by Regina Cole
“You’re my best girls, and I can’t imagine anyone else standing beside me today. Thank you.”
“Aw, shucks.” Rachel giggled. “Let’s hurry before your groom thinks you’re a runaway bride!”
With a cheer, the four of them dashed from the hotel room. Eliza hung back a moment to make sure Stacey was coming. She moved a little slower than the rest of them. Still having a headache? Eliza wondered.
“You look gorgeous,” Eliza whispered to Stacey as they waited for the elevator.
Stacey opened her mouth, then closed it, and settled for a small smile. “Thank you.” She crossed her arms over her stomach, one hand rubbing her upper arm.
Damn it, Bree, why couldn’t she have had a shawl? She’s so self-conscious. . . .
But the elevator got there and Eliza followed the other girls without saying anything. It was too late for a wardrobe change anyway. Stacey looked fine, but Eliza knew what it was like to want to hide beneath clothing. After all, she’d been doing the same thing for a while herself, until this trip.
The strains of the string quartet could be heard from the sidewalk as they approached the wedding pavilion. Eliza’s throat closed up a bit, the music was so beautiful. The sunset was even more beautiful than it had been the previous night, making the ocean look like a lake of fire. The gold-red rays silhouetted the priest and Gregory as they stood at the front of the crowd.
“It’s showtime,” the wedding planner whispered with a bright smile as they stopped at the back of the crowd. Eliza caught Chandler’s eye, and he winked.
God, her stomach was turning somersaults. After last night, she’d wondered if he was mad at her. But if she was reading his hungry gaze right, that rain check was still on the table.
Rachel reached the end of the aisle, and the wedding planner tapped Eliza on the shoulder. “Go.”
Gripping her bouquet in front of her, Eliza stepped forward.
He’d intended to watch Gregory’s face for his first glimpse of the bride, but Chandler couldn’t take his own eyes off the second bridesmaid to walk down the aisle.
She was sexy as hell in that icy blue dress, spaghetti straps showing off her shoulders and collarbone. He’d like to nibble that exposed skin, kiss and lick and peel that dress all the way down her beautiful thighs....
But she turned left at the front of the aisle and went to stand beside Rachel, then it was his and Stacey’s turn to walk down the aisle. Once they’d reached their places, the crowd stood and turned as the music swelled and shifted into a beautiful rendition of “La Vie En Rose.” A collective gasp escaped them as Sabrina appeared at the end of the aisle.
Her smile was huge, bright, almost magnetic. She walked down the aisle alongside her father, almost seeming to float instead of step. She was a magnificent bride, but was it wrong of him to think that Eliza was even more attractive? He made a mental note to keep that observation to himself. He didn’t want Greg to kill him after he’d gone through all that trouble to save his ass.
As the audience was seated, Chandler took advantage of their distraction to step out just a hair. Just enough so he could see past the happy couple and glue his gaze to a dark-haired goddess. Nobody else might agree with him, but for some reason, the piles of curls atop her head, the gauzy blue fabric of her short dress, the tasteful, light makeup she’d applied, all of it combined to make her look more elegant than he’d ever seen a woman before.
Even Andrea, on their own wedding day, hadn’t been as attractive to him as Eliza was right now.
“Dearly beloved,” the priest began, the words socking Chandler in the stomach.
Why’d he have to think of his ex right now? Of course, it was probably just the wedding. He hadn’t been to another since his own had happened, several years ago now. It was only natural that Andrea pop into his memory at a time like this. It didn’t mean he had to like it, though.
But then, Eliza caught him staring, and an incredulous smile spread across her beautiful face. Her white teeth flashed, then she put on a mock scowl.
Pursing his lips, Chandler glanced away, as if completely bored. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Eliza lift her bouquet to cover her slight giggle.
Good. She was thinking of him now, too.
The beginning of the ceremony passed without major incident, Chandler exchanging glances with Eliza whenever he could. He was in the middle of a rather long staring contest when someone touched his shoulder.
Chandler blinked. It was Greg.
