by Amie Denman
Keeping her distance from Luke and keeping her heart in ice-cube-practical mode would be a whole lot easier if Luke didn’t have muscular biceps, a broad chest, and a hint of beard that did nothing to conceal the perfect lines of his jaw. The man was sex in human form, and she felt heat in all kinds of places she’d rather not think about while she was trying to be a responsible mom and a devoted bridesmaid.
She looked away and focused on her parents. “My dad says his knee doesn’t bother him, but he’s fooling exactly zero people. Will you have someone help him to his room? I’m afraid steps are going to be a problem.”
“I have an elevator.”
Of course he did. Just the way he said it was as if he said I have a private planet where we live on chocolate cake and French champagne unless we’re in the mood for steaks and aged bourbon.
“That’s great,” she said. He may have a planet, but she had Carter. And he was her entire world. After Luke’s meteoric rise through manufacturing propelled by ambition and brilliance, how could he understand that the thirty-two-pound child on her hip could be more valuable than stocks, yachts, and probably billions in the bank? She eyed the almost outlandish luxury around her, every detail reminding her how different she and Luke were.
“I’ve missed you,” he said.
She opened her lips, but she didn’t know what to say. They had been out of touch for so long, and so much had happened during that time. Did she even know Luke anymore?
“No one has hit me with a baseball bat or called me out for cheating at pool in a long time,” Luke added.
She laughed, relaxing at the thought that he was the same. “Remember that billiard table my parents had in the basement? We were all convinced we were going to be pool sharks someday and win championships that would make us rich and famous.”
“I won a few rounds in college,” Luke said. “I used to place twenty-dollar bets, and sometimes it was all I had.”
“Risky,” Autumn commented.
“I wish we could go back and have a round of pool in your parents’ basement,” he said wistfully. “Be kids again, just for a night.”
Autumn tried to imagine it, and the image called up childhood memories filled with the smell of baking and the garage door opening when her dad got home. She’d always pitied Luke for not having a dad who came home from work every evening…or ever.
“Would we know now what we did then?” she asked, trying for a playful tone but not sure she was pulling it off. The memories were too heavy, too sweet. It was like trying to swim in honey.
“No way,” Luke said. “That would ruin it. Half the fun of being a kid is thinking you can be anything someday and having no idea what’s really coming.”
Autumn felt an unexpected thickness in her throat. To anyone else, it would look as if Luke had achieved the goal of being anything he wanted. He owned companies, patents, the yacht she was standing on, a massive home on the Michigan lakeshore where his mother and aunt had taken up residence. Didn’t he have everything?
There had been his wife, of course. The accident…
Luke turned and waved to Grady and his fiancé as they were led off by one of his crew, and then another crew member ushered Autumn’s parents toward what she hoped was an elevator to their room. The rest of the wedding party and guests were arriving on a later flight and would come to the yacht on the same small boat. She had to admit it had been thrilling being escorted to a boat in the Athens harbor and shuttled out to the largest yacht she had ever seen. But she also had to remind herself not to get used to it. She’d made her own decision, her own life.
“Maybe we could recapture a little bit of our youth,” Luke said. He glanced over at a middle-aged woman with her hair tightly drawn back from her face and nodded at her. The woman was pointing out luggage and giving instructions to two crew members.
“Is there some secret of the Greek Islands that will take us back?” she asked playfully. If Luke was going to gloss over their more recent past and dwell safely years earlier, she could play that game, too.
“Maybe. But I was thinking of the pool table I had installed in one of the lounges. Your brother is going to be too preoccupied to play, but if I’m lucky, I’ll get a chance to play with you.”
The woman with the clipboard came over to them. “I’m Maria, and I’m sure you’re ready to see your cabin and put that baby down. I already had a crew member set up your portable bed for him.” She smiled at the baby. “How old is he?”
Autumn really wished Maria hadn’t asked that question. Not there. Not in front of Luke.
