One Night With His Ex
One Night With His Ex
Katherine Garbera
Two lovers reunite for one unforgettable night. Will it be their last one together? When her sister’s engagement party reunites Hadley Everton with her ex-lover Mauricio Velasquez, it’s lust at first sight all over again. But what should be a farewell fling leaves them both longing for a second chance. But with a media scandal sabotaging their future, can they commit this time?
Two lovers reunite for one unforgettable night.Will it be their last one together?
When her sister’s engagement party reunites Hadley Everton with her ex-lover Mauricio Velasquez, it’s lust at first sight all over again. But what should be a farewell fling leaves them both longing for a second chance. With a pregnancy scare and media scandal sabotaging their future, can they commit this time—to every night for the rest of their lives?
KATHERINE GARBERA is the USA TODAY bestselling author of more than ninety-five books. Her writing is known for its emotional punch and sizzling sensuality. She lives in the Midlands in the UK with the love of her life; her son, who recently graduated university; and a spoiled miniature dachshund. You can find her online on at www.katherinegarbera.com (http://www.katherinegarbera.com) and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Also by Katherine Garbera (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
Tycoon Cowboy’s Baby Surprise
The Tycoon’s Fiancée Deal
Craving His Best Friend’s Ex
Rancher Untamed
Billionaire’s Baby Bind
Texas-Sized Scandal
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk).
One Night with His Ex
Katherine Garbera
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-09273-9
ONE NIGHT WITH HIS EX
© 2019 Katherine Garbera
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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Note to Readers (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
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This book is dedicated to
happy couples everywhere and to
those still searching for the one.
Acknowledgments (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
I know I’m always thanking the same people but, when you live in a different country than all of your friends and they are willing to video chat with you once a week, I think it deserves some thanks. Eve Gaddy and Nancy Thompson, I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you both. You make me laugh, let me whine, talk plots and do sprints with me. Basically, you keep me going and I love you both!
Contents
Cover (#ue41b4793-8b40-57b9-8787-45e8b999ee23)
Back Cover Text (#uf3f000bb-30d3-5dcd-bb8e-79f871dfeae9)
About the Author (#u09df7f60-bf8e-537f-be91-da6d85378030)
Booklist (#u7e2835bc-38e2-595e-89c5-a3aa637308ad)
Title Page (#u587befb2-64b4-52f0-8542-0e8c31df7d36)
Copyright (#u16cd30c4-a682-5a89-9e68-921947c3aebf)
Note to Readers
Dedication (#uaaa631bc-4355-5045-815a-6ac4c8ea27c5)
Acknowledgments (#u8b6ad1e7-b779-5f83-b976-921b59a8ef59)
One (#u94b53ddc-07bf-511c-a9fb-18f3376129f3)
Two (#ue5a87f7d-3ce0-5120-bd96-7f811a5261ac)
Three (#u97c432c0-e7e0-5d22-8d64-b7ec84184e8a)
Four (#u239e86b1-f98d-5dac-8f0a-3259874c144d)
Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
One (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
Hadley Everton both loved and hated living in Cole’s Hill, Texas. To be fair, the town had been growing ever since the joint NASA-SpaceNow training facility had opened on its outskirts, but those small-town minds weren’t keeping up. Today, she had dodged several well-meaning society matrons from the upscale Five Families neighborhood who were all concerned about her lack of a man. Since this was her sister’s engagement party, everyone in her mother’s circle of friends had fixed their eyes on her as the next one to finally wise up and land herself a husband.
It wasn’t as if Cole’s Hill didn’t have its share of eligible bachelors for her to pick from, as her parents’ neighbor Mrs. Zane had pointed out with her usual blend of sweet bluntness. Hadley could choose from any of them. Though in her infinite wisdom, Mrs. Zane advised her to stay away from the Velasquez brothers, especially after her recent breakup with Mauricio.
Seeing two more of her mother’s friends, Mrs. Abernathy and Mrs. Crandall, making a beeline toward her, Hadley faked a sneezing fit and ducked into the country club’s kitchen. The waitstaff were busy living up to her mother’s exacting standards, preparing the trays of food for circulation, so they didn’t care if Hadley had broken up with her “one good prospect” and seemed doomed to a life as a single woman.
She stood in the corner near the door to be out of the way of the staff, which unfortunately left her in earshot of her busybody pursuers.
“I heard she told him if he didn’t put a ring on her finger, she was out of there,” Mrs. Abernathy said.
“And he just said see you later. What is wrong with young people these days? He should have asked her then and there. He’s almost thirty and it’s not like anyone else is going to be interested in him if he couldn’t make Hadley happy,” Mrs. Crandall added.
Hadley turned to leave the kitchen via the back door but bumped into someone. She glanced up with an apology on her lips, but froze when she saw it was her sister, Helena.
Helena was the pretty sister, with a heart-shaped face, naturally thick eyebrows and blue eyes that Hadley had always envied. She stood a few inches taller than Hadley, as well. Today she wore a slim-fitting sheath that showed off her curves in a subtle way. Normally, her sister was very low key and laid back, but Hadley noticed she seemed tense.
“What are you doing in here?” Hadley asked.
“Same as you,” Helena said. Reaching up, she tucked a strand of Hadley’s hair behind her ear where it had escaped from her low chignon.
Hadley pulled the tendril back down to frame her face. Her older sister was forever acting like Hadley was still an eight-year-old and Helena was the more sophisticated ten-year-old.
“Hardly. This is your party,” Hadley said, moving away from the door and the women who were still talking about her and Mauricio.
“Girls. What are y’all doing?” their mother asked as she entered the kitchen. Candace Everton was the spitting image of Helena, just twenty-one years older. She kept the grays at bay in her natural strawberry blond hair with bi-weekly appointments at her hair salon and kept her figure by playing in a women’s tennis league at the club.
Their mother had always had it all together and there were times when Hadley wished she had just a tenth of her mom’s ease when it came to dealing with the social pressures of living in Cole’s Hill. But she never had.
Candace inspected a tray of canapés that one of the uniformed waiters was about to take out and wrinkled her nose at him. “This looks sloppy. Please get a clean tray before you serve my guests.”
The waiter turned around as their mother walked toward them. Hadley found herself standing a little taller and tucked the tendril that Helena had been messing with earlier back behind her ear.
“Just enjoying a moment of quiet,” Helena said. “I asked Hadley to help me with my zipper. It felt like the hook had come undone.”
“Let me see,” Mother said.
Helena turned around and their mother checked the hook and eye before wrapping her arm around both of her daughters’ shoulders. “Ready to get back to the party?”
No, but clearly that wasn’t the answer their mom wanted. She urged them both toward the door that led out of the kitchen.
When she got back out into the living room, Hadley came to a stop as she saw Mauricio Velasquez standing there. Of course, he looked like he’d stepped out of her hottest dreams. That was the thing no one had warned her about with breakups and broken hearts. She might be ready to move on, but her damned subconscious kept churning him up in the middle of the night and giving him a starring role in her sexiest dreams.
He had what she’d heard the old biddies in town refer to as a chiseled jaw; his neatly trimmed eyebrows framed eyes that were as black as her favorite dark chocolate. When he looked at her, she always felt like he could see straight past the layers she used to keep the world at bay to the very heart of her. But she knew that was a lie. Had he been able to do that, he wouldn’t have invited Marnie Masters, the femme fatale of Cole’s Hill, into his bed, while he and Hadley were taking a break in their relationship. She had believed they were going to get back together up until the moment she found out about Marnie.
“Hadley, what are you doing?” Mother said, putting her hand on Hadley’s shoulder.
“Sorry, Mother, I just saw Mauricio.”
“So?”
“I’m not ready to talk to him,” she said.
“This is Helena’s day, sweet child, so you will straighten Grandma’s pearls and walk over there and greet him like he’s an old friend,” Mother said.
She took a deep breath and looked over at Helena. “You’re right. Sorry, Hel.”
She’d known he’d be here. Mauricio and her sister’s fiancé were best friends and had been since high school. It wasn’t as if she could ask everyone she knew to stop socializing with him. Helena had even taken her to brunch at her favorite place to break the news that Mo would be in the wedding party. The picture of him walking out of his bathroom in a towel with the town flirt Marnie Masters right behind him had flashed through Hadley’s mind. But it didn’t matter. She had to be there for her sister.
“It’s okay,” Helena said. “I did warn you he’d be here today. Malcolm asked him to be a groomsman so you’re going to see him at all the pre-wedding events.”
“She’s got this,” Mother said. “I raised you girls to have steel in your backbones. And manners.”
“That’s right, you did,” Hadley agreed. She wished it were that easy, but when she saw Mauricio, he stirred to life so many different emotions. Anger she could understand, and sadness of course; it was hard to move on. Then there was guilt. But another feeling entirely came into play when her gaze drifted down his body, to that tailor-made suit that emphasized the width of his broad shoulders, the jacket buttoned neatly at his waist showing off the slimness of his hips, the pants displaying those long legs to perfection.
She groaned but Helena pinched her in warning. She straightened her shoulders and realized that Jackson Donovan had come in behind Mauricio. Jackson was Hadley’s date for the event, and as he waved at her, Mauricio turned to greet him.
“He better not make a scene at my baby’s party,” Mother said.
“He won’t,” Hadley said with a confidence she was far from believing as she headed off to run interference between her ex-lover and her new boyfriend.
Mauricio had taken care to arrive late at the engagement party, even though Malcolm Ferris was one of his best friends. He’d known today was going to be a challenge and he’d never been one of those men who could just smile when he was pissed off. His twin brother always said it was the reason they were so good at speculative business ventures. They weren’t afraid to fight for the underdog or walk into a bad situation and make the best of it. Though Mo had his doubts, Alec had found a way to make that work. For Mauricio it was real estate, for Alec it was technology and social media. Frankly, Mo didn’t understand his brother’s multi-million-dollar business but there was one thing he did understand... No matter how many months passed, he still couldn’t look at Hadley Everton and not feel his blood start to flow heavier in his veins.
She looked like a perfect Southern lady today. Her dress was a beautiful navy blue that hugged her slim torso, drawing his eyes to her delicate neck encircled with her heirloom strand of pearls. Damn if there wasn’t something sexy about seeing a lady all dressed up and knowing what she looked like naked.
He cursed and started to turn to leave the party. He wasn’t going to be able to keep his cool. But just then Jackson Donovan walked up next to him. The two of them had always rubbed each other the wrong way. Ever since their school days, Jackson had been a goody-two-shoes. The only thing that had changed was that back then he had been a skinny geek and now he was six foot five and muscular.
“Mo, good to see you,” Jackson said, holding out his hand.
Mo shook it, keeping his grip light, but Jackson squeezed before letting go. “I didn’t know you knew Malcolm.”
“I don’t, well, not really. I’m here with Hadley.”
Mo saw red. Sure, they were broken up and it felt final this time, but Hadley could do better than this—
“Hello, boys,” Hadley said, joining the two of them. She gave Jackson a kiss on the cheek before turning to smile at Mauricio.
Mauricio took a deep breath. “Hiya, Had. You look gorgeous as usual.”
“Thank you,” she said, with a tiny nod. “I hope you’ll excuse us, Mauricio. I promised Mother I’d bring Jackson over to meet her cousin.”
“Of course.”
She slipped her hand into the crook of Jackson’s elbow and Mo watched her walk away, unable to tear his eyes from the curves of her hips. Had her legs always been that long?
“Mo, I was surprised to see you chatting with Jackson,” his brother Diego said as he handed him a longneck Lone Star beer.
Mauricio brought the bottle to his lips and took a long pull. “Mama told me to mind my manners today. And I’m not going to give her another reason to be embarrassed after last fall.”
“Glad to hear it,” Diego said.
“Yeah?”
Diego nodded.
“Me too. I can’t keep avoiding everyone from our life together.”
“That’s a good point,” Diego said.
He hoped so. He was working his way back to good. A year ago, he’d been trying to manage his real estate business in the hill country, a reality TV show in Houston and a relationship with Hadley, who had been transferred to her company’s Manhattan offices. She worked for a large design firm and was one of their top designers. He’d been barely hanging on and he’d crashed and burned, especially after what had happened with Hadley. It forced him to take stock of his life and narrow his focus to the things—people—who were really important. His family, his good friends like Malcolm and his other polo team buddies.
“Glad to hear it. Pippa’s in London this week, so if you want to hang out, I’m free,” Diego said. His brother was in a long-distance relationship with Pippa Hamilton Hoff. His brother’s fiancée was the COO of House of Hamilton, Britain’s famous jewelers, and divided her time between London and Cole’s Hill.
“Sounds good. I’m actually working on a project with Homes for Everyone this week. If you have some free time, we could use another set of hands. We’re putting up some framing for the walls tomorrow night.” Mauricio was heavily involved in the charity, which helped low-income families who were struggling to buy their own house. Mauricio usually provided tracts of land for the different projects that Homes for Everyone were doing in their part of Texas, and occasionally even joined in on volunteer days when they actually built the homes.
“I’ll be there,” Diego said as he turned his attention to Helena and Malcolm.
The engaged couple were opening presents, and everyone was watching them, but Mauricio couldn’t keep his eyes off Hadley. She wore her thick dark curly hair pulled back in a low bun at the back of her neck. Several strands had escaped and framed her heart-shaped face. She chewed on her lower lip as she glanced down at the notepad in her hand, jotting down the details of each of the presents that her sister opened until she’d worried all of the lipstick from her mouth. Not that she needed to put on makeup to look like a knockout.
