For Seven Nights Only (Chase Brothers)

by Sarah Ballance

  Of course, the moment she returned and stepped foot on the yacht, all traces of real air vanished. Her ex stood on the bow with a couple of the groomsmen. Lovely. Fortunately, none of the men noticed her, and with guests arriving within the half hour, odds were good she wouldn’t have to face him until the ceremony itself. And it wasn’t as if he’d know immediately she didn’t have a date. Even if she did, she wouldn’t be dragging him down the aisle with her.

  Below deck, she found Jana in the cabin by herself. “How did you pull this off?” Kelsie asked her.

  “They’re doing hair and makeup in the next room. I just needed a moment.”

  Kelsie waved the razor. “You realize if you’d sprung for a wax job, you’d be stubble-free through your honeymoon.”

  “No way. A friend of mine went in for a wax and ended up covered in red bumps.” Jana propped her foot on a table and hiked her skirt. “Not worth the risk.”

  “I can only assume that applies to all regions of your body,” Kelsie said, “and I’d just like it known these maid of honor duties only go so far.”

  Jana perked up. “Speaking of which, I think Chad misses you.”

  “Not the best topic of conversation when I’ve got a razor pressed against any part of your body,” Kelsie said evenly. And, she hoped, dismissively. “Why did you need a minute alone? You don’t do alone. You do center of attention, hands down a stranger’s pants.”

  “You were supposed to prevent that. Besides, we were just having fun.”

  Kelsie wondered how much her sister’s almost-husband had had at his bachelor party and whether that, too, would qualify as “fun” in her sister’s eyes.

  “Back to Chad,” Jana said. “Do you still love him?”

  Kelsie shook her head. “No. As a matter of fact, I’m utterly indifferent to his existence.”

  “So I can trust you not to throw him overboard?”

  Overboard. Well, that just didn’t make her think of Sawyer at all. Kelsie forced a smile. “I am not going to do anything to ruin your big day.”

  “Good, because I’ve seen his date, and she’s really hot.”

  Kelsie sighed and tossed the razor on the table. “What happened to him missing me?”

  Jana shrugged. “He was asking a bunch of questions about you. If you’d been seeing anyone, and who your date for today was. That kind of thing.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be delighted to know I came alone.”

  Jana sighed and twisted her necklace, a longtime habit that displayed her nerves. “You’re so brave. For coming alone, I mean.”

  Kelsie ducked into the restroom—head, whatever it was on a boat—and rinsed the razor. When she returned, she said, “I didn’t cross the Arctic. It was more of a gangplank. With rails.”

  “No, not that.” Her sister sighed, and the sound was dangerously wobbly. “What I mean is you don’t need anybody. People are going to see you alone, and you’re okay with that.”

  The words were a cruel slap, but when the initial shock dissolved, she realized she really was okay with that. It was better than being half of something that didn’t count.

  Or in love with someone who didn’t want her.

  The thought hit her like a thunderbolt. A depressing, look-how-alone-you-really-are kind of thunderbolt that offered no hope of finding Mr. Right. Because he’d been found against his will, and that…well, that was something else that didn’t count.

  “So what about that guy you were seeing?” Jana asked, clearly unaware of the emotional shrapnel raining over Kelsie.

  She froze. “You and I have not had a conversation that didn’t revolve entirely around wedding things for at least three months. What in the world makes you think I’m seeing someone?”

  “Chad saw you at the opera.”

  Kelsie took a shaky breath. Not because of Chad, but because at the mere mention of opera, her legs grew wobbly and her insides went nuclear. “Well, in that case,” she managed, “the more logical conclusion is that I went to the opera, not that I’ve been seeing someone.”

  Jana shook her head but not vigorously enough to mess up her hair. “Um, no. You were definitely seeing someone.”

  “You’re trusting my ex’s opinion of that?” Kelsie asked.

  Jana just stared, her expression knowing.

  “Yeah, I saw a guy. A couple of dates.” Six dates. Not that she was counting. “I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but it was just sex.”

  Jana’s jaw dropped. “At the opera? I’m pretty sure no one goes to the opera to have sex.”

  “Not exactly at the opera.” To Jana’s questioning look, she added, “We left early.”

