The Bridal Squad

by Samantha Chase

  “Oh,” Doreen said with a smile. “Okay. I’m sure he’ll be done in a minute.”

  Taking a seat, Kayla looked at her phone and saw that it was almost noon. Adam never scheduled anyone between noon and one because he liked to have his lunch hour free. It was also the time they used to grab a quickie if they planned it right. There had been more than one quickie in his office a mere ten feet away from Doreen and just the thought of that made Kayla’s cheeks heat up.

  What she wouldn’t give for a quickie right now…

  One minute became two minutes. Two became five. Five became ten. She was starting to think Doreen had sent him a message letting him know she was here and he was purposely making her wait. She knew he was a stickler about this time of day, so whoever was in there was blatantly rude or…

  Oh. Shit.

  Jumping to her feet, Kayla quickly slung her purse strap over her shoulder and started to make her way toward the door. “Um…you know what?” she said to Doreen. “I’ll figure this stuff out. No big deal. And uh…you don’t even have to mention that I was here, okay? Great. Thanks.”

  Her eyes stung as she willed herself not to cry. She was out the door and walking as fast as she could to get to the elevator. Once there she slammed the down button and begged and pleaded and prayed for it to get there quickly.

  “Kayla?”

  Shit. Adam!

  She frantically looked around and opted to take the stairs. She couldn’t face him right now. Not like this. Not with tears in her eyes and feeling like her heart had been ripped out of her chest for the second time in a week.

  Damn bastard was already using his lunch hour with another woman? Well fine. She couldn’t wait to tell the girls how they were all wrong – she didn’t mean more to Adam. If anything, she meant less to him than he meant to her so…take that!

  Talk about a sucky I told you so moment, she thought as she pulled open the door to the stairwell and began walking down quickly. With every step she took, she berated herself for even coming here. What made her think this would be a good idea? No matter what, it wasn’t going to erase what had happened – the breakup, the shit assignment.

  “Kayla!”

  Seriously? Now he was going to follow her down the stairs?

  She pretended not to hear him and hoped he’d think it was someone else going down the stairs. At the next landing, she contemplated going through the door and throwing him off her track but really, how realistic was that? She had nowhere to go on the third floor, so what would that prove?

  Breathless, she made it to the first floor but knew Adam wasn’t far behind. Her hand was reaching out for the door handle when he slammed on the door to prevent her from opening it. Seriously, she was almost thankful because she was out of breath from running down six flights of stairs and judging by how hard he was breathing behind her, he felt the same way.

  “Dammit, Kayla,” he said in between breaths. “Why didn’t you stop? I called your name several times.”

  Twice.

  He called it twice.

  She rested her forehead against the door and swallowed hard. She took Zumba three times a week, climbed mountains and kickboxed like a champ, so why was she so damn breathless now? It was almost too much – it made her want to stomp her foot at the unfairness of it all.

  And then she felt Adam move in closer and rest his head on hers. The warmth of his body, the feeling of his breath on her skin…she was on sensory overload and had to fight the urge to turn and press up against him. She heard him swallow as his breathing evened out.

  “I know you heard me calling you,” he said gruffly. “Why did you take off?”

  Clearing her throat, she said, “I realized you were busy and got tired of waiting.”

  It wasn’t a total lie.

  “That explains why you left,” he reasoned, but made no attempt to move away from her. “But it doesn’t explain why you kept on going when I called out to you.”

  Damn. He had her there.

  “I…I shouldn’t have come by,” she said weakly. “It was stupid.”

  This time he did move and she immediately missed him. He said her name quietly and she knew he was asking her to turn around. With a steadying breath, she did.

  Why did he have to look so good? His hair was a mess, he hadn’t shaved in days from what she could tell and he looked sexy as hell. All mussed up and…

  Oh yeah.

  Because someone was mussing him up in the office.

