Seducing the Bride

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 Derek.”

“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.”