by Shayla Black
“Please.”
“On the left is our most popular type for weddings, white. I can serve that with an almond cream filling that’s deliciously light or we can go with something fruitier like strawberry or raspberry, which will also add some visual panache to your cake. Down the row, I’ve got red velvet, chocolate, lemon, carrot, pink champagne, coconut, marble…”
After she goes on about each and tells me all the available fillings, I’m reeling. I thought this would be a simple matter of telling her what I wanted the cake to look like and picking a flavor that most people should enjoy. But like with everything I’ve run into while planning this event, the selections are more complicated than I thought.
“Do you have specific recommendations?”
“They’re all good. It’s just a matter of personal preference. I brought you one of everything to taste.”
“Hayden is allergic to coconut,” I blurt, then get annoyed with myself. Will he even eat the cake?
“I’m glad you told me. Let’s remove that sample.” Misty plucks one of the mini cupcakes out of the middle of the line. “Once you pick the cake flavor, we’ll test some fillings. I’ll pull any with coconut, so you don’t need to worry.”
“Thanks.” Hayden smiles like he’s totally enjoying himself.
“Of course.” Misty nods like she’s ready to get down to business. “If you’re still not sure where to start, maybe you can tell me some of your favorite desserts.”
“My girl loves a sinful bread pudding,” Hayden offers.
He remembers that?
Misty nods enthusiastically. “Me, too. The Capital Grille—”
“Has the best, right?”
“Definitely. Oh, my gosh…”
“But Perrie is really all about the ice cream, the lighter and creamier the better.”
“That’s helpful. Do you like the fruity flavors, the more traditional ones, or—”
“The unusual ones,” he puts in for me. “We found a place once that made a lemon biscotti flavor that had her groaning the whole time she was eating it. We didn’t have any alone time that evening, so it made for a long damn night.”
I stare at him, wide-eyed. That night, shortly before my high school graduation, is etched into my brain—and only in part because of the amazing ice cream. I remember being days away from turning eighteen and so, so aware of Hayden as a man, of wanting him until I ached and hating the fact he didn’t see me as anything but a child. “That’s not true.”
“You loved that ice cream.”
“I meant the way you felt about me.”
“I had you fooled.” He smiles. “I won’t embarrass Misty with the thousand and one filthy things I thought that night. I’ll tell you later.”
My cheeks turn unmistakably hot. They match the rest of my body, which flashes with need.
I squirm in my chair, not daring to say a word.
Misty clears her throat, looking amused. “We can start with the lemon. I’ve got a biscotti-flavored filling I can add if you’re partial to that flavor combination…”
Over the next twenty minutes, Misty and I chat about cake flavors in between testing each delectable bite. Beside me, I’m aware of Hayden licking frosting from his lips and watching me with an unnerving stare.
“I don’t think the carrot cake is for me,” I say.
“That was marble.” Hayden’s smirk says he knows he’s rattling me.
“Oh, sorry.” I smile at Misty to cover the awkward moment.
“Not at all. It’s a lot of flavors at once. I may have saved the best for last…”
Before I can reach for the final confection, Hayden plucks it from the tray, unwraps the paper from the spongy cake, and breaks it in half. One piece he plops in his mouth with a groan. The other he holds inches from my lips. I rear back, silently insisting I can feed myself.
He cups my nape and pulls me closer. “Open up.”
Swearing I’m going to get him back for this subterfuge and forced intimacy, I accept the bite. The second the cake hits my tongue, it melts into the most delicate sweetness balanced with a teeny hint of tart from the cream cheese frosting.
I groan. “I’m in heaven. What is that?”
“Pink champagne.”
“Wow.” I’m in love.
“This is spectacular. But I know how it could taste better.” Hayden swipes his thumb across the corner of my mouth and comes away with a few crumbs and a dollop of frosting. I watch, unblinking and breathless, as he sets the digit in the middle of his tongue, closes his lips around it, and groans. “Now it’s perfect.”
Heat coalesces and sharpens into an insistent ache between my legs I can’t pretend I don’t feel.
When I realize Misty is staring, I swallow and try to find two coherent words to string together. “What kind of filling do you recommend with that?”
The baker looks amused. “Probably vanilla or almond. Both are good. Almond is a bit more unexpected and less sweet.” She reaches around to find a sample, then sets two little paper cups with a tiny plastic tasting spoon in front of me, then does the same for Hayden.
As we dip the small utensils into the samples, then onto our tongues, a look tells me we’re on the same page.
“Almond, for sure,” I tell Misty.
“I agree.”
It’s startling to realize that Hayden and I just agreed on a wedding cake flavor together—after he practically ate some off my lips. It’s so intimate…so couplish. And when he drops his hand to my thigh with a smile for Misty, I’m reeling—with confusion, with desire.
Abruptly, I stand. “I think we’re good here. You know the cake size.”
“I didn’t get a good look at your Pinterest board.”
“I’ll send you a link.” I’m eager to escape…until I realize I’ll be all alone with Hayden in the small cab of his truck with nothing but a mere eighteen inches separating us.