  Stiffening her spine, she met his gaze. “You were obviously busy with someone…on your lunch hour,” she added for emphasis. “And I didn’t think it was appropriate for me to be on the other side of the door waiting for you.” She paused and forced her voice to sound stronger, steadier. “I thought I had some questions about this whole Nevada trip, but I figured them out so…no big deal.”

  Adam raked a hand through his hair and let out a sigh of frustration. “Bullshit.”

  “Excuse me?” she asked incredulously.

  He leaned in close. “Bullshit. You came here for something and got in a snit because you thought you knew what was going on in my office.”

  She rolled her eyes. He was seriously going to deny it? They’d been doing all kinds of things in his office for years!

  “Think what you want, Adam…”

  “And this Nevada trip is fucking elementary for you so I highly doubt you had any real questions and concerns, Kayla. Why don’t you just be honest with me and tell me why you were here?”

  “You’re going to stand here and tell me you didn’t have someone in your office right now? A woman?” she demanded and wanted to kick herself for coming off like a jealous shrew.

  He frowned down at her. “What the hell difference does that make? Why do you even care?”

  Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

  “You know what?” she responded defiantly. “I don’t.”

  Adam went completely still and silent. For a minute, Kayla forgot to breathe.

  “Are you sure about that?” he asked stiffly, lowly, and she knew what he was really asking. If she said yes, that she didn’t care, this would all be over. He wouldn’t give her another thought, another chance. But if she said no, that she wasn’t sure, then what?

  Her heart began to race again, beating so hard it was almost painful, and all she could do was shake her head.

  Closing the distance between them, Adam walked her backwards until her back was against the wall. He reached out and anchored a hand into her hair and without a word, kissed her. God how she missed this, him, and she dropped her purse and shifted until Adam lifted her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist and it was so damn good.

  This is what she loved about them – the urgency and the desperate need they had for each other. And that’s how Adam was kissing her, like he desperately needed her. He wouldn’t be doing this if he’d just been with another woman. He wouldn’t. He…

  Kayla lifted her head and took a minute to catch her breath. “Adam…”

  “I knew you were out there,” he said, reading her mind. “Doreen messaged me. I was going over payroll with Janet in accounting.”

  “So…you were…what? Testing me? Punishing me?” she asked as she squirmed out of his arms. When her feet touched the floor, she immediately reached for her purse. “What the hell, Adam?”

  Now she was pissed off.

  Like seriously pissed off.

  And from the look of him, so was he.

  “That’s my question, Kayla! You come here unannounced and then make me chase you…”

  “I did not make you chase me!” she corrected. “No one asked you to follow me down the stairs. And why would you? What difference does it make if I left? You dismissed me, remember? You decided that we were done and as a consolation prize, you gave me a shitty assignment!”

  “Kayla…”

  “No,” she cut him off. “You know what. You were right. We want different things. Because when I think about five years in the futu
re, I don’t see myself with someone who plays childish games and gets off on punishing me.” Turning, she pulled open the door and looked at him over her shoulder. “Goodbye, Adam.”

  ****

  Harper was stretching and feeling pretty good about tonight’s Zumba class and kickboxing. Sure, tomorrow her limbs would feel like wet noodles, but she’d worry about it then. For now, she was ready to bring on a good sweat, dance and then practice kicking some ass.

  Kayla had left on her trip so it was Harper and Natalie standing side by side waiting for Julianne to begin.

  “So…um…I never got to talk to you about…”

  Oh, God. The text.

  Harper looked at Natalie and cut her off before she could say any more. “Don’t. It’s okay. I get it. You texted by mistake. I already deleted it and no one will ever know. Okay?” She smiled and was relieved when Natalie did the same.

  “Thank you,” she said with a big whoosh of breath. “You have no idea…”

  Harper held up her hand. “I get it. Really. We don’t have to talk about. Ever.”

  “Understood.”

  Thank God.

  “How are things going?” she asked, bending to the side to stretch some more.

