You May Kiss the Groomsman

by Samantha Chase

  “EPS?”

  “Executive Protection Specialist,” he replied.

  Their waitress came over to take their orders and Josie knew all of Tyler’s favorites and had no problem ordering for him. Once she was gone, she immediately went back to questioning Daniel.

  “Okay, so physical stuff aside, what else is included in this training? Or is it all physical and knowing how to shoot?”

  He chuckled. “No, there’s more to it. We have a curriculum that will include strategy development and advance work, research on clients and the specific threats, both known and perceived, as well as providing security, close protection, surveillance, countersurveillance, mail screening, background checks on employees and any people coming into contact with the client.” He paused and took a sip of his water. “There’s a lot more to it than just being the muscle.”

  And that last part had her checking out his muscles.

  Again.

  “We did a wedding once for a senator’s daughter. There was a lot of security around, but I was impressed by how they sort of blended into the background and never got in anyone’s way. I imagine it’s difficult because, for the most part, these guys spend a lot of time standing around observing rather than physically doing anything.”

  Nodding, Daniel’s smile grew. “I once had an instructor describe personal security as 99% boredom and 1% unmitigated sheer terror. And you constantly have to prepare for that 1%.”

  She considered him for a moment. “You’ll probably think I’m oversimplifying it or reaching hard for a comparison, but…it’s a lot like the day of a wedding. We spend months working with our brides for their big day–we do all the leg work and get everything scheduled and set up and implement our plan. Then on the actual day of the event, we end up standing on the fringe of it all just making sure nothing goes wrong.”

  Now his smile was downright lethal. “I don’t think you oversimplified or reached too far. I think that sounds completely accurate.” He leaned forward again. “Tell me, how stressful is it to watch and wait in case something happens?”

  Josie laughed out loud. “Oh my goodness, I don’t think I breathe freely until the bride and groom leave the building at the end of the night!”

  After that, he asked her about some of her more exciting weddings–where things did go wrong–and in turn, she asked about some of the exotic places he’d traveled to. Their food came and Josie looked around for any sign of Tyler.

  “I’m glad I’m here,” Daniel said gruffly.

  “How come?”

  “Because this feels like the dinner we should have had.”

  Josie felt her cheeks heat and was completely at a loss for words.

  “Plus, it’s wrong to leave a beautiful woman all alone at the table for this long. I’d like to beat some sense into my brother.”

  Josie had never been one for any kind of violence or brute force, but hearing Daniel say those things was extremely titillating.

  I am so screwed…

  It was after midnight and Daniel was still keyed up and mad as hell at Tyler.

  He and Josie had finished their meals and had Tyler’s boxed up. They found him out in his car still on the phone. When Daniel looked at his watch, he found his brother had been gone for two hours! Who did that? The only positive was that he had a lot of time to get to know Josie and…he was totally screwed.

  There were several things that stood out to him. First, she was extremely easy to talk to. Second, she was passionate about her career. Third, she had a wicked sense of humor. But the thing that stood out the most? She rarely talked about Tyler. It was almost as if he wasn’t a part of her life and that was a big red flag to him.

  Of course, he kept that last observation to himself.

  Actually, he kept all of them to himself, but that last one was what he fixated on.

  First thing tomorrow, he planned on reaching out to his buddy Knox–he was the one who handled all the background check training. His plan was to ask him to dig a little on Josie and his brother and see if there was anything he could find to help him make sense of the relationship.

  Walking over to the large window in his bedroom, he stared out into the night. Josie’s townhouse was four doors down on the opposite side of the street. They had talked about how much they both loved the community and when Daniel mentioned how he was considering buying a unit there if one became available, she told him all about the things she discovered when she bought hers.

  His conversation with his mother from the barbecue came to mind and he had to agree with her–Josie definitely loved her place and didn’t seem to even remotely imply that she was planning to sell it any time soon.

  Which would have been the perfect thing for her to offer if she were going to sell when she and Tyler got married.

  Raking a hand through his dark hair, he let out a long breath. There were so many other things he needed to focus on right now and yet he was obsessing about his brother’s love life and how increasingly jealous he was of it.

  Forcing himself away from the window, he closed the blinds and stalked across the room to his bed. Stripping down to his boxer briefs, he slid beneath the sheets and turned off the light. He wasn’t the least bit tired, but maybe if he tried to relax and got comfortable, he’d get there.

  Closing his eyes, he frowned because he could still see the confused look on his brother’s face when they showed up at his car–like the doofus had no concept of time. Josie didn’t seem the least bit put off by the whole situation, so why was it bothering him so much?

  Good question.

  With a low growl, he blindly reached over to the bedside table and grabbed the TV remote. There had to be something on that could distract him from his thoughts about his brother and Josie. Surely there had to be something mindless to watch at this hour, right?

  Scrolling through the channel guide, he couldn’t believe the number of crappy programs that were on and as much as he normally wouldn’t watch any of them, he knew he should just pick something that would bore him to tears so it would help him fall asleep.