But she had resolved to stick with the facts. “Eighteen months,” she said.
“He’s a darling,” Maria said. “Let me show you to your room.” Maria turned, and Autumn followed her without a backward glance at Luke. She needed to get away from Luke and his appeal that threatened every sensible plan she’d made since that pregnancy test changed her life. She concentrated on the no-nonsense woman leading her up a staircase curving along the side of the deck.
“Autumn,” Luke called from below her. She could have pretended she didn’t hear him, but Maria paused. Autumn turned and looked down at Luke standing almost alone on the wide lavish deck of his personal yacht, and her heart flip-flopped. She wanted to run to him, wrap her arms around him, and tell him she loved him.
But she couldn’t. She didn’t dare. Because her secret could tear him apart.
“Dinner at seven,” he called, shading his eyes and looking up. “Drinks on the top deck.”
Chapter Two
Drinks on the top deck, she muttered to herself after she lowered Carter carefully into the portable crib. Mercifully, he stretched and went right back to sleep. She looked around her room that was nicer than any hotel she’d ever stayed in. Three huge windows. A giant bed. Built in cabinets, drawers. She wandered into the bathroom where even the shower had an incredible view. The bedroom and bathroom were larger than the ones in her apartment, and it was all hers for the next seven days.
Carter sighed in his sleep as if he knew how luxurious it was. Too bad he would never remember his fabulous tour of the Greek Islands. She would try to enjoy it and take lots of pictures. Carter’s childhood was already going too fast and she wanted to grab every second with him. Was she making a mistake by not telling his father about him?
There was a soft knock on the door and Autumn opened it slowly. Of course it didn’t squeak. Everything on the yacht seemed perfect, and she hadn’t even seen the upper decks yet.
“Are you settled in?” her mother asked in a low tone. “Your dad and I are just down the hall, closest to the elevator which was so thoughtful of Luke.”
Autumn nodded, but she imagined one of his dozens of staff probably assigned the rooms. Her mother came in and looked around her room. “Your windows are on the opposite side of the ship, so you can see Athens. Isn’t it incredible? I never would have thought all those years ago when Luke was eating burgers in the backseat as we drove him home from soccer practice that we’d all be here.”
“Definitely not,” Autumn said. “Hard to believe.”
If only her mother knew. But no one did. She had adamantly refused to reveal her baby’s father, claiming he was a one-night mistake she wanted to forget. After several months the questions from her parents and her brother stopped coming, but they came up again on occasion. Carter’s first birthday. His first Christmas. Father’s Day.
“I’m glad we have some down time after all that travel,” her mother commented. “And before tonight’s rehearsal dinner.”
“With such a small wedding party, there’s not much to rehearse. But we could toast the happy couple. Assuming,” she said with a smile, “they have anything decent to drink on this boat.”
“Your father says it’s called a mega yacht, but I think he’s making that up.”
Autumn smiled. Her dad was right. She’d looked up the yacht and ones like it online so she wouldn’t be bowled over when she saw it. It hadn’t helped. Sh
e was still stunned by the yacht’s size and it seemed more like a cruise ship to her.
“Well,” her mother said, easing into a chair by the window and pulling Autumn down into the one next to her. “Luke has everything in the world aboard this yacht, but I doubt it feels very homey. He must get lonely.”
“I don’t think he’s going for a homey feel,” Autumn said. She did not like the direction the conversation seemed to be lurching. Her brother’s wedding had put her mom in matchmaker mode, and Nancy Benedict was a woman who thought she knew what everyone wanted. Changing the subject was crucial before her mother tried to hook Luke up with her cousins Jessica or Julie or, worse yet, her. “He probably entertains movie stars and famous business moguls on board when he’s not hosting the world-renowned Benedict family,” she said with a self-deprecating grin. “I wonder who else has slept in our cabins? We could ask one of the crew members.”
