by Bella Andre
And then, as the officiant began to lead the bride and groom into their vows, he watched her reach up to her ear and take out her earpiece.
He grinned, easily guessing that she didn't want to miss even one word of the mushy stuff.
Adam was happy for his friends, but even though they were making major vows to each other today, they took a backseat to the chance to be with Kerry for a little while outside of one of their hotel suites. Considering she'd made it perfectly clear just hours ago that their relationship needed to stop growing outside of those hotels and work on the house she wanted him to revive, today's wedding had gone from a waste of a perfectly good sunny weekend day to a total bonus.
And yet, over the next few minutes, the vows his friends had written for each other hit him harder than any wedding vows had in recent memory. Not only because the couple clearly dug each other and planned to do whatever it took to make their love last, but also because of the look on Kerry's face as they pledged themselves to each other.
How many times had she heard people make similar vows to each other? Hundreds, at the very least, he figured.
And yet, as he watched her eyes tear up and her beautiful mouth wobble slightly at the corners when the couple sealed their vows with a kiss, the marriage vows clearly meant as much to her today as they must have the first time she'd heard them.
What, he suddenly wondered, would it be like for Kerry to hear those vows on her own wedding day? To say them herself to the man she was vowing to love, to cherish, to remain with forever? How much more would it mean to her to know that she had finally found the love she'd been waiting for?
Adam's chest tightened.
It was hard to picture Kerry with another guy. Impossible, actually. Even harder than it was for him to picture himself as a groom in a tux in front of friends and family saying things about sickness and health.
Strange that he could see himself getting hitched more easily than he could see Kerry letting some other guy slip a ring on her finger.
Everyone around him jumped out of their seats to applaud the newly married couple as they walked down the aisle, and he lost sight of Kerry. By the time the crowd cleared out, she was gone. She had a show to run, and he planned to let her do her job. But though he normally avoided the dance floor at weddings--it was where the desperate single women always pounced--today it was the part he was most looking forward to.
Because it meant he'd get to hold Kerry in his arms for a few minutes.
The next couple of hours were perfectly orchestrated, and though he knew they must be flying by for his newly married friends, for Adam they dragged on and on, until the band finally started up and the happy couple took the floor for their first dance.
Adam didn't waste one single second after it ended to take Kerry's hand in his. "Our turn now."
She looked momentarily surprised--and pleased--to find her hand in his. But though he sensed she wanted the dance as much as he did, she said, "Any other time, I'd love to. But I'm here to work today, not to party with the guests."
"Looks like everything's going great," he said with a gesture to the very happy people all around them who were full of food and cake and champagne. "Besides, you want all of the bride and groom's guests to be happy, don't you?"
Figuring he'd already given her more than fair warning, with one deft move, he put her iPad on a nearby table, then sent her into a graceful spin. One that had her forgetting the rules for a moment as she laughed and came back, breathless, into his arms.
His friends looked over at them with big smiles, and when Kerry saw that they weren't at all upset to see their wedding planner dancing with one of their guests, she finally relaxed.
He already knew she was the perfect fit in his arms, but this was a different dance than any they'd ever done before, and he wanted to savor every second of it. Her head on his shoulder, her delicious scent, the beautiful sound of her voice as she softly sang along with the classic crooner song, the softness of the skin at her wrist where he was gently rubbing his thumb along her pulse point.
For hours, time had dragged on endlessly. But now that he wanted it to slow, it raced forward faster than ever before. The song was ending too soon, leaving him only a handful of seconds with Kerry in his arms before he lost her until Thursday.
"Kerry?"
In a split second, her body went from loose and languid to taut as a bow. She stepped out of his arms before he could try to keep her close.
"Mother." Kerry's voice had a sharpness in it that hadn't been there just minutes before. "I'm so glad you were able to come to the wedding."
Adam could see where Kerry's beauty had come from. Her mother was a stunning woman. A little too thin, perhaps, but otherwise she looked barely two decades older than her daughter.
Her mother gave her a kiss on both cheeks in the British style. "I would have been here earlier, but I'm afraid the event I was chairing ran long."
Adam extended his hand and smiled as he said, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Dromoland. I'm--"
"Adam Sullivan, the architect." Kerry's mother shook his hand. "I recognize you from the story I recently read about your work on the historic women's club. I'm very impressed with the way you revived the building."
"Thank you, I enjoyed working on it."
Despite her compliment on his professional skills, Adam had a sense that Kerry's mother wasn't necessarily impressed with much else about him. Clearly, she knew of his reputation as a ladies' man. Just as clearly, she wasn't thrilled to find one of her precious daughters in his arms. If he had a daughter and found her dancing with a guy like him, he'd feel precisely the same way.
The thought didn't sit quite right with him.
"How did you two meet?" Kerry's mother asked them, clearly assuming they hadn't just met at today's wedding.
"Adam's brother Rafe is working with us for his wedding. Adam helped design a marvelous gazebo for the event. He's also volunteered to build it, which is very sweet of him."
