Fiance by Fate

by Jennifer Shirk

  David sauntered to the coat check. He gave the coats to the girl and turned around with the ticket in his hand. That’s when Jack came up behind him and shoved him into the men’s bathroom.

  “What the hell are you doing, Brenner?” David huffed, stumbling against a urinal. “I dropped my ticket.”

  “You’re lucky I don’t drop your face.”

  David paled. “What? What’s the matter with you?”

  “I want to know what’s the matter with you. I saw the redhead you’re with.”

  “Yes, she’s something, isn’t she?”

  Jack lunged and grabbed the front of David’s dress shirt, twisting it so his fists where just below his chin. “You shouldn’t be with her,” he growled.

  David coughed as Jack leaned his knuckles against his throat. “If you…want to…date… her…”

  “I’m not interested in dating her,” he shot. “What do you think Sabrina would say about who you’re with? You know Sabrina. Your fiancée.”

  David’s face colored red, but he managed a hoarse response. “Sabrina’s…not my…fiancée anymore.”

  Stunned, Jack quickly loosened his hold on David’s shirt but didn’t let go. “What?”

  “She broke off our engagement.”

  “She did?”

  David’s countenance suddenly turned confident at Jack’s obvious bewilderment. “Yes. Now get your damn paws off me, Brenner.”

  Jack let go and stepped back. David’s hands went to his neck and he warily watched Jack, as if he expected another attack. Normally that would have made Jack grin. Instead all he could think about was that Sabrina had broken off her engagement despite her reasoning for wanting David in the first place.

  This changes everything. What happened between the time he’d seen Sabrina and now? Jack wasn’t sure what it meant, but maybe there was a chance for him yet. Maybe a little luck was on his side after all.

  He took in David’s rumpled appearance. The doctor would have some interesting explaining to do to his dinner date. “It’s a shame about your shirt,” he tossed out as he turned to the door. Jack could’ve sworn he heard David threaten something about calling the police if he ever touched him again, but Jack kept walking.

  He was a man on a mission.

  When he came back to the table, his father was in the process of eating his appetizer. “Dad, I have to go,” he announced.

  His father’s head shot up and he stopped chewing, swallowing so fast he almost choked. “What are you talking about? We just ordered our meal.”

  “Cancel mine. We’ll have to do this another time.”

  “Another time? Now I know you’ve completely lost your mind. What’s so important that you have to rush off right this second?”

  Jack grabbed a dinner roll and grinned. “I have to go propose to my fiancée.”

  …

  Maddie grabbed her hand and pulled her through the door of Madame Butterfly’s Psychic Readings. “C’mon, Sabrina. This was your idea.”

  “I know, but I don’t think I can take the spiritual-journey-type stuff right now. Maybe after dinner.” Or a few stiff drinks.

  Maddie frowned at her. “Honey, you need closure. Madame Butterfly said you and David would get back together and you did. Now let’s go get her advice. It might make you feel better.”

  Sabrina swiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands. She couldn’t handle any more “advice.” She’d botched her life enough. All she wanted to do now was forget. Forget about her almost-mistake with David. Forget about the lies. And forget about Jack and the way she felt in his arms and would never feel again.

  Yeah. Good luck with all that.

  Time away would help. Or so she hoped. Come Monday morning, she’d tell Mr. Brenner she wasn’t going to return to work. He’d probably be grateful to get rid of her after her dishonesty. She had no idea what she was going to do, but with her experience she was reasonably sure she could find another mutual fund company.

  But not another Jack.

  It was just as well she wouldn’t find another man like him. She’d only have her heart battered and broken into a thousand pieces all over again. Maybe she was meant to be alone. Her journey. She’d end up one of those scary old people children make fun of. It didn’t sound so far-fetched to her now.

  Sabrina shook her head at her friend, her heart feeling heavy and listless.

  Maddie sighed. “Okay. Whatever you want. But this would be good to get over… Jack.”

  “Yeah, I want to get over Jack too.”

  Maddie pointed. “No. I mean, there’s Jack.”

  Sabrina whirled around as Jack stepped through the door of Madame Butterfly’s. She blinked twice to be sure. Oh my gosh, what is he doing here?

  Once she caught her breath, she looked at his ruggedly handsome face and found her heart pumping out of control all over again. She wet her lips and fought to keep her voice even. “Jack, I—I thought you were having dinner with your dad tonight.”

