Her Accidental Husband

by Mallory, Ashlee

  Fifteen minutes later, she finally snuck away from two particularly nosy but well meaning aunts and sank into an empty chair next to one of his two sisters. Over the rim of the glass of iced water, she tried not to sneak peeks at Cruz, who had left her side to check a message he’d received and, even now, was sitting two tables over, his face still buried in his phone.

  She knew why he did it, worked himself to death in the name of business. Cruz, as much as he tried to pretend he was a cold and levelheaded businessman first, did everything for his family. To secure their future as much as his own. And here, sitting in the loud but loving grasp of his family, who were teasing each other, cursing at each other, and all connected by this bond called family, no matter how tenuous the connection, she could see why the success of their business might be so important to him. And she could see why Kate thrived under the affection, since she’d never had that kind of thing herself, which made Payton beyond ecstatic for her friend. Even if a little sad.

  She thought about the fancy engagement party her mother had forced on her last December. A stuffy affair with people who she barely knew and who didn’t care about her even half as much as these people cared for Kate. Heck, to be honest, her own family of aunts and uncles and cousins were prickly and cold, more inclined to a careful peck on the cheek than the full-bosomed hugs and embraces that Payton had already received today from a dozen strangers.

  For a moment she thought about what her mother would do if Cruz’s Aunt Essie, with the wide smile and generous bosom, had tried to pull her into a hug and she almost giggled at the prospect. Her mother’s head would probably explode, or she’d bust off one of her ridiculously expensive veneers while gritting her teeth.

  “What has you so amused?” Kate asked, taking a seat across from her. She burst into laughter when Payton explained, catching Benny’s attention.

  The youngest of the siblings, Benny was also the one giving her the most discomforting glances. Like she knew something was up and was going to wrestle someone to the ground to get the information. And although she was a smaller-framed woman, close to Payton’s size, Payton wouldn’t put it past the woman to be able to pin Cruz down based on her guts and cunning alone.

  “Wait until later tonight,” Benny said. “After the wedding, the real celebration begins. You might want to warn your mother that alcohol and dancing always sends this family into planet crazy-pants.”

  Payton froze, the piece of melon she was about to bite still on the fork prong. Was that a hint that Benny knew that had happened last night?

  “Stop, Benny,” Kate said still laughing. “She just might believe you.”

  Payton pushed her suspicion aside and smiled into the woman’s wide blue eyes. Damn. She would kill to have those long lashes. “Should we expect you to table dance later on tonight?”

  “Only if you’re joining me,” she said and they all laughed. Benny studied Payton another minute, shaking her head. “I can’t imagine being stuck in a car with my older brother for two long days. He’s such a backseat driver. When I was sixteen, he took me out once for a lesson but after twenty minutes of telling me I wasn’t holding the steering wheel correctly or that I should have put my turn signal on four seconds before I did, I was ready to push him out of the moving car. Dominic, thank God, was way more laidback.”

  “Cruz must have mellowed over the years,” Payton said. “He mostly just gripped the dash if he thought I was going too fast or distracted himself by staring at his computer screen.”

  Benny sighed. “Seriously? You should have tossed that thing out the window in Laredo. He’s on freaking vacation.” They all took that moment to look over to the other table where Cruz was studying something on his cell phone. “I love him and know that he’s working really hard all to make dad and everyone proud, but I wish he’d learn to have a little fun too. Since as long as I can remember he’s always been working toward something and keeping his nose to the grind, not permitting any distractions.”

  “And this is coming from someone who easily works sixty to eighty hours a week doing her pediatric residency up at the U,” Kate added.

  Payton looked at Cruz’s sister in surprise. Make-up free, her hair thrown in a simple ponytail and a large shapeless dress that did nothing to show her figure underneath, Benny looked more like an undergrad in herbology than someone who’d graduated medical school and was doing a residency at a premier hospital. In comparison to Daisy’s more trendy and pretty outfit of a flowing skirt and tank, Payton couldn’t help but wonder if the uninspiring look was on purpose, or because Benny really had no clue how gorgeous she was. The way the woman shifted and pulled the dress away from her body, clearly uncomfortable in the dress, she’d bet on the latter.

