A creak sounded behind her—the glass door. So she wasn’t the only crazy person wanting to use the atrium this early. She coughed to clear her throat and turned to excuse herself, only to stop short.
Adam stood there, his tie untied, and the top two buttons of his dress shirt undone. The shirt hung rumpled. His eyes were rimmed with red; he looked at tired as she felt.
“Sorry,” she said. “I won’t be in your way.” She took a step toward the door, but instead of moving aside, Adam reached for her arm. His touched seemed to burn her skin.
“Nat.”
She closed her eyes and willed herself not to cry. “I’m sorry I ran out. I should have stopped everything before it got that far. I’ll pay you back. I couldn’t…” Another word, and she’d burst into tears.
He didn’t let go. “No,” he said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed… I mean…” He sighed and tried again. “I’ve never been good at being serious, at showing my feelings.”
Her gaze snapped up, and her eyebrow arched. “You did quite well expressing your feelings the morning after graduation.” Anger replaced sadness. She ripped her arm away and tried to push past him.
“Nat, let me explain. Please.”
Emotions battled inside her. Half of her wanted to stay to hear every word. The other half wanted to slap him and run away. She took a step back and folded her arms tightly—the only way she could feel protected—and waited.
“You scared me when you ran out and I couldn’t find you. I worried all night that something had happened to you. Without your cell number, I couldn’t call you. Jason and Sierra wouldn’t answer their phones…”
She looked over, surprised, and noticed that his hair was mussed up, as if he’d run his fingers through it several times. A shadow of stubble outlined his jaw. The combination made him more attractive than ever. She forced herself to look away. Why had he looked for her? To be sure she was safe on the streets of Vegas, like a decent human being would do. Nothing more.
Adam ran his fingers through his hair again. “I walked all over the Strip, through a bunch of casinos. Through all the restaurants and bars in the Wynn, asking if people had seen you. I even went to the registration desk, but of course, they wouldn’t give me your room number, and it was so late that they wouldn’t put me through, either. I called and texted both Jason and Sierra probably a dozen times…” His voice trailed off.
“If you’re feeling guilty and pity, you don’t need to. I’m sure you’re sober now, and you can see that you dodged a bullet last night.” Natalie was tired and just wanted to leave.
“I wasn’t drunk.” He stepped further into the atrium and let the door close behind him. He took her hands in his. “I should have told you this a long time ago. Listen now. The morning after graduation, I honestly thought I was setting you free. Figured it was selfish to ask you to put yourself in cold storage for four years on the off chance we’d make it until we both graduated. And then what about our careers? I knew you’d be playing with some world-famous symphony, traveling the world, while I’d be programming in California or Washington or somewhere at the big technology companies. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, but I was sure that within a few weeks—months at most—a musician or actor or dancer in the big city would sweep you off your feet, and you’d feel obligated to the techie nerd from high school. I didn’t want to hold you back.”
She shook her head, brow furrowed, studying his face, trying to unravel his words. “You didn’t want to break up?”
“No. I loved you,” he said. “I couldn’t bear the thought of being dead weight in the life you had ahead of you. But a few months passed, and I loved you as much as ever. I knew I’d never, ever get over you. And then yesterday, there you were, walking into my life again.”
The memory of Adam in the wedding salon flashed through her mind, including the quirk of his eyebrow when he first saw her. He stepped even closer. The scent of his cologne muddied Natalie’s senses. He slid his hands up her arms and rested them on her shoulders, making her heart thump like an entire percussion section.
“Last night in the bar, I knew exactly what I was doing when I asked you to marry me. I figured I’d better win you back fast, when the universe had brought you back to me, or I’d lose you forever.” He shook his head. “I guess it was dumb to think that maybe, after making the biggest mistake of my life, I’d be lucky enough for you to forgive me, and that you still cared.” He dropped his hands and stepped back; she wanted to reach out and pull him close again. “Nat, I’m sorry. It was dumb to think that after so long, you could still love me that way…” His voice hitched. “The way I still love you.”
