Her Accidental Husband

by Mallory, Ashlee

  Why was she blathering like an idiot? Cruz didn’t care if Kate had half and half in her coffee.

  She turned to him, forcing a bright smile.

  And realized he had closed the space between them somewhere in the last few seconds and was standing so close she could see the pulse at the side of his neck. Smell his wonderful sensuous scent.

  “Payton, I—”

  Only whatever he was about to say was cut off by the sound of voices from upstairs. A high-pitched female one that was insisting she bring down the box herself and didn’t need to wait another minute for anyone to help her.

  Cruz blanched ever so slightly and glanced over to the figure coming down the stairs. Payton’s eyes followed. She recognized the bubbly brunette balancing a wide box in her arms, having met her months before at Kate’s birthday party. With Cruz.

  She pinched the flesh between her thumb and index finger, trying to keep the tears from surfacing.

  Oh. Goody.

  Cruz had brought a date.

  Cruz was still stunned from the unexpected sight of seeing Payton, here, looking so gorgeous and cheerful—something that had been in short supply for him—when he heard Becca making her way down the stairs.

  He cursed himself for even taking her call yesterday. Or agreeing to go out with her for, as she put it, old time’s sake. But he’d been feeling lonely and angry and thought any company was better than stewing about the woman he could never have.

  He glanced up at the cute brunette trying not to fall down the stairs in the teetering heels she was wearing and couldn’t help but find her short on the appeal that Payton had. He looked back at Payton, trying to gauge her reaction. Did she even care anymore? Was she already back with Brad?

  “There you are, Cruz,” Becca said and dropped the box she was carrying not very gently to the floor, her interest more on the meeting going on over at the kitchen island. She almost ran to his side. “Hi there,” she said, possessively tucking her arm through his.

  He didn’t pull away, watching Payton’s expression instead. Looking for anything. Some sign that she still felt something for him.

  But her face stayed bright and she widened her own smile. “Hi. It’s Becca, right? I’m Payton, I think we met a few months ago at Kate’s party.”

  “That’s right, you were there a little late. Is your fiancé around—”

  Any further conversation was interrupted again, this time by his nephew and nieces who were running down the stairs now, their mother and the rest of the family hot on their heels. He’d make bets they’d been holding everyone outside for as long as they could to give him and Payton a moment.

  This was a total set-up.

  But little did they know that when he agreed to help tonight, he wasn’t coming alone. He should have known something was up by the panic in Daisy’s eyes when she caught sight of Becca. He’d just chalked it up to her disappointment he wasn’t with Payton. Which he had no idea why, since they barely even knew her.

  And now, with the two women smiling almost too eagerly at each other, his sisters could reap the repercussions of their little scheme.

  Daisy reached the bottom of the steps first. “Hi, Payton,” she said a little too brightly. “So glad to see you. It’s sweet that you wanted to come up and make sure this place felt homey for Kate.”

  Payton leaned across the island and grabbed her purse, tucking it under her arm. “Thanks. And congratulations to you. I hear you’re the new tenant?”

  Daisy eyed the purse. “The kids and I are pretty excited. Tonight’s going to be our first night there. You weren’t leaving, were you? I brought my special tres leches cake to share with everyone.”

  It was ridiculous, the way he was actually holding his breath, hoping she’d stay. That he would be able to spend a little more time looking at her, remembering how she felt in his arms.

  “I’d love to but I’m afraid I’m already running a little late for my dinner date.”

  And like that, the breath he’d been holding was pushed out, as if someone slammed him in the stomach.

  Of course. It’s Saturday night. She wouldn’t be sitting at home alone. Not someone as beautiful and full of life as Payton. Just, dear God, don’t let it be Brad.

  Benny gave him a look, as if expecting him to say something, but there wasn’t anything really to say, so he watched as Benny and then Daisy squeezed Payton good-bye. His mother and father reached the bottom of the stairs as she was about to start up.

  His father looked surprised as he saw her, but there was something in his mother’s eyes as she looked at her and then over at Cruz, that told him she knew very well Payton was here. Judas.

  “Payton, we’re sorry you have to go,” his mother said and grabbed the woman in a hug. She released her and her smile turned to a frown. “Just watch yourself on the roads. It looks like a snowstorm is coming in soon. Cruz?” His mother looked at him in disapproval, her brows furrowed. “Can you please make sure Payton gets safely to her car? It’s getting dark out there.”

  In about an hour, he wanted to say, but instead nodded and extricated himself from Becca’s clutches. Becca started to say she’d be happy to go along but Benny interrupted her, asking if she’d help finish the task of stuffing the votive holders that Payton had abandoned.

  He was well aware of the dozen eyes that watched their ascent, probably wishing they could find a way to eavesdrop without being obvious. They reached the landing and walked across to the door. He opened it before she could, and warm air rushed in, the kind that usually precedes a big snowstorm.

  Stepping outside, he looked around the lot for Payton’s car. He could see it now, nearly hidden under the trees. He waited at the top of the porch while Payton searched in her purse.

