Until There Was Us

by Samantha Chase

  Yeah. He still had it bad.

  Another elbow to the ribs had him feeling a little annoyed. “I was smiling,” he hissed softly.

  Kaitlyn frowned at his tone. “I know, but Linda told us to make our way outside, and you were just standing there.”

  “Oh,” he murmured. “Sorry.”

  The rest of the day was like being on a damn conveyer belt—the bridal party was constantly being told where to move and what to do, and there seemed to be no time to sit and breathe. Move here, move there, stop and pose, smile, stand here, look there… By the time the first dance was over at the reception, Alex’s head was pounding. Kaitlyn stayed close, and he was running out of ways to be polite.

  “Excuse me,” he finally said to Kaitlyn when they were allowed to leave the dance floor. “I see some friends over there.” Alex didn’t wait to hear her response. He moved swiftly through the crowd of wedding guests, walked straight out of the hotel ballroom, and kept going until he found the bar.

  Waving the bartender over, he ordered a beer. He knew he couldn’t stay out here long, but maybe by the time he finished his drink, he’d have a better attitude toward the whole thing. Paying the tab, he grabbed the bottle in front of him, took a long pull, and almost groaned with pleasure. Tension started to ebb, and for the first time all day, he felt some sort of peace.

  His phone vibrated in his pocket, and Alex pulled it out and read the incoming text. His Monday client had the flu and needed to reschedule. No big deal. It meant he could sleep in on Monday.

  Or maybe he’d take the time to go to the gym or play some racquetball with a friend.

  Zach.

  He and Zach had gotten into the habit of playing racquetball once a week, and until a few months ago, it had been a highlight for Alex. But since Gabriella had gotten pregnant, Zach had gone into hyper-protective mode and spent most of his time doting on his wife. The thought made Alex chuckle. He doubted Gabriella would mind if her husband spent a little time on his own. She wasn’t the kind of woman who enjoyed having her husband hover.

  Alex quickly typed a memo for himself to reach out to Zach when he got home tomorrow to invite him to the gym Monday morning. Hopefully, they’d get a chance to catch up and start playing together again.

  Sounds like a plan, he thought.

  True, he could text Zach now and put it out there, but…he had a feeling that if he gave his friend too much time to think about it, he’d make excuses and bow out. A late-afternoon call was the way to go. Maybe he’d even text Gabriella first and give her a heads-up. Alex had a feeling she’d do her best to get Zach to agree.

  So he typed a second memo to himself to text Gabriella tomorrow before calling Zach.

  He was about to put his phone away but stopped. Unable to help himself, Alex scrolled through his phone and pulled up the one picture that, if it was an actual photograph he held in his hand, would be worn around the edges by now.

  Big brown eyes smiled at him as her sexy smile beckoned. He’d taken the picture of her while they’d been walking in the garden during Zach and Gabriella’s wedding reception. They’d been flirting, and he’d kissed her, and everything about her had called to him on every level.

  She was beautiful.

  Probably not the smartest thing to be doing right now—staring at a picture of a woman he hadn’t seen or heard from in almost two years, but weddings tended to put him in that mind-set.

  Going back to the current reception wasn’t appealing in the least, but leaving wasn’t an option. Finishing his beer, he waved to the bartender as he stood and straightened his tux. He’d return to the ballroom; he’d socialize and eat some amazing food. Then as soon as he could, he’d head out, go up to his room, and thank God that it was finally over. No more weddings after this.

  There would probably be an awkward moment or two with Kaitlyn—she seemed like the type who didn’t take no for an answer—but in the end, he’d walk away and spend the night blissfully on his own.

  And think about the one who got away.

  * * *

  Alex put his luggage down, shut the door, and breathed a sigh of relief.

  Home.

  Looking at the clock and seeing it was after eight, Alex knew it wasn’t too late to call Zach. Hell, he should have done it from the car, but he had left later than he’d intended, and then there was traffic, and basically, he hadn’t felt like talking to anyone.

  Until now.

  Starving, he made his way into the kitchen and quickly put together something to eat. Sandwich made, he grabbed a bottle of water and pulled out his phone. Once he was sitting down, he first took a bite of his dinner and then tapped out a text to Gabriella.

  His head might be spinning from his long day, but he at least remembered to try to get her on his side first.

  He was hungrier than he’d thought because he wolfed down the rest of his turkey sandwich and jumped up to make a second one before even looking at his phone. Gabriella sent him a thumbs-up, so after taking his first bite of sandwich number two, he pulled up Zach’s number and hit Send.

  “Hey, buddy! What’s up?” Zach said when he answered.

  “I am in desperate need of someone to beat at racquetball tomorrow morning, so naturally, you were the first one I thought of.”

  Zach’s laughter was loud and infectious. “Is that right?”

  “Hell yeah!” Alex agreed. “My Monday morning client is down with the flu, so I have some free time. And other than the perk of kicking your ass on the court, I figured it had been a while since we’d hung out, and I thought it would give us a chance to catch up before you run to the office to play Corporate CEO.”

  Zach was still chuckling. “It has been a while.”