  “While You Were Sleeping,” he murmured, reading the first few lines of the movie description. “That should work.” He immediately turned it on and realized it had just started–not that it mattered because he didn’t plan on watching it for long.

  An hour into the movie, he was still awake and cheering Sandra Bullock on.

  “This is ridiculous,” he murmured, turning off the TV and tossing the remote on the floor. With a few solid punches to his pillow, Daniel got comfortable and closed his eyes and prayed for sleep.

  It must have worked because the next time he opened his eyes, it was because his alarm was going off. It still meant he only got four hours of sleep, but that was more than he had anticipated so he took it as a win.

  Mornings consisted of a very regimented routine–he was up at six and out running by six-thirty. The community had excellent trails with a man-made lake on one side and a golf course on the other. In order to get his mileage in, he jogged around both. At seven-thirty he was back in the house and having his protein shake before showering, and by eight o’clock, he was sitting at his desk typing up an email to Knox about his brother and his fiancée.

  Because that’s how he needed to start referring to Josie–as his brother’s fiancée. No more thinking of her by name or really thinking about her at all. If she was going to marry his brother–and that was still a very big if in his mind–then he had to stop thinking about her in all the ways he had since meeting her.

  Most involved her being in his bed and were incredibly inappropriate and he had to get it under control.

  So no more thinking about the soft sounds she made when she kissed him or noticing how her long and silky hair looked or how she smelled like peaches and sunshine. Definitely no more admiring her curves or the fact that her dark eyes twinkled when she laughed.

  Or how she seemed to play with her engagement ring so it was hidden.

  Yeah, in
his line of work, he paid a lot of attention to details and over the course of the two meals he’d shared with her, he noticed way more than he probably should have and that’s why he was getting Knox involved. Maybe if he stopped thinking about her as an attractive woman and more like someone they were investigating to make sure she was a good fit for his brother, he’d be a lot better off.

  Hell, they all would.

  Knox had already responded that he was on it and would get back to him as soon as he had something. With that out of the way, Daniel pushed all thoughts of family matters aside and got down to work. He had a call with their website designer this morning followed by a meeting with their real estate agent to look at potential facilities in the area. The plan was to buy a building and then renovate it to fit their needs, but after a little discussion, he and his partners agreed they’d be open to renting for the first year. Personally, he’d love to build a place so they could have exactly what they need, but that would take too much time and they were all anxious to get started on this venture.

  He dealt with the website guy and made a few other calls before meeting up with Knox and Xander to look at properties. They agreed to meet up for lunch first and then just take one car to meet with their agent. Knox had arrived at the pub first and as soon as Daniel sat down, he slid a folder toward him.

  “Already?” he asked with mild disbelief.

  His friend nodded. “What can I say? I’m good.” And it wasn’t even bragging; it was an actual fact. Knox had a way of finding information on anyone fast.

  “And?”

  He shrugged. “She’s pretty straight up.” Motioning to the file, he explained, “Josephine Sullivan, age 28, part owner of Meet Me at the Altar along with her two best friends, Skylar Sullivan–who is married to Josie’s brother Elliott–and Leanna Baker who is currently engaged to big-time hospitality magnate, Brody King. They’ve been in business for almost five years and the business is successful and their debts are low. As for Ms. Sullivan herself, she’s single, owns her own home and car, has a credit score of 800, no traffic tickets, no warrants…she’s pretty much squeaky clean.” He paused. “So, what gives?”

  Daniel had been vague in his email–merely giving a name and address and asking him to do a search. “She’s engaged to my brother and something just seems…off.”

  “Off?”

  He nodded.

  “In what way?”

  “I can’t put my finger on it. I was out with my parents for dinner last week and we happened to be at the same restaurant as them and showed up in the middle of the proposal.”

  Knox chuckled. “Awkward.”

  “Exactly.”

  “And?”

  With a groan, he folded his arms on the table. “I don’t buy it. There’s nothing about them that says they should be getting married.”

  For a minute, Knox didn’t respond. “So now you’re a relationship guru? How would you even know what they should look like? You’ve been gone for years and you interrupted their big moment. Maybe things seem weird because the arrival of you and your parents ruined something.”

  But Daniel was already shaking his head. “It’s more than that. They’re like…buddies. I don’t see anything romantic between them.” Shifting slightly, he told Knox about his dinner with Josie the night before and how long his brother stayed outside on the phone. “I mean…who does that?”

  A small smirk was his friend’s only reaction.

  “What? Come on, you don’t think that’s strange?”

  “He obviously felt comfortable staying out there so long because he knew she wasn’t alone,” he reasoned. “You have no idea how the whole thing would have played out if you weren’t there. Maybe they would have just called it a night and she would have gone home. Maybe she’s the kind of woman who doesn’t mind eating alone.” He shrugged. “You don’t know.”

  It all made sense, but it still didn’t sit right with him and even though just hours before he vowed to stop thinking of her as anything but his brother’s fiancée, he was finding it hard to do.

  “She just…” Stopping, he groaned and tried to find the right words. “It’s just a feeling I’m getting, alright? Something’s weird about the whole thing.”