If he touches me again, how am I going to resist him? Worse, what does my weakness bode for my future?
Suddenly, Hayden takes my hand in his and seems all too happy to hustle me outside. “Thanks for your help, Misty. We’ll look for you on Saturday at nine a.m.”
“I see a lot of brides and grooms, so I have a sense of who will make it. You two belong together. It seems like you know each other really well, but still tease and have plenty of fire. It’s a good recipe for success.” She smiles and waves. “See you this weekend.”
Is that something she says to all the couples who come through the door? I don’t think so. Misty seems professional, yes. But pretty dang honest, too.
Could Hayden and I be happily married?
I shouldn’t even consider the idea…but it’s hard not to.
The minute the door closes behind us, I’m overwhelmed by the nagging worry that I’m wearing my heart on my sleeve for him to see. And if Derek could read my thoughts now, what would he say?
“There’s no need to put on an act for Misty anymore.” I glance back to verify we’re around the corner, then tug my hand from his.
He grabs it again and pulls me closer. “Who says I’m acting?”
Before I can object, he swipes at my bottom lip with his thumb again, a slow, sensual sweep that leaves me tingling, weak-kneed, and desperate.
“Hayden…”
He doesn’t answer, just drops his stare to my lips, which automatically part to welcome him. His eyes darken. Intent stamps his face.
He’s going to kiss me.
I should push him away, say no. I know that.
But this may be the only time in my life I’ll ever know what it feels like when Hayden Hughes voluntarily kisses me like a woman. How can I pass it up?
“God, that look. You’re killing me.” His rough voice sounds strained.
“What do you mean?”
“Your eyes. They’re eating me up.” He rakes an agitated hand through his hair. “You need to be kissed by someone who knows what the fuck they’re doing—and clearly that isn’t Dere
k.”
“I’m engaged.” And when I’m this close to Hayden, I really don’t care.
His dark eyes drill into my soul. “To the wrong man. Give me one good reason not to kiss you.”
I should have a million…but I can’t think of one.
From the purse dangling on my shoulder, my phone rings, disturbing the moment. I can’t decide whether I’m furious or grateful for the distraction. A glance at the screen tells me it’s Derek.
“Hi,” I say as I pull the device free.
Can he hear my voice shaking?
“I’m really sorry about the cake tasting. Did you already pick a flavor?”
“We did. We’re just leaving.”
“We?”
I hesitate. “Hayden came with me so I’d have a second opinion.”
“I’ll bet that’s not the only reason,” Derek mutters.
It’s not, and what am I supposed to say? “We’re on our way back for dinner. Did you finish work for the day?”
“About that…” The grimace in his voice is impossible to miss. “I’m sorry.”
“You have to go to Seattle?” I don’t really have to guess. This isn’t my first rodeo with his last-minute business trips.
“There’s a flight that leaves at seven tonight. I have to be on it. I’ll be back Saturday morning.”
Is he kidding? “That’s the day of the wedding!”
“I know. I feel horrible. But this is my entire future…”
I close my eyes and do some mental math. If we have to push the ceremony out a few hours it’s possible, just ridiculous. “What time will you be back?”
“There’s a flight that leaves Seattle at six a.m. I’ll be back at your dad’s house with time to spare before the ceremony at noon.”
What if the plane is late?
There’s no sense in asking him. He doesn’t have an answer.
I try to tamp down my disappointment and be supportive. He’s doing his best. “Be safe. Hope everything goes well. I’ll see you just before the ceremony.”
“You will. I’ll come through.” He pauses. “Call me with any updates.”
“Will do.”
Then I hear three beeps and the connection goes silent.
I don’t even have to look up to see Hayden’s condemnation. Of course he overheard everything.
“He’s leaving you the week of your wedding, and he doesn’t even have the balls to tell you that he loves you before he goes.” Hayden shakes his head. “You need to think really hard before you say I do. Because I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before you’re calling an attorney and starting your life over.”
“Don’t do this.” I march toward his truck, more than ready to go home and crawl into bed with a bottle of wine.
Hayden wraps his fingers around my elbow and pulls me against his body. “Don’t what, be honest?”
“Don’t get in my head.”
“Someone’s got to stop you from making this mistake.”
“This wedding is already planned. What would you have me do?”
His face softens as he filters his fingers through my hair. “Marry me instead.”
3
Hayden
Well, that was smooth, fidiot.
Beside me, Perrie retreats into herself on the drive back to Dan’s place. I grapple for something to say.
“I’m serious,” I finally tell her. “In case you thought I wasn’t.”
She turns to me with red-rimmed eyes. I know her expressions well. She’s trying not to cry. “No, you aren’t.”
“Why would you say that?”
She rolls her eyes. “You didn’t marry Jackie What’s-her-name after two years of banging her like a drum. You’re not going to marry the girl you’ve only kissed once.”
This I have the perfect answer for. “We can fix that right now. There’s a Hilton down the street.”
“I’m still engaged.”
“And I still think you’re marrying the wrong man. Let me prove it.”
She scoffs. “Even if we checked in and fucked our brains out all night, there’s still the issue of my dad. You told me once that I wasn’t worth losing a friend over.”
