by Tami Lund
Kyle reached down, offering his hand to Madison. She accepted it hesitantly; he almost effortlessly pulled her to her feet and then began brushing sand off her dress.
“I’m good,” she said, stepping out of reach. “What was that?”
He shrugged. “Brothers working things out the way we always have.”
She shook her head, mystified.
“I have a feeling the awkwardness between you and him should be less now too.”
“I suppose I should thank you.”
He shrugged again.
“Can we please finish this rehearsal?” Maude demanded. “At this rate, we are all going to be drowned rats before it’s through. Which, per my contract, results in additional charges.”
“She charges extra for rain?” Elliot asked.
“No need,” someone else said. “I got everything I needed. And then some.”
Madison—actually, the entire group—turned toward the sound of an unfamiliar voice coming from the trees and bushes to her left. As she watched, a man stepped out of the shrubbery, holding a phone at arm’s length, like he was recording something.
“This is a private affair,” Maude said with a sniff and the haughtiness of a wedding planner who was used to distractions—and knew how to get rid of them.
“I know. That’s why I’m here.” The guy was tall and skinny, with stick-straight, dark blond hair under a NASCAR baseball hat. He had a smattering of freckles on his cheeks and across the bridge of his nose, and he wore a striped button-down shirt with the tail hanging out of his navy-blue cargo shorts. He looked harmless enough, aside from the phone he still held out in front of him.
Hi, Tommy Bryant,” he said, waving like they were old friends. Except friends didn’t usually call each other by first and last name.
“Who are you?” Tommy asked, frowning. He inched closer to Camila and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“That’s the bartender, huh? I recognize her from the story that broke about your engagement.”
“It’s Camila,” the woman in question said. “Who are you?”
The guy turned the phone around and waved at the screen. “I’m Johnny Carrolton, up-and-coming sports blogger extraordinaire.” He flipped the device back around. “Nice to meet you.”
“Up and coming sports blogger…” Madison murmured. “Oh shit. He is recording.” Her exposure to Tommy’s celebrity status was limited to a handful of times when she’d gone out to dinner or a bar with her sister and fiancé. There were always a few fans who wanted his autograph and a picture. He was a big deal in the motocross circuit, apparently; the rider with the most wins under his belt.
And prior to meeting Camila, Tommy had been one of motocross’s most eligible bachelors, so it had been a pretty big deal when he’d been taken off the market.
“How did you find us?” Madison asked.
“I was stalking Tommy’s Facebook and Instagram pages. Whoever runs them has been dropping all sorts of hints about an upcoming wedding.”
Madison glanced at Tommy, who shrugged. “My PR manager handles all that. And she’s brilliant because ticket sales for next summer have significantly increased since she started. But I know for a fact that she never mentioned where we planned to have the wedding.”
“Yeah, that took a little bit of effort,” the guy—what did he say his name was? Johnny—said. “I ended up following you to the airport on Sunday. Bought a random ticket just so I could get past security to figure out which gate you went to. Once I saw you board a plane for Naples—with all these people, half of whom bear a strong resemblance to you, while the rest look like the bartender—I acted on my hunch and started calling all the wedding vendors in the area.”
“Damn,” Elliot said.
“You’re a hell of a stalker,” Madison said coolly.
Johnny’s pleased smile wavered and he cleared his throat. “Finally struck gold with a local florist who confirmed that she had a customer by the last name of Bryant, and the wedding was scheduled for tomorrow.”
“Your florist would never give out that information,” Maude said to Camila and Tommy.
“Yeah, but her niece would,” Madison noted, recalling the bubble-gum popping young woman.
Maude shook her head. “I wish Gina would stop trying to help that girl out. This is not the industry for her.”
Madison agreed.
“What are you doing here today, if you were told the wedding is tomorrow?” Camila asked.
Johnny chuckled. “That was just dumb luck. I came out to check the place out, try to gauge where I thought you’d be most likely to set up, and overheard you guys talking. When I realized it was you, I hid in this brush right here and, well, struck gold. But I guess that’s how it works with gold, huh? Right place, right time.”
“How do you figure you struck gold?” Kyle asked.
Madison clutched his arm while glaring at the video guy. “He’s planning to sell that video. To TMZ or whatever the motocross equivalent is.” She glanced up at Kyle, her eyes no doubt huge in her face. “It’s all going to be made public. All of it. You and Elliot fighting. The fake engagement. We’re going to be laughingstocks.”
She’d never in a million years imagined she would be featured in some sort of public drama that might go viral on social media. She didn’t want to be notorious. That wasn’t part of her plan.
Of course, neither had been hooking up with Kyle. Or liking it as much as she did. Or the fake engagement.
Or liking that as much as she did.
And Kyle’s feelings…her feelings. None of that was part of the plan.
“Is that so bad?” she murmured, her gaze unfocused.
“Is what?” Kyle asked. She could feel him staring at her, probably wondering if she’d finally cracked. And maybe she had, but not in the way he thought.
