Tempting the Best Man

by Tanya Michaels

  “Ah, the guest of honor!” a silver-haired man at the head of the table boomed. His face had softened with age, but it was clear all three of his sons had inherited their jaws and cheekbones from him. “And you brought a friend. I can’t remember the last time anyone other than family attended one of these dinners.”

  “Well, except for Felicity,” Mrs. Keegan said as she slid into a chair. “But we’ve always considered her family.”

  Daniel stilled, a frown on his face, but then smoothed his expression and introduced Mia to Paul and Greg, stern-faced men who would have been quite handsome if they bothered to smile, and their wives, a petite redhead and a petite blonde who looked like they shopped at the same department store.

  The redhead, Rachel, was soft-spoken but welcoming. “Lovely to make your acquaintance. And your dress is charming.”

  “Such a blast from the past,” Mrs. Keegan murmured, eyeing the retro dress as if it was something Mia had pulled from a Dumpster. “She looks like an extra from that TV show—the period piece?”

  “Downton Abbey?” Mia asked sarcastically.

  Mrs. Keegan scowled. “The one with the advertising agency.”

  “Well, I think she looks beautiful,” Daniel said, pulling out a chair for Mia.

  She was seated between him and Rachel but directly across the table from Mrs. Keegan. Given the older woman’s scrutiny, it was tempting to go see if Betty needed any help in the kitchen.

  Almost as if summoned by Mia’s thoughts, Betty came into the room with a delicately edged serving platter. “Dinner will be ready shortly,” she said. “In the meantime, I hope you’ll all enjoy the appetizer—thin sliced salmon tartare with pureed beets on toasted baguette.”

  Just like Granny used to make.

  In addition to goblets of ice water, all of the place settings included wineglasses; only Daniel’s and Mia’s were empty. He nodded toward the ice bucket in the middle of the table. “Can I pour you some?”

  “It’s a well-oaked Chardonnay,” Mr. Keegan said proudly, “one of the best vintages in our collection. Unless you’re like Rachel?” he added in an aggrieved tone.

  Mia turned a quizzical expression to the woman.

  “Afraid I only like the dessert wines.” She nodded to another ice bucket sitting over on a side table. “You can have a glass of mine, if you enjoy Rieslings.”

  “I’d love some,” Mia said impulsively. Truthfully, sweet wines weren’t her favorite, but she disliked the hint of condescension in Mr. Keegan’s tone when he’d mentioned his daughter-in-law. God forbid she wasn’t sophisticated enough to enjoy wine that tasted like an oak tree. And Rachel had to put up with these people regularly? Mia hoped Daniel’s brother was good enough in bed to compensate.

  “You know who was very educated about fine wines?” Mrs. Keegan mused as Daniel got up to fill Mia’s glass. “Felicity. She—”

  “Mother.” Greg interrupted her, but his tone was more amused than rebuking. “I think you’ll have to accept that she is not currently Daniel’s companion of choice.”

  Currently? A hell of a thing to say in front of Daniel’s date. Weren’t these people supposed to be painfully polite? So far, she was only finding them painful.

  She took the glass of wine Daniel handed her, battling the impulse to chug it. Pace yourself. This could be a very long night.

  * * *

  AS DANIEL ACCEPTED the silver boat of Betty’s homemade salad dressing being passed around the table, Rachel caught his gaze, subtly rolling her eyes at something his mother had just said. Truthfully, Daniel hadn’t been listening. He’d been distracted ever since hearing Felicity’s name earlier. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized that this was the first time he’d ever brought a woman to meet his family. With Felicity, there’d never been a need for introductions, since his family had known hers for years.

  During his university years, when he and Felicity had been maintaining a long-distance relationship from separate campuses, they’d agreed it might be good for them to date other people—although they’d found their way back together after graduation, due in part to nudging by their families. Daniel had never brought any of his casual college girlfriends home. Tonight’s dinner made Mia special.

  She was already special. But he was only just starting to realize how much, and it was jarring. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought her here tonight; he could have waited until more time had passed and they had a better defined relationship. He’d told his parents on a whim that he was bringing her without stopping to consider the significance of first impressions.

