Forbidden Nights

by Lauren Blakely

  Oh, hell no. That was not going to fly.

  Casey gripped the doorframe, ready to launch an attack. Visions of a fantastic catfight danced in her head. She’d lunge at the woman, grab that black hair, twist it hard, then scratch the woman’s neck. Maybe even her gorgeous face. Anything to keep those claws off her Nate. The battle would rage on, and Casey would yank her off the wooden bar stool and tackle her, landing them both in a heap on the floor of the bar, Casey inflicting punishing blows. All this coiled-up tension would be released in a cathartic, mano-a-mano fight between Casey and the woman she hated for no reason other than that she was laughing and flirting with the man Casey was crazy about.

  She lingered on her Fight Club fantasies for another minute, then shooed them away. She was not a violent woman, and didn’t intend to become one now. She believed in pleasure, in intimacy, and in love. That’s why she did what she did for a living. The more she fixated on this jealousy, the further she’d stray from who she truly was.

  Besides, she had no plans on ruining her brother’s wedding for the sake of fisticuffs.

  She relinquished her grip on the doorframe, smoothed a hand over her gauzy blue dress, then fixed her gaze on the large table near the edge of the sand.

  As she walked behind Nate, he shot out an arm as if he were signaling to turn left on a bicycle, and physically stopped her. He cocked his head to the side, and flashed his trademark grin. “You don’t say hello anymore?”

  She smiled, the kind that didn’t reach her eyes. “I didn’t see you. How are you?” she asked him as diplomatically as possible

  “Great. This is my property manager, Nicole,” he said, and the woman extended her hand. Casey shook, but didn’t let go of the possibility that Nate’s property manager had her sights set on him.

  “Nice to meet you. I have to go. I’m needed out there,” she said, gesturing to the veranda and the empty table reserved for Jack’s party, then picked up her pace.

  In seconds, she heard the click of his shoes. His hand was on her arm. She turned around and looked down at his fingers wrapped around her wrist. She shook them off.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She gave him a pointed stare, as if he were crazy for even asking the question. “Nothing,” she said with a nonchalant shrug. “Why would anything be wrong?”

  “You gave me the cold shoulder back there. And now. That’s not like you.”

  “That’s because I have a rehearsal dinner to be at,” she said in a crisp, businesslike voice.

  “So do I. But you’re early, and no one is here yet.”

  She raised her chin. “I wanted to be early. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

  He furrowed his brow. “Casey, I thought you wanted to be friends.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. Was I not trying hard enough? Would you like me to work even harder? Maybe sit down with you and Nicole and have a drink together? Because that’s what we’d do as friends, right?” Her voice heated up angrily with each question she flung at him.

  “Casey, this isn’t you.”

  Something dangerous welled up inside her. Something that felt horribly like no-holds-barred anger, like ragged jealousy, like all the pain she didn’t want to show him. But she was tired, and she was jet-lagged, and on top of that she was really fucking sad. She let it all loose. “Maybe it’s not me. But maybe you don’t know me. Maybe you should go spend time with Nicole. She sure looks like she wants to be much more than friends with you. You can get what you want from her,” she said, the cruel remark coming out of her mouth before she could stop it.

  Nate nodded several times, absorbing her below-the-belt comment. His hand came down on her arm again, and he tugged her into a quiet hallway of the restaurant, leading to the restrooms.

  “Do you want to go there? She’s one of my goddamn employees, and you better know me well enough to know I would never cross that line. But if it bothers you so much that I’m talking to my property manager about how to keep growing the hotel’s revenue, then let’s discuss how much it bothered me that you were after Mr. Lingerie,” he said, biting out the words.

  She held her own against him, standing tall. “It didn’t seem to bother you at all. It didn’t even seem to affect you one bit when I told you why I was no longer going to pursue anything with him.”

  “Are you crazy? You think it didn’t bother me that you were hot for that asshole? Did you already forget Yankee Stadium?”

