14. Evan
14
EVAN
T his was it—what we had worked for all these weeks. Considering the short timeline was such a pain in the ass, why did it feel like we’d been putting the wedding together for a year? That could’ve had something to do with how much had changed in the weeks between the engagement announcement and now, three days before the wedding, when the bridal party and close family and friends were due to arrive at The Delamar.
I strode into the pleasant, well-appointed hotel lobby, wheeling a suitcase behind me and carrying my wedding suit over one arm. The dry cleaner had delivered it to my office earlier, an arrangement set up by Valentina. One less errand to worry about. She’d thought of everything.
A pair of perky, blonde clerks stood up a little straighter behind the front desk when I approached. “Are you here to check in, sir?” one of the girls asked, bright and chipper. Behind her, on a credenza, sat a handful of baskets tied with peach and navy ribbon. There was only one reason they would exist .
“I’m Evan Anderson,” I explained. “I have a room in the Goldsmith-Black wedding block.”
“Yes, we know who you are, sir.” The first girl smiled then typed on her keyboard while the other noticed me eyeing the baskets and turned to them, clasping hands over her chest. “Aren’t they cute? They’re full of so many neat little things. Whoever assembled them put so much work into it.”
I had no doubt Valentina had stayed up late putting together personalized gift baskets for everyone in the wedding party besides herself. That was her way. “There are only a few left,” I noted. “Does that mean the guests are arriving?”
“Yes, sir.” The first girl tapped again on the keyboard, leaning in and squinting at her screen. “Only a few haven’t checked in yet.”
“And who might that be?”
“Mr. Young, Miss Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Diamond.”
Miss Miller. The skin on the back of my neck tingled. “Would that be Aria Miller or Valentina Miller?”
“Valentina dropped off the gift baskets,” the second clerk pointed out with a grin. “She and her assistant, that is.”
Right. She had mentioned during one of our email exchanges that Bianca would be staying at the hotel over the weekend, too, to give her a chance to spend time with the wedding party instead of running around like a headless chicken. “Which room is she in?” I asked as casually as I could. “I have a few last-minute things to talk over with her. The wedding’s being held at my country club.”
“I probably shouldn’t tell you that…” she whispered.
Why was I explaining myself to them? I had every right to ask what room a friend was staying in .
My mouth curved up into a seductive smile. “But you will.”
Her eyes dart toward her co-worker then back up at me, her teeth raking across her bottom lip as her cheeks tinged pink.
Both girls giggled. “She’s in room 321.” I accepted my room key, tucked in a tiny envelope marked 302, and thanked them before turning toward the bank of elevators near the hotel entrance.
“Wait a second!” One of the girls held up a basket, and I chuckled before accepting it. Of course, there was one for me. A cursory glance at the contents revealed a weekend itinerary, a monogrammed flask, a pair of cufflinks, and a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label. My favorite brand. She thought of everything.
I smiled to myself on my way across the lobby, determined to visit her room after settling in.
The past week felt like a month. It was like being a kid with a crush all over again. When I wasn’t with her, she was all I could think about. When I was with her, I couldn’t keep my hands off her. Every chance I had to be with her, I had to take. I wasn’t sure how to process it.
Which was why I didn’t bother settling into my room, merely leaving my things on the bed before heading down the hall. If I ran into anyone from the group, I could easily explain away my visit as being wedding-related. Last-minute confirmations, touching base, nothing out of the ordinary. I had waited endless days to set eyes on her again and wouldn’t let our secret keep us apart.
I couldn’t remember another woman who ever held my attention this long, much less to the point where I could barely function, with thoughts of her invading my awareness no matter the time of day or what was going on. She was always there. I always wanted her.
My heart pounded with every step I took down the long, quiet hallway. Days of waiting and yearning were about to pay off.
I rapped on the door at the other end of the hall, palms sweating, heart racing painfully. “Give me a second!” Valentina called out from inside. I didn’t hear any other voices, giving me hope she was alone.
She wasn’t sharing her room with Bianca, was she? That would put a serious crimp in my plans, not that I had any beyond taking her up against the door until she wept with pleasure.
What was I going to do when we didn’t have the excuse to sneak off together? She opened the door a couple of inches, the chain in place. Nothing could have pleased me more than the smile that spread across her face when she found me waiting in the hall. “I was wondering if you would show up.” She closed the door to remove the chain, then opened it again so I could enter.
“Nice room,” I observed, noting the queen-sized bed. Things were looking up. “You have it all to yourself?”
“No, the entire wedding party is sharing the bed with me. You’ll have to sleep at the foot. Hope you don’t mind.” She was rolling her eyes when she turned away from the door, the chain in place again.
“I think the guy with the lowest seniority should sleep at the foot of the bed,” I countered, eyeing a stack of notecards piled on the dresser. “That would mean Miles.”
“That works too. But you’ll have to explain it to my sister.” Her smile was brief, and now I noticed the fatigue in her eyes, in the worried little frown she wore.
“Hey.” I placed my hands on her shoulders, waiting for her to lift her head and look me in the eye. Even worked to the point of exhaustion, she was gorgeous in a soft, lilac sundress, her hair wound in a braid hanging over her shoulder. “We’re almost there. Only a few more days. Then, you ought to take a little time for yourself. Decompress. You’ve earned it.”