Those words I tossed at her four years ago in my desperation to push her away make me wince now. “I’m sorry I said that. I was wrong. No, I was lying so you’d back down. But neither Dan nor our business is the issue between us. The twelve-year gap in our ages doesn’t mean a damn thing anymore either. The only thing stopping us now is you.”
“I can’t take you seriously. The notion of marrying me never occurred to you until today.”
“That’s not true.”
“Okay. Not before this week.”
I can’t refute her.
“That’s what I thought. You’ve always tried to ‘save’ me in some way or another—from being lonely as a kid, from starving if I forgot my lunch money, from sucking at video games. If you sacrificed yourself simply to rescue me from marrying Derek, we’d both be miserable. Just drop it.”
She has it all wrong. But when she crosses her arms over her chest and looks out the passenger window at the passing scenery—tuning me out—I realize nothing I say now will convince her she’s wrong.
The rest of the trip is silent.
When we arrive back at Dan’s place, Derek is gone. Perrie disappears into her room.
My best friend frowns as he watches her go. “She’s upset. What happened?”
“We should talk.”
Dan frowns, then shrugs. “Sure. It’s beer o’clock. We can sit out on the back patio.”
I’m not eager to see all the wedding prep progress, but we can talk out of Perrie’s earshot there. “Sounds good.”
A few minutes later, Dan and I are settled around the patio table, taking in the sunset. I’m too distracted to appreciate the vivid oranges, pinks, and yellows coloring the sky. I take a deep breath and prepare to blow up my entire personal and professional life with one sentence.
“I’m in love with Perrie.”
Dan pauses mid-sip, then lowers his beer can again. “I know.”
Not only am I shocked, his response gives me zero idea how he feels about that.
Feeing the need for liquid courage, I pop open my brew and chug half in a few swallows. “And…I’m going to do everything I can to put a stop to this farce on Saturday. I don’t want to lose you as a friend or a business partner, but to be honest, Dan, if you don’t approve, that’s not going to stop me.”
Absently, he fingers the rim of his can. “What does Perrie want?”
“Not to disappoint you. So I’m telling you what’s up man to man. I’d like your blessing, but if you can’t give it to me, please don’t give her your disapproval. It will crush her.”
“You think she’s in love with you, too?”
“She’s done her damnedest to hide it, but yeah.”
“Still?”
It’s my turn to frown. “You knew…”
“She had a crush on you before she left for college? Hell yes.” He lets out a long breath. “She told me. And I’ll tell you what I said to her back then. If my two favorite people in the world make each other happy—when the time is right—that would make me happy, too.”
Warm relief slides through my veins. “I want you to know I’ve never touched her. She kissed me once but—”
“I’m impressed. I wondered for years whether you slept with her that summer before she left.”
If I had, would everything be different now?
“You would have killed me.”
“At the time, yes. In retrospect, maybe it would have been for the best. To be frank, I don’t like Derek. No, that’s not true. He’s okay; he’s just not right for her.”
“Of course he’s not. He left on a business trip days before their wedding. He doesn’t love her.”
Dan shakes his head. “And Perrie doesn’t love him. I figured that out in the first five minutes.”
“She says she does…”
<
br /> “She probably wants to because marrying him would be easier since he’s not you. I admit she’s attached to him in some way I don’t understand. But I’m not blind; I know her heart has been yours for a long time.”
“Do I have your blessing, then?”
Suddenly, Dan smiles and thrusts his hand toward me. “A thousand percent. You’ve always felt like family. It would be nice to make it official.”
A two-ton weight just lifted from my chest. “Thanks. It would be great.”
“Got a plan? She’s a stubborn thing. She’s going to keep marching ahead with this wedding to Mr. Metrosexual unless you make her change her mind.”
“I’ve got some ideas, and I might need your help. But I’ll get back to that. Since we’re clearing the air… Speaking of not being blind, I know about you and Hannah.”
“Seriously? Oh, thank fuck.” Dan’s visible relief is almost comical. “I have been wracking my brain for months to find a way to tell you.”
“You two and your incessant eye fucking made it obvious over Fourth of July. I suspected way before then but…”
“It’s funny. You and I have both been worried that the other would think we’re too old for the women we love. After all, I’m thirteen years older than Hannah.”
I shrug. “My younger sister is very much an adult. If you two make each other happy—”
“We do.” He winces. “She’s pregnant. Seven weeks. We just found out last Friday. I was going to propose anyway, but we should speed things up now. With your blessing.”
It’s impossible to stay in my chair for that news. Dan gets to his feet, too, and we share a long bro-hug. It’s the most emotion I’ve seen out of him in a decade, and I can’t help but think my sister has been good for him.
“You got it. But dude, this is weird. If it all works out, you’ll be both my father-in-law and my brother-in law.”
“It sounds creepy.” He laughs. “But I can’t think of anything better than Hannah and I finding a place together to raise a rugrat or two. I’ll be a better father this time because I’m ready and I know all the ways I fucked up the first time. Plus, if you convince Perrie to be your wife, she’ll be back for good.”