His gaze drifted down her body to the V-neck of her dress that gave a glimpse of her cleavage. This was a bad idea. He should have declined when Malcolm had asked him to be a groomsman but theirs was one of Mauricio’s oldest friendships.
He stood up and Diego arched one eyebrow in question. “I need some fresh air.”
He didn’t get far before Malcolm caught up with him. They’d met in the third grade when they’d both been dropped off by their parents on a Saturday morning for the Hill Country Junior Polo League. They’d been close ever since. Malcolm’s father died when they were in high school, and Malcolm had spent more time at the Velasquez house after his mom took on more hours at work to support the family. Now Malcolm was his partner in the real estate business and together they were determined to make sure that the growth of Cole’s Hill wasn’t too fast so as not to damage the community they both loved.
“Hey, Mo, I need you inside for a photo of all the groomsmen,” Malcolm said. “I have a surprise for y’all that I think is pretty cool.”
“I think most of us are just happy to see you in love and marrying the woman of your dreams.”
Malcolm shook his head. “I still can’t believe Helena said yes. I’m not nearly good enough for her, but I’m trying to make sure she’ll never regret her decision.”
“She’s a lucky woman,” Mauricio said, clapping his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“I saw you with Hadley and Jackson earlier.”
“Yeah, that wasn’t weird or anything,” he said.
Malcolm laughed. “One of the cons to living in Cole’s Hill is that it’s hard to avoid past girlfriends.”
“True.”
“Helena already warned me I’d have to keep you in line. No fighting,” Malcolm said. “Not with Hadley or Jackson or heck, even me.”
“I’m not doing that anymore,” he said. “That was just a bad spell.”
“Glad to hear,” Malcolm said. “Behind all their Southern charm, the Everton ladies aren’t happy with you at all.”
He didn’t blame them. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“Mal, come on,” Helena said. “Daddy wants to get the pictures taken so he can take off his tie.”
“Coming.”
Mauricio followed the engaged couple into a sitting room. There was a large picture window with a spectacular view of the hills behind the house, which were covered with bluebonnets in full bloom. Crissanne Moss, one of the newer residents of Cole’s Hill, was acting as photographer today. She was engaged to Ethan Caruthers, who was related to Mauricio through marriage.
“I’m going to do a shot of the ladies first, then all of you guys and then a big group photo.”
There was some grumbling especially from the men as they stood with their backs against the wall. The last time they were all together waiting like this was in high school when they’d gotten their yearbook photos taken.
He shook his head at the thought.
“I hate photos,” Malcolm said. “I always look either like a creepy toothpaste ad or like I’m getting ready to be tortured.”
“Just relax,” Mauricio said. “Maybe look at Helena. You don’t look creepy when you smile at her.”
“Glad to hear it,” Malcolm said sardonically.
“No problem, man.”
“Guys, come on over,” Crissanne said.
Mauricio walked past the bridesmaids and Hadley’s floral perfume scent filled the air. He couldn’t help taking a deep breath as he moved into the position that Crissanne directed him to. When she had everyone posed, she explained that they had to do a serious photo and a silly one. Mauricio realized that if he never had to be in another photo again, he’d be happy.
“Now let’s mix it up,” Crissanne said.
There was some jostling around Helena and Malcolm, who were in the center of the group. Crissanne kept moving the men and women to get a good balance of something that only she could see with her photographer’s eye.
Mauricio stood toward the back; being six foot five, he was pretty much always in the back of any group shot. When Crissanne repositioned two of the bridesmaids, it put Hadley right in front of him.
He stood a little taller and held himself back from her.
“Okay, guys, I need you to put your hand on the shoulder of the woman in front of you,” Crissanne said.
He put his hand on Hadley’s shoulder. As soon as he did, a tingle went through him. He noticed goose bumps on her left arm, and she shifted under his touch. Her breath become shallower and a slight flush spread down her neck. He felt a zing of awareness go through him, and he did his best to ignore it until Hadley glanced back over her shoulder at him and their eyes met.
They both might have decided to move on, that they weren’t ever getting back together, but there was an undeniable sexual energy between them now; it hadn’t been extinguished. He knew better than to think that this would lead to anything more than the most exquisite sort of torture, but he couldn’t help rubbing his finger over the small bit of flesh exposed by the thick strap of her dress. Her skin was softer than he remembered, and she shivered delicately under his touch.
Crissanne brought their attention back to her and snapped the photos. “Okay, you’re all free to go.”
Hadley bolted from under his touch and all he could do was watch her go.
Two (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
One touch and she was back where she’d been all those months ago. She glanced around the busy party. Jackson caught her eye and nodded toward the door leading to the parking lot. She made her way through the crowd, careful to avoid all the women who had well-intentioned advice for her, and finally stepped outside and took a deep breath. She hoped that it was just being inside in close quarters with Mo that had made her react the way she had. But the truth was, her skin still tingled from where his fingertips had been. The back of her neck was still sensitive where his breath had brushed over it.
“Hey, there. You look like the party was getting to be too much for you,” Jackson said, coming up and putting his hand under her elbow.
His touch was nice. But it didn’t cause a chain reaction in her body the way that one small brush of Mauricio’s fingers had. That was the problem.
She looked at Jackson. He’d always been a good friend to her, starting back in high school when they’d both been in the International Baccalaureate program and study groups together. He’d been skinny and small and worn those glasses that were too big for his face. Of course, he’d changed. Matured into the kind of man she would have said was her type if not for that damned Mauricio messing with her body.
She wondered if she should just go home with Jackson and sleep with him. Maybe the fact that Mauricio had been her only lover was the reason why she still reacted to his touch. She toyed with the idea of sleeping with Jackson only until their eyes met. He was a good guy. He didn’t deserve to be dragged into her mess with Mo.
“When you look at me like that I know this doesn’t mean anything to you,” he said.
The sun was shining brightly, and it was the kind of late summer afternoon where the heat was so oppressive that being outside was a chore. She was just thinking that when she glanced past Jackson’s shoulder and saw Mo standing there on the patio outside the country club.
She shook her head. It was over between them, had been for longer than either of them wanted to admit.
“It could,” she whispered to Jackson, not sure if she was talking to herself or him. “It’s just...”
“I’m not Mauricio,” he said with his usual bluntness. “I never will be. And I’m not about to apologize for that.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to, and I don’t think you want to be Mauricio,” she said. “I like you, Jackson.”
He laced their fingers together and pulled her toward the willow tree that had been planted decades ago and now had large branches that cascaded down to the ground. He held the willow branches to the side as they stepped underneath them into the relative coolness of the shade provided by the tree. She could hear the melodic sound of the fountain in the nearby water feature.
He let her hand drop and then shook his head. “I like you too, Had, but not enough to play second fiddle to a Velasquez or any other man. There was a time when I might have considered it—”
“No, there wasn’t. You’ve always been such a strong, confident guy. That’s one of the things I’ve always admired about you.”
“But you’ve admired me as a friend, right?”
“Yes. But I thought that’s what you wanted from me,” she said.
“It is. I mean it would be a major cosmic F you to Mauricio if you and I had clicked and ended up married,” Jackson said. “But I wouldn’t do anything to mess with our friendship.”
“Me neither,” she said, putting her hands on the sides of his face. He had a strong jaw with only a hint of five o’clock shadow. His eyes were gray, so unlike Mauricio’s with their dark power. Jackson was the kind of man she’d always thought she’d fall in love with and end up marrying. But the heart didn’t work that way. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he said, before pulling her close and bringing his mouth down on hers. He angled his head for the kiss and she closed her eyes as their lips rubbed against each other’s. She opened her mouth and his tongue brushed against hers. He tasted of mint and it wasn’t an unpleasant experience but...
There was no spark.
Not a single bit of attraction. There was no way she could hook up with him to get over Mo. Not when all she could think was how one single brush of Mauricio’s fingers against her skin had set her on fire.
No matter how much she wanted there to be a spark with Jackson, there just wasn’t.
He pulled back and shook his head. “Well, hell. I guess we are meant to just be friends.”
She smiled at the way he said it. “I was hoping for something more too.”
“I bet,” he said. “You going back in? Want me to stay with you?”
She shook her head. She’d had enough of being the proper Southern lady her mama wanted her to be. She was done standing in the same room with a man she didn’t want to lust after and pretending that she was cool with every society matron gossiping about her lack of prospects. “I’m not going back in. I think I’ve done my sisterly duty.”
“Then I guess I’ll see you around,” Jackson said. As he walked away, she stood there in the shade of the willow tree and felt her hands clench into fists. She wanted to punch something or someone... Mauricio Velasquez, who had ruined her for other men, it seemed. She felt a scream rising up in her throat and realized she needed to get out of there. Go somewhere far away from engagements, her parents and the man she was thinking way too much about.
Mauricio went straight to the bar, ignoring his brother who lifted a beer toward him. He needed the hard stuff if he was going to be able to drive the image of Hadley and Jackson holding hands out of his mind. He knew he had no claim on her, and thought he had made his peace with that until he’d touched her.
Touching her had proven that all of his growth since they’d broken up had been for nothing. The spark was still there. Maybe what they needed was one good lay to get it all out of their systems. But he somehow didn’t think that Hadley was going to be too interested in that.
He ordered Jack Daniel’s neat and downed it in one swallow, and then forced himself to turn and move away before he started that slide back down to the out-of-control-guy he’d been last fall.
They’d broken up when she’d moved to New York but had kept in touch with texts and video chats. Mo had missed her but he had been casually dating and hooking up as well. He’d texted her a few times saying he wanted her back in his life permanently without realizing that she was coming back to town the very weekend he’d sent his last text. Then she’d used her key to let herself in and surprise him at his place early one morning after he’d hooked up with someone else. She’d caught them together.
Until that moment he had never realized what an ass he’d been. He had wanted Hadley back but he’d also hated to be alone so he’d been playing both sides. He shouldn’t have done that. He’d regretted it since then but he was too stubborn to admit that at first.
He noticed Helena watching him with one eyebrow arched. He put his hands up and walked away from the bar, but as he turned, he knew he needed to sort this out. He was in the wedding party and had to spend the next nine months with this group. Helena deserved some reassurances that he wasn’t going to ruin her wedding with some sort of brawl.
He walked over to Hadley’s sister. “I’m not going to F this up.”
“Good,” she said. “Your mom reassured my mom that you were over Hadley.”
“She did?” For fuck’s sake, he thought. His mom was going around making sure that everyone knew he’d behave? That was messed up. Like really messed up. He didn’t need her doing that.
“Yup. You know what it’s like living here. It doesn’t matter that we’re the fastest growing small town in Texas, the attitudes are slow to change,” Helena said.
He sighed. “Believe me, I know. You should be in real estate if you want to see slow attitudes. No one wants to pay full market value for anything.”
“I’ve heard you have a way of charming them into paying the going rate,” Helena said.
Real estate was a nice safe topic and one that he had no problem discussing. Anything to keep from talking about Hadley.
“Your fiancé isn’t that bad at it either,” Mauricio said.
“Good to know...” Then after a long pause, she asked, “Has he made any investments lately...big ones?”
“Not that I know of. Why?”
“It’s probably nothing,” she said.
But he knew Helena. She wouldn’t have brought it up if it were nothing. “Want me to talk to him about something?’”
She shook her head. “I’m not even sure if there is anything to talk about. It’s just he’s been acting odd and we have some funds unaccounted for.”
Helena was notorious among their group of friends for her tight purse strings and keeping Malcolm on a budget. Or trying. It wasn’t that Mal didn’t earn a decent salary, but that he tended to be frivolous and impulsive in his spending habits. And Helena was a save-for-a-rainy-day girl.
“I haven’t noticed any big new toys at work, but we are playing cards tomorrow night with my brothers, so I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I don’t want to make a big deal out of anything, but I had to ask my parents to put a down payment on the flowers for the wedding and you know my mother. She thinks that means she’s in charge of the planning now.”
He did know. His parents were the same way. If they were paying, they micromanaged every detail, which was why he hesitated to ask them to invest in any of his projects. “You’re welcome. It’s the least I can do for causing you stress today.”
“I knew you’d behave.”
“Right, because of my mom.”
“Nah,” she said over her shoulder as she started to walk away. “Because you don’t like hurting Hadley.”
Of course, she’d lobbed that as a parting shot so he couldn’t argue or defend himself against it. But it was the truth so who was he to argue.
He noticed Diego watching him and just shook his head. He needed to get out of here. Now. He’d done his part to support his friend and even been pretty damned polite to Hadley’s new boyfriend, so he figured he could call it a day.
He left the country club and the party, but once he got outside, he didn’t fancy going home to his empty penthouse apartment. He had always liked the place because Towers On The Green had been the first big development he’d done on his own in Cole’s Hill. And he’d claimed the penthouse that overlooked the square for himself.
But he’d also lived there with Hadley for a short time and it had been where she’d come home from Manhattan to find another woman in his bed.
“Mo, wait up,” Alec called from behind him.
He turned toward his twin and stopped. Growing up, they’d gotten into a lot of good-natured fun switching places with each other and pulling pranks on friends and their parents. But these days Alec was busy running his tech company and Mauricio didn’t see him often enough.
“Thanks,” Alec said. “I need a ride to the airport. Just got an email and I need to get to Los Angeles to take care of a problem.”
“Sure.”