  “So what is it that you do for a living?” Mr. Keegan asked from the end of the table.

  “She’s a wedding coordinator,” Daniel said at the same time Mia answered, “party planner.”

  “She organized Eli’s wedding,” he added.

  “Oh.” Mrs. Keegan smiled. “We sent them a lovely Williams-Sonoma gift set. Are they enjoying their honeymoon?”

  Like Eli was calling with daily status reports?

  “I also organized Eli’s bachelor party,” Mia said. For a horrible split second, Daniel was afraid she would tell them about the burlesque show and how she’d been wearing a corset and fishnets when she reentered his life. “I started my business with smaller parties and have been working my way up to big events.”

  Paul leaned back in his chair. “I never thought of throwing together a party as something that constituted an actual business. Betty’s always handled our gatherings, from birthday dinners to holiday galas.”

  “I guess it’s good for my job security that not everyone has a Betty,” Mia said.

  “Well.” Mrs. Keegan gave her son an indulgently chiding glance. “We hardly ‘threw together’ your wedding to Rachel. It was covered in magazines, for goodness’ sake. Speaking of which...” She turned to Greg. “I meant to ask how your interview yesterday went?”

  They chatted about his “talking points” and analyzed his main competition in the gubernatorial race. It was a conversation Daniel had heard before and would no doubt sit through again multiple times in the coming months. He didn’t realize how far his mind had wandered until his father nudged him with an elbow.

  Mr. Keegan repeated his question about whether the tenure position had been awarded yet.

  “No, the regents vote in a couple of weeks.”

  “Well, it doesn’t really matter if you get it this time around, does it?” Mr. Keegan asked philosophically. “You’ll no doubt be teaching for years to come.”

  Daniel blinked, telling himself that his father had meant it to be encouraging, a reminder that Daniel still had a long career with plenty of opportunities stretched out ahead of him. Still...he couldn’t remember his parents ever telling his older brothers that their achievements didn’t matter. Quite the opposite.

  Across the table from him, Mrs. Keegan was finishing up some tale about her most recent volunteering efforts. “It’s draining, but civic duty is so important, after all. I do hope you take your civic duty seriously,” she said to Mia.

  “Well, I try not to commit more than one felony a month,” Mia said. “I cut myself more slack with misdemeanors.”

  Daniel sucked in a breath. His parents wouldn’t find jokes about criminal activity funny. Before he could say something to dispel the mounting tension, Mr. Keegan injected, “Do you at least vote?”

  Mia nodded. “For contestants on singing reality shows and dancing ones.”

  Mrs. Keegan looked appalled, and Daniel dimly remembered that he had once thought it would be entertaining to watch his parents try to cope with Mia’s brash personality. I was wrong. He’d thought it would be funny because he hadn’t realized the stakes would be so high. Caught up in his affair with Mia, reveling in the newness of it and the heat of the moment, he hadn’t spared any thought for the future. But it occurred to
him now that he wanted Mia and his parents to like each other. Dread tightened in his stomach. Too late.

  * * *

  BY THE END of the night, Mia was so eager to leave that she would have willingly sacrificed dessert just to get the hell out of there. Finally, blessedly, it was over and they were taking their jackets from Betty in the foyer. It might be freezing outside, but Mia doubted the most frigid Georgia winter on record could be any colder than Mrs. Keegan’s smile as she told Mia goodbye.

  God, that was awful. Mia strode down the sidewalk, holding herself back from running to the car. She didn’t appreciate the way Daniel’s parents talked to him, how they’d treated Rachel, or how they’d rhapsodized over the Virtues of Felicity every three seconds.

  Poor Daniel. That was his family’s idea of a celebration? Her childhood pets had better birthday parties than that. Literally. She turned to him, about to say she’d had a nice time—as compared to, say, getting a root canal. But she faltered at his shuttered expression and stiff posture. He looked no more prepared to find any humor in tonight than he had in their being busted by Myron like a couple of sophomores.

