Say You Do

by Weston Parker

  Peter didn’t wait for me to answer. He just picked up his toolbox and tapped two fingers against his temple. “Think about it, bro. Once you get your head out of your ass, I hope you’ve got a fucking good apology ready because you’re going to need it.”

  Watching him walk away, I took another sip of my coffee and turned everything he’d said over in my head. If I was being honest with myself, Luna never had given me the impression she wanted my money at all.

  As hard of a time as I had believing that I may have found the one woman in this city who didn’t want a piece of my bank balance more than they wanted me, I had to admit that Luna seemed different. Like maybe, just maybe, she really didn’t give a fuck about money.

  Chapter 19

  Luna

  A blonde woman with French tips and a salmon-pink dress pranced into my store a short while after I opened it. She had her eyes glued to the screen of her phone but snapped her fingers in the air as if rudely requesting a check from a server.

  “I need twenty-four bunches of pearl-white roses for a wedding,” she barked in a clipped tone. “Can you help me?”

  Narrowing my eyes as I tried to determine if I’d ever seen her before, I waited until she glanced up from her phone. “Twenty-four, you say? That’s a lot. When is the wedding?”

  “A couple of weeks.” She planted both hands, one with her phone still in it, on her hips. “Can you help me or not?”

  Something about her made me skeptical. I didn’t know what it was, but it left me feeling uncharacteristically unhelpful. “No, I don’t think so. Pearl white isn’t a common color. An order would have had to be placed weeks ago for the quantity you want.”

  If I’d been so inclined, I probably could have helped her. Truth be told, an order of that size, of that species, and on such short notice would have meant making a pretty penny, but I just couldn’t find it in me to agree to do it for her.

  Her bright blue eyes became slits as she gave me a sharp glare. “Are you saying you can’t do it?”

  I lifted my shoulders on a shrug and pressed my lips together as I shook my head. “I don’t believe I can. Best of luck trying to find someone who can.”

  Blood rushed to her face and she turned an unnatural shade of red. “I have money, you know? I can pay whatever it’s going to cost, but I won’t be paying it to you now.”

  She stomped a high-heeled foot on the floor like an entitled toddler dressed up in her mother’s clothes and then marched out of the store, slamming the door behind her.

  I let out a deep breath, frowned at her retreating back through the window, and went back to the work I was busy with on my computer. Open on the screen was a spreadsheet I’d compiled outlining my loan, repayments, interest, and projected targets for the next few months. In another column, I had the actual targets I’d need to make to be able to keep up with the payments.

  Darn it. I shouldn’t have sent her business elsewhere.

  There was far too much red on the screen for comfort. If I didn’t exceed my projected target every month—and I’d set them on the higher side of what I could expect to reach as it was—I was in a world of trouble.

  Half considering hauling my behind out of the shop and down the street to call the customer back, I was stopped by the bell above the door tinkling again. When I looked up this time, a graying man in an ill-fitted suit stood just inside the shop.

  He looked around like he was surprised at what he saw, then cleared his throat when his eyes landed on me. “Ms. Willet?”

  “That’s me.” My throat tightened. This guy looked like a lawyer, a banker, or some other profession that could only spell bad news. “What can I do for you?”

  “I’m with Capital Finance,” he said and my throat tightened even further. “You took out a loan with us some time ago.”

  “Yes,” I practically squeaked as I tried to force my voice through my constricted airways. “Is there a problem?”

  His thin lips lifted in a sympathetic smile. “No, not a problem as such. I’m here to make a courtesy call.”

  “A courtesy call?” My chin lowered as my shoulders came forward. I had no doubt I looked like a scared little mouse, but I didn’t care. Banks didn’t just make courtesy calls for nothing and I had a feeling I was about to have the carpet yanked out from underneath me.

  “Yes.” He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed at his forehead. “We’re at a point where we have to increase the rate of interest on your loan.”

  “What?” I croaked. “Why?”

  At least he had the decency to look genuinely sorry. “It’s tough times out there. We all have our parts to play. This is mine.”

  “Is there anything I can do to stop this?” Black spots danced in my vision. “I’m barely keeping up as it is. I just can’t afford to pay more.”

  He held up a perfectly smooth palm to stop me. “You shouldn’t tell me things like that. I know it’s going to be hard, okay? That’s why we’re going around making these personal courtesy calls. You’ll be able to plan for the hike, and hopefully, that will make things easier.”

  “But I—”

  “I’m sorry, miss. There really isn’t anything I can do.” He dabbed his brow again and shot me another tight smile. “Good luck, Ms. Willet. This truly is a beautiful store. I hope you do find a way to keep up with the repayments.”

  Giving me a shallow bow, he ducked out of the store. I blinked after him, my eyes filling with tears.

  Just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse, Cyrus’s face popped up outside my window and he held up two cups. With a heavy sigh, I wiped at my eyes to make sure he wouldn’t see I was on the verge of crying and frowned when he stepped into the store.

  “It’s tea,” he said. “Not coffee.”

  “Okay.” Well, as much of a jerk as he could be, I guessed the silver lining was that he’d remembered what my first choice in hot beverages was. “Thanks.”