  Payton felt self-conscious. Sitting there with two women, similar in age to herself, one a doctor and one a lawyer, she didn’t know if she’d ever felt more inadequate. If Benny were to ask her what she did, what would she say? That she was on the board of a number of charities, planning various events, phone drives—or in plainer terms, planning parties and what kind of wine goes best with cocktail wieners.

  Payton knew one thing, however. She wouldn’t be gopher to her mother and her dozens of charity events, not anymore. She meant what she’d said to her mother. She was going to do something with more purpose. Whether she had her approval or not.

  “How’s your big wedding coming?” Benny asked, taking a pull from a beer. “And how come your fiancé didn’t come down with you?”

  Payton set her glass down. With surprising calm and relief, she said, “The wedding’s off.” The more she said it, the more real it finally seemed. She really was doing this. Or not doing this, rather.

  “You’re kidding.” Benny’s eyes rounded like saucers. “What happened?”

  The sting of Brad’s betrayal was lessening and Payton imparted the worst of it to Benny who added appropriate epitaphs and groans as the occasion warranted. She was funny and open and, surprisingly, even more sarcastic than Kate.

  As Payton finished, she cautioned a glance over at Cruz and realized he was watching them, a strange look on his face. She wondered if he could hear their conversation from there and if, for all she knew, he’d been following it all along. It gave her a certain level of embarrassment and excitement to think so. Meeting her gaze and realizing she’d caught him, he dropped his own back to his phone.

  “Well, you’re holding up pretty well, which I’d say is a good sign that you made the right decision,” Benny said.

  “Yes, well, don’t tell that to my mother or she’ll murder you on the spot. She’s…having a harder time with it.”

  Benny grinned. “I’ll bet.”

  “Which means she’s going to be an even bigger pill later when she watches my best friend get married, thinking about everything she’s going to miss. Speaking of which…” Payton said and turned to Kate, looking so bright and happy and relaxed, “…you should probably be getting upstairs if we’re going to get you and Dominic married before the sun sets. Just like you always dreamed.”

  Kate smiled over at Dominic, all the love she had for him shining in her eyes.

  Payton’s own heart tightened in happiness and joy and, admittedly, a little envy.

  How would it be to be able to express that love for someone you cared deeply about, without worry, without restraint? Kate had asked her how she felt about Cruz, and she’d managed to sidestep the question then.

  Then there’d been the moment on the elevator, when their eyes met and she’d seen such yearning, such naked desire on his face, she’d been stunned. It seemed to echo what surely was reflected on her own face. He’d been about to kiss her, she was almost certain, and had anticipated the touch of his lips, the rush of blood flushing through her body, and her belly had fluttered—or perhaps it had been the motion from the elevator dropping. But then the moment was over and she was left breathless and frustrated.

  She couldn’t deny that somehow, in the past few days, she’d dropped
whatever defenses she’d put up where Cruz Sorensen was concerned and begun to possibly, just possibly, fall in love with the big brute. Just a little.

  A man who hours before had said the moment that had culminated in their saying I do before God and the church full of people had all been a mistake.

  “How you feeling?” Cruz asked, hazarding a look to his right, where the man of the hour was standing.

  “Never better,” Dominic said with a surprising amount of calmness.

  Cruz studied his brother’s face for any signs of distress or nervousness, even though both emotions weren’t anywhere near his more laidback brother’s usual MO. But the only emotion he could see was something akin to excitement, happiness, and a sort of…peace. As if he knew everything he’d ever wanted was about to be his. Which from what Cruz could tell from seeing the couple together over the past few months, was likely true. Other than his own parents, Cruz didn’t know if he’d ever seen two people more in love and right for each other. “Yeah. I can see that. You’re a lucky man.”