Adam had to work to fight back a grin at the way Kerry was trying so hard to come up with a list of unarguably good points in his favor. At the same time, he wondered at her use of the word us as she'd spoken about working on Rafe and Brooke's wedding. Was Kerry's mother still involved in the business? That wasn't the impression he'd gotten so far, but maybe he'd missed something along the way.
"I'm also a good friend of Jodi and Paul," he added, "which is why I'm here today."
"What do you think of today's wedding?"
"Pretty much every Sullivan on the West Coast has gotten married in the past couple of years, so I've been to plenty of weddings, but the truth is that today's wedding is by far the best one I've attended."
Kerry's mother was silent for a long moment as she studied his face to assess how genuine his statement was. Finally, she said, "Kerry is the best wedding planner on any coast."
Kerry looked more than a little surprised--and very pleased--by her mother's praise. "I learned from the very best."
Her mother smiled at her, and he liked seeing the deep warmth in the other woman's eyes toward her daughter. Kerry deserved to be loved by absolutely everyone.
"Everything except dancing with the guests rather than making sure everything is running smoothly," her mother added, with a small upturn of her lips.
When he felt Kerry stiffen beside him again, knowing she was still mortified to be caught goofing off for a few minutes while on the job, he took her hand and held it as he said, "I didn't give her much choice, I'm afraid."
"Nonsense." Her mother was still smiling, but the slight edge was back in her tone as she looked down at their linked hands. "One always has a choice."
With that, she kissed Kerry's cheeks again, said how lovely it was to meet him, and went to mingle.
"Thanks for the dance," Kerry said, but she sounded distracted, her eyes following her mother's movement across the lawn beneath the fairy lights.
Kerry's hand was far too cold, and he covered
it with both of his to try to warm her up. "Your mom is one seriously elegant lady. I'm glad I finally got to meet her. I see where you get your strength from. And your beauty."
Finally, Kerry's eyes met his again. "She's amazing. And," she said with an upturn of her lips that didn't quite reach her eyes, "probably worried that I'm dropping the ball big-time by goofing off with one of the guests. I really should get back to work now to make sure everything's beyond perfect."
She tried to slide her hands from his, but he wasn't ready to let go just yet. "I want to dance with you again. Not tonight," he said before she protested that she couldn't goof off with him twice in one night, "but soon." He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it before handing her back her iPad. "Time to let you go back to showing everyone why you're the best wedding planner on any coast."
And though she smiled as she took the device from him, he didn't like the worry that was barely a layer down. Nor did he care for the way she ran herself off her feet the rest of the night to make up for a dance that she clearly thought had been a terrible transgression.
He finally understood why she'd been utterly adamant that no one learn of their nights together. Not only because she didn't want Rafe and Brooke to question her professionalism, but also because she was terrified of disappointing her mother.
The thing was, Ms. Dromoland clearly adored Kerry, and despite the fact that she obviously had high expectations, he wasn't convinced that her mother was quite as full of demands and expectations as she thought.
There must be something more to the way Kerry bent over backward for her mother and sister, another reason why she felt she always had to look and behave so perfectly. Something that ran deeper than he had a handle on yet.
Then again, the truth was that there was plenty about Kerry he couldn't get a handle on. The way he couldn't stop thinking about her, for one. Or wanting her.
Or just plain smiling every time he thought about her.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The following Thursday night, as Kerry walked from her office toward the hotel, she was glad for the fresh air and a few minutes alone to clear her head before she met up with Adam.
Again and again over the week she'd replayed her dance with him--and the subsequent conversation with her mother--in her head.
The dance had been unlike any other Kerry had ever experienced. Throughout her teens, both Kerry and her sister had taken ballroom-dancing classes, and that knowledge had helped Kerry a great deal as she worked with brides and grooms who were nervous about their wedding dance. But though Adam was incredibly skilled on his feet, it wasn't skill that'd had her heart leaping around in her chest or her soul feeling as though it was taking flight in his arms. She'd wished the dance could have gone on forever, that she'd never have to let him go.
Regret washed over her again at the way she'd all but jumped out of his arms when her mother had said her name. Of course, he'd been sweet about it, and nothing but gracious with her mother. After that, Kerry had been swept back into the myriad details of her job, being pulled in so many directions by her wedding staff and the guests that when Adam came to say good-bye, she'd barely had a chance to say good-bye herself.
By the time she'd finally left the wedding site, she was stunned to realize how lonely the thought of going home alone was. Especially now that she knew how warm and wonderful it was to share Adam's bed.
But that wasn't their deal. Wasn't what they'd agreed on. Wasn't the plan that she'd reminded them they needed to stick to.
Not allowing herself to be a coward, Kerry had called her mother Monday morning to see if she enjoyed the wedding and had any suggestions. Where Kerry was good with details and organization, her mother's gift had been in the tiny things that ended up making all the difference. Kerry had been touched to hear her mother tell Adam that she was the best wedding planner on any coast, but she also wanted Aileen to be honest about where she still had room for improvement.
"The wedding was perfect, darling, although I'm sure it wasn't easy to keep your focus on work when Adam Sullivan couldn't keep his eyes off you."
