The Wedding Secret (3 page)

“Thank you, Mr. Rossi,” Caroline said.

“You can call me Kevin.”

She giggled. “Okay. Thanks, Kevin. See you around.”

Kevin felt his mouth curve into a smile as he waved good-bye. The girl was adorable, happy, and enthusiastic, just what he would want in his own kids.

Kids he was starting to think he’d never have.

Harper hated events like this, but Jason was expected to wine and dine clients, especially when those clients paid a billion dollars for his software. Expensive steaks and wine were the least he could do, but often he arranged for high-demand entertainers or celebrities to attend the event.

Tonight he had two Super Bowl–winning quarterbacks, an actress who was Hollywood’s latest hot property, and a singer who was going to play a few songs for the group. It was an intimate gathering, only fifty people at the exclusive rooftop restaurant.

Harper was tired. She’d run home from the office and had only a few minutes to be with Anna before she’d donned her expensive black dress and squeezed her feet into her favorite pair of Louboutin peep-toe pumps, which no longer fit correctly. It seemed pregnancy had wreaked havoc on every square inch of her body, including her feet.

So as Harper mingled with the clients and made sure the event ran without a hitch, all she could think about was getting into a pair of soft comfy pajamas and throwing her expensive shoes into the charity clothing drop.

Kim had just texted her that Anna was sound asleep, and Harper felt a little twinge of guilt that she wasn’t there to settle her in. She’d only been back to work six weeks and she just didn’t have the same edge or drive she’d had in the past. It was different now. The baby changed everything.

She’d been warned and she didn’t believe it. Meg told her over and over that she’d never be the same once her daughter was placed in her arms. She was right. Anna was the only thing in her life that mattered.

Harper hadn’t had a particularly warm upbringing. Her mother had married her longtime boyfriend years ago, and he’d recently died. That left her mother plenty of time to call and ask about Harper’s life. Of course, Mama never cared about her before. Now she wanted to come to New York to see her grandchild and her daughter’s fancy life, firsthand.

But she wouldn’t ever come because her mother never traveled alone. Harper’s deadbeat, resource-sucking stepfather was out of her life, but the bastard left her mother with his creepy, parasitic, forty-year-old son, Hill. No shit. That was his name.

Harper hated him, and he was attached to Mama.

So she’d promised herself that Anna wouldn’t have anything to do with them. If her mother wanted to come alone, she’d make it happen, but every time it came up, so did Hill’s name, and Harper’s life was off-limits to that loser.

Glancing out the window at the lights twinkling across the skyline, Harper felt an ache in her chest. She’d never wanted to have the house in the suburbs and the doting husband. In fact, she still wasn’t sure she did. But she was thinking about it now.

The house in Oyster Bay was still on her mind and she wondered if she should put down an offer. The worst they could say was no. Maybe she would. Then she’d be closer to the office and would spend less time on the stupid commute.

Times had definitely changed. A year ago Harper never would have considered living anywhere but New York City.

There was a swell of noise, which meant both Jason and Meg had arrived or one of their high-profile guests had made an entrance.

Harper tucked her feelings away and plastered a smile on her face just in time to see Kevin Rossi enter with Jason and Meg. Holy mother of God. Her heart stopped as all that gorgeousness filled the room.

Her assistant, Mira, shot to her side. “Kevin Rossi wasn’t on the guest list.”

“He’s Meg’s brother. We’ll obviously make accommodations. Be sure there’s a place for him at the table, we don’t want any awkwardness.”

Mira licked her lips. “He can be awkward with me any time he wants.”

Harper shot a look at her assistant that had her scurrying off. What was it about the man that had women’s brains turning into mush? Harper hated it because, once upon a time, she was one of those women.

He was still standing by the door shaking hands with some of the clients, and Harper allowed herself to look at him. What he had going for him was pretty obvious. Kevin Rossi was a god.

Six-one and hovering around two hundred pounds, the man was as physically perfect as any she’d ever known. His hair was short, dark, and wavy, and his eyes were a deep shade of blue that reminded Harper of a perfect sapphire. The color was unique, and he’d shared it with their daughter. Their eyes were so similar, in fact, Harper worried one of his sisters would notice and make the connection.

