The Best Man's Plan (Special Edition)

by Gina Wilkins

  She was glad now that she’d gone to the extra effort. Bryan’s eyes all but glazed over when he stepped back to look at her. Talk about a boost to her ego…

  He moved quickly. One minute she was standing in front of him, and the next she was lying beneath him on her bed.

  Her breathless laugh was smothered beneath his mouth. Her arms went around him and her bare legs tangled with his still-clothed ones. She was going to have to get those tuxedo pants off him—in a minute, she thought as she arched into his roaming hands.

  Scraps of lace flew, baring her completely to his leisurely exploration. She couldn’t be still as he touched her with his fingertips, his lips, the tip of his tongue, and the edge of his teeth. She had to touch him, to move against him, to press her lips against whatever part of him she could reach.

  Her hands finally found the fastenings of his pants. Bryan cooperated as she unsnapped them, and then the pants joined her clothes on the bedroom floor. When his underwear followed, she thought she might very well hyperventilate.

  She’d known from that first day Bryan had strolled into her shop that she’d never met a man like this before. She’d been aware even then that he could be dangerous.

  But this was no time for fear, and too late for hesitation. She pushed her doubts to the back of her mind and melted into him.

  Passion flowed between them, so hot she wouldn’t have been surprised if steam rose from their damp bodies. Their breathing was labored, their movements frantic.

  Grace had never seen Bryan when he wasn’t in complete control—not even when he lost his temper. He wasn’t in control now. While his actions were still skillful enough to drive her to the point of insanity, there was nothing calculated or premeditated about them.

  For once, they weren’t putting on an act or performing for an audience or following a predetermined plan. They were just Bryan and Grace, letting instinct and emotion guide them.

  Nothing had ever felt more right to her.

  By the time he finally donned protection and came back to her, she thought she might just explode if they didn’t finish this soon. She pulled him to her with eager hands, her mouth fusing with his as he settled between her invitingly upraised knees.

  They fit perfectly together—but she shouldn’t read too much into that, she reminded herself, trying to retain a modicum of perspective even at that emotional moment. And then she couldn’t think at all. Didn’t even try.

  She would have plenty of time to think later.

  “Grace,” he gasped, stiffening against her.

  Just hearing her name on his lips sent her over the edge. She was unable to speak coherently enough to say his name in return, but it echoed in her mind as she floated on waves of sensation.

  Bryan was the first to be able to move again, though she couldn’t have said how much time had passed before he did so. With a slight groan, he shifted to roll onto his back beside her, relieving her of his weight. She wouldn’t have minded if he’d stayed awhile longer.

  Scooping her against him with his right arm, he settled her into his shoulder, his other hand stroking her side, soothing her as she tried to steady her pulse and her breathing. “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice a rough growl.

  “I’m fine,” she managed to say, though her tongue still felt thick and unresponsive. “Your arm?”

  It seemed to take him a moment to understand the question, and then he replied, “Feels great. Just like the rest of me.”

  She didn’t quite believe that he felt no discomfort at all after using his arm so strenuously, but she wouldn’t press him about it. She supposed he would tell her if he’d done any lasting damage. Maybe.

  The extremely eventful day seemed to be catching up with her. She was suddenly so tired she could barely hold her eyes open. A yawn escaped her before she could stop it.

  Bryan laughed softly and dropped a kiss on her temple. “I’ll be right back,” he murmured. “Don’t feel obligated to stay awake for my benefit.”

  “Mmm.” She snuggled her face into the pillow when he slid out from beneath her.

  She felt him return to the bed a short while later, but she didn’t rouse enough to try to speak to him. She needed to escape into sleep just then—away from the emotions left over from her sister’s wedding and from the tumultuous passion she had just shared with Bryan.

  She could handle everything, she assured herself. She could move on with her life, get back to the way things had been, emerge unscathed from the events of the past few weeks.

  But first she needed some rest. She fell asleep with her cheek on his shoulder and his arms around her. Just this one night, was her last coherent thought before blessed oblivion claimed her.

  Even still half-asleep, Grace sensed that there was a reason she didn’t want to open her eyes Sunday morning. She burrowed deeper into the covers, trying to cling to sleep a little while longer, but something felt wrong. She always slept in an oversized T-shirt and panties, never naked. She wasn’t wearing a stitch now.

  With a low moan, she finally opened her eyes, squinting against the sunlight filtering through the curtains. She was alone in her bed, thank goodness. She hadn’t heard Bryan leave, but he must have slipped out sometime during the night. Whether it was to give her some privacy this morning, or because he hadn’t wanted to be stranded here today with nothing to wear but a rumpled tuxedo, she couldn’t have said, but she was glad she didn’t have to face him just yet.

  It chagrined her to realize that her bed felt suddenly big and empty without him in it. After only one night. It was just as well that there wouldn’t be any more.

