Lori Wilde - There Goes The Bride (22 page)

“Aw, Rosy,” he murmured and lowered his head.

Her pulse danced, light as the sunshine dappling the freshly painted walls.

The kiss was quieter than she thought it would be, languid and deep, a slow opportunity to taste and smell and feel. A chance to settle, by layers, into a dreamy ease. The teasing of his tongue against hers brought a helpless response so acute, she felt faint, like she was falling.

Delaney locked her fingers in his hair and made him kiss her harder, deeper and harder still.

The taste of him!

Like returning home from a long, arduous journey. Recognizing every part of him with her lips and hands and body and yet at the same time he felt fabulously foreign—and strangely familiar.

While the world shrank down into the minute width of mouths, she opened herself up to possibilities as yet undreamed. She was completely disarmed. With any other man the quick intimacy and astonishing sensuality would have appalled her, but with Nick everything was different.

Her lips shuddered against his mouth and her body molded to his. His hands roved over her back and she strained into him, her breasts crushed against his chest. Instantly, she experienced a sense of peace and safety. In Nick’s arms, she felt special.

And that very sensation scared her.

In her need to put some magic in her life, was she grasping at straws? Was she mistakenly reading something into this kiss that wasn’t really there? Was she confusing passion for something substantial? How could she begin to compare the history, companionship, and compatibility she shared with Evan to this explosive, red-hot rocket of sensation with a man she’d only known for a little over a week?

Delaney dithered, caught between doubt and desire. She did not like this push-pull of emotions. For years, she’d been living life on autopilot, melding with her mother’s wishes, putting on a pleasant face, getting through life by putting things in soft focus. She did what felt safe.

But the power of Nick’s kiss drove home the fact that she’d done so at the price of her vitality and aliveness. That’s what scared her most. This arousal of aspects of herself she’d always chosen to ignore.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do it. I wanted you so badly I thought I could ignore my conscience, but I can’t.” She splayed a hand against his chest and pushed him away.

“Because of your fiancé,” he said, fingering her engagement ring again. “That you love. But not in the right way.”

She nodded.

“Leave him.”

“You’re talking crazy. We don’t even know each other.”

“Forget about me. Leave him for your sake. For his sake. You can’t marry this guy if you want me that badly.”

Panicked, Delaney pressed a hand to her forehead, still tingly from where his lips had branded her. It was true, but it was not that simple. “I’ve been dating Evan since I was sixteen. We were high school sweethearts. I’ve never been with anyone else but him. You’re just . . .”

“Just what?” Nick pulled back, his eyes glinting darkly in the light. “Exactly what am I to you, Delaney?”

“Just something to get out of my system.”

There was no mistaking the hurt on Nick’s face. Without another word, he turned and walked away.

“I’ve done a terrible, terrible thing,” Delaney told Tish and Jillian and Rachael early the next morning as they struck the warrior pose on side-by-side yoga mats at a chic, women-only gym in downtown Houston.

“You?” Tish, who was positioned on Delaney’s left, tipped her body into perfect alignment. “What did you do? Eat dessert with your salad fork at your mother’s latest dinner party?”

“I’m serious, Tish.”

The teasing expression on her friend’s face changed. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a guy.”

“A guy?” Jillian said from Delaney’s right.

“What did she say?” asked Rachael, who was on the other side of Jillian. She was having trouble hearing over the Eastern-flavored music.

“She met a guy,” Jillian relayed.

“But she already has a guy. She’s engaged.” Rachael broke her form to lean around Jillian and glare at Delaney. “What are you thinking?”

“I know.” Delaney’s legs wobbled as she struggled to hold her pose. Trust Rachael to be the voice of her conscience. “I’m a horrible, horrible person.”

“You’re not horrible,” Tish said. “You’re human.”

“Trust me. I’m horrible. You haven’t heard the worst of it,” Delaney said.

“What’s the worst of it?” Jillian dared.

“It gets worse?” Rachael groaned.

“I kissed him. No, he kissed me. No, we kissed each other. Oh, I don’t know what happened. I’m so confused.” Delaney pushed away a stray strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail and into her face.

All three of her friends lost their poses as they turned to stare at her. Delaney looked straight ahead, keeping up the pose, keeping up appearances.

“What?” Rachael gasped.

“Naughty girl,” Tish said.

“I didn’t believe you had it in you.” Jillian shook her head. “Way to go.”

“Don’t encourage her,” Rachael snapped. “This is serious. Delaney has broken her vow to Evan.”

“Lighten up, Rach. They’re not married yet,” Jillian said. “She just had to get it out of her system.”

“That’s exactly right. That’s what I told Nick.” Delaney nodded.

“Evan’s the only guy she’s ever been with,” Jillian said. “Cut her a break. It was just a little kiss, right, Del?”

Just a little kiss? That was like calling the Grand Canyon a little crack in the ground.

“I feel terrible about it,” Delaney said. But not so terrible that she could wish it never happened.

“Up dog,” the yoga instructor called out as the music changed tempo, becoming more languid. They all made an attempt to follow her command.

“Okay, so you kissed him. It’s not the end of the world.” Tish stretched her spine upward.

“It wasn’t just a kiss,” Delaney confessed.

“You slept with him too?” Jillian, who never sounded scandalized, sounded scandalized.

“No, no. It was just the best damn kiss of my life.”

“She’s cussing,” Rachael said. “Delaney hardly ever cusses. He’s got her cussing now.” She frowned deeply. “Who is this guy?”

“Up dog,” the instructor said again.

Everyone dipped their heads down and stuck their butts in the air, stretching their hamstring muscles.

“Breathe deep, class.”