It hadn’t happened, and if she had anything to say about it, it never would.

No man had ever made her lose control the way Kevin did. Physically he did things to her that she never imagined being real. But it was how he made her feel that made what went on between them so hard to forget.

He made her think. He made her laugh. They liked the same things, but were different enough that it was never boring. He challenged her.

He was a complete surprise, and when she was with him, Harper almost believed she could love someone. Who was she kidding? She was halfway there, but Kevin seemed content to keep things casual, so she put the brakes on before she got hurt. He kept calling, kept wanting to see her, but he wasn’t offering anything new. Then she found out she was pregnant, that he signed a contract that would take him across the country, and that finished it.

She had to make a choice, and no man was ever going to make her lose sight of her baby. Harper wasn’t her mother. Her child came first.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Harper drew a breath at the deep voice caressing her from behind. God, how did he do that to her?

She turned, trying to appear unaffected, but having no idea how she was doing. “Kevin. It’s good to see you.”

He leaned in and kissed her cheek and the warmth of that simple gesture set her girl parts screaming. Harper really needed them to shut the hell up, too, because she didn’t think she could get away with having sex with him in public a second time.

Even if the first time was amazing.

“How have you been, Harper?”

“Good. What brings you here?”

“Ah, Jason asked me. Said his clients might enjoy having me here.”

She had to keep it professional, but how was she supposed to do that when he was looking at her like that? “I’m sure they will.”

“What about you?” His voice was like black velvet—soft and dark and sexy.

“Me what?”

“Are you happy to see me, Ms. Poole?”

“Uh, I . . .”

“You’ve avoided me pretty well over the past year.”

Looking down at her clipboard, she didn’t know what to say to him. “Kevin, I have work to do. Maybe we can chat another time.”

“Another time?” He was pissed. She could see it on his face.

“Yes. I am working, and that boss of mine can be
so
difficult.” The last part was said just for Jason, who was coming up behind Kevin.

“She’s right, I’m a slave driver. How’s everything going over here? Has everyone arrived?”

“Everyone but your starlet. Did you have to invite her?”

Kevin’s ears picked up. “Who did you ask?”

“Kari Martin.”

Kari Martin was the hottest thing in movies right now. She’d been landing plum roles and getting a lot of attention. And if she wasn’t getting enough attention for her acting, she was getting it for her barely there dresses and her questionable taste in men.

That moment is when Kari decided to make her grand entrance. She didn’t disappoint. Her dress was so short and so low-cut, Harper, who was far from a prude, wondered how she was going to stay in the scrap of fabric.

She flew into the room with a half-drunk glass of champagne, dramatic makeup, and her red-gold hair styled in a short pixie cut. There was nothing subtle about the woman, and her loud Southern twang filled the room. Everyone knew when Kari Martin had arrived.

“She sure makes an entrance,” Kevin said.

Jason nodded. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

Kevin grinned at Harper and then without hesitating followed Jason toward the actress, who looked to be sizing up all the bankbooks in the room. Granted, she was successful in her own right, but Kari was just the kind of woman to go for a trophy husband. Someone so rich she’d never have to think about money again. She could do every obscure indie film and suck at it, and still be living high and easy forever.

Harper couldn’t stand women like her. Her own mother was all about men. God knows she’d sacrificed Harper for the last man she married. And that was why Harper would never do the same thing.

After moving through the different groups of people, making sure they all had drinks and were enjoying the hors d’oeuvres, Harper decided to put down her clipboard and relax for a few minutes.

Meg was at the bar, ready to order her second glass of wine in twenty minutes, when Harper stepped up next to her. “Really?” she said before turning to the bartender. “Mrs. Campbell will have a Pellegrino with lime.”

“Dammit,” Meg said. “No more, huh?”

“You have to be careful. You don’t want to be the drunk wife, do you?”

Meg shook her head, happy for the intervention. “They’re just so boring.” Jason’s wife was anything but boring. She had more personality than most of the people in the room, combined. She always said keeping twenty kindergarteners interested in what she had to say required her to be more outgoing than a normal person, and Meg didn’t disappoint. When she tipped her head toward her brother and Kari, she didn’t seem happy. “What’s going on?”

