My Only Exception (3 page)

Ignoring all my mother’s dour warnings about heartbreak and men, I’d given my heart eagerly away in high school, to a guy who hadn’t thought twice about crushing it to smithereens. My best friend, Wyatt, had had his work cut out for him trying to pull me out of the dark hole I’d climbed into afterwards. And my mother’s I-told-you-so’s didn’t help matters any. I hadn’t wanted to do anything or go anywhere or even function anymore, but Wyatt had saved me from myself and I had done a good job of never falling for someone so deeply again. I could always depend on Wyatt’s steady voice of reason whenever I was having a problem. He always seemed to have the perfect thing to say to bring it all into perspective. Maybe his father’s skills as a psychiatrist had rubbed off on him. Or maybe good advice ran in the family. Whatever the reason
,
Wyatt, for as long as I could remember, had been my rock.

As small children we had been inseparable, climbing trees, riding bikes, and running buck-wild around the gated community we lived in. As we had gotten older, we remained just as inseparable and though we did endure some teasing and speculation, we kept right on being best friends. And our friendship had never gone beyond friendship. Well, with the exception of a brief crush he’d harbored on me in high school. But I had been quick to tell him that there was no way I was ruining our friendship over a high school romance and to find someone else to crush on. And that was that. We’d never brought it up again.  Not long after, he’d gotten involved with another girl and they’d stayed together until they went off to colleges in different states last year. But, having a six-foot, gorgeous blond quarterback as my right-hand man all those years did have its drawbacks. I was never quite sure if some of the girls at school were my friends because of me, or in order to get closer to Wyatt. But any drawbacks I tolerated were totally worth it when it came to Wyatt. I don’t know how I would have made it through that first heartbreak without him. Once I had gotten over it, I’d put it down in my head as a lesson learned, and a mistake I’d never repeat again.

It was really too bad that Braden had come along threatening to tear down the very walls I’d so carefully built for myself. He had the kind of deep pull on me that made it impossible to not let my feelings get too involved. And that was probably exactly why Wyatt didn’t like him. He somehow sensed that my feelings for Braden ran deeper than I usually allowed; even though I’d gone out of my way to hide them. 

*  *  *

Bree and I finally found the band lounging on sofas in a room backstage. There was a long table along one wall with drinks and food, and the guys were wasting no time diving into it. They all had beers and plates of food in hand and were scarfing them down like they hadn’t eaten in months.

As soon as we walked in, Liam waved us toward the table in offering. I walked over and grabbed a beer for myself and then sat down next to the other lead guitarist, Ryan, on a nearby sofa. I glanced over to see Braden relaxed and kicking back in an overstuffed chair across the room. When he saw my eyes on him, he winked and gestured me over. I looked over to see Ryan watching the two of us with amusement. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones aware of the sparks between Braden and me. I’m sure all the guys were all betting on how long it would take Braden to convince me to jump into bed with him. I was starting to wonder that myself.

It
really
sucked when you wanted someone so badly it hurt, but you knew deep down you’d be more invested than the other person. That just couldn’t end well.

Evidently, somewhere along the way, Braden had experienced some sort of rejection, because the song he’d sang earlier... it was pretty heart-wrenching. And it was well known that Braden had written most of the band’s songs.

Shrugging off my inhibitions, I walked over to Braden, our eyes meeting when I was about half way to him. The sides of his mouth were turned up slightly and he was watching me with a strange mix of emotions. I wondered if he was thinking about my reaction to the song he sang earlier. Sometimes I thought about how nice it would be to read minds. It would alleviate a whole lot of angst for me. I figured the best thing to do would be to act like nothing had happened —like the whole song incident had never occurred.

When I got to him, I sat on the arm of his chair. “You rang?”

Sarcasm was always my fallback when I wanted to hide the way I was really feeling. And right now I
really
wanted to jump in his lap and let my lips have their way with him.
Really.

Sensible, guarded Presley wanted to maintain the easy friendship with the underlying flirty-ness that was always in residence with Braden. It was so much safer.

Then maybe when he left, I’d be able to hold the pieces of myself together. If not, Wyatt would have his work cut out for him…again.

*  *  *

Braden’s eyes trailed their way down my body and then back up. He grinned when he saw the way I was raising my eyebrows at his blatant perusal.

“You look beautiful tonight, Presley.” Before I had a chance to respond, he went on. “I liked having you front and center watching me. The only problem with having you that close... was that I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.”

I swallowed, slightly stunned he was laying it all out like that. He’d never been quite so verbal in his pursuit of me. It had always been playful banter for the most part.

Right now, he looked anything but playful. He looked like he was two seconds away from pulling me to him and doing God knows what in front of a room full of people.

I sucked in a breath.

And the next thing I knew I was pulled onto his lap, my face inches from his. My dream and my nightmare coming true all at once.

“Well hello,” I breathed.

Holy crap
, this was getting serious. It had been easy to deflect Braden’s advances when they weren’t so direct. Now, even if I wanted to, it would be hard to do without outright telling him to back off. And I found the last thing I could imagine doing right now was deflecting his advances. Truly, I was a few seconds away from making some advances of my own.

