Magical Weddings (127 page)

Anytime the whole magical kiss thing wanted to wear off would be fine with him. It was exhausting to feel this way and know there was nothing he could do about it besides wait for it to end. If he wasn’t going to be with her again, then the sooner these feelings ended, the better. Six o’clock couldn’t get here soon enough.

The bartender set down his burger and fries and Max ordered another drink.
How much longer do I have to suffer?
It had to be getting close to six.

He took a big bite of his burger then pulled his cell phone out of his pocket where he’d purposefully been ignoring the ding of email notifications.

Eight fifteen.

He choked on his burger as he tried to swallow it. A lump of anxiety suddenly grew in his chest, making his heartbeat race.

More than two hours after the magic was supposed to wear off and he still felt it. He still felt everything. What the hell did that mean? Was the ridiculous kissing spell never going to wear off? Would his desire for Jenna stick with him forever?

Did he mind so much if it did?

The last twenty-four hours had been pretty awesome. They had a good time together. More fun than he’d ever expected this weekend to be and he hadn’t even seen his buddies for most of it.

Huh.

Did Jenna still feel the same too or had it worn off for her? He couldn’t wait any longer. He had to know what she felt still, if anything.

Throwing some money on the counter, he hopped down from the bar and strode toward the elevator with newfound determination. Maybe he only
thought
he felt the same way for her still because he’d been thinking about
not
feeling that way all day. Maybe if he saw her in person, he’d realize that whatever magic they’d shared between them last night had actually worn off already.

He knocked on her room door and tapped the wall with his fingertips. Nothing.

He knocked again, harder this time. Still nothing.

Where the hell is she?

Rushing back to the elevator, he pushed the button for the ground floor. Since he couldn’t find Jenna to see if she still had these feelings too, maybe he could go back to the bridge at The Venetian. Maybe seeing it again would make the rest of him realize how stupid he was being and hopefully the feelings he was experiencing would finally dissipate permanently.

Outside the air was scorching hot, worse than the day before, if that was even possible. A crowd of people lingered on the sidewalk waving and cheering at a bride and groom who’d obviously just gotten married. He weaved through the crowd to find a taxi since there was no way he was walking in this heat.

As he burst through the crowd and found the waiting taxis, he spotted Jenna slipping off the curb. He raced forward, reaching for her, not wanting to see her fall and get hurt. Grabbing her by one flailing arm, he pulled her back against his chest to steady her.

She startled as he embraced her until she met his gaze. Then the realization of who was holding her must have sunk in because she relaxed into him. It felt damn good to hold her again.
Too
damn good. It wasn’t supposed to feel like this anymore.

“I’ve been looking for you,” he said.

“Me too. But about you,” she replied.

“Is it gone? Do you feel normal?” he asked, but didn’t need too. The truth in her eyes was as clear as the truth in his heart.

“No,” she whispered and tried to pull away.

He didn’t let her go. He didn’t
want
to let her go. So he did the exact opposite and dropped his hands to his sides, freeing her. “What do we do now?”

She shrugged. “I was on my way back to the gondolas to see if it gave me anymore ideas. We need to find a way to make this magic kiss, or spell or whatever it is, wear off. Sooner the better, right?”

Was that a note of sadness in her voice?

He ignored the thought. “I was headed there, too.”

They climbed into the taxi together and were silent the entire way down the strip to The Venetian hotel. He didn’t risk looking at her. His feelings were still too strong and just the hint of sadness he’d seen in her eyes was enough to make his heart clench painfully. He couldn’t deal with those kinds of emotions. His feelings were difficult, but seeing her hurting was enough to break him.

When they reached the gondola docking area they stopped. “Now what?” he asked. He felt the urge to come here but had no idea what to do.

“I don’t know,” she said looking around. “I don’t see that Valentino guy anywhere, and I was watching for him the entire walk along the canal. Maybe he’s not working tonight.”

“Well this was pointless then!” he shouted, frustration raising his voice when he would normally remain calm and levelheaded. It wasn’t his personality to get so worked up about things.

