“Right.”
“But look at what he’s become,” Ro said, smiling when she caught Ace looking at them. “I mean, the guy’s worth like a hundred million dollars, Danielle. And he’s what, thirty-two?”
“I don’t care how much he’s worth,” she said, frowning at Ro. “I’m stuck here with him for the next two days, and I have to figure out how to deal with that.”
“He said you guys talked last night.” Ro shook her head when their waiter silently offered to refill her coffee. “How did that go?”
“He apologized, naturally. He wanted me to know how sorry he was, that he’d never forgotten Linc, and would do anything to bring him back if he could.”
Ro studied her friend for a minute. “Do you believe him?”
“Of course I believe him.” Danielle had never believed he’d intentionally killed her brother. He’d just made an incredibly stupid decision when his judgment was impaired. “But I’m still mad as hell that he could have been so stupid. But I’m kind of mad at Linc too, for getting in that car with him in the first place.” She sighed. “And I’m mad at myself for getting mad at my brother because I loved him so much it—” She bit back the rest of the words, shaking her head when tears threatened to fall.
“Anyone would feel the way you do,” Ro assured her. “But don’t you think this is the perfect opportunity to deal with all this? When you have a captive audience?”
“What do you mean?”
“Ace is obviously here so you two can get some closure. I know you’ve been struggling with this for a long time.” When she would have interjected, Ro raised her hand. “I know nothing will bring Linc back. And both you and Ace, and certainly your parents, will probably be haunted by this for the rest of your lives. But surely letting him know how you feel, getting it all off your chest would make you feel better, wouldn’t it?”
“I don’t know.” Questions would lead to answers which could lead to forgiveness, and Danielle wasn’t sure she could risk going there.
“What are you afraid of? Really? What’s the worst thing that could happen if you talked to him again?” Ro’s jaw dropped when Danielle didn’t respond. “Oh wow, you’re still attracted to him, aren’t you?”
She felt a fresh wave of guilt at her friend’s accusation, because she was right. She was still attracted to him, and she hated herself for feeling that way. “I loved him once,” she said, trying to justify her feelings. “In my head, I know that what he did was horrible, but my heart remembers how good he was to me. No man has ever treated me the way he did.”
“I know you’re bound by family loyalty. Believe me, I get that. But you can’t let your parents, or even your love for Linc, be your conscience in this, girl. You need to decide for yourself whether that man deserves your forgiveness.”
“You’re right.” Danielle stood, tossing her napkin on the table. “Excuse me.” She crossed the room, grateful for the long skirt that hid her knocking knees. “Ace?” She offered a brief nod of acknowledgement to his companions. “I have a lot of work to do this morning, preparing for the wedding tomorrow, but I’ll be back here around one o’clock for lunch if you’d like to talk then?”
“I’ll be here.”
Chapter Five
Ace was nervous as hell as he sat at a table, nursing a beer and waiting for Dani. She was twenty minutes late. He’d convinced himself she’d changed her mind when she rushed in, searching the crowd for him.
When she spotted him, she crossed the open space quickly, tucking her leather-bound tablet under her arm. “I’m sorry I’m late. There was a bit of a problem with the florist.”
“No worries,” he said, standing until she’d taken a seat. “Our waitress should be back in just a minute.”
The waitress returned to take their order, which gave Ace a few minutes to collect himself. He prided himself on being calm and collected in most situations, but Dani made him feel like an awkward, inexperienced kid all over again. It wasn’t just her beauty. It was her poise, her demeanor, as though she was comfortable in her own skin. But the thing that rattled him the most was the distrust in her eyes every time she looked at him.
“So everything’s set for tomorrow?” he asked, reaching for his beer as she reached for her water glass.
“We’re getting there. This afternoon I have a meeting to go over the placement of the tables and chairs in the ballroom and—” She blushed. “Sorry, I know you don’t care about the details.”
“I do care.” He wanted to tell her that anything that mattered to her mattered to him, but he was afraid that would spook her. “Rowan and Tenley are important to me. I want their day to be perfect.”
She smiled, one of the first genuine smiles he’d seen from her in a long, long time. “I promise to do everything I can to make that happen.”
“You love what you do.” It wasn’t a question. The Dani he’d known threw herself wholeheartedly into everything she did.
“Of course I do. I wouldn’t be doing it otherwise.” She scanned the large room, her eyes falling on a young couple trying to feed a fussy baby perched in a high chair the restaurant had provided.
She watched that young family with such longing in her eyes, he couldn’t help but wonder what had gotten in the way of her dreams. “What about your own wedding?”
“That’s not happening,” she said, her voice strained. “It’s over. I just haven’t found a way to break it to my parents yet.”
“They liked him?” There was a time when they’d liked Ace too. They’d thought he was good for their daughter, that he could help her realize her dreams, but now they would no doubt chastise her for breaking bread with the enemy.
“They do.” She smoothed the white napkin in her lap, her jaw tense. “But they don’t know him like I do. They don’t know that he’s a lying, manipulative—” She took a deep breath, shaking her head. “No, I’m not going to do that. I’ve wasted enough tears on him.”
