The Wedding Truce

by Kerri Carpenter

  “Maybe to you. Some people like this stuff.”

  He opened his mouth to argue but she held up a hand.

  “I never force an option on a bride. I work with them. If they want a Christmas-themed wedding, I make it happen. If they only have five thousand dollars for a budget, I stay within those parameters, and steer them away from superfluous expenses like releasing doves and extravagant seven-layer cakes. It’s a collaborative process.”

  “Collaborative?”

  “Yes, it means that we work to—”

  “I know what it means.”

  Her eyes flicked down. She finished tying a bow and then set the bag to the side. He could see her taking a deep breath.

  Her shoulders drooped. “I thought you and I were working together well today.”

  Xander gestured between them. “You and I are very different.”

  She nodded slowly. “We’ve established that. But we’ve come together to help our best friends. Should I remind you that I never asked for your help? You volunteered to come here with me.”

  He jutted out his chin. “That was a mistake. I should have left well enough alone.”

  The color drained out of her usually rosy cheeks. “Where is this coming from? I thought, well, I mean—”

  “You thought any of this was important?” he said. “Why? Because you probably grew up in Cinderella’s castle at Disney World. You have no idea what it’s really like for people out there.”

  If fire could fill people’s eyes, the room would be toasty warm. It was clear that his bad mood had upset her. But not anymore. Now, she was furious.

  “Do you really think I grew up in some kind of fairy dreamland?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, pretty much.” Somewhere, in the far recesses of his mind, an inner voice was calling for him to shut up. He was upset about his parents and bombarding Grace with all of the emotions he couldn’t handle himself. It wasn’t fair, yet he couldn’t seem to stop. “I think you spend so much time in the clouds arranging wedding parties and bouquet tosses that you have no idea what happens in the real world. What happens after the honeymoon. When your precious couples come to me wanting a way out.”

  She stepped back and her hand flew to her cheek as if he’d slapped her.

  Seeing her react like that snapped him out of his mean streak. “Grace...”

  She vehemently shook her head. “I don’t believe in happy endings because I want to, Xander. I believe in them because I have to.”

  She had started out whispering, but with each word her voice grew stronger and stronger.

  “My childhood was full of angst and heartache and abandonment. I’ve had a couple of great relationships, but I’ve never gotten close to happily-ever-after. Maybe Em is engaged to Jack now, but she was left at the altar before she met him. And her sister is in the process of getting divorced after only six months of marriage.”

  Grace came around the table and pushed him. Hard. “So don’t think for one second that I know nothing about divorces and relationships that go south. Trust me, I know plenty.”

  Xander felt like such an ass. He’d let his parents ruin his day, and then in turn, he’d ruined Grace’s. It was unfair and it was cruel. Especially when they’d been so productive. Not to mention, they’d been getting along better than ever.

  “I’m sorry, Grace. I really am. I had a bad conversation with my father just now and—and, I took it out on you.”

  “At least you have a father to fight with.”

  Whoa. What did that mean? “Where’s your fa—”

  “You know what?” She raised her hands and then dropped them. “I’m done here. I’m done with you.” Her chin trembled. “I need a break.”

  With that, she fled the room. Xander stood there, dumbfounded. He ran a hand through his hair and replayed their conversation. Their fight, was more like it. The fight that he’d caused.

  Angry with himself, he knew without a doubt that he needed to make this right. Without overthinking it, he set to stuffing the goody bags. Following Grace’s very organized and detailed notes, he was able to add all of the items. It felt like it took hours and definitely would have been more fun to do together. But he’d wrecked that idea.

  He may have ruined her mood and her day, but at least he was able to help with her workload. Wasn’t that the reason he’d come with her in the first place?

  When he finished up, he cleaned up the space and put all the bags in the boxes provided by the hotel. Then he dropped them off at the front desk, along with the list that detailed which guests should receive them.

  Now, onto Grace. He needed to make this right. There was no way she would want to see him. But he resigned himself to breaking down the door if necessary.

  Xander felt like a real heel. He’d been a jerk to her because he couldn’t handle his own crap. He was determined to apologize. Grace didn’t deserve his wrath. No one did.

  He took the elevator to her floor, and made his way down the hallway. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on her door.

  When she opened the door, he could see that her eyes were red and puffy, and that beautiful face was splotchy from her tears.

  “I’m sorry, Grace. I’m so very sorry.”

  She let out a whimper and her lower lip trembled. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

  “I know,” he said reluctantly. “I don’t blame you. I shouldn’t have said any of that stuff to you.”

  She pinned him with a no-nonsense stare. “You meant it. All of it. I know you did. That’s how you really see me.”

  He opened his mouth to negate her words. Only, she was right. Wasn’t that how he saw her?

  “You’re right and I’m not proud of myself. But...I’d like to know the real you.”

  Her eyes filled with tears and he could see her fighting them.

  “Hey, it’s okay.”

  Xander would have never associated tears with Grace. But something told him he didn’t know the real Grace Harris at all.