  Jack shrugged, slipping his hands into his jacket pockets. “Something suddenly came up.”

  She studied him a moment, but his features were unreadable. He just stood there, those gray-blue eyes trained on hers and smelling of soap and that essence that was so pure Jack. It was enough to cause her head to float right up to the ceiling. “I’m getting a psychic reading,” she said inanely.

  He smiled, his dimples making him go from good-looking to star-studded handsome in less than thirty seconds. “I know. Mrs. Metzger told me you were here.”

  Sabrina held in a sigh. Of course Mrs. Metzger had told him she was here. Her landlady knew too much about her life, but not that Sabrina was trying to avoid seeing Jack at all costs.

  Maddie cleared her throat behind them. “Uh, maybe I’ll go and get my reading on that guy Carson I just met. This way you two can…catch up.” She gave Sabrina a weak smile. “Good luck,” she whispered, then slipped into the back room as fast as her heeled boots would let her.

  Sabrina let out a nervous laugh. “You’ll have to excuse Maddie. She forgot you and I saw each other at work this afternoon. There’s not that much for us to catch up on.”

  “I’m not so sure. What do we have here?” Jack took a few steps closer and lifted her right hand, making a show of inspecting it. “No ring?” he asked, his eyebrow quirking up. “Hmm…are you waiting for a full moon to put it on? Or did you see a black cat?”

  She snatched her hand back. “Did you come here for some other reason than to offer up superstitious tips and annoy me?”

  “Actually, I did. I came here looking for you, since we’re friends and you consider yourself the all-around expert on love and marriage. Therefore you should be the first to know.”

  “Know what?”

  “I met a woman recently.” He paused and studied the ground, as if searching for the right words. “I’m going to ask her to, well, you know.”

  Blood began to pound in her head. A feeling of dread came fast and sharp up her spine. “What are you thinking of asking her?” If your tie matches your eyes? What her zodiac sign is? Who she voted for in the last presidential election? What?!

  “You know, I’m going to ask her to…take the plunge with me.”

  Her heart stopped, and she blinked several times as if it could rewind that last statement. “Take the plunge?”

  “Yeah. You know, tie the—”

  She held up a hand. “Yes, I know.”

  Her heart started again and began to beat in a violent rhythm at the thought of Jack asking someone else to marry him. This was her worst nightmare—doubled. Breath coming in short pants, she turned away. She managed two short steps then whirled around again. “You most certainly cannot.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “I cannot?”

  “No! You—you can’t even say the actual words, for goodness sakes.”

  “Oh, that?” Jack shrugged. “I’m confident enough that when push comes to shove the words will come out nice and smooth.” He gave her a toothy grin.
“Like peanut butter.”

  More like chunky peanut butter. “You’ve got to be joking.”

  He drew himself up tall, his expression devoid of any teasing. “I’m totally serious.”

  “But why the change of heart? You told me you never wanted to get married.”

  He rubbed his chin. “I think it was you. What you did to get David back, what you went through for love. Must be pretty special. Special enough for me to realize I wanted it in my life too. Then there was all that talk you gave me about being afraid of my feelings. I guess it finally sunk in.”

  Her eyes widened. Oh, no. This man doesn’t sound like Jack at all. He sounded like the kind of man she hoped Jack would sound like. He was saying the words she longed to hear. But they weren’t aimed at her. They were going to belong to some other woman. What had she done?

  She’d created a marriage-craving monster.

  “You can’t enter into a relationship like that lightly,” she said, finally finding her voice and trying to rekindle any of the same anti-commitment feelings he once had. “You hardly know this woman.”

  “I’ve known her as long as I’ve known you. When you feel a certain way about someone you should let him or her know. No matter what. Don’t you agree?”

  “You’re right,” she blurted. She didn’t mean to tell him the truth. But the words were gushing out before she could stop them. “This is all a big mistake. Jack, I’m no love expert, but I do know that I don’t love David. I’m not wearing his ring because I gave it back. And now you want to get married because of everything I said. This is so terrible.”

  She threw herself into Jack’s arms, unable to support herself any longer, and with better luck than she’d been having these past few months, he readily caught her.

  “Whoa. Hey, now. Don’t do this,” he said with a hint of panic in his voice. “You’re getting yourself worked up for nothing.”

  “Nothing?” she sobbed into his chest. “It’s not nothing. I don’t want you marrying someone else. I want you to marry me.” She felt his fingers tighten on her arms, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. “I know, I know. I can’t believe it either. I feel so stupid. You’re not at all what I wanted.”

