“Aren’t you going to help me?” Penny asked, hiking her skirt up her leg to get better leverage as she climbed onto the window seat and struggled with the window. “I have to get out of here and if I run into Graham, again, I’ll do something crazy.”
At the sight of her bared slender thigh, Blake’s brain short-circuited. That was the same slender thigh she used to wrap around his waist when they were . . .
Irritation snapped him back to the present. Did she say she was thinking of doing something crazier than jumping out the window? He didn’t like the sound of that. He hoped he wouldn’t have to play bouncer after all . . .
“Crazier like what?” he asked.
“Like . . .” She blinked a few times, huffing with outrage. “I might grab the microphone and tell all the guests that—that Graham’s a lying . . . liar who . . . lies!”
Blake tugged her back from the window and snapped the drapes shut. “Let’s dial down the diva a notch, shall we?”
Both of her hands landed on the lovely curves of her hips and, regrettably, her skirt fell back down around her legs. “You don’t think I have a right to be angry?”
“You tell me,” he said, his gut still churning at the idea of Penny and Graham. Seeing a photo of them together had stirred up all the muck of his bitterness and insecurities. “Takes two to tango, right?”
“It wasn’t a tango,” Penny vehemently protested. “It was apparently a pas de trois. Do you think I would have . . . danced . . . with him if I knew he was engaged to somebody else?”
No, Blake thought. But Penny had been known to surprise him. “Doesn’t really matter what I think, does it?”
Apparently it mattered to her, because at those words, her lips quivered and her eyes went red and watery. Aww, crap, he hadn’t meant to make her cry. Seeing her tear up was a punch to the gut, and a wake-up call that his jealousy wasn’t doing anybody any good right now. “Penny, I believe you.”
Nevertheless, a tear slipped down her cheek. “Doesn’t make it less embarrassing. This is the most humiliating day of my life!”
“Oh, c’mon. More embarrassing than when you wore the grasshopper outfit on American Singer?”
She sniffled. “You’re not helping.”
“Sure I am,” he said, reaching out to wipe the tear off her cheek with his thumb.
He shouldn’t have done that. Because the wetness on his fingertips worked like some kind of potion, the intimacy of it nearly unbearable. The way she was staring up at him, dewy and dazed, made him want to kiss her. And given the way her moist lips parted, he had the distinct impression that she wanted him to do just that.
But his instincts must have been on the fritz, because Penny just wiped the remaining tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, dropped into the big chaise, and buried her face in her hands. “Do you have a tissue?”
All Blake had was the shiny blue pocket square from his tux, so he handed it to her. “Hey, you okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” Penny said bravely, dabbing at her adorable red nose. “I just need to find my center.”
Blake had never believed in that New Age crap. The only center he’d ever had was his heart when she was in it. And now he was starting to think that his life had been a little off balance for a very long time. Since he couldn’t help cleanse her chakras or whatever, he said, “Well, I’ll stay with you till you do.”
Blake sat down next to her and when their knees touched, Penny glanced up, her eyes hopeful but wary. “You don’t have to stay. You’re the best man. You’re a little busy, aren’t you?”
Blake checked his watch, but at the moment, he couldn’t think of a more important place to be. In his pocket, he felt his mobile phone buzzing away—no doubt with panicked texts from the groom—but given that he’d actually hooked up with Penny, Graham could kiss his ass. “I’ve got time.”
“Nice watch,” Penny said, still dabbing at her nose. “Looks expensive. What do you do again?”
“I’m a head hunter for an IT firm,” he said.
“Like a talent scout?”
“Sort of. I recruit tech professionals . . . I find the right guy for the job.”
It was the kind of career that usually impressed. Certainly it had more cache than back when, after he and Penny broke up, he told women he was struggling to make his way in the music world, sleeping on friends’ couches or tending bar on summer vacations to make the rent during college.
And yet, Penny not only looked unimpressed, but disappointed.
“Or girl for the job,” he added.
She frowned. “You grew up to be a suit?”
That stung. She was seriously going to bust on him for his success? “Okay, you caught me. I rob banks. I lifted this watch from one of the safe-deposit boxes.”
That teased a tiny smile out of her, but he’d obviously have to do better if he wanted to make her laugh. And he did. “How about: I got into a fight with a drunk, gave him a beat-down in an alley, and took his watch.”
She sniffle-smiled. “What was the fight about?”
“A girl,” Blake said, leaning in a bit. He couldn’t seem to help himself. The comfortable familiarity and the distinctly uncomfortable temptation she presented were too much to resist. “This talented girl, with red hair, and pointy eyebrows, and amazingly kissable little hollows just above her collarbones . . .”
Her wet eyelashes fluttered but that finally got a laugh out of her. “Are you flirting with me?”
“I’m not the one shamelessly showing off my kissable hollows . . . and it’s not like you’re the first girl to try the old blow-up-an-amp-just-to-get-Blake’s-attention trick.”
She gasped. “That wasn’t my fault. Some idiot—”
“Sure, sure. I suppose you’re going to tell me you didn’t serenade me with my own song.”
She sputtered. “That was a sound check!”
