21. Aiden
21
AIDEN
I ’d heard it said that a June wedding was lucky. I didn’t know how much more luck Vincent really needed considering he’d already snagged Piper and now had a beautiful baby girl, but I supposed a little extra good fortune couldn’t hurt—if you believed in those kinds of things. Which I definitely didn’t.
“What did you think about the ceremony?” Cora asked as we walked arm-in-arm through the reception hall. The Cipriani 42nd Street was originally built to be a bank. Now it was an event venue that boasted beautiful, historic touches such as soaring ceilings, grand chandeliers, and marble columns. Cora was utterly dazzled and couldn’t stop gushing over the decor.
“I didn’t know Vincent was capable of being such a sap,” I said, not unkindly.
“The vows were adorable, weren’t they?” she said, practically swooning. “Did Piper really crash a car into Vincent’s Bugatti?”
“Yes.”
Cora chuckled. “What a memorable first meeting.”
“You could say that. Though from what I recall, Vincent said there was a lot of swearing.”
“Guess that didn’t stop the sparks,” Cora said as we walked past the ballroom. She made a soft sound in the back of her throat. The dinner tables were decorated with hundreds of glittering lights. “It’s like something out of Beauty and the Beast , I swear.” Her mouth hung open for a beat, and I enjoyed the way the shadows danced across her face, highlighting her sparkly eyeshadow and her glossy lips. “Okay, I officially adore this reception venue. It’s the perfect blend of old-world charm and modern elegance.”
“Giving you ideas for your speakeasy?”
“So many,” Cora said, squeezing my arm the way she always did when she was excited.
“Shall we head back to the bar?” I asked.
“Yes, there was another cocktail on the menu I wanted to try.”
Vincent and Piper had signature drinks mixed up for their cocktail hour, which Cora adored. As we made our way back across the room, I spotted Trent and Dominic standing with Paul and Chloe.
“Hey!” I called as we neared.
“Have you tried this?” Dom asked, pointing out the pink-tinted drink in his hand.
“It’s good, right?” Cora said. “You can really taste the orange zest.”
Dominic finished the drink in a few gulps. “I’m gonna grab another. Does anyone want anything?” He darted toward the bar before any of us could answer.
I caught Trent’s eye. He gave me a little shrug as if to say, “The guy’s just blowing off some steam.” That steam was named Amanda. As far as I knew, Hailey was with a sitter tonight, so Dominic was free to let loose. Maybe a little too loose.
“I didn’t think this guy was capable of being cute,” Paul said, shaking my shoulder playfully. I realized Cora was in the middle of regaling Paul and Chloe with a high school throwback, both of them clearly amused.
“He was actually very adorable back then,” Cora said.
Trent rubbed his hands together. “Yes, let’s hear all about our little Aiden in high school.”
“Or not,” I said.
“You don’t remember picking me up and running around the football field with me flung over your shoulder after the game against Laurier?” Cora asked.
I did, actually. We’d scored a touchdown in the last moments of the game, beating Laurier, and sending our team to the championship. I’d been so ecstatic, I’d just grabbed her and spun around on the field until we were both too dizzy to stand. “I think you kept telling me you were going to throw up.”
Cora laughed. “I was telling you not to drop me.”
Chloe chuckled. “And did he?”
I scoffed. “Not a chance.”
“You did run me all the way down the field so you could kiss me in the endzone though,” Cora reminded me.
Trent snickered, massaging his eyes. “Why were you so corny, man?”
“I wasn’t corny,” I insisted. “I was really cool in high school.”
Chloe exchanged a look with Cora, one of those looks only women understood, while Paul and Trent laughed.
“Isn’t there a newlywed couple around here we should be congratulating?” I said, hoping Vincent and Piper would appear so we could change the subject. But despite the teasing I was getting from these throwback stories, I couldn’t have been happier with how seamlessly Cora fit in with my friends. It was clear they all approved of her. Not only did they approve, but they genuinely liked her, which was even better. I never should have doubted though. Cora was charming and funny and endearing. It was impossible not to like her.
Dominic stumbled over, drink in hand, as Cora was midway through another high school story.
“How’re my boys doing?”
I turned as Nana Dee walked up, clad in her signature pearls. I strung my arm over her shoulders, pulling her into the group. “Where have you been?”
“Trying to get a word in with the newlyweds, but they’re being hounded,” she said. “So I’ve been getting all the hot gossip instead.”
I laughed. I didn’t doubt it. “How much gossip can there be at a wedding?”