“Money isn’t everything,” her mother said. “But I won’t mind living in luxury for the next week.”
Autumn laughed. “I admire your principles.”
After her mother left, Autumn unpacked her baby’s clothes into a drawer by the portable crib. She’d brought almost every piece of clothing he owned and hadn’t recently outgrown in a growth spurt that seemed to change him overnight. Packing for a trip with a baby was hard enough but packing for a luxury cruise halfway around the world which includes a wedding had nearly brought her to tears.
Had she put enough effort into her own clothes? She unzipped her bag. One nice dress for an evening dinner, black so it wouldn’t show an inevitable stain where Carter drooled on her. She’d wear it tonight. Next, she hung up her bridesmaid dress for the wedding which was a no-wrinkle wonder in rich blue. One pair of linen pants with a matching top. Jeans for a cool night. A swimsuit. Two pairs of shorts. Five shirts. One jacket. She dug through the bottom of the bag and searched the zippered compartments.
Uh-oh.
She had no shoes except the canvas sneakers on her feet. She’d been so worried about making sure Carter had everything he needed, she’d forgotten an essential item for herself. Autumn sat on the bed next to her empty suitcase. Her shoulders sank and her eyes stung. She was just tired. Travelling with a baby was exhausting. But, after all she’d been through, there was no way she was going to cry over shoes. She sat up straighter and took a deep breath.
She’d borrow shoes. Somehow. Her practical mother probably had an extra pair, but her mother wore a size and a half smaller. Maybe the bride? Autumn had been friends with Kelly for five years. They’d shared a room in college, a spring break trip to Florida where they’d learned to surf from locals they never saw again, many late nights and meals, and now they would truly be sisters when Kelly married Grady. Kelly wore shoes only half a size smaller than Autumn’s. It could work…if Autumn was brave enough to interrupt a bride-to-be who was in her cabin with her groom-to-be.
What was she going to do?
Her meager clothing supply was barely enough for the length of the cruise, and now she had only one pair of shoes for the whole trip.
Carter stirred in his crib and got on his knees, reaching his hands up. Autumn smiled at him as she lifted him and held him close. He had her blond hair, but his eyes were dark like his father’s and sometimes she caught him making a serious face that reminded her too much of the man who would never know he was his.
“Bath?” Autumn asked, hoping Carter would repeat the word but loving his babbling anyway. “I can offer you a tub with an ocean view.”
Hours later, Autumn dressed Carter in a white button-down shirt and black pants that fit over his diaper. She propped him on a chair by the window and took pictures with her phone before putting him in his crib for safety while she fluffed her hair, put on some makeup, and zipped herself into the black dress. It was a close-fitting dress that emphasized the curves she’d developed when she became a mother. If she was lucky, people would look at the dress and not her bare feet.
Autumn was tempted to stay in her room and play with Carter by the window while they watched the sunset over Athens. How many chances would they ever have in their lives to see the pink and gold streaks over a European city? But she couldn’t miss a dinner honoring her brother’s upcoming wedding, and she couldn’t hide in her room for the entire cruise.
She tucked Carter onto her hip and strode down the hallway to her parents’ room where she had planned to meet them before going to dinner together. Her mother wore a pretty silver dress and heels, and her father wore a dark suit with a bright blue tie. They looked happy and excited, and Autumn reminded herself that continuing to keep her secret was the best way to ensure her brother had a wonderful no-drama wedding and her family enjoyed the whole thing.
“Where are your shoes?” her mother asked.
“Forgot them,” Autumn said with a small shrug that she hoped de-emphasized the problem. Was it really a huge problem? They were on a private yacht. Maybe everyone would be barefoot.
“Oh, no,” her mother said. “And what about the ones that match your maid of honor dress?”
“In my closet at home,” Autumn said before adding with a smile, “Will I ruin the whole wedding cruise by going barefoot?”
“Hell of an idea,” her dad said. “I’d be happy to take off these new shoes. My toes are screaming.”
