This Wedding is Doomed!

by Stephanie Draven

  With one strong arm, he pinned her tied hands over her head on the tasseled throw pillow and used his other arm for leverage. Then he moved with slow and steady strokes inside her that rubbed her in just the right way on the upstroke.

  It felt amazing.

  They moved in perfect harmony. He caught the tempo of her arousal, and moved to its drumbeat, inching the chaise across the wooden floor with a scrape at every thrust. And she responded to Blake’s touch like a well-played instrument under the direction of a maestro. He was going to make her come with his whole body. Every slide of his torso against hers elicited a note of pure pleasure. Every thrust of his hips made her cry out. He could’ve hurried—should’ve hurried—but he didn’t.

  Instead his eyes locked on hers and he bent his head to kiss her while they strained together. This time, his kisses tasted like more than lust. By the time the chaise had moved halfway across the room, and rocked against the bookshelf, Penny felt the coils of pleasure spring free.

  She was climaxing, hard, and it forced a symphony of sounds out of her. Throaty sounds. Needy sounds. And then it became a duet.

  ***

  Blake loved the way her lips parted in a gasping breath when she came, her hazel eyes staring up at him from beneath fluttering lashes. Angel eyes. Devil eyes. He couldn’t decide. He only knew that her climax completely unraveled him. He gritted his teeth, white-hot pleasure arcing through his body. He jerked into her, powerless against the shuddering waves of release.

  And in the aftermath, with her damp thighs glued to his hips, and sweat dripping down the back of his neck, he felt eighteen again. A smitten boy. He couldn’t even form coherent words.

  So he merely lowered himself onto her, gasping for breath, luxuriating in the feel of her body squeezing and throbbing around him. With a few tugs, he untied her hands, which she slipped under his shirt collar to caress his back. That’s when he knew he was in trouble. Because their bout of quick and dirty sex had only let off a little steam.

  It wouldn’t be enough. He wasn’t sure he could ever get enough of her.

  “Wowee, cowboy, you sure do know how to give a girl a good ride,” she whispered, and she sounded embarrassed. She must have been, because she began searching the cushions with one free hand. “Where did my panties go?”

  He should grin. He should say something to ease her embarrassment or soothe her fears. Something about how beautiful she was. Something about how amazing she felt. Something affectionate to reassure her, or make her laugh. Girls liked that after sex, needed the praise. But for all the macho pride he might normally take in seducing Penny Parker, he couldn’t keep his mind on the playbook.

  Something had happened—something that left him feeling a little bit shy and vulnerable. It was the realization that sex with Penny felt different than with any other girl. Maybe it was because she knew him, once. Maybe because she was the only girl he’d ever let know him. Now the thought of peeling his body off of hers, pulling out of her, letting her cover up the glorious damp red curls between her thighs—that couldn’t be borne.

  “You don’t need those panties yet,” Blake drawled against the soft spot on her neck just behind her ear. He didn’t have quite the stamina he had in high school, but give him like, ten minutes, tops, and he’d be good to go again.

  She scrunched up her nose. “I’m feeling a little bit . . . naked.”

  “Good,” he said, shifting so that he could run his hand over the soft skin of her hip. “I like you that way.”

  “Then I shouldn’t be the only one,” she said, starting to unbutton his shirt. It only took the sight of her fingers on his buttons to make his cock stir again.

  He bent to kiss her—

  And then it happened.

  Two platinum wedding bands dropped out of his pocket. The bigger, heavier, man’s ring landed with a thunk. But the other one bounced once, touched down on its side, then roll-roll-rolled across the oriental rug, onto the scuffed wood planks, and . . . into the grate on the floor.

  Blake watched it disappear. He blinked, sure that it couldn’t have happened. Sure that he had not actually just lost one of the wedding rings. But he had. And no amount of blinking would make him unsee what he’d just seen.

  Goddamn it. Three simple jobs. Make the toast. Talk the groom through a case of nerves. Hold on to the wedding rings . . .