  She didn’t bother berating herself for her actions last night. She thought of that decision with a sense of inevitability. They had been moving toward that step ever since she had agreed to pose temporarily as his love interest. Call it curiosity or propinquity or a monumental lapse in judgment, but she had known it would happen eventually. Just as she’d known that once they had satisfied their curiosity—or whatever it was—they would have to move on in separate directions.

  She didn’t spend a long time brushing her teeth, showering or pulling her damp hair into a low ponytail, but she didn’t waste a minute. She used that time to pull her composure together, lecture herself about keeping her feelings under control, and rehearse the things she would say next time she spoke to Bryan.

  She would be calm, collected and courteous as she explained to him that last night had been very nice, but it wasn’t going to happen again. Their lives were too different—they were too different—to maintain even a casual relationship. And as for anything else—that was entirely out of the question.

  Not that she really believed he was considering anything permanent. She knew about that infamous list of his, and she was well aware that she met very few of his qualifications for a mate.

  Dressed in a short T-shirt and low-slung jeans, her feet bare, she headed for the kitchen.

  The sight of Bryan standing in the sunlight streaming through the window over her kitchen sink drove most of her carefully practiced words from her mind. The sizzling smile he gave her effectively erased the rest of them.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I brought breakfast,” Bryan said, motioning toward a fragrant-smelling bakery bag on the table. “And I just started the coffee.”

  She cleared her throat. “I thought you’d left.”

  “I did for a while. Ran home and showered and changed,” he said, motioning toward his polo shirt and jeans. He’d left the bandage off this time, and while she could still see the reddened, burned areas on his forearm, they already looked much better than they had the last time she’d seen them.

  She moved toward the cabinet where she stored coffee mugs, pulling two of them out to give herself something to do while she reminded herself of all the sensible things she’d intended to say to him. She only hoped she didn’t forget them again, she thought as he advanced on her with a gleam in his eyes.

  “Do you realize that y
ou haven’t even given me a smile yet—much less a good-morning kiss?” he asked.

  She smoothed her hands down her jeans. “I, uh…”

  He leaned over to plant a firm kiss on her mouth. “Now how about the smile?” he asked when he drew away.

  She gave him a quick, stiff smile in response. “That bag smells delicious,” she said, seizing on the first innocuous topic that came to her mind. “What did you bring us?”

  He dropped his hands on her shoulders to hold her in place when she would have moved toward the table. “Grace, I know you’re a little nervous—that awkward morning-after thing, and all.”

  “You’re right. It is a bit awkward. Maybe we should just have breakfast.”

  “Fine. We can talk while we eat.”

  “Talk?” She drew a deep breath. “Maybe we should wait a few days before we get into a serious discussion. You know, just to regain some perspective after the wedding and…and everything.”

  He shook his head. “Has anyone ever told you that it’s very difficult to pin you down for a serious talk? One way or another, you’ve been putting me off for days.”

  “We’ll have plenty of time to talk later.”

  He didn’t release her shoulders. “When, Grace? Starting tomorrow, you’re going to use work for your excuse. Chloe will be away on her honeymoon for a couple of weeks and you’re going to have more responsibility at the shop. You’re going to tell me you’re much too busy and distracted then for a serious talk.”

  Because she suspected she would have done exactly that for the next two weeks while Chloe was away on her honeymoon, Grace scowled. “I do have responsibilities at work, you know. I don’t have whole teams of people to handle details for me. Maybe our little shop isn’t as impressive as your business empire, but Chloe and I have bills to pay, and so do our few employees.”

  That made him frown. “I never said your work wasn’t important. I know you’ll be very busy for the next couple of weeks, which is one reason I thought we should talk today, while we have the chance.”

  She pulled away from him. “I really don’t see what we have to talk about, anyway. We’ve accomplished everything we set out to do. Your plan worked great. The wedding went off beautifully and with very little media attention since there was no juicy best-friend-betrayed angle to keep the tabloids interested. You and I had a nice little celebration of our success, and now it’s time to wind it down.”

  She turned to pour herself a cup of coffee, speaking with her back to him. “Seems to me like the only thing left to talk about is how many more public appearances we need to make before we can quietly drift apart. Maybe if you start dating another cute little starlet in a few weeks, everyone will naturally assume you’ve lost interest in me and moved on to more interesting pursuits.”

  Bryan had remained quiet while she made that extremely painful little speech. “Are you finished?” he asked when she paused to take a bracing sip of caffeine. He spoke very quietly, no expression at all in his voice.

  She set her cup down and braced herself on the counter with both hands. “I’m finished.”

  “Good. Because that was the biggest load of garbage I’ve heard in longer than I can remember.”

  Stung, she swung around to glare at him. “What?”

  “You’re right, the ‘plan’ worked great. I’m glad we were able to take some of the pressure off Chloe and Donovan. The wedding was beautiful, they’re married now, and I’m sure they will live happily ever after. But to be quite honest, I’m not really interested in discussing their future right now. I’m much more concerned with ours.”

  She shrugged. “We already know our future. I just described it.”

  “I’ve already told you what I thought of your description. Garbage.”