  A strangled sound came from his throat, then he cupped her cheeks with his hands and brought her face up. “Okay, okay, let’s not ruin the moment any further. That’s not exactly what a man wants to hear from the woman he’s about to propose to.”

  His words vaulted through her brain and landed with swift precision in her heart. “Propose?”

  Smiling, he wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. “Brie, I already knew that you and David broke up before I came over here. Your poker face is lousy, by the way.”

  “I always did tell you I was a terrible liar.” Her lips trembled. “You knew? But why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I wasn’t sure what your reasons were for breaking off your engagement with David. I frankly don’t give— I don’t care. I just wanted to make sure you felt something—anything—for me.”

  “I do—”

  The pads of his thumbs closed her lips. “Hold that thought. I’ve been trying to get this out for days now.” Dropping his hands, he cleared his throat. “I want you to know that what I said before was true. You did make me see that the life you were after with David was worth it. It made me think that marriage was worth the risk. Only…the more I was around you, the more I only wanted to take that risk with you.”

  She opened her mouth, but he silenced her by giving her a look that told her if she interrupted again, he’d change his mind.

  “Look, I know I’m not who your psychic predicted and that all your signs might not point to me,” he continued, “but I promise to always be by your side and to always make you happy. I want to be your family.” His eyes never leaving hers, he took her hands in his.

  They were strong and solid and warmed her from the outside to the center of her soul.

  “I love you,” he told her. “Please, marry me.”

  Not only did his words humble her, but the love and tenderness she saw in his eyes made her want to weep all over again. “Yes. I love—”

  In one forward motion, she was in his arms, his mouth covering hers before she could even finish accepting his proposal. She clung to him, afraid if she didn’t, she’d wake up and find this all a dream. She fit against him perfectly, as if she were made for him. As if they were one. As if he was her soul mate.

  Jack broke the kiss and took hold of her face with hands that weren’t completely steady. “Are you sure, Brie? I don’t ever want you to have doubts. It’s okay if you want to ask Madame Butterfly for advice while we’re here.”

  She smiled and another tear mixed from love and happiness slid down her cheek. “No, Jack. I couldn’t be more sure. I didn’t fall in love with you because you were something I wanted you to be, or because of signs from above I thought I was getting. In fact, the only sign I need is right here,” she said, taking his hand and placing it over her heart.

  Jack brought his lips to hers, and she suddenly felt transported on some wonderful wispy cloud. Her mind lost consciousness for several seconds, but when he finally pulled back, she managed to form coherent words. “I think that’s a good sign too,” she said with a sigh.

  “Think?” He chuckled, leaning his forehead against hers. “Sweetheart, I better make you a one hundred percent believer.”

  She laughed as he kissed her again. His mouth was hot, but still sweet, and because she knew him so well—very determined. But Jack didn’t need to convince her. There was no thinking about it. At last, she knew she had found her true love. Her family. No comparisons needed, no superstitions or doubts. Only the love they felt for each other and the future they would now have together.

  She had a feeling her parents were smiling.

  * * *

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  Acknowledgments

  Kisses and thanks to the best critique partners EVAH over at Passionate Critters group.

  Thanks again to my mom, who is an astrology buff and psychic believer. I may not agree with your beliefs but it did provide me with excellent book fodder.

  Thank you to fellow Bliss author Susan Meier and her awesome online class CAN THIS MANUSCRIPT BE SAVED? The answer I learned was YES. Yes, this manuscript can. Check out her class!

  Super special thanks to my editors Stacy Abrams and Alycia Tornetta. You guys always provide such great feedback and have excellent eyes. I’m really blushing at how many times you had to highlight “just” and “all.”

  And lastly, to everyone over at Entangled Publishing: The camaraderie and support is still going strong.

  About the Author

  Jennifer Shirk has a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy—which has in no way at all helped her with her writing career. But she likes to point it out, since it shows that romantic-at-hearts come in all shapes, sizes, and mind-numbing educations.

  She writes sweet (and sometimes even funny) romances for Samhain Publishing, Montlake Romance, and Entangled Publishing. Recently, her novel Sunny Days for Sam won the 2013 Golden Quill Published Authors Contest for Best Traditional Romance.

  Lately she’s been on a serious exercise kick. But don’t hold that against her.

  http://www.jennifershirk.com/

  https://twitter.com/JenniferShirk

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