  Well, Graham had actually given him four jobs, and the other one was underneath him, whispering, “Tell me that was not the bride’s wedding ring.”

  “Nah. I just like to keep a few spare rings in my pocket when I leave the house. Just in case I’m ever asked to stand up at a wedding . . .”

  Penny winced.

  He pulled free of her, disposed of the condom and tucked himself back into his underwear.

  “Don’t put your pants back on yet, Blake.”

  Sweet Jesus, he was glad that she was as insatiable as he remembered, but losing the ring was definitely a mood-killer. “I want to go for round two as much as you do, darlin’ but—”

  Penny whacked him in the shoulder. “Don’t you want the stupid ring back?”

  “Of course I do. But it just fell down the vent!”

  Penny nodded. “Then don’t put your pants back on. Depending on how the ductwork is, it might just be sitting there under the grate. You never know in these old houses.”

  Smart girl. He might have thought of it himself if she hadn’t drained him of all brainpower with mind-blowing spontaneous sex. “Okay . . . but what’s that got to do with my pants?”

  “My point is, if you want the ring back, you have to get down on your hands and knees, and you can’t go crawling on the floor all dressed up. No matter how buffed and polished and super-cleaned this place is for today’s wedding, any speck of dust or lint will show up on black tuxedo pants.”

  Now that he wouldn’t have thought of, even with all his brainpower restored. Blake tossed his slacks back to her before crouching down over the register in his boxer briefs.

  And that’s when he got lucky a second time.

  If he angled his head just right, he could actually see the glint of a diamond studded circlet. Fortunately, the register wasn’t screwed down. He was able to pull up the old-fashioned grate with his hands, but when he went to reach down into the hole, the goddamned cock-blocking globe, which seemed to be welded to bolts in the floor, was in the way.

  “I can’t squeeze my shoulders between the wall and this contraption.”

  Slipping into her white cotton panties—which were much cuter than he’d been led to believe—Penny’s eyes widened. “Don’t look at me. It’s not my fault your shoulders are so broad. Did I mention that you’ve really bulked up since high school and it’s super sexy?”

  “C’mon, Penny,” he said, pretending he didn’t thoroughly enjoy the compliment. “You’re tiny. Itty-bitty. You could fit.”

  “Can’t,” she said, but her nose was twitching.

  Twitch, twitch, twitch.

  She was lying and he was about to call her on it when she sighed with resignation. “Fine, I’ll try. I guess I owe the bride at least this much to even out the karmic balance.”

  Then she lowered to her hands and knees beside him and stared down into the vent.

  “Oh, gross!”

  “It’s just a spider web,” Blake said.

  “Yuck, yuck, yuck! You know I wouldn’t do this for anybody else in the whole world, right?”

  That made him grin. “You’re the best.”

  Did she know that he meant it? Did she know that there had never been any other girl who even remotely compared? Would she laugh in his face if he told her? Fortunately, she was too focused on wedging herself against the radiator, freckled cheek pressed to the wallpaper as she reached around for the ring. Squirming around on her hands and knees in front of him, with her ass in the air, she was so sexy he
nearly forgot the point of this little exercise.

  She was making him hard all over again.

  In fact, he was so entranced, staring at the sexy curve of her back, that he almost didn’t hear her when she cried, “Got it!”

  Shaking her hand free of cobwebs she dropped the ring into his palm and crowed with triumph. “There! And if the bride ever finds out, I hope you’ll tell her that I’m the one that got her ring back so maybe she won’t think I’m just some evil bimbo slut.”

  Blake laughed, wanting to kiss her senseless in gratitude. “Tessa would never think that about you, even if she did find out. Which she won’t.”

  “She will,” Penny insisted. “Maybe not about me. But I’m sure there’ve been other girls because Graham’s a cheater, and that’s what they do. They cheat.”

  “Nah,” Blake said, brushing the red hair out of her eyes. “He swore to me that it was just you and that he wouldn’t ever do it again. And I believe him.”

  Penny’s heart sank and her stomach bottomed out at the same time. The peculiar combination of confused sensations left her feeling queasy. “You talked to Graham about me? You—you knew about us? Before today?”