“Want to come with me?” Alec asked. “A few days out of town would be nice and we could hang out. I feel like I haven’t spent enough time with you lately.”
He shook his head. “I can’t. I have a meeting tomorrow with Homes for Everyone. It’s one of my bigger projects. I agree we haven’t been hanging out enough. When are you back in town?”
“Ten days,” Alec said.
“For the polo match that Diego set up?”
“Yes. I can’t wait. Should be a good game,” Alec said.
Diego and Mauricio had been working on a new horse stable closer to town and had added a field that was big enough to host charity polo matches. Diego ran the Velasquez ranch, Arbol Verde, which had been in the family for generations.
Mo dropped his brother off at the airport and took the long way home, stopping by the old warehouse district where Hadley’s loft was. He told himself he was checking out the land because it might be a good development project. But he knew a lie when he told one to himself, and as he stared up at the corner loft unit and noticed that the lights were on, he had to force himself not to call her.
Hadley spent a restless night trying to forget that one little touch from Mauricio. She went for a run and then showered and pretended that her week was starting like every other one. She had this. Of course, she’d broken up with Jackson and now had to find something to fill her hours, which made her feel exactly like the old biddies who thought she needed a man to be complete. It was just... Her sister was engaged and most of her friends were in long-term relationships, and it was hard being the third wheel all the time.
She went into her shop and took a moment to look around. The best part of coming back to Cole’s Hill was opening this place. She’d always known she wanted to do something artistic as an adult. After college, her career had taken her into brand marketing and graphic design, which was challenging and rewarding but had too many restrictions. She’d quickly realized she didn’t mind following a brief but hated having someone tell her exactly how to design a project.
But here at her art studio, she was finding her true calling. She still had a few clients in New York that she was working with until she could make this studio start to pay. Her sister, who was a CPA, had designed a long-term investment strategy for Hadley and so far it was going pretty well.
She had designed some lithographs of the surrounding Cole’s Hill area and had a commission to do the Abernathy ranch.
The bell on the door to her shop rang and she glanced over her shoulder to see Helena coming toward her with two thermal coffee mugs and a pastry box from the Bluebonnet Bakery. “I brought breakfast.”
Hadley leaned her hip against the back counter, eyeing her sister. “What do you want?”
“What makes you think I want something?”
“It’s not even nine and you’re in my shop with a bribe.”
“Maybe I just love my little sister,” Helena said, putting the box on the counter in front of Hadley and handing her the thermal mug that was emblazoned with #BRIDETRIBE. She took the mug and inhaled the aroma. A skinny vanilla latte. Her sister definitely wanted something.
“You could, but I haven’t known you to get out of bed this early unless you needed something,” she said. Helena was famous in their family as a late sleeper and ridiculously hard to wake up under normal circumstances.
“Well, I might need your help to run interference with Mother.”
Hadley took a sip of her latte and reached out to open the box. There were two cheese Danishes and a chocolate cake doughnut inside. Of course, Helena had brought her favorites so this must be serious.
“With what?” she asked.
“I had to ask Mom and Dad to put the deposit down on the flowers and now she’s trying to take over. I mentioned that you were the artsy one and had already designed the flowers for the church and the reception...”
“That doesn’t sound bad. I’m not sure you needed to bring the latte and the pastries to ask me to do your design. I was already planning to do it,” Hadley said.
“Great. Glad to hear it. Mom is going to be over later to give you some notes on how she’d like the church to look. You will need to make some time to go and visit with the pastor, as well as with Kinley. Now that Mom is on board, we’re going to have Kinley plan it.”
Kinley Caruthers was a local girl who’d moved to Vegas and landed a primo job with Jaqs Veerland. The Jaqs Veerland, who planned weddings for A-listers and European royalty. Kinley had come back to Cole’s Hill to plan former NFL bad boy Hunter Caruthers’s wedding. Kinley had a complicated history with Hunter’s brother Nate and after they got engaged Jaqs opened a satellite office here in town so Kinley could work in Cole’s Hill.
“What?” Now the pastries were making a bit more sense.
“Sorry, sis,” she said.
“There aren’t enough cheese Danishes at the Bluebonnet to make this okay. Mom is going to be a complete tyrant about this,” Hadley said.
“I know. I’m sorry, but I had no choice.”
“Why not? I thought you’d budgeted to make sure you didn’t have to ask them for any money,” she said.
“I did, but something came up unexpectedly and we didn’t have enough for the deposit, so I had to ask Daddy.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
She shrugged. “You know how it is with brides.”
“Actually, I don’t. But I do know you and you have a backup for everything,” she said. She put her coffee mug on the counter and walked around to her sister. “What’s going on?”
Helena chewed her lower lip and turned away from Hadley, which made her even more concerned.
“Hel, whatever it is, you can tell me,” she said.
She put her arms at her sides and shrugged. “That’s just it. I don’t know what the problem is. Malcolm withdrew the money and I can’t ask him about it without it seeming like I’m checking up on him.”
“Uh, yes you can. It’s your wedding fund,” she said.
“I know, but I took out a large amount to buy him a wedding present and I asked him to trust me and he did...so now I have to give him the same trust,” she said.
“Did he say he bought you something with it?” she asked.
“No, he just said he’d have the money back in our account soon.”
“Soon? That doesn’t sound like Malcolm. When did he say that?”
“Six weeks ago,” Helena said.
“Uh...that doesn’t sound right.”
“I know. I asked Mauricio to see if he can find out what’s going on,” Helena said. “He was really sweet after you and Jackson left the party.”
Of course he was. She’d rather he was a jerk so she could go back to hating him and forget about how sexy he was, which she hadn’t been able to do since she’d left the party.
“Anyway, thanks for working with mom on this. How’s things with Jackson? He’s really cute. You two make a good couple.”
She shook her head. “I broke up with him.”
“What? Why?”
“For a reason I’m not sharing with you,” she said.
“No spark?”
“Yeah,” she said. She wasn’t planning to elaborate or let her sister know that Mauricio was still turning her on with a barely-there touch.
“So about the money...” Hadley said.
“I’m going to see if anything else comes of it from Mauricio. Otherwise, I just don’t know. Am I wrong to trust him?”
Hadley hugged her sister close. “I don’t know. My track record with trusting guys isn’t great. You know him the best.”
“I do,” Helena said, hugging her back. “You’re right. He’s fine. We’re fine. And you’re handling Mother so everything is good.”
She was glad she had her sister’s wedding to help design instead of focusing on her own non-existent love life. Of course, after Helena left the studio, all she could think about was that she’d said Mauricio had been sweet to her. She hated when he wasn’t a total douche because it made her remember how good things had been between them.
Three (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
Closing a deal in Houston, picking Alec up at the airport a few days earlier than expected and then driving back to Cole’s Hill hadn’t been what he’d planned for Friday, but Mauricio was hopeful that after the long day he’d fall into an exhausted sleep and for once not be tormented by dreams of Hadley.
But his youngest brother, Inigo, was back in town due to some downtime on the Formula One circuit and their father was in a rare mood, treating them all to dinner at the Peace Creek Steak House. His father loved it when he had all of his sons and his only grandson to himself. To be honest Mo liked these times too. Then they’d dropped the old man and Benito off at home in the Five Families neighborhood and headed out to the Bull Pit for shots of tequila and a grudge-match pool game.
“Twins versus the baby and the favorite,” Alec said, coming back to the high table with a round of Lone Star longnecks.
“Works for me,” Mo said. He and Alec had been a team since the womb, and they were pretty unstoppable once they got playing.
“Or as I like to think of it, the wusses versus the awesomes.”
“Awesomes? That’s not even a word. No wonder you’re a driver. You’re not smart enough for anything else,” Alec said, winking at Inigo.
“I’m plenty smart for you,” Inigo said. “Who gets paid to drive fast and who has to sit in an office in front of a computer? I think we both know who’s the smart one.”
“Touché,” Alec said, lifting his beer toward his little brother as Diego set up the balls and they tossed a coin to see who would go first.
As Mo listened to his brothers josh with each other and tossed the coin in the air, he felt a shiver go down his spine. He looked toward the jukebox and saw a pair of skintight jeans encasing an ass he’d never forget.
Hadley.
She had her hair loose, hanging over her shoulders, and was wearing a flimsy blouse and her hand-tooled leather boots. She threw her head back to laugh at something her sister said. Mo felt every part of his body tense and come alive at the same time. He could tell himself that he’d just imagined his reaction to that one touch at the engagement party, but he knew he would have been lying.
The coin fell to the floor and he cursed but didn’t bend down to pick it up.
“Dude...damn. Is it too late to change teams?” Alec teased.
Mauricio gave him the finger and bent to pick up the coin. “It was heads. We go first.”
“You’re going to need every advantage as long as Hadley is here,” Inigo said.
“Doubtful,” Mauricio said. “I was distracted by something else.”
“Really?” Diego asked. “What was it that caught your eye?”
His brothers were going to be asses and not leave this alone, and unless he wanted to turn a friendly Friday night into fight night and get himself kicked out of the Bull Pit again, he needed to shrug it off.
But that was his problem. He’d never been able to just shrug off anything where Hadley was concerned. He knew it and his brothers seemed to, as well. He was screwed. He’d moved on. Or had until that damned photo session. He should never have agreed to be a groomsman. Then he could have stayed away from Hadley until he found another woman. Someone who could push the last of the lingering sexual attraction he felt for her out.
“Dude, stop staring at her,” Alec said.
“Shut it, Alec. I’m not looking at her.”
“Whatever,” Alec said. “It’s your turn. Don’t screw up.”
He made a face at his brother and leaned over the table to line up his shot. The sound of the jukebox playing loud country music on a Friday night made it easier for him to focus on the game. He took a deep breath and broke the balls. Though he knew this was a friendly rivalry amongst his brothers, he didn’t want to lose.
He took his next shot, sinking a ball in the corner pocket, and then moved on to line up his next shot. He had a pretty good run of three balls before it was Diego’s turn. Mauricio went to lean against the high table next to Inigo, who was posting to one of his social media accounts. His youngest brother was a hot up-and-coming driver who had been on the Formula Two circuit for a few years before making it to the big leagues of Formula One.
“Not bad, Mo. I’d hate to see what would happen if you were really concentrating.”
“I am concentrating,” he said.
“Sure you are. Like you didn’t notice Hadley on the dance floor,” Inigo said, drawing his attention to the small wooden floor set to one side of the jukebox.
He cursed under his breath as he saw her dancing with a group of her girlfriends, and was unable to tear his eyes away from her. He tried to remind himself that he was over her, but when she moved to the music, her arms in the air, hips swaying, his body reacted like she was still his.
Maybe one more night together was what he needed to clear her out of his system for good. Of course, Hadley deserved better than that. She deserved an apology, not because he wanted something from her but because he never should have slept with Marnie when he was still...hell, while he still liked Hadley.
If losing her had taught him anything it was that he hadn’t wanted things to end so horribly between them.
He took another long swallow of his beer. That kind of thinking was dangerous, because he knew if he let himself dwell on it too long, he’d start believing that it was a viable option. That sleeping with his ex would be the solution to finally getting over her.
The music changed to a slow song—“Night Changes” by One Direction—one of her favorite songs. Mauricio watched as most of her friends left the dance floor, Hadley following behind them. Without thinking, he put his beer down and walked to the dance floor.
“Do you want to dance?” he asked. “I realize I’m not your first choice but I know you love this song. And I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” she asked.
“How I behaved. We never really talked about it.”
“I don’t want to talk tonight,” she said.
“Then how about a dance?” he said.
She hesitated then put her hand in his. “One dance.”
“That’s all.”
He pulled her into his arms and she put her hands on his waist. He told himself this was just another part of moving on but his body didn’t agree.
Hadley hadn’t had the best week. Her mom was an exacting perfectionist when it came to any event she was planning but the added element of it being her sister’s wedding had pushed her to extremes. Hadley felt safe saying there wasn’t enough tequila in Texas—maybe even the entire South—to take the edge off her nerves. But dancing with her girlfriends was helping until she saw...him.
Mauricio.
Of course, she’d noticed him when she came in. It was impossible not to when he was with his brothers. They drew the eye of every woman in the bar. Seen together, they made you wonder what kind of deal with the devil Elena Velasquez had made to get four such good-looking boys. They were the kind of eye candy that made this part of Texas famous.
Mauricio smelled good too.
She shook her head. “How’ve you been?”
She wanted this to feel normal. Surely, the thing with Jackson under the willow tree had been a fluke. There was no way that she still wanted Mo. Not after everything he’d done. She wanted something nice and steady like Helena and Malcolm had. But she’d always felt this heat around Mo. He made her restless like heat lightning on a summer’s night. Just ready to go off without any provocation.
“Good. Busy,” he said. “You?”
His voice was a low rumble but easy for her to hear despite the music. She’d always liked the way he sounded. She put her head on his shoulder for a second and closed her eyes, pretended that this wasn’t the bad idea she knew it was, and then made herself stand up straight and step away from him.
“Good, Mo. Really, good,” she lied, but then “fake it till you make it” had been her mom’s mantra for her and her sister growing up so she figured that was okay. The song ended and she started to leave the dance floor. “Thanks for the dance.”
She walked away without looking back and forced herself to put on a smile as she climbed onto the high bar stool at the table where her friends were.
“Girl, what are you thinking?” Josie asked.
“That I did it. I danced with him, played it cool and nothing happened,” she said.