  She shivered briefly as the memory flashed before her eyes of their first time together, the way he’d talked to her, so rough and jealous, and the way it had turned her on to no end. But that had all been a game, another move in the chess match of their lessons in seduction. Those lessons were over.

  “No. I didn’t forget it. But sometimes I think you did,” she said, crossing her arms.

  “I didn’t forget a thing. I remember everything about every night with you. Every day with you. Every hour with you. Like when you bought this dress,” he said, raking his eyes over her from head to toe. “By the way, nice dress.”

  “Thanks,” she said coldly. “I’m thrilled to learn you can recall details of a blow job. I was worried that was starting to fade from your mind.”

  He shut his eyes briefly and pursed his lips, fighting to hold back, it seemed. She should do the same. She really should. It wasn’t her style to lash out. She was direct, she was upfront, but she was also kind. Only right now, she wasn’t. She was playing dirty because the snake inside her was stronger. She wanted to shake Nate, yell at him to get over his ex-wife, shout at him to stop flirting with another woman. And then slap him and tell him he never should have toyed with her heart in London. “I’m sure, though, that all those lovely things you said to me that night in London have completely faded from your mind. But then, I suppose it’s not a surprise. We already know I’m not terribly good at reading men and what they really want. Especially when they only say those lovely things in bed.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked, jamming his hands through his hair, messing it up. “I meant everything I said that night.”

  “What does it matter now? We’re friends. We’re fabulous, amazing, wonderful friends.”

  “Casey,” he said softly, reaching out a hand to try to touch her. She shirked away. “You’re not really acting like a friend right now. But then, I don’t feel that friendly either. When I see you in that dress, I don’t feel the least bit buddy-buddy. I feel—”

  She cut him off. “I don’t care if this dress makes you want to fuck me. All you ever wanted was sex and friendship. I’m sorry that you only have one of those things now, but it’s all I can give you, and even then it’s really hard to be your friend with the way I feel for you.” Her voice broke yet again. She swiped at her face, trying to erase the start of the insubordinate tear. “Excuse me. I need to go to the ladies room,” she said, giving him the universal excuse that freed a woman from any situation. She rushed into the bathroom, grabbed some tissues, and sank down in a soft chair in the sitting area, her head in her hands.

  A minute later she heard the soft whoosh of the door opening. “Please don’t come in,” she said in a harsh warning.

  “Hey. Are you okay?”

  It was Michelle, and Casey couldn’t keep her feelings inside her any longer. “I’m not okay at all. I’m a raving bitch,” she said, then spilled nearly everything to the woman who was about to become part of her family.

  Michelle listened calmly, her warm brown eyes fixed on Casey the entire time. “Now what?” she asked, holding out her hands helplessly.

  “You need to apologize for the things you just said to him. And then you need to tell the truth,” Michelle said in a firm, but warm voice.

  “Oh. It’s that simple?”

  “No. It’s that hard. It will be incredibly hard to speak your truth, and to take ownership of the things you said to him. But isn’t it better than the alternative? Feeling crappy and keeping it all inside?”

  Casey inhaled deeply, then breathed
out. She did it again. The big breaths spread through her, cooling her jealousy, calming her angry heart. “Why do you have to be so wise about everything?”

  Michelle smiled, and grasped Casey’s hand. “I’m not so wise. I’m just trying to help you see your way through. And look, I know it’s not easy to open up to someone you love. It can be incredibly scary. There was a time when I thought I had lost Jack from being too open with him. But it turns out being open was exactly what he needed, and what we both needed to have what we have. I wouldn’t be where I am today without having gone through that uncertainty. And I couldn’t be any happier to be where I am now,” she said, squeezing Casey’s hand in emphasis.

  “But I don’t know what’s going to happen if I open up. I don’t know that I’m going to have the same thing you have.”

  Michelle laughed. “Of course you don’t. And neither does he.”

  “He might be pissed at me. I was a bit, how shall we say, bitchy to him. Just a teeny bit,” Casey said, a tiny smile creeping back on her face as she made fun of herself.

