by Alina Jacobs
“Is that an order, Captain?” Carter said mockingly.
“Maybe,” Mark replied, eyes narrowed.
Carter ignored him. “We were too old to be babysat by Kate. Mark was, at any rate. He was obsessed with her. He had a little scrapbook with her pictures and random trash she would throw away.”
“Shut up, Carter,” Mark snarled.
“Mark and Kate kissing in a tree,” Carter teased, hopping away from his brother’s drunken swipes.
Grant threw his glass, and it shattered against the stone wall. “Don’t you dare touch her! She’s mine,” he said to his cousin, circling him as Mark tried to maneuver away from him.
“It’s all good, cuz,” Carter said. “We were just playing. Chill. Besides, Mark is too much of a Goody Two-shoes. He doesn’t have the balls to go after Kate. She’d cut him up and shove him down the garbage disposal.”
Grant tried to relax. He picked up the bottle of whiskey and took a swig.
“So…” Carter said, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“So what?” Grant asked, looking at him out of the corner of his eye.
“When’s the wedding?”
“Tomorrow?” Grant was confused by the question.
“Between you and Kate, dummy. You’ve clearly got a thing for her.” Carter gestured to the broken glass around them.
Grant looked down bitterly. “She doesn’t seem to like me. I think I moved too fast.”
“You… fraternized with Kate?” Mark looked at him, wide-eyed.
“That’s my man!” Carter hooted, boxing Grant’s bicep playfully.
“I probably should have wined and dined her first,” Grant said sheepishly.
“This is the twenty-first century,” Carter replied. “Women want to test-drive the car before they write the check.”
Mark looked aghast. “That is a horrible attitude to have, Carter. You need to make a grand gesture, Grant.”
“I do?”
“Yes. Give her a speech about how she saved you and made you want to be a better man.”
“Will that work? I mean, she clearly likes me. At least, I think she does. She’s afraid to lose her job with my father.”
“Uncle Walter won’t care,” Carter scoffed. “There must be some other reason.”
“I don’t know,” Mark said. “It is unethical and would make our family seem trashy.”
“He’s rich and good-looking,” Carter countered.
“And I have a puppy,” Grant added.
“And the man has a puppy!” Carter exclaimed. “There must be something else.”
“Maybe she’s stressed from work?”
“That could be it,” Carter said thoughtfully. “Here’s what you do: After the reception, make some sort of declaration to her. She’ll be tipsy and high on endorphins. Women love weddings. They get wrapped up in the whole shebang and are super jealous of their married friends. That’s the ideal time. She won’t be able to resist you.”
“Are you sure?” Grant asked him.
“Absolutely! You are looking at the best wingman on the eastern seaboard!” Carter boasted.
Mark choked on his whiskey.
Grant smacked him on the back and said, “What have I got to lose?”
Chapter 57
Kate
Since Kate was in the wedding, she had to be up bright and early. She had a hard time falling asleep that night and was still groggy and disoriented when the alarm went off at four in the morning.
At least she had her dress all ready to go. Instead of making all the girls buy matching dresses, Ginny had simply picked a color family and told her bridesmaids to buy whatever they liked. Ginny liked the dress Kate had pulled when they went shopping in London. She is the polar opposite of Brandy, Kate thought then grumbled to herself, remembering how Brandy fawned over Grant.
The only good thing about being a bridesmaid was that she had an excuse to avoid Grant. She suddenly had a sinking feeling. What if she had to be a bridesmaid at Brandy and Grant’s wedding?
I’ll drown myself in the Hudson River first, she decided.
She watched the sun rise from the large window in the suite where Ginny and the other sixteen bridesmaids were doing hair and makeup.
“It’s too many,” Ginny confided in Kate while she drank champagne and watched Kate have her hair fixed in a messy, couture updo. The bride was going last so she would be freshest. “But I couldn’t not have them all.”
“It’s fine,” Kate assured her. “You have over three hundred people at your wedding. I think you need a big wedding party for that.”
Privately, Kate thought it was too many people. Apparently, Eric had had a hard time getting enough groomsmen together. She wondered whom she would be paired with. It better not be Carter. He would try to make her laugh.
The bride was finally ready, just in time to walk down the aisle. The small chapel on the estate’s property was packed. The Davenports didn’t want to insult anyone, and practically the whole town had gotten an invitation.
Kate waited outside with the rest of the bridesmaids. They were actually there before the groomsmen.
“Of course the boys are late,” Brandy said loudly as the men came down the path from the pool house where they were getting ready.
“Get in line,” the wedding planner snapped, pushing them all in order.
“I want you three marines in the front after the groom and best man,” she commanded.
Three Marines? Kate started and looked over. There was Carter, Mark and… oh no.
“Surprise!” Grant whispered to her as the wedding planner pushed him in line next to Kate. The brim of his hat cast a shadow over his eyes, but she could see him trying not to smile.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed as the doors to the chapel opened and the guitar quartet started the processional music.
Grant, Carter, and Mark removed their hats and gloves as they prepared to enter the chapel.
“You aren’t even friends with Eric,” she said, placing her hand in the crook of the arm that he offered.
