Cold Feet

by Samantha A. Cole

  That had been a rough year for both Regina and Ryan. She’d been considered a kid sister by all her brother’s best friends, and the emotional support had gone both ways as they’d all dealt with their grief in different manners and stages. Between Ryan’s financial help and the insurance policy payouts on both their parents and the vehicle, Regina had managed to continue her education at Hunter, however, there hadn’t been much left over to pay for a wedding.

  “You know,” Zia whispered in Regina’s ear, so no one else could hear. “There’s still time to make a run for it if you change your mind. I’ll run interference for you with the groom’s mother-zilla over there.”

  It was as if Zia had read her mind. More than once over the past several months, Regina’s best friend had asked if she was certain Edward was the man she wanted to marry. Regina had always said yes but was now regretting the automatic response.

  A loud knock at the door to the two-room suite had Regina glancing over her shoulder. When Zia opened the door, Ryan strode in, looking more handsome than ever, wearing a black tuxedo, and receiving lustful stares from several of the bridesmaids, including Courtney. Zia, on the other hand, had always called Ryan a “brother from another mother” and didn’t treat him any differently than Regina did.

  Despite being six years apart, the Vaughn siblings were very close and even had many of the same facial features. They’d both inherited their mother’s blue eyes and their father’s mouth, nose, and jet-black hair—Ryan’s being short and wavy, while Regina’s was long and pin-straight. However, that’s where the similarities between them ended. Ryan was six four to Regina’s five feet five. He was lean and solid muscle, while she had wide hips and was always trying to lose those pesky fifteen pounds she’d put on during her freshman year at college. Ryan excelled at languages and history and had gone into the military, while she had a mind for numbers and science and had managed to hold a 4.0 GPA every semester at Hunter. He was outgoing and made friends easily. Regina was shy and felt awkward in crowds. Yet, they were as close as they could possibly be, calling and texting each other several times a week, especially now that Ryan had been discharged from the Marines and had returned to Largo Ridge.

  After greeting the women in the room, he said, “You all look beautiful, ladies, but not as beautiful as my sister.” Through the reflection in the mirror, he winked at Regina. “The limos are waiting for you downstairs, if you could give me a few minutes alone with her.”

  Margret Harnett patted his arm and smiled. “Of course we will. Just don’t be long. We don’t want to keep the guests waiting.”

  “I promise we’ll be there on time.”

  It took about five minutes for everyone to finally clear out of the suite and leave the siblings alone. Ryan stepped over to where Regina still stood in front of the mirror. He glanced down and avoided the dress’s train as he sidled in next to her, staring at her reflection. “You really do look beautiful, sis. I know Mom and Dad are smiling down on you right now, saying the same thing.”

  His words opened the floodgates holding back her tears. Her lips trembled as drops rolled down her cheeks. A sob was ripped from her chest as Ryan grasped her shoulders and turned her toward him. “Crap, Gi, what’s wrong?” When she just cried harder, he continued. “Baby, this is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, but I don’t think these are happy tears. Tell me.”

  She tilted her head back so she could see his face which was filled with concern and confusion. “I-I can’t do it, Ry. I can’t marry Edward.”

  Confusion morphed to anger on his handsome face. “What did he do to you?”

  “No-nothing, I swear. He’s really a nice guy. I-I just know if we get married today, it’ll be the biggest m-mistake of my life.”

  Pulling her into his arms, he held her tightly against his chest as she bawled her eyes out. He didn’t seem to care that her allegedly water-proof mascara was staining his crisp, white shirt—not that it was his, because it came with the rented tuxedo. “This isn’t just a case of cold feet, is it? You’re not going to regret it if you don’t get married, right?”

  “No. I-I’ll regret it if I do. I love him, Ry, but I’m not in love with him. I want what Mom and Dad had, and I don’t see that ever happening between Edward and me.”

