by Simply BWWM
Natalie’s hand froze in midair, her coffee cup in it, her mouth partway open, and Natalie’s heart stopped in her chest for a long moment. She would be walking with Cameron in the wedding. She would be partnered with him all day for the ceremony and the dinner. He was her escort.
She didn’t know why she hadn’t thought of it, but she hadn’t at any time given a moment’s thought to who she would be walking with in the ceremony. When her heart started beating again, blood rushed through her like a raging heated river, and she set her coffee down and clenched her jaw.
She knew full well that she couldn’t let her mother know what had happened between her and Cameron, but she didn’t want to have to walk with him. As she sat there and thought about it, she finally had to admit to herself that there was no way out of it for her. There was absolutely nothing that could be done. She was just going to have to suffer through it for the day, and then she would be able to avoid him completely because her mother and Wilson would be on their honeymoon.
Charisse was only still for a couple of minutes before she went back to her notepad and began checking through all of her notes and her checklists for the wedding. Natalie saw her stressing out about the details, though with a blissful smile on her face, and trying to stay on top of it all and tilted her head with a disappointed look on her face.
“Mom, why didn’t you hire a wedding planner? Why are you bothering with all of this? You could get someone else to handle all of it for you and then just enjoy the time between now and then,” Natalie suggested helpfully.
Her mother shook her head. “Well, I do have a wedding planner who is taking care of the bigger things; I just wanted to double check all of the details, you know, make sure that everything is okay. All the I’s are dotted, and the T’s are crossed.” She laughed a little and shrugged.
“I understand, Mom, don’t worry about it.” Natalie reached over and patted her hand, trying to focus on the goodness of the event and of the day, rather than on the fact that she was going to have to walk with her playboy stepbrother and act like she was just fine being at his side all day.
They finished their meals, and Natalie went to work in the library, closing the door and hoping that she went unbothered while she worked. She got through several hours of work before she decided to take a lunch break, and she headed for the kitchen.
She was making a sandwich when Cameron walked in and stopped in his step when he saw her. A big smile came over his face, and he continued on his way to the refrigerator and opened it, giving her a sultry sort of look over his shoulder.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since yesterday.” He studied her for a moment and tilted his head curiously. “Why did you leave the party without saying goodbye? I was hoping to spend some more time alone with you there.”
Everything inside of her tightened, and she clenched her jaw. “One visit was more than enough,” she snapped, and then she turned and walked out of the kitchen, leaving him standing behind her in shock, staring after her.
Natalie went back to the library, and in a move of self-preservation, she locked the door behind her and breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that she could work in peace and not need to worry about him possibly walking in on her.
She spent the rest of the day working there, and she managed to avoid Cameron until dinner that night. For the first time since she had arrived at the house, he paid attention to her at dinner, trying to join in the conversation when she spoke, and watching her rather than ignoring her. She said nothing to him and did not look back at him.
Her aunt Caroline arrived the next day, and she was able to turn her attentions to her mother and her aunt in the guise of wedding preparations, which did need to be taken care of anyway, though not with quite as much commitment as Natalie gave them.
Cameron gave her the space that she made for herself, but he continued to watch her whenever they were in the same room or place together, and tried to speak to her when they were around one another, though it wasn’t ever without everyone else around. She made sure that there was no time when they were alone together.
Much to her relief, no one else in the family seemed to notice the tension between them, and she was grateful for that. She didn’t want to have to explain anything to anyone, and she didn’t want any awkwardness in the family, particularly with the wedding coming up so fast.
She managed to avoid him until the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. Without giving it any thought, she had worn the white dress that she had worn for the party on the yacht, and it didn’t cross her mind that there was any relevance to the dress until she was standing at the beginning of the aisle near the last of the chairs for the guests, and Cameron appeared from almost out of nowhere just behind her.
He placed one hand on her hip and leaned close to her ear, speaking quietly. “I do love that dress on you. You look beautiful. It’s going to be a challenge for me tonight to look at anyone and anything else other than you all during this rehearsal.”
His voice made every muscle in her body tighten, and she felt warmth spreading through her involuntarily. She hated it. She hated that he could have such an effect on her and that she was helpless against it. She was as independent a woman as there could be, and one of the worst things in the world, at least in her mind, was having no control over her reactions when a man she didn’t even want to be around could evoke so much desire in her.
She pulled away from his hand and crossed her arms over her chest, lifting her chin defiantly. “Well, I didn’t wear it for you.” She left it at that, but he didn’t leave, and he didn’t seem to care that she had rebuffed him again, as she had in the kitchen.
