Something New (Brides of Cedar Bend Book 2)

by Lena Hart

  “I’ve been around,” was all he offered. “This is Harriette. Harriette, this is Quinn and Savvy.”

  Savvy felt Damian’s gaze on her as she greeted the other woman. Her face felt like it would crack from the strain, but she refused to let her smile falter.

  “Here, pull up a chair,” Lori said. “Join us.”

  Quinn slid her chair over, leaving a huge gap between them. Instead of declining the invitation as Savvy hoped, Damian ushered his date into a seat then pulled up another one. Right beside her.

  Savvy was forced to shift her chair over some, though it didn’t help much. Damian’s hard thigh pressed against hers and there was no escaping the warmth of it pressing against her thin leggings. So she ignored it—and him.

  “Damian, are you and Harriette going to hit the stage tonight?” Lori asked.

  “No, I think I’ll sit this one out tonight. But Harriette is apparently a great singer.”

  “According to my mom and dad,” Harriette said with a shy smile. “I think I do okay.”

  “Well, don’t hold out on us,” Quinn said. “Show us what you’ve got.”

  Lori handed her the song list. “You can pick a song from this list. Tonight’s theme is retro, so we’re going to sing You Can’t Hurry Love.”

  “Oh, I love that song,” Harriette said.

  “The Supremes,” Damian murmured with appreciation. “Big shoes to fill. If you butcher it, you know what will happen, right?”

  “What?” Savvy asked, breaking her vow to ignore him.

  “We’ll be booed off stage,” Lori said waving her dismissively. “But that won’t happen.”

  “What? But this is Karaoke. People are supposed to sound bad.”

  “Not if you’re going to sing anything before the seventies,” Damian explained.

  “Don’t worry, Savvy. That’s not going to happen to us,” Lori said stubbornly.

  “It might! I can’t sing. Ask Quinn.”

  Quinn wrinkled her nose and nodded. “But it’s not that you can’t sing. It’s just…you can’t hold a tune.”

  Savvy rolled her eyes. “Same thing, Quinn.”

  “Well, you’ll just sing back-up,” Lori said. “No one will notice if you’re offbeat.”

  “I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Savvy muttered. “Why don’t you guys go on without me?”

  Lori shook her head. “It’s the Supremes. We need all three of us.”

  “Why don’t you sing with us, Harriette?” Quinn offered.

  Harriette looked up from the song list, her eyes wide with surprise. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive,” Quinn said. “As a matter of fact, you can even sing lead.”

  All eyes were on Harriette as they waited for her response. Then it suddenly dawned on Savvy that if the three women went up together, that would leave her alone at the table with Damian.

  In that moment, she debated whether getting booed off stage would be more devastating than that.

  “So what do you say, Harriette,” Lori prompted. “Will you be our Diana?”

  Damian was glad his initial anger and surprise had diminished.

  Now, he was just mildly annoyed—at himself more so than the quiet woman sitting beside him. He didn’t know what was going on in that pretty little head of hers, but the longer they sat there ignoring the very obvious elephant in the room, the more uncomfortable things became.

  And he hated being uncomfortable.

  “Sorry folks for the delay,” the disc jockey said over the loud speakers. “We’ll get the show started soon with these three beautiful ladies.”

  Damian glanced at Harriette, who stood on the stage with Quinn and Lori. The women waited for the sound tech to get the music playing. She looked a bit nervous up there and glanced over at their table. He shot her a smile and thumbs up. She returned his smile and nodded stiffly.

  “Your friend seems nice.”

  Damian turned to look at Savvy, so surprised by the comment that he could only stare at her. She kept her gaze fixed on the women, her expression unreadable.

  “You mean Harriette?”

  “Yeah. Young but nice.”

  Damian cocked a brow, wondering what one had to do with the other. Then he realized from her stiff posture and clip words that she was jealous. He was staggered by that realization.