Blake grinned. “I’m just saying that you can’t go around serenading guys like that if you don’t want us to get the idea that you’re in serious chase mode. We’re sensitive souls. Our hearts are easily bruised.” He said it like a joke, but in Blake’s case, it was uncomfortably close to the truth when it came to this girl. So he had to know. “Speaking of hearts, how’s yours?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, do you still have feelings for him?”
“Who, Graham?” Penny asked, with a little disgusted sound at the back of her throat. “Just angry feelings right now. I liked him, it’s not like we were in love or anything.”
She met his eyes on the word love, and Blake heard himself exhale. He wouldn’t have been able to handle it if she’d been in love with his best friend. More importantly, he wouldn’t have been able to forgive Graham—not ever—if he’d broken Penny’s heart. A real irony, considering how badly Penny had broken his. “So, you moved on to somebody else?”
Now, why the hell did he ask a thing like that? Especially knowing that he wasn’t ready to hear the answer. Probably for the same reason he found himself staring at that beaded choker around her neck, right where his lips itched to leave a row of kisses.
Blake would’ve sworn he’d gotten over her years ago, but being near her again made him realize that he’d been lying to himself. He was still as attracted to her as ever.
“No, there’s nobody else,” she said, her copper-colored bangs falling over her eyes until she blew them away with one exasperated breath. “I’m still single.”
Single was better than the alternative, he supposed, but it presented him with an unhealthy temptation because Penny was trouble with a capital P. Yes, he was still attracted to her. And now he had a whole playbook’s worth of experience behind him if he wanted her.
Luckily, he was saved from that temptation by a cell phone not just gently pinging, but actually ringing in his pocket.
“Is that you
?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said, reluctantly pulling the phone out.
“Wow, I lost service halfway up the mountain.”
“It’s a company phone,” Blake explained. “In fact . . . I’ve gotta take this. It’s work.”
It wasn’t work. It was the groom. But there was no way Blake was going to get Penny all worked up again. So when he answered the phone, Blake just said, “Yeah.”
Graham’s voice had the edge of hysteria to it. “Dude, I’ve been texting you!”
Glancing at Penny, Blake frowned. “I’ll be sure to check those first thing Monday morning.”
Graham didn’t seem to catch on. “I’m freaking out, bro. Did you see how the redhead reacted when she saw me? I thought she was going to come at me and try to kick my ass.”
“The candidate seems to be well-qualified to do just that,” Blake replied, resenting the hell out of the way Graham couldn’t even remember Penny’s name.
At last, the lightbulb seemed to come on. “Dude, so she’s right there? Can’t you get rid of her?”
Everything about that question pissed Blake off. “It’s not that simple.”
Graham sucked in a deep breath on the other end of the line. “The family photos are starting in like, five minutes. How long do you think it’ll take?”
When Graham had confessed to cheating on Tessa, he’d made it sound like his fling with Penny was a one-night stand, but she seemed to think they were dating. Which meant Graham hadn’t just cheated on his bride-to-be, but he’d manipulated and tricked Penny.
“It’s going to take as long as it takes,” Blake said, finding perverse satisfaction in making the groom squirm.
“Okay,” Graham said. “I’ll tell everyone you’ve got a work emergency. We’ll do pictures with you later, after the ceremony. You just do your thing and keep her from blowing up the wedding. I’m really counting on you.”
And I’m really thinking about punching you, Blake thought.
Then Graham added, “I owe you, bro. I swear to God, I will never screw up like this again. All I want is to marry Tessa and be a good husband. I’m scared as hell I won’t get the chance.”
With Penny’s eyes on him, Blake said, “I’m handling it.”
Then he ended the call.
“Wow,” Penny said, in wide-eyed innocence. “You take work calls at a wedding? You must really love your job.”
“It pays the bills. Gonna lecture me about selling out?”
“No. I guess it’s just—you wrote the best songs. Your lyrics were so heartfelt. I always thought you’d end up doing something with that. Maybe not making music, but maybe teaching other people how.”
Blake shrugged, trying not to touch the hole inside himself where music used to be. He’d given up songwriting when he’d given up Penny. And he didn’t like to be reminded of it. “So, are you feeling better?”
“A little.” But she showed no signs of being ready to relinquish his pocket square. Instead, she threaded the satin between her fingers.
“What’s your plan, Red?” he asked, the old nickname slipping out. “You’re going to just high-tail it out of here and leave everybody without ceremony music?”
“You could play it,” Penny said. “You were always better with a guitar than I was anyway.”
“Not true, but even if it was, I haven’t played in years. Besides, I’m the best man, remember? I’ve gotta stand next to the groom up by the altar.”
Penny blinked. “I was joking. You’re still going through with it? You’re just going to stand up there in this wedding, next to that . . . that asshole? I don’t even understand how you could be friends with someone like that!”
“He’s really not such a bad guy,” Blake said, trying to convince himself every bit as much as her. He just had to remember all the good times with Graham. His friend had given Blake the confidence to go after what he wanted. Had always encouraged him to aim high, not let the world roll over him. He owed Graham for that, no matter how pissed at him he was now.
Penny sniffled. “The bride . . . is she . . . ?”
