomorrow. I hope we’ll also be friends.”

  Megan blinked rapidly and fanned her face. “Wow, I’m a hot emotional mess tonight, but I hope so, too.”

  Smiling, Charley squeezed Megan’s arm. “What do you want to say?”

  Megan sought out Hunter, across the room with his friends, laughing at something Jack was telling them. “I fought it tooth and nail.”

  “You fought what?”

  She brought her blue-eyed gaze back to Charley. “Him. Us. What I felt. All of it. I didn’t believe it was possible that something so good could actually be real.”

  Riveted by what Megan was saying as well as the parallels to her own situation, Charley took a deep breath. “What were you afraid of?”

  “Everything,” she said with a tremulous laugh. “Every damned thing. After I lost my parents, I decided it was easier to avoid feeling anything for anyone. That way nothing could ever hurt me again. I hid behind an impossible crush on Will that kept me from taking a risk with anyone else. With hindsight, I can see I was living half a life by hiding out.”

  The statement struck perilously close to home for Charley.

  “But Hunter . . . He wore me down. One day at a time, one hour at a time. He never wavered in how he felt or in what he wanted from me.” Megan looked at him again, and this time he caught her eye.

  You’d have to be blind to miss their intense connection, Charley thought, feeling as if she were intruding on a personal moment between her brother and his fiancée.

  “And then he got hurt so badly that day on the rock, and I realized how easily I could’ve lost him. That brought everything into focus. I don’t know if any of this helps you, but I wanted you to know that I’ve been where you are, and I know how hard it can be to take a chance.”

  “You’re awfully observant to say you’re the new girl around here,” Charley said with a teasing smile.

  “I hope I haven’t said too much.”

  “Not at all. I appreciate everything you said, and you’re more on target than you could possibly imagine.”

  “I’m still afraid,” Megan said softly. “I worry all the time about something happening to him . . . I feel like I could handle just about anything except for that. But I’ve decided I’d rather be a little afraid than live without him.”

  Charley hugged her. “Nothing’s going to happen to him. He’s made of hearty Abbott stock, and it takes a lot to keep us down, even when we fall off a mountain.”

  Megan laughed, and when they drew back from each other, Charley saw tears in the other woman’s eyes. “Thank you for that. It means a lot.”

  “I hope you have the most wonderfully magical day of your life tomorrow. You certainly deserve nothing less.”

  “It’ll be magic because I get to marry him. That’s the only part that matters to me.”

  Hunter came across the room to them. “What’re you two up to over here? You’re not trying to talk her out of marrying me, are you, Charley?”

  “As if that’s even possible. For some strange reason, she’s totally into you.”

  Megan laughed at their sibling bickering.

  Hunter squeezed Charley’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re feeling better and able to be here with us this weekend.�
�

  She covered the hand he’d left on her shoulder. “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.”

  “I need to dance with my soon-to-be wife.” As they exchanged another of those heated looks, he helped Megan up from her chair and guided her to the dance floor.

  CHAPTER 21

  Life, like poker, has an element of risk. It shouldn’t be avoided. It should be faced.

  —Edward Norton

  Charley watched as Hunter took Megan into his arms and closed his eyes. Then someone was tapping on her shoulder, and she looked up to find Tyler giving her the same sort of look Hunter had given Megan—needy, desperate, affectionate, loving. He conveyed so much with one heated stare.

  “How you doing?” he asked.

  “I’m good. You?”

  “This is a great time. Your family is awesome.”

  “I know.”

  “And Hunter and Megan . . . They’re so happy.”

  “They really are.” She crooked her finger at him, and he bent down so she could talk only to him. “I have a surprise for you.”

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “From what I’m told, there’re rooms upstairs. Megan gave me a key to one of them.”

  “Really? Well . . .” He cleared his throat as he sank down into the chair next to hers. “And you had to tell me that when we’re surrounded by your family?”

  She glanced at his crotch, found him fully erect and began to laugh.

  “It’s not funny.”

  “Yes, it really is.”

  “How soon can we check out this room upstairs?”

  Charley took a good look around, taking inventory of family and friends. “I’ll go to the ladies’ room and then go upstairs. You come in a few minutes.”

  “I’ll come all right.”

  “Tyler,” she said, laughing. “Stop.”

  “That’s not what you’ll be saying in a few minutes.” He leaned in to kiss her neck. “Can you handle the stairs on your own?”

  Flustered by his words and the kiss to her neck, she said, “I think so.”

  “Take your time and don’t hurt anything.”

  “I will. I mean I won’t. I mean . . . I don’t know what I mean.”