Been Loving You Too Long (15 page)

“The only complaint I have about yesterday is not finishing what we started. But…you can perform that little act for me anytime you want,” he replied, leaning forward to kiss the damp, delicate skin where her neck and shoulder met.
 

The light shiver of her response made him immediately regret his decision.
 
She was in no shape for the things he had in mind.
 
“I should go, while I’m still capable of walking out of here without permanently maiming myself...But tonight, Ophelia, we make up for lost time.”

~~****~~

Ophelia sighed as he stepped away.
 
Why was it, she wondered, that a single touch from him could set her on fire?
 
She was sick, miserable and hung-over as hell, yet it didn’t matter.
 
It had taken all her restraint not to just rip open her robe and climb him.
 

Watching him walk away, Ophelia savored the play of muscle beneath the t-shirt he wore, not to mention how his jeans perfectly cupped his well sculpted ass.
 
Lying back on the bed, she acknowledged that she was in way over her head.
 

Sleeping with Vincent, being so physically intimate with him would only deepen her feelings for him.
 
She was going to get her heart broken—destroyed, even.
 
It was inevitable, but accepting that gave her a sense of peace about it, at least momentarily.
 
Some things were worth the pain, and having Vincent, even for a short time, would be one of those.
 

“What are you doing?
 
Get up!”

Ophelia immediately recognized Kaitlyn’s strident tone.
 
Forcing herself to sit up, she glared at her future sister-in-law.
 
“You don’t actually live in this house, do you?”

“I have for the past week!
 
Now move, cause we have shit to do...the hairdresser and makeup artist will be here any minute and you look more like you’re being laid out for a funeral than dressed for a wedding!”

Ophelia rose, and retrieved a pair of Capri pants and on impulse, swiped one of Vincent’s shirts to put on.
 
It was a sentimental gesture, but she wanted to hold on to that feeling of peace she’d just had.
 
When she walked back into the bedroom, she met Kaitlyn’s raised eyebrow with one of her own.
 
“You have a problem with this?”

“You’re pitiful. The dress is downstairs.
 
I thought we’d get you ready in the parlor, so you wouldn’t have to try and walk down the stairs with your knees wobbling.”

“I need a pair of scissors.
 
I can’t get this damn thing off my ankle.” She pointed toward the gris gris satchel that was still tied around her ankle.

“That doesn’t come off until tomorrow.
 
It’s supposed to be for good luck and lord knows the two of you need it!”

“What exactly did I do last night?” Ophelia queried, her voice filled with concern and no small amount of embarrassment. “I can remember bits and pieces—and they are bad.
 
Very,
very
bad.”

Kaitlyn smiled smugly, though Ophelia noted that she looked a little worse for wear herself.
 
“Let’s just say that I saw a whole new side of you, Ophelia—I’m starting to reconsider your reputation as a goody two shoes!”

“Kaitlyn, damn it!”

“And she even curses,” Kaitlyn shot back in mock mortification.
 
“First, you assisted that stripper in removing his clothes, then there were those body shots—and now comes the potty mouth.
 
Whatever is my poor brother going to do with you?”

“Oh, my God!
 
Really?
 
Could you not just lie and tell me that I’d already remembered the worst of it?”

Kaitlyn laughed. “It wasn’t too bad, really.
 
Brenna took good care of you and didn’t let things get too out of hand.
 
As far as bachelorette parties went, we were pretty tame. Let’s get you ready, okay?”

Still concerned about exactly what she’d done the night before, but realizing it might be for the best if she didn’t know, Ophelia followed Kaitlyn down the stairs.

The caterers were there already, preparing the kitchen and the smell of food made her vaguely ill.
 
Trying to breathe through her mouth, she entered the parlor and found a team of people waiting for her.
 
She didn’t protest.

It was Kaitlyn, after all, and Kaitlyn hired teams to get her ready for events all the time.
 
Expressing any objection on the basis of it simply being too much would only result in eye rolling and unnecessary arguments.
 

“Oh, thank goodness you’re already shampooed!”

Ophelia looked at the man who spoke.

He was flamboyant, dressed head to toe in bright pink and was wearing full face makeup.
 

“It wasn’t really an option,” Ophelia responded, thinking of the amount of coconut oil that had wound up in her hair.
 

From that point forward, no one really spoke to her.
 
They spoke about her to one another.
 
They talked about her to themselves.
 
They directed her to close or open her eyes depending on what they were doing to her, or to lean her head to one side or other as they curled, teased, and pinned her hair.

It took hours.
 
Hours upon hours, until at last they stepped back, like a team of gifted but exhausted surgeons and proclaimed that their work was done.
 

It was left to Kaitlyn to help Ophelia into her dress, as Brenna had yet to arrive.
 

