Willow
I watched Luke head toward the bar with an internal sigh. He looked as good from the back as he did from the front. His butt was so cute I wanted to take a bite out of it.
Dragging my gaze away, I tried to smile at Mason, but my heart was suddenly heavy. I liked Luke too much. He was so great, how could I leave him behind and go back to Vegas?
“Are you okay?” Mason gave me a concerned look. My sad thoughts must have shown on my face.
I nodded. “It’s just that Luke’s growing on me, more than I ever expected. I’m going to miss him when I leave.”
Mason took a thoughtful sip of his beer. In his suit he looked almost as handsome as Luke. With his enormous shoulders, there was no way he’d found a suit to fit him right off the rack. He must have had it tailored.
“You’re not tempted to move back to San Dante?” Mason asked.
“How can I?” I sighed out loud this time. “My business is in Vegas and I have big plans for it.”
“That’s a shame. Luke seems to like you a lot. You two could really have something.”
I blinked at him, surprised. My heart ached at the thought of what I’d be missing out on when I left. Talk about terrible timing. If I hadn’t been working with a business manager and financial planner, I might have been able to plan a trip back to San Dante.
But my business was too important to neglect. Turning it into a franchise would mean I’d get to help an entire chain of people start their own mobile event management businesses. If they did well, I’d finally be able to call myself a success.
And maybe Mom would too.
“I didn’t know you were such a romantic.” I tried to keep my voice light.
He shrugged. “This is a wedding. Love is in the air.”
“Are you here with a date?”
“Me? No.” A small smile lifted one side of his mouth, as though the idea was funny. “I’m only in San Dante for Christmas. Heading back out of town soon.”
“For work?”
He gave a brief nod, looking around. “Are they serving snacks? I’m getting hungry.”
“You’re a cop, right?” I asked.
“A bodyguard. Hey, you haven’t seen any waiters with trays?”
Mason clearly wanted to change the subject, which seemed odd.
I’d known Mason at school, but he’d looked very different back then. Smaller, for sure. And he hadn’t had the nasty-looking scar on his neck, nor the one I’d seen on his forearm that was currently hidden by his suit.
“No snacks, but we’re having dinner soon,” I said. “What kind of bodyguard are you?”
“Just a regular one. Does your business have to be in Vegas? Doesn’t your sister’s wedding prove people in San Dante need event decorators too?”
Before I could answer, Luke was back, handing me a glass of champagne. “We should take our seats,” he said. “The speeches are about to start.”
“I’ll talk to you later,” said Mason. He gave us both a nod before melting away into the crowd of guests. For a giant man, he could move amazingly gracefully.
I wanted to ask Luke about Mason and why he’d given such evasive answers about what he did for a job. But the formal part of the evening was starting, and the MC directed us to our seats. Luke and I were both sitting at the head table, but at opposite ends so I wouldn’t get to talk to him or touch him during dinner. Hopefully the time would go quickly.
Holly and Rudy made their grand entrance, and we all clapped. The MC said a few words, then, when everyone was sitting in their assigned seat and the room was quiet, I moved to the small podium at the side of the large room to make my speech.
My heart was pounding. I’d been refusing to think about this part of the evening, but oddly, I wasn’t as nervous as I’d expected. The day had been so good, I felt a lot more confident than I had this morning. Mom didn’t seem to be waiting for me to mess things up, and the wedding guests were giving me supportive smiles. I’d just had amazing sex with a guy I liked more than I could have dreamed, and I hadn’t heard a single joke about green pubic hair all day.
Taking a deep breath, I leaned toward the microphone and recited the speech I’d memorized.
“My sister Holly is good at everything she does. She’s brilliant and kind, and we all love her. And she loves Rudy. When I see them together, I know their marriage will last a lifetime. I admire my sister and now she’s found her one true love, I’m glad to see her so happy.”
I thought I’d be able to get through my speech without getting emotional, but my chest ached, my throat felt thick, and tears pricked my eyes.
