Today’s meal was taking place outside the Colson place, on the covered patio that included a gourmet outdoor kitchen. She found Cilla there, fussing with a buffet of delicious-looking foods. Unlike her brothers, this Maddox was slender and small, with honey hair. Her eyes were the same bright blue, though, and they turned up at the outer corners when she caught sight of Alexa.
“You’re here,” she said, her smile dazzling. She took the salad bowl and set it aside, then offered up an exuberant hug.
As they broke apart, Alexa grinned at Cilla. “You look happy.”
“You do too.”
It was true. She had liked Cilla from their first meeting, and it warmed her to be included on this special occasion. Knowing that she’d be seeing Bing again added an edge of exhilaration that she couldn’t deny. She hadn’t spoken to either him or his twin about the lunch, aware this was the Sunday of the month they spent the morning in their offices, doing the paperwork that piled up week-to-week.
So carpooling had been out, which was good. Cooped up in a car with Bing might have made her babble and no way had she wanted to spill the news Cilla intended to be a surprise.
“Your appointment is on the books,” she said to her. “With my grandmother, the best designer at the salon.”
The blonde bounced on her heels, her bright pink sundress floating about her knees. “I can’t wait.”
“You’re sure you don’t want to create it yourself?” The other woman made costumes—worn by skaters, dancers, and musicians—for a living.
“I have ideas that I’ll contribute, but I’ll rely on a true expert.”
“You’ve got that. She was taught dressmaking by nuns starting at the age of four.”
“As long as she doesn’t design it with nuns in mind,” Cilla said. “I’m thinking classy but sexy.”
“A specialty of ours,” Alexa assured her, then looked around at the bowls and platters. “What can I do to help?”
Cilla flipped her hair over her shoulders as she surveyed the waiting feast. “I’m getting better at this. The first few times Ren and I gathered everyone together I worried too much.”
Alexa understood. She’d learned that for the most part, the progeny of the Velvet Lemons had gone their own ways as adults. It was Gwendolyn Moon’s death that had inspired them to reconnect. With their fathers out on a years-long world tour, they’d taken to coming back to the place of their shared childhoods for the get-togethers.
“The whole group coming?” she asked.
“All but Beck.” Cilla frowned.
“He’s still missing?” The oldest of the Velvet Lemon kids was an outdoor writer who hadn’t been heard from since days into an assignment that had taken him to the Nile River.
“Missing or merely adventuring,” Cilla replied, frowning a little. “No one seems too worried about it.”
“I hope his absence doesn’t cast a pall on your day.”
The other woman sunny-ed right up. “Not going to happen. I can’t wait to see my brothers’ reaction.” She slid a sidelong look at Alexa. “Maybe it will put Brody in a romantic frame of mind. I say enough of this ‘friends’ thing between the two of you.” Her fingers curled in air quotes.
“Um.” Alexa grimaced. “Cilla, we are just friends.”
“Oh…I assumed…” She shook her head. “I just thought my brother was being a dumb lunk, as men are wont to be.”
“Is that right?” A silky male voice sounded from behind them.
They both whirled to confront Ren Colson, his dark hair around his shoulders, his green eyes fixed on Cilla. “Dumb lunk?”
She skipped over to him and went on tiptoe to kiss his chiseled chin as his arm curled around her shoulders. “Where have you been? I missed you.”
“Yeah?” He smiled at her, then bent his head so their foreheads touched. “I was gone for less than an hour.”
One of Cilla’s hands clutched his biceps, then it slid down so their fingers were joined at their sides. Alexa noted how a tattoo on each of their forearms matched up…single stylized curves becoming a whole heart when their fingers were entwined.
Ren murmured something she didn’t catch, but Cilla certainly did, because her color heightened and her mouth curved in a small but satisfied smile.
Feel to the marrow. Love like there’s no tomorrow.