  “I don’t think you’ve done anything that you can’t recover from.”

  Another deep breath spread through her chest, fueling her with something other than the anger that had steered her wrong a few minutes ago. “I’m so glad you’re marrying my brother,” Casey said.

  “Me too.” Michelle beamed, unable to contain a bright, shining smile.

  “And you know,” she said, flashing a toothy grin and wiggling her eyebrows, “don’t forget I was kind of a matchmaker for the two of you. Hopefully that’ll keep you from being too mad at me for behaving terribly before your rehearsal dinner.”

  “One, you did not behave badly. You behaved like a woman in love. And two, I will happily give you all the credit in the world. Jack is wonderful, and I know a lot of that is because he has you as his sister.”

  After Michelle left, Casey took a minute to compose herself, touching up her powder and reapplying her lip gloss. Then, she joined her family and friends on the veranda. Torches flickered in the early evening light, casting pretty shadows across the deck and the sandy beach mere feet away. She found her place card, and a waiter pulled out a chair for her. Her stepmother would be sitting next to her.

  She scanned the group for Nate, but didn’t see him anywhere. Reaching for her glass of water, she took a sip and waited patiently, peering at the other place cards to find where he was seated. Across from her, two chairs down. She’d have to grab a private moment with him as soon as she could. She’d talk to him without tears or agenda, and simply speak the full truth. All this time of saying less than what she felt wasn’t helping anyone.

  A minute later, her spine straightened and goosebumps rose on her arms as his mouthwatering scent drifted by. He took the chair next to her. “Michelle just told me the seating had changed. I hope you don’t mind,” he said, moving in next to her.

  She didn’t wait a second longer. “I’m so sorry,” she said softly, because there was no time like the present. She went for the truth, and she hoped those three words could begin to convey how contrite she was. But they were only the beginning. “I shouldn’t have said any of those things. When I saw you with that woman, it made me so incredibly jealous.”

  A flicker of a smile appeared on his lips, those gorgeous, delicious lips she loved to kiss. “Like that night I was in Miami and you thought I went to a club,” he said, speaking in a hushed whisper.

  “Yes. I was so jealous then. And now I feel that way ten times, fifty times, a thousand times more. I can’t stand the thought of anyone else with you. Except me.”

  He parted his lips, and a sexy sigh escaped. “Casey,” he said, breathing her name like she was precious to him. “I feel the same. I completely feel the same.”

  But there was no more time for any conversation, because Jack and Casey’s father stood up, clinked a glass, and thanked everyone for coming to the other side of the world to celebrate the wedding of his son. After that, their father’s wife commandeered Nate’s attention. Seated on the other side of him, she peppered Nate with all sorts of questions about the resort, asking about the scuba diving, where she might see turtles underwater, and if there was a way to swim with the dolphins.

  When the appetizers cleared, Jack rose and cleared his throat. Quickly the noise died down, and the only sound was that of waves gently lapping the shore.

  “Thank you so much for joining us here. We hope it wasn’t too much of a hardship to come to the Maldives,” he said with a smirk.

  “It was a piece of cake,” someone called out.

  “But seriously, we know we asked a lot of you to have you come here, and I’m delighted to see so many friends and family with us. It is an honor to be able to share this moment with all of you.” He stopped talking to lock eyes with Michelle, who was watching his every word with a huge smile on her face. “I could not be happier or more ready to make this amazing woman my wife. Nothing has ever felt more right or true to me than loving her. It’s the easiest thing in the world to do.”

  Casey catalogued the reactions at the table to Jack’s speech. Davis beamed with pride and love at his sister, Julia brought her hand to her heart then wiped a tear from her eye and Clay dropped a kiss on her cheek. Casey sneaked a peek at Nate, who was intently listening. He must have felt the pull because he turned to meet her gaze, and the look in his eyes melted her. It was the way he’d looked at her in London, in New Orleans, in her apartment. His gaze zeroed in on her collarbone, that spot he loved to kiss, and instinctually she raised her fingers and touched it. She heard a hitch in his breath, then forced herself to focus as Jack continued.