“Plenty,” Nana Dee said. “If you know where to look. Speaking of,” she said to Chloe, “I’ve heard the bride has another dress for the reception?”
“She does,” Chloe confirmed. “And it’s even more dazzling than the first. Better to dance in too.”
“I’m just so thrilled for Vincent and Piper,” Nana Dee said. She nudged me. “And to see you with such a wonderful girl.”
She said the last part quietly, but I didn’t miss the corner of Cora’s mouth turning up, proving that she’d caught it, too.
“I heard from Trent you had your doctor’s appointment,” I said, turning back to Nana Dee. She nodded. “And?”
“He had me go for some tests. You know how these things are. Tests and more tests. And then maybe some answers—eventually. I’m still waiting for the results.”
“Well, I’m glad you went.” Not only for her sake, but for Trent’s stress level as well. “You’ll keep me posted on what you find out?”
“Of course,” she said, patting my arm gently.
“My god, this is the one,” Dominic said, holding up a glass. He’d somehow secured another cocktail in the time I’d been talking to Nana Dee. “You guys have to try this one. It’s so good. What is that? Hints of?—”
“Candied rose petals,” Cora said. “I tried it earlier. It’s brilliant.”
“Speaking of brilliant,” Trent said to me, “Dominic was mentioning earlier that the launch for the new nonalcoholic line is officially a go?”
I nodded. “They’ve all been finalized, with Cora’s help.”
Chloe clapped. “That’s so exciting!”
“It is. We’ve got the launch event planned for next month,” I told them.
“Which you’re all invited to,” Dominic added. “Obviously.”
A murmur of excitement swept through the room. When I glanced around, I realized that they were seating guests for dinner.
“Guess we should head in,” Paul said. He threw his arm around Dominic’s shoulders. “Let’s get some food into you.”
Probably a good idea. I took Cora’s hand and guided her into the dining room. We sat at our assigned table with Chloe, Nana Dee, and the guys, enjoying a fabulous dinner. After that came the speeches. Once we’d all stood in front of the room and roasted Vincent a little, dinner was cleared away, lights swirled on the dance floor, and the DJ started up the music. After Vincent and Piper had had their moment, I met Cora’s eyes and inclined my head to the floor, raising my eyebrow in question.
Cora grinned, taking my outstretched hand. I twirled her onto the dance floor, basking in the sound of her laughter as she settled into my arms. I tightened my hold, pulling her close enough to me to feel her warm breath tickle my neck. “Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Yes,” she said, laying her head against my shoulder.
“Good. I’m glad.”
Paul and Chloe joined us on the floor a moment later. I was pleased to see that Dominic had sobered up enough with the meal to ask Nana Dee to dance. As the floor filled up, I guided us past the DJ, giving him a discreet nod. The music switched over seamlessly to “You and Me” by Lifehouse, the same song Cora and I had danced to on the football field.
She gasped, looking up at me. “Hold on…You arranged this?”
I nodded.
“When?”
“I might have had a little chat with the DJ before dinner.” A chat and a little bribe tended to go a long way. “I really enjoyed our dance on the football field, but I thought you’d like to have the full dance floor experience.”
Cora pressed up on her toes and kissed me. It was anything but chaste—long and lingering and searing—and it definitely had no business being on the dance floor in front of hundreds of wedding guests. But I could tell she didn’t care who was looking. Frankly, neither did I.
“How long did you intend to stay tonight?” Cora asked, her voice low, sultry.
“Why?” I smirked. “Do you have other plans in mind?”
Cora’s arms tightened around my waist. “Yes. Very naked plans.”
I liked the sound of that, and the way she looked at me—hungry for much more than wedding cake—had me tugging her off the dance floor without giving a damn about making excuses.
“When do you think you’ll be back?” I asked Cora as she darted around my bedroom, getting dressed. It was the morning after the wedding, and my head was fuzzy from all the drinks last night, but Cora was unfazed. All those long nights she spent bartending must have given her hangover immunity. I slumped back against my pillow because watching her was making me dizzy.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “The show’s a few hours, and then Jennifer’s got this new restaurant she wants to try. Says the menu looks interesting, and she’s hardly ever excited about food lately. So I really want to make an effort.”
I would have much preferred for Cora to come back to bed, but she’d made plans to catch the Saturday matinee of a Broadway show she didn’t want to break. I was certain I could have gotten her tickets for another day, but Cora was excited, and I planned to lounge around in a heap for most of the day anyway.
Cora leaned over and pecked me on the lips. “I’ll see you later?”