  “Don’t I know it. I just hope that someday you’ll be standing where I am. Having found the one woman who you know will make you the happiest man on the face of the planet.”

  Cruz could imagine standing in that same place. Had done it, in fact, just a few hours ago. Not that he was about to tell Dominic that, Cruz only nodded, and turned his attention back to scanning the familiar faces of the guests, seated in eight rows evenly placed on each side of the aisle. He paused when he saw Emily Vaughn’s surly expression.

  Seated in the second row on the bride’s side—which technically was filled with most of Cruz’s abundant family—the woman was doing a great job of pretending that no one else sat on either side of her, keeping her gaze glued ahead in the distance. Fortunately, everyone around her was just as keen on avoiding Payton’s mother and were laughing among themselves. He heard more than a few joking references to the sour-faced woman—all in Spanish, of course, and he smothered a smile and turned away, taking in the rest of the view outside on the patio.

  Normally Cruz didn’t give much thought to things like fading light and scenic views, but he had to give Kate and Dominic credit for finding such a gorgeous vista for this moment. It was glorious that fine evening, the clouds hanging over the ocean in the background that, with the waning sun reflecting off of them, had become deep shades of pinks and purples. The large private patio where the ceremony was being held offered an incomparable view of the ocean in all its blues and teals set against such a gorgeous sky.

  His cellphone vibrated from his breast pocket, telling him he had an email, but he forced himself to ignore it. Having already chatted briefly with Dick earlier, confirming that Payton was safely delivered to the hotel, he was expecting a copy of their contract emailed any minute now, with Dick’s signature on the bottom line. Leaving only Cruz’s signature to finalize the document. His chest puffed slightly at the thought of the headlines reporting the massive deal and the buzz that would surround the company. He would be deemed worthy of Payton Vaughn by anyone’s standards at that point.

  His finger itched to check the phone, just once. To be sure. But this was his brother’s wedding, and Dominic would kill him if he knew the phone was with him, let alone if he actually checked his messages.

  Instead, he turned back to the front where the guests were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the most illustrious of attendees—the bride. As the music began to his left, announcing the beginning of the big event, there was another person Cruz was looking forward to seeing almost as much as, if not more. Enough that the lure of the message waiting on his cellphone was completely forgotten as he waited in anticipation.

  But it looked like the order was his sisters, Daisy and Benny, first, smiling widely at their family as they took agonizingly slow steps to the front, pink roses grasped in their hands. Daisy’s steps looked effortless in her heels and pretty, flowing dress in a shade of turquoise almost like the ocean behind her. Benny’s were a little more precarious as his sister was more used to high tops and sneakers than heels. But she looked beautiful, and he was stunned for a moment at how well his youngest sister cleaned up when she wasn’t hiding behind baggy clothes.

  His nieces came next, dropping flowers and looking adorable. His nephew threatened to steal the show, however. At six, Paul strutted down the aisle with the proudest grin bursting on his sweet little face. When he reached the end of the aisle, Dominic and Cruz each took a moment to ruffle his hair before positioning him in place.

  Cruz caught his mother and father in the front row giving each other smiles, tears in his mother’s eyes before his dad pulled her in and kissed her. He wrapped his arm over her shoulder and they turned to look upon their family.

  Then the familiar sound of the wedding march started and people were coming to their feet. An overwhelming sense of need to see…her—Payton—filled him, and he wondered how Dominic was bearing under the same pressure. Heads were tilting this way and that to try and get the first glimpse and in another moment, the vision Cruz was waiting for almost breathlessly turned the corner and came into view.

  Lovely didn’t even begin to describe her.

  His heart burgeoned in his chest as he took in Payton’s almost ethereal beauty. Dressed in the same pretty dress as his sisters, she somehow managed to make it all her own as it clung to her graceful figure—a figure that had fit so well against his own—the hemline ending just above her knees. Her strawberry blond hair shone in the diminishing light, and he admired the way it was swept up and off her shoulders, leaving that creamy pale neck exposed. He waited, as she drew nearer, to see the two moles just below her ear.

