Chapter One
What the heck is he doing here?
Payton Vaughn looked away from the familiar face with the chiseled jaw and lips that seemed to always be drawn into a frown—especially around her—and outside to the tarmac behind him where the plane was preparing for boarding. There was no chance that the best man boarding this particular flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Puerto Vallarta was a coincidence. Had he been on the earlier flight from Salt Lake as well?
Undoubtedly, her best friend had something to do with this. Didn’t think her maid of honor could make it to Mexico in one piece without a designated babysitter. Good thing Payton loved Kate like a sister or she’d be dead meat by the end of the night, whether it was Kate’s wedding weekend or not.
Cruz Sorensen, of all people, as her chaperone?
The song from Psycho’s shower scene erupted from Payton’s cell phone on the seat beside her. She closed her eyes.
The possibility of letting it go to voicemail came and was quickly dismissed. If she didn’t answer, her mother would call airport security and then the National Guard to put out a world-wide alert that her daughter was missing. Emily Vaughn hadn’t taken Payton’s plan to fly off to Mexico for a weekend by herself very well, and Payton had made the mistake of giving her mother a copy of her flight itinerary to ease her mind.
So she knew boarding didn’t begin for another ten minutes.
Payton tried not to sigh as she answered her phone. “Hello, Mother.”
“I only want you to know that I just hung up with the florist as you weren’t here to take the call but, please, don’t worry yourself. I’ll take care of everything,” her mother said in the martyred voice with a slight Southern twang Payton knew well. “Even if you’ll be thousands of miles away gallivanting around Mexico because your friend didn’t have the tact and graciousness to plan her impromptu wedding after yours. Despite the fact that yours has been scheduled for months.”
Payton let the words roll over her as she watched Cruz Sorensen click away on the keyboard, engrossed in the screen. He was pretty hard to miss. Shiny raven-black hair clipped short and neat, never a hair out of place. A dark countenance adding to that mysterious, sexy allure, thanks to his half-Mexican heritage on his mother’s side, something she had learned from Kate. And those dark brown eyes that, even though they weren’t looking her way, she knew captured his intelligence and wariness.
Even in a simple black button down shirt and jeans, Cruz Sorensen emitted an aura of intelligence and passion and, most of all, ambition. From what Kate had told her, it was this same ambition that had brought his family’s construction business from obscurity to recent fame in the skyrocketing Utah construction realm.
Too bad he was a certified ass-hat.
“Thanks, Mother. But you should let Camille handle all that. After all, she is the wedding planner. That’s what we’re paying her for.”
“Please. Camille, pretty girl that she is, wouldn’t know a dessert fork from a salad fork if the fate of the free world depended on it. The finer details of this event, I’m afraid, will be left to me. We wouldn’t want to show our governor, state senators, or any of the other guests anything less than the best.”
Yes, there was that. Lord. Payton couldn’t wait for this whole event to be over with. But as the only Vaughn offspring, her mother wouldn’t let her wedding happen without a grand and high-profile ceremony. She was just relieved she’d talked her mother down from an eight hundred-person guest list to a mere four hundred.
Payton glanced over to the row of seats against the window again. Cruz had paused long enough at the keyboard to look up and…there. She met his gaze.
A-ha. He couldn’t continue to pretend he didn’t know she was there. She raised her fingers and waved to him, which only earned her a scowl before he dropped his eyes back to his keyboard.
“You know I won’t be gone that long,” Payton continued. “The ceremony is Saturday evening, with a special post-wedding brunch on Sunday. I’ll be on a flight back Monday morning.” The short weekend was especially a relief now that Brad, her fiancé, had to bail on going with her because of a last-minute business meeting. Somehow, the prospect of spending a long weekend alone in the luxurious Presidential Suite sounded a lot less romantic.
“Just be sure to drink only bottled water and hold the ice in every drink you order—remember what happened to poor Danielle Edwards on her honeymoon. And wear your hat and sunblock every minute you’re there. With only a few more weeks before your big day you wouldn’t want to be all splotchy and freckled in your wedding photos like you were in your senior high school picture.” She sighed. “It’s too bad Brad couldn’t make it. I don’t like the idea
of you gallivanting around Mexico alone.”
This time Payton did roll her eyes. “I’ll hardly be gallivanting, Mother. This flight is direct to Mexico, and I’ll take a cab to the hotel. But if you’re so disappointed, you’re free to call Brad and share your dissatisfaction with him.” Payton couldn’t hide the frustration from her voice. She didn’t know why it surprised her when Brad bailed on her; he’d become so good at it as of late. She’d hoped this weekend would be a chance for them to reconnect, to remember why they were going through this elaborate planning in the first place—or her mother’s elaborate planning, anyhow. Not going to happen now.
“Payton Vaughn,” her mother chastised, “you know better than to get angry at poor Bradley. He’s done nothing but show you over the years how much he adores you. If something called him away, then you can be certain he had a very good reason. Honestly, he’s only trying to provide for you and the wonderful life you’ll have together. A few sacrifices here and there will all be worth it. Just remember that gorgeous mountain villa he’s building for you outside Jackson Hole.”
Which was true. Payton had known Brad since his family moved to Salt Lake when she was in junior high. At twelve, she’d had little interest in the flashy seventeen-year-old who thought he was a gift to all woman kind. He’d gone off to college, and she hadn’t given him a second thought until he’d returned two years ago for his parent’s anniversary. Still arrogant and certain of his appeal, Payton had been immune to his charms initially. But his perseverance eventually paid off and three months later she relented and went on a date with him, discovering that underneath that shiny surface was someone who could make her laugh with his insight and wit. Plus, there was the fact that he knew what it was like living with overbearing parents who had your future planned since conception. His proposal a year later made sense.
Even if the news became the source of her mother’s unbridled excitement, certain she’d been responsible for the union.
The announcement overhead gave her an out from any further lecture. “Mother, they’re boarding now,” Payton interrupted with a sense of relief. “My flight lands in Puerto Vallarta at six tonight. I’ll call you when I arrive.”
She felt a twinge of guilt as she disconnected and stared down at her phone. Brad had been working extra hard these past few months, true, but it was because he wanted to give her everything. How could she begrudge him that?
She thought of how angry and short she’d been with him when he called her last night from New York, telling her that he wouldn’t make it this weekend after all. The arrival of two dozen roses hadn’t softened her feelings, and she’d dumped them in the nearest garbage can as soon as they arrived.
Am I being unreasonable?
She’d heard about the dreaded Bridezillas who turn into egocentric tyrants and thought that everything revolved around them and their “big day.” She’d never considered herself one of them, almost as reluctant as Brad to participate in all the planning her mother started. But maybe she’d been unreasonable…
“We’ll now begin boarding all first class travelers to Puerto Vallarta.”
A glance over at Cruz showed him still furiously typing on his keyboard. Come on. No one typed that fast. He had to be showing off.
She only had a moment, so she’d have to be quick. Rising, she grabbed the handle of her carry-on, slung her purse over her wrist, and pushed her way against the crowd now heading toward the boarding gate—which left the space around the large pillar wide open. Perfect for some privacy.
She pressed the FaceTime button on her phone, wanting to see Brad and tell him she understood and was sorry.
It kept ringing. Three rings. Four.
She glanced at the time. It was four-forty Dallas time, putting New York at nearly six. He had to be finished with his meeting by now.
On the sixth ring, she was about to push cancel when the call was accepted.
It took her a moment to see what was on the screen in her hand. The picture was kind of dark and grainy, but the image of the long-haired brunette woman, lying back on a bed, naked—at least from the waist up—was hard to miss.