  “I’ll be fine, Cruz, if you want to go back inside. I don’t need a chaperone.”

  The breeze lifted her hair and it flew around her head, framing that sweet familiar face. She raised her eyes at his, green and lustrous, and it actually caused him physical pain to know she had almost been his.

  “Found them,” she said and held her keys up. The wind was whipping at her jacket and she clutched it closed, trying to tuck a strand of hair flying wildly in front of her eyes behind an ear. “Bye, Cruz. Take care.”

  Then she turned and was down the porch steps and nearly running toward her car. As if running from him, although he knew it was more from the blustery wind than from him. He was almost certain.

  “Payton, wait,” he called out, not sure what had moved him to do so. He just didn’t want to see her running away from him again.

  She paused as she reached her car door and looked back. Without hesitating, he bounded down the stairs after her.

  “I just wanted to say…” Hell. He didn’t know. Maybe…don’t leave. Don’t walk away from me again. Please, let’s give us another try. See where this thing we have can take us. That together they can overcome anything. But those were words for the movies. Not real life. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. Sorry the way things ended like they did. And…I hope you’ll be happy.”

  She bit her bottom lip, her eyes looking almost wild for a moment but then she turned away and opened her door, sliding in, her face still hidden.

  He did want her to be happy. Even if it wasn’t with him. “Take care, Payton.”

  “Thanks, Cruz. You too.” Then she slammed the door shut and started the car. He backed up, giving her room.

  And he watched her drive down the road, away from him. Again.

  Payton only made it to the beginning of the trees, Cruz’s figure still visible in her rear view mirror, before the tears came. Her heart felt like it was breaking all over again.

  When he’d called out to her, her heart had risen to her throat, hope building that maybe he was going to stop her. Insist she stay with him. Tell her that he loved her.

  But instead…he’d said good-bye.

  It became impossible to blink the tears back, and instead she let them trail down her
face all the way home. But they were quiet tears, not the soul-wrenching sobs that she’d shed the week before. Tears that accepted that things were over. What other choice did she have?

  Chapter Nineteen

  Cruz popped the top from his second beer and took a pull. He was sitting in the kitchen of Daisy’s new place—Kate’s old house—as the kids yelled in laughter from the other room where his Aunt Glenda had a game of Twister set up. Daisy and Benny were across from him, Benny wolfing down half the bowl of guacamole that Daisy had whipped up. Dominic, who’d just arrived, hunkered down in the chair next to him.

  Now they were just waiting for his parents to arrive. He had something he wanted to show them all together. To make it all worthwhile.

  “Where’s Kate? Are you telling me that five days after you get back from your honeymoon she’s already finding you too much to stomach?” Cruz asked his younger brother.

  “You really want to go there?” Dominic smiled back, almost as if offering him a warning. “Kate and Payton are having a girl’s night out, so it’s just me.”

  She was with Payton. He was going to have to get used to that. They were best friends; that wasn’t going to change. Cruz nodded and took another pull as, if the kids’ shouts were any indication, his parents arrived.

  Game time. He stood, and after corralling his siblings into the front room—Benny with a death-grip on the guacamole—he pulled the folded up magazine from his pocket.

  “I know you’ve all thought I was crazy all these years, keeping my nose to the grindstone, never taking time to enjoy the finer things in life—blah blah blah. But I think what you’re going to see will show you why it was all worthwhile.”

  At least he hoped it did. Because after staring at the article for the past twenty-four hours, he was more than disappointed that he hadn’t felt the level of exhilaration, of pride and satisfaction that he always thought he would. Hadn’t felt even half the same exhilaration he’d felt when he thought for that wonderful day that Payton was his wife.

  He held up the magazine cover, so everyone could bask in the glory. “Not only did Sorensen Construction make ENR’s list of top 400 contractors in the U.S., but it’s featured in this week’s regional section, thanks to this deal with Eastman Motors.” He presented the magazine to his dad first. “Dad, I know that the past few years you struggled health-wise and it was an honor that you trusted me to take the reins and see what I can do with the business. I hope that this assures you that our company and our family’s future is going to be secure for a long time.”

  His dad took the magazine, and stared at for a minute, the slightest smile on that usually stony face. “I didn’t doubt you for a minute, Cruz.” He opened the magazine and found the article that Cruz was so proud of and read it silently.

  His sisters and Dominic, Aunt Glenda, and the kids all gave him a hug and congratulated him. For the next couple of minutes he basked finally in the glow of their excitement, their pride. His mother came over and kissed him on the cheek and then came to stand next to her husband, still seated on the couch. “This is so exciting, Cruz. There’s a picture of you and everything.”

  “In a suit, no less,” Benny said, also peeking over her father’s shoulder. “Nice touch.”

  “I think now’s a good time to finally feed the kids. Is everyone hungry?” With her own sense of pride, Daisy, with the help of her sibling, brought out platters of food that she’d been working on all day and everyone took seats at the dining table. “I’m still getting the hang of Kate’s range so I hope everything’s okay,” Daisy said tentatively.