  She was sure Blake would deny it. Sure that she’d somehow misunderstood him. But the color that flooded his cheeks was vintage Blake, circa senior year of high school.

  And suddenly, he couldn’t even meet her eyes.

  Penny tried to make sense of it. “Wait, you knew I was supposed to play ceremony music at this wedding and you let me—”

  “I had no idea you were going to be here today,” Blake broke in. “Neither did Graham. Obviously, he’s not the most involved guy when it comes to wedding planning.”

  “Obviously,” Penny said, sarcastically. “Your friend’s a real catch. A real romantic. Apparently telepathic, too, because you acted like our relationship was a huge surprise to you, so exactly when did he tell you about us . . .” A worse thought occurred to her. “Was that him on the phone?”

  Blake pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah. That was Graham.”

  On the floor, still grossed out from the cobwebs in the vent, Penny pulled her naked knees up to her chest, hugging them against herself. “You said it was a work call. You lied to me?”

  She couldn’t understand what was going on. This was Blake. Her Blake. The sweetest, most honest guy she’d ever known. And he’d lied to her? It didn’t make any sense.

  Blake ran his hand through his hair. “I just didn’t want you to get any more upset than you already—”

  “You told Graham, ‘I’m handling it,’” Penny said, more upset by the moment. “What were you handling?” When he didn’t answer, Penny felt a sharp pain beneath her breastbone that made her gasp. “Did he send you to handle me?”

  “Not exactly,” Blake said, reaching for her hand, but she snapped it away. “He didn’t tell me your name. He doesn’t even remember your name.”

  Penny snorted. “He’s lying.” It made her even more furious to think that not only had Graham cheated on her—or with her—but that he’d made Blake believe it had been some kind of cheap hookup. “So when you found me out on the patio . . .”

  “I was as surprised as you were. Until that moment, I thought you were just some girl—”

  “Just some girl?” she asked, wincing. It didn’t make it any better. She wished it did, but it didn’t. She stared at the man she’d just made love to, suddenly wondering who he was. The Blake she used to know didn’t handle women. And he certainly didn’t do it by—

  “Oh. My. Goddess.” Penny shot to her feet in sudden fury. “This whole time, you’ve been trying to stop me from blowing the whistle on Graham as a cheater?”

  She wanted Blake to say something. She wanted him to explain himself. But he just sat there in his stupid starched white tuxedo shirt and dress socks, and lowered his head into his hands.

  The full measure of the betrayal sank in. “You flirted with me. You kissed me. You seduced me,” she said, each word shriller than the last. “You did it to shut me up?”

  Blake’s head snapped up and he met her eyes. “No. This thing between you and me, it’s got nothing to do with this wedding.”

  Penny looked for something, anything, to wipe off the cobwebs. She didn’t want anything to do with this dusty old mansion or her lusty old boyfriends. “You know what, Blake? It doesn’t sound like there’s anything between you and me. It sounds more like the only real love story here is a bromance between the cheating groom and his jerk of a best man.”

  With that, Penny turned and stormed to the door. But Blake was on his feet, sprinting ahead of her, blocking her way. “Hey, c’mon, Penny. Where do you think you’re going?”

  “I’m leaving!”

  Blake pressed the flat of his palm against the carved door. “No you’re not.”

  “Then you leave. I don’t want to look at you and your stupid squinty smile right now.”

  Blake’s jaw tensed, but he didn’t move. “Listen, you don’t want to leave like this and neither do I.”

  He thought he could charm his way out of this. Well, he couldn’t. “Oh, really? Give me just one good reason why not.”

  “Because we’re both in our underpants!”

  ***

  Blake knew she was furious, and she had a right to be. But he wasn’t ready for her to walk out of his life again and this situation was definitely not covered in the playbook. Blake was going to have to improvise. Leaning against the door with his best devil-may-care smile, he said, “Listen, Penny, it doesn’t have to end like this. We could have a great time together tonight—”

  “Save it. You can just put those dimples away,” Penny said, eyes burning a hole through him. “Did you always have such a colossal ego? I can’t even stand to be in the same room with you and you think I want to go on a date?”