Charisse came over to them just then, and she beamed blissfully. “Oh, look at you two! You make such a beautiful couple! You look like a pair of movie stars together! You’re going to be so wonderful at the wedding tomorrow. We are so lucky to have you both. Thank you!”
Natalie was glad that her mother was so happy, but she detested the fact that the reason for that happiness was that she was paired with and standing next to Cameron. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, grinning at Charisse.
“She really is something special, isn’t she? I’m so glad that we’re walking together in the wedding. It’s perfect.” He laughed lightly, and Charisse agreed; it was all Natalie could do not to elbow him in the ribs for sneaking in an embrace that she couldn’t get out of.
It wasn’t the only time that night that he did it; it was just the first time. From the moment he came to her side, he seemed to be glued to it for the rest of the evening, and every chance he got, he reached out to her in the guise of being her caring stepbrother. He would wrap his arm around her or place his hand on her back, he would tuck her arm into his or stand so near to her that she could feel his body against hers.
Every time he was that close, and many other times during the night when he was touching her or speaking quietly to her in her ear, saying little things to her, her body warmed, and it seemed like bolts of electricity went through her. Her heart beat faster, and her blood rushed, and when he was so near her that their bodies were touching, she felt a dull ache in her depths for him. She hated it. It felt to her as if her own body was betraying her, wanting and needing the man beside her so much when in her mind, he was the last person that she wanted to be around.
When they were seated for the rehearsal dinner under the great tents along the grassy grounds between the gardens and the beach, he sat beside her, forcing her into conversation with him and others, asking questions that required a response from her, offering her things to eat and wine to drink.
She grew more and more frustrated with him and even more than that with herself, wishing at one point that she could just pick up her fine china dinner plate and smash it over the top of his head. He was making the night more than a trial for her, and doing it all on purpose. He knew that she wasn’t happy with him, that she didn’t want to be around him or talk
to him, and yet her resistance to him only made him seem to want to be near her and talk with her all the more.
As soon as she could, she bowed out of the evening, citing the need for rest before such a big day the next morning, and one of the few moments of true satisfaction she had that night was in bidding everyone else a very good night, but not saying a word to Cameron, who called after her as she slipped away, telling her to have a good night.
She thought he might try to follow her, so she waited until his father and his brother were talking with them and there would be no polite way for him to get away and go after her, and then she left. She thought herself quite clever for doing it that way, and by the time she got to her room and locked the door, she was exhausted from having to hold in so much tension and emotion all throughout the afternoon and evening.
Natalie took a long hot shower and tried to clear her mind and thoughts of him, giving herself a fresh evening and, she hoped, sweet dreams that did not involve her playboy stepbrother. She told herself that she had much more control over herself and her emotions and reactions than she had exhibited that day; she just had to figure out how to manage everything that went through her mind and body.
She went to bed tired and woke up with a smile on her face, happy for her mother that it was such a special day for her. She pulled her hair up against the back of her head and set curls all around it, pinning a white plumeria flower over her ear. Her makeup went on perfectly that day, and she dabbed herself with one of her favorite perfumes, savoring the scent as she applied it to her skin.
Slipping into her dress and shoes, she took a long look in the floor-to-ceiling mirror, and for a moment, she remembered him standing there behind her, meeting her gaze in the mirror, reaching his hand around to unbutton the white dress that had been hanging on a hanger before her, and her breath caught, but then she shook her head a little and pushed him from her mind. It was her mother’s day, her mother’s special day, and she was not going to let someone like Cameron Brookes ruin it for her. She was going to enjoy every single moment of it, no matter what it took.
She left her room and went to the guest room where her mother had stayed the night before, and there she found her aunt helping her mother to get ready for the wedding. Natalie joined in, doing her mother’s hair and makeup, and then when the bride was ready, but still wearing her robe, they sat down together to a lovely breakfast that had been brought up to the room for them by the staff. The coffee and food were sublime, and when they had eaten, they toasted the day with mimosas and then helped the bride into her gown.
When Charisse was ready, the three of them stood together looking into the mirror and cherishing the moment that they were able to share together. They went downstairs to the garden, and a short while later, the ceremony began.
Natalie was the first of the three of them to walk down the aisle, and with every step, she tried to avoid looking at Cameron who was standing beside his brother and father at the altar, but Cameron’s blue eyes were locked on her, and she could feel the heat of his gaze from her good distance away.
As she walked, memories of the kisses that they had shared on the yacht came flooding back into her mind, and they stole her breath away, making her heart beat fast. She chastised herself in her mind, telling herself that it was her mother’s big day and that she should not be thinking of anything else but her mother, yet the thoughts would not be pushed away.