The way he… She didn’t dare believe she’d heard right. “What?” Her pulse throbbed in her ears.
He gazed into her eyes, and for a moment, she could do nothing but gaze back. “I love you. I always have. Always will.”
Say it, she commanded herself. Or you’ll lose him forever.
“I’ve always loved you too. Always have, always will. I’ll swear it over a fry if you want me to.”
His voice lowered. “Really?” When she nodded, joy coursing through her veins, his face relaxed from the tense worry it had held a moment before, and a smile—oh, that smile—spread across his face. “Then basically, we’ve been fools for seven years?”
She nodded mutely. Maybe she needed those years to chase her dream, to tour and hear the applause and feel the pulse of the city. But she was done being alone, using the chaos of the city to drown out her thoughts and true feelings. She’d go anywhere to be with Adam now.
A shiver went up her spine as he closed the gap between them and put his arms around her and gently pulled her closer. She raised her lips to meet his, threading her fingers through his deliciously disheveled hair. The fire of their last kiss was nothing compared to the pyrotechnics going through her body now.
She finally pulled back, because part of her couldn’t quite believe she’d heard right. Her eyes teared up, and a drop fell down one cheek. “So last night wasn’t out of pity? It wasn’t a joke?”
He shook his head and wiped her tear away with one thumb. “It was because I love you. I just couldn’t say it before.”
He nodded at the window, where the sun had risen with its brilliant golds and oranges. “Maybe we can start over. I think that’s a good omen for what comes next.” He put his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned in, resting her head on his chest.
But the practical side of Natalie cut through the bliss of the moment. “What about our careers?” She’d go anywhere for Adam, but she didn’t necessarily have to leave the symphony.
He leaned down and kissed her quickly, stopping her protestations. She smiled as she looked into his eyes, amazed at how quickly their old closeness had returned, at how natural all of this felt.
“I quit my job,” Adam said. “That’s how I was able to come to the wedding.”
“You quit—”
“I do enough freelance work to live on now,” Adam hurried to clarify. “So I’m not tied down to a location. And I’m not about to lose you again.” He pressed a kiss to her temple then released her to reach into his suit coat pocket.
He pulled out a plastic container that was clearly from one of those machines kids gets toys from for a couple of quarters. Inside was a cheap plastic ring. “Found this last night when I was looking for you. We’ll have to replace it with something much, much nicer as soon as we can.”
Natalie laughed at the toy ring—pink with an adjustable band made of some easily bent metal. “Wear this, and I won’t need a French-fry oath.” She held out her left hand, but he shook his head. “You deserve to have this done the right way.” He got down on one knee and presented the ring. “Natalie Conner, will you marry me?”
She threw her arms around him and held him tight. “Yes, yes, of course.”
They kissed soundly, and then he stood to put the ring on her finger. It fit perfectly. She stra
ightened her arm to look at the toy ring. “Should we tell Jason and Sierra?”
“Let’s let them have their day. I have a feeling they won’t have eyes for anything but each other anyway.”
“I know the feeling.” Natalie rested her head against his chest and breathed in the scent of Adam. “Maybe we can make them travel all the way to Manhattan for our wedding.”
“Turnabout’s fair play.”
Natalie never wanted to leave his embrace. “Somehow I think a wedding in the Big Apple is kinder than one in the middle of a desert,” she said. “Even if Vegas does have fantastic sunrises.”
Annette Lyon is a Whitney Award winner, a two-time recipient of Utah’s Best in State medal for fiction, plus the author of ten novels, a cookbook, and a grammar guide as well as over a hundred magazine articles. She’s a senior editor at Precision Editing Group and a cum laude graduate from BYU with a degree in English. When she’s not writing, editing, knitting, or eating chocolate, she can be found mothering and avoiding the spots on the kitchen floor. Find her online:
Website: http://annettelyon.com
Blog: http://blog.annettelyon.com
Twitter: @AnnetteLyon
Other Works by Annette Lyon
Click the covers to visit the author’s page on Amazon.
Chapter One
Lexi held the phone away from her ear as her best friend, Sydney, screamed into it.