  She felt his light chuckle through his chest. “They did have a grand love affair, didn’t they? I remember being embarrassed as a kid because they danced, held hands, and always looked at each other like no one else was in the room. That was true love. In a weird way, I’m grateful they died together. I know it felt like hell to both of us, but I honestly couldn’t see either of them surviving without the other for long.” He pulled back just enough so he could peer down at her face. “If you know in your heart getting married to Edward isn’t right for you, I’ll drive the getaway car.”

  Through watery eyes, a small smile lit up her face. “I knew I could count on you, big brother. I can’t face Edward and his parents and friends right now.” She snorted. “Hell, I probably won’t have a job at his father’s company after today either. Take me home to Largo Ridge, please? At least there, I’ll be able to think about what I’m going to do next.”

  “Do we need to swing by your apartment for some clothes and stuff?”

  Regina shook her head. Most of her things were packed in boxes in the apartment she’d shared with Courtney and Zia. Edward’s mother hadn’t approved of Regina moving in with him until after the wedding. Movers had been scheduled to transfer her stuff to Edward’s brownstone the day after they returned from their honeymoon. “No, I have enough in the suitcases here in the bedroom. We were leaving for the airport first thing after breakfast tomorrow. And you know me, I overpacked. I also have some warmer clothes at the house I left there last time I was home.”

  Home. Now that she said that word in reference to Largo Ridge, she finally realized New York had never felt like home to her—not the way the snowy mountains in New Hampshire did. She missed Largo Ridge, her brother, and the friends she’d let drift away after she’d moved south. She missed the quiet of the peaceful nights when you could see more stars in the heavens than you could count in a lifetime.

  There was something other than all those things that she missed as well—more like someone—but she was too upset and disorientated at the moment to admit that to herself. For now, she’d let Ryan take her home. Once they were in the car, she’d call Zia and ask her to tell Edward she wasn’t coming. Her best friend would do that for her, no questions asked until later. Hopefully, by then, Regina would have some answers for her.

  Six months later . . .

  “Here you go,” Zia said, setting a large Bloody Mary next to Regina’s laptop at the kitchen table in the house the Vaughn siblings had grown up in. “Drink that before you have a conniption. I doubled the amount of vodka I usually put in, figuring you’d need it.”

  Still in shock, Regina stared at the engagement announcement on the website of The New York Times.

  Mr. & Mrs. Robert Fields announce the engagement of their daughter, Courtney, to Edward J. Harnett IV, son of Mr. & Mrs. Edward J. Harnett III . . .

  She couldn’t believe it . . . actually, on second thought, yes, she could.

  On what had supposed to have been her wedding day, it’d taken Regina only a few minutes to get out of the dress she’d so hated and change into a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and sneakers. Then she’d called Zia and told her the wedding was off. Her friend had sounded more relieved than shocked and in a hushed voice had said she would break the news to Edward as soon as the limo she was in arrived at the church.

  Regina had left the dress in the suite, along with her veil and shoes, Ryan’s tuxedo he’d changed out of, and nothing more. She should have written Edward a note or something, but she’d needed time to think about what to say, and she and Ryan had wanted to be out of the hotel before all hell broke loose.

  Seven minutes after Ryan had bundled her and both of their suitcases into his truck and given th
e waiting limo driver a huge tip for the canceled ride, they’d merged into traffic on the northbound Hutchinson River Parkway. A minute later, Regina’s phone had blown up with calls and text messages. Unable to summon the courage to talk to Edward yet, she’d turned off her phone after shooting off a text to tell Zia to call Ryan if she needed her.

  Not long after they’d crossed over the New York/Connecticut border, Regina had remembered she’d still been wearing her engagement ring and the antique pearl earrings Edward’s grandmother had loaned her for her “something old.” Removing them, she’d stuck the jewelry in her purse until she could send them back to Edward via certified mail. Even if she’d thought about it back at the hotel, it wouldn’t have been a good idea to leave the two-and-a-half-carat diamond ring and heirloom earrings unattended in the suite.

