Four Weddings and a Fling

by Barbara Deleo

  “Maybe,” she said. “But the bottom line is I’m going to need your help. And I mean, all day every day if I’m going to make this happen in fourteen days.”

  “You’re sure?” he said, his gaze steady on her. “After what you said at O’Malley’s that day, I didn’t think I’d be your first choice.”

  She picked up her coffee and blew on it, thankful to look anywhere but into his sexy eyes.

  “There’s no time to get anyone else in,” she said, trying not to sound desperate. “You care about making sure this works, and more importantly, you can keep your family out of the way so we can make it happen. I’ll call your parents and let them know about the Williams wedding, and then you can keep them updated after that.”

  Ari nodded. “I hear you about keeping my family in check. Mom will want to be all over Nick’s wedding. Okay,” he said. “I’ve got a pretty light load after I finish this one case, so let’s do it. We’ll make this work together. What say I take a quick shower, and then I give you a lift back to the Palace.”

  She bit her lip.

  “Or if you don’t like the back of my bike, we could get an Uber,” he said with a grin.

  “Great,” she said, and he turned and walked into the bathroom.

  …

  As soon as she heard the shower running, Grace moved from the counter and took in the rest of the apartment. Because he was only here temporarily, it made sense that Ari didn’t have many personal things around. Apart from the piles of clothes, the boxes of papers, a jacket thrown over the back of a chair, and a suitcase in the corner, there didn’t seem to be anything personal at all. Except the pieces of paper stuck to the wall. She shouldn’t really be snooping, but if she was to work closely with him, she needed to be sure he was everything he said he was, didn’t she? And apart from anything else, she was just really curious about what made him tick.

  Making sure the door to the bathroom was closed, she moved to the wall by the bed. She almost stood on a phone with headphones attached, but stepped around it and leaned closer.

  The piece was typed out like a poem. As she read through it, she realized it was an Ed Sheeran song, and words like mysterious, beating, and thousand had been underlined. The same words were written underneath in blue pen. The next words were never, please, forever.

  Maybe the pages had been stuck there by a previous tenant? Even if they had been, why would someone like Ari keep them around? No, he must have put them there himself.

  She moved to another piece of paper, and there were more typed words with the same things written underneath dear, love, always, birthday.

  Okay, so stop right there, she said to her brain, which was beginning to compile an inventory of questions she wanted to ask Ari. This was not someone to get to know better, this was a man whose help she needed for the next few weeks at the most. The fact he had pieces of poems or song lyrics stuck to his wall shouldn’t make him any more interesting than he already was.

  But it did, dammit.

  Why had there been no sign of this side of him when they’d had that disastrous date?

  She heard the water turn off in the shower, and as she swung back toward the counter, her foot nudged the phone, and words appeared on the screen. So, he liked books as well? She was itching to find out what it was. Catcher in the Rye, maybe, or some other classic? The absolute improbability of that caused the familiar rush she got when she was with him to come speeding back. Behind the bathroom door, he’d be stepping out of the shower right now, his olive skin glistening with water droplets, his biceps flexing as he rubbed his body dry. His glossy black hair would be falling damp around his cheek bones…

  What’s wrong with you? Just say no to the hot guy.

  She bit her lip again and moved back to the counter.

  When he finally emerged from the bathroom, Ari was dressed in a white T-shirt and blue jeans. “Sorry, I took so long,” he said as he dragged a hand through his damp hair. “Let’s go.”

  She hesitated. How must he be feeling about her change of mind on this? Going back to the Palace when he thought he’d been free of it? She hadn’t really considered him, but he’d immediately said yes to her.

  “What’s up?”

  She played with the cuff of her blouse. “I guess you’d have been relieved when I’d said that I didn’t need you at the Palace. I know you hadn’t had much to do with the place over the years.”

  He shrugged a shoulder. “I was home for Easter. Sometimes Christmas.”

  “But not regularly like Nick and Yasmin.” Was that too pointed?

  Ari reached for the jacket on the back of the chair. “What you’re really asking is what happened between me and my parents that makes me the black sheep?”

  Heat rose on her cheeks. Her interest had been a little too obvious so soon after their earlier conversation. Ari was a private investigator and probably used to people who didn’t always tell the truth.

  “I guess they didn’t know what to make of me,” he said with a shrug. “Or what to do for me. As immigrants, their whole lives were geared toward giving their kids opportunities, but even more than that, they desperately wanted their children to have high-status careers, and from a very early age they knew I wasn’t going to follow that path.”

  The flatness in his eyes pulled at something deep within her, and although one part of her brain said a guy like Ari was nothing more than trouble, a primal part wanted to step closer, to narrow the breach and really get to know him.

  “You’re just the sort of person they relate to,” he said. “Someone in a respectable job. Someone with a good background and nothing standing in their way.”

  He took a step toward her and picked his keys up off the counter. She cursed herself for putting up so many barriers and for the insatiable need to know him a whole lot better.

  “So, what was it?” she asked. “They didn’t like you writing poetry? They were threatened by your creativity?”

  He frowned, and she pointed to the pieces of paper on the wall. “You write lyrics? Study poetry?”