“You’re coming?” Sydney’s voice was higher pitched than a scavenging seagull.
“Yes,” Lexi said, laughing.
Sydney had always been way over the top—probably why they got along so well. Lexi rarely found anything in life that could pull her away from studying. Only the ocean could—but even that was homework; Lexi’s major was environmental science.
Currently, Lexi’s best friend and roommate was in Hawaii with her fiancé, Apelu, meeting his family for the first time. And apparently the introductions had gone so well that Sydney and Apelu had decided to get married on the spot. Well, in three days.
This was on the spot for Lexi, who did nothing without careful planning. Spring term just ended, and she’d intended on moving in with her mom to save money so she wouldn’t have to work during a full load of classes summer term. She could graduate from San Diego State in December if she loaded up on credits for the next six months.
Summer term didn’t start for a week, so in theory, Lexi didn’t have anything stopping her from going to Hawaii and being maid of honor. She’d have to leave her job at the marina early, though she’d already given her two weeks’ notice. There was the matter of money, but Sydney said she could use her Skymiles.
When Lexi hung up, after another round of squeals and gushing details she would never remember, Lexi looked around their apartment. She loved the quiet, but she had to admit that the last week without Sydney had been too quiet. Lexi didn’t even mind Apelu hanging around—a force on the San Diego State football team, yet quiet and well-mannered without the uniform. He was perfect for Sydney—he kept her down to earth, not floating a couple of feet above as usual.
Since Sydney wouldn’t be coming back before the end of the month—and she’d be married—Lexi would have to move out Sydney’s stuff too, get the deposit back, and turn in their keys. She’d have to store Sydney’s stuff at her mom’s house until they returned and found an apartment. Moving a wedding up three months complicated matters.
Lexi glanced at her laptop and stack of science books, where she’d been researching for one of her classes, before Sydney had interrupted with her call. Plans had changed drastically, and Lexi wouldn’t be getting the head start she’d planned on. Hopefully the week in Hawaii wouldn’t set her back too much.
Maybe she could bring one or two textbooks and catch up on reading. Or she could spring for the extra fees to download them. But Lexi preferred paper to the computer screen; it was easier to flip pages to compare ideas and definitions.
However she decided to get ahead, Lexi promised herself that she’d be there for Sydney, even if it meant doing all of those “fun” things she’d always managed to avoid.
Chapter Two
Lexi straightened in her seat and looked out the window as the plane descended toward Honolulu. Beaches stretched in every direction, bordered with hotels and other large buildings. The last couple of days had been chaotic clearing out the apartment and getting ready for the trip. Sydney had said to bring a swimsuit. Any normal college girl would have grabbed hers from the dresser.
But Lexi hadn’t worn a swimsuit in years, maybe since high school. She couldn’t stomach the thought of trying one on. She’d bought three swimsuits in three sizes, left the tags on, and decided she’d figure it out in Hawaii. It wasn’t that Lexi had poor body image. If anything, she was skinnier than most, which didn’t help in the breast department, but it wasn’t like she was trying to impress anyone. She just didn’t have time to play at the beach. When she went to the ocean, she collected samples from tide pools and recorded data.
After leaving the plane and entering the terminal, the first thing Lexi noticed was the moist air. San Diego had some mild humidity, but Honolulu was vastly different. It was so moist she could almost touch it. She redid her eternal pony tail, which kept her long, brown hair out of her face. Lexi never bothered with styling her hair, just kept it straight and all one length so it needed no upkeep. She knew the humidity was about to wreak havoc on her normally smooth pony tail. She had a bit of natural curl that came out on the most humid days in San Diego, and she’d probably need to wear an iron-clad bun here. Lexi had walked about fifty feet, dodging people greeting each other, when she heard Sydney’s unmistakable voice.
“Lexi! Over here!”