  Natalie blushed as red as a tomato. “They’re good. They’re good.” Then she paused. “I mean…I think they’re good.”

  “You don’t know? What happened when you got home on Saturday? Did you tell Jayce how pissed you were?”

  “I started to,” she replied. “I got home and the place was a disaster and I…I freaked out.”

  Harper’s eyes went wide. “Wow! Good for you! Did you yell at him?”

  She nodded.

  “And what did he do? Did Jayce apologize?”

  “Not…right away…”

  “So you fought it out? Does he get it now, about why you’re so upset?”

  Natalie looked away and then pointed to the corner of the room. “Can you…can we…?”

  Ah. She wanted a little privacy. Okay, whatever. When they got to the corner of the room, Harper saw Julianne look at them curiously. She gave her a shrug as if to say “No idea” and the next thing she knew, Natalie was explaining, in great detail, about her sexcapades!

  Harper had no idea what to do…what to say! It was…it was…way more information than she ever wanted to know about Natalie and Jayce’s sex life, or anyone’s sex life! Where the hell was Julianne and why wasn’t Natalie spilling all of this to her? While Natalie continued to talk, Harper looked over frantically and tried to get her sister’s attention. Luckily they made eye contact and Julianne came over.

  “Everything okay? I’m about to get started….”

  “Natalie was just telling me about how things went with her and Jayce Saturday night,” Harper blurted out. “I thought maybe you should be here too.”

  Natalie looked between the two sisters. “I was going to tell Julianne after class. I knew she didn’t have time right now.”

  Great. So Harper had to be the one to throw herself on the grenade and listen to this X-rated story? Wasn’t it enough that she’d gotten Natalie’s sexy text? Now she not only had to have that picture in her mind but have the stories of married monkey sex too? Why was she being punished?

  “I promise we’ll talk after class,” Julianne said, smiling. Then she gave Harper a smile that bordered on evil and Harper wanted to punch her. “Let’s get ready to sweat!”

  “Okay, so…we’ll just talk about this later,” Harper said and quickly turned to go back to her spot. She didn’t bother to look and see if Natalie followed. Hopefully, Julianne would cue the music and they wouldn’t be able to talk anymore.

  Crisis averted.

  “Did you save me a spot?” someone called out and Harper froze.

  Oh sweet mother of God, what fresh hell was this? Looking to her left, Harper saw her mother walking toward her. Closing her eyes, she counted to ten and then did a silent prayer begging for patience. Her mother came to stand next to her with a big smile on her face.

  “Mom,” she finally forced herself to say. “What are you doing here?”

  “You girls are always talking about how great this class is and your father is making me crazy with that stomach bug so I thought I’d get out of the house for a little while and come here and dance with you!”

  If there was anything sharp to impale herself on and die quickly, Harper would be on it like white on rice.

  This was the one place–the one place!–that was a safe zone. No mothers. No boyfriends or husbands or significant others. She was even going to kick and punch the bag tonight.

  And it looked like she was going to need it.

  “Plus, I really want to make sure I’m in good shape to go shopping for my mother-of-the-bride dress. We’re going to go this weekend. I made the appointment with Hailey when we were there on Saturday,” her mother went on as she reached down to touch her toes. As she rose, she looked at Harper. “You’re coming with us, right? I thought it would be nice – a girls’ day. Just the three of us! Won’t that be fun? We’ll go to lunch afterwards and…”

  Once again, Harper caught Julianne’s eye and conveyed the panic she was feeling. The music instantly turned on.

  “Good evening, everyone! I’m Julianne and this is Zumba! Do we have any first-timers here today?” Julianne said as she went into her spiel. As usual, several people raised their hands. “Awesome! I am so glad you decided to join us today! This is a cardio dance class but don’t worry if you don’t have any dance experience – you don’t need any. And don’t worry if you don’t pick up the steps right away because we’ve all been there!”

