One Night With His Ex

“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.