Second Opinion (6 page)

CHAPTER 7

I shook my head to clear Rachelle out of it as I buttoned my white tuxedo shirt on my sister’s wedding day. There was no sense dwelling on the past. Sure, I’d wanted the happy ending and the future with the woman I loved, but I couldn’t change it now.

And after the last time I’d seen her, I didn’t
want
to change it.

I hadn’t had any idea what she was capable of, and even though I would always love her and she would always own my heart, I also hated her not just for saying “no,” not just for her vicious words to me, but also for what she did to me the last time I had seen her.

I stood in front of the mirror. I knotted my tie and tried to focus on the day ahead of me instead of the memories that consumed me.

I took a shaky breath as I stared at my reflection. I hadn’t expected the anxiety this day was causing me. I’d stood up in plenty of weddings since things had gone down with Rachelle. Shit, practically every guy I went to college with had gotten married and was having kids, and I was the eternal bachelor who they all counted on for a good time. I was the one they all came to when they needed a night away. I was the one they bitched to about their marriages. I was the one they joked with when they reminisced about their former single lives as they proclaimed how great I had it.

But they all got to go home to their wives while I went home to an empty bed or to the bed of some woman I’d likely never see again.

I liked my freedom. I enjoyed my life. But I couldn’t stop thinking about my mother’s words at breakfast. “You’re thirty-two. Haven’t you thought about settling down?” Add that to Rachelle’s echoing chorus of “Can’t Grant” that had played on repeat in my head for the past seven years and the look on my sister’s face the night before when she looked with worship at the man she was going to marry.

I had to wonder if I was missing out on something.

I slipped my phone into the pants of my tux and headed toward Reed’s room. The ceremony was scheduled to begin at two o’clock. We had about three hours until show time, but the men had pictures at noon.

Reed was a nervous wreck when he opened the door. His two friends from Wisconsin and his dad were in his room. It was the bridal suite, the room I’d be helping Avery decorate a little later.

Reed actually
looked
anxious. His eyes were darting everywhere, his hands were shaking, and his tie was crooked. He’d pull it together, but at the moment he was a bit of a mess.

“Where the hell have you been?” he greeted me.

“Good morning to you, too,” I said, grinning. I glanced at my wrist. “Am I late?” I didn’t think I was. As far as I knew, I was supposed to meet in Reed’s room around eleven. I was right on time.

“I need you to do me a favor.”

“I need you to calm down.”

He shoved an envelope and a wrapped box toward me. “Bring these to Quinn.”

“You got it, man. Anything else? A beer? Shot of tequila? Some Prozac, maybe?”

He gave me a sharp look that very clearly told me to fuck off.

“I’ll be back,” I said, backing out of the room with Reed’s adorably cliché gift.

I checked my texts to ensure I was going to the right room and knocked on Quinn’s door a few minutes later. Veronica opened it. Avery was adjusting Quinn’s veil across the room.

My sister looked like an angel.

But the woman adjusting her veil simply took my breath away.

I stopped in my tracks and stared. I couldn’t help it.

The bridesmaid dresses were simple and black, but somehow Avery’s fit her like a second skin. The dress was modest enough to be acceptable for a wedding, but it showed off just enough to leave me wanting so much more.

And that “more” was what I knew I’d get my hands on later that night.

My dick hardened almost immediately at the thought. It was alarming how much I wanted her.

I took a deep breath and forced my eyes onto my sister.

“You look beautiful, Quinn,” I said, my eyes darting over to Avery’s briefly.

Quinn smiled widely. She was glowing and calm and Reed’s exact opposite, and the funny thing was I would’ve guessed the reverse. Reed always had his shit together while my sister tended to be the anxious and reckless one.

“Thank you.” Her voice was steady, unlike nervous wreck Reed. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s great.”

“Yeah?” she asked, the first hint of anxiety showing through.

I nodded. I wasn’t about to let her know her future husband had appeared to be having a breakdown.

“He wanted me to bring you this.” I handed her the envelope and the box, and her eyes lit up.

She tore open the card. My eyes met Avery’s while Quinn read the card, and I raised my eyebrows at her and sent a secret smile her way. A faint smile broke out across her lips. Neither of us wanted to break the staring contest we were having, her brown eyes glued to mine.

Quinn sniffled and broke our trance.

“No tears, Quinners. You’ll mess up your make-up,” Avery admonished, the secret moment between us over.

“I know. He’s just… God, he’s just so perfect.”

She opened the box and pulled out a platinum bracelet with tiny diamond-encrusted owls. Her hand came up to cover her mouth.

“It’s beautiful,” Veronica breathed, coming over to help Quinn clasp it on.

“I have something for him, too. Will you bring it to him, Grant?”

“Of course. Best Man duties.”

“You said ‘duties’,” Quinn giggled, immature even in her grown-up white wedding dress as she fawned over her gift from her future husband.

I laughed, and I saw Avery watching me out of the corner of my eye. I saw the way she drew in a breath when my mouth widened in a smile. I saw her tongue dart out to wet her lips as she subconsciously leaned her head back a bit, exposing the gorgeous skin of her neck. That same skin I’d briefly tasted the night before. That same skin I wanted to taste again.

I saw the effect I had on her, and I liked it. And I already knew what sort of effect she had on me. My hard dick was a constant reminder of that particular truth.

Quinn pulled a gift bag out of her suitcase and handed it to me. “Thanks, Grump.”

“Anything for you, Curley Q.” I kissed her cheek. “You tell me if you need anything. I’ll have my phone.”