The family motto flashed in Alexa’s brain like neon. With Ren and Cilla staring at each other as if no one else in the world mattered—as if no one else in the world existed—they were the embodiment of romantic passion. It should worry her, she supposed, because she knew that the higher the climb the harder the crash, but it was impossible in this moment to imagine either of them falling out of love.
Though she wanted to avoid those heights of emotion herself, a yearning tugged at her heart and she felt more envy than concern as she watched them interact with such tenderness. Envy with a topping of loneliness, she thought, feeling the hot sting of tears in the corners of her eyes. As the youngest sibling by several years, she’d been raised almost as an only child. Yes, she had the huge Italian family, but she didn’t have one special person. It scared her to want that, though, and she tried looking away from the couple in front of her. Her gaze refused to move.
Then Ren brushed his mouth on top of Cilla’s hair and looked over her head at Alexa. “What were you two talking about?”
Cilla glanced over her shoulder and gave Alexa a rueful grin. “I thought my brother was being an idiot by not asking Lex out.”
“Which one?” Ren said. Then catching Cilla’s puzzled expression, he clarified. “Which brother did you think was the idiot?”
Heat crawled up Alexa’s face.
“Brody, of course,” the other woman said. “But Lex assures me they’re only friends. I don’t know how I got that wrong.”
“Hmm.” Ren’s response didn’t give anything away.
Cilla turned to study Alexa, her hand still tangled with the tall man’s. “I’ve been just sure I felt something in the air when you’ve been here with Brody and Bing—”
“Likely I’m sending out weird signals,” Alexa put in, trying to distract the twins’ sister before she figured out the “something in the air” was Alexa’s crush on the brother who wasn’t her best friend. “It’s why I’m terrible when it comes to men.”
“There’s your problem,” Cilla said. “That negative talk. You should be more confident.”
Ren lifted her hand to kiss it. “Now, Priscilla. You weren’t always so self-assured.”
Her mouth pursed as she looked up at him. “That’s because you were a dumb lunk. And don’t call me Priscilla.”
“Priscilla, Priscilla, Priscilla,” Ren said, grinning at her, the teasing making his eyes glint with green fire. “What are you going to do about it, Priscilla?”
She glanced around his wide shoulders and nodded at two advancing, identical figures. “Get my big brothers to beat you up.”
“I’ll do it,” Brody said, arriving a few steps ahead of his twin. “If Bing’ll hold his arms behind his back.” He hugged his sister, at the same time pulling her away from Ren. “Hey, girl,” he said, giving Alexa a small lift of his chin.
“Hey, boy,” she replied, mimicking his casual gesture. She kept her gaze off Bing, but his very presence whispered over her skin, causing the tiny hairs to stand up. When he moved into her line of vision to greet his sister, she deliberately turned to fuss with the platters and bowls.
Her blood was fizzing through her system, bubbling like champagne, and she took in long, deliberate breaths. She didn’t want an attack of girlish nerves to ruin the fun of the day.
Soon enough, the remainder of the expected rock royalty had arrived and filled up plates of food. Though Alexa tried to put distance between herself and Bing, she ended up seated between him and his twin. Bing had yanked out the neighboring chair as she tried scooting past and gestured to it with a tilt of his head. What could she do but comply?
Now her heart tripped
every time his leg brushed hers under the table, but she kept her attention fixed in the direction of Brody and Walsh Hopkins by pretending an avid interest in their conversation about baseball. Later, she hung on every word of Reed Hopkins as he responded to someone’s interest in the progress of his latest horror novel.
Once most of the food was consumed, Cilla got to her feet. Alexa’s mood surged in anticipation of what would happen next. The hostess looked around the table and in the same moment, the guests all caught her barely suppressed excitement. Conversation halted and they lifted their gazes to her flushed face. She, in turn, glanced at Ren, who gave her a smile and a nod.
She put her left hand in the pocket of her dress, then whipped it out to display a platinum-and-diamond engagement ring on her left finger. “We’re getting married!”