Zuri shook her head. “You’re full of it, but we’re good friends so we’ll let you get away with it. Another round of shots to celebrate you keeping your cool.”
Hadley drank another round with her friends and ordered nachos as they talked about the men in the bar. Manu Barrett, the former NFL defensive end who now coached football at the local high school, came over with a tray of shots for Josie. Her friend was the art teacher at the high school and Manu had been asking Josie out for the last month or so, but he was a player. Josie and Manu hit the dance floor, and Zuri and Hadley just watched their friend for a minute.
“She’s smitten,” Hadley said.
“Who’s smitten? Remind me again why we came to the Bull Pit tonight?” Helena asked as she slid onto a bar stool next to Zuri and reached over to take one of the shots that Manu had brought.
“Josie is smitten and we are here because you set Mom on me. It’s been a long-ass week,” Hadley said.
“And, girl, you’ve been working too hard,” Zuri said to Helena. “You need a night out. Where is your other half?”
“He’s in Houston to close a deal. He won’t be back until tomorrow, which is why I suggested book club,” Helena said.
“This is better than book club because we don’t all have to discuss something that we’ve only read the back cover of,” Hadley said with a laugh.
“True. But the book I recommended is getting really good buzz over at the Paperback Reader. Teddi expressly recommended it because she thought we’d all love it,” Helena said. “It’s about an undercover prince.”
As a CPA, Hadley’s sister did the accounting for a lot of the bespoke small businesses in Cole’s Hill. Teddi had been the bookworm in Helena’s class in high school, so no one had been surprised when she’d opened a bookstore after college.
“I’m going to read it next week,” Hadley said. She needed something to take her mind off Mauricio and a prince in disguise sounded right up her alley.
“So you and Mo?”
“There is no me and Mo, Hel,” Hadley said.
“It didn’t look that way when you were dancing,” Zuri said.
Hadley shook her head. “You know the worst part about breaking up?”
“No, tell us,” Zuri said wriggling her eyebrows at Hadley. “You’re the expert.”
Her friend had clearly had too much tequila, she thought as she shook her head. “I was just going to say that all the feelings don’t just disappear. I mean anger should burn away all the other stuff...”
“What brought this on?” Helena asked. “Is it because things didn’t work out with Jackson?”
“You let Jackson go?” Zuri asked. “I’m out of town for a few days and I missed everything. When did this happen? You two looked pretty cozy at the engagement party.”
“Ugh. We were but then we decided we’d be better off as friends,” Hadley said. Maybe she’d had too much tequila. She should never have brought this up.
“Friends... He friend-zoned you? Dude better check himself. It’s not like we don’t all remember he used to be a total nerd.”
“No, it was the other way around,” Hadley protested.
“He’s hot now,” Helena said, signaling the waiter and ordering another plate of nachos and margaritas for the four of them.
“He is,” Zuri said. “I wouldn’t kick him out of my bed.”
“No one would,” Helena added. “Except for Had.”
“I didn’t do that. Here comes Josie,” she said. Thank God. She was tired of discussing how she let Jackson slip away and she definitely didn’t want to talk about Mauricio, who was over by the pool table laughing with his brothers. She couldn’t help watching him as he lined up a shot. Of course, he had to wear those skintight Levi’s tonight, making matters worse.
“I think we know why it didn’t work with Jackson,” Zuri said.
“What?” she asked, turning back to her friends, her sister and Manu, who were all watching her stare at Mo and his brothers.
“Y’all are crazy. So, Manu, are you joining us?”
Everyone turned their attention to Manu and Josie, and Hadley forced herself to focus on the nachos and margarita, but a part of her was listening for Mauricio’s laugh. Which was the last thing she needed to be doing right now. She was moving on...except now that she’d danced with him, she wasn’t sure she had.
Helena smiled and laughed with her friends, and for the first time since she discovered the money missing from the wedding account felt like herself again. Her mom had told her that marriage was a million little compromises. But Helena had never really been someone who could just let things go. She was a control freak when it came to money, though she didn’t know why. Their family had always had more than enough when she and Hadley were growing up.
But she’d never been someone who could waste money just because she had it and that’s what this thing with Mal felt like.
“You are looking way too serious,” Hadley said, handing her a shot of tequila. The nachos were long gone. Josie was on the dance floor pressed against Manu, and Zuri had decided to see if she could tempt one of the astronaut trainees from NASA into having a bit of fun.
That left the Everton sisters, who were sitting at the table like two spinsters.
“Can’t help it,” she said, doing the shot and then turning the glass upside down on the tabletop.
“Don’t worry, I’m handling Mom,” Had said.
Helena smiled and nodded at her sister. She was the eldest and she had always taken her job as the big sister seriously. She wasn’t about to cry on Hadley’s shoulder because she didn’t know where Malcolm was tonight or where that money had gone. She was going to keep it together, keep her smile in place and fix whatever was going on with Mal privately.
“Thanks for that,” Helena said.
“Be right back. Want another shot?” Hadley asked.
“Water would be better,” she said.
Hadley nodded and danced her way to the bar as Mauricio came over to the table. “Hey, Helena, I wanted to let you know that I haven’t been able to get anything out of Malcolm. He’s shut me down every time I tried to bring up finances.”
She sighed. It figured. “Thanks for trying. Do you know where he is tonight?”
Mauricio tipped his head to the side and shook it. “No. I thought he was here with you.”
“No. He texted me earlier to say he was busy,” Helena said. “Do you think he’s having an affair?”
Mo put his arm around her shoulders. “I can’t believe he would do that. He loves you and whatever this is, it’s not that.”
It was somehow easier to talk to Mauricio than her sister because she knew that he wouldn’t talk to anyone in her family about what was going on.
“She’s taken,” Hadley said, coming up and putting a large glass of water in front of Helena.
“I’m trying to reassure your sister that I’m not going to screw up things for her wedding,” Mauricio said.
She didn’t know what had happened, but it was obvious to Helena that there was still a spark between these two, no matter how hard they tried to move on from each other. Thinking that she was casting a pall over the evening with her Malcolm worries, she nudged Mo toward her sister. “You are going to have to dance together at the reception. Better practice.”
Mauricio gave her a hard look, which surprised her. He seemed so easygoing when it came to her sister but it was clear that he wasn’t as cool as he pretended to be.
“Sure. Why not?” Hadley said.
Mauricio took Hadley’s hand and led her to the dance floor. She could handle herself despite what their mother thought. Helena sipped her water and turned her attention to her phone. She clicked on the friend finder app but didn’t see Malcolm’s icon. She was starting to worry that he was having second thoughts about getting married.
She sighed and kept refreshing the app to try to make him appear, but he was still unavailable. Waiting had never really been one of her strong suits so she finally texted him.
Where the hell are you?
She saw that the message was delivered and kept staring at the screen as if that was going to make him respond to her. But nothing.
What was going on with Malcolm? They’d always been on the same page with their relationship. She’d counted herself lucky that she’d fallen in love with a man who wanted the same things out of life that she did, but now she didn’t know if she’d been fooling herself.
That’s what Hadley had said about Mauricio when they’d broken up last year, that she’d fooled herself into believing he was a different man than he really was. As Helena shoved her phone into her handbag and looked up at her sister, dancing way too close to the man she’d said she was over, she realized that they all did that. Hadley was just like her, fooling herself into believing she was in control of her emotions when in reality they were all prisoners to them.
Her phone pinged and she scrambled to get it out of her purse. It was Malcolm. Finally! His phone had died and he was at home waiting for her.
Four (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
The Bull Pit crowd had thinned out, but Hadley and Mo still alternated between doing shots and dancing. As the night wore on, she couldn’t remember why she’d been so mad at him.
When the DJ announced last call and then played Eric Church’s sensual song “Like a Wrecking Ball,” it seemed natural to press herself against him, her hands on his lean hips, her head on his shoulder as he held her and they swayed along to the music. She looked up at him and he was watching her.
He lowered his head but she ducked away from him.
“Not feeling it?”
“Yes and no,” she said.
“Should we talk about this?”
“Yes,” she said. “I know we were on a break, I mean, I get that. But why text me how much you wish I was there with you and then hook up with Marnie?”
He shook his head and stepped back. She had thought she’d dealt with everything that happened but when he’d almost kissed her, she had wanted to cry. For most of her adult life she’d believed Mo would be her man for the rest of her life and then...well, he’d hurt her more deeply than she wanted to admit.
“I don’t know. I wanted you. Just you. But you weren’t here and I wasn’t sure you were ever coming back and I hated that feeling of wanting you and feeling...”
Vulnerable, she thought. But that didn’t excuse him or take away what he’d done.
“I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you like that. I honestly wasn’t thinking about anything,” he said, leaning even closer. She felt his lips brush over hers and closed her eyes. She knew that she should walk away. Sure, she’d regret this in the morning but tonight there was nowhere else she’d rather be. She’d been alone for way too long and she was horny.
For him.
This could be that farewell hookup they’d never had because of the way things had ended. Maybe then she could move on with a nice guy like Jackson or someone else.
He cupped her butt and lifted her more fully against him so his groin nestled into the notch at the top of her thighs. She parted her legs slightly, rocking against him.
He lifted his head, and she noticed his lips were wet from kissing her and his eyes were heavy-lidded. She felt the ridge of his erection against her so she knew he was as turned on as she was.
“Uh...that wasn’t what I intended to do,” he said, stepping back. She did the same.
“Me neither, but honestly, Mo, I think we both need it,” she said. “Ever since Sunday when you put your hand on my shoulder, I’ve felt it.”
“Me too,” he said.
That was all she needed to hear. She took his hand and stopped by the deserted table where she’d left her handbag and then led him out of the Bull Pit. The night air was cool and fresh as they stepped outside. She tipped her head back and looked up at the big Texas sky dotted with a few stars and a half moon.
She heard him sigh and looked over at him.
He had his hands on his hips and his head was tipped back. The way his legs were parted, she knew he still had a hard-on, and when he glanced over at her, she saw... Well, she thought she saw him hesitate.
“Changing your mind now?” he asked.
“Are you?” she returned.
“Not a damned bit but I don’t want this to be something I forced on you,” he said.
She turned and closed the small distance between them, rubbing her hand over the ridge of his erection and putting her other one on the back of his neck as she went up on tiptoe and kissed him hard and deep.
“I’m exactly where I want to be tonight,” she said.
He lifted her off her feet, into his arms. “That’s all I wanted to hear.”
She put her arm around his shoulder as he carried her toward the parking lot but she stopped him. “We can’t drive.”
“Uber?” she suggested.
“The only driver out this late will be someone we know,” he said.
“That’s true,” she said. “So...”
He stopped and set her on her feet. “The Grand Hotel is only a five-minute walk.”
“Perfect,” she said. “It’s a nice night for a walk.”
“Is it?”
“I think so,” she said, slipping her hand into his. She’d missed this. The way his big hand completely enfolded hers. She wasn’t going to remind herself of all the reasons why she shouldn’t be enjoying this. For tonight she wanted some good memories of Mo instead of the painful ones from the recent past, including their breakup and then Mauricio fighting with her date at the Bull Pit last fall.
“I thought you had book club on Friday night,” he said as they walked to the hotel.
“Is there a question there?”
“Just wondering why you were at the Bull Pit instead of at Helena’s place,” he said as they headed down historic Main Street with its wide sidewalks to accommodate the pedestrian tourist traffic.
“We all needed a night out,” she said. “You know Helena delegated the wedding flowers and interior design to me so I have to liaise with Mom on it.”
“I didn’t know that,” he said. “She seemed pretty determined to do it herself.”
“She was. She had to ask our parents to pay for some of it—” Hadley clamped her hand over her mouth. “Please forget I said that.”
“It’s okay, I knew about the problem. I’ve been trying to talk to Mal and figure out what is going on for her.”
“You have?”
“Yes,” he said, stopping to look at her with an arched eyebrow. “You sound surprised.”
She was. “It just doesn’t seem like your sort of thing.”
“Why not?”
“There’s nothing in it for you,” she said.
“Fair enough. But there is something in it for me,” he added as he started walking again. He’d dropped her hand but they were still walking side by side.
“What?”
“Your happiness,” he admitted. “It’s in my power to help your sister out and to figure out what’s going on with Mal, and I know how much you love her so in a way I’m doing it for you.”
“Why would you do that?”
“To make up for being an ass, Hadley. We both know I handled things like the hothead I am, and I regret it now,” he said.
They were in front of the Grand Hotel now and he stopped to turn to face her. “Have you changed your mind?”
She shook her head. Not in the least. This right here was the man she had fallen for. It wasn’t often that Mauricio felt comfortable showing this side of himself, but she was happy he had tonight.
“I still want you,” she said. “What about you?”
“I think I’d have to be dead not to want you,” he admitted.
It was so quiet in the hotel bathroom except for “God Bless Texas” buzzing in her head, which was one of the songs she’d danced to earlier with Mo. He was being very cautious with her, which she appreciated. More than once he’d asked her if she was sure about this. But honestly, she wasn’t sure about anything except that she wanted him and didn’t want to think beyond tonight. Unlike stud muffin out there, she hadn’t slept with anyone since they’d broken up a little over eighteen months ago, and though she’d never describe herself as sex crazed, she missed it. She leaned in to look at her face in the mirror.
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Katherine Garbera
Two lovers reunite for one unforgettable night. Will it be their last one together? When her sister’s engagement party reunites Hadley Everton with her ex-lover Mauricio Velasquez, it’s lust at first sight all over again. But what should be a farewell fling leaves them both longing for a second chance. But with a media scandal sabotaging their future, can they commit this time?
