Second Chances: A Romance Writers of America Collection (Stark World 2.50)

TORI JACKSON.

He couldn't process it. The love of his life was here. He'd known she was still in Eden, but he h

adn't expected her to be inside the freaking church.

Her words were cool, but her face was flushed and her eyes were wide and ... wary?

"You haven't changed a bit," he murmured, and the words held both truth and lies. She was as gorgeous as ever with her ivy green eyes and cafe-au-lait skin--but she looked different. More composed. Maturity, he supposed. She was a woman now, not the girl he'd remembered so many times over the years.

Victoria. His one regret.

Her eyes held his and a rusty thread of connection stretched taut between them, taking him back to a time when he lived to impress her. He hadn't felt this in years--this tightness in his chest, this shortness of breath. Funny how all the old feelings welled up as if they'd never left him, just waited until he clapped eyes on her again. Emotion still fresh after eleven years of hibernation.

He would have stared at her forever, but she waved him toward the sanctuary. "You should go in. We've already started."

"I know the drill. Stand next to Kipp. Hand him the rings. No rehearsal needed."

Her mouth pursed into a disapproving moue. "Nevertheless, rehearsals put everyone at ease. Go on. They've been wondering if you fell off a cliff."

"Tori." He didn't want to go. Didn't want to do anything that would take his eyes off her. Couldn't risk that he would lose her for another eleven years if he did. He'd considered looking her up while he was in town. Fantasized about it. But this wasn't how he'd pictured their reunion.

Focused intently on her tablet, a blush still rode her cheeks as she nodded toward the doors. "I should get inside."

"Then allow me." He held the door open for her. She moved quickly, avoiding brushing against him. Nick followed her inside, and a cheer went up from the groomsmen.

Duty called.

He tried to pay attention to the rehearsal, but it was impossible with Victoria moving between the pews.

The tablet. The teal sheath and tidy updo hairstyle. Her air of calm and authority. It all added up to one thing: wedding planner.

"Taylor? It's our turn."

Nick yanked his gaze off the wedding planner and focused on the maid of honor at his side.

"Right. Sorry." Belatedly realizing they were holding up the practice recessional, he extended his elbow to her, and they followed Lolly and Kipp up the aisle. The rest of the bridal party fell in line, but Nick was barely aware of them or the bridesmaid on his arm. His gaze had returned to the upswept midnight curls Victoria had somehow figured out how to tame in the past decade.

Once they had proven they could walk down the aisle without tripping over their own feet, the minister pronounced them ready, and the large group immediately broke into smaller clusters. Carpool plans to the rehearsal dinner flew, but Nick could only concentrate on Victoria as she disappeared through a small side door.

He detached himself from the party, moving toward that side door.

"Taylor! Wanna ride with me?"

Kipp's invitation was as loud as the Hawaiian shirt he wore. Normally, Nick would want nothing more than to catch up with his oldest friend, but this was Victoria, and that changed everything.

"Nah, I need to check on something, but I'll catch you at dinner, okay?"

Kipp hesitated, but Lolly tugged on his arm, and they headed out the front with the rest of the bridal party.

Kipp had never met Tori when they were dating. The Taylors and Houghtons had belonged to the same country club since he and Kipp were in diapers, but Kipp had gone to an East Coast boarding school for high school and had been living in Belize during that unforgettable summer after undergrad. He'd heard about her--there had been times Nick had talked of nothing else--but his friend had no reason to suspect the prim wedding planner Victoria was actually Nick's Tori.

The side door led to a small dressing room filled with clergy robes and natural light. Victoria had her back to him, one hand braced on the window frame when he entered. God, she was gorgeous. He'd forgotten the line of her neck, how sensitive she was there.

His fingers itched to touch and he closed the distance between them, giving in to the urge. "Hiding?"

At the first brush of his fingertips, she whirled away, putting half the small room between them. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know." Nick flexed his hand. "I just ... I've missed you."