The sight of her now stole the moisture from his mouth. She was...ethereal.
The navy blue dress was knee-length, the sleeves designed to reveal her creamy shoulders. Her hair was pulled back on one side, the strawberry blonde color a stunning accent to the blue. The photographer leaned out of an aisle to snap a photo and Andy smiled, her plush lips shining with sparkly pink gloss. When she caught sight of Gage, her smile stayed but turned demure, the joy in her blue eyes zapping him where he sat.
Then she walked past him to take her place up front, and Amber followed. By the time the music changed to introduce the bride, Gage didn’t want to take his eyes from his date. And when a white-dressed Gwen strode down the aisle to take her place next to Garrett, Gage felt his forehead break into a sweat.
Could’ve been you.
He’d been to weddings since his engagement with Laura had imploded. He’d always had a date, so that part wasn’t new. He’d never pictured himself in the role of the groom, with a bride in white coming toward him down a long aisle.
Until right now.
Gripping his hands in front of him, he forced himself to take a few long breaths. When Boyd eyed him curiously, Gage gave him a pained I’m-fine smile. Eyebrows bowed in sympathy, Boyd patted Gage’s back gruffly and then turned to watch the ceremony.
What was that about? What was the back-pat and that knowing smile supposed to reinforce? Gage swiped his brow again. When it came time for the prayer he ducked his head, but his eyes and thoughts stayed on Andy.
Andrea Payne was a puzzle, like Kenny had said.
But Kenny had also said that when Gage and Andrea were together, Kenny could see the full picture. That picture spread out before Gage now, even though he didn’t quite know what to make of it.
He saw Andy in his future.
That wasn’t something he’d been able to say of any woman besides Laura. But he was enamored with Andy in a way he’d never been with any woman—and that included Laura.
In the midst of pretending to be Andy’s boyfriend, Gage was feeling particularly boyfriend-like. He was going against several rules he’d set up to protect himself, including endangering the bachelor pact he and Reid were still upholding.
Gage wouldn’t muster up a version of a wedding of his own—lest he throw up on his and Boyd’s shoes—but he could safely state that when he and Andy returned to Seattle, he’d like to keep seeing her.
Thing was, he wasn’t 100 percent sure she wanted to keep seeing him.
So.
That was new.
Typically, it was the woman he was dating who was leaning on him a little too hard. Crowding into his space and wanting the “more” he couldn’t give her. Meanwhile here he was, literally a few days into this...fantasy romance, and starting to feel a whole host of things he shouldn’t.
Particularly when Andy rested her hand on the arm of the groomsman she’d been paired with and they both smiled at the camera.
If Gage were to let this affair end, he imagined Andy would eventually find a man worthy of her time. They couldn’t all be duds. Maybe even after she and Gage split, the nice-guy-looking groomsman would call her up.
“Hey, Andrea. You remember me? Pencil Neck from Gwen’s wedding? I thought we could get together sometime for a bland dinner before I try to impress you with a few of my lame bedroom moves.”
Gage felt his lip curl at the idea of another guy trying to spend time with Andy. Possessive was another trait he’d never had to contend with. But here it was, as gritty and basal as he’d ever imagined.
Whenever he looked at Andrea Payne, a bolt of certainty shocked his gut with a single word.
Mine.
He wanted her, and he’d had her.
But he hadn’t had enough of her.
Even though previously he’d decided beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would never get married or engaged.
Was there an in-between? Was Andy the kind of woman who would settle for some but not all?
He was beginning to think he wasn’t that kind of guy. That he was instead the kind of guy who’d like to get married someday. That he was the kind of guy who’d like to have a family and a wife and buy a house with a yard he had to mow.
But only if that future included Andy.
So.
Yeah.
What the hell was he supposed to do with that?
* * *
Thankfully the tradition of a formal wedding party dance wasn’t one Gwen and Garrett kept. The happy couple finished their dance as husband and wife and then the DJ played a song about single women that would inevitably herald the bouquet toss. Andy settled in at the round table decorated with red roses in navy vases, her hand in Gage’s, content not to move. Until...
“Get up there, girl,” Kelli goaded.
“Me?” Andy shook her head. “I’m not single. I’m here with Gage.”
“Yes, but you’re not married to Gage. Or engaged to Gage.” A small frown marred her sister’s forehead. “Are you?”
“No.” Andy shook her head and met Gage’s eyes. He looked slightly green and she could imagine why. Pretending to be her boyfriend was one thing. Pretending to be her fiancé was a whole other level of OMG. “But I’m not single.”
“That’s not how it works.” Kelli grabbed Andy’s hand and dragged her to the dance floor, where Amber was already boogying to the music.
Andy stood behind Amber and the other four girls who were on the stage, arms in the air. Gwen searched the crew of available bachelorettes and Andy quickly shook her head. Gwen smirked, slapped her hand over her eyes and threw the bouquet high.
It arced toward Amber, but the toss was high and Amber was about six inches shorter than Andy. Either the gorgeous bouquet of blue roses with red ribbon hit the dance floor and exploded into a shower of petals, thereby ruining her youngest sister’s day, or...
