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The one thing I didn’t expect and hadn’t prepared myself for were the butterflies that went on a riot in my tummy the closer it got to the time for us to leave to meet him. My brothers were all set to drive, but Mr. Showoff sent cars plural to pick us up.
There were flowers in the back of the Rolls for Mom and me; he knows the way to her heart. She never shut up about how thoughtful he was. I wanted to beat him over the head with the thorny roses for trying to make an end run around me by winning her favor.
He was waiting for us at the pier, looking like a GQ model, and schmoozed the men in my family who were all about the yacht; they’d forgotten me. I slapped my dossier against his chest when it was my turn to greet him. “Read that. Don’t come weeping to me later if you choose to go through with this wedding.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Hah!” He says that now. He glossed over the papers and laughed.
“Is this it?” I’ll drop-kick him into the water if he keeps laughing at me.
“Your family is watching, no violence.” He got close to my ear, “Later, you can do whatever you want to make me pay. I won’t stop you.” His kids are going to be a fucking handful; I can see it already.
I growled at him and moved to catch up to the others who were being helped onto his damn cruise ship-sized monstrosity of a boat.
My family ain’t shit; that’s all I’m going to say. I’ve never seen this many cheesy smiles in one place. I’m not sure what Don Jaun Demarco was saying to them, but they were eating it up. Even my sisters-in-law were having a gay old time; of course, there was food, lots of it, so these heifers threw me over for the ten-pound lobsters. It’s ten in the damn morning.
“He’s awesome. I think you should send Denny and Lacey a thank you basket because you, my friend, have hit the jackpot.
“Daisy, I would expect that from Jilly, but you? He could be a damn serial killer for all we know.”
“Oh please, you know your brothers spent the whole night trying to find any and everything they could on him.”
“And?”
“For one, he’s never been married, but he did once have a long-term girlfriend that lasted a few years after college. If anyone would know about his peccadilloes it would be her, but apparently, all she’s ever said is that they broke up because he wasn’t ready to settle down and have kids, and she was.”
“Really? Who was she?”
“I can’t remember her name exactly, but Bri said her dad was the CEO of some Fortune five hundred company, and she and Garrett went to school together, and everyone expected them to get married, but things didn’t work out that way.”
“It doesn’t matter who she is; what matters is that he was in a committed relationship, and he and the woman still remained friends after going their separate ways, which means he wasn’t abusive or anything.”
“Remained friends?”
“Now, Alyssa, don’t go getting all bent out of shape.” He must’ve felt me shooting daggers at him because he turned from his conversation with the boys to look at me. When he raised his brow at me I rolled my eyes at him and looked away.
He had the nerve to walk over and take my hand after making his excuses to the ladies. “I’ll bring her right back; excuse us.”
“Where are you taking me?” I pulled away once we were out of sight of the others.
“What upset you?” I guess I should be flattered that he knew me this well, but I wasn’t.
“What’s the deal with you and your ex being best friends?”
“Who? Natalie?”
“Oh, so you know exactly who I’m talking about.” That pissed me off so much I wanted to stomp my feet.
“She’s the only ex I have. All the other women I’ve slept with never made it into relationship territory. Are you jealous? I know you’re the jealous type, but you have nothing to worry about. I was with her for eight years and never asked her to marry me. Don’t pout, love. She’s not more important to me than you are, and I’ve only known you for a handful of days.”
That still wasn’t enough. I folded my arms and looked out to sea, wondering how far it was to swim back to shore. “I never wanted to have babies with her, but I spent all of last night imagining you swollen with my child.” That was a little better, but still.
“I won’t ever speak to her again if that’s what would make you happy.”
“Don’t do anything on account of me.” I happened to look up and caught him fighting not to laugh. “See, you’re laughing at me.” My eyes filled up with tears, and his whole demeanor changed.
“Hey, don’t do that. I won’t see her ever again. She hasn’t meant anything to me in years; we’re really just friends. She’s married with a kid, and her husband is a very nice guy. Come on, come ‘ere.” He pulled me into his arms for a hug.