Kerry had been glad her mother couldn't see her mouth drop open, or the flush of pleasure that she couldn't stop from moving over her from knowing how much Adam wanted her.
Trying not to betray either reaction, she'd replied, "If you do think of anything at the wedding that needed improvement, please don't hesitate to tell me. And as for Adam..." She hadn't wanted to lie to her mother--she'd never get away with it anyway. "We became friends while working together on his brother's wedding. He's a very nice man."
Her mother had let the silence ride just long enough that Kerry knew they weren't yet done discussing him. "Yes, I've heard he's a very nice man. Especially when he's around beautiful women."
Kerry hadn't been able to keep from defending him--and, she supposed, herself at the same time. "He's been nothing but kind and generous. A true friend." Surely, her mother had to know that Kerry wasn't foolish enough to fall in love with an utterly unsuitable man, not after having done such a good job of steering clear of bad love her entire life.
"I'm not sure friends look at each other the way you both were during your dance, darling--or that men and women are ever very good at being friends without complications ensuing. But I've never had any reason to doubt you before, so I won't begin now."
Her mother's warning to stay away from romantic entanglement with Adam hadn't needed to be explicitly said to be perfectly clear. Of course, Kerry couldn't possibly have told her mother that both she and Adam knew the rules and had a strict arrangement where the nights they spent together couldn't possibly become more than hot sex between friends. If her mother ever found out about Kerry and Adam's hotel hookups, she would be beside herself with worry.
And yet, even knowing how deeply her mother disapproved of even the idea of Kerry spending time with Adam wasn't enough to convince Kerry to cancel her night with him. Not when she was really looking forward to seeing him tonight at the hotel.
Not just for sex--although she was definitely looking forward to that--but because she wanted to hear about everything in his life. Things like the projects he was working on and whether he'd spent time with his family this week. She wanted to hear about the good parts, and the frustrating ones, too. And then she wanted to tell him all the little things she knew he'd appreciate, like the incredible historic house of one of her new clients and the little boy who had given the funniest wedding toast she'd ever heard.
Kerry was halfway to the hotel when her phone dinged from inside her purse. Though ignoring a ringing phone was strictly against the rules of all wedding planners--even higher than dancing with one of the wedding guests--she was tempted to turn it off. The last thing she wanted was for work to derail her night with Adam. They'd both been so busy this week that the only contact they'd had with each other since Sunday's wedding were a few emails and text messages about the house she was in the process of trying to buy.
He'd sent over the original plans from the county for her to study so that she could discuss what she'd like to change inside the house. But she loved it just as it was. She didn't want to change anything about it. She simply wanted to see it come back to life--and know that she could spend hers there, as well.
Fortunately, the number on the screen was the only one she wanted to pick up tonight. "Adam, hi."
She knew he could probably hear the smile on her lips, but she didn't need to hide her pleasure at hearing from a friend. One of the best she'd ever had, actually, despite whatever her mother believed about a woman and a man not being able to be friends.
"Kerry, I kept trying to get away to call, but there are so many problems with this renovation project I just took on in mid-rebuild that if I so much as left the room it was likely to collapse on everyone's heads and take out all ten of the guys I brought in."
"What can I do to help?" Adam had been there for her again and again. Tonight, she'd be there for him. And she'd also
stuff down her selfish disappointment about not getting to be with him in the hotel.
"You could hire a sniper to take out the guy who was running this project before me."
"How did you know that all wedding planners have a sniper on speed dial?"
He laughed. "Damn it, I didn't want to be late tonight. Any night but this."
Hearing how much he regretted having to bail on their night together had her chest squeezing tight. But it was a good kind of squeezing, almost as if he'd put his arms around her and was holding her close.
"Where's the building?"
The address he gave her wasn't far from where she was standing. "I'll bring everyone dinner."
"Dinner?" She could hear a half-dozen male voices chiming in behind Adam. "You can't even imagine how big a hero you'd be if you brought us dinner, especially since we skipped lunch, we've run out of snacks and drinks, and we've got hours left here tonight."
Kerry made a quick call to her favorite caterer, who also ran a great deli close to the building they were working on. Judy didn't ask questions when Kerry said she needed munchies and drinks for twenty ASAP. Adam had said he'd brought ten men with him, but she figured they'd each eat for two if they'd missed lunch. With Judy on the snack delivery, Kerry headed into the Mexican burrito place on the next corner, one she'd heard great things about.
Twenty minutes later, she was getting into a taxi with four huge bags of food. No one would go hungry tonight, that was for sure. And even if she didn't get to spend an entire night with Adam, at least she'd be with him for a few wonderful minutes.
*
"Kerry, you're a goddess."
Adam's smile lit her up from the inside out as he popped a hard hat on her head, then took the bags from her and handed them to his guys. His men all agreed that she was indeed the best as he quickly introduced her. Each of them was polite and charming as they took turns shaking her hand. It was an awful lot of testosterone in one place, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't just the tiniest bit overwhelmed by them.