  Utterly dumfounded, Jana asked, “To have sex? And I’m sorry, but how does someone not exactly have sex at the opera?”

  Kelsie wanted to scream. To not relive anything Sawyer. But there was no way her sister would let this go. “We kissed at the opera, groped in the cab, and had sex at home. Nice discussion for your wedding day, by the way.” Ordinarily Kelsie wouldn’t be so blunt about her private life, but if her sister wanted to trade gossip with her ex, it might as well be the truth.

  Jana grinned. “Was he hot?”

  Kelsie sighed. Wistfully. “Seriously hot.”

  “I think I’m actually impressed. That sounds kind of wild.”

  “It was amazing. And it’s over.”

  Jana frowned. “Maybe that’s for the better. I want you to find someone who wants a relationship so you can be as happy as I am.”

  Kelsie just stared. Granted, it was her sister’s wedding day, but Jana had totally checked out on the hot guy sex angle. When Chad had dumped Kelsie, Jana had oh-so-helpfully patted her on the shoulder and agreed that yes, maybe Kelsie was a little dull. Now she was doing something—and someone—utterly undull, and her sister was suggesting she settle down?

  Not that Jana didn’t have a point. Kelsie definitely needed someone who wanted more than just sex.

  And that someone definitely wasn’t Sawyer.

  So why couldn’t she stop thinking about him?

  Someone knocked on the door. “Five minutes!” the wedding planner called.

  “Oh my gosh,” Jana said. “Am I really doing this?”

  Kelsie smiled and hoped it hid the emptiness she felt inside. “Until death do you part.”

  …

  Sawyer stood ten feet from the East River, but it felt more like inches. It was a gorgeous Saturday, but the sunshine and crisp air did absolutely nothing to remedy the cold sweat that had overtaken him a good hour before. “You’re an idiot,” he told himself. “It’s just water. You know how to swim.”

  A kid passed by, a triple ice cream cone tilting carelessly from his pudgy fist. His eyes narrowed in his chubby face like Sawyer was crazy.

  “I have Bluetooth,” Sawyer called after him. Because that was Sawyer’s problem. A kid thinking he talked to himself. Not his world being in tatters because copious amounts of hydrogen and oxygen molecules arranged just so scared the shit out of him.

  Not because Kelsie did.

  Definitely not because being without her scared him even more.

  “It was a long time ago,” he told himself. “Years. This is ridiculous.”

  Some pep talk. The murky water looked like death. Or sewage. The memory of that something touching his leg returned fiercely, and he shuddered and took a step back.

  Jesus Christ. He was a grown-ass man. It was water. And Ethan was right. Sawyer had been touched by something far scarier than whatever lurked under the surface of New York Harbor.

  He’d fallen the fuck in love.

  “If Kelsie was in that water,” he muttered to himself, “you’d go after her.”

  He straightened. Kelsie was in that water.

  She’d said her sister was getting married in the harbor. He pulled out his phone and started calling wedding charters, hoping upon hope that her sister shared her last name. On the third call, he hit pay dirt.

  “Yes, sir, there’s a Reed wedding
, but they’ve already left the dock.”

  After asking the name of the boat, Sawyer asked, “Any chance you can deliver a late-arriving guest?”

  “No, sir. Once the boat leaves, that’s it.”

  “Thanks for your time.” Sawyer ended the call. Now what? His gaze skated over the river, the tracks left by boats and the kayaks that dotted the surface with bright color that seemed out of place against a concrete world.

  God, he really was an idiot. He’d find someone with a boat.

  But first he had a stop to make.

  Back in his apartment building, he hesitated over the button for his floor and pressed the one for Kelsie’s instead. He let himself into her apartment with the just-in-case-the-ceiling-falls-in key she’d given him. As soon as the door swung open, Minidick scampered to meet him. Was it Sawyer’s imagination, or did the dog look unhappy that he wasn’t Kelsie? Irrationally annoyed, Sawyer sat on the floor. Even from that position, he towered over the dog, but he wasn’t about to lie down to come face to face with a creature that had lifted his leg on him once before.