It killed him to think of her so upset, though he knew no one had caused her more grief than he had. “What did he do to hurt you?”
“He made me believe he loved me.” She swallowed, looking pained. “I guess it was just a way for him to get in good with my father. Because there’s no doubt in my mind now that he was just using me.”
“How do you know that?” He tried to remain impassive as the waitress delivered their salads, but he knew if the guy who’d broken her heart had been sitting across from him, he wouldn’t have hesitated to tear him apart. Even with an audience. She’d been hurt enough. Ace had hurt her enough. The fact that anyone would dare to hurt her intentionally made him want to hurt them.
“He cheated on me.”
He couldn’t pretend to be surprised, since he had overheard part of her conversation last night, but he was encouraged by the fact that she was willing to open up to him about something so personal. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah well,” she said, stabbing her Romaine lettuce with her fork. “I guess it’s better I found out before the wedding, right?”
“Definitely. You don’t want to be married to a dirtbag like that.”
She sighed, sneaking one last peek at the young family as they deposited their baby in the stroller before they made their way out of the restaurant. “I’m beginning to wonder whether I’m cut out for marriage at all.”
“It’s obvious you still want a family,” he said, remembering all the times they’d talked about getting married and having kids once they both graduated college.
“I do.” A crease marred her forehead as she studied her plate. “But I don’t have a very good track record with men, so I’m not sure that’s in the cards for me.”
“Others have screwed you over?” he asked, curling his hand around his beer bottle. He imagined what he’d like to do to every single one of those bastards who’d been too dumb to realize an amazing woman when they had her.
She shook her head slowly, almost as though she was considering how much she should reveal. “Onl
y you and my ex-fiancé.” His jaw must have dropped, because she looked amused by his expression. “I’m sure you’ve been around the block a time or ten since we were together, but it wasn’t that easy for me. It took years before I could even think about dating again.”
“I’m sorry.” He felt as if that was all he’d been saying to her, but he had a lot of sins to atone for.
“Don’t be. I could have gone out and started dating right away, but I felt like I needed to take time to heal first. Then I got distracted with school. Then it was my career. Before I knew it, ten years had passed and I realized if I didn’t get serious about finding someone soon, the window of opportunity for a family would have closed.”
“That’s why you hooked up with the son of a bitch who cheated on you?” he asked, leaning in. “Because your biological clock was ticking and you didn’t want to waste time looking for a man who would treat you the way you deserved to be treated?”
She glared at him before diving into her salad as though she needed the distraction. “What gives you the right to judge me? I don’t see you here with the love of your life.”
“Actually I am.” He could have bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood as soon as the words were out.
But as the color drained from her face, he knew it was too late to backpedal, to claim he hadn’t meant it. Because he did mean it. The woman sitting across from him was the love of his life, even if she never got over hating him.
“Don’t look so surprised. I wouldn’t have arranged all of this”—he gestured to their surroundings—“if I didn’t still care about you.”
“You said you wanted to apologize for what happened, to maybe find closure. Was that a lie?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
“No.” He waited until the waitress had cleared their plates before he said, “I’ve never lied to you, and I’m not about to start now. What happened with Linc, what I did to him and your family, has been eating away at me every day. I did want to apologize to you, to try to make things right.” He shook his head, knowing nothing he said or did could ever make things right. “No, I guess I just wanted you to know how I felt. To maybe give you something that would give you some peace.”
“You’re talking about the box?”
“That, and…” He thought of all the things he wanted to say to her while he had the chance, but words were hard to come by when she was looking at him with those beautiful eyes, filled with expectation and wariness. “I don’t know if you ever really got it, how much he loved you.”
She swallowed, looking visibly shaken as she forced a smile for the waitress who returned to fill their water glasses. “Of course I knew, just as I hope he knew how much I loved him.” She covered her mouth when a sob escaped. “I hate that I never got to tell him that… or say good-bye.”
It took everything in him not to shift his chair so he could pull her close and offer her some measure of comfort, but he had no right to do that. Not being able to touch her, to hold her, to kiss her, was just another form of punishment that he’d earned.
“He knew.” If it was the only assurance he could give her, he wanted her to know how Linc felt about her and their parents, how grateful he was to have them in his life. “He may not have told you this, but when he found out we were seeing each other, he threatened to beat the shit out of me.” Ace smiled at the memory. “I’d never seen him like that. You know how even-tempered he was.”
“Yeah.” With a half-smile, she said, “The only thing he cared about was having a good time.”
“Not the only thing.” He made sure she was looking him in the eye when he said, “He cared about his family too, Danielle. You guys were his rock, his foundation. He told me a hundred times how lucky he was to have a solid family he could count on, especially since so many of our friends had such a shitty upbringing.”
“There’s one other thing that mattered to him,” she said, her voice low. “His friends. Namely you. He told me so many times that you were like a brother to him, that he couldn’t wait for me to make it official by marrying you.”
Just as he was trying to give her a gift, she humbled him by giving one in return. “Thanks.”