“Shut up for a second and let me think,” she yelled back.

“Why? What are you going to come up with? Are you suddenly some Italian legend and folklore expert?”

“Of course not, but there has to be something we can try, since you don’t want this to go on forever.” Her voice wavered.

Was she upset? About the feelings she was still having, or about them possibly ending?

“Are you okay?” he asked, putting his hand on her shoulder. “You sound upset.”

She shook her head and stared off at the boats on the canal. “I’m fine.”

She didn’t sound fine.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Positive.” She held his gaze for only a second before looking away again, but it was enough time for him to see how wet and pink her eyes were. It was as if she’d been crying earlier and was still on the verge of tears. But if she didn’t want to open up to him and tell him what was wrong, then it wasn’t his business to pry. Besides, they had bigger problems.

“I have an idea,” she said. “Let’s take another gondola ride and do exactly what we did yesterday only this time we’ll both think about this eternal love stuff ending. Sound like a good plan?”

“It sounds better than doing nothing.”

Minutes later they were on another gondola, sitting exactly how they had the day before while the guy driving the boat pushed them along the canal. His Italian love song reverberated around them and Max did his best to ignore the stirrings of romance he felt with Jenna tucked into his side.

“This is it,” he whispered in her ear while his hand tickled the nape of her neck, like he’d done the day before. “Let’s hope this works.”

He pulled back, pausing for a moment, and peered into her eyes as their boat drifted underneath the Bridge of Sighs. This was it. The moment when they’d undo whatever it was they’d done the first time they’d kissed here.

This was what they both wanted, wasn’t it?

“Quick, we’re almost out,” Jenna whispered.

See. She wants this to end, too.

Without waiting any longer, he pressed his lips to hers. They were as soft and warm as he remembered from their night together. There was no hesitation as her lips parted, eagerly inviting him in. He dipped his tongue into her mouth, and mingled it with hers. She accepted his attention and seemed to ask for more with her eagerness.

She fisted his shirt in her hands and pulled him closer, kissing him harder. It was as if every ounce of feeling they’d experienced over the last day was shared and relived in this one kiss.

He cupped her jaw in his palms and held her there while thinking about how he’d felt for her from when they dated until now, not focusing on any one specific emotion but simply allowing himself to feel everything. The effect was overwhelming and confusing.

When they finally broke apart, they both had trouble catching their breath. Jenna turned away quickly and swiped at her cheeks, but he couldn’t see why. He gently turned her head to face him and her eyelids fluttered, her eyelashes looking as if they were covered with fine dew.

“I think I got something in my eye. Bridge dust or…” she muttered.

“Do you still feel it?” he asked. He did. Or at least he thought he did. He definitely felt something for Jenna. And whatever it was, it didn’t feel all that different than how he felt when he woke up in bed with her by his side this morning.

“No, I think all the dust is gone,” she said sounding tired.

“Not the dust. The magical eternal love.”

“Oh, that. I, um…”

“God. Not that again. Will that never end?” The gondola driver’s voice was almost too quiet to hear over the other white noise in the busy building.

But Max had heard him. “What was that?”

“Nothing. It’s none of my business. If you two love birds want to believe in some fairytale, who am I to judge you?”

“No really. I want to know. Did it have to do with that bridge and the kiss?”

“Right. You heard about the magical Bridge of Sighs and the kiss of eternal love.” The gondolier rolled his eyes.

“What do you know about the Bridge and the kiss?” Jenna asked, sitting forward on the edge of the bench seat.

“Only that it’s a load of horse manure.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked. If this guy had answers, he needed all of them. Now. “We went on this ride yesterday and our friends made us kiss under that bridge after our gondolier Valentino told us some story about how kissing under it will bring a couple eternal love.”

“And ever since that kiss, things haven’t been the same between us,” Jenna added.

“Is that right?” the guy asked, sounding far too casual for Max’s patience. He needed serious answers fast, not sarcasm or half-truths.

