by Janice Lynn
But foremost, medicine had led her to Seattle. Clay had just dumped her to head to Boston. She hadn’t wanted to stay in Nashville, had seen the residency in Seattle as an opportunity to discover who she was.
She’d met Paul and been dumped again.
She pulled her hand free and walked across the room, stared at the random items on her dresser top prior to turning back to face Ryder.
“His first wife swore if he’d loved her half as much as he’d loved flying they wouldn’t have fallen apart.”
“Interesting at how you both dealt with your father’s death so differently.”
“Isn’t it, though? Mark was older, had more time flying with Dad. Whereas I had nightmares for years where I was in that plane with him when it crashed.” Sweat prickled her skin at the memory. Forcing it away, she sighed. “Look, I hate to abandon you to a few hours of hanging out with Jeff and his kids, but we ladies are supposed to meet the others at the bridal shop this morning to pick up my dress. Let’s hope it fits.”
His gaze skimmed over her figure. “Here’s hoping. You sure you don’t want me to go with you?”
“To a bridal shop?”
“Might be better hanging with you than whatever I’ll end up doing with Jeff.”
“Possibly.” There was no telling what Reva’s older brother would have Ryder doing. “I really do appreciate you coming with me this weekend.”
* * *
“No problem.” Ryder watched McKenzie reach for her purse off the dresser. “And, McKenzie?”
She turned toward him.
“I’m sorry about your dad.”
“Thank you. It was a long time ago.”
But not so long ago that it didn’t impact her present.
He stood. “I’ll walk you to the car.”
“There’s no need.”
“Sure, there is,” he assured her. “Your mother will wonder about us if I don’t.”
“Oh, I guess you’re right.”
When they reached her mother’s car, Roberta got into the driver’s seat. Julianna was already in the back seat next to Casey in a child’s safety seat.
Ryder opened the passenger door for McKenzie. “Bye, honey. Have fun.”
Glaring at him while she climbed into the car, McKenzie’s nose crinkled with displeasure at his use of a pet name. “No name calling, remember? I’ve told you I prefer you to use my name.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Have a great time with your mother.” He fought chuckling as he leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss on the side of her mouth. One not meant to be full of passion, but not so quick as to just be a peck, either.
“I...uh, thank you. I will.” Obviously flustered by his kiss, she gave him a hesitant look. “You’re sure you’re going to be okay with Jeff while we’re gone?”
Although he shouldn’t be, he was pleased that his kiss had thrown her off-kilter. “I’ll be fine.”
Mostly, he believed he told the truth.
* * *
“So, tell me about this hot new boyfriend none of us have heard anything about.”
McKenzie blinked at her cousin Reva.
They’d barely been at the bridal shop ten minutes. She supposed she should be grateful the question hadn’t been the first thing out of Reva’s mouth.
Not that her mother hadn’t grilled her about Ryder the entire drive into town before dropping her and Julianna off at the dress shop, then heading on to Reva’s mother’s house to help with whatever Aunt Jane needed.
Then again, it could be worse.
Reva and her family could be grilling her about Paul and not believing her when she said he was ancient history.
“This weekend is about your love life, not mine,” she reminded her cousin, eyeing her reflection in the mirror. Although a little snug around the bosom, the bridesmaid dress fit perfectly otherwise.
Reva laughed. “So, true, and I don’t mind at all being the center of attention.”
Just as well as her beautiful cousin had always held that honor, even in high school. Men had always thrown themselves at her, had done all they could to hold her attention, and it had always been Reva who’d bored with her relationships and ended them.
“But my love life is old news around here,” Reva insisted, fanning her face as the seamstress made a last-minute adjustment to her wedding dress. She’d lost weight and wanted the bodice tightened a smidge. “Tell us about yours.”
“Not much to tell,” she admitted, still going with the truth as much as possible. “Ryder and I work together and have just recently started dating.”
Reva’s brow arched. “Yet you invited him to come home with you?”
“Of course, I brought him.” She hoped she inflected her tone with just the right amount of “duh.” “If you were dating a gorgeous pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon, wouldn’t you have invited him?”
“If I were dating that man, I’d never leave home,” Julianna spoke up from where she fiddled with tying a ribbon on Casey’s head in a big bow. “I almost ditched you gals so I could stay at Aunt Roberta’s just to drool over him.”
McKenzie suppressed a giggle. She’d have to tell Ryder as he’d likely get a kick out of the comment.
“It says a lot about how he feels for you that he was willing to fly across the country to come to a wedding,” Reva insisted, keeping her arms held up so the seamstress could work. “Most men hate weddings.”
“Ryder isn’t most men.” So true. Just look at what she’d put him through so far and he’d not uttered one word of complaint.
Instead, he’d been...wonderful.
“It’s serious, then?”
If only.
Now where had that come from?
Getting involved with Ryder for real was not what she needed. Hadn’t the past taught her anything? Did she really want to get involved with him just so he could dump her down the line, too?