A stunned silence followed.
Then Alexa heard Bing mutter, “Fuck,” at the same moment that Cami Colson, Ren’s sister, leaped to her feet, shrieking in glee.
Brody mumbled something indecipherable and glanced at his brother. Alexa followed the look and saw that both brothers didn’t appear the least bit thrilled for their younger sister. Instead, they looked…troubled.
Cilla broke free from Cami’s embrace. As the woman went on to hug Ren, Cilla lifted her brows in her brothers’ direction. “Aren’t you going to congratulate me?”
At their continued silence, Alexa rushed in to fill the void. “Congratulations go to the groom-to-be,” she said, then reached out to pinch each twin on a muscled arm. “To you, they’re supposed to express their best wishes.”
Shaking her head, Cilla took her small self to her brothers and threw her arms around their necks in turn. They patted her back with identical awkward gestures, then got to their feet as Ren approached.
He stayed more than an upper cut away, a smile playing on his lips. “Written in the stars, boys.”
Cilla beamed up at her fiancé and Alexa experienced another pang. Written in the stars. What must it be like to know your destiny was another person? Why did a notion so terrifying at the same time seem so enviable?
The bride-to-be tugged on Ren without appearing the least bit disappointed in her brothers’ stoic reaction. “They’ll be happy for us eventually. Now, who wants cake?”
The guests broke into renewed conversation and began clearing the table. As the rest trooped toward the house Alexa rounded on the twins, still rooted in place. “What is wrong with you two?”
Instead of answering, Brody persisted in frowning after his sister. Alexa poked him with a sharp elbow and he started. “Ow, Lex.” His hand rubbed at his ribs. “What’s that for?”
“Don’t you care about your sister? Aren’t you happy for her?”
“Of course, we care about Cilla,” Brody said.
“Enough to worry about how this shit will turn out,” Bing added in an ominous voice. “For her and Ren.”
She turned to Bing, forgetting she was trying to keep her distance. “Meaning…?”
“What are the odds of a marriage making it?” Brody asked his brother.
“I’ve heard fifty percent. But if it’s one of the nine…in this case, hell, two of the nine…” He shook his head.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alexa demanded.
“The nine know nothing about romance, not to mention marriage,” he answered. “Ask me how many times any of the Velvet Lemons have stood up at the altar.” Then he held up his hand. “Don’t bother guessing. It’s a big fat zero.”
She blinked. If she’d thought about it at all, she would have guessed there might be numerous ex-wives. “None? No weddings?”
Frowning, Brody looked at his brother. “Didn’t String Bean get himself hitched to that Vegas bartender?”
“Nope. Well, he did do the whole Elvis impersonator wedding thing for MTV, but shortly after they found out she was still married to her second husband.”
Alexa was still trying to absorb the details. “But there are nine kids.”
“And no wives. No relationships that made it through the long haul.”
“Including with their own children,” Brody said under his breath.
“But…” She glanced toward the house. “Ren and Cilla are in love. You can see it. Feel it. You can’t tell me you don’t know it when you look at them together.”
Brody shrugged. “Doesn’t mean they can make a marriage work.” He scooped up his empty beer bottle, two-pointed it into the nearby recycle bin and stalked toward the house.
Abashed, she stared after him. But…but…
Bing stepped up to her. She could feel him at her back, and the skin there twitched, the nerve endings beneath it having a party. “Brody might be the good twin, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t share my same cynical disposition.”
“I don’t know why you have to predict disaster,” she muttered.
“Such a romantic,” Bing chided.
She whirled. “I’m no such thing! I’ve had enough experience to have my eyes pasted permanently wide-open, thank you very much. I don’t even want to care about anyone like they care about each other…too many possible disasters—”
“Nico’s an ass,” Bing said.
