by Mia Carson
“Do you want us to come back sooner? Do you want to bring her to Africa to meet us? Have you met her parents?”
“You can meet her at the wedding. We’re doing small and low-key.”
“This is so… fascinating,” Dad mused.
“And I met her parents, yes. They live in Iowa.”
“Scott, are you happy?” Mom asked.
“I am. It was a rocky road to get here, but I really love her, and I think we’re going to work out well together.”
“Then I’m excited to meet her. Let’s do a Skype call when we come back to civilization.” They were about to leave for a three-week safari, completely unplugged.
“How’s your sister doing with this news?” Dad asked.
“Haven’t talked to her yet.”
“You need to do that soon.”
“She’s my next call.”
We disconnected. I stared at my phone. Did I want to talk to Serena? I did a quick Google search to see what she’d been up to lately. Old news, old news, dating a 90’s pop star and flaunting her PDAs in typical Serena fashion.
I called her. It went to voicemail, and I called again. I figured third time was the charm, and she picked up, breathless.
“Hey, sis, how’s it hanging?”
“Oh, you know. Busy busy. I’ve decided to write a book.”
“About…?”
“Me. My favorite topic.”
“Are you writing it, or are you hiring someone?”
“I’m hurt you’d even suggest such a thing. I’m at least going to write a draft. The ghostwriter can take care of the rest. I’m not a monster.”
“What are you up to in August?”
“That’s so far away, who could possibly know.”
“Well, save the date. I’m getting married.”
“Aren’t you married already?”
“Yeah, but I’m throwing the party in August.”
“And you want me to come?”
“I want you to be in the wedding, my dear.”
“Huh. All right. Will I have to wear a tacky dress?”
“Maybe? It’s not up to me.”
“It must be a little bit up to you.”
“You know how women get about these things,” I teased. I was pretty sure there wouldn’t be tacky dresses. Kenz didn’t seem the type.
“When do I get to meet your blushing bride? Giuliana told me all about her.” Oh, Jesus. “Don’t worry, I didn’t believe any of it.”
“Did she tell you she tried to frame me for cheating and sent poor Isaac Cornell running for the hills?”
“Isaac is a bore. Never does anything but tweet. And yes, I did know, since he broadcasted the whole thing.”
“Are you back in New York?” I asked her.
“No, I’m in Australia.” She was serious. “I can’t write in the Northern Hemisphere. Can’t do anything creative there. Once I reach the halfway mark, I’ll be home and would be delighted to meet your wife.”
“Great.”
A load off my chest. The final call of the day was to Ryan, asking him to be my best man.
“You don’t even surprise me anymore,” he mumbled. “You’re some kind of weird romantic something or other.”
I shrugged, even though we weren’t on FaceTime. “I like her. She’s a cool lady.”
“Does the cool lady have a job yet?”
“She’s working on it. It’s a total career shift for her.”
“She’s lucky to have found someone who lets her follow her passions. Some of us actually have to work.”
“Some of us… who aren’t you, you mean.”
“Exactly. I work because it’s fun. I could walk away any minute. I just keep making more and more money.”
Mackenzie
My wedding day started out gloomy and cold, and I worried we would have to move everything inside. The cabin is beautiful and has a wide open space which would accommodate our meager cadre of guests. Big picture windows look out over Lake Superior, and looking through them I saw the sun break through the clouds in long, slanting rays.
“Told you it would clear up!” Susie said.
Susie, Cheryl, Becky, Serena, and I lounged in the cabin’s master bedroom, enjoying some downtime before we had to start getting ready. There wouldn’t be a point in getting dressed or doing my hair too early. I’d just spill something on the dress or something equally awful.
We sipped mimosas and watched the clouds break.
“Do you think they got Scott too drunk last night?” Becky asked.
“No,” Serena answered. “He wouldn’t.” I was surprised by how much I actually liked her. “He knows he’s got to be on his best behavior. And Ryan wouldn’t do that either. I bet last night was boring.”
“I think they went fishing, actually,” I said, which didn’t sound like Scott’s cup of tea at all. My brother Brian was excited to take them, so it’s what they did.
Serena shook her head. “Weird.”
“I mean, the whole thing is weird. You’re already married,” Cheryl said.
“Yeah, but today is kind of the start of a new thing,” Susie said.
“Whatever. It’s your party.”
“And I’ll cry if I want to.” I finished my drink and checked the sun. I looked at my phone. Nothing from Scott, but we had a few hours until the wedding started. Time for Cheryl to start working her magic.
I was glowing, but today it wasn’t only because of Scott. Image Comics said they’d be interested in hiring me to do some background panels. Not a lot, but my first paying job. I’d just heard yesterday and hadn’t told Scott yet. I held my good news inside me, wearing it like a crown.
###
“You’re sure you love him?” Dad asked me, for the thousandth time as we stood in the doorway of the cabin. Our guests were seated by the lake, a warm summer breeze blowing, and I could see Scott waiting for me at the rustic wooden altar.
“Completely sure.”
“And you’re not just doing this to save my house?”
“Nope. Dad, it’s okay. It’s already done. This is just putting a bow on it.”