Two lovers reunite for one unforgettable night.Will it be their last one together?
When her sister’s engagement party reunites Hadley Everton with her ex-lover Mauricio Velasquez, it’s lust at first sight all over again. But what should be a farewell fling leaves them both longing for a second chance. With a pregnancy scare and media scandal sabotaging their future, can they commit this time—to every night for the rest of their lives?
KATHERINE GARBERA is the USA TODAY bestselling author of more than ninety-five books. Her writing is known for its emotional punch and sizzling sensuality. She lives in the Midlands in the UK with the love of her life; her son, who recently graduated university; and a spoiled miniature dachshund. You can find her online on at www.katherinegarbera.com (http://www.katherinegarbera.com) and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Also by Katherine Garbera (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
Tycoon Cowboy’s Baby Surprise
The Tycoon’s Fiancée Deal
Craving His Best Friend’s Ex
Rancher Untamed
Billionaire’s Baby Bind
Texas-Sized Scandal
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk).
One Night with His Ex
Katherine Garbera
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-09273-9
ONE NIGHT WITH HIS EX
© 2019 Katherine Garbera
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Note to Readers (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
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This book is dedicated to
happy couples everywhere and to
those still searching for the one.
Acknowledgments (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
I know I’m always thanking the same people but, when you live in a different country than all of your friends and they are willing to video chat with you once a week, I think it deserves some thanks. Eve Gaddy and Nancy Thompson, I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you both. You make me laugh, let me whine, talk plots and do sprints with me. Basically, you keep me going and I love you both!
Contents
Cover (#ue41b4793-8b40-57b9-8787-45e8b999ee23)
Back Cover Text (#uf3f000bb-30d3-5dcd-bb8e-79f871dfeae9)
About the Author (#u09df7f60-bf8e-537f-be91-da6d85378030)
Booklist (#u7e2835bc-38e2-595e-89c5-a3aa637308ad)
Title Page (#u587befb2-64b4-52f0-8542-0e8c31df7d36)
Copyright (#u16cd30c4-a682-5a89-9e68-921947c3aebf)
Note to Readers
Dedication (#uaaa631bc-4355-5045-815a-6ac4c8ea27c5)
Acknowledgments (#u8b6ad1e7-b779-5f83-b976-921b59a8ef59)
One (#u94b53ddc-07bf-511c-a9fb-18f3376129f3)
Two (#ue5a87f7d-3ce0-5120-bd96-7f811a5261ac)
Three (#u97c432c0-e7e0-5d22-8d64-b7ec84184e8a)
Four (#u239e86b1-f98d-5dac-8f0a-3259874c144d)
Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
One (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
Hadley Everton both loved and hated living in Cole’s Hill, Texas. To be fair, the town had been growing ever since the joint NASA-SpaceNow training facility had opened on its outskirts, but those small-town minds weren’t keeping up. Today, she had dodged several well-meaning society matrons from the upscale Five Families neighborhood who were all concerned about her lack of a man. Since this was her sister’s engagement party, everyone in her mother’s circle of friends had fixed their eyes on her as the next one to finally wise up and land herself a husband.
It wasn’t as if Cole’s Hill didn’t have its share of eligible bachelors for her to pick from, as her parents’ neighbor Mrs. Zane had pointed out with her usual blend of sweet bluntness. Hadley could choose from any of them. Though in her infinite wisdom, Mrs. Zane advised her to stay away from the Velasquez brothers, especially after her recent breakup with Mauricio.
Seeing two more of her mother’s friends, Mrs. Abernathy and Mrs. Crandall, making a beeline toward her, Hadley faked a sneezing fit and ducked into the country club’s kitchen. The waitstaff were busy living up to her mother’s exacting standards, preparing the trays of food for circulation, so they didn’t care if Hadley had broken up with her “one good prospect” and seemed doomed to a life as a single woman.
She stood in the corner near the door to be out of the way of the staff, which unfortunately left her in earshot of her busybody pursuers.
“I heard she told him if he didn’t put a ring on her finger, she was out of there,” Mrs. Abernathy said.
“And he just said see you later. What is wrong with young people these days? He should have asked her then and there. He’s almost thirty and it’s not like anyone else is going to be interested in him if he couldn’t make Hadley happy,” Mrs. Crandall added.
Hadley turned to leave the kitchen via the back door but bumped into someone. She glanced up with an apology on her lips, but froze when she saw it was her sister, Helena.
Helena was the pretty sister, with a heart-shaped face, naturally thick eyebrows and blue eyes that Hadley had always envied. She stood a few inches taller than Hadley, as well. Today she wore a slim-fitting sheath that showed off her curves in a subtle way. Normally, her sister was very low key and laid back, but Hadley noticed she seemed tense.
“What are you doing in here?” Hadley asked.
“Same as you,” Helena said. Reaching up, she tucked a strand of Hadley’s hair behind her ear where it had escaped from her low chignon.
Hadley pulled the tendril back down to frame her face. Her older sister was forever acting like Hadley was still an eight-year-old and Helena was the more sophisticated ten-year-old.
“Hardly. This is your party,” Hadley said, moving away from the door and the women who were still talking about her and Mauricio.
“Girls. What are y’all doing?” their mother asked as she entered the kitchen. Candace Everton was the spitting image of Helena, just twenty-one years older. She kept the grays at bay in her natural strawberry blond hair with bi-weekly appointments at her hair salon and kept her figure by playing in a women’s tennis league at the club.
Their mother had always had it all together and there were times when Hadley wished she had just a tenth of her mom’s ease when it came to dealing with the social pressures of living in Cole’s Hill. But she never had.
Candace inspected a tray of canapés that one of the uniformed waiters was about to take out and wrinkled her nose at him. “This looks sloppy. Please get a clean tray before you serve my guests.”
The waiter turned around as their mother walked toward them. Hadley found herself standing a little taller and tucked the tendril that Helena had been messing with earlier back behind her ear.
“Just enjoying a moment of quiet,” Helena said. “I asked Hadley to help me with my zipper. It felt like the hook had come undone.”
“Let me see,” Mother said.
Helena turned around and their mother checked the hook and eye before wrapping her arm around both of her daughters’ shoulders. “Ready to get back to the party?”
No, but clearly that wasn’t the answer their mom wanted. She urged them both toward the door that led out of the kitchen.
When she got back out into the living room, Hadley came to a stop as she saw Mauricio Velasquez standing there. Of course, he looked like he’d stepped out of her hottest dreams. That was the thing no one had warned her about with breakups and broken hearts. She might be ready to move on, but her damned subconscious kept churning him up in the middle of the night and giving him a starring role in her sexiest dreams.
He had what she’d heard the old biddies in town refer to as a chiseled jaw; his neatly trimmed eyebrows framed eyes that were as black as her favorite dark chocolate. When he looked at her, she always felt like he could see straight past the layers she used to keep the world at bay to the very heart of her. But she knew that was a lie. Had he been able to do that, he wouldn’t have invited Marnie Masters, the femme fatale of Cole’s Hill, into his bed, while he and Hadley were taking a break in their relationship. She had believed they were going to get back together up until the moment she found out about Marnie.
“Hadley, what are you doing?” Mother said, putting her hand on Hadley’s shoulder.
“Sorry, Mother, I just saw Mauricio.”
“So?”
“I’m not ready to talk to him,” she said.
“This is Helena’s day, sweet child, so you will straighten Grandma’s pearls and walk over there and greet him like he’s an old friend,” Mother said.
She took a deep breath and looked over at Helena. “You’re right. Sorry, Hel.”
She’d known he’d be here. Mauricio and her sister’s fiancé were best friends and had been since high school. It wasn’t as if she could ask everyone she knew to stop socializing with him. Helena had even taken her to brunch at her favorite place to break the news that Mo would be in the wedding party. The picture of him walking out of his bathroom in a towel with the town flirt Marnie Masters right behind him had flashed through Hadley’s mind. But it didn’t matter. She had to be there for her sister.
“It’s okay,” Helena said. “I did warn you he’d be here today. Malcolm asked him to be a groomsman so you’re going to see him at all the pre-wedding events.”
“She’s got this,” Mother said. “I raised you girls to have steel in your backbones. And manners.”
“That’s right, you did,” Hadley agreed. She wished it were that easy, but when she saw Mauricio, he stirred to life so many different emotions. Anger she could understand, and sadness of course; it was hard to move on. Then there was guilt. But another feeling entirely came into play when her gaze drifted down his body, to that tailor-made suit that emphasized the width of his broad shoulders, the jacket buttoned neatly at his waist showing off the slimness of his hips, the pants displaying those long legs to perfection.
She groaned but Helena pinched her in warning. She straightened her shoulders and realized that Jackson Donovan had come in behind Mauricio. Jackson was Hadley’s date for the event, and as he waved at her, Mauricio turned to greet him.
“He better not make a scene at my baby’s party,” Mother said.
“He won’t,” Hadley said with a confidence she was far from believing as she headed off to run interference between her ex-lover and her new boyfriend.
Mauricio had taken care to arrive late at the engagement party, even though Malcolm Ferris was one of his best friends. He’d known today was going to be a challenge and he’d never been one of those men who could just smile when he was pissed off. His twin brother always said it was the reason they were so good at speculative business ventures. They weren’t afraid to fight for the underdog or walk into a bad situation and make the best of it. Though Mo had his doubts, Alec had found a way to make that work. For Mauricio it was real estate, for Alec it was technology and social media. Frankly, Mo didn’t understand his brother’s multi-million-dollar business but there was one thing he did understand... No matter how many months passed, he still couldn’t look at Hadley Everton and not feel his blood start to flow heavier in his veins.
She looked like a perfect Southern lady today. Her dress was a beautiful navy blue that hugged her slim torso, drawing his eyes to her delicate neck encircled with her heirloom strand of pearls. Damn if there wasn’t something sexy about seeing a lady all dressed up and knowing what she looked like naked.
He cursed and started to turn to leave the party. He wasn’t going to be able to keep his cool. But just then Jackson Donovan walked up next to him. The two of them had always rubbed each other the wrong way. Ever since their school days, Jackson had been a goody-two-shoes. The only thing that had changed was that back then he had been a skinny geek and now he was six foot five and muscular.
“Mo, good to see you,” Jackson said, holding out his hand.
Mo shook it, keeping his grip light, but Jackson squeezed before letting go. “I didn’t know you knew Malcolm.”
“I don’t, well, not really. I’m here with Hadley.”
Mo saw red. Sure, they were broken up and it felt final this time, but Hadley could do better than this—
“Hello, boys,” Hadley said, joining the two of them. She gave Jackson a kiss on the cheek before turning to smile at Mauricio.
Mauricio took a deep breath. “Hiya, Had. You look gorgeous as usual.”
“Thank you,” she said, with a tiny nod. “I hope you’ll excuse us, Mauricio. I promised Mother I’d bring Jackson over to meet her cousin.”
“Of course.”
She slipped her hand into the crook of Jackson’s elbow and Mo watched her walk away, unable to tear his eyes from the curves of her hips. Had her legs always been that long?
“Mo, I was surprised to see you chatting with Jackson,” his brother Diego said as he handed him a longneck Lone Star beer.
Mauricio brought the bottle to his lips and took a long pull. “Mama told me to mind my manners today. And I’m not going to give her another reason to be embarrassed after last fall.”
“Glad to hear it,” Diego said.
“Yeah?”
Diego nodded.
“Me too. I can’t keep avoiding everyone from our life together.”
“That’s a good point,” Diego said.
He hoped so. He was working his way back to good. A year ago, he’d been trying to manage his real estate business in the hill country, a reality TV show in Houston and a relationship with Hadley, who had been transferred to her company’s Manhattan offices. She worked for a large design firm and was one of their top designers. He’d been barely hanging on and he’d crashed and burned, especially after what had happened with Hadley. It forced him to take stock of his life and narrow his focus to the things—people—who were really important. His family, his good friends like Malcolm and his other polo team buddies.
“Glad to hear it. Pippa’s in London this week, so if you want to hang out, I’m free,” Diego said. His brother was in a long-distance relationship with Pippa Hamilton Hoff. His brother’s fiancée was the COO of House of Hamilton, Britain’s famous jewelers, and divided her time between London and Cole’s Hill.
“Sounds good. I’m actually working on a project with Homes for Everyone this week. If you have some free time, we could use another set of hands. We’re putting up some framing for the walls tomorrow night.” Mauricio was heavily involved in the charity, which helped low-income families who were struggling to buy their own house. Mauricio usually provided tracts of land for the different projects that Homes for Everyone were doing in their part of Texas, and occasionally even joined in on volunteer days when they actually built the homes.
“I’ll be there,” Diego said as he turned his attention to Helena and Malcolm.
The engaged couple were opening presents, and everyone was watching them, but Mauricio couldn’t keep his eyes off Hadley. She wore her thick dark curly hair pulled back in a low bun at the back of her neck. Several strands had escaped and framed her heart-shaped face. She chewed on her lower lip as she glanced down at the notepad in her hand, jotting down the details of each of the presents that her sister opened until she’d worried all of the lipstick from her mouth. Not that she needed to put on makeup to look like a knockout.
His gaze drifted down her body to the V-neck of her dress that gave a glimpse of her cleavage. This was a bad idea. He should have declined when Malcolm had asked him to be a groomsman but theirs was one of Mauricio’s oldest friendships.