  “Since I’ve kicked your ass?” Alex teased. “Yes. Yes, it has.”

  “Not that, dumbass. Since we’ve hung out. Geez, when was the last time I saw you?”

  “We played about two months ago—and that was only because we happened to run into each other at the gym. You’d been blowing me off for a while since you told me you and Gabs were having a baby.”

  “Wow. Has it really been that long? She’s in her third trimester already.”

  Now it was Alex’s turn to chuckle. “Um, yeah. I know. You’ve been in Mother Hen mode—refusing to leave her alone.”

  “She had morning sickness—”

  “Which went away four months ago!” Alex heard Gabriella call out.

  “Dude, seriously—”

  “Okay, okay, okay,” Zach said. “Maybe I was being a little…cautious.”

  “Zach, do you really think there is anything your wife can’t handle? I bet if you asked her, she’d be willing to not only drive you to the gym but leave you there for several hours so she could catch a break.”

  “For your information, Gabriella and I enjoy spending time together,” Zach argued lightly. “Don’t we, sweetheart?”

  “It wouldn’t kill you to go out once in a while without me,” Gabriella said loudly enough for Alex to hear.

  “Aha! I knew it!”

  “What is…? Okay, fine. You heard it,” Zach grumbled and then sighed loudly. “What time tomorrow?”

  “That depends.”

  “On?”

  “What time you need to be at the office and how many games we are going to try to get in.”

  “I don’t have any meetings until…” Gabriella was giving him his schedule. “Ten. So how about we meet up at seven?”

  Alex grinned. “Sounds about right.”

  “Great. Then I’ll see you in the a.m.”

  “Awesome. Oh, and Zach?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Be prepared to lose,” he said with a laugh as they hung up.

  Putting the phone down, Alex finished the rest of his dinner. Just knowing he was going to have time to catch up with his fr
iend left him feeling lighter—especially because it was going to be while doing something they both loved.

  Competing.

  * * *

  Alex fell to the floor and let out a hearty laugh. Zach threw his racquet and cursed.

  Again.

  “Tell me again how you’re not out of shape,” Alex said as he caught his breath. “Because that, my friend, was almost embarrassing. I’ll tell you what. I won’t even count that one as a game. We’ll call it practice.”

  “It was our third game,” Zach said angrily. “You can’t have a practice game after you’ve already played two.”

  “I’m trying to be gracious here.”

  “Yeah, well…screw you,” Zach grumbled. “And your graciousness.” He sat down next to Alex and let out a weary sigh. “Okay, so maybe—just maybe—I’m a little off my game. It has been a while.”

  Alex rolled to sit up and grinned. “You know that’s all on you, right?”

  Zach glared at him. “Excuse me for being concerned about my wife’s health.”

  “And there is nothing wrong with that. Seriously, I’m not harping on you for that. I just think you got a little…obsessive about it. Gabriella is in great shape. She had some morning sickness—most women do—but she hasn’t had any other complications. You need to relax a bit. That’s all I’m saying.”

  “You sound like her.”

  “Then maybe you should listen.”

  “Screw you.”

  Laughing, Alex climbed to his feet and held out a hand to Zach. “Need some help, old man?”

  Ignoring his hand, Zach immediately jumped to his feet and stormed over to pick up his racquet. “One more game, and then let’s hit the treadmills.”

  “I’ve already beat you three out of three,” Alex said with a smart-ass grin. “That’s our typical game plan. Best of three.”

  “I thought you said the last one was just practice?”

  He shrugged. “And you said it wasn’t.”

  “Shit.”

  “I’ll tell you what. I’ll agree to one more and give you a chance to at least try to win. Either way, I’m still the ultimate winner here.”

  “Nice of you to be such a good sport.”

  “I have my moments. But…”

  Zach cursed as he got into position. “Now what?”

  “Just admit that even if you win this one, I am still the reigning racquetball champion.”

  Groaning, Zach bounced the ball in front of him. “What if I just said you are the reigning pain in my ass and I know I can run longer and faster than you on the treadmill?”

  Alex laughed. “You’re on.”

  Twenty minutes later they were jogging side by side and Alex was telling Zach about his weekend.

  “So did you hook up with her?” Zach asked.

  “Hell no. I just wanted to get out of there.”

  Zach looked at him like he was crazy. “You said she was beautiful and interested. Why not take her up on her offer?”

  Damn. Alex had stepped into that one.

  Two years ago when he had hooked up with Megan, he had promised her he wouldn’t tell her cousin. Little warning bells had gone off in his head because, really, what difference should it make? Especially when they started seeing one another beyond that weekend. But he had honored her request, and then…it never came up. So how was he supposed to explain to his friend—whom he shared pretty much everything with—why he was suddenly so dissatisfied with hookups?

  “Alex?”

  Oh, right. An answer.

  He started off with a sigh. “I don’t know. I think I’m at the point now where everyone I know is married, and…” Another sigh. “I never thought I’d be the last one standing, you know?”

  “I hear ya. Although for me, I never thought I’d be the kind to get married. I thought I’d enjoy being single, traveling the world, doing whatever the hell I wanted until I was too old to do it anymore.” He paused. “And then came Gabriella.”