He sighed. “I’m gonna have to start being nice to him. It’s not natural, how he doesn’t get worked up when I give him shit.”
“He’s used to dealing with board rooms and executives and stuff. You’re not going to flap him unless he thinks you’re serious.”
“He’d better not give me anything to get serious about.”
“He won’t.” If he did, I wouldn’t tell. They’d be my battles to fight, not my dad’s.
I linked my arm in my father’s as the band started to play the wedding processional. I thought I’d cry on this day, thought it would be so much different. I remembered my mermaid dress, my frightful hair in the Bellagio bathroom mirror. I wondered what I’d missed my first wedding night. Ah well, since we wound up here, it made for a funny story.
I hadn’t done the veil or the train. I watched my sisters and Serena walk down the aisle with the groomsmen. Susie and Ryan went last, sniping at each other as they walked.
Two nights ago, out on the rocks by the lake I’d seen Ryan and Becky sitting shoulder to shoulder, talking for hours. He knew about her delicate condition—she was beginning to show. They hadn’t realized I’d watched them walk back from the water, holding hands. They hadn’t kissed goodnight, but Ryan had leaned in and pressed his forehead to hers in a way that seemed more intimate than a kiss. He’d caught my eye as he left to find Scott and a cold beer, and I couldn’t read the look he gave me.
Susie, on the other hand, seemed to take a shine to Serena. I couldn’t tell if the affection was mutual or if Serena was that experienced at hiding her emotions. I hoped Susie wouldn’t get her heart broken.
It was time for Dad and me to walk. Today was about my heart, not my friends’. I caught Scott’s eye and held it as we made our way to him.
The ceremony was short. I wondered what the Vegas one had been like. Neither of us remembere
d anything beyond heading to the mall. I was glad I didn’t remember buying that damn dress—shoot me now.
When the night was all over, I didn’t remember much about this wedding, either. My mom, in the front row, tears in her eyes. Scott’s parents, so welcoming, smiling at me. A few friends, not the scads of people invited to my wedding with Lucas.
Mom’s cooking stole the show at the reception. The band played long into the night, and I think Becky and Ryan danced every dance they could. Our parents excused themselves early, and drinks and laughter flowed with the music long past midnight.
Susie and Serena vanished after the cake was cut, and I couldn’t wait to hear about their exploits. I wished Susie luck, even if it was a brief flirtation with fame and the paparazzi.
Scott stayed by my side all night. We stopped touching when I danced with my dad and he with his mom. We didn’t smash cake in one another’s faces or do anything obnoxious. Serena called us boring at one point. Cheryl was equally unimpressed with how square I’d become.
It wasn’t the time nor the place for it. This wedding was about love. The first one was about tequila shots, a mermaid dress, and scheming. For our honeymoon, we’d be taking a yacht similar to Percy’s to Europe and the Mediterranean, and Scott promised me debauchery there. Something about topless night clubs in Italy, sex parties in Monaco, an underground S&M club in Slovenia he thought I would like. I’d try anything with Scott because he would try anything for me. Tonight, I needed him to be a reliable, perfect husband, and he played the role to a T.
We’re all different things for different people. I hadn’t started out to find love or get married, not after my recent break up. I stumbled into him because that’s how life works.
I slipped away to go to the bathroom, and on my way I paused by a window, one where I could see outside. A ways away, under a pine bough, Ryan kissed my sister, his fingers entwined in her hair. Happiness washed over me. I told Scott. Exhausted from dancing, we’d formed the chairs in a little circle and sat talking to old friends.
“I have some other news,” I whispered to him.
He quirked an eyebrow at me. In that moment, I realized he thought I was going to tell him I was pregnant. It may be in my cards for the future, but not today. “I got the job!” I whispered, all hot breath in his ear. “The one with Image!”
He pulled me into his arms, onto his lap, and kissed me. A few people gave drunken cheers, and we rewarded them with another kiss.
“Well, Mrs. Creed, what do you think?” he asked. A limo waited at our beck and call, ready to take us to the airport, and from there the Bombardier would fly us to Norfolk where the rental yacht waited.
“I think I’m still not taking your name, Mr. Creed.”
“Shall we head for our next adventure?” he asked.
“I think we shall.”
“Have you ever had sex in an airplane?” His breath was a hot whisper in my ear as we gathered ourselves to say goodnight.
I giggled. “Wedding night sex in an airplane? You know I haven’t.”
We said goodnight to our friends and made our way to the waiting car. The next adventure awaited indeed.
*** THE END ***
(BONUS BOOK #1)
CHANCE
(A Stepbrother Billionaire Romance)
By
Mia Carson
COPYRIGHT © 2016
All Rights Reserved
CHAPTER 1
Claire got out of the cab and looked in horror as Trent, her fiancé, held a woman in his arms and kissed her lovingly on the lips in front of his house. She wanted to run or close her eyes and pretend the man she had been dating since after high school, for three years, was not kissing another woman the day before their wedding. But even the darkness that would come if she closed her eyes was insufficient to rid her confused mind of the event unfolding in front of her.