“Nice?” Blake asked, then nodded, remembering the time they all went skiing together and he bonded with Tessa over their emotionally unavailable fathers. “Very.”
“And Tessa totally loves this guy?”
“She’s marrying him, isn’t she?” Blake glanced at his watch again. “In a little over two hours.”
Penny gulped. “Then I really need your advice, because you have to help me figure out the right thing to do.”
Blake felt put on the spot. What could he say that wouldn’t feel disloyal? “There’s nothing to do, Penny. Graham just made a big mistake.”
Penny gave an indelicate little snort. “A mistake is booking a gig where the sound engineer gets paid before the band. A mistake might even be putting a power generator on a wet lawn and forgetting to ground it. A mistake isn’t sleeping around and lying about it to the girl you plan to marry. It’s a selfish, manipulative, evil game-changer.”
As much as he agreed, his job was to support Graham today. Carry out his wishes. Not give in to scratching the ethical hives that had been bugging him since Graham first confessed. “Either way, it’s none of our business. We don’t know what goes on between two people in a relationship. We can’t know from the outside, and sometimes we can’t even figure it out from the inside,” Blake said, recalling quite clearly how blindsided he’d been by Penny’s rejection. “This is something the bride and groom have to figure out for themselves.”
“Huh,” Penny said, thoughtfully.
Sensing he was making progress, Blake continued. “If the music business taught us anything, it’s that everybody only gets one big shot. Well, this is Graham and Tessa’s shot at making a go of marriage. Let’s not ruin it for them, because we both know there are no second chances when it comes to the big things in life. Nobody gets a do-over.”
“Huh,” she said again. Then she went silent. That silence went on and on until he worried she hadn’t heard a word he’d said.
Nudging her knee, he teased, “Penny for your thoughts.”
Her lips thinned. “I’m not sure you want to hear them.”
“Sure I do.”
“Okay, then. I’m just sitting here wondering why you’re feeding me a line of total nonsense.”
He pulled back to get a better look at her pretty face. “Come again?”
Fisting his now damp and wrinkled pocket square, she rounded on him. “I guess where you come from, they’d call it total hogwash. How are the bride and groom going to figure this out for themselves when one of them is being hoodwinked? You say the bride is such a nice girl—I assume she’s a friend of yours—and you’re just going to let her walk off a cliff?”
Well, when she put it that way . . .
Before he could answer she insisted, “The Blake I used to know would never let that happen.”
That was true. The Blake she used to know was an honest, earnest, do-gooder who wore his big sappy heart on his sleeve for anybody to stomp on. And where did that ever get him? Luckily, Blake had wised up and left that kid and most of his accent behind.
The bride wasn’t Blake’s problem. And frankly, even if she was, it was too late to do anything about it. “You really think it’s right to ruin Tessa’s wedding day by telling her something she might never have to know?”
Penny cringed. “That’s the problem. I don’t know what the right thing to do is. If I were at home, I could at least light some candles and meditate in Lotus Position until the universe sent me an answer . . .”
“Well, I’ve got you covered with candles,” Blake said, glancing at the silver candelabra on the bookshelf. Blue flowers were tucked around its base in a circle. “And I’m happy to help you get into any position you like . . .”
“You’re making fun of me,”
Penny pouted.
“Maybe a little. I think what we need is a drink from the bar . . . if only it was open.”
“I think you’re wrong.”
“I’m never wrong.” She might not need a drink, but he really did.
Penny’s nostrils flared a little bit as she inhaled a deep breath. “You’re wrong to say that people only get one shot at happiness in life. That’s not true, Blake. Otherwise, why would anybody get up in the morning? The universe always gives us second chances . . . if we’re open to them.”
***
Penny hadn’t meant her words to sound like a plea to give their relationship a second chance, but that’s how they came out. And given the way Blake was staring at her now, he clearly took them exactly that way. Worse, his deep breath and long pause told her that he was trying to think of a way to let her down gently.
Why wouldn’t he? She was a mess right now. And he’d just found out that she’d slept with his best friend. When he looked at her, he probably saw a sniffling, red-nosed idiot who got played by the cheating groom. Or maybe when he looked at her he still saw the featherbrained free spirit who broke his heart because she was too young to appreciate the good thing they had together.
Blake’s blue eyes narrowed. “You really believe all that crap about second chances, Penny?”
She searched his squinty gaze for a clue of what he might be thinking, but he was too guarded, the dark aura he was giving off radiating mistrust. With her stomach in knots and her heart in her throat, Penny decided to play out the set no matter how out-of-tune she might sound. “Yeah, I really do.”
“Then prove it,” Blake said, nudging her knee with his. “Give Graham a second chance to make Tessa happy. Just forget you know him. Play the ceremony music. Then crash the reception and dance the night away with me.”
Fledgling hope fluttered in her breast. It was the best invitation she’d had in years. “You don’t already have a date to this soiree?”
“Nope.” Blake inched a little closer. “But my dance card’s filling up quick. After I squire around the maid of honor, I’ll need to make nice with the relatives, so you’d better reserve your spot or you’ll be fighting off the elderly aunties for a piece of me.”
This Wedding is Doomed! Page 14