  “I don’t deserve it, but I’d like a chance to talk. Please,” he added.

  Silently she stepped back, allowing him into the room. Grace had a suite. There was a sitting area with a couch and two overstuffed chairs, a coffee table and desk. He could see through a doorway that led to the bedroom with a large king bed. Her suitcase had been placed on a stool at the end of the bed.

  “Nice room,” he said as he walked toward the balcony.

  “Meeting-planner perk.” She blew her nose. “Sorry for the tears. Or, the almost tears.”

  He crossed the room and took her hands. “Grace, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. I was out of line downstairs. I was, well, an insensitive idiot.”

  She smiled. “Yeah, you were kind of an idiot.”

  He tucked her hair behind her ear. “You don’t have to be so happy about it.”

  She laughed and he led her to the two chairs in the sitting area. They made themselves comfortable.

  “Do you want something to drink? Maybe we should order dinner.”

  “Sure, if that’s what you want.” Even though she nodded, she didn’t look confident. But Xander guessed that she needed some time. He didn’t blame her.

  She ordered the salmon and he went with a burger. While they waited for their food, he filled her in on the goody bags.

  “What do you mean you took care of them?” she asked.

  “I followed your list. You are really organized. I thought my assistant was detail-oriented, but you could put her to shame.”

  She smiled, but it didn’t last long. “Well, did you add the bottles of water?”

  “Yep.”

  “Two for each person, right?”

  “I told you. I followed your list.”

  She worried her lip. “What about the paper with the shuttle instructions? B
ecause that’s really—”

  “Grace, the goody bags are, well, good. If it was on your list, I did it.”

  “I should go down and pack them up as soon as we eat. I need to bring them up to the lobby.”

  “Done.”

  She blinked.

  He couldn’t help but laugh. “Grace, I took care of it.”

  The food arrived then. They both dug in, but it didn’t take Grace long to return to the goody bags.

  “Why did you stuff all the bags?” she asked, putting her fork down.

  Xander dropped the fry he was about to eat. “I came here to help you. I know you wanted to get those bags finished today.”

  She looked unconvinced.

  “If I hadn’t upset you, we would have powered through them.”

  “You were helping me,” she said.

  “Yes.”

  She nodded and returned to her food. The rest of the meal passed quickly. He kept the conversation light.

  “I needed that,” Grace said when she’d finished.

  “Do you have anything pressing you need to do tonight?”

  She consulted her iPad, her eyes scanning the page as her finger scrolled through her master list. “Not really. I got to most of what I wanted today. I could always start—”

  He gently took the iPad out of her hands.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I think we need to talk.”

  “About?”

  He spoke softly, kindly. “I’d really like to hear about you. You said some things downstairs, and I realized I was presumptuous.”

  She bit her lip. Her gaze traveled around the room, seemingly content to stop on every object but him. “Do you really want to hear about my childhood? I mean, it’s not something I normally talk about.”

  “I’m not going to force you to discuss something painful, but I want you to know that I’d like to hear about you.”

  Finally, she locked eyes with him. She remained silent for a long time. Xander didn’t think she was going to talk. Then she took a big breath and began.

  “My mom was a wild child. According to my grandmother, she’d been stubborn and headstrong since birth. Both my grandparents worked multiple jobs when my mom was growing up and they blame themselves for not being around enough. For giving her too much freedom.” She shrugged. “But I don’t think it’s their fault.”

  “Some people are born with an independent streak,” he said.

  “One day my mom and grandparents got into a huge fight. Apparently, that was nothing new. But this one must have been a doozy.”

  “What were they fighting about?”

  “I’m not sure.” Her eyebrows drew together. “I think drinking or smoking or running around with the wrong crowd. No doubt a boy was involved. She’d been boy-crazy from an early age. Who knows. In any case, she ran away from home. She was only sixteen.”

  “Where did she go?”

  “The details are fuzzy from this point on. Grammy and Pops did everything they could to find her but they didn’t have any luck. They’re pretty sure she left Florida almost immediately. One of her friends said she’d been dating an older boy.”

  Grace fidgeted in her chair, readjusting until she found a more comfortable position. “I was born in West Virginia when my mom was eighteen. We know that much. I have the birth certificate to prove it.”

  “Grace, we don’t have to talk about this anymore if you don’t want to.”

  She offered him a shy half smile. “Actually, it’s kind of nice to talk about it with someone. I rarely do.”

  It meant a lot to him that he could hear this story. That she could trust him enough to share it.

  “There’s no father listed on my birth certificate. When I was little, my mom told me a guy named Ed Crosby was my dad. He lived in the same trailer park as us. Sometimes he would take me for ice cream or buy me a Barbie for my birthday.”

  She removed her shoes, placing them gently to the side. “One night Ed and my mom got into this huge fight. I was supposed to be asleep, but, of course, their screaming woke me up. I heard everything even though I didn’t quite understand it at the time. She told him that he wasn’t my father. She’d been lying my whole life.

