Tackled by Lisa Suzanne

CHAPTER 17

We arrive at the church and slip into our gowns in the bridal suite. Shannon chose a peach shade for the bridesmaids, and it makes my skin glow as it sets off the amber shade of my hair and makes my hazel eyes pop brightly.

I check out myself in the mirror. Hair up. Perfect make-up. Pretty peach dress. I don’t look half bad.

Shannon steps out to join the rest of us after getting into her gown, and she’s the picture-perfect bride on her wedding day. Tears fill my eyes with happiness for my friend. She’s getting the happy ending she deserves with the man of her dreams.

A text comes through on my phone.

Jack: I’m here.

I didn’t realize I was worried he wouldn’t show until I see his text. Relief filters through me...and then my heart races as I realize we’re in the same space again.

I guess I didn’t notice how much I missed him until this very moment where I know he’s just on the other side of those doors. My morning was filled with talk of him anyway. My whole life seems to revolve around him more and more each day, and now that he’s here the air seems to change in the building.

Me: Be right out.

Once we’ve fawned enough over the bride and we’ve all brushed our tears away, I head out to the vestibule to meet up with Jack and let him know where to go.

A lone figure stands facing a bulletin board in the otherwise deserted lobby, and somehow his presence manages to fill the entire room. It’s this charisma he has, and I’ve never met anyone who has even come close to owning every room he walks into the way he does. It’s some sort of sublime magic he possesses. He’s in control at all times...at least to the rest of the world.

I’ve been privy to his behavior in different elements, and the thought sends a shiver of desire down my spine.

He’s wearing a suit, and what is it about a man in a suit? It changes his whole demeanor. He’s more the business professional I saw at Dalton Developments than the athlete who owns every field he’s ever stepped on, and it’s truly a phenomenon to even be in the same room as him.

I take a few steps toward him, and he turns when he hears my heels click on the shiny vinyl composition floor. The enormous vestibule feels smaller as our eyes meet across the space and all the oxygen seems to squeeze out of my body.

The heat passes between us, and his eyes flick down. I’m not sure whether he’s checking me out or looking at my dress before they move back up to mine.

“Hey,” I say, breaking the spell holding us captive to each other.

“Hey.” His voice is low and his eyes break from mine as they move just behind me.

I turn to see if someone’s standing there. Nobody is.

“You, uh...” he begins.

I offer him a small smile. “Please don’t give me some cheesy line about how I clean up real nice.”

He laughs. “Okay, I won’t. But you do.”

“You do, too,” I say softly...not that he’s ever not cleaned up.

His eyes seem to soften. “Kia—” he begins, and then he seems to interrupt himself. “Did you have a good morning?”

“Yeah.” I nod. “The bride’s all ready.”

“And the bridesmaids?”

“Good to go.” I don’t know where this sudden awkwardness between us is coming from, but something has changed. I’m not sure if it happened last night or if I just did something now.

“What’s the plan after the ceremony?” he asks.

“They rented a party bus to take some pictures by the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Then we’ll head to the reception.”

“So, uh, where should I go during all that?” he asks.

I offer a small smile. “You’ll come with me since you’re my date.”

He twists his lips, and God do I want to taste those lips again.

I shove the thought away.

Focus, Kate.

“Let’s find Mrs. Hutchins and she’ll show you where to go. Everything starts in forty-five minutes.”

He nods, and we find her. She leads him to the groom’s room, and I head back toward Shannon’s suite. It’s not long before we’re lining up, and I’m just thankful that Vince is escorting Lauren and not me because how freaking awful would that have been?

When I walk down the aisle with my escort, I spot Jack. His eyes are fully on me the entire time, and I can’t seem to break my gaze from him, either. I force my eyes forward once we pass. Turning my head to keep my eyes on him would just send up even more red flags, but just as I tear my gaze away, I spot it.

A little curl of his lip into a smile.

I sigh as I join the other bridesmaids in my spot near the altar, and we listen as the minister says a few words about love and marriage and committing your life to another person, and I can’t help when I glance over at Jack.

His eyes are still pinned on me.

As the minister talks about the importance of vows and love and producing children, I think about how what Jack is doing with Michelle is all wrong. I can’t imagine that he doesn’t think and feel those same things but amplified times a thousand since its him in that situation and not me.

When it’s time for him to do his reading, he keeps his eyes forward rather than meeting mine as he passes by. He takes his spot behind the podium just like he practiced yesterday, and he begins reading.

“From First Corinthians Thirteen,” he begins, and I listen to the familiar words of the passage as he reads them.

“Love is patient. Love is kind.”

I already know what he has with Michelle isn’t love, but it is marriage, or at least it’s going to be. She’s neither patient nor kind with him.

“It does not envy.”

I think back to all the times I’ve been in the same room as the two of them and how she’s careful to stake her claim on him by touching him or kissing him.

“It does not boast.”

She’s going on a freaking reality show for the very purpose of bragging about her marriage to a professional football player.

“It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs.”

Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Not a single one applies to her.

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”

I tune out the rest of the reading after that. I can’t listen to those words knowing that he’s about to marry someone who is the opposite of everything he deserves. Not that he’s perfect by any means whatsoever, but still...everyone deserves love, and for some reason, he seems to think he doesn’t need it, that he’ll be fine with a marriage that’s nothing more than a business transaction.

From everything I know, he’s benefitting from their union, too. I stare at him as he reads the words, and his eyes flick up to mine. His shoulders seem to sag a little as he continues reading. I’m sure the people here who don’t know him the way I’m starting to don’t even notice a difference, but I see it. The tightness that had started to loosen around his eyes is back. His whole demeanor seems to shift right in front of me, and he stares back down at the book.

He’s listening to the words, too.

He glances up again, but this time his eyes don’t meet mine. In fact, they don’t meet mine for the rest of the wedding ceremony.

The words are having some sort of effect on him.

I’m just not sure what that effect is.