Seducing the Bride

The little metal disc burns my palm as she sidles past me, toward her adjoining bathroom.

As she slams the door, I shove the token in my pocket with a curse. Of course she wouldn’t give up easily. Persistence is one of Perrie’s qualities I usually admire. Tonight, it makes me fucking afraid that she really will wait until the memory of that blistering kiss breaks me down and I’m unable to resist her anymore.

“That day isn’t coming,” I yell through the door to her, but they’re empty words. “I’ll see you during Christmas break. And we won’t talk about this then—or ever.”

When I shove my way out of the house and drive off into the night, I’m not relieved. In fact, I can’t help but wonder if I’ve just made the worst mistake of my life.

1

Four years later

Perrie didn’t come home for Christmas that year. Or visit at all the following summer. There was always an amazing trip with a roommate, a really important internship she couldn’t miss, or another class to take. I knew Dan talked to Perrie regularly. He even flew back East a few times to visit her. A couple months ago he attended her graduation. But she never returned to Phoenix. Worse, she never spoke to me in those long four years, even the time I broke down and called a few weeks after her departure.

I’ve missed her like hell and spent years second-guessing the way I acted that final, terrible night. A million times, I wondered what would have happened if I had taken her to bed, plucked her innocence, and made her promises for the future I wish we were planning together even now. I’ll never know.

Tonight, she’s finally coming home.

“Thanks for being here.” Dan claps me on the shoulder with one hand while slipping me a cold beer with the other.

I tried to beg off this family reunion to save my sanity by pointing out that Perrie is his only child and they should spend this precious time together. He merely insisted that I’m like family and that he wants us all together.

“My pleasure.” As lies go, it’s a whopper.

“I’m excited Perrie is on her way home. I can’t wait to hear her big announcement.”

I’ve got a bad feeling about it. She was always the kind of girl who shouted good things from the rooftops. Her social media should be loaded with this stuff. So not even giving her father a hint makes me nervous as hell.

Forcing a smile, I clap him on the back. “She’s probably landed an amazing job. No surprise, right? She went to a top-notch school, graduated summa cum laude, and has made a million connections, I’m sure.”

“I’m really proud of her.” His smile falters into something melancholy. “Sometimes, I look back and regret all the time I spent working instead of being with her, especially after her mother left. But she always had you. That meant the world to both of us.”

“She’s a special girl.” It’s one of the few things I can say that won’t give away how horribly I’ve missed Perrie and how the hole she left in my heart has just about killed me.

From the family room, we both hear the slam of a car door. I drag in a breath and clutch my beer can so tightly it nearly crumples in my fist. I have no idea what I’ll say to her.

Dan turns and marches for the front door. “That should be Perrie.”

Fuck, I have to keep it together. I can’t grab her, jerk her into my arms, and kiss her. I can’t confess how fucking much I’ve missed her in my life. I especially don’t dare whisper that she’s still number one in my spank bank, which I frequent because real sex with random women is always a disappointment.

None of them is Perrie.

But if there’s any hope for us, I won’t find out how she feels by hiding out with my cold one in the next room, so I follow Dan.

When I walk into the foyer, it isn’t Dan’s daughter coming through the door, suitcase in hand. Instead, I see a man in his mid-twenties wearing a charcoal business suit that clearly costs a small fortune. His slight build, pale skin, and smooth, manicured hands tell me he’s a well-paid desk jockey.

“Who are you?” He definitely doesn’t resemble any rideshare driver I’ve ever had.

The guy sets a black suitcase aside and thrusts his hand in my direction. “Derek Kingston. You must be Hayden.”

“Yeah.” Should I know this guy? “Good to meet you.”

As he shakes my hand, he smiles. “I’ve heard all about you.”

His raised brow tells me not all of it is good.

I scowl. “I’m sorry. How do you know Perrie?”

“Are you her boyfriend?” a beaming Dan asks.

“She didn’t tell you?”

An instant later, Perrie comes through the door and wraps her hand around Derek’s arm. It’s impossible to miss the giant teardrop-shaped diamond on the ring finger of her left hand.