“Right. We both know how likely that is.” She rolled her eyes, but I could tell her heart wasn’t in it. She was too wiped out. “I have another three upcoming events to promote and a restaurant opening to put together. Though that’s not happening until late July…”
“Take care of you, ” I urged, massaging her shoulders. It was gratifying to see her eyes close, to hear the sigh she released. I could do something, any little thing, to help her, and my heart swelled at the knowledge.
I was dangerously close to being back to where I started. Only I wasn’t a kid anymore, in love with the prettiest, smartest, most exciting girl he ever met.
Though she was still all those things, that hadn’t changed.
“Are you going to dinner with everybody?” she asked, opening her eyes again. Ari had invited everyone out to a steakhouse on Greenwich Street as a kick-off to the weekend’s festivities.
I shook my head. “No, I thought I might hang around and make sure you didn’t need anything.” She quirked an eyebrow, suspicious, and I had to chuckle at how easily she saw through me. “All right, I asked around and found out you already backed out of dinner to get things done up here. I thought I could come up and help you.”
She looked more skeptical than ever, though a tiny smirk stirred the corners of her mouth. “Why do I get the feeling there’s a trade-off somewhere? ”
“You have so little faith in me,” I grumbled, shaking my head. “I’m disappointed.”
“So you didn’t come up here hoping you’d get laid in exchange for helping me fold place cards?”
“Is that what I’ll have to do?” I countered, eyeing the stack of cards again. Funny how much bigger it seemed now.
“How about I order dinner for us?” she suggested, her arms looping around my waist as if I could resist when she pulled me closer. “We can eat and work as long as you promise to keep your fingers clean so you don’t smudge the cards.”
“There are plenty of things I’d love to do with my fingers that don’t involve food.”
She placed firm hands against my chest, shaking her head. “Not this close to the wedding, Evan. Work first. Play later.”
Who was I to argue?
“Is it wrong that I’m hungry again?”
Valentina snorted, her head leaving my shoulder so she could smile sleepily at me. “You worked up an appetite.”
I sure as hell had. “It must have been all that folding.”
She nudged me, groaning at my terrible joke. “Or maybe the way you folded me like a pretzel.”
“Sure. I guess that counts too.” I couldn’t remember the last time I was this relaxed. The bed was insanely comfortable, the mattress molding itself to my body, the pillow cradling my head. Between that and the woman whose naked body was draped over mine, life was looking pretty good .
“I should book a stay here for myself,” she mumbled, stretching like a cat before rolling onto her back. The sheet was down around her waist, letting me admire her perfect, round tits. It was borderline pathetic, the way I turned into a hormonal teenage boy around her.
“What do you do to relax?” I rolled onto my side, trying to ignore her gorgeous tits in favor of holding an actual conversation.
I genuinely wanted to know. She had pretty much ignored me for close to a decade.
“Relax? What’s that?” Her laughter was hollow.
“I know you take classes, right? Like, dance or whatever?”
“You remember that?” She laughed softly and chagrined like she was the butt of the joke. “Gosh, I haven’t done that in years. There just never seems to be enough time.”
“You’re always taking care of everybody else.” She scoffed gently, which made me double down. “Like when you organized that trip to Vermont so we could all go skiing. You didn’t have to do that. But you went out of your way to make sure everybody had a good time, and all the bases were covered.”
“Everybody’s forgotten about that by now.” She sighed, toying with the hem of the sheet like it was suddenly so fascinating. It always made her uncomfortable being praised, which struck me as ironic since so many things about her were praiseworthy.
“I didn’t forget.” Her eyes dragged up to meet mine, and I was lost in them for a moment too long. Time to take this in a different direction. “Hell, tell me you still go to the carousel in Central Park when you feel overstressed. Do you ever go there anymore?”
She took a deep breath, which she released slowly, staring up at the ceiling. The way a person sighed after hearing a question they didn’t want to answer. “I’m pretty tired,” she announced. “I think I need to get to sleep. We have a long weekend ahead of us.”
Dammit. When would she stop doing this? “Why are you shutting me down?” I asked. I might have been taking my life in my hands, but I could only go through so much of this hot-and-cold, back-and-forth bullshit.
Here we were, naked in bed, about as vulnerable as two people could be together. All it took was a simple question about something I knew she used to like to do when life got to be too much, and she shut down.
“I’m exhausted, Evan. I barely have it in me to speak, and I have a chock-full schedule from now through Sunday night. What is so wrong with me wanting to get some sleep? Considering you keep telling me to rest.”
This was pointless. I couldn’t tell what bothered me more. Not knowing what I did to make her go cold or knowing she wouldn’t tell me no matter how I tried to get it out of her. “All right. I see your point. I’m going to crash here until morning if that’s cool.”
Why? I could’ve left and probably should have. Something wouldn’t let me leave her now when she was like this. Instinctively, I felt she needed me, no matter how she pretended otherwise.
“Fine with me.” If only she didn’t sound so disinterested. What the fuck did I say this time? It was enough to make me wonder if I wanted to stay.
There was no falling asleep right away. I was too busy staring at her back once she rolled away from me, curling in a ball. Protecting herself. From what? Was this all about what happened way back when? If I didn’t know for sure we would end up fighting all night with a full day ahead of us tomorrow, I would have asked. I really would have.
There would be time for that after.
We would clear the air once and for all.
The room had been quiet for a long time before the slightest whisper broke the silence. If I’d been asleep, I would’ve missed it. “I still go there sometimes,” she whispered, pulling the duvet up over her shoulder. Whether she thought I was asleep or not, I didn’t know. I could only wonder why she wouldn’t admit that earlier.
Why did she feel like she had to hide?