“Text me and let me know your plans. Maybe I can meet you somewhere.” If I could manage to drag myself out of bed.
“Sounds good.”
I rolled over as I heard the front door close, intending to go back to sleep for another hour, but my phone started buzzing. I groaned, wondering if Cora had forgotten something, but when I glanced at the caller ID, the number was unfamiliar.
I answered. “Hello?”
“Hey Boss,” a voice said. It took me a second, but then recognition kicked in. It was Carlos. The doorman from Cora’s building.
“Carlos.” I sat up, instantly on high alert. “What’s up?”
“You said you wanted to know if Levi showed up or sent any more unwanted gifts. Well, he’s here right now with a giant teddy bear and banner that says, ‘Let’s Start Over.’”
“You’re kidding me.” I massaged the hangover ache from my eyes.
“Wish I was, Boss. It’s the tackiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
A teddy bear? That was so not Cora’s taste. The guy was with her for fifteen years, and a cheesy bear was the best he could do? If he really wanted to get her attention, he should have bought her tickets to The Great Gatsby musical now that it was on Broadway. It was based on her favorite book by her favorite author. The same one she’d read religiously in high school, which Levi should have known.
“Anyway, he’s insisting I let him into the apartment so he can set it up for her. I told him I’d have to get permission from the apartment resident before I could let him in. He thinks I’m calling Jennifer right now.”
“Okay,” I said, climbing out of bed and looking for my pants. “That’s good. Tell him you’re on hold with the restaurant, waiting for her to finish up in the kitchen. Just do whatever you have to do to stall him for a little while longer. I’ll be right there.”
“You got it.”
I hung up, got dressed, and peeled out of the parking garage in no time. When I arrived at Cora’s building, I spotted Levi sitting in one of the lobby chairs, clutching that idiotic teddy and that pathetic sign. “Didn’t I tell you to leave Cora the hell alone?”
Levi jumped to his feet, his eyes widening at the sight of me. “How did you?—”
“What right do you have to be here?” I snapped.
He shoved the bear and the sign onto the chair behind him. “I, uh…I?—”
“Please tell me you’re going to do more than stammer.”
Levi’s mouth snapped closed.
I gestured to the bear. “Why are you harassing her like this?”
“I’m not harassing her.”
“She told you to leave her alone, and this is the exact opposite of that. And in what world did you actually think the doorman was going to let you into her apartment?”
Levi glanced at Carlos, his expression shifting from shock to something else. When he caught my eye again, I could see the accusation written all over his face. “You had the doorman report back to you? Jesus, man, don’t you think that’s a bit controlling? What are you doing keeping tabs on Cora like that?”
“It’s none of your business what I’m doing,” I said. “Cora isn’t your concern anymore.”
“Of course she is! I love her. And I think she deserves to know she’s gotten herself tangled up with a controlling creep,” Levi spat.
“ I’m the creep?” I took a step forward. Levi stumbled back, almost tripping into the chair. “You’re the one who can’t take a hint.”
Even he wasn’t dumb enough to think he was any match for me physically, but it appeared he was too dumb to know when to back the hell down. “I…I think Cora should have the chance to decide for herself if she wants me around.”
“Which she did, at the reunion,” I said. “She wants nothing to do with you.”
“So what she wants is some caveman who comes storming in to beat the crap out of any guy who tries to show her that she has other options?” he sneered.
I knew Cora wanted nothing to do with this scumbag, but his words hit their mark anyway. Was I being creepy? Too hotheaded, too possessive? I took a beat, wondering if there was any truth to Levi’s accusations.
My emotions were obviously all over the place when it came to Cora and Levi, and that was a problem. I didn’t like who I turned into when I let my emotions take over. My thoughts flashed back to memories I’d hidden away—like my shameful, irrational behavior with my college girlfriend, Steph, when I’d gotten into an actual no-holds-barred fistfight with some guys she’d been flirting with. Or what happened back in high school, when I’d nearly gotten in a fight over Cora that could have blown my chances at a college scholarship. It was the reason I’d pulled back from my relationship with her in the first place. Being too caught up in her had nearly been disastrous.
But I was better than that now. I was in control…wasn’t I?
I flicked my head toward the door. “Get the hell out of here, man. I’m not going to tell you again.”
Levi finally gave in, grabbing that bear and darting for the door as I unclenched my fists. A shaky breath escaped me. I tried to tell myself everything was fine, nothing had gotten out of hand—but I couldn’t shake my uneasiness. Maybe what I needed was to take a step back before I got in over my head again.