  She opened her mouth to respond, but he surged on before she had a chance to speak. “Last night was not a casual celebration of the successful conclusion of a brilliant plan. It was a hell of a lot more than that, and it’s been building for a long time.”

  “I…”

  He didn’t give her a chance to finish—which was just as well, because she hadn’t a clue what she would have said.

  Looming over her, he continued in clipped tones, “As for your clever suggestion that I take up with some ‘cute little starlet’—that’s not even worth the breath it would take me to respond. Concerning the rest of your comments, I see no need for us to have any more public outings just for the sake of the media. We’ve put that gossip to rest and everyone has moved on to more juicy speculation.”

  “Oh. Well, then.” If he really thought there was no need for further outings, then they could just end it now. It would be a great relief, she assured herself, not to have to deal with any more high-society events—wondering what to wear, how to do her hair and makeup, what to say, or not to say. If she never heard another bored photographer call her name for a fake smile, she wouldn’t be at all disappointed. All in all, it would be best to just call it quits right now.

  She could deal with the aching hollow left inside her later. She would certainly have plenty of free time to do so once her fake relationship with Bryan was over.

  “From now on,” Bryan added, “you and I will be together for no other reason than that we want to be. The media will have nothing to do with it.”

  A dull pounding began somewhere in the back of Grace’s skull. So it wasn’t going to be as easy as she had hoped to break this off between them. And this was exactly why she had kept putting this talk off. Now she realized she should have made her intentions clear several days ago, before she’d given in to temptation and made love with him last night.

  It wasn’t going to be easy to convince him that she wasn’t interested in him when she had been all over him last night. And especially since she knew very well that she was head over heels in love with him—and probably had been from the first time he had walked into her shop. But that was something she could not allow him to see, since loving him did not make her right for him.

  She chose her words carefully. “I’m sure we’ll see each other through Chloe and Donovan. Chloe enjoys entertaining, and we’ll be invited to dinner parties and that sort of thing.”

  He was shaking his head long before she finished speaking. “I’m talking about us, Grace. You and me.”

  “There is no us, Bryan. It was all an act. Don’t start confusing that with reality.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Last night was no act.”

  “Last night was…” She almost called it a mistake. She bit that word back because she didn’t really think of it that way. Maybe it had complicated things between them, but she had no regrets. She was going to savor those memories for a very long time.

  “Last night was a one-time thing,” she said instead.

  “You really think so?” he asked, his voice silky.

  She lifted her chin. “I know so.”

  “I’m wondering which of us is really denying reality now?”

  She sighed and planted her fists on her hips. “Just what is it you want from me, Bryan?”

  “I want you to marry me.”

  Grace sagged for a moment against the kitchen countertop, needing its support. Of all the answers she had expected to her exasperated question, a proposal had not been one of them.

  “Have you lost your mind?” she asked in a gasp.

  Bryan pushed a hand through his hair. “Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.”

  “Then let’s just pretend you never said what you just said.”

  “I’m tired of pretending, Grace. This is real.”

  Taking a few steps away from him, she shook her head. “I think you should leave now. It’s obvious that we need some time apart—just to clear our minds and to put some distance between us.”

  He watched her without making any move to follow her. “You think my mind is clouded?”

  She took another few steps away from him. “I think you’ve gotten carried away by everything that’s been going on lately
. You know, spending so much time together. You getting hurt. Dinner with your parents. The wedding. And, uh, well—after the wedding.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest, an odd half smile playing around his lips. “Grace?”

  Now she was really getting nervous. Why the hell was he smiling? “What?”

  “Where are you going?”

  She realized that she had inched so far away from him she was almost entirely out of the kitchen. Embarrassed, she stopped and lifted her chin. “I’m not going anywhere. You are.”

  “I know you’re afraid…”

  Her shoulders squaring, she drew herself taller. “I am not afraid of you.”

  “You’re afraid of how you feel about me. I understand. It’s safer to protect yourself. To follow your predictable routines, keeping your parents and your sister happy, ignoring your own dreams and wishes.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You think I haven’t gotten to know you during the past year? Everything you do is for Chloe—making sure she and Donovan got together, going to so much trouble to see that the wedding was unspoiled. Even the shop was Chloe’s dream, not yours—but you’re the one who’ll be doing much of the work there now that she’s married.”

  That stung. She glared at him, almost quivering with temper and suppressed emotion. “And I suppose you consider yourself the well-adjusted one between us? You’re the one who went shopping for a wife as though you were looking for a promising new business investment. You’re the one who left a string of busty blondes to start tracking down a woman who fit some stupid list of wife requirements because you’re such an arrogant control freak you thought you could just order up a wife the way you would a pizza. And then, when it didn’t work out with your first choice, you just switched over to her twin sister!”

  She had effectively removed the smile from his face. When he moved toward her, she was unable to resist taking another step backward. Not that she was intimidated by his fierce glare, she assured herself. She was simply moving out of his way if he was trying to leave.