  “Oh, listen to my baby up there!” Melinda cried excitedly. “And look how fit she is in her little exercise outfit! She’s going to make a stunning bride, isn’t she?”

  Was Harper seriously supposed to answer that?

  “Even though her gown isn’t really going to let her show off how toned her arms are…” Melinda turned and looked at Harper’s arms and gave one a light pinch. She frowned. “Maybe you can ask Julianne to help you with some toning exercises for your upper body, Harper. Your gown isn’t very forgiving, you know. Sleeveless isn’t a good look on you if your arms aren’t in good shape.”

  “Let’s start with our warm-up!” Julianne called out and everyone started to move. Harper was thankful because it would mean her mother would have to be quiet and pay attention.

  That lasted all of ten minutes.

  Once the music really picked up and they started on the more complex steps, her mother leaned in close again. “Remember when you tried to take jazz dance in middle school?” Then she chuckled. “Oh, you had two left feet! I remember the day when your dance teacher asked me to take you out of the class and she’d return our money.” She paused and did a little cha-cha step. “It’s good to see you’re not still as clumsy.”

  Backhanded compliment? Check!

  Right then and there, she wished Kayla was there so the two of them could make their move and dance their way to a couple of rows back. Just when she was ready to accept her fate, Natalie nudged her shoulder and winked right as she danced around her in an exaggerated cha-cha! Before she knew it, Natalie was next to her mom and Harper was free to move away.

  “One, two, three steps back. Five, six, see the door,” she sang quietly. “Seven, eight, save yourself.” Yeah, it didn’t rhyme, but it worked and before she knew it, she was in the doorway and giving her sister a thumbs up as she made her exit.

  Turning, she walked out to the lobby and thought…now what? Dammit, she really wanted to take that class tonight! Looking back toward the studio, Harper considered going back in and just staying toward the back…

  “You look lost,” a deep, male voice said from behind her.

  Gasping, she turned and looked at Brady, her hand over her heart. “Oh, God…you scared me!”

  He grinned. “Sorry. But seriously, you look lost.” He nodded toward the studio. “Weren’t you taking Julianne’
s class?”

  “I was but…” she paused. “Never mind. Long story. I just needed to step out for a minute. I’ll probably go back.”

  “Probably?”

  “Okay, I’m definitely going to go back, just…in a minute.”

  He motioned for them to move over by the wall so they weren’t standing in the middle of the lobby in everyone’s way. She followed and wondered why she didn’t just go back to class.

  “Your sister teaches one hell of a class, huh?” he asked.

  Harper nodded.

  “She has the highest attendance rate of any instructor. It’s pretty impressive.”

  She looked at him warily. “Yes, it is.” Then she remembered how he had acted with Julianne last week, right before they’d started to argue. So she was right! Brady was totally into her sister! “Her fiancé is really proud of her,” she said, feeling smug. “He really encourages her and because he’s in such great shape too, they work on some of her routines together.”

  Nodding, Brady watched her. “That’s a good thing. It’s important to have a supportive spouse.”

  “I agree. And Gavin’s the best. Like seriously…the best. The two of them have been together for so long and we were all so excited when they got engaged. Not surprised, mind you, but really excited because we all love him.”

  “Excellent,” Brady said, smiling.

  “It is,” she agreed. “They’ve been completely in sync throughout the entire engagement and with all of the wedding plans. Jules found her dress last week and I know Gavin’s going to love it. He’ll…”

  “Harper!”

  Oh for the love of it!

  Letting out a weary sigh, she turned. “Hey, Mom. What are you doing out here?”

  Her mother walked over and immediately began to eye up Brady. “You disappeared from the class and I wanted to make sure you were all right.” She looked at Harper. “And are you?”

  “I’m fine, Mom. I just…I needed something to drink.”

  Melinda nodded and looked at Brady again. “Hi, I’m Melinda Burke, Harper and Julianne’s mother.”