“That’s why we came back here and kissed again,” Max said. “To see if we could reverse whatever it was we did the first time.”

The guy nodded. “And?”

“And what?” Max and Jenna asked in unison.

“And how do you feel now that you’ve kissed again?”

They looked at each other, but neither offered an answer. How did he feel? Seeing Jenna’s red-rimmed eyes made him worry she was hurting, and that caused a pain to explode in his chest unlike anything he’d experienced before. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and comfort her, take away whatever it was that had upset her.

That wasn’t how he felt about her before coming to Vegas.

“Exactly,” the guy said. “You feel exactly the same as you did before. Want to know why?”

Max opened his mouth to ask him, but before he could get the words out, the gondolier went on.

“Because you heard old Valentino’s legend of the Bridge of Sighs, which is nothing but a pile of nonsense. That old guy is off his nut. I don’t know why they keep him employed. Get this. He seriously thinks he’s some kind of channel for the magic from the real bridge in Venice because he comes from some long line of gondoliers there. Like that matters. And he’s not saying that for tips. He actually believes it.”

“But he said kissing under the bridge could cause eternal love and then all of a sudden, after we kissed, we…” Jenna trailed off.

Max finished her sentence. “We couldn’t keep our hands off of each other. We’ve been broken up for three years and nothing like this has ever happened before. It had to be that bridge and that kiss—a magic spell. There’s no other explanation.”

“If you ask Valentino, he believes that the legend of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice is somehow real for our fake bridge here because he’s some kind of conduit for the magic or something. But I’m telling you it’s ridiculous. There is no more magic in that bridge or in a kiss under that bridge than there is kissing anywhere else in Vegas. Anything you felt afterward wasn’t a product of magic. It was simply your real feelings.”

They pulled up along side the dock and the guy motioned for them to exit the boat. “Enjoy your stay in Vegas, lovebirds. Don’t fall for anymore magical kisses bringing you good fortune. But if you want a great deal, I’ve got a piece of lush farmland to sell you out in the desert.” The guy laughed.

Max didn’t.

In stunned silence, he helped an equally stunned looking Jenna exit the boat.

“What just happened?” Jenna asked.

“I could be wrong, but I think he told us that stuff about the magic effecting our feelings was all a load of horse shit.” Max’s tone was very matter-of-fact.

She nodded. “Yeah. That’s what I thought. Huh.”

“Yup.”

“Us sleeping together last night was not some magically-induced lusty feelings but our desire to be with each other?” That took things to a whole other level. If they couldn’t blame their actions on the magic of that kiss, then what could they blame them on? Was she ready to admit that what she felt for him might be actual feelings and not some kind of Italian spell that didn’t really exist? Was that true for Max too?

“Well, and alcohol,” he added. “There was a lot of drinking involved in our decision last night.”

“Right, it was the liquor talking. Okay. Good.” Except that it wasn’t good. Max might not be able to accept his feelings toward her, but she couldn’t deny hers.

If he didn’t feel it too…
Her heart felt as if it had a hairline fracture. Surely he felt the same for her.

They stared at the canal in silence for a few minutes before she spoke again. “So this morning then, when the alcohol was out of our systems, but we still wanted to fool around, our feelings were…” her voice trailed off before she said the last word on her mind.

Real?

This morning had been real, at least for her. Waking up in his arms had been amazing and until their discussion about the kiss had gotten in the way, he’d seemed pretty happy and content too. And ready to carry on where they’d left off the night before.

She’d suspected it earlier, but now she had all the confirmation she needed. Her feelings for Max this weekend weren’t some trumped up magical spell. They were real. Stronger than her feelings had been when they’d dated previously.

What she’d felt for him was more than a resurgence of her old emotions. What she felt now was so much deeper, more intense. But she wasn’t really surprised by that. They were older, more mature. They knew who they were as individuals and what they wanted out of life. After years apart, they had even more in common with each other than they did before, and the chemistry between them worked on multiple levels.