  “Look, mutt.” He stopped when the dog cocked his head. Was he actually listening?

  Nope. Teeth appeared. Minidick wasn’t listening. He was probably deciding which bite to take first. Sawyer sighed and decided to switch tactics. What was the damned dog’s name again? And why was he negotiating with a two-pound bundle of nerves?

  Marmaduke.

  He tried again. “Look, Marmaduke.”

  To his surprise, the low rumble that had emanated from the dog ceased. His tail wagged, and Sawyer realized this might actually be the lowest moment of his life. Freaking hostage negotiations with a dog. Just give me Kelsie, and I’ll do whatever you want.

  “I screwed up,” he told Minidick. “I really like your boss lady”—because he was so not going to refer to Kelsie as the dog’s mommy—“and I didn’t tell her, not that it would have mattered if I had. Apparently I’m the wrong kind of man for her, but I want to date her, more than seven times, so how wrong can that be?”

  The mutt cocked his head.

  “What I’m about to do, I’m not sure I’ll survive.” Sadly, only a slight exaggeration. “And I’m not sure she’ll want anything to do with me if I do, but I just wanted you to know I was trying. And if we don’t see one another again, do me a favor and bite the shit out of the next guy who touches her.”

  Minidick stared blankly. Figured. Sawyer reached to pat the little rat on the head and stood. And the dog didn’t so much as bare one tiny little tooth.

  Before Sawyer walked out, he left his key on the counter, then locked up and went downstairs to his apartment to change clothes. He felt like he was dressing for a funeral. Or a wedding. Same difference.

  But maybe not anymore.

  Kelsie had changed all that.

  Chapter Sixteen

  After a beautiful ceremony, the chairs were broken down, and the deck opened for dancing and socializing.

  Kelsie felt like doing neither.

  Chad’s girlfriend seemed to come closer to spilling out of her top with every sway of the boat, and despite that, Chad seemed to be paying more attention to Kelsie, whose cups by no means runneth over. Kelsie managed polite conversation and ignored Chad’s incessant compliments, but thereafter dodged him by hanging out with her grandma and the rest of the over-eighty crowd. Fortunately, despite the fancy venue, her sister’s wedding was low-key and lacking in ritual, in particular the one requiring her to dance with the best man.

  An hour after the vows had been exchanged, her ability to pretend to be interested in goiters waning, Kelsie was giving serious consideration to hiding below deck when the drone of an engine caught her attention. Unlike most of the noises she’d heard out there, this one didn’t appear to be in any hurry to pass. In fact, the small vessel seemed to be headed straight for them.

  As it neared, it slowed. And over the groan of the engines backing down, she heard her name. But she couldn’t have…especially not in the somewhat shaky tones of that very familiar voice.

  What…the…

  By now a crowd of wedding guests had gathered on the starboard side of the yacht, but Kelsie only had eyes for the man standing in the very center of the creaky, unkempt fishing boat, clutching the ladder to the flybridge like his life depended on it. Under a bright orange life vest, he wore a suit, not unlike the one he’d worn to the opera.

  “Sawyer?”

  “I stood on the banks of that river for half the day today, Kelsie,” he called over the smack of water against the hull. “And I tried, but I couldn’t do it. Not until I asked myself what I’d do if you were out in the water, and the truth is, I’d go to you in a second. And that was when I realized that you were out here, and that I owed you a date.”

  A ripple of murmurs shot through the guests.

  “Any chance you’ll let me on that boat of yours?” he asked.

  She crossed her arms. “Swim.”

  A chorus of gasps echoed from the yacht deck. Jana leaned close. “Is that the opera guy?”

  From Kelsie’s other side, Chad made a strange noise in his throat. “That is the opera guy.”

  “I’m not swimming,” Sawyer said over the lap of water against the hulls.

  “What’s this about an opera guy?” Kelsie’s mom asked.

  “Nothing,” Kelsie said. To Sawyer she yelled, “We’ll talk later. This is my sister’s wedding.”

  “My wedding. Good point,” Jana said. “The opera guy is allowed onboard.”

  “Thank you,” Sawyer said, not that he looked particularly relieved.