  He started to tell her that Harriette was his second cousin, but stopped himself. He had misread a lot of signals with this beautiful but exasperating woman.

  He wanted to be sure he wasn’t reading too much into Savvy’s odd behavior, so he said instead, “She’s also very smart. She’ll be starting medical school soon.”

  “Oh, that’s awesome.” The palpable tension radiating from her said otherwise. “She’s just full of surprises.”

  “And so are you.”

  She brought her surprised gaze to meet his. “What do you mean?”

  Damian sat back in his seat and studied her. “So, we’re not going to talk about tonight? How you bailed on me when I thought things were cool between us?”

  “They are,” she said curtly. “I just wanted to have a ladies night out with my cousin.”

  “You could have just said that. I would have understood that better than ‘something came up.’”

  “Well, it doesn’t look like it was all that much of an inconvenience for you.” She glanced back toward the stage where the women were getting into formation for their performance. “You managed to find someone to keep you company tonight.”

  Damian was torn between incredulousness and annoyance. He didn’t know why, but her words irritated the hell out of him. Did she just think he would be sulking at home tonight because she decided to ditch their date?

  “Were you thinking I’d be at home, waiting by my phone for you to change your mind?” He laughed then, though it held little mirth. He didn’t bother waiting for her response. “It doesn’t really matter what you think. You don’t know me, Savvy. And it’s probably better that way.”

  She took the bait just as he knew she would. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because I wouldn’t want you to fall in love with me.”

  Her eyes widened, then she burst into laughter. “Wow. You didn’t peg me as the arrogant type.”

  “I’m not. I’m just a cute, lovable bear, remember?”

  She snorted. “It’s Quinn who thinks that.”

  “You would think so too, if you took the time to see me and not see through me.”

  She sobered then and stared at him thoughtfully. He returned her close scrutiny, and they stared at each other for a moment that felt like forever.

  Suddenly, the instrumentals for You Can’t Hurry Love began to play, forcing their attention back to the stage. Harriette began to croon the lines of the song.

  “I need love, love…to ease my mind. I need to find, find…someone to call mine.”

  It hadn’t been an exaggeration. His little cousin had a voice on her.

  “She’s really good,” Savvy murmured.

  Damian glanced over at her, but she kept her gaze on the three women. He didn’t know what thoughts or beliefs she was spinning in that head of hers, but he was suddenly tired of the games between them.

  “Harriette’s my cousin, Savvy.”

  She tensed but didn’t respond to that. She didn’t even look at him. Damian returned his attention to the stage and tried to enjoy Harriette’s singing with Lori and Quinn singing background.

  “She said love don’t come easy. It’s a game of give and take. How long must I wait…how much more can I take?”

  “I do see you, Damian.”

  He turned to Savvy, surprised by that unexpected statement. “And what exactly do you see?”

  She also turned to face him, and this time she held his gaze. “I see a guy who puts others before himself, a guy who is protective of his family and loyal to his friends. I also see a guy who’s so hardworking that he’s either too busy to go after what he wants or too afraid.”
/>   Damian forced his expression to remain neutral, though he couldn’t ease the tension that invaded his shoulders. Apparently, she saw a lot.

  “You’re very perceptive.”

  She shrugged. “You’re a pretty simple guy to figure out. So which is it?”

  “Which is what?”

  “Are you just too busy to go after the things you want or too afraid?”

  “How do you know I don’t already have everything I want?”

  Her gaze moved over his searchingly. “Do you?”

  Not by a long shot.

  Suddenly, a round of applause broke out in the bar, and Damian realized the three women had finished their set. They took a bow and made it off the stage and back toward their table. Damian tossed back his drink, took Savvy’s hand and rose from his seat. Savvy tried to tug her hand away, but Damian held it firm.

  “Damian, what are you doing?”

  “Going after what I want,” he said over his shoulder. “And I want us to sing together.”

  “But…I can’t!”