  “I asked her about it the next morning. She said a man named Damion was my dad. He’d been traveling through town and she’d cheated on Ed. Again, I didn’t really understand any of this at that age. I was only five.”

  Xander’s heart went out to her. His parents may have treated each other pretty badly, but at least he knew who they were.

  “About a year later, my mom was seeing yet another man. I guess her six-year-old was cramping her style. Sometimes this nice lady who lived next door would watch me, but she wasn’t home. My mom sent me to the car.”

  He sucked in a breath. He couldn’t help it. In his line of work, Xander had heard a lot of stories about horrible parents. But Grace wasn’t a client. Grace was someone in his life. Someone he was starting to have very real feelings for.

  “Yeah, it was bad. It was cold. Not the height of winter but still too cold to leave a child out in a car. Even with my sleeping bag and the other blankets she gave me.

  “That neighbor came home and found me in the car and called the cops. I was taken away from my mom that night.” Grace shrugged. “Not that she cared. She was probably relieved.”

  “What happened?” he asked gently.

  “My grandparents were tracked down by Child Protective Services and they came up to West Virginia and got me.”

  He felt anger bubbling up. “Where the hell had they been all this time?”

  She shook her head, a pained expression marring her gorgeous face. “They never knew I existed. Can you imagine that phone call? ‘Hey, you have a granddaughter. Not only that, she’s been mistreated by her mother. Do you want her?’” She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged herself. “I never saw my mom again. I still don’t know who my dad is.”

  Xander didn’t really know what to say or how to help her. He tried to focus on something he could do. “Do you want to find your father? I work with a couple of different PIs from time to time. One in particular is phenomenal at finding people.”

  She shook her head. “Thanks. I don’t think I want to find him. It’s not about knowing the actual man so much. It’s more that I want to know about me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You may not like your parents but at least you know who they are and where they come from. I feel like part of me is missing. Worse, I’ll never find it. I have an entire side of my family tree that I don’t know. Where do I get my green eyes from? I can roll my tongue, which is a genetic trait. I get it from my dad. And I’m a morning person. I know my mom never was. Is that something from my dad, or is it all me?”

  He could feel her frustration building and he desperately wanted to help her. Xander always played his cards close to his chest. For once in his life, he spoke from the heart.

  “We both had rough starts in life. But yours was worse. Much worse. You have every reason to be jaded and bitter. Yet, you’re the most positive person I know.”

  “I’ve chosen to be that way, Xander.”

  “That’s what’s so amazing about you. You’ve managed to do what I’ve never been able to.”

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  “Forgive. Move on. Accept. Be positive.”

  “It’s not as hard as you think.”

  He choked out a wary laugh. “Easy for you to say.”

  She laughed lightly. “Like so many things, the first step is the hardest. After that, it’s a piece of cake. You need to do things that make you happy.” She met him with those mysterious dark eyes. Her lips pursed. “What would make you happy right now, Xander?”

  He didn’t have to think about it. He knew from the bottom of
his feet to the top of his head what would make him happy.

  Grace.

  He leaned into her, pausing only for the briefest of moments to make sure she would meet him. Grace nodded, ever so slightly.

  Xander closed the gap between them. He pressed his mouth to hers, capturing her lips in a kiss so sweet and so real that he immediately felt a loosening in his stomach.

  This was happy. His happy. Her.

  Chapter Twelve

  Grace’s head was swimming.

  She’d done something rare today. She’d delved into her past and shared her most secret feelings. Yet, that wasn’t what was causing the light-headed feeling. It was Xander’s firm lips on hers.

  She needed to get closer to him. She rose from the chair, tugging Xander so he would join her. When he did, he engulfed her in his strong arms. They never broke the kiss. She was clinging to him for dear life.

  He was intoxicating. She cupped his face in her hands, pulling him even closer. She tilted her head and opened her lips, and he took advantage by pushing his tongue into her mouth.

  This didn’t make any sense. If nothing else, talking about her past served as a potent reminder of where she came from and, more important, what she wanted. She’d meant what she’d said to Xander. She believed in happy endings because she had to. Knowing the harder side of life only solidified that idea. Unfortunately, the man currently causing her toes to curl wasn’t going to be able to fulfill her wishes and desires.

  Yet...she wanted him. More than she’d wanted any man in a long time. Maybe ever. But this wasn’t going to end the way she needed. That’s why she should probably stop kissing him.

  Instead, she poured even more of herself into the kiss.

  Grace didn’t realize it at first, but she was starting to tiptoe backward. She clenched the front of his sweater in her fingers, urging him to follow her. He broke their kiss.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the bedroom.”

  He paused, meeting her eyes. “You’ve had a really... I mean, I don’t want you to think... That is...”

  “Xander, stop.” She giggled and stepped toward him. She placed a hand on his chest, felt the strong muscles beneath his sweater. She trailed her hand down to his stomach, delighting when he sucked in a breath. “Let’s go,” she said in her most sultry voice.