Somehow, she managed to hold herself back from sprinting the distance and launching herself into his big, strong arms, or maybe that was Ted keeping her in time with the music. Either way, as they neared the end of the aisle, Ted gave her hand a small squeeze and angled his head closer to hers. “When this is over, we need to talk.”
She did a little double take, but then it was time for them to part. Ted stepped to the right as she stepped in line to the left. After that, the music changed, and all anyone could look at was the bride.
* * *
Brody couldn’t take his eyes off Gwen. She was gorgeous, standing there on the other side of the aisle in that scarlet gown, her hair pinned up in a twist. Tears glistened in her eyes as Claudia and Bret exchanged their vows. She was soft and sweet and such a sucker for a good happily ever after. She was his every fantasy. And from the looks she’d been getting throughout the ceremony, maybe not just his. Probably half the guys and at least some of the girls had designs on his woman. Mostly, it didn’t bother him. Gwen was breathtaking, and they’d have to be blind not to notice. But there was one set of eyes glued to his girl that was bringing out the chest-thumping caveman in him.
Fucking Ted.
Brody’s molars ground down. Sure enough, the guy was still watching her. It was just like he’d told her it would be. As soon as Ted realized he was losing that undivided focus she’d been giving him for God only knows how long, suddenly, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He’d been all about those frequent touches and private whispers—and what the hell had that been when they were walking down the aisle? Something about the look on Gwen’s face had put Brody’s teeth on edge. Because Ted was making a play all right, but it was too fucking late. Gwen had wised up about him and, more importantly, about what her heart really wanted. Who the right man for her really was. Spoiler: Not Ted.
The pencil neck would get over it. If it had taken this long for Ted to figure out he wanted Gwen, then he didn’t really want her at all. And he sure as shit didn’t deserve her.
Brody didn’t want to think about Ted anymore, not with Gwen standing there looking so beautiful and with only a few mere hours before he could get her alone again. He wanted to hold her while they fell asleep and wake up to her still in his arms.
Next thing, the priest was inviting Bret to kiss his bride. And damn, that first kiss as husband and wife was something else—enough to knock down any thoughts about Ted, that was for sure.
Especially when halfway through the lip-lock, Bret punched his fist overhead as if he’d just brought home the gold…or the girl of his dreams.
Way to go, man.
After the recessional, Brody found his way over to Gwen.
“Some finish,” he said, stepping in close behind her where everyone had gathered by the doors leading out of the church.
She turned to him, her smile as wide as he’d ever seen, those whiskey eyes so bright, he was pretty sure they’d be burned into his mind forever.
“That was amazing.” She sighed, closing her eyes. “Did you tell Bret to do that?”
Brody laughed. “No way. That was all him. All I said was when he kissed her, he ought to really kiss her. Think about what they’d done, what it meant, how he felt about it…and put it all out there. Hell, nobody likes a limp finish.”
Gwen was laughing into her hand, her eyes darting around to see who was close. “A limp finish? Only you, Brody.”
He leaned closer, resting his hand at the small of her back and giving in to the briefest indulgence of letting his fingers play against the fabric there. “Only me, huh?” he said, conveniently ignoring the context. “Not gonna lie, Gwen. I like the sound of that a lot.”
Stepping closer, so there was barely an inch left between them, she bit her lip. “Do you?”
Yeah. And she definitely shouldn’t be looking at him like that. “Enough that I may have to put some distance between us.”
A stitch pulled between her brows. “What?”
All he wanted to do in that moment was to flatten his hand against her back and bring her flush against his body. Feel the press of her soft curves and sweet lines from his chest down to his knees. But instead, he forced himself to release her and settled for brushing that little furrow with the stroke of his thumb.
“Have you got any idea how badly I want my hands all over you? How hard I’m fighting to keep from sliding my hands into your hair? Fisting the fabric of your gown as I pull it up? Messing up all that perfect makeup with my mouth?”
He groaned, because all those things he was trying so hard not to do were even more tempting now that he’d said them aloud.
And that catch of Gwen’s breath, like all of what he’d said had as much appeal to her as it did to him? Not helping the resolve.
“That would probably be bad,” she answered a little too breathlessly. “We haven’t even had the pictures yet.” Her hand moved to his chest, her fingers playing with a button there. “So, if anything were to happen, we’d have to be very careful.”
Brodie’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.
She hadn’t just… But the way those pretty, even white teeth of hers were sinking into her bottom lip and she was peering up at him through those thick dark lashes… Oh yeah, she totally was. He gulped, feeling the blood rush from his extremities inward, all of it thundering straight to his groin.
Because, hot.
He took her hand in his and was backing her through the crowded vestibule when a solid clap on his shoulder had him stopping in his tracks and jerking around to where Sean was grinning at him, an even-more-pregnant Molly giggling by his side.
“Sean, Molly, good to see you,” he said stiffly, his mind still stuck on the thought of getting Gwen alone in that little room down the hall. He turned to Gwen, whose cheeks were burning a pretty shade to match her gown, and gave her hand a squeeze. “You guys have met Gwen.”