  His eyes widened, and he shook his head, an ironic smile on his face. “You really don’t know? My mother didn’t confide her greatest shame to you?”

  Grace shook her head slowly as her heart rate quickened. Had she got it all wrong? “I don’t understand what you mean.”

  Ari laughed, a short, sharp noise holding more pain than joy. “I can’t read properly,” he said matter-of-factly. “I was diagnosed with dyslexia, and after that I had to find a different path than my parents would’ve chosen.”

  “Oh, Ari I’m sorry for snooping,” she said. “I didn’t mean to—” She burned to take a step toward him, to soothe this beautiful man.

  He put the keys in his jacket pocket and lifted his gaze to her. “I’ve never really succeeded in my parents’ eyes. As soon as I could leave home I took my bike and drove to New York and worked in pizza joints ’til I could put myself through police college. Even then I failed at just about everything in the beginning. An old detective who’d had similar issues to me helped me cram for my final exam. It became too difficult to hide that I couldn’t fill out paperwork properly, so I got out of the force as soon as I could, took the skills that sort of work had given me, and have been my own boss ever since.”

  Grace dropped her head, hating herself for jumping to conclusions about him, so sorry he’d had to face such struggles in his life, and sad that he thought he was a disappointment to his family.

  His hand rested on the countertop, and she reached out and touched it. “Your family would be incredibly proud of you right now,” she said. “Putting your own life on hold to make sure their business was safe.”

  He didn’t move his hand, and his gaze was fixed on hers. “My family won’t have high expectations of me, but that’s okay,” he said, his features unmoving. “I’ve never done anything they’ve been truly proud of, nothing they really value. In lots of ways, they’re like you in that they think I’m nothing more than a r
ough guy with a bike, with no cares and no responsibilities. I get why they feel that way.”

  She swallowed and dropped her gaze for a moment, and her heart beat deep in her chest.

  “Oh, Ari, I’m sorry,” she said. “That’s not the way I meant it.”

  He laughed, but it sounded forced. “It’s okay. Most of the time that’s exactly what I’m like, but that’s just because it’s easier. My family don’t expect a lot from me, and I’ve learned not to expect a lot from them. I find it works okay.”

  Her gaze swung to his face. His eyes were as brown as toasted almonds, and his smile lit his features. He might have a tough shell, but for the first time, she could see a softness in him. Her hand was still over his, and she squeezed. “A tough guy wouldn’t put his life on hold to help out his family’s business, or agree to help someone who’d blown him off not once, but twice. Thank you.”

  He smiled at her, the tiniest of dimples cutting into his cheeks. “If there’s so much work to be done at the Palace, then we should get started.”

  Chapter Four

  Back at the Palace that afternoon, Ari watched while Grace filled in an enormous planner sheet on the wall of her office. Each day had a long list of bullet points attached and there were big stars around Saturday the nineteenth, the day for both Amy Williams’ wedding at the Palace, and Erin and Nick’s wedding at O’Malley’s. Beside different entries, she had a color-coded system for who should be in charge of what.

  He’d always known she was organized and efficient, but the drive she’d shown in getting this done had exhausted him just watching her.

  “Oh, shoot,” she said and put the end of the pen between her teeth.

  He studied her as she stared at the wall, her gaze flicking up and down, her forehead crumpled the same way it had been when she’d told him at O’Malley’s that she couldn’t work with him—that a bit of fun was something she couldn’t consider with him. “I haven’t put you in,” she said.

  “Sorry?” He pulled his attention from her lips to what she was actually saying.

  “I didn’t factor in that you’ll be in the wedding party for Nick and Erin, and I’ve given you all these jobs to do. Now I’ll have to find someone else to help with this stuff.” She swung back to him, and he had to focus even harder on what she was saying. As she looked at him, her eyes sparkling, a fizz powered through his blood.

  “I can be at O’Malley’s for Nick and Erin’s ceremony and back here for whatever needs to be done after that,” he said. “No problem.”

  She tapped the pen on her chin. “But you’ll be in the party, won’t you?”

  “You mean like best man or groomsman?” He shook his head. “No. Nick has his friends from university. He’ll have Lane as his best man, I guess.”

  A pink flush worked across her cheeks, and she became even more radiant. “Oh, I just assumed…”

  “It’s fine,” he said, waving and feeling her embarrassment. It was natural for her to think he’d be involved in his brother’s wedding party, but that’s not what his brother would want, and not what Ari would expect. “Nick wants the Palace to succeed as much as I do. He’ll be pleased I’m helping out here.”

  “And how much involvement will your parents want to have when they’re back? I guess I should talk to them about how I manage the congressman’s wedding. Since it’s such a big deal, maybe they want to have a say in what’s happening. But then again, they’ll be so focused on Nick’s wedding.” Her face showed genuine concern. “I’m not sure how I feel about running things with them back here.”

  “I’m not sure what they’re expecting,” Ari said. “I haven’t spoken to them in a while. Mom’s always happier if she feels like she’s part of the decisions.”

  “Okay,” she said, her eyes brightening. “What’s the time in Greece right now? We can call her, or even FaceTime.”