Stepping into the fit and flare gown, Ophelia noted that her knees were shaking and it had nothing to do with being sick and hung-over.
 
It had everything to do with being scared half to death.
 
As Kaitlyn pulled the laces on the gown tighter, Ophelia felt like she couldn’t breathe, as if the air simply would not travel into her lungs.
 

“Stop it!” Kaitlyn hissed.
 
“You’re hyperventilating!”

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Ophelia breathed, her voice sounding tremulous and uncertain.
 

“It’s just nerves...And I’m reminding you that you don’t have a choice.
 
What would happen to Ruby?”

That reminder of the circumstances surrounding her engagement pulled her back to reality.
 
Her feelings for Vincent aside, all the trappings and all preparation in the world didn’t change the fact that they weren’t getting married because they wanted to spend their lives together.
 
They were getting married because Thomas had left them no choice.
 

As disheartening as it was to think of it, her nerves settled immediately.
 
The enormity of the step she was taking lessened in direct proportion to the belief that it was a temporary alteration of her life. “You’re right, Kaitlyn. Everything is fine.
 
Just nerves.”

If Kaitlyn noted her oddly cool tone, she chose for once not to comment on it.
 
“It’s three thirty.
 
The guests are supposed to arrive at four.
 
The wedding will take place at 4:30 and cocktails after. Then, we’ll move into the dining room for supper and get rid of everyone so you and Vincent can pounce on each other.”

They would, of course.
 
It couldn’t be helped.
 
Putting the two of them in a room together was like striking a match to tinder.
 
There was an inevitability to it—to them—that left her shaken.
 

“Are you okay?” Kaitlyn demanded.
 
“You seem weird.”

“I’m fine.
 
Just thinking is all.
 
Why don’t you go out and check on everything, make sure it’s all going smoothly,” Ophelia suggested, keeping her tone even and her expression as close to content as possible.
 
She wasn’t going to bolt, but she did need a minute alone to clear her head and to review all the reasons why her feelings for Vincent were going to be disastrous for her.

That Zen moment of peace from earlier was so far out of reach now she couldn’t even recall what it’d felt like.
 
It’s for Ruby, she told herself, and even for Vincent.
 
She didn’t want to see any of them lose their inheritance.
 
It had been wrong of Thomas to place those kinds of conditions on them, but even if she didn’t agree with it, she knew he’d had his reasons.
 

Thomas had loved them all more than life itself.
 
He would never have done something just to make them miserable.
 

There was a broader purpose to it, even if she couldn’t understand it.
 
Taking slow, deep, steadying breaths, Ophelia tried to recapture her calm and harden her heart.
 

~~****~~

Kaitlyn found Vincent in the garden, greeting the small number of guests.

In all, there would only be about ten people present, other than family.
 
Still, it was important for appearances to be maintained.
 
There were other stockholders in the company, and any hint of internal strife between Vincent and Claude could have disastrous effects.

Moving in place beside him, Kaitlyn smiled. “Straighten your damn tie,” she said through clenched teeth.
 

“My tie is straight.
 
Would you stop already?”

“Look, this needs to be perfect.”

Vincent glared at her. “Why?
 
Why does it need to be perfect?”

“Because the two of you are perfect for each other!
 
Maybe if the wedding feels and looks like the real deal, it’ll help you all start things off on the right foot,” she shot back heatedly.
 

Vincent shook his head.
 
“You know this is temporary, Kaitlyn.
 
I know it.
 
Ophelia knows it.
 
Stop looking for fairy tales.”

“Tell me that in a year, and I’m not some wide eyed romantic, Vincent.
 
I’m very in touch with reality— at the moment, way more than you are.
 
Don’t fuck this up.”

Vincent watched her walk away wearing a bright smile and greeting each guest warmly.
 
Kaitlyn worried him.
 
She wore more masks than any of them.
 
His sister had spent so much time hiding who she really was that he doubted she even knew any more.
 

A soft breeze ruffled her hair, the same short cut that she’d been wearing for years.
 

He could remember Thomas picking them up at the police station after their parents’ deaths.
 
They’d been in his home less than an hour when they’d heard Ruby yelling.

Kaitlyn had stood in the bathroom with her dark hair piled on the floor at her feet and a pair of scissors in her hand. She’d kept it shorn since then, because of their father and because of him.
 
The guilt hit him then, hard as ever, a harsh reminder of all the reasons there would be no happily ever after for him.
 

The next year would be the time he needed to eradicate the fire that burned in his blood for Ophelia and to finally rid himself of the torment of wanting her.
 
They would part ways and he would be certain that she was provided for, and then it would be done.
 

The judge approached him with a warm smile.
 
She’d been a close friend of Thomas’ and had agreed to perform the ceremony for them.
 
They spoke briefly and she indicated that she was ready to begin whenever they were.