  Frowning, Knox leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. “What’s it to you? People get married for all kinds of reasons that have nothing to do with love and romance. It’s not a big deal. And if that’s what they’re doing…”

  “There is one other thing,” he said, hating that he even needed to bring it up. “But remember the girl from the hospital cafeteria?”

  Knox stared at him for a moment before his eyes went wide. “You have got to be kidding me!”

  “Same girl. So, if things are great and everyone’s happy, what the hell was she doing accepting a date with me?”

  “You didn’t sleep with her that night, did you?”

  Before he could say anything more, Xander walked over and with a nod, joined them. The three of them filled up all the space and the table looked comically small comparatively, but…they were used to it.

  “What are we talking about?” Xander asked.

  “How Daniel has the hots for his soon-to-be sister-in-law,” Knox said mildly.

  “What?! That is not…” Daniel roared and immediately noticed how the entire pub went silent. With an apologetic look around, he focused on Knox. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  With cool ease, Knox simply shrugged again. “Dude, I know you. I’ve known you for a long time. You’ve never taken much of an interest in your brother’s life. Most of the time when you mention Tyler, it’s to say how you’re not like him and how you can’t believe he just blindly followed in the family’s footsteps. You’re not close and we all know it. So for you to be obsessing…”

  “I’m not obsessing!”

  Knox wasn’t listening. “For you to be obsessing about this girl, it’s not out of brotherly concern.”

  Beside them, Xander let out a low whistle. “Interesting.”

  Daniel glared at him before returning his attention to Knox. “You’re wrong.”

  Another shrug. “Maybe, but I doubt it. And you did go out with her that one night and you were definitely interested in her then.”

  God, was he that obvious?

  “If I may,” Xander interrupted. “Have you thought that maybe you’re just attracted to this girl because you haven’t…you know…hooked up with anyone since we’ve been back?”

  “Who says I haven’t hooked up?” he demanded.

  “Have you hooked up?” Knox asked.

  Both his friends looked at him and he wanted to punch them both in the throat. “No.” When they both laughed, he added, “Shut the hell up! Let’s just order lunch or we’ll be late meeting Gene.”

  Luckily, neither argued and they managed to get through lunch without any more talk of Josie–or his lack of a sex life.

  When they were done and walking back out to the parking lot, they looked around to consider whose car they were taking. Knox drove a pickup, but they were all too big to fit comfortably in the cab. Xander had an older Jeep that looked like he had recently taken it off-roading somewhere, and Daniel was driving a new Ford Explorer.

  “I guess I’m driving,” he said as they walked over to his car.

  “We could fit in the Jeep,” Xander argued. “It’s just a little dirty.”

  The three of them laughed as they climbed into the Explorer. “I think this will make a better impression,” Daniel said.

  “And why are we trying to impress Gene?” Xander asked. “He has all our financials and knows what we’re looking for. What difference does the car we arrive in make?”

  “Don’t argue with him,” Knox said with a weary sigh. “He’s cranky because he hasn’t gotten laid in far too long and is lusting after his brother’s fiancée. Just let him drive.”

  Grinding his teeth, he refused to take the bait.

  But he had no idea how long it would last
.

  5

  “It's so easy to fall in love but hard to find someone who will catch you.”

  Unknown

  The following Monday, Josie was coming back from dropping her car off for service when her phone rang. She and Lea were walking back into the office and Lea gave her a quick wave before heading off to the kitchen. A quick glance showed it was Tyler and she found herself torn between answering and letting it go to voicemail.

  “You signed up for this,” she reminded herself quietly before answering. “Hey, Ty! What’s up?”

  “There’s my beautiful bride to be! I’ve missed you!” he gushed, and it didn’t take long for her to realize he wasn’t alone.

  “Is someone there with you?” she asked.

  “That is correct,” he replied happily. “Listen, I know I messed up last week with the whole dinner thing, but I was hoping to make it up to you tonight.”

  Placing her purse down, she sat behind her desk and tried not to sigh too loudly. “I’m listening.”

  “My folks really want to have us over for dinner tonight.”

  “Tyler…”

  “Mom is making all of your favorites–lasagna, meatballs, sausage, garlic bread…”

  “Those are your favorites,” she murmured.

  “I told her how much you love Italian food,” he went on as if she hadn’t spoken a word. “What do you say?”

  In the background, she heard his mother chime in, “We look forward to seeing you tonight, Josie!”

  Great.

  “As fun as that all sounds, I can’t,” she told him. “I just dropped my car off for service and won’t have it back until tomorrow. Leanna’s driving me home and…”

  “So just ask her to drive her to Mom and Dad’s! I’m sure she won’t mind.”

  “Tyler, you’re not listening to me.” And yeah, now she was getting annoyed. “I’m not asking Lea to drive me anywhere so please…just not tonight.”

  “But…”

  “And in the future, no more springing this last-minute stuff on me,” she hissed quietly, just in case his mother could hear her. “This was not part of our agreement.”