  “What’s wrong?” Concern tightened the corners of his eyes as they swept over the expression on my face. He handed over the tea, taking a step closer to me to do it and then bringing his hand to my shoulder. “What happened?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about. Just a bad day. What are you doing here?” My voice was flat, but I couldn’t help it.

  Snippets of my conversation with the banker kept playing over and over again in my mind. I could practically see the red notices being slapped against my door right now.

  Cyrus kept his vivid green eyes on mine, seemingly warring between pushing me to find out what was really going on and letting it go. Thankfully, he chose the latter.

  “Okay, well, if you want to talk about it, you know I’m here.” His hand dropped away, and despite how we’d left things earlier, I still missed his touch almost instantly.

  “What do you want, Cyrus? Is this about the wedding? Because I’m not really feeling up to it right now.”

  “It’s not,” he said, his shoulders slumping as he huffed out a breath. “It’s about what happened this morning.”

  “What about it?” I walked back around my counter, needing to put some distance between us. Being too close to him muddled my brain with hormones, which was the last thing I needed right around now.

  Cyrus strode up to the other side of the counter, set down his cup, and braced his hands against the concrete top. “I was a dick this morning and I’m sorry.”

  Arching both my eyebrows, I folded my arms. “Is that a real apology or do you just need my help today?”

  “I don’t, okay? It’s not because I need help. I mean it. I was an asshole and it was uncalled for.”

  Something that had knotted in my stomach this morning started loosening at his apology. I felt the fight draining out of me. I just didn’t have the energy for it right now.

  “It was, and you were, but bringing me a tea isn’t going to make up for it.” After all the times I’d insisted on paying my own way since I’d known him, I’d been genuinely hurt by his insinuation tha
t I was somehow after his money.

  I’d also been perfectly clear about my expectations of our relationship, and not once had I hinted at wanting anything more, never mind moving into his cold palace of Bachelorhood. Cyrus had the good sense to look properly chagrined, only the very tops of his cheeks turning just one shade darker.

  But still, it was something.

  He flashed me a sheepish grin and lifted his shoulders. “I know, which is why I came prepared with something so much better than tea. I have to make a trip to Italy next month and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me. Free of charge, of course.”

  “Your way of making up for a comment about how I’m after your money is an offer to spend more of it on me? So what, if I accept, then that was what I was after all the time, and if I don’t, then at least you took another shot of flaunting that you have so much money you’d be able to afford to take me with you?”

  The words came out sharper than I’d intended, and something flashed in his eyes before they narrowed. It looked like he had a retort on the tip of his tongue, but then he scrubbed his hands over his face and relaxed his posture. “I should have thought through how to phrase that because you’re right. That’s exactly what it sounded like.”

  He rolled his eyes, but then his expression shifted as his lips curled into a gorgeous smile that showed off his rows of perfectly straight white teeth. “Okay, look. Let me try this again. I’m sorry for being a first-class dick to you this morning.”

  “Then why did you just roll your eyes?”

  “That was at myself for coming across as a dick yet again and at you for assuming my offer wasn’t genuine.”

  “Can you blame me?”

  “No, but I can roll my eyes at both of us.” He rounded the counter then and took one of my hands in his, stroking his thumb over my knuckles and watching the point of contact for a second before lifting his gaze to mine. “I’m going to Italy and I’d really like it if you could come with me. I was a real asshole and I’d like to make it up to you. Can’t think of a better way to do it than Italy. I mean, come on.”

  I couldn’t stop a smile from breaking through. His sandy brown hair fell over his forehead and his eyes were softer than I could remember seeing them, his touch on my hand so gentle and sweet.

  This was the man I’d spent hours flirting with and talking to, the one I felt was becoming my friend. The jerk on his high horse from this morning was nowhere to be seen and my resolve to stay mad at him crumbled.

  Just a little.

  “I’ll think about it,” I said.

  His eyes swept down to my lips. “I can see that smile, you know?”

  “I know, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to say yes.”

  A soft sigh fell from his lips and warmed me from his close proximity. Nodding as he pressed a chaste, sweet kiss to each corner of my smile, he gave me another of his own.

  “Yeah, I didn’t think you were going to make this easy on me. That’s okay, though. I was prepared for it. Promise you’ll think about it?”

  “I promise I’ll think about it,” I repeated.

  “Okay, good.” He let go of my hand and went to reclaim his cup from the other side of the counter. “I’ve gotta go, but I’ll speak to you soon.”

  My head bopped up and down. Then he blew me a kiss and disappeared out the door. I sank down in my chair and pressed my forehead against the cool concrete of the counter, but despite the morning I’d had, I couldn’t quite shake the smile from my face.

  Freaking Italy. He was crazy, but I liked it.

  Whether or not I ended up going with him, at least my day had definitely gotten significantly better after his visit.

  Chapter 20

  Cyrus

  “We have three different packages to choose from,” Andrea, a representative from the venue Luna and I were checking out, said. She had dark brown hair and her lips were painted in a very unappealing shade of plum.

  Despite the fact that I was here with a woman and looking at a wedding venue, she kept running the tip of her tongue over her lip and shooting me these obscene little glances. It was ridiculous.