He stood up and Diego arched one eyebrow in question. “I need some fresh air.”
He didn’t get far before Malcolm caught up with him. They’d met in the third grade when they’d both been dropped off by their parents on a Saturday morning for the Hill Country Junior Polo League. They’d been close ever since. Malcolm’s father died when they were in high school, and Malcolm had spent more time at the Velasquez house after his mom took on more hours at work to support the family. Now Malcolm was his partner in the real estate business and together they were determined to make sure that the growth of Cole’s Hill wasn’t too fast so as not to damage the community they both loved.
“Hey, Mo, I need you inside for a photo of all the groomsmen,” Malcolm said. “I have a surprise for y’all that I think is pretty cool.”
“I think most of us are just happy to see you in love and marrying the woman of your dreams.”
Malcolm shook his head. “I still can’t believe Helena said yes. I’m not nearly good enough for her, but I’m trying to make sure she’ll never regret her decision.”
“She’s a lucky woman,” Mauricio said, clapping his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“I saw you with Hadley and Jackson earlier.”
“Yeah, that wasn’t weird or anything,” he said.
Malcolm laughed. “One of the cons to living in Cole’s Hill is that it’s hard to avoid past girlfriends.”
“True.”
“Helena already warned me I’d have to keep you in line. No fighting,” Malcolm said. “Not with Hadley or Jackson or heck, even me.”
“I’m not doing that anymore,” he said. “That was just a bad spell.”
“Glad to hear,” Malcolm said. “Behind all their Southern charm, the Everton ladies aren’t happy with you at all.”
He didn’t blame them. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“Mal, come on,” Helena said. “Daddy wants to get the pictures taken so he can take off his tie.”
“Coming.”
Mauricio followed the engaged couple into a sitting room. There was a large picture window with a spectacular view of the hills behind the house, which were covered with bluebonnets in full bloom. Crissanne Moss, one of the newer residents of Cole’s Hill, was acting as photographer today. She was engaged to Ethan Caruthers, who was related to Mauricio through marriage.
“I’m going to do a shot of the ladies first, then all of you guys and then a big group photo.”
There was some grumbling especially from the men as they stood with their backs against the wall. The last time they were all together waiting like this was in high school when they’d gotten their yearbook photos taken.
He shook his head at the thought.
“I hate photos,” Malcolm said. “I always look either like a creepy toothpaste ad or like I’m getting ready to be tortured.”
“Just relax,” Mauricio said. “Maybe look at Helena. You don’t look creepy when you smile at her.”
“Glad to hear it,” Malcolm said sardonically.
“No problem, man.”
“Guys, come on over,” Crissanne said.
Mauricio walked past the bridesmaids and Hadley’s floral perfume scent filled the air. He couldn’t help taking a deep breath as he moved into the position that Crissanne directed him to. When she had everyone posed, she explained that they had to do a serious photo and a silly one. Mauricio realized that if he never had to be in another photo again, he’d be happy.
“Now let’s mix it up,” Crissanne said.
There was some jostling around Helena and Malcolm, who were in the center of the group. Crissanne kept moving the men and women to get a good balance of something that only she could see with her photographer’s eye.
Mauricio stood toward the back; being six foot five, he was pretty much always in the back of any group shot. When Crissanne repositioned two of the bridesmaids, it put Hadley right in front of him.
He stood a little taller and held himself back from her.
“Okay, guys, I need you to put your hand on the shoulder of the woman in front of you,” Crissanne said.
He put his hand on Hadley’s shoulder. As soon as he did, a tingle went through him. He noticed goose bumps on her left arm, and she shifted under his touch. Her breath become shallower and a slight flush spread down her neck. He felt a zing of awareness go through him, and he did his best to ignore it until Hadley glanced back over her shoulder at him and their eyes met.
They both might have decided to move on, that they weren’t ever getting back together, but there was an undeniable sexual energy between them now; it hadn’t been extinguished. He knew better than to think that this would lead to anything more than the most exquisite sort of torture, but he couldn’t help rubbing his finger over the small bit of flesh exposed by the thick strap of her dress. Her skin was softer than he remembered, and she shivered delicately under his touch.
Crissanne brought their attention back to her and snapped the photos. “Okay, you’re all free to go.”
Hadley bolted from under his touch and all he could do was watch her go.
Two (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
One touch and she was back where she’d been all those months ago. She glanced around the busy party. Jackson caught her eye and nodded toward the door leading to the parking lot. She made her way through the crowd, careful to avoid all the women who had well-intentioned advice for her, and finally stepped outside and took a deep breath. She hoped that it was just being inside in close quarters with Mo that had made her react the way she had. But the truth was, her skin still tingled from where his fingertips had been. The back of her neck was still sensitive where his breath had brushed over it.
“Hey, there. You look like the party was getting to be too much for you,” Jackson said, coming up and putting his hand under her elbow.
His touch was nice. But it didn’t cause a chain reaction in her body the way that one small brush of Mauricio’s fingers had. That was the problem.
She looked at Jackson. He’d always been a good friend to her, starting back in high school when they’d both been in the International Baccalaureate program and study groups together. He’d been skinny and small and worn those glasses that were too big for his face. Of course, he’d changed. Matured into the kind of man she would have said was her type if not for that damned Mauricio messing with her body.
She wondered if she should just go home with Jackson and sleep with him. Maybe the fact that Mauricio had been her only lover was the reason why she still reacted to his touch. She toyed with the idea of sleeping with Jackson only until their eyes met. He was a good guy. He didn’t deserve to be dragged into her mess with Mo.
“When you look at me like that I know this doesn’t mean anything to you,” he said.
The sun was shining brightly, and it was the kind of late summer afternoon where the heat was so oppressive that being outside was a chore. She was just thinking that when she glanced past Jackson’s shoulder and saw Mo standing there on the patio outside the country club.
She shook her head. It was over between them, had been for longer than either of them wanted to admit.
“It could,” she whispered to Jackson, not sure if she was talking to herself or him. “It’s just...”
“I’m not Mauricio,” he said with his usual bluntness. “I never will be. And I’m not about to apologize for that.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to, and I don’t think you want to be Mauricio,” she said. “I like you, Jackson.”
He laced their fingers together and pulled her toward the willow tree that had been planted decades ago and now had large branches that cascaded down to the ground. He held the willow branches to the side as they stepped underneath them into the relative coolness of the shade provided by the tree. She could hear the melodic sound of the fountain in the nearby water feature.
He let her hand drop and then shook his head. “I like you too, Had, but not enough to play second fiddle to a Velasquez or any other man. There was a time when I might have considered it—”
“No, there wasn’t. You’ve always been such a strong, confident guy. That’s one of the things I’ve always admired about you.”
“But you’ve admired me as a friend, right?”
“Yes. But I thought that’s what you wanted from me,” she said.
“It is. I mean it would be a major cosmic F you to Mauricio if you and I had clicked and ended up married,” Jackson said. “But I wouldn’t do anything to mess with our friendship.”
“Me neither,” she said, putting her hands on the sides of his face. He had a strong jaw with only a hint of five o’clock shadow. His eyes were gray, so unlike Mauricio’s with their dark power. Jackson was the kind of man she’d always thought she’d fall in love with and end up marrying. But the heart didn’t work that way. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he said, before pulling her close and bringing his mouth down on hers. He angled his head for the kiss and she closed her eyes as their lips rubbed against each other’s. She opened her mouth and his tongue brushed against hers. He tasted of mint and it wasn’t an unpleasant experience but...
There was no spark.
Not a single bit of attraction. There was no way she could hook up with him to get over Mo. Not when all she could think was how one single brush of Mauricio’s fingers against her skin had set her on fire.
No matter how much she wanted there to be a spark with Jackson, there just wasn’t.
He pulled back and shook his head. “Well, hell. I guess we are meant to just be friends.”
She smiled at the way he said it. “I was hoping for something more too.”
“I bet,” he said. “You going back in? Want me to stay with you?”
She shook her head. She’d had enough of being the proper Southern lady her mama wanted her to be. She was done standing in the same room with a man she didn’t want to lust after and pretending that she was cool with every society matron gossiping about her lack of prospects. “I’m not going back in. I think I’ve done my sisterly duty.”
“Then I guess I’ll see you around,” Jackson said. As he walked away, she stood there in the shade of the willow tree and felt her hands clench into fists. She wanted to punch something or someone... Mauricio Velasquez, who had ruined her for other men, it seemed. She felt a scream rising up in her throat and realized she needed to get out of there. Go somewhere far away from engagements, her parents and the man she was thinking way too much about.
Mauricio went straight to the bar, ignoring his brother who lifted a beer toward him. He needed the hard stuff if he was going to be able to drive the image of Hadley and Jackson holding hands out of his mind. He knew he had no claim on her, and thought he had made his peace with that until he’d touched her.
Touching her had proven that all of his growth since they’d broken up had been for nothing. The spark was still there. Maybe what they needed was one good lay to get it all out of their systems. But he somehow didn’t think that Hadley was going to be too interested in that.
He ordered Jack Daniel’s neat and downed it in one swallow, and then forced himself to turn and move away before he started that slide back down to the out-of-control-guy he’d been last fall.
They’d broken up when she’d moved to New York but had kept in touch with texts and video chats. Mo had missed her but he had been casually dating and hooking up as well. He’d texted her a few times saying he wanted her back in his life permanently without realizing that she was coming back to town the very weekend he’d sent his last text. Then she’d used her key to let herself in and surprise him at his place early one morning after he’d hooked up with someone else. She’d caught them together.
Until that moment he had never realized what an ass he’d been. He had wanted Hadley back but he’d also hated to be alone so he’d been playing both sides. He shouldn’t have done that. He’d regretted it since then but he was too stubborn to admit that at first.
He noticed Helena watching him with one eyebrow arched. He put his hands up and walked away from the bar, but as he turned, he knew he needed to sort this out. He was in the wedding party and had to spend the next nine months with this group. Helena deserved some reassurances that he wasn’t going to ruin her wedding with some sort of brawl.
He walked over to Hadley’s sister. “I’m not going to F this up.”
“Good,” she said. “Your mom reassured my mom that you were over Hadley.”
“She did?” For fuck’s sake, he thought. His mom was going around making sure that everyone knew he’d behave? That was messed up. Like really messed up. He didn’t need her doing that.
“Yup. You know what it’s like living here. It doesn’t matter that we’re the fastest growing small town in Texas, the attitudes are slow to change,” Helena said.
He sighed. “Believe me, I know. You should be in real estate if you want to see slow attitudes. No one wants to pay full market value for anything.”
“I’ve heard you have a way of charming them into paying the going rate,” Helena said.
Real estate was a nice safe topic and one that he had no problem discussing. Anything to keep from talking about Hadley.
“Your fiancé isn’t that bad at it either,” Mauricio said.
“Good to know...” Then after a long pause, she asked, “Has he made any investments lately...big ones?”
“Not that I know of. Why?”
“It’s probably nothing,” she said.
But he knew Helena. She wouldn’t have brought it up if it were nothing. “Want me to talk to him about something?’”
She shook her head. “I’m not even sure if there is anything to talk about. It’s just he’s been acting odd and we have some funds unaccounted for.”
Helena was notorious among their group of friends for her tight purse strings and keeping Malcolm on a budget. Or trying. It wasn’t that Mal didn’t earn a decent salary, but that he tended to be frivolous and impulsive in his spending habits. And Helena was a save-for-a-rainy-day girl.
“I haven’t noticed any big new toys at work, but we are playing cards tomorrow night with my brothers, so I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I don’t want to make a big deal out of anything, but I had to ask my parents to put a down payment on the flowers for the wedding and you know my mother. She thinks that means she’s in charge of the planning now.”
He did know. His parents were the same way. If they were paying, they micromanaged every detail, which was why he hesitated to ask them to invest in any of his projects. “You’re welcome. It’s the least I can do for causing you stress today.”
“I knew you’d behave.”
“Right, because of my mom.”
“Nah,” she said over her shoulder as she started to walk away. “Because you don’t like hurting Hadley.”
Of course, she’d lobbed that as a parting shot so he couldn’t argue or defend himself against it. But it was the truth so who was he to argue.
He noticed Diego watching him and just shook his head. He needed to get out of here. Now. He’d done his part to support his friend and even been pretty damned polite to Hadley’s new boyfriend, so he figured he could call it a day.
He left the country club and the party, but once he got outside, he didn’t fancy going home to his empty penthouse apartment. He had always liked the place because Towers On The Green had been the first big development he’d done on his own in Cole’s Hill. And he’d claimed the penthouse that overlooked the square for himself.
But he’d also lived there with Hadley for a short time and it had been where she’d come home from Manhattan to find another woman in his bed.
“Mo, wait up,” Alec called from behind him.
He turned toward his twin and stopped. Growing up, they’d gotten into a lot of good-natured fun switching places with each other and pulling pranks on friends and their parents. But these days Alec was busy running his tech company and Mauricio didn’t see him often enough.
“Thanks,” Alec said. “I need a ride to the airport. Just got an email and I need to get to Los Angeles to take care of a problem.”
“Sure.”
“Want to come with me?” Alec asked. “A few days out of town would be nice and we could hang out. I feel like I haven’t spent enough time with you lately.”
He shook his head. “I can’t. I have a meeting tomorrow with Homes for Everyone. It’s one of my bigger projects. I agree we haven’t been hanging out enough. When are you back in town?”