Sydney dashed toward Lexi and scooped her friend into a bone-crushing hug. Apelu was a bit more calm in his greeting, kissing Lexi on both cheeks Samoan style. Seeing the two together was always a bit of a contrast. Apelu towered over Sydney’s curvy, petite figure, and her coloring was the exact opposite of Apelu’s. Where Sydney was platinum blonde, Apelu was dark. But they were both stunning in their own ways, and together, they made an attractive couple.
“Welcome to Oahu,” Apelu said with a grin then placed a gorgeous white-flowered lei about her neck.
The smell was heavenly. “Wow,” Lexi said. “What kind of flowers are these?”
“Plumeria, my fav,” Sydney answered, linking her arm through Lexi’s. “Apelu will get your suitcase, and then you have to see his parents’ house. It’s right. On. The. Beach! Did I tell you that?”
“Quite a few times,” Lexi said with a laugh. It was good to be with Sydney. She was like a hyper kid sometimes, but Lexi had missed her.
As they walked to baggage claim, Sydney continued to chatter about the advantages of having a house on the beach, along with disadvantages like cockroaches. The idea of pests didn’t bother Lexi much, and she looked forward to exploring the shoreline… maybe even collect data that would be useful for her upcoming marine biology class.
She tuned back in to the conversation as they climbed into an old Ford truck.
“You have to meet him,” Sydney was saying. “I already told him all about you.”
“Who?”
Apelu chuckled, and Lexi threw him a glance.
“Tell her about David,” Sydney said to Apelu.
“He was my best bro growing up,” Apelu said, starting the truck’s engine. “But he’s got a crazy girlfriend right now. She’s no good for him.” He pulled out into traffic.
“What does that have to do with me?” Lexi asked.
Sydney turned to face her. “Because you’re perfect for David. He needs someone smart and mellow—if you knew Angel, you’d want to rescue David.”
Lexi was used to her best friend’s antics, but this was way past the norm. “Sounds ridiculous.”
“Angel is ridiculous,” Sydney said.
“No, it’s ridiculous that I show up in Hawaii for my best friend’s wedding, and she�
�s lining me up to rescue her husband-to-be’s childhood friend from a crazy woman.” Her chest tightened at the surprise on Sydney’s face. Lexi had probably been a little too honest.
“When you put it that way, I guess it does sound pretty stupid,” Sydney said, her voice subdued for once. She turned around and faced the front windshield.
“Lexi’s right. We should probably drop it,” Apelu said.
Sydney sighed. “I guess so.”
Dear, dear Apelu, Lexi thought. I’m so glad you’re marrying Sydney. When Sydney went into pout mode things always turned gloomy. It wouldn’t last long, although Lexi hoped it wouldn’t be due to a revival of Sydney’s insistence of Lexi somehow wresting the unknown David from a mysterious loony girlfriend.
Still, she wanted to dispel the sting of her rejection. “Is David Samoan?” She didn’t know what was offensive to ask, but Apelu hadn’t ever been the easy-to-offend type.
“He’s Haole, even though he thinks he’s Samoan.” Apelu laughed. “He claims he’s got Maori in him, but I’ve seen no proof.”
Sydney turned to look at Lexi again, her eyes bright and mischievous. “His eyes are the darkest brown I’ve ever seen—not as gorgeous as Apelu’s, of course.” She took her fiancé’s hand. “I totally believe he’s part Maori. You’ll have to see for yourself. No pressure. Promise.”
“I’m not going on a date.” Lexi wasn’t anti-dating. Well, maybe she was. The few she’d had in high school and college had amounted to awkward good-byes, especially when the guys expected a make-out session after they’d paid for her meal.
“No date,” Sydney rushed to say. “He’ll be hanging around, and you’ll meet him naturally.” She grinned.
Lexi smiled back, but inside, her stomach was in knots. For once, she wished she had a boyfriend or some other excuse. How hard would it be to convince Sydney that she’d met and fallen in love with someone back home in less than a week? Her mind scanned through the guys in their apartment complex, someone convincing. No one came to mind that Lexi hadn’t outwardly voiced her strong opinion about—using descriptive words like jerk or idiot.
A Timeless Romance Anthology: Summer Wedding Collection Page 20