  She met his gaze, and he was confounded by the deep green depths, so alive and bright and luminous. Eyes that promised forever last night; he was near crazy enough right now to believe that she was looking at him in that same way now.

  Like she was his.

  Then she glanced away and passed Dominic to find her place in the line. Cruz’s heart was pounding so loud he thought his brother was going to look over at him in alarm but he didn’t. Cruz was relieved to see that everyone’s eyes were now trained at the start of the aisle, waiting for Kate.

  Save for one.

  Emily Vaughn’s gaze was on him, her eyes narrowed almost to slits, and he knew without any doubt that whatever emotions he felt for the woman’s daughter had been naked and exposed not just to Payton’s gaze—but to her mother’s. Heaven help him.

  A bright and beaming Kate appeared next and the crowd came to their feet, eager for a better glimpse at the beautiful bride. He patted Dominic’s shoulder, but his brother barely noticed, his eyes only for one woman.

  On notice from the glaring woman in the audience to keep his attention where it should be—on the bride and groom—Cruz turned to the justice of the peace who was officiating over the ceremony.

  But it was hard. So hard. Because now on opposite sides of the row, both facing the couple in the center, he was hard-pressed not to stare into Payton’s pretty face. To take in his fill of the soft contours of her jawline, the curve of those deep red lips that he ached to taste again. Stare into those eyes that were staring back at him just as ferociously.

  Damn. He should have kissed her in the elevator. Should have crushed her to him and finally been honest with her. Confessed to her that she aroused so many different needs and feelings in him that he was still trying to figure them all out. But that if she stayed by his side—in his arms…in his bed—they could figure things out together.

  Dominic began to speak, to promise words of love to one woman, but it was Payton that Cruz was watching. His words from the previous night came flooding back to him. Promising to love her, honor her, stay true to her always and forever, promising himself only to her.

  Dominic repeated those same words, and this time Cruz tore his gaze from Payton to stare at Kate, his almost sister-in-law. Kate stared in rapturous wonder at Dominic, her heart there for everyone to see.


  What would it be like to have Payton standing before him again, sober, with that same look? To be standing where Dominic was, knowing this woman loved him so deeply and entirely, pushing away any doubts he might have that he was never going to be enough?

  That she only wanted him, now and always?

  Like the best thing that could ever happen to him.

  Payton watched Dominic swear his love and devotion to her best friend, working hard the entire time to keep her gaze from meeting the man’s just behind him. The man who, when she’d come down the aisle just moments ago, had looked at her with those dark, haunting brown eyes, eyes that made her think for a minute he was waiting there for her.

  Kate repeated the same vows and despite herself, Payton found tears slipping down her cheek. All too soon, the official proclaimed them husband and wife, and Dominic pulled Kate in for their first kiss, sending the audience into wild applause.

  Payton dared a quick glance at Cruz. Yep, he was watching her, and she wiped the tears from her cheek and put on a bright smile just as Kate turned around and reached for her bouquet.

  “Congrats, Kate,” she whispered, and her best friend hugged her tightly, then turned back to her new husband, as he took her hand and they walked down the aisle together.

  At least one of them could have it all.

  By the time pictures were taken and they were free to their own devices, the sun was tucked away and the sky above them dark save for the bright twinkling lights that crossed overhead, lighting the dance floor and dinner tables underneath.

  Kate had foregone designating where anyone was going to sit for the reception and had left that to the guests—a wise decision since Payton wouldn’t put it past Cruz’s boisterous family to disregard name cards anyway. Most tables were full but one was left reserved for members of the wedding party. The sisters were already there, trying to get the kids to settle down. Kate and Dominic were held up speaking to Cruz’s parents, which left Cruz unaccounted for.