Molly’s eyes flashed down to where he was holding Gwen’s hand and then back up to his. Leaning in, she mock whispered, “So I’m guessing the train hadn’t left the station after all, huh?”
Molly.
Gwen arched a brow at him, but he shook his head and brought her hand to his mouth for a kiss. “Jase and Emily around?” he asked, changing the subject.
Sean rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but don’t bother looking for them. You know how they get at weddings.”
Brody straightened. Shit. He knew exactly how they got at weddings. Which meant it was just as well Sean and Molly had cut them off before they got to that little room, because he was willing to bet it was already occupied.
“How do they get at weddings?” Gwen asked, looking from one to the next of them.
Brody stared from Sean to Molly before looking back to Gwen and laughing. “Sentimental.”
Chapter 15
The wedding pictures took forever, but the photographer had some great ideas, so Gwen couldn’t wait to see how the photos turned out. And now that they were through, there were still a couple of hours to kill before the next event. Not wanting to waste a minute, she was practically running to Brody’s car when she saw him closing the front passenger-side door.
He turned, his eyes raking over her in one heated pass before his head dropped in what looked like tortured defeat.
“What’s going on?” she asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“Aunt Doris needs a ride.”
That wasn’t a big deal. So Gwen would have to keep her hands to herself for another ten minutes. No problem.
Only it was a problem, because the ride Aunt Doris needed wasn’t to the hotel. It was back to her house on the far side of Skokie so she could feed her cat. And then a ride back to the hotel.
And not surprisingly, she’d asked Brody to drive her…because he was such a “nice boy.”
Gwen couldn’t help but laugh. “There’s a cost to being
everyone’s favorite.”
Brody pulled her in to his chest for a brief hug, tucking her wrap around her shoulders. “I only want to be yours.”
“You already are. And this won’t take long,” she promised. “We’ll still have some time to ourselves back at the hotel.”
“Good. Because I’ve missed you.”
She was smiling like a fool when Brody helped her into the car. She was smiling when they pulled into Doris’s drive. She was not smiling forty-five minutes later when the old dear finally reemerged and, after locking up the house, returned to the car, full of thanks for accommodating her need to feed her cat who apparently got destructive when dinner wasn’t on time.
Brody was as polite as ever, gently extracting Doris’s hand from his leg time and again. And by the time they got back to the hotel, Gwen had the feeling if she didn’t step in, Doris would be slipping Brody her room key. When all was said and done, it turned out to be a peppermint from her pocket, along with a series of adoring pats and a papery kiss pressed to his ruddy cheek. It was kind of adorable, but this broad had put enough moves on Gwen’s man already.
Gwen knew she was being ridiculous. It wasn’t like she was going to die if she and Brody didn’t get some alone time. It wasn’t like the world was ending.
But with how her heart was hammering and the skin across her arms and chest was tingling as if an electric current was running from one end of her body to the other and back again, it felt that way. She barely lasted until the elevator doors closed before flinging herself at Brody. He caught her up against him as if he’d been waiting and then, holding her close, kissed her senseless.
Vaguely, she was aware of the chime of the elevator, the whirl of her surroundings, and then the quiet snick of the door opening and closing behind her.
“How long do we have?” she panted into the space between them. Brody checked that sexy, oversize beast of a watch, and Gwen was momentarily distracted by how hot it was that he didn’t pull out his phone for the time. She was such a goner for this guy.
“Twenty-three minutes.”
They couldn’t be late. The wedding party and immediate family were meeting for cocktails a half hour before the reception opened to everyone. And missing that would be incredibly insensitive.
“Okay, that gives us ten minutes. No, wait. Fifteen minutes. Then five for me to fix myself back up, and three to get downstairs.”
And then her fingers were in his hair, and she was pulling him closer. Returning to the kiss that hadn’t been nearly enough. Brody’s arms tightened around her back, and again he lifted her feet from the ground, moving her as if she weighed nothing. She’d never been with a guy who was so strong. So incredible.
She thought he would lay her on the bed, but instead, he turned, pushing her back into the wall across from the hall closet. Bracing one hand above her head, he used the other to slide over her rear, pulling her hips in close to his.
Yes, that was the kind of contact she needed. The kind of proximity she was aching for. Only she wanted more. God, she wanted everything. Her hands were all over him, coasting up and down the hard planes of his chest, her fingers sifting in and out of his hair, tracing the solid columns of his neck and the heavy line of his jaw. He was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. Pure, rugged perfection.
And damn it, they only had—she peeked at the clock—twelve minutes left. She let out a small whimper, and Brody pulled back.
“What is it?”
“Not enough time.” When they’d been together at Belfast, Brody had taken hours with her. He’d spoiled her rotten in the span of a single night.
The corner of his mouth hitched up, and she recognized the look in his eyes from that first kiss out in the snow. Pure confidence.
And wow, that look alone was doing things to her body most guys needed everything they had to make happen. If they could at all.
“Oh, baby, we’ve got plenty of time.”