“He’s being a jerk,” Harper said. “They deserve each other.”

Meg cocked an eyebrow silently questioning the term. Harper tamped down the jealousy that was bubbling up and realized she couldn’t let Kevin’s antics throw her off her game.

“
A jerk?
” Meg repeated.

She cringed at her friend’s question, which was basically asking why Harper cared if he was coming on to the movie star. She didn’t. Not really. Kevin could flirt with whomever he wanted. He could sleep with whomever he wanted. Just because Harper’s chest tightened at the thought and her heart hurt when she saw him talking with the pretty actress in the corner of the room, didn’t mean she cared.

“Typical man. Throw a bombshell in his path and everyone else in the room ceases to exist.”

“Jocks and actresses,” Meg mumbled. “Bad combination.”

“That actress and
anyone
is a bad decision. Why did Jason invite her?” Harper took a sip from a glass of Veuve Clicquot she’d grabbed off a waiter’s tray and let the bubbles tease her throat. She turned when she heard a high-pitched giggle followed by a low, sexy laugh.

“I have no idea,” Meg responded. “But it looks like my brother is going to steal her from the clients.”

Kevin and Kari were still laughing it up in the corner and Harper was more certain than ever that she’d made the right decision regarding him.

He didn’t have any interest in a family right now. He was too busy. With everything.

He glanced over and caught her looking, but instead of his usual confident grin, his face grew serious as his eyes met hers. Those eyes of his would be the death of her self-control.

Finishing her champagne in one gulp, Harper excused herself and left Meg chatting with the wife of a Korean banker. The language barrier would make that conversation more than a little bit interesting. Looking at her watch, she knew she should check the kitchen and make sure dinner would be served on time. There were a million things that could go wrong, but she didn’t want to go off schedule because more than anything, Harper wanted to go home on time tonight.

Naturally, she wanted to be home with her baby, but what she really wanted was to take off these shoes. A couch in the private lobby outside the terrace was a perfect place to rest her feet. It was also empty. No actresses to piss her off.

“Hey.” Kevin’s voice wafted through the silence, soothing and agitating her at the same time.

So much for being alone.

***

Harper was sitting on a long sofa, her legs crossed and rubbing one of her feet. She seemed to be in pain. God knew he was in pain just looking at her. She made everything in him catch fire. It made him crazy.

He sat at the opposite end of the sofa and watched her rub her feet. She didn’t say anything, didn’t look his way, and Kevin still didn’t know what he’d done to drive her away. “Shoes hurt?”

Harper nodded. “Too tight.”

Silence. More awkward silence.

“Are you ever going to tell me why you ditched me?”

Harper froze in place. Turning her head, he saw something in those big eyes of hers. They were more green today than brown. Gorgeous, soulful.
Hurt?

Taking a breath, she answered. “I didn’t see it going anywhere. And since you left . . .”

Was she kidding? How could she not have seen it going anywhere? He spent every minute he could with her. “You broke up with me
before
I took the offer in California. One minute we were together, then nothing.”

Raising an eyebrow and cocking her head to the side she asked, “So you would have stayed if we were still sleeping together?”

“We were doing more than just sleeping together.”
Shit.
“I really liked you. I still do.”

“Seriously, Kevin? Our relationship was one booty call after another. Sometimes we went out to dinner or had drinks, and then it was off to bed.”

He’d stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at the floor. Maybe she’d had more reasons to break it off with him than he thought. He had no answer to what she’d just said.

“I guess I handled it badly,” she said. “I should have told you why.”

“I’m sorry you felt that way. I didn’t know.” He moved closer and she stiffened. He liked that he could still get to her. She wasn’t scared, but she definitely had her guard up. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

Still, she wasn’t giving him an inch, and Kevin knew he should cut his losses, but he sensed something else was going on. He was about to ask when Kari burst into the space. “Kevin! Where did you run off to? They’re seating for dinner, and the bitch running this
thang
won’t rearrange the table so we can sit together.”