“Eric needed another groomsman,” Grant said under his breath. Kate had to snap her mouth closed because now they were walking down the aisle.
She took her spot off the bride’s side and waited for everyone else to take their place. Then the music played, and Ginny walked down the aisle. She looked stunning. She wore a 1920s-inspired lacy dress. Kate looked over, and Eric was crying. Grant gave Kate a soft look. A part of her wished it were their wedding day. She sighed wistfully and let herself be carried away by the magic of the ceremony.
Afterward, they went out to take pictures, then they were finally able to go to cocktail hour. Grant and his cousins all hung together. They had a flock of people around them, wanting to say hello or ask them about the military. Periodically, Grant would look over at her and grin. She wanted to drift off in the magic of the wedding—she loved weddings—but the situation with Alan was a dark undercurrent on her mood.
“I believe we’re seated together,” Grant said to her while she was bent over the front table near the entrance to the room where the reception would take place. He handed her the card with her name on it. After escorting her to their table, he pulled out her seat and helped her sit down. “I hope the food’s good.”
“It should be,” Kate said. “Their restaurant here is one of the best in the region.”
Grant took another sip of his cocktail.
“Or you could just drink so much that you don’t even taste it,” she added.
“I’m not drinking that much,” he said and draped an arm around the back of her chair, stretching his legs out comfortably.
The wedding reception passed by, following the familiar format. Kate got teary-eyed at the father-daughter dance. Even if she did ever get married, her own father would probably not come. He had moved in with his mistress and promptly started a new family when Kate was still in grade school, and she had gotten barely more than a few phone calls and dinners
with him since then.
Ginny looked radiant. After her first dance with Eric, she started pulling people out on the floor. “It’s a party!” she said. “Turn up the music!” She danced with all the groomsmen then all the bridesmaids.
Kate was laughing as Ginny swung her around then practically threw her into Grant’s arms.
“Hi,” he said.
Kate smiled up at him. She was more than a little tipsy.
“And you were telling me not to drink too much,” he said, his face close enough to hers that she tilted back her head and kissed him.
“It’s a wedding.” Kate giggled, leaning into him. “You’re supposed to go all out.”
Grant led Kate around on the dance floor.
“I want this for us,” he said when the DJ switched to a slow song.
Kate wanted it too. She looked around. Who was she kidding? She had missed the rehearsal dinner to give money to the professor whom she had believed when he said he wasn’t married and who was now blackmailing her. Her life was a disaster. She couldn’t drag any innocent bystanders in.
“I need to powder my nose,” she muttered and pulled away from Grant.
Chapter 58
Grant
Grant tried to follow Kate, but Brandy snuck up and insisted on dancing with him. When he finally disentangled himself from her and went to go sit with his cousin, he didn’t see Kate anywhere. Maybe she would come back.
“So,” said Carter, plunking a bottle of bourbon down next to him. “When are you and Kate gonna, you know?”
“I don’t know,” Grant said. “Maybe I’ve been misreading the signs.”
Carter shook his head and said, “My dad said you guys were spending a lot of time together.”
“I don’t know if that’s accurate,” Grant replied. “A lot of it was for work.”
“Well, I only hear these things secondhand from Mark since, you know, he hates me,” Carter said too casually.
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Grant said, not believing his own lie.
“Screw it,” Carter said tossing back his drink. “One of us needs to have a happy ending tonight. We’re going to find Kate. She’s the love of your life, and you need to go for it, cuz.”
“Leave him alone, Carter,” Mark said, coming over to the table.
“Mark is never getting married,” Carter said, leaning over Grant. “Dumbass POG. He has access to more women than anyone in the infantry, and he won’t even take advantage of it.”
“I’m not having an affair with my coworker,” Mark said, his mouth in a tight line. “And maybe you shouldn’t be sleeping with your father’s assistant, Grant. It’s unbecoming of a Holbrook.”
Carter made a rude gesture at his brother, picked up the bottle of bourbon, and hauled Grant out of his chair. “Lessgo,” he slurred and dragged him out of the reception hall, Mark following behind them.
“She went to the bathroom,” Grant reported, “but it’s been several songs.” They checked there, but the woman coming out said Kate wasn’t inside.
“Where could she be?” Carter asked.
“She had drunk a lot,” Grant offered. “Maybe she went outside to try to sober up. It’s warm inside the reception hall.”
They meandered around the grounds. One of the caterers said he thought he had seen a bridesmaid go down the path.
“Worth a shot,” Carter said and led the way. The path was well maintained and had a set of ornate gaslights lining it. It would be a romantic stroll, Grant thought. He was so lost in the buzz of the bourbon he almost didn’t register what he saw.
It was that man, Von Breuer, from the trail. He had Kate pinned against a tree. At first, Grant thought he had interrupted a lovers’ meeting, but then he saw her face. And then he saw red. He hauled back and slammed the man into the ground. Kate screamed as he jumped on him, beating him. Carter joined in, and Mark yelled at them to stand down.
“Stop it!” she screamed at them as she and Mark tried to pull the cousins off of Alan.
“He was attacking Kate!” Grant yelled at Mark, fighting him off.