  “I’ve often said I’m the luckiest man in the world to have this woman,” Jack continued, and reached for Michelle. She threaded her fingers through his, and the tender and passionate love between them was evident even in how they held hands. “And yes, there’s some luck to it, and some chance, but there’s also my sister.”

  Casey sat up straight, jerking her head from left to right, as if to say Who, me? She hadn’t expected to be part of his speech.

  Jack moved away from Michelle and walked closer to Casey. “I wouldn’t be at this dinner, ready to take Michelle Milo as my bride tomorrow, if my sister hadn’t stuck by me, and believed in me, and encouraged me to move on from the things that had held me back. She’s been my anchor and my best friend, and in many ways she is the reason I’m here today. So thank you, Casey, for speaking your mind, never giving up on me, and then administering the kick in the pants I needed to fall in love with Michelle,” he said, bending down to give her a hug, then raising a glass to toast.

  Her cheeks flamed red, and huge tears of joy streaked down her cheeks. She brought her hand to her mouth to cover her lips that were quivering. She was a mess. She was a total mess, with mascara surely staining her cheeks. All eyes were on her, as everyone at the wedding toasted.

  She couldn’t speak. She simply raised her glass in response, and then felt a hand on her thigh. It wasn’t naughty or suggestive; it was caring, as Nate handed her his napkin. She brought it to her eyes, and dabbed them, and once the focus of the guests returned to the groom, who was now telling a story about adjusting to life in Paris, Nate leaned in to whisper. “Don’t give up on me either.”

  * * *

  After the dinner plates were cleared, a hand came down on his shoulder. “Got a minute?”

  Nate craned his neck in Jack’s direction. “Of course,” he said, tossing his napkin on the chair and following Jack, who weaved through the tables, past the torches, and onto the soft, white sand. They walked away from the wedding guests, and towards the water, moonlight bathing the ocean in its soft nighttime glow.

  Jack stopped and faced Nate. “Let me ask you a question. Do I look stupid?”

  Nate furrowed his brow. “What?”

  “Just answer the question. Do I look stupid?”

  “No.”

  “I didn’t think so. Because I’m not stupid and that me
ans I know you’re in love with my sister.”

  Nate blinked several times. “What?”

  Jack stared hard at him. “Again. Not dumb. Don’t you play dumb, either.”

  He swallowed dryly. This wasn’t how he’d intended to tell Jack. But then, nothing had gone as he’d intended the last few days. “I won’t play dumb.”

  “Good,” Jack said in a firm voice. “What are you going to do about it?”

  “Aren’t you going to tell me I’m going to break her heart and that I need to keep my hands off her?”

  “It’s not for me to tell you what to do or not to do. I simply want to know when you’re going to deal with it.”

  “Why?”

  Jack rolled his eyes. “Because I’m getting married tomorrow. Because I want everything to be perfect for the woman I love. Because if you’re standing next to me with my sister pissed off at you, or some scowl on your face, or waiting to have another fight in the bar—yes, Michelle told me, so don’t look so shocked that I know—that will make her unhappy, and that will make me unhappy. And all I want is for her to be happy. So can you deal with this tonight, please?”

  “I was planning on dealing with it tonight,” Nate replied.

  Jack clapped him on the back. “Good. Let’s go back, and you’re excused for the rest of the night. This is more important.”

  He laughed. “Yes. It is,” he said, and all he wanted now was to take Casey in his arms and make her his.

  “Oh, and one more thing,” Jack said as they neared the veranda. “I’m not even going to tell you not to hurt her, because I know you know better. But remember this—Casey and Michelle are the two most important people in the world to me. And you’re next. So treat her like she’s the world to you.”

  “I promise,” Nate said, then an idea flashed before him. A brilliant idea. “Hey. You’re doing some work with European companies, right?”