Maybe it was time to be open to new things. To not planning so much. And if she did plan and those plans went awry, well, maybe, sometimes, that was a good thing.
“I’m not going to sell the video,” Johnny said.
“What are you going to do with it then?” Tommy asked.
Johnny lowered his phone and sighed. “I wasn’t there the day you announced your retirement, which was a shock in itself. But then when you told the world you were in love with the bartender and planned to go into business with her, well, that had been the greatest scoop in the industry in years. And I missed it. I was working for a motocross e-magazine at the time, and my boss was furious. Fired me as soon as he realized we were the only ones who hadn’t been there to capture the big news.
“So I started my own blog, but I need something to get my name out there, y’know? It’s so hard to make it in this industry. Anyway, when I noticed the hints about the wedding on social media, I knew this was it. If I could get an exclusive of your wedding, I could redeem myself. Not to mention, finally start making money again.”
Madison canted her head and studied the man. “Why did you miss the big announcement about his retirement?”
His face turned a dull red, and he dropped his gaze to the sand. “My grandma was sick. I…I didn’t want to leave her, in case…you know.” He flapped his hand helplessly.
“Did she make it?” Grandma Bryant asked.
Johnny’s chin bobbed while a smile lit up his face. “She’s doing great now.”
Madison glanced at Tommy and Camila, who were staring at each other without speaking. Another clap of thunder made her wince. They needed to get this show on the road, and she knew just how to do it. Sometimes the best laid plans…
She could feel herself grinning, but she cleared her throat and forced her expression to appear serious while she waved at the blogger. “Maybe you could let him cover the wedding tomorrow. As long as he agrees to delete the video from today.”
“What? No way. That’s better than the retirement announcement,” Johnny protested.
“It is?” Tommy said.
“Seriously?” Madison placed her hands
on her hips and gave Johnny a solid glare until he sheepishly lowered his lids.
“Okay, okay, fine. But I get exclusive. I get to announce it before anyone else does.”
“Not a problem, since no one else knows we’re here,” Tommy pointed out. “Although can I give you my PR manager’s number? I’d really like you to work with her. She’ll make sure you get the best bang for your story. Plus, she has a ton of industry contacts she might be willing to share, if I asked her to.”
“You’d do that for me?”
Tommy looked at Camila as if she were the single most important person in the world.
The same way Kyle looked at Madison. And if she were being honest with herself, he’d been looking at her like that for a long time.
And then Tommy said, “No. But I’d do it for Camila. This is our day, and I don’t want anything to ruin it.”
Johnny sighed. “Okay, fine. It’s a deal.”
“Can we please finish this rehearsal now?” Maude demanded, and everyone scrambled to return to their places.
One crisis averted.
And then the raindrops began to fall.
***
Luckily, they’d reserved a banquet room at a nearby restaurant, and the staff had been happy to rearrange the tables so they could have the rehearsal there. Maude was so efficient and smooth with redirecting everyone accordingly, it was obvious this was not the first time the weather had interfered with one of her events.
Once they were set up at the new venue, the rest of the rehearsal went quite smoothly, all things considered. Mom and Dad had shown up unexpectedly, and Dad apologized for not being more involved and said he really wanted to walk his daughter down the aisle if she’d let him.
After Camila’s crying bout, Dad did indeed walk her down the aisle, kissed her cheek, and told her how proud he was, which made her cry all over again. Then Mom stood and insisted they make an adjustment to the plan because she, too, wanted to walk their daughter down the aisle, which also made Camila cry. Good thing she looked beautiful with red-rimmed eyes.
By the time the rehearsal concluded, the storm had passed, and they moved brunch out to the patio. The sky was clear and blue, not a cloud in sight, and a steady breeze was pushing away the last of the oppressive humidity the rain had brought with it.
The elegant buffet was complete with a huge pile of steamed crab legs and a chef carving a perfectly rare prime rib. Bloody Marys and mimosas flowed freely. Madison opted for the latter.
Camila hadn’t been irritated at all that Elliot and Kyle’s little tiff had interrupted her wedding rehearsal. “It needed to be done,” she said.
Definitely not a bridezilla.
The argument still bothered Madison, though. Elliot had believed she and Kyle had cheated on him, Madison had set him straight, and yet he’d still slugged Kyle.
And Kyle had been perfectly okay with it.
“You look perplexed.”
She glanced up at Kyle, who had made his way to her side, standing off to the edge of the patio, a slight distance from the rest of the crowd.
“Honestly? I’m trying to figure out why Elliot hit you, after we clarified that we hadn’t cheated on him.”
Kyle rubbed his jaw, which was slightly swollen and starting to bruise. “That wasn’t about the cheating accusation.”
She waited for him to expound, but he didn’t.
“Well? What was it about?”
He sighed and took a sip of his drink. “Me letting him take out his frustrations so he could get his head on straight.”
“Huh.”
“The same way I let you talk me into this stupid friends-with-benefits idea. Because I thought it would help you realize you don’t need to plan out every single aspect of your life. Sometimes, what you want—or need—isn’t something you can plan for.”