  Which was crazy as everything was delicious as she very well knew. But he knew what it felt like to hear praise from the people you love. He needed it just as much. Only sitting here, among those people, he felt like something was still missing. That someone who he wanted to share this with wasn’t here.

  Payton.

  Her name seemed to echo inside his head. Over and over. She should be here.

  But why would she be? He hadn’t done anything to show her how important she had become in his life in the short time they’d had together.

  He looked to his parents, where his mother was standing over his dad, insisting on helping him, fussing about him despite the fact it had been months since his surgery and he was healthier than he’d been for a long time. But his dad didn’t seem to mind, just watching his wife and, when she was done, grabbing her by the waist and smacking a kiss on her cheek.

  It was his parents who had instilled in them all the importance of family, of taking time to spend quality moments with them. Of family dinners, vacations, and just hanging out together. Without them, all of his accomplishments would mean nothing.

  But somewhere in the past few years of his life, he’d forgotten that basic notion. Family. What was he working for if at the end of the day, he didn’t have a partner there to hear about his accomplishments as much as his failures, if he didn’t have children to teach a thing or two about responsibility and being there for each other as his siblings were there for him?

  He’d lost sight of what he was doing it all for.

  And the only person he wanted at his side through this crazy adventure of life was the same woman who’d been at his side during that three-day journey through Mexico.

  It might be too late. He understood that. She might very well be with Brad. And if so, if it made her happy, then he’d step aside and accept it.

  But she deserved to know how much she meant to him. How much he’d show her each and every day of their lives together how she was the most valuable and cherished thing in his life, never to be taken for granted.

  She’d be first. Always.

  “Dominic? Where did you say Kate and Payton went?”

  “You’re not going to believe me if I tell you. Apparently Payton got it into her head that she had to go see a hockey game, part of this thing she’s doing of trying new things. Fortunately for her the hockey season is just winding down this week, and she managed to snag a couple of tickets to tonight’s game.”

  A hockey game. Of course.

  Cruz came to his feet, the sound of the chair screeching across the floor drawing everyone’s attention. “Excuse me everyone. I’ve got something that I have to do.”

  Dominic grinned, his eyes smiling. “Is that right? Well, just don’t do anything foolish. Like going and getting married to the poor girl without all of your family there to show their love and support. Oh. Wait. You already did that.”

  He closed his eyes, understanding that this was probably the warning his brother had given him earlier. The table was still silent for four point five seconds. And then the room erupted into chaos as all the women immediately began yelling at him.

  He shook his head at his brother. This was going to have to wait.

  Without any further response, Cruz grabbed his keys and ran out the front door.

  With her arms loaded with nachos and sodas and hot dogs—everything that Cruz had once told her made the experience—Payton returned to her and Kate’s seats.

  “Are we seriously going to eat all this?” Kate asked, taking a cheesy covered nacho chip and biting into it.

  “It’s part of the experience.”

  Kate licked a glob of cheese from her finger. “And I thought you were fearless before. Now you’re just downright frightening. Tell me, what did your mother say when you told her that you’d registered for the LSATs? You were going to tell her at dinner last night, right?”

  “You mean after she stalked up to me in the middle of the first course?” Payton smiled. She’d expected such a reaction, what she hadn’t expected was what followed. “There I sat, thinking I was going to be eating my butternut squash bisque alone—because, of course, Daddy was working late—but not two minutes later, she came back. And handed me an envelope.” She shook her head, still stunned at learning that her mother had once had her own hopes and dreams for herself. “It was her admission letter to business school, dated thirty-five year
s ago. She never went, of course, because her parents wanted something different for her. And we know how that went.”

  Kate’s eyes bugged out. “Emily Vaughn entrepreneur? It’s unbelievab—no. Never mind. I could totally see her running a company, even a third world country with an iron fist.”

  “I know, right?” Payton said and laughed. “Anyway, she didn’t want to talk about it, just wanted me to see and understand and then ordered Annie to bring in the roasted chicken and put the soufflés in the oven. And like that, our moment was over. Although, when I left, she did ask me to keep her updated with my application.”

  “That’s about as close to approval as you’re going to get from Emily.” Kate slurped from her soda, giving Payton a sideways glance before asking not so nonchalantly, “What about Cruz? Anything?”

  Payton knew that he was going to come up at some point in the conversation tonight. She was just surprised it had taken her friend this long. “No, and after seeing him with what’s-her-name, I really don’t expect to. In fact, you’ll have more chance of hearing from him than I would, seeing as how he’s your new brother-in-law.”

  “I’m afraid if I saw him right now I would probably not only smack a vase into his head, but I’d break it over his head.”

  “Just get it on camera,” she said, smiling. But to tell the truth, as hurt as she was that he had already moved on, she didn’t want to inflict any real pain on him. She hadn’t been enough for him, important enough to him, for him to make her a priority. At least he’d been honest.

  Another scuffle seemed to be breaking out between the players on the ice, and she and Kate craned their heads, trying to figure out what was going on, something made more difficult since neither of them had ever watched a game before.