Chapter 1
One
KATIE
The Michael I had a countdown for the moment she and the groom said “I do,” so I could be done with her.
The Uber suddenly came to a jerky stop, and I looked out the window.
Julia Testa Florals.
“Sorry about that speed bump, Miss.” The driver looked at me through the rearview mirror. “Do you need help stepping out?”
“No, I’m okay.” I unbuckled my seatbelt. “I’ll be back in five minutes.”
I lifted my umbrella and rushed under the shop’s awning.
“This time,” I said to myself, “do not send her a picture of the bouquet. No more redos, Katie. No more redos…”
Letting out a breath, I pushed the door open and stepped inside a room of lavender wisteria and roses. Out of habit, I made a beeline past the display room and into the pickup one.
The stunning white and robin’s egg blue flowers for Sunny were sitting on a rear table, but some guy was doing something to the main bouquet.
A guy who definitely did not work here.
Walking over, I tapped him on his shoulder.
“Excuse me,” I said. “What do you think you’re doing?”
He ignored me, continuing to fiddle with the blooms.
“Um, that has my name on it, so if you would kindly put it down and walk the hell away, I would appreciate it.”
“I’m almost done handling a situation,” he finally spoke, keeping his back turned. “You can wait.”
“No, I really can’t.” I moved around him to try and see what he was doing, but whatever it was, he was done.
“Thank you for your lack of patience.” He finally looked at me, and every word I was about to say locked in my throat.
The man in front of me looked like he belonged on the cover of every romance novel I’d ever read—and judging by that smirk, he was fully aware of it.
Not a single strand of his short, dark brown hair was out of place.
His deep, emerald green eyes were looking me up and down, tempting me with the dirty thoughts behind them, and his lips were curving into a slow, devastating smile that revealed dimples.
Why do I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before?
“What the hell were you doing to my flowers?” I snapped out of the trance.
“Your flowers?”
“Yes.” I glared at him. “My flowers. The ones that have my name on them, along with the ‘Do Not Touch’ tag you obviously ignored.”
“Hmmm.” He had the audacity to pick them up again. “Your name is Katie Elizabeth?”
“Yes.” I snatched them away.
“Then those technically aren’t yours.” He glanced at my left hand. “You’re not the one getting married today…”
What in the actual hell? “Answer my question about why you were touching them before I call security.”
“No need for threats.” He looked amused. “I’ll call him over here for you. Security!”
He motioned for the guard to walk away from the tiara case, and he immediately obliged.
“What’s going on here, Mr. Brooks?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.” The almost-thief crossed his arms, still smiling at me. “But this woman just threatened to call you over here, so I figured I’d grant that wish.”
“I come in here pretty often,” I said.
“I’ve never seen you before,” the guard said. “Are you a customer?”
“I’m a wedding planner,” I said. “And this man—”
“His name is Mr. Brooks.” He looked offended, as if this man was somehow more important than me.
“Right. Well, Mr. Brooks was messing with an order I paid to pick up, so he’s in the wrong, not me, and I’d appreciate it if you took my side instead of his.”
“I need to see your receipt for this order, Miss.” He held out his hand, ignoring everything I’d said.
You’ve got to be kidding me…
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and tapped my phone’s screen. I logged into my email and pulled up the order.
It took everything in me not to shove it into his face.
“Hmmm. Okay.” He nodded and held up his hands in slight surrender.
“My apologies, then.” He stepped back. “Enjoy the rest of your shopping and be sure to come back whenever you need more.”
“What about him touching my flowers?” I pointed. “What about him?”
“I’m sure he had his reasons.” He shrugged and returned to his post.
“Glad we could get that sorted out,” almost-thief said. “If you give me your phone number, I’ll happily make this up to you.”
“I’ll pass. Thanks.”
I stuffed the flowers into my purse and picked up the other bouquets I’d ordered.
“Thanks to you,” I said, picking up the last one, “I’m running four minutes and thirty-eight seconds late for the final gift-bag checkup. I don’t think guests will take too kindly to missing out on the specialty blooms the couple picked out.”
“Most wedding guests throw all that stuff away anyway…”
“Not when the event costs this much, they don’t.”
“Want to bet?”
“No.” I rolled my eyes. “I want you to get out of my way.”
“I will after you give me your phone number…”
“I could’ve sworn I said no.”
“You didn’t sound like you meant it.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.” He smiled and took out his phone. “Seriously.”
If this were any other time and my ass wasn’t on the line, I might’ve considered it.
Then again…
“Can you step to the side so I can grab the boutonnière box, or do you need to run your hands over that first, too?”
“No, that’s safe.” He moved. “But if I were you, I wouldn’t worry too much about this wedding.”
“Worrying about an event is literally my job.”
“Not when it won’t be happening.”
Huh? “Okay, you know what?” I couldn’t let him get under my skin anymore. “If I were you, I would stop harassing someone who’s not interested and go bother someone else.”
I grabbed the box and left the store, hating that the most action I’d had with a man in years came from arguing with him over a bouquet.
Returning to the Uber, I placed the flowers on the seat and called my contact at the hotel.
“This is Miss Spencer of The Four Seasons speaking. How may I help you?”
“Asia, it’s me, Katie. I’m heading back to the Kesler wedding, but I need you to do a few quick favors for me.”
“Anything for you.”
“Can you place a few water bottles outside the groomsmen suite and send up a cracker plate for the matron of honor?”
“On it. I’ll handle it now.”
I ended the call and let out a breath.
Please, universe. Don’t let anything else go wrong today. I’m begging you.
I kept my head down, scrolling through emails to prevent myself from getting anxious about traffic.