  “Yes, you can. Just follow my lead.”

  Damian went to the DJ and selected a song then made it up to the stage. Savvy stood stiffly beside him, and there was something close to terror in her dark eyes.

  Damian drew her close and leaned down. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. You got this.”

  He grabbed the mics and handed her one. The soft instrumentals of Cruisin began to play, and Savvy jerked her head around to him in surprise. He winked at her. She bit her lip, trying to contain her laughter but failed.

  “Oh, I’m going to get you for this.”

  “I look forward to it,” he said before turning to the crowd. “Good evening, everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve been up here, so I thought I’d bring this beautiful woman up here to help me out.”

  Damian took Savvy’s hand in case she got it in her head to flee. “She’s getting over a cold, so please go easy on her.” He tugged her to him and whispered close to her ear, “You take the high notes, and I’ll do the rest. Just keep your voice low and follow my lead.”

  “But how will I know when to jump in.”

  “You’ll know. Just feel it.”

  The lyrics began to fill the screen below them and Damian took the lead. He sang the song from memory, keeping his eyes on her the whole time. It was a bumpy start, but she eventually got the rhythm and filled in the parts that felt natural. And when they got to the chorus, they sang it together.

  “You’re gonna fly away, glad you’re going my way. I love it when we’re cruising together.”

  It started off as a show for the crowd, but soon Damian forgot about the many eyes looking at them and the whooping cheers.

  “Music is played for love. Cruising is made for love. I love it when we’re cruising together.”

  As the last strings of the music faded, Damian could only concentrate on her and the delight and pleasure he saw in her eyes. It ignited something carnal in him, and it drove a desperate need in him he couldn’t suppress.

  “To hell with this.”

  Damian dropped his mic. It fell with a loud thud that startled the crowd into silence. He looped his arm around Savvy and pulled her to him. Her eyes rounded, but before she could pull away, he kissed her.

  He ignored the cheers that suddenly erupted around them. Instead, he focused on the woman in his arm. Her lips were softer than he imagined and she tasted just as sweet. He gently sucked at her, faintly tasting the light beer on her lips.

  She flattened her palm against his chest, and for a moment he thought she would push him away. Instead, she leaned into him, and her mouth moved delicately over his. It was all the encouragement he needed.

  Damian tightened his arm around her and slanted his lips against hers. He deepened the kiss, sweeping his tongue into her mouth. She tentatively rubbed her tongue against his, and the small action sent desire rushing through him and straight to his cock.

  “Somebody call the fire department before these two set the stage on fire.”

  The DJ’s sly comment pierced through his haze of lust and Damian drew back. The dazed look on Savvy’s face left him feeling pleased with himself. And made him want to kiss her again.

  “Give it up for Damian and his lady. Singing Cruisin by Smokey Robinson. The song responsible for creating babies since the seventies.”

  The audience laughed and cheered again.

  “Why did you do that,” Savvy asked softly, her gaze moving over his.

  “Because I wanted to.” He leaned close to her ear so he could be sure she heard him. “Because I want you.”

  Eight

  “This dress is white, Gloria. It’s not supposed to be white.”

  Savvy held up the gown to the light. Yeah, it was definitely white.

  “It looks a little off-white to me,” the owner of the boutique said as she peered at the dress over the rim of her eyeglasses.

  Savvy stare at the woman, incredulous. Off-white was still white.

  “It’s supposed to be a champagne color. I can’t be standing next to the bride wearing white too. Quinn is not going to like this.”

  “Well, I hear all white weddings are all the rage now. Look at the British royal family.”

  Savvy snorted. “Unfortunately, my cousin isn’t marrying a prince.”

  Gloria waggled her brows. “She’s about to marry a Benson and the future mayor of Cedar Bend. That’s close enough.”

  Savvy shook her head as she pulled out her phone. “I have to tell Quinn about this. She is not going to be happy.”