Grant picked up Alan by the collar and said, “Don’t you ever come near her again. Do you understand? I will skin you. You are nothing.”
As Alan stumbled off, he wiped the blood from his chin and said, “You’re going to pay for this. All of you are going to pay for this.”
“I can’t believe you two,” Mark said, rounding on his cousins.
“We were well within our rights,” Carter argued.
“He might press charges,” Mark said. “You could go to jail. You could have killed him.”
“He tried to attack Kate,” Grant said, crossing his arms.
“How do you even know him?” Mark asked her.
“He was my old professor,” she said softly.
“But why is he here?”
Kate looked down at the ground, her lip quivering.
“He was blackmailing me,” she said and started to cry. Grant wanted to take her in his arms, but he was still so stunned. Plus, he wasn’t sure if she wanted a man to touch her right now. He decided to hover around her in case she fainted or something.
“Well, there you go,” Carter said.
Mark ignored him and said to Kate, “Save all your text messages. And let us know if he tries to contact you again.”
“I’m sorry,” Kate sobbed.
Mark made a disgusted noise. “Maybe we should call the lawyers.”
“No, we don’t say anything about this,” Grant said. “No one saw anything.”
Mark looked angry but didn’t say anything else.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Kate?” Grant said. “I could have helped you.”
She cried silently, and he gathered her to his chest.
“We can fix this. Don’t contact him anymore, okay? How much money did you give him?”
“Thirty thousand dollars.”
“What the—”
“I didn’t take it from you all. It’s my savings.”
Grant wanted to go after Alan, kill him, and bury him in one of the carefully curated flower beds. But instead, he picked Kate up and carried her back to the house.
“Should we tell her grandmother?” Grant saw Margaret through the window. She looked as if she was having a good time.
“No,” Kate said. “Just let me go to my room. I can walk.”
She struggled to climb out of his arms, but Grant ignored her and carried her upstairs. Mark dug the key out of Kate’s clutch and let them into her hotel room.
“I’ll stay with her,” Grant told his cousins.
“I don’t need—” Kate protested.
“I wasn’t asking,” Grant said.
Chapter 59
Kate
Kate had needed some air to clear her head, but then Alan had surprised her on the path.
“You need to pay up,” he said. “And I don’t mean money.”
He was trying to drag her off the path when the Holbrook cousins had shown up. She was so relieved to be rescued.
She didn’t think Alan would try to blackmail her any further. Between Grant and Carter, he was probably scared out of his mind. She hoped he didn’t press charges, though, but he had been able to walk, so it probably wasn’t that bad.
“What happened, Kate?” Grant said, lying next to her after she ran out of energy to cry.
“You don’t understand,” she said, her voice husky. “He was my professor. He was married. His teenaged daughter found out. She called me.”
“You didn’t know,” Grant told her. “He lied to you and led you on.”
“But you don’t understand.” She could barely talk through a new round of sobs. “I still kept seeing him for days after. He said his wife was a bitch and hated him and he loved me and he was leaving her for me. His daughter finally gave me a list of other students he did the exact same thing to. I’m so stupid. I ruined that poor girl’s family.”
“Alan Von Breuer ruined his family,” Grant said f
irmly. “He was wrong on so many levels.”
“He’s going to come back and ruin you!” Kate cried. “You’ll go to jail, and it will be all my fault!”
“Hey,” Grant said, taking her face in his hands, “I can take care of myself and you. Don’t worry about it. I saved you, didn’t I? Let me handle it.”
“You did save me,” she agreed, sniffling.
“I’ll always save you,” Grant said solemnly, “if you’ll let me. I’m serious about you. We should just, I don’t know, go out for dinner or something and talk like normal people.”
“Okay,” she said, smiling at him. “I’d like that.”
Kate didn’t know when it would happen because as soon as they got back from the wedding, she and Walter were immediately back in the air for several weeks to build off the success Grant had had with the Ethiopian mining contracts. They flew back in town for a big party being thrown in Grant’s honor.
Grant was a rock star, and in addition to selling Holbrook Enterprises to the mining company in East Africa, he had also managed to secure a contract with a Nordic shipping company.
At the party, when asked how he had managed to beat out the German and French logistics companies, he had smiled sheepishly and said, “I did a tour in Afghanistan with a Norwegian Special Forces guy whose dad runs this company.”
Tapping his fork against his glass, Walter got up on a chair to make an announcement.
“When Grant first showed up on the scene, we were all a little skeptical, especially my brother, Jack.”
Everyone laughed, and Jack shook his head in bemusement.
“In only a few short months he has managed to make Holbrook Enterprises internationally renowned,” Walter continued. “He has also brought in two of the single biggest contracts Holbrook Enterprises has ever been awarded. It will keep us in the black for the next few years. So here’s to Grant!” Walter raised his glass.
“Thanks, Mr. Holbrook,” Grant said, hopping up on his own chair. “Just because I managed to land the contracts doesn’t mean the work is done. I’ll be transitioning to overseeing client relations on these international projects, plus the big defense project with Raytheon. Hopefully, there are some other rock stars out there to win us more projects. We should all be pretty busy the next few years, so here’s to hard work and a great team.”