“Ten days,” Alec said.
“For the polo match that Diego set up?”
“Yes. I can’t wait. Should be a good game,” Alec said.
Diego and Mauricio had been working on a new horse stable closer to town and had added a field that was big enough to host charity polo matches. Diego ran the Velasquez ranch, Arbol Verde, which had been in the family for generations.
Mo dropped his brother off at the airport and took the long way home, stopping by the old warehouse district where Hadley’s loft was. He told himself he was checking out the land because it might be a good development project. But he knew a lie when he told one to himself, and as he stared up at the corner loft unit and noticed that the lights were on, he had to force himself not to call her.
Hadley spent a restless night trying to forget that one little touch from Mauricio. She went for a run and then showered and pretended that her week was starting like every other one. She had this. Of course, she’d broken up with Jackson and now had to find something to fill her hours, which made her feel exactly like the old biddies who thought she needed a man to be complete. It was just... Her sister was engaged and most of her friends were in long-term relationships, and it was hard being the third wheel all the time.
She went into her shop and took a moment to look around. The best part of coming back to Cole’s Hill was opening this place. She’d always known she wanted to do something artistic as an adult. After college, her career had taken her into brand marketing and graphic design, which was challenging and rewarding but had too many restrictions. She’d quickly realized she didn’t mind following a brief but hated having someone tell her exactly how to design a project.
But here at her art studio, she was finding her true calling. She still had a few clients in New York that she was working with until she could make this studio start to pay. Her sister, who was a CPA, had designed a long-term investment strategy for Hadley and so far it was going pretty well.
She had designed some lithographs of the surrounding Cole’s Hill area and had a commission to do the Abernathy ranch.
The bell on the door to her shop rang and she glanced over her shoulder to see Helena coming toward her with two thermal coffee mugs and a pastry box from the Bluebonnet Bakery. “I brought breakfast.”
Hadley leaned her hip against the back counter, eyeing her sister. “What do you want?”
“What makes you think I want something?”
“It’s not even nine and you’re in my shop with a bribe.”
“Maybe I just love my little sister,” Helena said, putting the box on the counter in front of Hadley and handing her the thermal mug that was emblazoned with #BRIDETRIBE. She took the mug and inhaled the aroma. A skinny vanilla latte. Her sister definitely wanted something.
“You could, but I haven’t known you to get out of bed this early unless you needed something,” she said. Helena was famous in their family as a late sleeper and ridiculously hard to wake up under normal circumstances.
“Well, I might need your help to run interference with Mother.”
Hadley took a sip of her latte and reached out to open the box. There were two cheese Danishes and a chocolate cake doughnut inside. Of course, Helena had brought her favorites so this must be serious.
“With what?” she asked.
“I had to ask Mom and Dad to put the deposit down on the flowers and now she’s trying to take over. I mentioned that you were the artsy one and had already designed the flowers for the church and the reception...”
“That doesn’t sound bad. I’m not sure you needed to bring the latte and the pastries to ask me to do your design. I was already planning to do it,” Hadley said.
“Great. Glad to hear it. Mom is going to be over later to give you some notes on how she’d like the church to look. You will need to make some time to go and visit with the pastor, as well as with Kinley. Now that Mom is on board, we’re going to have Kinley plan it.”
Kinley Caruthers was a local girl who’d moved to Vegas and landed a primo job with Jaqs Veerland. The Jaqs Veerland, who planned weddings for A-listers and European royalty. Kinley had come back to Cole’s Hill to plan former NFL bad boy Hunter Caruthers’s wedding. Kinley had a complicated history with Hunter’s brother Nate and after they got engaged Jaqs opened a satellite office here in town so Kinley could work in Cole’s Hill.
“What?” Now the pastries were making a bit more sense.
“Sorry, sis,” she said.
“There aren’t enough cheese Danishes at the Bluebonnet to make this okay. Mom is going to be a complete tyrant about this,” Hadley said.
“I know. I’m sorry, but I had no choice.”
“Why not? I thought you’d budgeted to make sure you didn’t have to ask them for any money,” she said.
“I did, but something came up unexpectedly and we didn’t have enough for the deposit, so I had to ask Daddy.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
She shrugged. “You know how it is with brides.”
“Actually, I don’t. But I do know you and you have a backup for everything,” she said. She put her coffee mug on the counter and walked around to her sister. “What’s going on?”
Helena chewed her lower lip and turned away from Hadley, which made her even more concerned.
“Hel, whatever it is, you can tell me,” she said.
She put her arms at her sides and shrugged. “That’s just it. I don’t know what the problem is. Malcolm withdrew the money and I can’t ask him about it without it seeming like I’m checking up on him.”
“Uh, yes you can. It’s your wedding fund,” she said.
“I know, but I took out a large amount to buy him a wedding present and I asked him to trust me and he did...so now I have to give him the same trust,” she said.
“Did he say he bought you something with it?” she asked.
“No, he just said he’d have the money back in our account soon.”
“Soon? That doesn’t sound like Malcolm. When did he say that?”
“Six weeks ago,” Helena said.
“Uh...that doesn’t sound right.”
“I know. I asked Mauricio to see if he can find out what’s going on,” Helena said. “He was really sweet after you and Jackson left the party.”
Of course he was. She’d rather he was a jerk so she could go back to hating him and forget about how sexy he was, which she hadn’t been able to do since she’d left the party.
“Anyway, thanks for working with mom on this. How’s things with Jackson? He’s really cute. You two make a good couple.”
She shook her head. “I broke up with him.”
“What? Why?”
“For a reason I’m not sharing with you,” she said.
“No spark?”
“Yeah,” she said. She wasn’t planning to elaborate or let her sister know that Mauricio was still turning her on with a barely-there touch.
“So about the money...” Hadley said.
“I’m going to see if anything else comes of it from Mauricio. Otherwise, I just don’t know. Am I wrong to trust him?”
Hadley hugged her sister close. “I don’t know. My track record with trusting guys isn’t great. You know him the best.”
“I do,” Helena said, hugging her back. “You’re right. He’s fine. We’re fine. And you’re handling Mother so everything is good.”
She was glad she had her sister’s wedding to help design instead of focusing on her own non-existent love life. Of course, after Helena left the studio, all she could think about was that she’d said Mauricio had been sweet to her. She hated when he wasn’t a total douche because it made her remember how good things had been between them.
Three (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
Closing a deal in Houston, picking Alec up at the airport a few days earlier than expected and then driving back to Cole’s Hill hadn’t been what he’d planned for Friday, but Mauricio was hopeful that after the long day he’d fall into an exhausted sleep and for once not be tormented by dreams of Hadley.
But his youngest brother, Inigo, was back in town due to some downtime on the Formula One circuit and their father was in a rare mood, treating them all to dinner at the Peace Creek Steak House. His father loved it when he had all of his sons and his only grandson to himself. To be honest Mo liked these times too. Then they’d dropped the old man and Benito off at home in the Five Families neighborhood and headed out to the Bull Pit for shots of tequila and a grudge-match pool game.
“Twins versus the baby and the favorite,” Alec said, coming back to the high table with a round of Lone Star longnecks.
“Works for me,” Mo said. He and Alec had been a team since the womb, and they were pretty unstoppable once they got playing.
“Or as I like to think of it, the wusses versus the awesomes.”
“Awesomes? That’s not even a word. No wonder you’re a driver. You’re not smart enough for anything else,” Alec said, winking at Inigo.
“I’m plenty smart for you,” Inigo said. “Who gets paid to drive fast and who has to sit in an office in front of a computer? I think we both know who’s the smart one.”
“Touché,” Alec said, lifting his beer toward his little brother as Diego set up the balls and they tossed a coin to see who would go first.
As Mo listened to his brothers josh with each other and tossed the coin in the air, he felt a shiver go down his spine. He looked toward the jukebox and saw a pair of skintight jeans encasing an ass he’d never forget.
Hadley.
She had her hair loose, hanging over her shoulders, and was wearing a flimsy blouse and her hand-tooled leather boots. She threw her head back to laugh at something her sister said. Mo felt every part of his body tense and come alive at the same time. He could tell himself that he’d just imagined his reaction to that one touch at the engagement party, but he knew he would have been lying.
The coin fell to the floor and he cursed but didn’t bend down to pick it up.
“Dude...damn. Is it too late to change teams?” Alec teased.
Mauricio gave him the finger and bent to pick up the coin. “It was heads. We go first.”
“You’re going to need every advantage as long as Hadley is here,” Inigo said.
“Doubtful,” Mauricio said. “I was distracted by something else.”
“Really?” Diego asked. “What was it that caught your eye?”
His brothers were going to be asses and not leave this alone, and unless he wanted to turn a friendly Friday night into fight night and get himself kicked out of the Bull Pit again, he needed to shrug it off.
But that was his problem. He’d never been able to just shrug off anything where Hadley was concerned. He knew it and his brothers seemed to, as well. He was screwed. He’d moved on. Or had until that damned photo session. He should never have agreed to be a groomsman. Then he could have stayed away from Hadley until he found another woman. Someone who could push the last of the lingering sexual attraction he felt for her out.
“Dude, stop staring at her,” Alec said.
“Shut it, Alec. I’m not looking at her.”
“Whatever,” Alec said. “It’s your turn. Don’t screw up.”
He made a face at his brother and leaned over the table to line up his shot. The sound of the jukebox playing loud country music on a Friday night made it easier for him to focus on the game. He took a deep breath and broke the balls. Though he knew this was a friendly rivalry amongst his brothers, he didn’t want to lose.
He took his next shot, sinking a ball in the corner pocket, and then moved on to line up his next shot. He had a pretty good run of three balls before it was Diego’s turn. Mauricio went to lean against the high table next to Inigo, who was posting to one of his social media accounts. His youngest brother was a hot up-and-coming driver who had been on the Formula Two circuit for a few years before making it to the big leagues of Formula One.
“Not bad, Mo. I’d hate to see what would happen if you were really concentrating.”
“I am concentrating,” he said.
“Sure you are. Like you didn’t notice Hadley on the dance floor,” Inigo said, drawing his attention to the small wooden floor set to one side of the jukebox.
He cursed under his breath as he saw her dancing with a group of her girlfriends, and was unable to tear his eyes away from her. He tried to remind himself that he was over her, but when she moved to the music, her arms in the air, hips swaying, his body reacted like she was still his.
Maybe one more night together was what he needed to clear her out of his system for good. Of course, Hadley deserved better than that. She deserved an apology, not because he wanted something from her but because he never should have slept with Marnie when he was still...hell, while he still liked Hadley.
If losing her had taught him anything it was that he hadn’t wanted things to end so horribly between them.
He took another long swallow of his beer. That kind of thinking was dangerous, because he knew if he let himself dwell on it too long, he’d start believing that it was a viable option. That sleeping with his ex would be the solution to finally getting over her.
The music changed to a slow song—“Night Changes” by One Direction—one of her favorite songs. Mauricio watched as most of her friends left the dance floor, Hadley following behind them. Without thinking, he put his beer down and walked to the dance floor.
“Do you want to dance?” he asked. “I realize I’m not your first choice but I know you love this song. And I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” she asked.
“How I behaved. We never really talked about it.”
“I don’t want to talk tonight,” she said.
“Then how about a dance?” he said.
She hesitated then put her hand in his. “One dance.”
“That’s all.”
He pulled her into his arms and she put her hands on his waist. He told himself this was just another part of moving on but his body didn’t agree.
Hadley hadn’t had the best week. Her mom was an exacting perfectionist when it came to any event she was planning but the added element of it being her sister’s wedding had pushed her to extremes. Hadley felt safe saying there wasn’t enough tequila in Texas—maybe even the entire South—to take the edge off her nerves. But dancing with her girlfriends was helping until she saw...him.
Mauricio.
Of course, she’d noticed him when she came in. It was impossible not to when he was with his brothers. They drew the eye of every woman in the bar. Seen together, they made you wonder what kind of deal with the devil Elena Velasquez had made to get four such good-looking boys. They were the kind of eye candy that made this part of Texas famous.
Mauricio smelled good too.
She shook her head. “How’ve you been?”
She wanted this to feel normal. Surely, the thing with Jackson under the willow tree had been a fluke. There was no way that she still wanted Mo. Not after everything he’d done. She wanted something nice and steady like Helena and Malcolm had. But she’d always felt this heat around Mo. He made her restless like heat lightning on a summer’s night. Just ready to go off without any provocation.
“Good. Busy,” he said. “You?”
His voice was a low rumble but easy for her to hear despite the music. She’d always liked the way he sounded. She put her head on his shoulder for a second and closed her eyes, pretended that this wasn’t the bad idea she knew it was, and then made herself stand up straight and step away from him.
“Good, Mo. Really, good,” she lied, but then “fake it till you make it” had been her mom’s mantra for her and her sister growing up so she figured that was okay. The song ended and she started to leave the dance floor. “Thanks for the dance.”
She walked away without looking back and forced herself to put on a smile as she climbed onto the high bar stool at the table where her friends were.
“Girl, what are you thinking?” Josie asked.
“That I did it. I danced with him, played it cool and nothing happened,” she said.
Zuri shook her head. “You’re full of it, but we’re good friends so we’ll let you get away with it. Another round of shots to celebrate you keeping your cool.”