There were a lot of aspects of that little announcement she wanted to dissect, but the first thing out of her mouth was, “You thought being friends with benefits was stupid?”
He nodded, his jaw clenched. “I’ve been crushing on you for a long time, Madison. But two things kept me from doing anything about it. One, because I thought Elliot wasn’t over you. Which has now been cleared up.”
“Oh.” She swallowed. “And what’s the other thing?”
He lifted his glass, as if saluting her. “You. Your plans. Your goals. Your expectations of yourself.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“How many times have you told me about Mr. Right and how you don’t have the time or inclination to meet him now? There’s always something in your way. Student loans, promotions at work, your schedule, your parents. For a long time, I thought I could wait it out until you finally figured out that you didn’t need to wait until your life was perfect before we got together. And this morning, I realized it was never going to happen.”
Elliot hurried over to them. “Twenty minutes and we’re leaving. Don’t want to be late for our tee time.”
Kyle nodded without taking his gaze off Madison. “I’ll be ready.”
Elliot must have sensed something was going on between them, because he didn’t say anything else, just jogged away toward the awning that had been stretched out over the patio.
Kyle studied Madison’s face for several more seconds, and then he leaned forward and dropped a gentle kiss on her temple before following his brother toward the restaurant.
Madison stood there, facing the calm, peaceful ocean, and pondering the truth in Kyle’s words.
Chapter Sixteen
They made it to their tee time with plenty of time to spare. Tommy was in a jovial mood, not acting nervous at all about tomorrow’s nuptials. Philip was picking his brain about proposal ideas.
Tommy laughed. “I did it on national TV after winning my last motocross race. Not the way I meant to do it, but it worked out just the same.”
Philip turned to Kyle. “What was that business about a fake engagement?”
Kyle shrugged. “It was a misunderstanding that got out of hand.”
“I’ll say,” Elliot muttered, but he didn’t sound angry. More like amused.
“How?” Philip wanted to know. “How did a misunderstanding turn into a fake engagement?”
Because he had been imagining proposing to the woman he actually, really, truly wanted to spend the rest of his life with. If he’d been thinking in more generic terms, he could have changed the protectory of this entire week.
If his fake proposal hadn’t been so heartfelt, Madison wouldn’t have kissed him. And he wouldn’t have kissed her back. And her grandparents wouldn’t have found them in a compromising position. And they wouldn’t have decided to carry on with the ruse.
If he’d simply dropped to one knee and laughed his way through a silly, fake proposal, none of that would have happened.
A small part of him, the part that recognized the pain he felt in his heart, wished it had gone down that way.
A bigger part, though, was glad he’d gotten to experience the last couple of days, even though he’d probably be pining for Madison for the rest of his damn life now. But he couldn’t regret getting together with her. Not entirely.
For a minute there, it had been too perfect.
“You gonna take your shot or daydream until they kick us off the course?” Dad called out.
Kyle shook his head and pulled his club out of his bag. After his ball got lost in the brush, he snagged another beer out of the cooler strapped to the back of the golf cart. He was definitely not winning this game.
Probably because he was so off his own game.
Elliot leaned against the cart next to him. “Everyone’s right, you know.”
“About what?”
“You and Maddy being made for each other.”
Kyle snorted and took a pull from the bottle.
“And you’re right, too.”
Kyle eyed his brother speculatively.
“She can’t see the forest for the trees. She’s so inte
nt on mapping out this perfect life—that doesn’t exist, by the way—that she can’t see how perfect it actually would be with you in it.”
“He’s right.”
Kyle whipped around at the sound of her voice. There was Madison, walking toward them with purpose, her sister and Maecie by her side, and were those the grandparents and the rest of their parents trailing along behind?
What the hell?
“What’s going on?” he asked when she stopped before him.
She waved as if to encompass the entire crowd. “I figured it would be a good idea to pull everyone together so they all heard the same thing at the same time. No more confusion. No more games.”
Kyle shook his head. “I’m not following you.” And the next foursome was going to be pretty upset when they made their way up the hill and saw this group.
“Do you remember what you told me when I was trying to convince you to sleep with me?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“You told me I needed to truly want it, with you. That I needed to want to touch you so bad it made my knees go weak. That I needed to feel like I could scarcely breathe for my desperation to be with you. Only then would you sleep with me.”
He scratched his chin. “Apparently, I lied.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You didn’t lie. I do feel all those things. For you. I just didn’t want to admit it. I was scared.”
Whoa. Was she saying…?
“Tell me something,” Madison said, staring at him so intently that gooseflesh erupted on his arms. “Did you mean it?”
“I said those things because I wanted you to feel that way.”
“Not that. On the beach. When you proposed.”
He glanced around at the onlookers and felt his face heat. “That wasn’t…you asked me to.”
“I know. And that’s on me. But the words, they felt…”
“Real?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
He sucked in a breath. Might as well lay it all on the line. He had nothing to lose at this point. “They were.”
Her mouth opened on a sharp gasp.
“There was one thing I didn’t say, though.”
She exhaled. “What?”