“Rings, man?”
“Oh right.” Chandler fumbled in his pocket as the audience tittered. He produced them with little fanfare, and his major task was over. Everyone looked happy, well, except for the mother of the bride. That one never looked happy until she was inside her third bottle of wine.
The rings were exchanged, the vows were said, and everyone clapped and cheered as Gregory pressed a long, lingering kiss on his new bride’s lips.
The string quartet started a cheerful tune, and Chandler held out his elbow to Stacey. Her cheeks were blotchy, as if she’d been crying. It was actually pretty sweet. He hadn’t figured she was the type to get emotional at weddings.
“You look beautiful,” he said in a low voice as they walked together up the aisle.
Her breath caught, as if she was trying to choke down a sob. “Thank you. You look great, too.”
When they reached the event hall, Stacey pulled free, claiming she wanted to visit the ladies’ room and touch up her makeup. Chandler nodded and waved her off.
Finally, the ceremony was done. And he had definite plans for the reception.
The wedding guests sat at the chairs he and Eliza had carefully wrapped the day before, and even Chandler had to admit the decorations looked great. It was almost like a fluffy white dream, with a four-tier wedding cake serving as the centerpiece of the dance floor. Of course, once they cut the cake they’d wheel it out of the way so everyone could dance the night away. It was the part of the day he was most looking forward to.
“Chandler, darling, can you get me a glass of wine?”
“Of course, Mrs. Hough. Red or white?”
Sabrina’s mother shuddered. “Red, darling, I can’t abide white. Too sweet for my tastes.”
“You’ve got it.” Chandler debated just bringing the bottle and leaving it at the table, but maybe that would be a bit too obvious. So he settled for a large glass. He was just setting it on the table in front of Mrs. Hough when the wedding planner tapped on the microphone.
“Your attention, please,” the woman said with a huge smile. “Allow me to present the new Mr. and Mrs. Trailwick!”
The room erupted in cheers from everyone except Mrs. Hough. Chandler glanced down at the woman beside him, but her face was a mask of irritation.
“Are you okay?”
She jumped as if startled. “Of course! Why wouldn’t I be?” A fake laugh escaped her, and she grabbed her glass of wine as if she’d been waiting for it instead of glaring at her daughter and her new husband.
Weird. There were a lot of things he didn’t understand about this wedding, and that was really starting to irritate him. Chandler forced himself to clap and smile as Sabrina and Gregory made their way through the crowd to the head table. Maybe he’d start asking some questions, figure out what was gumming up the relationships around here. Greg was still a little off, the new in-laws seemed less than pleased, poor Stacey had looked like someone ran over her puppy ever since the bachelorette party....
He stopped cataloguing the things that didn’t add up just then, because Eliza was suddenly there. His misgivings from earlier seemed further away now. To hell with Andrea, this was different.
Without bothering to say good-bye to Mrs. Hough, Chandler made his way directly to Eliza’s side.
“Hello, beautiful.”
She glanced away as if embarrassed at his frank compliment. “Hi, yourself.”
“Allow me to escort you to your seat?” Chandler held out his elbow, and she tucked
her hand through. It was cold, and he pressed it close to his side to warm it.
“Thanks.”
They walked through the crowd and Chandler’s imagination started running wild. Her skirt was short; maybe during dinner he could put a hand on her knee and see what she thought about that. Warming up during the reception was a good idea, right? And after massaging her thigh, he’d feed her a bit of his slice of cake. Imagining her sucking the sweet icing off his fingertips sent a bolt of lust that wrapped straight around his cock.
Then they’d get out on the dance floor. Brushing bodies, moving closer, Eliza would turn and press her ass against him, shaking to the beat.
“Hey look, you’re sitting on the other side of the table from me.”
Chandler’s plans fell to the ground and smashed at their feet. He frowned as he stared at the place cards. Yup, sure enough, Eliza was seated next to Randy, and Chandler was next to Stacey.
Shit.