Lowering his head to her ear, he growled, “I’ll have time to spare.” And then he was kissing her and touching her with those big, capable hands. Telling her all the dirty, delicious things he was going to do to her…in detail.
And before she knew it, he’d reminded her of what was turning out to be a fairly simple rule. Never doubt that this man could do what he said. Because Brody delivered.
* * *
The doors to the private reception were opening as Brody stepped off the elevator. Flutes of champagne were set out on a table, and from the looks of it, most of the wedding party had already arrived.
They’d cut it too close.
He never should have given in, but when Gwen had turned those soft, sexy eyes on him and murmured “again,” there wasn’t a chance he’d have been able to tell her no. And while he’d more than managed his part in the allotted time, he should have known Gwen wouldn’t be in any shape to sprint into action the second he finished her.
He shouldn’t have left her upstairs alone. He should have stayed and helped, since he’d been the one to mess her up the way he did. But what the hell did he know about touching up makeup or smoothing hair? And if he was perfectly honest, the only thing that would have happened if he’d stayed in that room another minute was that Gwen would have been even messier, and neither one of them would have made it down to the reception at all.
But damn, it might have been worth it.
“Save a glass for me!” Gwen ducked through the doors just as they were closing, laughter in her eyes and a smile on her gorgeous face.
Sweeping a couple of flutes from the table, Brody handed her one as she stepped up beside him and Claudia’s father began making his toast.
Leaning closer to her ear, Brody whispered, “How the hell did you clean up so quick?”
When he’d left her, her hair had been wild, her eyes hazed with satisfaction, and her lipstick gone. She’d been as beautiful as he’d ever seen her, and not just because she looked that way because of him.
“Mad skills,” she whispered back. “Though hopefully no one notices my hair is down and half my makeup is gone.”
Her hair was a spill of silk down her back, and her face was flawless.
Just then, Ted stepped up to her other side. “Gwennie, you okay? You look a little flushed.”
Without missing a beat, Gwen answered, “Just excited is all. Couldn’t be better.”
The first toast was made, and everyone raised their glasses.
* * *
Hours later, the clock was winding down toward midnight. The food, the wine, the heartfelt and humorous memories shared by friends and family throughout the night…all of it had been perfect. Almost as perfect as the man beside Gwen at the table where he and his best friends had been seated together. Brody had one arm over the back of her chair and was threading the fingers of his free hand through hers as he chuckled at Molly’s continued pleas for a hand-knit scarf of her own.
“But see, now we’re totally friends, Gwen. And friends can ask their friends to make them things.”
Gwen had already decided to start on a blanket for when Baby Wyse was born, but she was beginning to think Molly had earned a scarf of her own simply for how hard and long she’d made Gwen laugh that night.
Still, she wasn’t going to make it easy for her. “Really? Oooh, fun. Okay, let me think about what I want you to make me.”
Molly tried to sit up, but with her feet in Sean’s lap and her belly in the way, that shocked forward motion stalled at the jut of her chin. “What?”
“Yes! How about you make me one of those precious little needlepoint pillows that says ‘Best Friends Forever’ or something equally meaningful. Up to you. Surprise me.”
Molly snorted a laugh and then narrowed her eyes as though she were about to go in for the kill. “How about I make you a perfect, precious little baby to babysit anytime you want?”
The guys were all covering their mouths, laughing, but Gwen knew she’d taken the hit, because already, she was thinking about itty-bitty baby toes and how there wasn’t anything better on the planet than new baby smell.
Emily leaned forward on the table, smoothing her already-perfect strawberry-blond hair back with one hand. “I think you got her, Moll.”
Molly reached into the top of her dress and pulled her phone out of her bra. A storage tip she’d been delighted to share with the group, along with the information that it was something she’d only recently been able to manage. Benefit of being pregnant or something.
She held it out in front of her, selfie style, and bugged her eyes, not even bothering to smile for the snap. “Okay, I’m sending this to you now so you’d be able to match my eyes like you did with Brody’s scarf.”
The photo popped up on Gwen’s phone, and it was even worse than she’d imagined.
She turned the screen to Brody and felt him jolt beside her before muttering, “Jesus, Moll.”
Meanwhile, Sean had commandeered his wife’s phone to send the picture to himself and then take his own bugged-out, slack-jawed selfie. And then it was on. Everyone trying to outdo the others. Turned out Emily, of runway perfection, scored the win.
When everyone finally caught their breath, Brody leaned close to her ear. “It’s almost midnight. What do you say to another dance?”
“Perfect.”
They were halfway to the dance floor when she realized she and Emily must have switched phones.
“I’ll take it back to her,” Brody said, dropping a quick kiss at her temple. “Meet you at the bar.”
She nodded and walked over, asking the bartender for a water while she waited.
“There’s my girl!”
Gwen turned around, surprised to find Ted beside her. “You startled me.”
He shoved a hand through his damp hair and nodded to the bartender behind her. He’d lost the tuxedo jacket, and his sleeves were rolled up with his shirt collar open. And when he reached past her for what she was guessing was a Jack and Coke, he swayed before righting himself.
Decoy Date Page 14