“I feel like I should take some of the blame for what happened that night.” She whispered, “He passed by my room while you and I were arguing on the phone. I hung up on you. I was crying and so hurt and confused about what to do about us. But the last thing I did was make him promise to look out for you that night. I knew you were pissed, that you’d probably be drinking too much, and I was scared you’d try to do something stupid.”
“Oh, God.” He hated that she’d been living with that guilt, believing she’d played a role in her brother’s death. “None of what happened is your fault.”
Her eyes were brimming with tears when she said, “I can’t help but think he wouldn’t have gotten into that car with you if he hadn’t promised me that he would take care of you that night.”
“He made a grab for the keys.” It had been years since he’d spoken about the moments leading up to the accident, but he had to. For her sake. She deserved peace and a clear conscience. “I grabbed his arm and told him I’d break it if he tried to stop me from leaving. I told him to get the hell out of the car. I reached across him and threw the door open, screaming at him to get out. But he just slammed the door and sank down in the seat. He said if I was stupid enough to go down for a DUI, I’d need someone there to bail my sorry ass out of jail.”
She listened intently as he fought to get his emotions under control.
“That’s the worst we thought could happen,” he said, thinking about how stupid they’d been. “A goddamn DUI. It never even occurred to me that I’d take my best friend’s life that night.”
“It could have been your life,” she said, moving to the chair next to him.
Ace looked into her eyes when she rested her hand on his shoulder. “I wish it had been me instead of him. I swear to God, if I could trade my life for his, I would.”
She stunned him with a hug so fierce it sucked the air from his lungs. The pent-up emotion they’d both been trying to contain flooded out as they clung to each other, fighting back tears in the middle of that crowded restaurant.
“I know you would.” Tears were streaming down her face when she pulled back to look him in the eye. “But Linc wouldn’t have wanted that, and neither do I.”
***
The wedding ceremony was breathtaking, with everyone fighting back tears as the bride and groom exchanged the vows they had written, but it was the intensity in Ace’s gaze when he looked at her across the aisle that had Danielle’s full attention.
She’d been trying to avoid him ever since their lunch yesterday. Something had shifted between them. She couldn’t deny it any longer. It was like the dam broke and all the bitterness, sadness, and hurt she’d been clinging to for so many years just flowed away, leaving just the good memories and love she’d once felt for this man. She’d suppressed her feelings for him for so long, feeling guilty every time she remembered him.
But this experience had changed her. Perhaps it was seeing Ace again and hearing him express his sorrow and regret. She could almost hear her brother whispering in her ear, telling her it was okay to forgive Ace and move on with her own life, free of the burden of hatred and resentment.
By the time they’d moved into the ballroom for the wedding reception, she could feel Ace’s eyes on her as they welcomed the bride and groom for their first dance, encouraging the wedding party to join them on the dance floor for the second song.
Since the wedding party consisted of only Rowan’s brother and Tenley’s best friend, Ace was free to make his way over to Danielle. “Beautiful ceremony, wasn’t it?”
“It was,” she said, grateful it had gone off without a hitch. “No matter how many weddings I attend, each one is special.” The maid of honor gave Ace a sad smile, and Danielle felt a prickle move down her spine. “Is she a friend of yours?”
He rubbed the
back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. “She was. We lived together for a while last year.”
“Oh.” Danielle knew she had no right to feel anything, but hearing about her ex living with another woman brought a fresh wave of emotions to the surface, namely jealousy. “What happened?”
“Honestly? We just weren’t right for each other. We had to try too hard, and we both knew that wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.”
Even though they’d been young when they dated, she and Ace had rarely fought. Except for that one night… the one that changed everything.
“Truth be told, I think she still has feelings for her ex, Tenley’s brother. She just wasn’t willing to admit it to me or herself.”
She didn’t hear any trace of bitterness in Ace’s voice, which led her to believe he hadn’t been in love with Tenley’s friend. “It’s not always easy to get over past lovers, is it?”
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Are you talking about me or your ex-fiancé?”
“Definitely not him. I am so done with him.” She didn’t realize she had implied she wasn’t done with Ace until it was too late to take it back.
“Interesting.” He smirked. “But he’s not willing to believe you’re done with him? If he was, he wouldn’t have called you the other night.”
“He’s stubborn, to say the least.” She sighed, thinking of all the stupid stunts he’d pulled to try to win her back since she learned of his infidelity. “But I don’t care how determined he is to reconcile. I’m equally determined not to.”
“Good for you.” He smiled when she looked at him. “A woman like you deserves a man who can be faithful to her, who’ll love her regardless of the temptation around him.”
“Speaking of temptation,” she said, anxious to get off the topic of her ex, “you must face a lot of temptation in your line of work. Did that make your relationship with Stacey difficult?”
He lifted a broad shoulder, watching the woman in question dance with her partner. “Not really. When I met Stace, I was ready for something real. I thought she was the one, so I was determined to do whatever I had to do to make it work.”
Hit and Run (Summer Rush #2) Page 4