She nodded. My eyes met Avery’s one last time, and then I headed back to the men as I tried to repress the unfamiliar emotions I felt in Avery’s presence.

It was strange. I’d been around her plenty of times, but she was always just my younger sister’s friend.

Everything changed at the engagement party. The echo of denial was replaced with an echo of her repeating over and over that I was going to be calling out her name. I didn’t care if it had been a joke. The fact was she’d said it, and those words had stuck with me.

Her face went from an acquaintance to one I searched out in the room.

She had said she wanted a shot with me, and she was damn well going to have it. That kiss in my hotel room the night before was a mild prequel to what I was planning to do to her later that night.

I knocked on Reed’s door, trying to shake off the Avery fog I found myself under. This time Paul opened the door and Reed sat on the edge of the bed, sipping a glass of ice water.

“You okay, man?” I asked Reed.

He shrugged. He looked a little green.

“I have something from Quinn.”

His eyes snapped up to mine at the sound of my sister’s name.

I handed him the bag. He fumbled around in it and produced a card. He read the card in silence, and I saw his features relax as he read the words his future wife had written to him.

He reached into the bag and pulled out a pair of thick wool socks. “In case I get cold feet,” he explained, and I chuckled. That was my sister for you.

He took a box out of the bag and opened it. He smiled as he pulled out a pair of cufflinks. He showed one to me, and it had the letter “Q” with an owl perched inside the circle of the letter.

They really were perfect for each other.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out to find a text from Avery.

You in a tux? Fucking dangerous. –A

I feel like James Bond. –G

You look like a Greek God. Take your pick. –A

Pothos. –G

Her reply took a while.
The god of passion? Or unfulfilled desire? –A

Someone knows how to use Google. Take your pick. –G

I mirrored her quote at the end.

Guess we’ll find out tonight. –A

You look beautiful, but that dress would look a lot better on the floor next to my bed. –G

I can’t wait. –A

Soon we were heading toward the garden where the wedding would take place for pre-ceremony pictures. The men took pictures first, and then we had to go back into hiding while the ladies took their pictures.

All the while, I couldn’t stop thinking about Avery. I wished briefly she was the maid of honor instead of Veronica. I wanted her clutching my arm as we walked together down the aisle. I wanted to dance with her during the bridal party dance. I wanted to have that special bond the best man had with the maid of honor.

But that’s not how it had turned out.

I had managed to convince Reed to give me an extra copy of the key to the bridal suite. I told him it was insurance in case he lost his copy, and he bought it.

Before I knew it, we were lining up for the ceremony. Quinn’s letter to Reed, whatever it had said, had considerably calmed him. He stood under an arch with the officiant who would be marrying them, looking calm and collected. The rest of us lined up near the last row of guests. Quinn and our dad waited around a corner so she could make her grand entrance. The music started playing, and Reese and Reed’s friend from Wisconsin walked down the aisle first. Avery stood just in front of me, and my eyes landed on her ass.

It was tight and perfect.

I imagined running my fingertips up the bottom of her skirt until I felt her bare ass on my palm.

I watched her ass bounce all the way up the aisle, imagining just exactly what was going to happen between us later that night. And then I took Veronica’s arm and led her down to our positions.

The music stopped and the garden area was quiet but for the sounds of nature. Birds chirped, wind rustled through trees, and a different song started playing. My dad and my sister appeared at the end of the aisle. Reed gasped softly the moment his eyes landed on Quinn, and I knew the two of them together was perfectly right and would be forever.

I was standing behind him, so I couldn’t see his face, but Quinn’s eyes were fixed on his, and tears shone in hers. I imagined they did in his, too, and I even got a little emotional at the image of love standing before me.

I didn’t pay much attention to the actual ceremony because I was focused on avoiding Avery’s eyes. It was incredibly awkward knowing I was planning to fuck her later that night while I also knew it wouldn’t go any further than that evening. Maybe one more time depending on how much fun we had. I didn’t mean to sound like a dick, but I didn’t want a relationship. I wanted Avery’s body on top of mine, and I wanted to get her out my system.

Locking eyes with someone during a wedding ceremony was one guaranteed way to give them hope for something more.

The only expectations I had for that night were that we’d have a great time together. Just the way she had kissed me the night before proved that.

I vaguely registered that Reed and Quinn were saying their vows, something about palms and hearts and forever. It was a very nice sentiment, and I couldn’t have been happier for them. It just wasn’t something I wanted. I wasn’t “marriage material.”

Reed kissed Quinn, and the officiant introduced the new Mr. and Mrs. Reed Porter. The guests cheered and we filed out for pictures in the hotel’s gardens with the newly married couple. I hugged my sister first, and then I man-hugged Reed. “You’re officially my brother-in-law now. You better take care of her,” I said. I knew he would. I couldn’t have picked out a better guy for her.

He nodded. “You know I will, man.”

The rest of the bridal party issued their hugs and then the photographer lined us up for pictures.

An hour later, we were milling around the reception hall as appetizers were served and the drinks flowed freely from the open bar. The bartenders were young guys who looked like they were there for a good time, so I put myself in charge of making sure they stayed busy. I opted to start my evening with the most expensive whiskey they had behind the counter, which was a shitty Jameson.

“With Coke?” the bartender on the right asked.

I shook my head. “With ice.”

Avery sidled up next to me. “Margarita,” she ordered, and the bartender on the left got to work.

“Did you get the key?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Will you come up to the suite with me to decorate?”