Her mother smiled sympathetically and shook her head, but they all walked the short distance down the thickly carpeted hall toward the dining room. Carter put out his hand and ran his fingers along a window they passed.
“Fingerprints,” Autumn said, grabbing Carter’s hand and kissing his little fingers. “Can I use your sleeve?” she asked her dad.
He laughed. “I’m not sacrificing my suit jacket to wipe those off, especially when Luke probably has an entire crew for washing windows and glass.”
“But I bet they don’t see too many baby handprints,” her mother said.
Autumn wondered if a toddler had ever been on the Paige Ellen. Maybe one of Luke’s wealthy friends had a family. She tried to picture Luke entertaining someone’s kids on his ship. What would he be like with kids? What would he be like as a dad? She remembered with a lurch in her stomach the secret he’d revealed to her that night she took him dinner not long after his wife’s fatal accident. The night that changed her life.
They entered the lounge, and Autumn mentally erased her thoughts as she focused on the huge elegant room with wood floors, giant windows, elegant curved seating, and a long dining room table with upholstered chairs. To her amazement, there was a booster seat strapped to one of the chairs.
“How—” she began when she saw it.
Maria was there with her tablet, welcoming them. “We sent the tender back into Athens to buy one,” she said. “Luke wanted to make sure everyone was accommodated.” Maria glanced swiftly at Autumn’s bare feet, but she kept her expression neutral and didn’t comment.
“I’ll hide my feet under the table,” Autumn said. “I forgot all my shoes because I was so worried about packing for Carter.”
Maria smiled reassuringly. “You don’t have to hide anything. What size do you wear?”
“Eight and a half.”
“Darn,” Maria said. “Can you believe I’m barely five-foot-six but I wear a size ten shoe? It never seemed fair to me.”
Autumn instantly liked the older woman who was a combination of efficient, tactful, and kind. She settled Carter into the booster seat at the end of the table. The seat was obviously expensive with thick padding and secure straps. It was much nicer than the hand-me-down seat she used at home, a gift from one of the teachers at her school whose children had outgrown it, but the result was the same.
“I had our chef make you a plate of finger food for him to get started,” Maria said, putting a plate with carefully cut vegetables, cheese, and tiny slices of meat in front of Carter. “I hope he likes it. If he doesn’t, we’ll get something else.”
“It’s perfect,” Autumn said as she took the ch
air next to him. She tucked her feet beneath her, her parents sat across from her, and she glanced up just in time to see Luke enter the lounge with the wedding couple. She breathed deeply and relaxed her shoulders. She could do this. Luke was an old friend, and almost every other guest was family. Most importantly, Carter and her secret were hers.
****
The rest of the wedding guests had arrived during the afternoon, and Luke had greeted them as they boarded his yacht. Although he knew their names already and had even met them all at some point during his youth while he hung out at Grady’s house, Luke thought of them all in relation to Autumn. Autumn’s Aunt Jane and Uncle Joe, Autumn’s cousins Julie and Jessica. There were also friends and relatives of the bride—her best friend and maid of honor Marianna and her boyfriend Christopher, the bride’s parents Andrew and Barb.
He should have thought of them as relatives and friends of his best friend Grady, but ever since Autumn had placed one foot on his yacht, all he could think of was her. It was going to be tough being the best man at a wedding when he couldn’t take his eyes off the groom’s sister.
“Champagne toast,” he announced, trying to keep his attention on his role as best man and host for the entire wedding party. Thank goodness he had a reliable staff and crew who had been with him for five years, ever since he bought the yacht right after his wedding to Vanessa. It had been important to him as a status symbol, but she had hardly stepped foot on it during their two-year marriage. She’d been busy looking like the perfect society wife.
“To my best friend Grady, his lovely bride Kelly, and their friends and families who are already making this the best voyage the Paige Ellen has ever been on.”