  She took a quick picture of the dress then texted it to her cousin. She waited a minute before she called and put the phone on speaker.

  “Quinn, I just sent you a pic of the dress. Did you see it?”

  “Hold on. I was just about to open it before you called…” There was a short pause followed by a loud gasp. “Savvy, oh my god!”

  She winced. “I know. I can’t believe it either.”

  “It’s beautiful. Did you try it on?”

  Savvy frowned down at the phone, while Gloria stood there beaming.

  “Quinn, are you looking at the right dress? What I sent you is white.”

  There was another short pause. “It’ not all that white.”

  Gloria nodded in agreement but said nothing. Savvy looked over at the dress again. Was she the only one seeing this?

  “So you don’t have a problem with your maid-of-honor also wearing white?”

  “Not at all. Pippa Middleton did it.”

  “I told you,” Gloria mouthed.

  Savvy sighed in exasperation. “I didn’t know we were taking fashion tips from the English now. Besides, I would hate to steal the spotlight on your day.”

  Quinn chuckled. “You won’t. Now go try it on then get over here. We still have a lot to do before the rehearsal tonight.”

  Savvy ended the call and followed Gloria into one of the dressing rooms. She stripped down to her underwear and with Gloria’s help, got into the gown on.

  “Oh, my,” Gloria breathed. “It’s stunning.”

  Savvy turned to the mirror and her breath caught in her throat. Gloria was right. The dress was stunning. She was stunning.

  What would their family and friends think when she walked out in this tomorrow?

  She wondered what Damian would think.

  Savvy instantly shelved the thought. She had managed to go most of the day without thinking of him. She wouldn’t start now.

  “Do you want me to take a picture?”

  Savvy nodded, and once they had two great pictures of her in the dress, Savvy sent it off to Quinn. She turned back to the mirror, admiring herself one last time. She smoothed her hands down her waist and hips. It really was a perfect fit. If she ever got engaged again, maybe she could have it double as her wedding dress.

  She scoffed. Who was she kidding? That wouldn’t be for a long time yet.

  With a sigh, Savvy turned to Gloria. “Can you help me out of th
is?”

  Once she was back in her own clothes, Savvy carefully arranged the gown back into the garment bag. She was at the register, settling her bill when Quinn called her again.

  “Savvy, it’s gorgeous on you!”

  She released a sigh of relief at Quinn’s excitement, glad everything had worked out. The last thing she wanted to do was disappoint her cousin or go searching for an alternative dress the day before her wedding.

  “That’s one more thing off the list,” Savvy said cheerfully.

  “Yes, but I still can’t find your shoes. Are you sure you packed them?”

  “My shoes?”

  “Yes,” Quinn said with exasperation. “The expensive ones that we had made just for the wedding.”

  Savvy frowned. “They should be there. I know I packed them right—”

  Shit.

  She knew she had packed them in their box and then in her luggage. Except, they had taken up so much room that she had decided to carry them by hand and load them in her car. In the backseat.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  “I know where they are, Quinn.”

  “You do? Where?”

  Savvy sighed. So much for avoiding Damian. “In my car. But don’t worry about it. I’ll stop by the auto shop and pick them up.”

  She left the boutique and drove to Damian’s shop. In that time, she worked at getting her emotions in order. But she couldn’t help thinking about last week. How his arms had wrapped around her waist or how her breasts had pressed firmly against his hard chest as he kissed her.

  She still couldn’t believe he had kissed her like that in full view of everyone. She had spent the rest of that night convincing Quinn and Lori that nothing was going on between them. And had spent the rest of the week that she didn’t want him as much as he professed to want her. A relationship between them would only confuse her and complicate things, and she didn’t need either in her life right now.

  Savvy made it to the auto shop just as a roll of thunder rumbled in the distance. It had been overcast all day yesterday and today. She had hoped for Quinn’s sake the threat of rain held off until after tomorrow.

  In response, a flash of lightning zipped through the sky.