She could almost feel his lips on hers, his arms tight around her, the feel of his mouth and his tongue as it made its way down her throat to the tops of her breasts, and how she had wanted so much more from him in those moments, but then she reached the end of the aisle, trembling slightly and trying to slow her heartbeat and catch her breath.
It was with enormous relief that she found she was able to turn her thoughts to her aunt who was walking down the aisle behind her, just for a few moments, but even then, she was keenly aware that Cameron, standing there like a Greek god in his tuxedo, was only feet away from her and that when the ceremony was over, he was going to be at her side, and he would be near her for most of the rest of the day. It was maddening to her.
Charisse began to walk down the aisle then as the wedding march began, and every other thought in Natalie’s mind disappeared as she watched her mother walking toward the man that she loved. It was a beautiful sight and such a precious, tender moment. Tears formed in Natalie’s eyes, and her heart beat only for her mother then. Just before Charisse came to the altar, she looked over at her sister and her daughter, sharing a hug and kiss with each of them.
The vows were spoken, and though Natalie tried to focus on all that was being said by the pastor before her mother and new stepfather, she did not miss the fact that Cameron was standing behind his brother watching her intently. She met his gaze once, and she could not read it. There was a sobering look on his face that she had never seen before, a seriousness that she could not read. She put it from her mind and focused on her mother and the wedding.
When the vows were done, and her mother and Wilson were declared husband and wife, her heart began to race. It was time, and there was no getting out of it. She told herself that every single step she took with Cameron was one step closer to being away from him, and that helped her to look forward to it in a peculiar way.
As they met, he took her arm in his and said softly, “You look incredible. Better than I dreamed you would.”
She chose to ignore his comment, and they smiled and walked back down the aisle together side by side through their friends and family, until they got to the end of it. He remained at her side as the guests came through the receiving line to meet the bride and groom, and when that was done, he stayed right at her side while the photographer did all of the photos of the wedding party.
They walked together as they entered the reception in the tents on the lawn, and he sat beside her at the table where the wedding feast was set. As he had done the day before, he remained too close to her during the event, his touches on her lingered too long, and through all of it, her body warred with her, wanting him, warming to his touch, tingling at his presence and coming alive at the feel of him. She was tremendously frustrated by it.
When they had eaten, she managed to get away from him for a few moments to go and talk with guests and family, and to see Ophelia who had come to the wedding. She was enormously relieved to have her best friend there as some kind of moral support and company.
She was talking with Ophelia and her mother and getting their picture taken together when Cameron did what he seemed so talented at doing, and he appeared at her side. With a voice that no one around them could miss, he smiled and held out his hand.
“Come and dance with me, Natalie, please,” he requested, rather than asking.
She saw her mother’s face light up, and Ophelia smiled at her. She was trapped. She hadn’t had a chance to tell Ophelia all that had been going on, and there was no way out of it. With a masked sigh, she nodded curtly and let him take her hand and lead her to the dance floor.
Cameron wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close up against him. She looked into his eyes, and she thought for a moment that she saw some kind of weakness in him, some vulnerability that she had never seen before. He seemed almost human and something resembling fallible.
“You look so beautiful. This dress… the lavender satin, it’s perfect for you,” he said quietly as he turned her around the dance floor in his arms.
“Thank you,” she replied shortly.
He sighed and frowned slightly, leaning in close to her and speaking low into her ear. “What’s going on? Why are you putting so much space between us?”
She couldn’t believe the words that he had spoken to her, as if he didn’t know what was going on. As if he didn’t know that he had kissed her and then wound up lip locked to some redhead on the boat almost immediately afterward. As if he cared at all what she thought or did.
Fire burned in her, and for the first time in two days,
it wasn’t the flames of desire; it was bitter resentment. He had teased her, he had used her, and played her while he was playing other women, and then he had the audacity to act like he didn’t know what was wrong and what was going on with her. She was infuriated by it.
Pulling back from him, she looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. “Nothing, I guess. I’ve just been really busy, and I have other things on my mind.”
She pulled away from him then, and shock registered on his face, but she walked away and headed back over to where Ophelia was sitting and enjoying a glass of wine. The moment she sat down, her best friend gushed.
“That’s your stepbrother? My god! You never told me he was that beautiful. What a hunk! I bet he has most of the women here swooning for him! Look at that; he’s that gorgeous, and he can dance. Is he smart too? I bet he’s smart. You are one lucky girl, do you know that?” Ophelia whistled long and low to show her appreciation, and then she laughed.
Natalie wanted to tell her everything and explain to her how wrong she was and why he shouldn’t be revered by any woman anywhere, but her aunt came up to them just then and started a conversation about other things, and Natalie was honest enough with herself to admit that it was nice to be distracted from thinking about him or talking to him at all, so she let it go.