  Okay, silent retreat, it is.

  He wordlessly opened her car door. As he got in on his own side of the vehicle, his phone chimed and he removed it from his pocket, scowling at the screen. “My mother,” he said flatly.

  “Texting to welcome me to the family?”

  “Someone who makes cavalier jokes about committing crimes and the importance of voting should not be associated with someone who is running for governor,” he read.

  She snapped her fingers. “There goes my plan to show up at campaign headquarters and volunteer my services.”

  “Mia.” His voice wasn’t loud, but his tone was sharp enough for her to do a double take. “Can you stop?”

  She was temporarily stunned speechless, but that wasn’t her natural state. By the time they’d rolled through the first traffic light, she’d recovered her words. “I didn’t intend for my ‘cavalier jokes’ to upset you, but joking was my way of surviving that ordeal.”

  “Maybe it wouldn’t have been such an ordeal if you hadn’t unleashed all your sarcasm on them.”

  Déjà vu all over again. She was well acquainted with that judgmental tone of his, and it sent her temper into the red zone. “Are you fucking kidding me? I was holding back.” She’d thought plenty of things that had gone unsaid. For instance, she’d mildly accepted Mr. Keegan’s second offer of Chardonnay instead of retorting that what she really needed was a shot of vodka and the number of a reputable cab company. “I suppose I could have sat there in meek silence and let them treat me like crap, but I didn’t want to horn in on your strategy.” Until the words spilled out of her mouth, she hadn’t realized how pissed she was at him. She’d walked into that room with only one ally, but she’d quickly felt abandoned by him. It seemed like Daniel had checked out of the conversation. “I don’t know how Rachel puts up with them.” The redhead, who’d muffled laughter at several of Mia’s comments, had been the nicest part of the evening.

  “Rachel? She’s used to my parents. She knows when to take them seriously and when to ignore them.”

  Was that what he’d expected Mia to do, ignore their derision without standing up for herself? Hell, no. And while she could verbally defend herself, she would have appreciated his support. By his silence, he’d let his family treat her like a subpar placeholder for Felicity or whatever country-club-approved woman he eventually ended up with. “It would have been nice if you’d stuck up for me,” she said in a small voice.

  He cut his eyes toward her, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. The man was such an expert at retreating into his shell that he could give lessons to turtles. “I did say I thought you looked beautiful.”

  Yes. But sticking up for her dress hadn’t been quite the same as sticking up for her. Or maybe she just had issues. The betrayal she was feeling now was reminiscent of what she’d experienced when she fully expected her parents’ support and they’d responded with roundabout blame instead. Even years later, she felt her parents had been in the wrong. Was Daniel?

  She’d known going into dinner that Daniel had his own family issues. She would probably never see those people again, so would it have killed her to bite her tongue for one night? Occasionally, her job as an event planner required her to use tact, whether it came naturally to her or not. Maybe tonight she could have employed a touch more on Daniel’s behalf. As an early birthday present.

  Yet even as she told herself those things logically, her emotions were a thorny jumble of hurt and anger and self-doubt. When she and Daniel had sex, she felt incredibly connected to him, as if their affair might one day blossom into something more important. But that was the heat of the moment. Tonight he’d been withdrawn to the point of disregard.

  What did you expect? She knew this affair was unlikely ever to be more than extremely satisfying casual sex. His being damn good in bed didn’t make the two of them any more compatible out of it.

  He sighed as they rolled up to her apartment complex. “You probably hate me for taking you there.”

  “I don’t hate you.” She almost missed the old college days when she had. What she felt for him now was far more complex. And risky. “In some ways, I might even admire you more. Considering those two glaciers are your parents, it’s impressive you turned out half as well as you did.”

  He gazed out his windshield, not looking at her. “I have my ice cube moments, too.”

  Yeah. He did. How had she let herself forget that? “And I have my bitchy, abrasive ones.”

  “You okay?”

  “I will be, after a couple of aspirin and a good night’s sleep.” Alone. There was no need to say the word out loud. At the moment, he seemed to have zero interest in getting any closer to her.

