Chapter 31 – Katie
Thirty-One
PRESENT DAY
KATIE
There was no such thing as a “perfect wedding,” but the Brooks one was close to making me reconsider that concept.
Michelle’s veil floated behind her with every step. The smile on her face was contagious. Every set of eyes was on her.
Well, except Asher’s.
His were glued to me, but I refused to pay him any attention.
Still in wedding planner mode, I focused on the ceremony—making mental notes to send my team—but I honestly couldn’t think of any.
When Michelle and Chris kissed, applause filled the room, and the guests threw rice at them as they exited the ballroom and headed to the reception.
The bridal party followed, and I made sure to hang back a bit to stay out of Asher’s reach. He stood by the door, staring at me, and I headed for a different exit.
* * *
At the reception, I moved our nameplates so he would have to sit next to a different bridesmaid—at a completely different table, but he moved next to me anyway.
Then he glared at me, daring me to ignore him.
“Can’t you read?” I picked up the nameplate before finally facing him. “This isn’t your seat because your name is not Donny Benjamin.”
He didn’t move when I told him to go back to his seat. Instead, he leaned closer—close enough that his knee brushed mine under the table—and my body reacted before my brain could catch up.
“Thank God for that,” he said. “That name doesn’t fit me at all.”
“Your seat is back there, Mr. Brooks.” I nodded toward the table behind us. “As the planner, I sat you there for a reason, so—”
“Yes, you can have feelings for someone you despise,” he interrupted me. “Take it from someone who’s experienced that for a while now.”
“I would ask what the hell you’re talking about, but I’m not trying to have a conversation with you.” I pointed at the other table. “That’s where you need to be before the end of their first dance and for the rest of the night.”
“I liked you after I crashed your third wedding, but I can see why you were wondering if I did after our encounter in Scottsdale…”
“Are my words not registering with you, Asher?” I asked. “You seem to be speaking English—as am I, so…” My words trailed off as he set a stack of tiny handwritten cards I’d lost long ago on my plate.
The one on top read, “I wish he’d gone further with me that night…Just so I could know if it was all in my head…”
“Like I was saying,” he continued, “I liked you before that night. I actually liked you the first day we met—hot coffee assault aside.”
“It was hot tea.”
“It was an assault.” He angled closer. “Anyway…As much as you scowled at me and treated me like I was the scum of the earth for ruining certain moments, I still liked you.”
He didn’t wait for permission this time. His hand slid to my lower back and stayed there, steady and possessive, like he’d already decided I wasn’t going anywhere.
“And the reason I didn’t ask you out or ‘go further’ with you the times I could’ve is because you’re a long-term relationship type,” he said. “You wanted commitment, flowers, and grand gestures, and I couldn’t give you that.”
He paused as the violinists lightly strummed the final stanza, as the first round of applause filled the room.
“The first dance is almost over,” I said softly. “You should get to your seat.”
“You were also taken back then.” He ignored me, continuing. “Well, if I count being ‘off and on’ again as a real thing, and I don’t.”
He leaned closer, cupping my face in his hands.
“I’ve been trying to call and text you all weekend to tell you I’m sorry,” he said. “And to tell you that I don’t want to go back to running into you at weddings every couple of months.”
“I don’t see when else we’ll see each other.”
“Stop.” He pressed a finger against my lips. “Let me finish…”
My breath hitched as he trailed his thumb against my bottom lip.
“I don’t appreciate you leaving out the times we’ve talked on the phone late at night, or the times you’ve called me for help here and there in your notes,” he said. “But because I’m generous, I spent last night filling all those in, and I noticed a pattern.”
“The new Mr. and Mrs. Brooks, everyone!” The DJ announced from the stage. “Let’s all dance together now!”
“Come on,” he said, standing before I could argue. “We’re not having this conversation sitting down.”
“We’re absolutely not having it at all—”
“Too late.” He pulled me to my feet anyway.
“Next to family, you’ve been the most consistent person in my life over the past few years, and I don’t want that to end,” he said. “Ever.”
The room fell away around us, and suddenly it was just him and me.
He pulled me against him, his hand settling at my lower back again, firmer this time.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you,” he said. “Whatever it takes to make you stay.”
“And if I say I don’t want the same thing?”
“You’d be lying, but I’d let it slide for a few minutes since you have to make everything dramatic.”
“I build weddings,” I said. “You destroy them. That’s not exactly a cute compatibility issue.”
“I can’t be with someone who takes pride in trashing people’s love stories,” I said. “I know you have your reasons—”
“Had,” he interrupted. “I had my reasons and I’ll explain what they were in long detail…But I’ve recently decided to make some significant changes to my business model.”
“Like what?”
“That’s a discussion for a different day.” His lips curved into a smile. “What’s important now is you telling me if you’re willing to date me.”
“I’m still upset with you.”
“I’ll help you get over it.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Multiple times.”
“I need to think about it,” I said. “Even if I wanted this, it wouldn’t work. Not with how we live. Not with what we do.”
“You’re making this far more difficult than it needs to be…” He adjusted his hold on me, pulling me closer as the music slowed.
“This is very simple,” he said, swaying me to the music. “Dating means you’re mine, and I’m yours, and there’s no one else on either side. Correct?”
“Correct…”
“To be clearer, I’m the only man you’re sleeping with, and your body belongs to me?”
“What? No…”
“No?” He stopped moving.
“I mean yes, but no, you don’t have to word it that way.”
“I have to make sure all the details are right,” he said, moving again. “It’s the Katie Elizabeth way…”
I held back a laugh as he dipped me and pulled me up again.
“I actually enjoy hanging out with you, so dates shouldn’t be a problem,” he said, lowering his voice, “but you’ll need to free up some work hours…Ninety hours a week isn’t going to work anymore.”
“I can go down to eighty.”
“Your business practically runs without you,” he said. “You only work so much so you won’t have to face doing anything else, and that won’t be fair to me.”
“That’s not true.” I shook my head, even though it definitely was. “Sixty hours, then?”
“Forty like a normal person, Katie,” he said. “Fifty here and there…”
“I really love my job, Asher.”
“You love writing, too,” he said. “When are you ever going to make time for that?”
“I…” I said nothing as the music shifted, as he stared into my eyes and continued swaying my body to the different beat.
My mind raced with all the empty and broken drafts I’d stopped and started over the years, the published books on my shelves that I wished I’d written if only I’d had the time…
His thumb brushed along my jaw, slower this time, like he was waiting to see if I’d pull away.
I didn’t.
I looked past him—at the couple I’d spent months planning for, at the room full of people who believed in forever—and for a second, I felt like the biggest hypocrite in the world.
“Okay,” I said to him. “One chance.”
His grip tightened instantly.
“Good.”
“And if this goes to shit,” I added, “I’m blaming you.”
“I’d expect nothing less, but I can guarantee that won’t be happening...”
The End