  “Okay,” Luna said, scooting to the tip of her chair. “Would you be able to walk us through each one?”

  Our meeting was taking place in one of the conference rooms at the hotel we were looking at. The room was on one of the higher floors and opened up to a wide balcony with cocktail tables set out on it. If I had to guess, I assumed it was where the staff took their breaks.

  Obviously, this woman hadn’t been trying very hard to impress us when she’d booked this room, but that seemed to have changed as soon as I told her my name. She’d smoothed out the plum skirt of her uniform and assured us she’d give us a proper tour of the facility later, but that unfortunately the other, better meeting rooms were occupied.

  I’d rolled my eyes at her, but Luna had tugged on my hand and convinced me not to walk out. After reminding me that this venue was one I’d actually chosen for us to look at, she’d given me a pointed look that said behave and then followed the not-nice lady into the elevator.

  Andrea gave Luna a wide smile now and nodded. “Sure thing. Although I’m sure you two wouldn’t be interested in our Bronze package. It’s the lowest one,” she added in a stage-whisper, following it up with an annoying giggle.

  I opened my mouth to tell her we weren’t looking for ourselves, but Luna cut me off. “Actually, we’re interested in hearing about every package you have.”

  For the remainder of our discussion, Luna played along with the woman’s assumption that we were the couple looking for a venue. She even put on an old, rich woman’s voice and used words like “pish-posh” and “marvelous”.

  It was too entertaining watching her like this to worry about setting Andrea straight or about why Luna had played along in the first place.

  When they were done talking about the different packages, Andrea sat back in her chair. “That’s what we offer at each of the four different venues we have. There’s the ballroom, the rooftop restaurant, the garden, or the balcony.”

  She flicked a finger at the balcony leading off of this room and let out that giggle again. “Not this one, of course. There’s a much bigger, more suitable one several floors down.”

  “Let’s have a look at them all,” Luna suggested, then laced our fingers together and brought our joined hands up to plant a kiss on the back of mine. “What do you think, darling?”

  “I think you’re absolutely right.” I curled my lips into what I’d been told was a charming smile and leaned over to kiss her temple. Two can play this game. “Whatever you want, dear.”

  Luna snorted in her attempt to hold back a laugh, then rolled her eyes at me when Andrea’s back was turned. To be fair, her demeanor had changed since Luna had decided to play along. She no longer looked at me like she wanted a bite of me.

  “Right this way, Mr. and soon-to-be Mrs. Coning.” She held the door for us and led us down a richly carpeted hallway to an elevator.

  “I’m surprised I haven’t read about your engagement,” Andrea said as we stepped in. “Given my line of work, I keep a close eye on the announcements.”

  “We haven’t made an announcement,” Luna said without skipping a beat, then gave her a simpering sweet smile. “We’d prefer to keep it quiet. I trust we can count on your discretion?”

  “Of course.” She looked affronted that Luna even needed to ask. “I was simply surprised I hadn’t read about it.”

  Yeah, because even though I’m known to be reclusive, I’m still on the eligible bachelor lists. Whoop-dee-doo.

  Changing gears, Andrea pressed the button for the top floor. “Let’s start at the rooftop restaurant and work our way down from there.”

  “Sounds good,” Luna said.

  It had been a week since I’d invited her to Italy, but she staunchly refused to talk about it. While she and Andrea walked around the restaurant once we got off the elevator, I trailed along next to her and wondere
d why she hadn’t answered me yet.

  It was a no-brainer if anyone asked me. An all-expenses-paid trip to Italy? I mean, come on.

  Once again, though, Luna hadn’t acted at all like I’d have expected her to. At this stage of our relationship, she’d shown me to expect the unexpected when it came to her, but I still hadn’t been prepared for this.

  It’s fucking Italy! Venice, baby.

  But no.

  Luna could spend hours looking for a wedding venue for a couple she didn’t know, but she refused to take ten minutes to talk to me about the trip. It was a little infuriating, but for some crazy reason, it was also hot. So I left it alone.

  Andrea showed us the other three venues, and by the time she was done with the tour, I’d had enough time to stew about it that I was horny as fuck and wondering if she’d let me take her in one of the rooms here.

  “Okay.” Andrea clapped her hands and offered Luna a bright smile. “Please feel free to take a look around yourselves and let me know if you have any questions. There are some services we offer that aren’t part of the packages, but that we can arrange for you. Flowers, for—”

  “We’re all good on flowers, thanks,” I said. “Thank you for the tour. We’ll let you know if we have any questions.”

  We’d ended said tour in the garden, and as soon as Andrea left, I slid my hand into Luna’s and pulled her around a corner where we were away from the prying eyes of all those on the balconies. We were also covered by a large bush on one side and the hotel’s outer wall on the other.

  “What are you—”

  I cut her off by claiming her mouth with mine, walking forward until her back hit the wall. I broke the impact with my arms around her waist, kissing her hungrily as I caged her body against the hotel.

  She was breathless by the time she managed to break the kiss, a naughty smile playing at the corners of her lips. “What was that for? Since when does wedding planning get you hot?”