  Without the heavy rock on her hand, it felt like a weight had also been lifted off her shoulders. How she’d let the engagement go on for as long as it had would always be a mystery to her.

  Little had been said during the five-hour drive to Largo Ridge, and Regina had been grateful her brother hadn’t pushed her into any conversations. Instead, they’d listened to the radio and had only spoken when necessary. She knew he hadn’t been mad at her. In fact, he’d reached over a few times and squeezed her shoulder or hand in silent support. Thank goodness she’d been blessed with such a wonderful older brother.

  After they’d entered Largo Ridge’s town limits, instead of the champagne and Chateaubriand that would’ve been served at the Harnett's country club, where the reception was supposed to have been held, Regina and Ryan had agreed on takeout. A pepperoni pie from the famous—locally—Say Cheez Pizzeria and a six-pack of Budweiser had been just what Regina had needed. Well, that and a lot of sleep, which she hadn’t been able to get the night before.

  The next day, she’d finally bitten the bullet and called Edward. It hadn’t been a pleasant conversation. She’d been right—he and his parents had been humiliated in front of their family, friends, and business associates. Regina had cried through most of the phone call, but when it had finally ended, she knew she’d made the right decision to cancel the wedding. Edward had been more upset about the forfeited money for the reception, his reputation, and his parents’ anger than he’d been about losing her.

  Ten days later, Ryan, Justin, and Buck had driven back to Manhattan with Regina to help her pack up her things. She’d canceled the movers who’d been supposed to take everything to Edward’s place. Thankfully, her brother’s friends had given her the front passenger seat for the round trip, so she’d been able to ignore Buck for the most part. Zia had taken the day off work, and, between the five of them, they’d filled the small U-Haul trailer attached to Ryan’s truck in under two hours. Regina had been a little surprised when Courtney hadn’t come home straight from work to say goodbye to her. The two of them had become friends at Hunter College, and Regina had invited Courtney to move in with her and Zia when they’d been looking for an apartment to share.

  During the first few days after the wedding fiasco, Regina had talked to Courtney almost as much as she’d talked to Zia over the phone. But then their calls had become less frequent and shorter until they were nonexistent. A month later, Zia had told Regina the reason why—Courtney had not only been talking to Regina but also with Edward. The next thing they knew, Courtney and Edward had started dating. Clearly, it’d been a whirlwind romance, since they were now engaged.

  Knowing the announcement was going to be in today’s Sunday edition of NYC’s largest newspaper, Zia had rented a car for the weekend and come home to Largo Ridge to be there when Regina found out about Courtney’s betrayal.

  Now, sitting across the table from her best friend, Zia took a long pull on the straw in her own Bloody Mary. “Ah . . . perfection.” She stared at Regina a moment. “You know, I never really cared for her. If it wasn’t for you, she and I would never have been anything more than acquaintances. And it doesn’t surprise me she went after Edward. She was always jealous of you and him—and I’m sure she’s only marrying him for his money. Well, his parents’ money.”

  “Really? I always thought she was nice. I mean, we had fun together.”

  “You always see the good in people, Gi. You really need to learn to take a closer look at them. Not everyone is as nice as you think they are.”

  “It’s better than being cynical,” she retorted without any heat.

  “Is it?”

  Was Zia right? Had Regina really been that blind not to see Courtney’s friendship hadn’t been true? Well, it didn’t matter now, did it? She hadn’t spoken to Courtney in months and probably never would again. It was time to move on and not stress over the past.

  Picking up her glass, she lifted it toward Zia. “To the happy couple. Better her than me.”

  Zia clinked their glasses together. “Here, here.”

  “What’re we celebrating?” Ryan asked as he strode into the kitchen with Buck on his heels just as Regina was taking another sip of her drink. During Ryan’s and his friends’ military careers, they’d learned how to walk into a place without making a sound. He’d scared the crap out of her more than once since she’d been living with him again—most of the time, it’d been unintentional.

