The Wedding She Always Wanted

Emily’s stomach immediately clenched at the expectation in the woman’s voice.

“Well.” Drawing out the moment, the second woman paused. “From what I heard, she found out her fiancé was cheating on her with the family chef.”

“No!”

“Yes, and it gets even worse! It turns out they have a child together. A boy, I think.”

“Oh, that is horrible!” the second woman exclaimed, sounding all too overjoyed by the scandal.

Humiliation burned in Emily’s cheeks at the delight the women were taking in her embarrassment. The details were wrong but close enough for her to realize her family had once again trusted the wrong person. She hadn’t spoken to anyone else about Todd’s infidelity or his reasons for proposing. And yet someone—her mother or sister, most likely—had talked to a close friend, no doubt swearing them to secrecy, for all the good it had done.

The betrayal was minor compared to Todd’s lying and cheating, but for Emily, it was the last straw.

With a definitive flick of her wrist, she unlocked the stall door. The two women spun in guilty tandem, but Emily didn’t spare them a glance. Instead, she moved toward the mirror. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind one ear, keeping her focus on her own reflection as she spoke. “It was the maid, not the chef. And she’s still pregnant. The baby hasn’t been born yet. If you’re going to talk about me, you might as well get the details straight.”

A stunned silence accompanied her exit from the restroom—probably the first time either woman had stopped talking since they’d arrived—but Emily didn’t feel better. She hadn’t thought it possible, but if anything, she actually felt worse.

She was leaving. Now. Before she gave everyone even more to talk about by foolishly bursting into tears at her cousin’s reception.

Rounding a corner, she gasped when a pair of strong hands clamped on her shoulders, stopping her from running headlong into a tuxedoed chest. “Whoa! Where’s the fire?” Javy’s laughter trailed away, and he ducked his head to look into her face. His thick eyebrows lowered over his eyes. “Emily? Are you all right?”

Desperate to escape, she said, “I—I have to get out of here.”

“Okay.” Without questioning, he draped an arm around her shoulders and guided her toward an exit. But instead of a quick farewell before he went straight back to the reception, he followed her into the summer night air.

Moonlight glinted on the surface of the nearby pool, and the multicolored lights played over the stream pouring from a rock waterfall. The peaceful setting was a sharp contrast to the turmoil churning inside her, reminding Emily this was her problem.

Everyone else was having a good time. Everyone else should be having a good time … including Javy. She hadn’t missed the hungry looks several women at the reception had slanted in his direction. He could be with any one of them right now.

Ignoring the twinge of regret, she turned to him and said, “You need to go back inside. You’re the best man. You have to give the toast and—”

“Already did.”

“You did?”

“Yep. Short and sweet, just the way the guests like it. No one came here tonight to hear me talk.”

“I’m sorry I missed it.” Despite his protest, Emily definitely enjoyed hearing Javy talk. The deep murmur of his voice held a hint of his Hispanic heritage and a trace of good humor, like he was ready to laugh at any given moment.

“Hmm, me, too. I have to say, I was a hit. Especially the love song I recited in Spanish.”

Uncertain if she could take him seriously, she protested, “You did not.”

“I did. Spanish is one of the romance languages, you know.”

Pig Latin would be one of the romance languages as long as Javy was the one speaking it. She was willing to bet every woman in the ballroom had gone a little weak at the knees listening to him, and maybe it was a good thing she hadn’t been inside.

The memory of their dance still lingered, not only in her mind, but in every part of her body that had brushed his as they swayed together. She could still feel the softness of his hair on her fingertips, the broad shoulders beneath her hands and the press of his thighs against her own….

Desire still tingled along nerve endings every place they had touched, and the last thing she needed was Javy’s Spanish love song as a soundtrack.

Holding out his arm, he said, “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“For a walk. Unless you’d rather be alone.”

Emily knew she should take the easy out he’d given her. Not because she actually wanted to be alone, but because being with a man of Javier Delgado’s reputation was not smart.

Or maybe it was, she thought suddenly. After feeling like she’d lived her whole life with blinders on, maybe taking a walk with her eyes wide-open was the smartest thing she could do.

Chapter Two

Javy waited for Emily’s answer, anticipation picking up a beat inside him that he hadn’t felt for years. He wouldn’t blame her if she wanted to be alone, but he hoped she’d say yes. A simple moonlight stroll suddenly meant more than his last several relationships combined.

Stupid, he thought. He was the last guy to suffer from wedding fever, but if he didn’t know better.

“Won’t Connor notice that you’re gone?”

Connor was more likely to notice that both he and Emily were gone, but Javy wasn’t about to point that out. “I’m sure he’ll figure I’m around somewhere. Besides, isn’t it time for them to take off for their honeymoon?”

“I suppose so.” Emily crossed her slender arms, although she couldn’t possibly be cold, even with the slight breeze stirring the summer night air.

Javy swore silently. Emily would have been leaving on her honeymoon tonight. While finding out her fiancé was a liar and a cheat—not to mention a moron, because, come on, what kind of idiot cheated on a woman as beautiful as Emily Wilson?—might have been a relief, it still didn’t change the fact that all of Emily’s plans had come crashing down around her. Not just plans for a wedding or honeymoon, but her whole future. No wonder she was feeling more than a little lost even if she hadn’t loved the guy.

“I’m sorry, Emily. I know how hard this must be for you.”

She started walking alongside the meandering pool, silently accepting his offer. “We were going to go on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Todd had everything planned. Snorkeling in Cabo, windsurfing in Mazatlán, parasailing in Puerto Vallarta …” Her voice trailed off in a memoriam of broken dreams.

“You like windsurfing?” Javy asked, hearing the doubt in his own voice. He had no problem imaging Emily sunning herself on a sandy beach, easily visualizing her long limbs bared by a less-than-nothing bathing suit, but he couldn’t picture her riding the waves on a board.

“I’ve never been. I’m relatively sure I would have hated it,” she said lightly. “Just like I would have hated the cruise. I went on a three-day trip right after I graduated high school. Turns out I get seasick. I spent the entire time feeling nauseous in my cabin.” She gave a soft laugh. “If you think about it, Todd really did me a favor. It would have been a miserable honeymoon.”

Javy had a feeling the misery would have lasted far beyond the honeymoon. He caught her arm and forced her to face him, with the moon shining down like a single interrogator’s light-bulb into her turquoise eyes. “Why, Emily?”

A slender shoulder lifted in an eloquent shrug. “He had everything all planned and—”

“I’m not talking about the honeymoon. I’m talking about everything. The engagement, the wedding. Or was that all planned, too? Was it easier to go along with what everyone else wanted than to stop and think about what would make you happy?”

“Of course not. I wouldn’t have married Todd—I wouldn’t marry anyone—just to make my parents happy.”

“Then why did you agree to marry him?”

“Because I loved him. And don’t you tell me that I didn’t! You don’t know me. You don’t know how I feel. And from what little I know of you, you don’t know what it’s like to be in love. You go from woman to woman with less time than it takes you to swap CDs.”

You don’t know love. Her words echoed in his thoughts, and Javy’s jaw tightened as he thought how wrong she was. He knew how love carved out a man’s insides, leaving him as hollow as a grinning jack-o'-lantern. He knew too well—and he’d learned his lesson.

But forcing his muscles to relax, he offered her an easygoing smile. “Feel better?”