He pulled out Eliza’s chair for her while trying to figure out how to fix this. He couldn’t just swap place cards; that would be rude, wouldn’t it? Maybe he could ask Randy to switch seats with him. But then he remembered the argument Mrs. Hough and Sabrina had had the day before about the seating arrangements. The last thing he wanted was to cause waves for the happy couple.
Double shit.
“I guess I’ll see you later?” Eliza glanced over her shoulder at Chandler. Was it a bad thing that he was a little happy to see the disappointment in her eyes? Nah, it wasn’t. They felt the same.
He bent over and pressed his lips close to her ear. “Save a dance for me.”
She shivered as he kissed the delicate curve of her ear, then nodded.
Chandler walked away, satisfied enough for the moment.
The night was young, and they’d both get what they wanted eventually.
He could be patient for a little while longer.
15
The dinner was delicious, but Eliza didn’t taste much of it. She was torn between laughing at Randy’s lame jokes and keeping an eye on Chandler, who sat at the other end of the table. Stacey’s chair had remained curiously empty, but when Eliza had asked Rachel about it, she’d just waved off Eliza’s concern.
“She told me she had a headache and was going up to her room. I asked her if she wanted me to go with her, and she said no. She’s fine.”
Eliza wasn’t sure, but she let it go. Stacey was an adult, and if she wanted to be alone, that was up to her.
Bree and Gregory cut the cake, with the predictable smashing in Gregory’s face, and a slightly more sedate dab of icing put on Bree’s nose. It was sweet, but Eliza couldn’t help but wish they’d hurry up.
She drank a glass of wine, but her anticipation of the night to come was much stronger than any buzz alcohol could give her. She switched to water after that. No reason to dull her senses when what she really wanted was to be able to remember absolutely everything that happened tonight.
As the wait staff rolled the remaining cake to the opposite side of the dance floor, Eliza wiped her suddenly damp palms on her skirt.
Why was she nervous? Nothing had really changed between them. Well, except for the way she’d started seeing Chandler as a person instead of just a fun sexual partner. She couldn’t think of him as just a fling now, no matter how many times she promised herself she would. Knowing him, even just the brief flashes she’d seen, had ruined that forever, and she couldn’t help but be glad she knew more of the man he was.
But even if she thought of him as a good person, a likeable person, they could still have fun. After all, this whole—whatever it was—would be over the moment they left Hawaii.
The wedding planner waved to the head table and grabbed the mic again. “It’s time for the first dance! Everyone, Mr. and Mrs. Trailwick!”
Eliza watched as Gregory and Bree took to the floor. Gregory’s face was a little serious, but Bree looked radiantly happy. Maybe that was just Greg’s personality. If so, that was okay. Bree had enough positive, bubbly energy to make up for the fact that Greg was kind of a sourpuss.
A warm hand landed on Eliza’s bare shoulder, making her jump.
“Hey there.”
She smiled at the familiar voice. “Hi.”
“I got lonely over there, so I thought I’d come by.” Chandler dropped into the seat that Randy had recently vacated, something about having a smoke break. “How was your dinner?”
“It was good, but I’m glad it’s over.”
An evil grin spread across Chandler’s face. “Seems like you might be looking forward to something other than dessert?”
She nodded as her stomach flipped. His eyes were dark with want, and his gaze raked from her face to her bared neckline, down to where the hem of her dress skimmed the tops of her thighs.
“Come on,” Chandler said, standing. He held his hand out to her. “Let’s dance.”
Eliza looked over at the dance floor, somewhat surprised when she realized that Bree and Gregory’s first dance was over, and couples were crowding onto the floor. Finally. “Okay.”
He squeezed her hand and the two of them ran onto the floor like kids at their first prom. The song was bouncy and upbeat, really fun. Lights hung from the rafters above them, throwing scattered beams across the polished floor that had been laid just that morning. Eliza laughed, swinging her arms above her head as Chandler put his hands on her hips.
One song became two, and then two became three, different tempos and beats causing them to change the way they moved. Eliza lost count after a while, because one sexy song bled into another, and a slow ballad gave the perfect opportunity for their bodies to align, so close that not even a whisper could move between them.