  “She’s amazing.”

  “Don’t I know it.” They jogged in silence for a couple of minutes before Zach turned to him again. “So is that why you’re done with the hookups? You’ve met someone?”

  Now what? Another long breath escaped, and Alex kept his gaze straight ahead. “I met someone a while ago. I thought we clicked, but…” He shrugged. “It didn’t work out. Met her at one of the weddings, and we had a great weekend together. We kept in touch for about three months, and then…”

  “Damn. That sucks.”

  “Yes, it does,” Alex agreed. “But here’s the thing…I can’t stop thinking about her. Why can’t I move on? Clearly she has, because she hasn’t contacted me, but—”

  “Does she live around here?”

  Alex shook his head. “That was the main reason I never saw her again. Our work schedules kind of prevented it, and, really, I could deal with a little bit of a distance, but not other-side-of-the-country long.”

  “Maybe call her again. Send her a text and feel her out. A lot can change. For all you know, she’s no longer at that job or living in the same place. What have you got to lose?”

  Alex shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”

  Zach began to push the buttons on the treadmill to pick up his speed and incline.

  “Great. Now let’s see if you can beat me in this last sprint. Loser buys breakfast.”

  Alex immediately began to push his settings and grinned. “You’re on!”

  Chapter 2

  It was hard to feel good about being comfortable when you worked with a supermodel.

  Okay, Gabriella wasn’t a real supermodel, but she certainly looked like one.

  All the time.

  Megan looked at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. Back home, she wouldn’t think twice about wearing a pair of black yoga pants and an oversized sweater to work. Occasionally, she’d even pair the ensemble with a pair of boots rather than sneakers.

  Another sigh.

  Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun, and while some women could totally rock that look, Megan felt like she looked more like someone who was too lazy to do her hair.

  Which…she was.

  This was her third day at her new job, and the first two days she had put a bit of an effort into her appearance, but today it seemed like too much of a pain. And now she was regretting it because since she’d opened the restroom door and met up with Gabriella, she’d felt like a homeless person in comparison to her cousin’s wife.

  Not that she was begrudging Gabriella anything. After all, if you had it, you should flaunt it, right? It was just that Megan wasn’t used to seeing a woman in her seventh month of pregnancy walking around looking quite like that. She looked at the tennis shoes on her feet and frowned. No doubt Gabriella would have on mile-high stilettos. How she managed to walk around in those things was still a mystery. And her wardrobe looked like something off a New York fashion week runway—and she was pregnant!

  After another look in the mirror, Megan realized that her sweater made her look like she was pregnant.

  And not in a fashionable way like Gabriella.

  “Damn,” Megan murmured. It was blazingly obvious she was going to have to do something drastic like—gulp—go shopping. The thought was almost more than she could bear. With a little luck, maybe Gabriella and Summer would go with her. She’d bring it up later that day when she met her cousin for lunch.

  Knowing there was nothing she could do about her choice of clothing at the moment, she made quick work of fixing her hair a bit and putting on some lip gloss. Feeling mildly appeased, she zipped up her purse and decided she couldn’t stay in the bathroom forever. She looked okay, but it was a far cry from what she knew was waiting for her on the other side of the door.

  And it was only slightly better than how she had looked five minutes a
go.

  Pulling open the door, she stepped out into the massive reception area and made her way toward her office.

  “Good morning,” Gabriella called out when Megan walked by her desk. “Coffee’s made, and there are blueberry muffins if you’re interested.”

  “Blueberry, huh? What’s the occasion?” she asked as she looked around for them.

  Gabriella laughed softly. “I was never a cake person, but this baby craves it. So I try to compromise and at least make ones with real fruit to ease my guilt.”

  Following Megan’s gaze, Gabriella pointed toward the platter of muffins.

  Megan took one and bit into it, nearly groaning with pleasure. “You made these?”

  With a nod, Gabriella replied, “This morning. Zach had an early meeting in Vancouver, and once I was awake, I realized what I wanted to eat. I swear, I never thought pregnancy cravings were real, but this baby of mine is proving me wrong.”

  Pouring herself a cup of coffee, Megan smiled. “A friend of mine had her first baby last year. I remember going out with her and watching her order some strange things. We’d been friends for years, and I couldn’t remember her ever eating most of the stuff she ate during her pregnancy. And you know what? She hasn’t eaten any of it since.”

  For a few minutes, they ate in companionable silence, and then Megan decided to broach the subject of her wardrobe instead of waiting for lunch—and Summer.

  “So I have a favor to ask,” she began hesitantly.

  “Okay.”

  “And I feel weird because you’ve all done so much for me already. I mean, the job, Summer letting me live in her guesthouse, and now you making me yummy food… I should probably just say thank you and work my own crap out for myself, but…”

  “Megan?”

  “Hmm?”

  “You’re rambling. What’s going on?”

  She sighed. “I think I need a new wardrobe.”

  Gabriella’s face lit up. “Really?”

  Megan nodded.

  “And when you say a new wardrobe, you mean everything, right?”