My breathing was still erratic as I pushed down my gray silk dress, the same dress everyone in the bridal party had worn for the wedding.
“You okay?” David asked.
I couldn’t look at him. My pulse pounded and my fingers were trembling when they went to my hair to smooth it back. It was no use.
“I look like a mess,” I said, unable to see myself in the darkened closet where we’d just had sex. But I knew I did, based on the hair that had escaped my clips and pins. God. I’d just let David, a man I’d avoided for months despite my physical attraction to him, sweep me into a darkened supply closet and screw me senseless during a wedding.
A wedding! My friend’s wedding!
Panic rolled through me, and I flashed my eyes to David.
He was calm as a cucumber, tucking his white linen shirt back into the waistband of his gray dress pants.
“What did we do?” I asked. I pressed my hand to my chest to calm my heart rate, but it was useless. “They’re going to know. And—”
He curved his arms around my shoulders and slid his lips against mine. It did nothing to quell the stampede I felt inside me. Instead, everything increased—the heat that was flooding my veins, the pounding in my ears.
“We did what we’ve been wanting to do ever since I first saw you. That’s what happened.” He pulled back to whisper in my ear, “It was incredible, and I want more of you. On my bed, in the light so I can see you.”
I shook my head. “We can’t.”
“Oh. We can.”
I squeezed my eyes closed before forcing myself to look at him. David was gorgeous. Lean and handsome, with short sandy-blond hair that was cropped in a professionally styled cut. His blue eyes were beautiful, even though I couldn’t see them clearly at the moment. When he’d first showed up at Fireside Grill months ago, I’d barely been able to pull my eyes off him. It was still difficult, but months of practice had helped me at least act like I wasn’t affected by him. He wasn’t only sexy, but calm and laid-back. He laughed easily and often. He’d shown up in Latham Hills after his friend Aidan’s son died in a skateboarding accident and then had made himself at home behind the bar at our friend Declan’s restaurant, Fireside Grill.
For months now, he’d made it clear he wanted me. My resolve to stay away was dwindling by the day, and I knew it would be especially difficult after this.
He was my complete opposite. And absolutely wrong for me.
“David,” I sighed. “That was a—”
He pressed two fingers against my lips. “Don’t say mistake. It wasn’t. It was wonderful. And besides”—his lips lifted into a grin—“you promised me the night, and it’s not nearly over yet.”
“Everyone will know.” This wasn’t me, and everyone knew it. I didn’t succumb to temptation, despite how good the promise of it was. My life was controlled and ordered. Planned out to the letter. I couldn’t afford to let myself get swept away in the silliness like the rest of my friends. I didn’t have that luxury. It was my lists and organization and neurotic planning that had kept me sane for the last sixteen years.
“I don’t care.” His fingers moved to my jaw and then to my neck before sliding around to the back. I shivered from his gentle touch. From the way he made me feel. “Turn around.”
“What?”
“Your hair’s a mess and I want to fix it.”
“Oh.” My hands went back to my hair but he stopped me, taking my hands in his and tugging them to my side.
“I can do it,” I told him.
“I know, but I want to.”
Turning me around, his hands glided up my arms to my hair, and I began to relax. My auburn hair was long and thick and held back with dozens of pins, half of it up and the other half curled in a way that would have taken me hours to do had I done it myself.
Fortunately, Blue had covered the cost for all of us at a salon at the resort where she and Tyson had swept us away for their last-minute wedding. Not having much family, and few friends, they’d decided to forgo a typical wedding and whisked everyone to Jamaica for a long weekend. We’d arrived yesterday but hadn’t had much time to relax, since most of the day and night and then this morning had been busy with wedding preparations.
“That feels good.” I sighed as David began releasing pins and gathering them in his hands. I relaxed, leaning forward and holding on to the table in front of me. The table upon which I’d sat minutes ago and had sex. I inhaled a deep breath, calming myself. “Thank you for helping me with this.”
“My pleasure,” he whispered, as if he suddenly cared that someone might hear us. “We’ll get this done and then say our good nights. Think anyone missed us?”
I laughed awkwardly. “If they noticed we were gone at all…”
The only reason I’d allowed David to take me away from the reception was because it had been just the two of us. He’d walked up to me at the bar, bought me a drink, and then before I knew it, after flirting with me like he’d been doing for months, he was tugging me down a hallway. I’d thought maybe we were going for a walk when he asked me if I wanted to get away for a moment; I hadn’t expected him to guide me into a closet and kiss me.