What if Luke was meant to have been my one true love, only I’d already ruined that chance once? And what if I left town again, became run off my feet setting up franchise operations, and ruined it for good?
I paused for a moment, fighting to keep my tears back. “Holly and Rudy are—”
“Heeey, Willow Bush!” slurred a male voice from behind me.
Jerking around, I stared at Gus.
He was standing behind the podium, swaying on his feet. He blinked blearily at me, his face flushed. His lips lifted in a nasty grin, and when he stepped forward, the stink of whiskey hit me.
“Gus, what are you—?”
He bent to grab the hem of my skirt. Yanking it up high, he let out a howl of drunken laughter as he stared at my naked lower half. “Heeey! It’s winter! Willow Bush has no leaves!”
I stepped back, tearing my dress out of his hands, my heart hammering.
“What the hell?” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
Spinning to face him had put my back to the room, and because my dress had a full skirt, most of it probably hadn’t lifted. Maybe three hundred wedding guests hadn’t seen me naked.
But Gus had.
My fist shot out. I punched Gus in the face.
As he stumbled and fell, Luke dove on him. He grabbed both Gus’s arms and yanked him to his feet. Luke’s face was a mask of anger.
“She punched me,” Gus slurred.
“You’re under arrest for sexual assault, asshole.”
Gus shook his head so hard he almost fell over. “You can’t arrest me. I’m a cop.”
“Tell it to the judge,” Luke growled. He shot me a look full of sympathy. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”
I swallowed hard, my pulse racing and my stomach churning. My knuckles throbbed where they’d connected with Gus’s cheek. I still had my back to the room, but the shocked murmurs behind me were loud. If I turned, I’d see all the wedding guests looking at me with pity. Or laughing at me.
“Yes,” I lied, my throat so tight it was hard to get the words out. “I’m fine.”
I dropped my gaze to the floor. Most of San Dante’s residents were in the room. All the people I’d grown up with, all the people I’d chatted to, or bought things from, or looked up to.
I’d been humiliated in front of all of them.
Luke was dragging Gus to the door, taking him away, presumably to the police station. The buzz of scandalized conversation was getting louder, and I could hear people shifting in their seats to get a better look at what was going on.
“Will, are you all right?” Holly grabbed my hands. Even frowning at me with her eyes filled with concern, she still looked beautiful. My perfect sister, in her elegant white gown with her handsome husband by her side. She had no idea what it felt like to be humiliated in public.
“Sure,” I said. “Absolutely.”
“Come and sit back down.”
She led me back to the head table and I sat, staring at the white tablecloth, refusing to look up. My throat was on fire and my eyes ached, but there was no way I’d cry. “I’m fine,” I told her. “Everything’s good now. Please carry on.”
Holly looked at Rudy. “Let’s eat now, and delay the rest of the speeches until after dinner. Give everyone time to move on.”
“Sure, honey. Whatever you want.”
Mom was sitting at the end of the bridal table. She leaned over to talk to me, and I dragged in a deep breath, steeling myself to answer another concerned question about my wellbeing without bursting into tears.
Then I realized Mom was giving me a disapproving frown.
“Stop making a spectacle of yourself, Willow,” she hissed. “You’re ruining your sister’s wedding.”
I stared at her, my heart pounding. The unfairness of her words robbed me of breath. This time, I really had done nothing wrong.
“You can’t blame me,” I gasped.
“But you always—”
“No! I don’t always. And if I do, it’s because you expect me to. It’s clear you care more about your re-election campaign than you do about me, but something horrible just happened to me, so maybe you could stop treating me like a screw-up, just this once?”
Mom stared at me in shock for a moment. I’d never spoken to her so harshly. Then her expression softened, a look of contrition creeping in.
But my eyes were prickling with tears. If I didn’t leave, I was going to bawl in front of everyone.
Scrambling to my feet, I was conscious I was doing exactly what Mom didn’t want. By racing out, I was going to call more attention to myself and make everything worse.
But what choice did I have?