Sensing every woman in the bridal shop’s eyes focused on her, including little Casey’s, McKenzie hesitated. If she said yes, her family really would be pushing her and Ryder down the aisle. If she said no, then they’d either think she was crazy or that Ryder wasn’t that interested.
“It’s too early to say.” She didn’t meet any of their curious gazes as she went back to looking at herself in the mirror. “Do you think we should let the bust out just a little?”
The shop keeper gave a horrified look from where she worked on Reva’s dress. “Absolutely not. It’s a perfect fit. You want it a little snug to hold everything in place.”
There was that. McKenzie stifled a smile as the conversation turned back to the wedding.
That is, until after she was out of the bridesmaid dress and back into her own clothes and Reva tackled her.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve missed you so much.” Reva pulled her in for a hug. “And don’t even think you’ve been gone so long that I didn’t recognize what you did earlier. Some time before I say I do tomorrow, you and I are going to have a big talk about your new guy. I can’t wait to meet him tonight.”
McKenzie hugged her cousin. “I’ve missed you, too.”
She had. They’d been so close.
She could blame no one but herself that they no longer were, as she’d been the one to stay away.
Because she couldn’t stand the thought of being in an airplane? True, but had that been the main reason she’d not come home?
Was it possible she’d been a tad jealous of her cousin? That she’d jumped at the residency in Seattle to step out of her beautiful cousin’s shadow and the pity her family had been dishing out over McKenzie’s breakup with Clay?
“I wish you’d gotten to come home for my bridesmaid party last weekend.” Reva giggled at the memory. “We had so much fun peddling around Nashville.”
“Getting drunk on a bicycle bar is
n’t necessarily my idea of a good time.” Realizing she sounded condescending, she added, “You know I never liked riding a bicycle.”
“Come on.” One of the bridesmaids hurried them. “If we don’t get a move on, we’re going to be late for our manis and pedis.”
McKenzie glanced at her nails. Her cousin had a flair for gorgeous nails and was always posting a pic on social media of some fantastic manicure with elaborate designs. McKenzie did well to keep hers trimmed and had thought she’d done great with the French manicure she’d taken time for earlier that week. She cared nothing about having her nails redone, but this weekend wasn’t about her. So she smiled and went with the flow.
In the middle of their morning of pampering, everyone chitchatted about the wedding, about where Reva thought they’d go on their honeymoon as her husband-to-be had kept it a surprise.
On cue, a courier arrived and presented Reva with a jeweler’s box.
“Oh, my goodness!” Reva exclaimed, reading the card out loud, then pulling out a gorgeous diamond bracelet.
“He’s so romantic,” one of the bridesmaids cooed.
“You’re so lucky,” another said.
Reva was lucky. Lucky in love. Lucky in life. Always had been. Not once had her cousin ever been dumped.
Reva was wonderful. Why would any man dump her?
Was McKenzie that unwonderful that every man dumped her?
McKenzie bit into her lower lip, chiding herself for the green she’d just felt rush through her veins. She was happy for her cousin. Ecstatic. Just that it would have been nice to have had a little of that lucky at love along the way herself.
They were served champagne and strawberries. McKenzie rarely drank but emptied her glass during her pedicure.
By the time they went to meet the guys for a late lunch at Reva’s mother’s, McKenzie couldn’t decide if she was starved or tipsy. Or both.
“Cooking for everyone on the day before your wedding was a lot for Aunt Jane to take on.”
Reva laughed as they piled into the prearranged limo that would take her cousin wherever she needed to go that day.
“She loves it, and you know it. She’s been looking forward to this day my whole life.”
“As have you,” McKenzie reminded her. “I can recall many a time you played dress-up with curtain sheers as your pretend veil.”
“Ha. We had fun, didn’t we?”
Yes and no. Reva had always been the bride during their play. Never McKenzie. Perhaps that had been a sign of things to come?
“I should have borrowed some of Mom’s old curtains for tomorrow, eh?” Reva giggled.
“I seriously doubt that,” McKenzie mused, having seen her cousin in the gorgeous dress at the bridal shop.
“Maybe she’ll pull them out for you to use,” Reva teased.
Wondering at her own botched relationships, McKenzie snorted. “I have no need for curtain sheers or a wedding veil.”
“Who knows? Maybe this hot doc, as Aunt Roberta called him, will be the one to change your mind and finally get you to the altar.”
Which was what she’d wanted her family to think. That Ryder was crazy about her and she wasn’t alone in Seattle.
She arched a brow. “Mom called Ryder a hot doc?”
Reva nodded. “As did Julianna. She said she almost fainted when she walked in on him in the bathroom this morning.”
McKenzie grimaced. “That sounds much worse than what it was. Ryder was completely dressed and had just finished brushing his teeth. It wasn’t as if she caught him in his skivvies.”
“Whatever it was, he flustered her enough she texted to tell me. She said his chest and abs were perfection.”
“Yeah, well, compared to your brother, most men’s abs would be considered perfection,” McKenzie teased. “But Ryder is hot.”