Andy held out her hands in a show of an attempt. The bouquet landed prettily in her palms like Gwen had aimed directly for her.
Cheers rang out and Andy held her prize overhead, her headshake a combination of chagrin and that-figures.
But when she caught sight of Gage applauding, she felt happy she’d gone along with this farce anyway. Just to have him here with her—just to be in his company. Even if it was only for the weekend.
The DJ called for the single guys as Andy stepped from the dance floor, and this time it was not Kelli but Garrett calling to the men who’d rather not stand up and catch Gwen’s garter.
Garrett shoved Jon onto the dance floor as a random smattering of single guys shuffled into their spots, beers in hand. Andy tried to hold Garrett off when he angled for Gage, but Garrett only winked at her.
“Sorry, Andrea. He has to make an attempt. Especially since you have the bouquet.” When Garrett slapped Gage on the back, she also heard him say, “You don’t want Jon slipping a garter onto your girl’s thigh, now do you?”
Gage sent a heated glance over his shoulder at Andy and flames licked along her body like he’d touched her instead.
Saucy, silly burlesque music piped from the speakers as Garrett shimmied a garter belt from high on his bride’s thigh. He slid it down the remainder of Gwen’s leg with his teeth, which made everyone cheer and clap except Abe Payne, who covered his eyes when he received a few elbows to the ribs.
“Okay, gentlemen!” Garrett called out. “Who’s next? Hey! Hands out of your pockets.” After calling out a few of his buddies, Garrett flipped the garter into the crowd like a slingshot, and Jon made a hearty reach for it. He had a few inches on Gage, but Gage made a play for it, launching himself higher by using Jon’s shoulder as leverage and snatching the garter out of midair.
Andy applauded when Gage sauntered over, spinning the garter around his finger as several of the guys patted his back.
“All he needed was the right motivation,”
Garrett shouted as he grabbed a chair and dragged it onto the dance floor.
“Come on, beautiful.” Gage offered his hand to Andy. “Let’s do this.”
She tucked her palm into his. His easygoing attitude had shifted slightly. He was still fun-loving Gage, but a ribbon of seriousness threaded through him as he sat her on the chair and she lifted her leg. His smile was there, his silliness as he verbally urged the crowd on while he slid the garter up her leg, but she couldn’t escape the idea that something had changed within him without her knowing. Especially when he tugged her skirt down, helped her stand and asked her to dance as the fast beat slowed into the next ballad.
Couples joined them on the floor and Andy rested her arms on Gage’s shoulders as they began to sway.
“Sorry about that.” She forced an eye roll even though she wasn’t very sorry at all. “I appreciate you defending my honor, though.”
“No way was I going to allow Jon—or Matthew—to win that prize and touch even an inch of your leg with their grubby paws.”
She giggled. “All my life I’ve never known a man to be possessive over me, Gage. I think maybe I was lowballing you with my offer of two grand. You’re worth much more.”
His smile fell, and again she felt as if he was more serious than before. He pushed her hair off her neck, tracing the line from her collarbone to her shoulder. “Have I told you how good you look in this dress?”
“Thank you.”
He had. At the start of the reception, when they had parted ways, her bridesmaid chores complete.
“I’m glad you asked me to be your date,” Gage said, sneaking a look around to make sure no one was near them. “And for allowing me to share your bed. I have a proposition for you in return.”
“Oh?” She bit the inside of her lip, a parade of naughty possibilities lining up to conga through her brain. Would he suggest sex somewhere public, but hidden in shadows? Maybe he wanted to make love by moonlight on the boat. Or maybe, when they went back to the room, he would get a bucket of ice and tease a cube along her inner thighs...
“When we return to Seattle, what if we don’t stop?”
She swayed in his arms, not understanding his meaning. “Don’t stop what?”
“Any of it. You coming to my place. Me to yours.” He turned them in a smooth circle. “I can’t promise opportunities for garters or dancing, but the rest of it—the meals, the dates, the waking you up by going down on you—” he whispered, leaning in “—why stop now?”
Sixteen
Andy had been putting off thinking about life back in Seattle until after the wedding was over. But the weekend was winding down quickly, wasn’t it? It was nearing the end of the time she and Gage would spend together and now that she allowed herself to think about what that meant for them...well, not seeing him didn’t sound even a little appealing.
“You want to keep seeing me?” She was still trying to wrap her brain around that. It wasn’t a typical discussion she’d had with her mediocre dates and underwhelming boyfriend prospects.
“We’re good together, Andy. I didn’t come here expecting...this.” He raised their linked hands to gesture around them. “To be this comfortable with you. Especially in this scenario.”
“Hmm. You’re going to need to explain that.” He’d hinted that there was a story from his past before, but he hadn’t shared it. By her estimations she had him right where she wanted him.
“Wondered if I could escape explanation.” He sighed heavily.
“You can,” she told him, quickly changing her tune. “You don’t owe me anything. But since we’re planning on not stopping, it would be nice to know you a bit better. Beyond the biblical sense, I mean.” She winked and he chuckled, settling into their dancing rhythm with ease.