He stroked the woman’s face and spoke soothingly to her; he was so engrossed in their conversation that he didn’t see Claire until she had seen too much. By the time he did see her, her cheeks were drenched with tears. She remained motionless as he ran towards her.
“Claire, this isn’t...”
She looked up at him, feeling like a zombie. She felt nothing, heard nothing, saw nothing except the woman who stood uncomfortably a few feet away from them.
“Look, I can explain,” he told her. But there was nothing he could say to make the situation right.
“I wanted to see you one last time before tomorrow,” she said as the tears poured down. “I’m such an idiot.”
“Claire,” he said softly, his eyes pleading with her. “I never meant for this...”
“You’re fucked up, Trent, and you know it. Just fucking leave me alone!” she said as she walked away.
“Claire!” he called after her, but she didn’t stop. “Let me at least give you a ride home.”
“Fuck off,” Claire said, just as she stumbled into an older man on the pavement, but he caught her as she did.
“You okay, ma’am?” the man asked. “Can I help you?”
“I just need a cab,” she sobbed. “Please just get me out of here.”
“This way,” he said as he led her to the yellow and black checkered cab around the corner.
She composed herself long enough to give him her address, but try as she might, she could not get the image of Trent kissing another woman in public out of her mind.
“We’re here,” the cabbie announced a few minutes later as he pulled up to her driveway.
She looked around as if scared. She rummaged in her bag in search of her wallet. “Hang on,” she said as she moved the items in her bag.
“It’s on me,” he told her. “Don’t worry about it.”
“What?” Her eyes looked dazed as if she were unaware of who she was or what she was doing there.
“The ride. No charge.” He smiled at her and reached for the lock on the door.
Her eyes were wild, almost as if she didn’t understand him. When it registered in her brain that he thought she needed the help, she said, “No, I have money...”
“I know,” he answered. “But this one is on me. And ma’am, any man who makes a woman cry isn’t worth her tears.”
Claire offered him a weak smile. “Thank you.”
“Hope your day gets better,” he said, returning the smile.
She staggered from the car towards the door of the house, dreading what her mother and best friend, Amy, would say when she announced the wedding was off. She opened the door, and as she closed it behind her and rested against it, she felt as if the weight of a thousand anchors had descended upon her. Her legs weakened and she collapsed to the floor, her back against the door.
“Claire?” she heard her mother, Willow. “Amy!”
“What is it, Mrs. Callahan?” Amy rushed from the kitchen. Amy and Claire had been best friends since middle school, and she had been helping with the final preparations for the next day. Claire had been there earlier, but she had snuck out to see Trent before the big event.
“Call Trent,” Willow said to Amy as she knelt next to Claire on the floor. “Are you okay, honey?”
“No!” Claire managed to say through tears. “Not him.”
“Why not?” Amy asked, her fingers already dialing Trent’s number.
“Don’t call him,” Claire said as she tried to move, but the weight in her mind was enough to keep her motionless.
Willow and Amy looked at Claire. “Why not? I think he should know that you’re sick,” Amy said.
“I’m not sick and there won’t be a wedding,” Claire responded. “It’s over.”
For a few seconds, no one said a word. Willow got on the floor with her daughter and tried to hug her. “It’s normal to get cold feet. We have talked about this. When I married your dad…”
“I don’t have cold feet, Mom,” Claire said to the woman as she got off the floor, pushing her mother away. “I just saw his cheating ass with another woman.”
&n
bsp; “What do you mean you saw his cheating ass with another woman?” Amy asked.
But Claire had risen from the floor and was walking toward the kitchen. Willow got off the floor and followed her daughter. “Talk to us, Claire,” Willow said. “Please.”
Claire ignored them as she walked to the kitchen, but they followed closely. She walked to the fridge for a bottle of cold water and sat on a stool next to the kitchen island. She placed the water against her forehead and rested her hand on the countertop. Her mother and friend sat next to her patiently.
Claire tried to grip the edges of the island, but her fingers slipped and slid over the glassy surface. Her knuckles whitened as she stared at the countertop. In a release of rage, she slammed her palms down on it. The two women jumped when she did, and Willow tried to hold her once more. Claire gently pushed her away.
“I’m okay, Mom.”
“What happened?” her mom asked gently. “You don’t have to say anything right now if you don’t want to…”
“I wanted to surprise him one last time before the wedding,” Claire laughed amidst the tears that had started trickling again. “But there he was, his hands all over some woman.”
“Claire, I’m so sorry,” Amy said. “That’s messed up.”
Claire turned her head to look at her audience as if she just realized they were there.
“My poor baby,” her mom whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
“The two of them have been an item for a long time. The way he looked at her, touched her, kissed her. I could tell this has been going on forever…” her voice cracked, and she started sobbing. “I can tell he’s been sleeping with her.”
“Come here,” Willow said as she put her arms around her daughter, and this time Claire didn’t resist. She led her to the living room and sat next to her on the sofa. Amy stood a few inches away.
“And he tried to tell me…” Claire started but her voice cracked again.
“Sweetheart. It’ll be okay,” Willow said as she pulled her into a hug. Claire’s shoulders rocked as she let out all her hurt and pain on her mother’s shoulder.