She’d have said so a month ago, but just how much so hadn’t registered.
Or if it had, she’d just not paid any attention because of Paul and thinking her future was all neatly tied up.
How wrong she’d been.
* * *
Ryder, Jeff and a couple of kids paused from tossing the football back and forth on Jeff’s mother’s front lawn to watch the ladies pile out of the limousine.
“Hello, Hot Doc,” McKenzie greeted him.
Ryder’s brow lifted. He was even more surprised when she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
A kiss that was meant for the benefit of their avid audience, one of whom let out a wolf whistle.
Not a problem. Ryder kissed her as if he’d been longing to do so his whole life.
Maybe he had.
When she pulled back, smiled up at him with eyes that were a bit glassy, he grinned down at her.
“Miss me much?”
“Bunches. Couldn’t you tell?”
He leaned in so the others couldn’t hear. “How much champagne have you had?”
“Not nearly enough,” she answered, smiling at him as if she thought he was the greatest thing ever.
He knew it was pretend, but her look was getting to him. Did she ever realize what she was doing? That she was on the rebound and that messed with her emotions? Made her more vulnerable?
“But I did have a couple glasses of champagne while getting my nails done.”
She held her fingers out for his inspection.
Knowing they were still the center of attention, that all the women had paused on their way into the house to watch them instead, Ryder took her hand in his and lifted it to his mouth, placing a kiss on each fingertip.
“You’re good,” McKenzie praised, a bit breathy.
“I’m just getting started.”
Which was the truth. For whatever reason McKenzie felt the need to be part of a couple in front of her family and wanted him to act crazy about her.
Kissing her, looking into her eyes, did make him crazy. He was playing a dangerous game. One where he was liable to get burned if he wasn’t careful.
Because he wanted McKenzie and feeling her desire during their kiss, as she looked up at him, was playing havoc with his resolve to protect himself.
“I can’t wait to see how you finish.”
Havoc.
“Are you flirting with me, McKenzie?”
Her cheeks flushed. “Is that not okay?”
The vulnerability in her question about undid him, about made him forget his need to protect himself and instead dive headfirst into wiping away all her self-doubts. He’d like to get a hold of Paul and every other man who’d ever hurt her.
“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Reva interrupted them, having obviously been ignored for as long as she was willing. “Introduce me to your fellow, Kenz.”
McKenzie’s cousin was a beautiful woman and had a smile that drew a person in. But Ryder’s gaze quickly returned to McKenzie, saw that she was watching him closely for his reaction to her cousin.
“I’ve heard a lot about you today, Dr. Andrews,” the bride-to-be claimed, her smile genuine, as was the hug she surprised him with. “We’re all glad you’re here.”
When Ryder’s gaze cut back to McKenzie’s she was no longer smiling, or even looking at him. Instead, she seemed bored with the conversation, and mumbled something about finding lunch.
* * *
From the lush trees along the edge of where the wedding would take place, Ryder watched the groom and his men line up in front of the wooden archway that would be further decorated with fresh flowers prior to the wedding the following day.
The women, including McKenzie, were to the back of the garden area set up to seat around two hundred people. The trees lining the area provided natural shade and a sense of privacy from the outside world.
A wedding coordinator with a clipboard was instructing and positioning everyone in the wedding party where sh
e wanted them to stand during the ceremony.
Reva was getting married at an old plantation house that had been converted into a wedding venue. The sprawling white farmhouse with its white columns in front and wraparound porch were impressive, but it truly was the scenery around the house and rustic-looking barn that had been built as a reception hall that made the place. Rolling green hills dotted with sprawling oaks, the bluest sky he could recall ever seeing, flowers of all varieties, and a flowing stream that ran along one side of the property.
“Now, ladies,” the wedding coordinator continued snapping orders. “I want you hidden back behind these terraces until after the music starts tomorrow.”
She put each bridesmaid where she wanted them, had them pretend to hold their bouquets. Then, at designated points in the song, she sent each woman toward the podium where the groom and his men waited.
McKenzie was the second bridesmaid out from where the bride would take her place after all six women had made their way to the front.
McKenzie never looked toward Ryder during her jaunt down the aisle. She just stepped up front to where the wedding coordinator had told her to go, stood holding her pretend bouquet, and kept her gaze trained toward where the other bridesmaids came down the aisle one by one until it was time for Reva to make her grand entrance.
It might be only a rehearsed ceremony, but McKenzie’s cousin’s appearance garnered everyone’s attention, including her groom’s, as if she were truly making her grand entrance.
Ryder hadn’t met Jeremy yet as the groom and his groomsmen had spent the day on their own adventures. The smile on his face was genuine, as was the love in his gaze when it landed on his bride.
McKenzie was also smiling, but something was off. Ryder wasn’t sure it was something anyone else would pick up on, but the way she held her body, the way her smile didn’t reach her eyes tugged at everything in him, making him want to go wrap her in his arms and promise to make right whatever was bothering her.