  Kelsie spun and nearly ran into Chad, then quickly brushed off his steadying arm. He and Sawyer could have each other. She’d be below deck…behind a locked door.

  Moments later, a knock sounded. Like Kelsie hadn’t seen that one coming. “Are you still speaking to me?” he called through the door.

  Sawyer. He’d actually done it. She couldn’t believe it. Warily, she crossed the small cabin and opened the door, finding her sister and parents crowding the space behind him. A stupid rush of emotion crowded her throat, leaving behind an irrational lump.

  “You’re not wet,” she said. “That wasn’t part of the deal. In fact, I’m pretty sure the terms were swim.”

  He gave a hapless shrug that was hampered by his life jacket. “Yeah, but as you pointed out, it’s your sister’s wedding. And she insisted I come aboard in a more traditional manner, so who was I to argue? Now about us…”

  “I might be speaking to you,” she said. “But only because I’m curious as to why you’d brave your hydrophobia to talk to me.”

  “I’d love to answer that, but…” He jerked his head, gesturing to the line of people behind him.

  She’d need a miracle to get rid of them. “Jana, Mom, Dad, this is Sawyer.”

  Her mom and dad exchanged glances. “The opera guy?” her mom asked.

  “Actually,” Jana said, “she said he was a sex guy.”

  “He’s not any kind of guy!” Kelsie shouted, mortified.

  Sawyer held up a hand. “Wait a minute. I’m definitely a guy,” he said weakly, “but more of a land mammal.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Kelsie muttered. “Sex guy,” in front of her parents. She’d have to kill her sister. Later.

  “Happy wedding day,” Sawyer said to Jana, who was standing there in a three thousand dollar gown and practically drooling over another man. “I’m sorry about the intrusion.”

  Kelsie grabbed Sawyer’s hand, pulling him into the room with her. “Can you excuse us a moment?” Without waiting for an answer, she closed the door. And locked it. “Is this better?” she asked. “No worries about falling overboard.”

  “Yeah, as long as the boat doesn’t sink.” Some of his color had returned, at least. But was he turning green?

  “You don’t get seasick, do you?”

  “How the hell would I know that?”

  She laughed. “Would you like a drink?”
Her hands shook. Her knees shook.

  “I’m going to need one in a minute. But first I’d like to ask you something.” He took a deep breath, then her hands. “Kelsie—actually, wait a minute. I need to do something. This is big.” He eased to the floor, explaining, “I really don’t want to ruin this by accidentally looking outside and seeing water.”

  “Nice life jacket.” Yeah, joke around. Like you can breathe. Like your whole world doesn’t hinge on this man. And quite possibly this moment.

  “The life jacket stays. Now where was I?” He grinned. The boat dipped, erasing the grin, but he managed to hang on. “I am not the man I used to be. You changed me.”

  Straight to the chase. And the lies. “I saw you two days ago with a blonde in your lap.”

  “She wasn’t invited. A second later, she was gone. I almost went up to you, but that wouldn’t have been fair. I wasn’t the man you needed.”

  She frowned. “Did you come here to tell me that?”

  “No. I came here to tell you I was wrong. That the reason I spent my entire life running from relationships wasn’t because I didn’t want one. It was because I hadn’t found you. And I wanted you to know that.”

  A teardrop slipped down her cheek. Dammit. He was a pro at feeding lines, and unlike two weeks ago, she wasn’t starving. But the man had braved water for her, and he hadn’t been faking his aversion to that.

  He offered a gentle smile. “Kelsie, baby, you made me want something more. Hell, you made me come out on the water to get it. So in light of that, I’d like to ask you something very important.”

  “If you ask me to marry you,” she said, “I’m going to kick you.”

  “Noted for future reference,” he said. “For now, Kelsie Reed, will you do me the honor of becoming my girlfriend?”

  She blinked. “Are you serious?”

  “Serious enough to go to the opera, if that’s what it takes. And the library and the museum, too. I’ll even let Minidick gnaw on my ankle. Hell, Kelsie. I’ll even eat your cooking. I just want to be with you. Just you and me.”

  “Oh, Sawyer,” she sniffled. “I won’t make you eat my cooking.”

  “Good, because that was more of a bluff.”