  He looked at his watch. He preferred to be prepared when he spoke to his parents, especially his mother. “Ten in the evening. Maybe it would—?”

  “Is that too late?”

  “It’s not late for Greece, I guess,” he said slowly. “They’ll be sitting around talking after dinner. She’ll be surprised to hear from me.”

  She flicked open her computer. “All the more reason why we should call her. I’ve spoken to her a couple of times since she’s been away, but it will be lovely to see her face-to-face.” They waited while the computer connected, and then Pia Katsalos’s face filled the screen.

  “Grace!” Ari heard his mother shriek. “It’s so lovely to see you. Coula and I were just sitting here on the computer looking at mother-of-the-groom dresses, and then your beautiful face pops onto my screen. How are you doing? There’s so much responsibility for you now, running things while none of us are there, and now there’s Nicky’s wedding for you to cope with, as well. I’m going to be with you in two days, and I will be there to help out with everything. You don’t need to worry anymore.”

  Grace started to speak, but as was typical for his mom, Pia carried right on talking. “And Nicky tells me that Ari has not stayed to help you, which I am very disappointed about.” She sighed dramatically. “That boy never seems—”

  “Pia, Ari’s right here with me,” Grace said across his mother as she turned the screen toward him. Ari held Grace’s gaze for a moment, and when she gave him the softest of smiles, a depth of understanding passed between them.

  It wasn’t that he and his mother fought; he just found it difficult being around her, and she often made it clear that she couldn’t understand him or his lifestyle. She had a tendency to believe life was simple, that every decision was black and white, right or wrong.

  “Hey, Mom,” he said raising a hand.

  “Oh, you are there,” his mother said. “I hope you’re helping Grace and not getting in her way. We want to have everything just right for these weddings, and Grace will have it all under control. Make sure you do what she tells you to. It’s so important for all of us that this goes smoothly.”

  He ignored the lecture. “Have you spoken to Dad about when he’s coming back?”

  His mother blinked, and her features slackened for the briefest moment. “No. I believe from your Aunt Nia that he will be coming for the wedding, but I know nothing more. I will come and stay with you at the Palace, Ari, but your father will need to find somewhere else.”

  So, there was obviously still a lot of tension between his parents. He’d hoped with the news of Yasmin and Lane getting married, and then Erin and Nick, as well as visits from them, that his parents might have overcome some of their differences. Apparently not, and that could mean some strained family get-togethers in the next two weeks. Grace would need his help to keep a cap on that.

  “I’m not staying here, Mom. I’ve rented something in town so I can carry on my own work. I’m here to help Grace whenever she needs me.”

  His mother was quiet for a moment—a sure sign something was eating at her. She hated what he did for a living, but she hated even more that he had a life of his own away from the tight-knit Greek community in Beauville.

  “It’s working out fine,” Grace added cheerily before his mother could object. “I originally thought I could do this all on my own, but now with the Williams wedding it’s great to have Ari’s help. I don’t need him on site all of the time, but he’s been fantastic.”

  Why was she tripping over herself to stick up for him?

  “Well, if you say so,” Pia said, still looking dubious.

  “So, you can have your place while you’re back,” Ari said. “That is, unless you’ve decided to come back permanently.”

  His mother rubbed her cheeks with her palms. “Let’s just say, we will see what happens,” she said. “I don’t want to have to think about anything other than that the first, and soon the second, of my children will be married. Everything else can be forgotten for now.”

  They carried on talking for a while then said good-bye and ended the call. When Grace closed the laptop,
Ari let out a long breath. The knowledge his parents were still apart cut deep. He might not have always appreciated them, or what they’d done for him, but they’d always been in these buildings, solid and sure, and the fact they were no longer here made him feel more rudderless than usual. Maybe he could talk to his father alone when he was back…

  Grace reached out and touched his arm. His blood ran warmer, and his pulse beat directly beneath where she touched him.

  She stood, but her hand stayed resting on his arm. “This is pretty hard for you.” Her voice was soft and sincere.

  He lifted his chin, and the concern on her face knocked him off center. Her understanding seeped deep inside, and he had to stop himself from touching her in return.

  “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past few years,” he said, “it’s that relationships can be complicated, especially those between a mom and her children. Mom means well, but she struggles to show it sometimes.”

  Her voice hadn’t held pity, only tenderness and understanding, and he pulled himself to his full height and stepped forward. “My family owes you an incredible debt, Grace. And not only for what you’ve done in the running of this place. You’ve also helped our family hang together.”

  Her smile was uncertain. “What do you mean?”

  “My brother, my sister, and I had all left home, gotten on with busy lives, but you were here helping our parents when we should’ve been.”

  “I’m not sure I did a great job,” she said. “Maybe if I’d been more aware, I could’ve helped your mom through a difficult time and she might not have felt the need to leave.”

  He shook his head. “No, most people I know would’ve run a mile if they’d been faced with what you have, but you’ve stuck it out, and we’re all the better for it.”

  Her forehead crumpled again, and she spoke more quietly this time. “If your family doesn’t understand you, if they always want you to be something else or to do something else, what makes you want to come back and fight for things the way you are now?”