“Leave Nico out of this. It just seems wrong that you…that you…” Behind her eyes and at the back of her nose, stupid tears were starting to gather. How mortifying! Any minute she was going to start crying.
Over the fact that Bing Maddox didn’t believe in love and lasting marriage.
“Lex.” He stepped closer and slid his hand beneath her hair to cup the back of her neck. His thumb drifted over her cheek, and this time her nerve endings didn’t just party but boogied straight into a full-on rave. The tears receded but the heat didn’t and she felt like a candle flame was licking every inch of her flesh.
His Maddox-blue eyes studied her face and she couldn’t look away, despite wanting to so very much. Longing for him made her feel sluggish, her muscles were soft with want, her blood chugged heavily through her veins as they spread a desperate need. It was as if her body thought Bing was her destiny, even as her mind knew it wasn’t so. She didn’t believe in it.
And surely if it existed, a sense of destiny had to move in both directions.
He cursed under his breath. “I wish you wouldn’t want me the way you do.”
Embarrassed, she jerked, trying to step back, but his hand tightened on her nape. “Lex, surely you know—”
His head shot up as his twin called his name in a sharp voice. “Hell.” He retreated, both hands going up like a culprit caught in the act. Then he spun away and strode toward the house.
Alexa remained by the table and was still standing there as Cilla came out with a tray stacked with slices of cake. Her head cocked. “Are you okay?”
Alexa’s heart was just beginning to quiet and her nerves had finally gone off somewhere to sulk. But the want and the need were still there, a tight pressure in her chest and across her womb. Not that she could tell Bing’s sister about that. “I’m fine.” She stretched her lips in a smile. “I’m so happy for you and Ren.”
Happy. That was supposed to have been her mood of the day.
“Then why do you look so glum?”
Helpless, Alexa shrugged.
“Don’t let my brothers rub off on you,” she said, beginning to place slices of cake around the table.
“You noticed their, uh, slight lack of enthusiasm?”
The other woman laughed. “Of course. But I don’t care. We’ll prove their gloom-and-doom wrong.”
Okay. Alexa tried shrugging off her melancholy. This was a joyous occasion for a woman she thought was on her way to becoming a good friend. What did Bing’s attitude toward marriage matter? It’s not as if she’d ever imagined him as anyone’s groom, right?
Right?
Bing’s day had been hell, with a dumb-ass building inspector insisting on an unnecessary, not code-imperative change, a worker who shot his own thumb with a nail gun, and a delayed window shipment
. But he brought himself and his foul mood to The Fiesta, the bar-restaurant where the wedding party was having the bride-decreed happy hour.
He’d texted Alexa, and they’d agreed to meet there independently as she was going straight from work and he needed to stop home first for a cool shower and a change of clothes and temperament.
He’d switched from jeans and tee to slacks and collared shirt, but his disposition remained just this side of grouchy. It didn’t help to remember the no-touching promise he’d made to his brother.
It really didn’t help when he caught sight of Alexa, wearing a short, pale-green dress printed with tiny birds. It had small puffs for sleeves and buttoned from hemline to throat, where a little ruffled collar made her appear like a fairy librarian.
Of course he wanted to rip it off her.
She hadn’t caught sight of him yet, so he remained where he was, observing her as she chatted with a large knot of people. There were seven bridesmaids and seven groomsmen, he’d been told, so the gathering was large and loud as it included, he supposed, their significant others as well. It was easy to pick out the Alessio girl cousins…all the women were variations on a theme of brunette beauty. The wife-to-be wasn’t hard to spot either, because she was wearing a big pin with BRIDE scrolled in rhinestones.
He didn’t know which man was Nico, but when a male figure approached Alexa, Bing stopped stalling and bee-lined for her.
She glanced up with a shy smile which perversely made him want to bend her over the nearest table and kiss the hell out of her. But remembering his vow, he ignored his perverted libido and flicked the layered ends of her long hair in greeting. “Hey.”
Love Her Madly Page 5