Hadley drank another round with her friends and ordered nachos as they talked about the men in the bar. Manu Barrett, the former NFL defensive end who now coached football at the local high school, came over with a tray of shots for Josie. Her friend was the art teacher at the high school and Manu had been asking Josie out for the last month or so, but he was a player. Josie and Manu hit the dance floor, and Zuri and Hadley just watched their friend for a minute.
“She’s smitten,” Hadley said.
“Who’s smitten? Remind me again why we came to the Bull Pit tonight?” Helena asked as she slid onto a bar stool next to Zuri and reached over to take one of the shots that Manu had brought.
“Josie is smitten and we are here because you set Mom on me. It’s been a long-ass week,” Hadley said.
“And, girl, you’ve been working too hard,” Zuri said to Helena. “You need a night out. Where is your other half?”
“He’s in Houston to close a deal. He won’t be back until tomorrow, which is why I suggested book club,” Helena said.
“This is better than book club because we don’t all have to discuss something that we’ve only read the back cover of,” Hadley said with a laugh.
“True. But the book I recommended is getting really good buzz over at the Paperback Reader. Teddi expressly recommended it because she thought we’d all love it,” Helena said. “It’s about an undercover prince.”
As a CPA, Hadley’s sister did the accounting for a lot of the bespoke small businesses in Cole’s Hill. Teddi had been the bookworm in Helena’s class in high school, so no one had been surprised when she’d opened a bookstore after college.
“I’m going to read it next week,” Hadley said. She needed something to take her mind off Mauricio and a prince in disguise sounded right up her alley.
“So you and Mo?”
“There is no me and Mo, Hel,” Hadley said.
“It didn’t look that way when you were dancing,” Zuri said.
Hadley shook her head. “You know the worst part about breaking up?”
“No, tell us,” Zuri said wriggling her eyebrows at Hadley. “You’re the expert.”
Her friend had clearly had too much tequila, she thought as she shook her head. “I was just going to say that all the feelings don’t just disappear. I mean anger should burn away all the other stuff...”
“What brought this on?” Helena asked. “Is it because things didn’t work out with Jackson?”
“You let Jackson go?” Zuri asked. “I’m out of town for a few days and I missed everything. When did this happen? You two looked pretty cozy at the engagement party.”
“Ugh. We were but then we decided we’d be better off as friends,” Hadley said. Maybe she’d had too much tequila. She should never have brought this up.
“Friends... He friend-zoned you? Dude better check himself. It’s not like we don’t all remember he used to be a total nerd.”
“No, it was the other way around,” Hadley protested.
“He’s hot now,” Helena said, signaling the waiter and ordering another plate of nachos and margaritas for the four of them.
“He is,” Zuri said. “I wouldn’t kick him out of my bed.”
“No one would,” Helena added. “Except for Had.”
“I didn’t do that. Here comes Josie,” she said. Thank God. She was tired of discussing how she let Jackson slip away and she definitely didn’t want to talk about Mauricio, who was over by the pool table laughing with his brothers. She couldn’t help watching him as he lined up a shot. Of course, he had to wear those skintight Levi’s tonight, making matters worse.
“I think we know why it didn’t work with Jackson,” Zuri said.
“What?” she asked, turning back to her friends, her sister and Manu, who were all watching her stare at Mo and his brothers.
“Y’all are crazy. So, Manu, are you joining us?”
Everyone turned their attention to Manu and Josie, and Hadley forced herself to focus on the nachos and margarita, but a part of her was listening for Mauricio’s laugh. Which was the last thing she needed to be doing right now. She was moving on...except now that she’d danced with him, she wasn’t sure she had.
Helena smiled and laughed with her friends, and for the first time since she discovered the money missing from the wedding account felt like herself again. Her mom had told her that marriage was a million little compromises. But Helena had never really been someone who could just let things go. She was a control freak when it came to money, though she didn’t know why. Their family had always had more than enough when she and Hadley were growing up.
But she’d never been someone who could waste money just because she had it and that’s what this thing with Mal felt like.
“You are looking way too serious,” Hadley said, handing her a shot of tequila. The nachos were long gone. Josie was on the dance floor pressed against Manu, and Zuri had decided to see if she could tempt one of the astronaut trainees from NASA into having a bit of fun.
That left the Everton sisters, who were sitting at the table like two spinsters.
“Can’t help it,” she said, doing the shot and then turning the glass upside down on the tabletop.
“Don’t worry, I’m handling Mom,” Had said.
Helena smiled and nodded at her sister. She was the eldest and she had always taken her job as the big sister seriously. She wasn’t about to cry on Hadley’s shoulder because she didn’t know where Malcolm was tonight or where that money had gone. She was going to keep it together, keep her smile in place and fix whatever was going on with Mal privately.
“Thanks for that,” Helena said.
“Be right back. Want another shot?” Hadley asked.
“Water would be better,” she said.
Hadley nodded and danced her way to the bar as Mauricio came over to the table. “Hey, Helena, I wanted to let you know that I haven’t been able to get anything out of Malcolm. He’s shut me down every time I tried to bring up finances.”
She sighed. It figured. “Thanks for trying. Do you know where he is tonight?”
Mauricio tipped his head to the side and shook it. “No. I thought he was here with you.”
“No. He texted me earlier to say he was busy,” Helena said. “Do you think he’s having an affair?”
Mo put his arm around her shoulders. “I can’t believe he would do that. He loves you and whatever this is, it’s not that.”
It was somehow easier to talk to Mauricio than her sister because she knew that he wouldn’t talk to anyone in her family about what was going on.
“She’s taken,” Hadley said, coming up and putting a large glass of water in front of Helena.
“I’m trying to reassure your sister that I’m not going to screw up things for her wedding,” Mauricio said.
She didn’t know what had happened, but it was obvious to Helena that there was still a spark between these two, no matter how hard they tried to move on from each other. Thinking that she was casting a pall over the evening with her Malcolm worries, she nudged Mo toward her sister. “You are going to have to dance together at the reception. Better practice.”
Mauricio gave her a hard look, which surprised her. He seemed so easygoing when it came to her sister but it was clear that he wasn’t as cool as he pretended to be.
“Sure. Why not?” Hadley said.
Mauricio took Hadley’s hand and led her to the dance floor. She could handle herself despite what their mother thought. Helena sipped her water and turned her attention to her phone. She clicked on the friend finder app but didn’t see Malcolm’s icon. She was starting to worry that he was having second thoughts about getting married.
She sighed and kept refreshing the app to try to make him appear, but he was still unavailable. Waiting had never really been one of her strong suits so she finally texted him.
Where the hell are you?
She saw that the message was delivered and kept staring at the screen as if that was going to make him respond to her. But nothing.
What was going on with Malcolm? They’d always been on the same page with their relationship. She’d counted herself lucky that she’d fallen in love with a man who wanted the same things out of life that she did, but now she didn’t know if she’d been fooling herself.
That’s what Hadley had said about Mauricio when they’d broken up last year, that she’d fooled herself into believing he was a different man than he really was. As Helena shoved her phone into her handbag and looked up at her sister, dancing way too close to the man she’d said she was over, she realized that they all did that. Hadley was just like her, fooling herself into believing she was in control of her emotions when in reality they were all prisoners to them.
Her phone pinged and she scrambled to get it out of her purse. It was Malcolm. Finally! His phone had died and he was at home waiting for her.
Four (#u74a762a5-7924-513c-abe8-b573114a86f4)
The Bull Pit crowd had thinned out, but Hadley and Mo still alternated between doing shots and dancing. As the night wore on, she couldn’t remember why she’d been so mad at him.
When the DJ announced last call and then played Eric Church’s sensual song “Like a Wrecking Ball,” it seemed natural to press herself against him, her hands on his lean hips, her head on his shoulder as he held her and they swayed along to the music. She looked up at him and he was watching her.
He lowered his head but she ducked away from him.
“Not feeling it?”
“Yes and no,” she said.
“Should we talk about this?”
“Yes,” she said. “I know we were on a break, I mean, I get that. But why text me how much you wish I was there with you and then hook up with Marnie?”
He shook his head and stepped back. She had thought she’d dealt with everything that happened but when he’d almost kissed her, she had wanted to cry. For most of her adult life she’d believed Mo would be her man for the rest of her life and then...well, he’d hurt her more deeply than she wanted to admit.
“I don’t know. I wanted you. Just you. But you weren’t here and I wasn’t sure you were ever coming back and I hated that feeling of wanting you and feeling...”
Vulnerable, she thought. But that didn’t excuse him or take away what he’d done.
“I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you like that. I honestly wasn’t thinking about anything,” he said, leaning even closer. She felt his lips brush over hers and closed her eyes. She knew that she should walk away. Sure, she’d regret this in the morning but tonight there was nowhere else she’d rather be. She’d been alone for way too long and she was horny.
For him.
This could be that farewell hookup they’d never had because of the way things had ended. Maybe then she could move on with a nice guy like Jackson or someone else.
He cupped her butt and lifted her more fully against him so his groin nestled into the notch at the top of her thighs. She parted her legs slightly, rocking against him.
He lifted his head, and she noticed his lips were wet from kissing her and his eyes were heavy-lidded. She felt the ridge of his erection against her so she knew he was as turned on as she was.
“Uh...that wasn’t what I intended to do,” he said, stepping back. She did the same.
“Me neither, but honestly, Mo, I think we both need it,” she said. “Ever since Sunday when you put your hand on my shoulder, I’ve felt it.”
“Me too,” he said.
That was all she needed to hear. She took his hand and stopped by the deserted table where she’d left her handbag and then led him out of the Bull Pit. The night air was cool and fresh as they stepped outside. She tipped her head back and looked up at the big Texas sky dotted with a few stars and a half moon.
She heard him sigh and looked over at him.
He had his hands on his hips and his head was tipped back. The way his legs were parted, she knew he still had a hard-on, and when he glanced over at her, she saw... Well, she thought she saw him hesitate.
“Changing your mind now?” he asked.
“Are you?” she returned.
“Not a damned bit but I don’t want this to be something I forced on you,” he said.
She turned and closed the small distance between them, rubbing her hand over the ridge of his erection and putting her other one on the back of his neck as she went up on tiptoe and kissed him hard and deep.
“I’m exactly where I want to be tonight,” she said.
He lifted her off her feet, into his arms. “That’s all I wanted to hear.”
She put her arm around his shoulder as he carried her toward the parking lot but she stopped him. “We can’t drive.”
“Uber?” she suggested.
“The only driver out this late will be someone we know,” he said.
“That’s true,” she said. “So...”
He stopped and set her on her feet. “The Grand Hotel is only a five-minute walk.”
“Perfect,” she said. “It’s a nice night for a walk.”
“Is it?”
“I think so,” she said, slipping her hand into his. She’d missed this. The way his big hand completely enfolded hers. She wasn’t going to remind herself of all the reasons why she shouldn’t be enjoying this. For tonight she wanted some good memories of Mo instead of the painful ones from the recent past, including their breakup and then Mauricio fighting with her date at the Bull Pit last fall.
“I thought you had book club on Friday night,” he said as they walked to the hotel.
“Is there a question there?”
“Just wondering why you were at the Bull Pit instead of at Helena’s place,” he said as they headed down historic Main Street with its wide sidewalks to accommodate the pedestrian tourist traffic.
“We all needed a night out,” she said. “You know Helena delegated the wedding flowers and interior design to me so I have to liaise with Mom on it.”
“I didn’t know that,” he said. “She seemed pretty determined to do it herself.”
“She was. She had to ask our parents to pay for some of it—” Hadley clamped her hand over her mouth. “Please forget I said that.”
“It’s okay, I knew about the problem. I’ve been trying to talk to Mal and figure out what is going on for her.”
“You have?”
“Yes,” he said, stopping to look at her with an arched eyebrow. “You sound surprised.”
She was. “It just doesn’t seem like your sort of thing.”
“Why not?”
“There’s nothing in it for you,” she said.
“Fair enough. But there is something in it for me,” he added as he started walking again. He’d dropped her hand but they were still walking side by side.
“What?”
“Your happiness,” he admitted. “It’s in my power to help your sister out and to figure out what’s going on with Mal, and I know how much you love her so in a way I’m doing it for you.”
“Why would you do that?”
“To make up for being an ass, Hadley. We both know I handled things like the hothead I am, and I regret it now,” he said.
They were in front of the Grand Hotel now and he stopped to turn to face her. “Have you changed your mind?”
She shook her head. Not in the least. This right here was the man she had fallen for. It wasn’t often that Mauricio felt comfortable showing this side of himself, but she was happy he had tonight.
“I still want you,” she said. “What about you?”
“I think I’d have to be dead not to want you,” he admitted.
It was so quiet in the hotel bathroom except for “God Bless Texas” buzzing in her head, which was one of the songs she’d danced to earlier with Mo. He was being very cautious with her, which she appreciated. More than once he’d asked her if she was sure about this. But honestly, she wasn’t sure about anything except that she wanted him and didn’t want to think beyond tonight. Unlike stud muffin out there, she hadn’t slept with anyone since they’d broken up a little over eighteen months ago, and though she’d never describe herself as sex crazed, she missed it. She leaned in to look at her face in the mirror.
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Katherine Garbera
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современная зарубежная литература
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 23.04.2024
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О книге: Two lovers reunite for one unforgettable night. Will it be their last one together? When her sister’s engagement party reunites Hadley Everton with her ex-lover Mauricio Velasquez, it’s lust at first sight all over again. But what should be a farewell fling leaves them both longing for a second chance. But with a media scandal sabotaging their future, can they commit this time?