  At the sight of the man she’d had an erotic dream about last night—again—she sucked too hard on the straw and the liquid splashed against the back of her throat, causing her to choke and sputter. She snatched a napkin from the holder on the table and pressed it to her mouth to keep from spewing red everywhere. Her eyes watered as she tried to pull oxygen into her lungs instead of tomato juice, horseradish, vodka, and whatever else Zia had put in the mix.

  “Are you okay, squirt?” The nickname Buck had given her, when she’d been around five or six, barely registered in her mind, as she struggled to get her trachea and lungs working again. Buck had a smug look on his face and a twinkle in his beautiful, amber eyes, as if he knew the reason for her nearly choking to death had been because of his presence. Bastard.

  As soon as she nodded and hoarsely rasped, “Yes,” the amusement faded from his ruggedly handsome face as if he’d remembered they’d hardly spoken to each other since that hot kiss they’d shared years ago. His gaze left her face, and he slapped Ryan on the shoulder. “I’ll grab the tools from the basement.”

  “Yeah, go ahead,” her brother responded absentmindedly as he started reading the wedding announcement page that was still up on Regina’s laptop, while Buck headed for the basement door in the hallway outside the kitchen. “Son of a bitch. Is this for real?”

  “Ah-yup.” As she spoke, Zia stood, stepped over to the counter, and retrieved another glass from a cabinet. She filled it up with cold water and handed it to Regina. “Gi dodged a bullet it seems. I wonder what the Harnetts’ friends and business associates think about getting two wedding invitations in less than a year for the same groom.”

  “That he’s an asshole.”

  After a few more coughs, Regina managed to take a few sips of the cool water and was grateful when they went down the right pipe. Her eyes kept shifting to the hall doorway as she waited for Buck to return. As much as she hated to admit it, she loved ogling the man—at least when he didn’t realize it. He was six two, with broad shoulders, and strong arms and legs. With his short, brown hair, firm jaw, and those amazing eyes she saw in her dreams, the man could easily grace any cover of the many romance books she read each month. And those things were another reason why she should’ve realized something had been missing between her and Edward. Not that all those books were based on reality—some were far-fetched—but a common theme was the acute chemistry between the main love interests. Sex had been okay with Edward, and in that lay one of the problems. It’d just been okay—nothing that’d resulted in her toes curling or had made her forget her name. And she knew those things could happen with the right man. In fact, they had happened . . . with just one kiss from Buck.

  Buck leaned against the workbench in
the Vaughns’ basement, willing his cock to behave. The damn thing reacted every time Regina was in view and today had been no exception. Ryan had wanted to stop by his house to pick up some tools on the way back from town. They’d loaded Ryan’s pickup truck with sheets of drywall and were on their way to the fixer-upper farmhouse Buck had bought last month. Try as he might, Buck hadn’t been able to give the man an excuse not to. He couldn’t come out and say he’d been lusting after his best friend’s sister for the past seven years and got a woody every time he saw her. Yeah, that wouldn’t have gone over well, especially since Ryan had been in major-protection mode with Regina since bringing the runaway bride home six months ago.

  Hadn’t that been a kick? Buck should’ve been elated when Ryan had announced Regina had gotten engaged. Instead, he’d had to hide how jealous and pissed off he’d been and pretend he was happy for her. Thank God she hadn’t invited him or Justin to the wedding, probably since they hadn’t seen her at all in over two years. Maybe she hadn’t wanted to rub her wedding in his face, although she should have.

  Around 8:00 a.m. the day after the nuptials had been supposed to have taken place, Buck had been shocked to run into Ryan at a local bagel shop. As far as Buck had known, his friend hadn’t planned on returning to Largo Ridge until that evening, hours after Regina had left on her honeymoon. When he’d learned the bride-to-be had canceled the wedding, the triumph Buck had felt had overwhelmed him. He was a bastard thinking that if he couldn’t have her, no other man should either.