“Since you’ve just agreed to my terms, I suppose I could indulge you with a few details of my sordid past.”
“Oh, sordid. That’s a good beginning to any story.”
He took a deep breath before he spoke, like there was still a part of him that was resisting. “I was engaged when I was a junior in college.”
“Young.”
“Quite.” He lifted a sardonic eyebrow. “Laura and I...ended our engagement.”
“Code for she dumped you.”
“Precisely. After that engagement ended, I decided this—” he jerked his chin to indicate the wedding guests, tent and the bride and groom themselves “—wasn’t for me. By then there was a pact issued by my buddies that we’d agree never to marry.”
“Which buddies?” But she had a guess.
“Reid and Flynn.”
“Ha! But aren’t Flynn and Sabrina...?”
“Yeah, they are. He broke the contract, but after seeing them together it made sense. You’ve seen them. It’s undeniable how they feel about each other.”
“It’s pretty obvious,” she agreed.
“Anyway, he’s been married before, and once the divorce was underway, he was the one to reinstate the pact. He was upset, as well as he should’ve been since his now ex-wife cheated on him with his brother.”
Andy sucked air through her teeth. “Yowch. Tell me there was nothing that ugly behind the ending of your engagement with Laura.”
“No, nothing like that,” he said easily enough that she believed him. “We were young. It wouldn’t have lasted.”
The music faded into another slow song, and they kept on swaying.
“So what is your modus operandi with dating now? Or do you exclusively bail out women in need of wedding dates so long as they pay your room and travel?”
“Believe it or not, you are my first. Typically, I just...date. I don’t have any weird rules or anything, but I don’t ask for more. And if she does...” He shook his head.
“So you sleep with these women and then leave a trail of broken hearts when they start wanting more?”
“First of all, there aren’t that many of them and few leave brokenhearted, so stop making me sound like a lothario.” He tugged her so that they were dancing cheek to cheek and lowered his lips to her ear. “Secondly, you didn’t ask for more. I did.”
He pulled away and pegged her with a look that said, There you go.
Andy digested that information, feeling like it was substantial in a way that it wasn’t before.
“You haven’t wanted more with the women you’ve dated since college, but now, after only a weekend with me, you know you do?”
“I know I’m not ready to stop talking to you. Or kissing you. Or sharing a bed with you. So I guess my answer is yes. After this weekend, I know I’m not through with you.”
* * *
There it was. Out loud.
Right about now he should be shaking and nervous the way he’d been when he was watching the wedding procession and eyeing Andy like she might be the cause of his pending breakdown.
But he didn’t feel that way. He felt like pulling her closer and inhaling her cinnamon scent.
So he did.
He clasped her back and held her to his chest and let his lips hover just over hers. Her fingers wrapped around his neck, and when she slid them into his hair, he had to smile.
“I’m not sure what to say about any of this except the truth.” Vulnerability danced in her eyes but she didn’t look away. His brave girl.
“Hit me. I can handle it.”
“I’ve never had a relationship like this with anyone.”
“You mean fake for the sake of your family?” he teased.
“No.” But she smiled like he’d intended. “I trust you, Gage. Maybe more than I should, but I’m acting on instinct whenever I’m with you. Which is probably why I haven’t denied myself much where you’re concerned.”
“That makes me sound like an indulgence and I really, really like that.”
“You are an indulgence. And I never indul
ge.”
He’d bet. Every lean curve on her not only reflected good genes but also suggested a rigid workout regimen and being mindful of every calorie she ate.
“Especially in the bedroom,” she whispered before covering his lips with a soft kiss.
“Check, please,” he muttered, only half kidding.
“I’m going to visit the ladies’ room.” The song ended and the couples on the dance floor moved away. Perfect timing.
“I’m going to the bar, where I’ll grab a water and dump it over my head.” When she laughed, he added, “And down my pants.”
“I’ll meet you over there.”
But when they parted, he didn’t want to let her go, holding her hand until the last possible moment when her fingers slipped from his.
“Sap,” he muttered to himself, quelling the panicky feeling in his belly before it bloomed in his chest.
So, he’d asked to keep seeing her. So what? He didn’t promise her forever. He could be with Andy and not end up like Flynn and Sabrina.
Gage wasn’t done with her yet, and that was enough for him. They were in a safe space to continue riding the middle until it made sense not to be together any more. There was no reason to believe what they had would doom him to forever.
And there was no way to deny that her agreement to keep doing what they were doing made him damn glad he’d brought it up.
* * *
Andy walked from the frigid air-conditioned building into the warm, welcome summer breeze of the tent.
She moved to her table to grab her purse and found her sister Vanessa cradling a half-full glass of white wine and looking unhappy, which seemed to be her normal expression. Ness had always been a serious sort. Andy had that in common with her sister, but she wasn’t pessimistic, as evidenced by the conversation she’d just had with Gage.
He wanted more. She wanted more. It wasn’t a bad way to strike a bargain, either—he’d held her on the dance floor while telling her he’d suffered an ill-fated engagement. And that pact. She’d have made a similar deal with her girlfriends if she’d come that close to matrimony and then had her heart broken.
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