Delaney drew in a deep, upside-down breath. “That’s the problem. He’s the grandson of the woman I’m doing the renovations for, and I can’t avoid him because he’s the one who’s filling in for my crew since Lucia can’t afford them.”

“Oh, my God,” Tish said. “It’s that gorgeous undercover cop, isn’t it? When I was at Lucia’s house filming I thought I detected a vibe between you two.” To Rachael and Jillian, she said, “He really is hot. You should see him. He’s got the tightest butt that’s just begging to be pinched.”

“Tish!”

“I’m just saying.” Tish shrugged and tilted her head toward the ceiling.

“There’s vibes now?” Rachael exclaimed, clearly upset. “You’re all vibey with the guy, Delaney?”

“And muscles out to here,” Tish waxed rhapsodically and measured off a thick chunk of space behind her own bicep.

“Shh.” Delaney frowned at her.

“Evan’s got muscles,” Rachael said.

“Not like these.” Tish’s eyes rounded in appreciation. “Evan has run-of-the-mill, work-out-on-the-weekend muscles. Nick’s got oh-my-god-he-could-have-been-a-cover-model muscles. I bet anything his abs are equally amazing. What are his abs like, Del? Can you bounce a condom off them?”

“I don’t know what his abs are like,” Delaney cried, embarrassed by the attention they were drawing. Most everyone in the class had stopped striking poses and was staring at them. “I haven’t seen him naked.”

The music picked that moment to shift into another song, and for one brief second the only sound in the room was Delaney yelling, “Naked.”

“Ladies,” the instructor said sternly, “if you’re not going to concentrate on yoga, could you please leave the room so that the rest of us who want to relax and enjoy our exercise can do so?”

“Let’s get out of here,” Jillian said, yanking up her yoga mat. “Who’s for coffee?”

“Delaney is wrecking her life and you’re thinking about coffee.” Rachael shook her head.

“Maybe she’s claiming her life, not wrecking it,” Tish said.

“Oh, yeah, like what you did with Shane?” Rachael asked. “Maybe you’re not the most qualified person to be giving Delaney relationship advice.”

Delaney saw Tish freeze at the mention of her ex’s name. Although Tish denied it, they all suspected she was still in love with her ex-husband. “That was really cold, Rachael.”

“Ladies,” the instructor said sharply and pointed at the door.

Chastised, they gathered up their yoga mats and trooped out into the hallway.

Eyes flaring, Rachael faced off with Delaney. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to Evan. He’s such a nice, caring man. Why would you do this to him?”

Rachael was asking her the same thing that Delaney had been asking herself ever since Nick kissed her. It was wrong. So very wrong. She knew it. Regretted it and yet she still wanted to kiss him again.

“Hey,” Jillian said, hopping to Delaney’s defense. “Evan took off for Guatemala just before their wedding, and he was the one who came up with that celibacy thing. What did he expect her to do?”

“Unlike some people,” Rachael said pointedly and glared at Jillian, “I thought Delaney could control her hormonal impulses.”

“You calling me a slut?” Jillian challenged. “Is that where this is going?”

“If the stiletto fits . . .”

Delaney’s pulse leaped as she realized the consequences of her actions on her friends. It distressed her that they were fighting over her. This wasn’t just about her. She’d involved them and upset them, and now she had to step in and make things right before either Rachael or Jillian said something they couldn’t take back.

She stepped between them. “Please, you guys are my best friends in the world. Don’t do this to each other. Rachael is right, Jillian. I shouldn’t have kissed Nick.”

“You shouldn’t be marrying Evan is what you shouldn’t be doing,” Jillian said. “No matter how nice and caring he is, he’s wrong for you, and your heart knows it even if your head doesn’t.”

Delaney thought of Nick, whom she had known for only a very short time. There was chemistry there, yes. Lots of it. But what did they have in common beyond the attraction? Absolutely nothing. She tried to imagine him fitting in with her high-society world and failed miserably.

Then she thought of Evan, whom she had known her entire life. He was the man who’d been there for her during the bad times. He’d held her in his arms when her sister died. And when a bully at school made fun of the way she looked, Evan had punched him out, defending her honor. She and Evan were so much alike. They came from the same world. Knew the same people. Liked the same things.

She twisted her engagement ring on her finger. How could she throw away the history they had, the security Evan offered, for physical lust and sexual attraction with Nick?

And there was the issue of her mother.

At the mere thought of having to tell Honey she’d decided not to go through with the wedding, Delaney felt physically sick.

She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. Jillian was right. Nick was just something to get out of her system. This need for magic, for something special, was a childish impulse. Her experimentation had already caused discord between her friends. She had to stop this daydreaming and wishing for something more before it ruined her life and hurt those she loved.

Tish touched her arm. “You okay, Del?”

Delaney forced a smile. “I’m all right, or I would be if you guys would stop sniping at each other. I never meant to cause trouble in our little group. I just value your support so much, I had to tell you. Please, forgive me for dumping my problems on you.”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” Tish said.

“I’m sorry too,” Jillian apologized. “I’m far too reactionary at times.”

“Group hug!” Rachael held out her arms.

Grinning, they all came together for a hug.

“Now,” Jillian said, “let’s go for coffee. I’m buying.”

They walked over to the nearby Starbucks and Tish fell into step beside Delaney. “So, what
are
you going to do about Mr. Hard-Body Cop?”

Delaney sighed. “There’s only one thing I can do.”

“You’re going to break it off with Evan?”

“No!” She stared at her friend, and then lowered her voice. “Of course not. I’m going to have to tell Lucia I can’t stage her house.”

“But what about the
American Home Design
contest and your own dream of taking your business out of the realm of your mother’s friends and controlling destiny?”

“For now,” Delaney said, “I’ve got to let that dream go. For the good of everyone involved, I simply can’t trust myself around Nick.”