  Distance is a good thing, she told herself as she unlocked her apartment door. It would give her desperately needed perspective. And if she couldn’t regain it? Then it was time to politely eject Daniel from her life before her feelings became any more complicated.

  * * *

  IT WASN’T UNTIL Mia knocked on the door and her stomach fluttered that she was forced to acknowledge how nervous she was. Quit overreacting. Sure, she and Daniel had argued some last night, but they’d shared a couple of friendly texts since then. No hard feelings.

  Still, this was his birthday. She wanted it to be perfect for him. If he didn’t have fun tonight, then she’d coerced him into rearranging his schedule and antagonizing his parents for no reason other than her own ego. Be positive. She’d kept the plans simple and suited to Daniel’s tastes. After a few hours out on the town, they’d go back to her place. Where they would enjoy the birthday cake she’d made and hopefully put her mattress’s twenty-year warranty to the test.

  They hadn’t had sex in almost a week. It was ludicrous how much she missed that closeness.

  The door swung open, and she barely had a chance to register how good he looked in his blue cable-knit sweater before he’d pulled her to him, his lips slanting over hers. “God, I’ve missed you,” he groaned into her mouth.

  Joy lit up inside her. So maybe not that ludicrous, then. She kissed him back eagerly, the familiar heat surging, even more potent as desire burned away her earlier nerves. But when his hands dropped to her ass, grinding her against him, she forced herself to disengage.

  “Hold that thought, Professor.” She truly regretted not scheduling enough time for a quickie in his condo, just to take the edge off. “We have somewhere to be.”

  He gave her a wolfish smile, bunching up the hem of her skirt, his touch delicate and oh-so-teasing across her sensitive inner thigh. “I know exactly where I want to be.”

  Yes. Wait, no. Dammit. “Later,” she promised breathlessly. She almost kissed him again—just to officially say happy birthday—but was a
fraid it would leave her brains too scrambled for her to drive.

  “Later.” He made the word sound deliciously predatory, and she shivered.

  By the time they’d reached the parking garage, they’d mostly regained their composure, although the heat in Daniel’s gaze as he stole glances at her matched the arousal pulsing through her.

  “So you still won’t tell me where we’re going?” he asked.

  “Downtown.” She was curious to see if he figured it out as they got closer, unsure if he’d been to their destination before. Eli, who’d returned from his Caribbean honeymoon yesterday morning, had said he couldn’t remember Daniel ever mentioning the tavern. Luckily, Eli and Bex hadn’t minded Mia intruding on their vacation with a few texts to arrange birthday plans.

  By unspoken agreement, Mia and Daniel didn’t discuss Wednesday night or his family. Instead, Daniel amused her with odd tidbits of faculty gossip, and she told him how excited she’d been when Shannon declared a midafternoon break and went upstairs to Paige’s café.

  “At least she’s not avoiding her anymore,” Mia said. “I suppose that’s a start.”

  “Be patient. Not everyone is as bold as you are.”

  “Shannon is the greatest, and I just wish the situation was easier for her.”

  “Because relationships are typically so easy?” he scoffed. “When was the last time you had one that was simple or effortless?”

  The men in her life before Daniel were dim memories at the moment, faded Polaroid snapshots compared to a 3-D movie. “Honestly, it’s been so long since I had a relationship, I’m probably not qualified to have an opinion.”

  “As if you’d let that stop you.”

  “Definitely not.”

  They were approaching a hospital parking structure, and when she turned the car, Daniel’s eyebrows shot up.

  “We’re visiting a medical facility for my birthday?”

  “No. They allow paid theater parking for across the street.” She nodded toward a building with an Elizabethan facade, inspired by the historic Globe Theatre. It stood out enough among the other buildings that she was surprised he hadn’t noticed it. Or maybe not so surprised, considering how focused he’d been on her since first kissing her hello. “What kind of self-respecting literature professor has never been to the Shakespeare Tavern? Way better Atlanta landmark than the Hash Brown Hut, I promise.”