“You’re incredibly sexy,” Chandler whispered close to her ear, one of his hands rubbing down the small of her back to rest just atop the curve of her buttocks. He squeezed lightly, and she fought the urge to press harder into his growing erection. “I haven’t forgotten my promises.”
Shivers went down her spine, and her skin tingled as goose bumps raced across her exposed skin. “You haven’t?”
“Nope. And if you follow me up to my room, I can prove it.”
God, the temptation was too much for any one woman to have to bear, wasn’t it? Eliza wrapped her arms tighter around him, but looked across the dance floor.
Sabrina was dancing with her brother, and Gregory was camped out in the corner talking to Randy. Mrs. Hough was holding court in the center of the tables, at least three wine bottles standing by her untouched wedding cake. Mr. Hough was nowhere to be seen. Rachel and her husband were dancing, both of them holding her belly. Other couples looked to be at least as interested in one another as Eliza and Chandler were.
“Isn’t it bad luck or something to leave before the bride and groom?”
Chandler pulled back a bit and looked toward Bree. “I don’t know, really. We can stay if you think we should.” He leaned close again, whispering so as not to be heard above the music. “Just keep in mind that I intend to keep you to myself for the rest of the trip. We’ve got some catching up to do. I’m a man of my word, after all.”
Eliza bit her lip as her nipples pebbled painfully. He had a sexy voice normally, but when he pitched it low like that, his breath blowing across her ear, his scent tickling her nostrils as his body heat bled into hers—
She had no choice. Not really.
“Let’s sneak away. Nobody’s watching. But we probably should leave separately, otherwise people might get suspicious.”
She was a little surprised by her initiative, but Chandler seemed to take it in stride. He pressed a tiny kiss just below her earlobe and stepped back. The evening breeze played between them, ruffling the hem of Eliza’s dress and chilling her more than it should have. Or was that just the excitement of the night that was to come? She wasn’t sure. She’d have to wait to find out.
“Okay. Let’s do this. You go on ahead, and I’ll say good night to Gregory. I’ll follow you up i
n about five minutes so it doesn’t look odd. You remember my room number, right?”
A plastic key appeared in Eliza’s hand, and she tucked it into her strapless bra as quickly as she could. “Okay. Got it.”
She walked away quickly, trying like hell to look completely innocent. It was hard, because her heart was thumping like she’d just run a marathon. It seemed like everyone was looking at her as she passed by, like there was a blinking neon sign on her forehead that read “about to have wild, kinky monkey sex. Please point and laugh.”
That was ridiculous. She was ridiculous. Nobody knew where she was going.
But there was one thing she had to do before she left. She wouldn’t forgive herself if she didn’t. Wheeling around, she made her way back to the dance floor.
Tapping Brent on the shoulder, she smiled. “Can I cut in?”
Brent blinked, but stepped aside. Sabrina just laughed and linked her hands behind Eliza’s neck. They swayed to the music for a moment.
“You’re beautiful, you know,” Eliza said as they twirled on the floor. “Everything went perfectly.”
“Thanks to you. I thought Mother would be much more of a pain than she was.” Bree sighed as she looked over at Gregory. Relief rippled through Eliza as the groom’s face lit up in a smile.
“You deserve to be happy.” Eliza hugged Bree, then stepped back. “I just want you to remember that.”
“Oh Liza, so do you. And you will be just as happy, I know it.”
The song ended, the friends embraced, and Eliza told a quick fib about needing to run to the ladies’ room.
As she passed Chandler, she didn’t say a word, just gave him a wink.
The elevator seemed to take forever. She didn’t want to wait any longer. Chandler was a man of his word, after all, and she wanted to know exactly how he intended to keep his promises.
Chandler watched Eliza go. She was as beautiful going as she was coming. He grinned. He’d see her coming again very soon.
“Hey, man, I’m heading to the bar. You want anything?” Randy said with a loose smile. It looked like he’d been to the bar quite a bit already this evening.
