Her cheeks go sallow as she hears the words. "I told you I didn't want to go, Nathan."
I've never met Jessica's family. I've loved this woman for more than a year and I've never had the opportunity to go to Connecticut to see the people who loved and nurtured her as she was growing into who she is today. I've listened to her talk with her sister. I've held her hand as she's given shattered glimpses into the pain of her parent's divorce and I sat idly by as she told her father that he couldn’t come to visit her over the holidays because of her work schedule. She won't share. I won't pry but this wedding is a ticket to her past, and I want to be aboard that train.
/> "Your sister really wants you to be her maid of honor, Jessica," I say gently. I've tried coaxing, being overbearing and manipulative. Today's approach is compassionate guilt. I'm hoping this will be the one thing that finally works.
"Julie has a lot of friends." Her hands drop into her lap. "They don't need me there."
I inch forward on my chair, pulling on the fabric of my pants to give me the room to maneuver myself closer to her. "I'll be right beside you the entire time. I won't leave your side for a second."
"What if Josh is there?"
I feel the vein in my neck pulse at the sound of her ex-boyfriend's name. This is the guy that calls her like clockwork every few months, trying to weasel his way back into her life. She knows exactly how to handle him. She wields masterful control over him on the phone like a professional lion tamer. I have to admit, the thought of seeing them together in a room isn't doing anything for my temper. I can't stand the thought of any man being close to her. The idea of her talking face-to-face with a guy she used to fuck is sending my stomach reeling.
"He's friends with Julie. You know that he is." She's almost pleading. I can hear her trying to make a new case for not attending the wedding. I'm not about to let her off the hook that easily though.
"Your sister wants you there." I run my hand over her exposed calf. "Julie loves you. She's your only sister, Jessica. This is the most important day of her life."
"What about Josh?" She pushes, knowing that his name scorches over me like hot coals.
I'm not giving in this time. After reading the email her sister sent me last night, I was bound and determined to get Jessica's pretty little ass to Connecticut. "Fuck him. It's not about him."
Her expression goes blank. "I don't want to go, Nathan. I don't."
"You're going to regret not going." I sigh. We've been dancing around the subject for more than a month. She has to make a firm decision now so her sister can choose someone else to be her maid of honor if Jessica can't get her shit together enough to get her ass on a plane. "Do it for her."
Her mouth falls open and I half-expect a litany of curse words to fly out at me. She snaps it shut before she finally speaks. "Okay, I'll go. But you can't leave my side."
"Never, Jessica." I graze my lips over hers. "I'll never leave your side."
Chapter 3
"So this is him?" Her breath races over my face and I'm immediately assaulted with the unpleasant combination of a cheap domestic beer and even cheaper cigarettes. "Jessie, why didn't you tell me he was such a stud?"
Jessica's face flashes crimson as she grabs tightly to my hand. "I sent you a picture of us, mom."
"He didn't look this dashing in that picture." Her hand grazes over my forearm right before I sense her fingers trailing down my dress shirt towards my ass.
I edge to the left, pulling Jessica into my body. "We should get to the hotel." The effort to avoid her mother's wandering hand does little good as I feel her grab a handful of my ass through my dress pants. Christ. She's not even trying to hide it. We're standing in a room filled with Jessica's relatives and her mother's making a beeline for my goods.
"Good idea." Jessica's expression is pained. I can see the discomfort there. I feel a brief sense of regret knowing that I'm the one who incessantly pushed her to come to this wedding. We arrived at her mother's house less than five minutes ago and I already wish we were back in our apartment in Manhattan.
"That's nuts," Hillary, Jessica's mother, practically spits all over me as the words fly off her lips. "I have lots of extra space. You two should stay here."
The vise grip that Jessica has on my hand only tightens. I don't need to look at her to know that staying here isn't an option. Hell, it's not an option for me either. I can only imagine what will happen to me if I wander down to the kitchen at night to get a sandwich. Hillary has made it clear by the continued groping of my ass that she wants whatever the fuck she can get from me.
"Mom, I don't think that's a good idea," she says in a sweet voice. No one in the room, including her grandmother can hear the veiled disgust woven into the words. Why didn't I listen when she said she didn't want to come back here? I feel as though I've stepped into a circus and my ass is the main attraction.
"Nonsense." The word is a slur. "I can fix up your old room. My sewing machine is in there now but your strong fellow can cart that out of there. I bet he has huge muscles."
Jessica tosses me a dazed look. "Nathan already booked the hotel. We're more comfortable there."
"She's right," I yelp. This time Hillary's finger got closer than the urologist during my prostate exam. "I'm tired. We're going to the hotel."
"You're coming to the rehearsal dinner, aren't you, Jess?" Julie, Jessica's sister, pokes her head around a corner and into the room. At first glance you'd never know the two of them were sisters. Julie's dark hair and eyes pair flawlessly with her olive toned skin. She's the exact physical opposite of Jessica. She hovers near my height and her body is elegantly toned and trim.
"I'll…we'll be there." Jessica looks to me for reassurance.
I slide my hand to her neck, pulling her head into my chest. "We will both be there."