Braden gave me a sexy half grin. “I was hoping for a more...I don’t know…
intimate
greeting than that.”

I bit my lip to keep from grinning back. “Yeah? Oh, I’m sorry. Hello, sweetie.” I smiled sweetly and raised an eyebrow at him. “How’s that?”

He watched me for a moment, his face growing serious again, before pulling me closer until my mouth was mere inches from his. “I think we can do better than that.” His voice was sultry and sent warmth pooling in my stomach completely against my will. The guy knew how to work his voice to spin a web that would catch even the most resistant girl. And I was probably the most resistant girl he’d ever encountered… up until now.

Sliding a hand through my hair and gently grasping the base of my neck, he tilted my head and closed the distance between our lips, pulling me into one of the most passionate kisses I’d ever experienced.

The mind-boggling kind. The kind that made you want to be in a room alone so you could give in to whatever came next.

It was so mind-boggling, in fact, that I completely forgot about the room full of people, my determination to not get involved with Braden, and, honestly, my own name.

And running through my mind was
OMG, this is not happening. I shouldn’t be letting this happen.
But then there was another, louder, inner voice saying,
Why the hell not? Enjoy now, worry about the consequences later. Life is short.

And guess which one I listened to?

You bet.

Tonight, I was going to enjoy some friendly flirtation with Braden. Still, I was determined more than ever not to let it go any further than it already had. Just the fact that my restraint with him was so fragile proved the point that, with Braden, I’d have to be extra-careful.

He was my weak spot.

When Braden finally pulled away, I was left sitting there staring at him, feeling soundly ravished. The only things that snapped me out of my stupor were the whistles and jeers coming from the others in the room.

Blushing furiously, I quickly stood up and moved away from Braden to sit back down on the sofa I’d been sharing with Ryan. I needed space. Because what I really wanted to do was grab Braden’s hand and pull him into the nearest empty room.

*  *  *

Of course, Ryan now had a leggy brunette sitting next to him. She was flirting shamelessly, but Ryan looked a little bored with her. I had no idea who she was or where she’d come from. I figured she must have popped up while I was otherwise occupied with Braden.

Speaking of Braden, I glanced back over at him to see his eyes still on me, a teasing half grin on his face. He knew he was winning me over, slowly but surely. And if the confident look on his face meant anything, he was sure of the victory. Even as my body tingled with anticipation, I was beginning to get the sinking feeling that I’d already gone past the point of no return with him.

Even though partying wasn’t usually my thing, my nerves over Braden had me drinking way more than I normally would have. And Bree egging me on didn’t help matters any. I think she was so excited to see me actually participating in the partying, that she didn’t stop to think about why I might be acting out of the norm. And then again, she probably would have loved the idea of me throwing caution to the wind and letting Braden catch me for once.

I left the random guy I’d been chatting up and walked over to where Bree was standing with a group of people, talking animatedly. It took a little effort to walk without stumbling and I was feeling kind of fuzzy. Even my lips were starting to feel numb. I was pretty sure I was drunk, but couldn’t bring myself to care.

When Bree saw me she called out a little too loudly, “Presley!” She threw her arm around my shoulder, hugging me against her. She was definitely well on her way to drunk. Frankly, I was just relieved to have something to lean against.

*  *  *

Ryan, who was standing in the group Bree was talking to, narrowed his eyes at me, watching me carefully for a few seconds before surprise crossed his handsome features and he started laughing. “Presley’s drunk!” he accused.

“I am not!” I tried to sound indignant, but I burst into a fit of giggles instead.

 Bree joined in laughing and said, “You are too, and I love it! This never happens.”

A thought occurred to me through my drunken haze and I looked at Bree in horror.
“Oh no. Who’s driving us home? I
can not
drive like this.”

The band
’s bass guitarist, Jack, had joined the group and gave me a reassuing pat on the back. “Katie’ll drive you guys. Don’t worry. Have fun. Plus, we never get to see you like this. Don’t deny us.”

Bree chose that moment to pull away from me to get another drink. Unfortunately, I was way too dizzy to compensate. I stumbled to the side and had just resigned myself to falling, when strong arms grabbed me from behind. I was pulled toward a hard body that had the faintly familiar scent of cologne. I looked up to see Braden
’s perfectly sexy face looking down at me. Without my inhibitions to stop me, I brushed my lips against the warm skin of his neck, breathing in his intoxicating scent. He smelled
so good
I couldn’t help myself.

The group around us broke into a fit of laughter and Jack called out,
“Okay, cut her off. She’s getting ready to jump Braden’s bones right here in front of everyone.”

I heard the low rumble of Braden
’s laugh from where my head was resting in the crook of his neck.

Typically, this whole scenario would have been beyond embarrassing to me. But thanks to the nice buzz I had going, I could have cared less.

Braden dipped his head down to speak softly in my ear.
“As much as I love that my dream of you throwing yourself at me just came true, I can’t take advantage of the fact that you’re drunk. When we’re finally together, I want you to be completely aware of your decision. When you’re sober, we’ll try this again.”