  He reached for her hands again, and this time he caught them. “C’mon, Penny. I like you. You still like me, too.”

  She looked right at him and said, “I don’t even know you.”

  Ouch. That hurt. But Blake tried to shake it off. “Yes, you do. So I’m not the broody kid who tripped over his own tongue anymore. But you still know me. I’ve just got a little game now, and you didn’t seem to mind it so much a few minutes ago . . .”

  He used his most charming voice, reaching up to touch her chin. It was the kind of move that usually won a girl over. But Penny just crossed her arms and took a step back. “When did you become such a player?”

  “Aww, hell, Penny. I don’t want to fight with you . . .”

  “No, you just want to keep me from telling the bride that Graham is a dog,” Penny protested. “And I should tell her. That would be the right thing to do. I knew it, all along, but I let you distract me because I’m an idiot.”

  “Can we forget about Graham and Tessa?”

  “No, we can’t,” Penny said, backing up to the globe and tugging at her skirt, trying to get it free. “Because it’s their wedding day.”

  “I wish them all the luck in the world,” Blake snapped, because he was sick and tired of ceding the spotlight to anybody else when it came to Penny. “They’re obviously going to need it. But if Tessa can’t hold on to her man, that’s her problem.”

  Penny’s mouth dropped open; in fact, she gaped at him as if he’d just bitten the head off a bat on stage. “Wow. I’ve spent the past five years believing that I made a huge mistake when I broke up with you. I’ve carried around all these regrets, because you were such a nice guy. Was I wrong?”

  The question made the floorboards shift under his feet. She knew breaking up with him had been a mistake? She’d been carrying around regrets? That forced the glib smile off his face, and filled his chest with a bittersweet emotion. “You weren’t wrong. Inside I’m still the same guy.”

  With a furious glare, Penny balled up the skirt
in her hands. “Really? Because you don’t look like Blake Quinlan or even talk like the Blake Quinlan I used to know. I bet you can’t remember the last time you sang a song, or wrote lyrics, or picked up a guitar. When was the last time you were remotely true to yourself?”

  He didn’t like the question. He didn’t like anything about it. How was it that after admitting she might have made a mistake in dumping him, she could still make him feel like he wasn’t good enough for her? “I’m being true to myself right now—”

  “Then that’s just sad, Blake, because you don’t even care that your best friend is a disloyal asshole. In fact, you’re helping him get away with it. What happened to you?”

  At that, Blake’s temper finally soared out of control. “You happened to me, Penny! You were my whole world. You were it for me. You probably thought I was just a know-it-all teenager, but there was one thing I was sure of, and that was you. I wanted you. I wanted to be with you. Hell, I wanted to marry you . . . but all you wanted was a record deal. So hearing a lecture on loyalty from you, of all people, is a little bit more than I can take.”

  His voice trailed off at the end, as the sound of his own raw pain echoed in his ears. Blake hadn’t meant to say any of it. Now he felt a sharp anxiety that dwarfed every bout of stage fright he’d ever suffered, leaving him vulnerable as a newborn babe.

  He felt bad and sad and mad all at the same time. Unable to stand the vulnerability one more moment, he snapped up his tuxedo pants and pulled them on. Meanwhile, Penny stared at him, her throat bobbing, her chest rising and falling with every breath.

  When she spoke, it was a whisper. “What do you mean, from me of all people? I was loyal to you. I never cheated on you, Blake.”

  “No, but you left me.” Why couldn’t he just shut the hell up? Now that he’d let a little bit of truth slip out of him, the rest of it strained against his chest, rising up in a big fat lump in his throat. He just couldn’t swallow it back down. “You dumped me to go solo or for some shallow jock or because you thought I was getting too serious. I never really understood anything except that you left me standing in the rain like a fool. I know I should be over it. We were kids. You had to experiment, or find yourself, or whatever. But you left. And it changed me.”