By the time the driver opened the back door, I was still early.
I carried the flowers through the lobby and handed them off to my assistant. Then I carefully held onto the bride’s bouquet before taking the elevator up to her suite.
“Oh gosh, thank you!” Heather, the maid of honor, rushed toward me. “I’ll get these to her, but we’re still searching for her tiara.”
“It’s on the way up,” I said. “Has Sunny calmed down since this morning?”
“She’s worse…”
“I’ll keep my distance until you call for me, then.”
“Noted.” She smiled. “I’ll text you an update in a few minutes.” She slipped into the bedroom, and I began organizing the bridesmaids’ gift bags.
As I retied a bow, a blood-curdling scream cut through the room.
“What the fuckkkkk!” The bride’s shriek was unmistakable. “WHATTTT THE FUCKKKK?”
Confused, I pushed the door open—and froze.
Sunny was crumpled in the center of the room, her wedding gown fanned out around her like a fallen centerpiece, layers of tulle swallowing the floor.
“He’s. Not. Marrying. Me!” She yelled even louder than before. “The day of our wedding. The day of our fucking wedding!”
“Um, Sunny…” Heather approached her like she was a wild animal. “Where is this coming from? Why do you think he’s not marrying you?”
“Because he said it!” She hissed. “He. Said. It.”
“He hasn’t called or come anywhere near this room, Sunny…” Heather swallowed. “I have your phone and I haven’t let anyone come here at all.”
“So, you’re calling me a liar?” She narrowed her eyes. “Is that what you’re saying?”
I swallowed, looking between them.
Sunny slowly stood to her feet, and I stepped forward—ready to block her if she tried to fight.
“We have a secret code and he used it,” she said, her voice cracking. “It’s something no one else would know, and uh...”
Tears fell past her cheeks, and she looked at me.
“What am I supposed to do?” she asked.
I don’t know…
For the first time in my career, I came up blank.
This had never happened to any wedding of mine before, and I’d never written a plan for this scenario.
“Can you just tell everyone we decided to be friends and there’s no bad blood?” she asked. “Then, um…They can still have the gift bags and have lunch at the reception.”
“Sure, but…” I inched closer. “Are you certain this isn’t all in your head?”
“He left his words in my bouquet.” She held it out to me. “Can you please handle all the things I just said?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you.” She crashed into Heather’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Slipping out of the room, I pulled out my phone and fired off a series of texts.
The wedding is OFF. Don’t tell any guests yet.
Hold off on the reception work and meet me in the VIP suite in twenty minutes.
Tell the photog to stretch the bridesmaids/groomsmen photos for another half hour.
Too anxious to wait on the elevator, I took the emergency stairwell down thirty floors until I reached the lobby.
The floral “Welcome to the Kesler Wedding” signs—the ones that cost one thousand dollars each—stared at me from the hall.
I wanted to place Sunny’s never-to-be-used bouquet next to one of them, but I had a feeling she might want to try and get a refund.
I slipped my fingers through the blooms, looking for the so-called message, but there was nothing.
Maybe she held onto the note…
Stepping outside, I took several deep breaths and put my head down on the edge of a bellman cart.
Heaving, I shut my eyes and suddenly felt someone pressing a warm cup into my hand.
“Are you okay?” a deep voice asked.
“No.” I shook my head, keeping my eyes shut. “No, I am not okay.”
“Some hot tea might help…”
“I doubt it.”
“The bride and groom had it specially flown in from Japan,” the voice said. “It’s supposed to have some type of healing power…”
My eyes fluttered open, revealing the sexy guy from earlier.
For several seconds, neither of us said a word. The scent of his cologne tempted me, made me want to hug him and melt in his arms until this day was over.
But then it hit me.
Wait a minute.
“You.” I glared at him. “It’s you.”
“It’s Asher.” He smiled. “But if you give me your phone number, I’ll let you call me whatever you want.”
“How the hell did you know this wedding wasn’t going to happen?” I ignored his charm.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said.
“At the flower shop…” I stepped closer. “You said if you were me, you wouldn’t worry about this wedding, which means you knew it would end in disaster.”
“I don’t recall saying that.” The look on his face said the opposite.
“You did something, didn’t you? That’s why you were messing with her bouquet?”
“You’re jumping to a lot of conclusions. Sorry whatever happened, happened.”
“You’re not sorry about anything…” I narrowed my eyes. “Why would you do something like that?”
He didn’t answer.
He just stared at me.
“You cost this couple sixty thousand dollars,” I said. “Sixty. Thousand. Dollars.”
“I prefer to look at things a little differently.” He closed the gap between us. “I saved them from a lifetime of misery.”
“Thank you for admitting you were involved.” I crossed my arms. “Do you think you’re some type of god?”
“No.” He shook his head. “But if you use your critical thinking skills, it’s obvious I was hired by someone to do this.”
“The groom?”
“The father of the groom.”
“What?”
“Well, technically it was both of them, but the father paid, so…” He shrugged. “Now that I’ve given you far more information than necessary, you can give me your phone number.”
I blinked, stunned that this man seemed to think that was still happening.
“I’m not used to asking for something I want this many times,” he said, looking amused. “Is there a problem?”
“Yeah, there is.” I tossed the tea onto his shirt, watching the brown liquid seep into the white fabric. “Fuck you.”
He clenched his jaw, looking down at the damage.
“I never want to see you anywhere near me or one of my weddings again,” I said.
“Seeing as though you’re a psychopath…” He glared at me. “I hope the same.”
“Good.” I turned away before he could utter another word. I headed to the lobby and held back a scream.
This was the first time one of my weddings wouldn’t end in a happily ever after, and it hurt like hell…