The Wedding She Always Wanted

“Hold this for me, will you?” he asked.

Emily set her purse aside on the half wall lining the walkway to take the jacket. It was warm from his body heat and held a hint of aftershave, and Emily forced herself to simply fold the garment over her arm, instead of burying her face into the fabric.

Turning back to the tree, Javy studied the branches as he undid the cuffs of the shirt and rolled the sleeves back to reveal muscular forearms dusted with dark hair.

Emily’s stomach did a slow roll. She crossed her arms tightly at her waist, trying to stop any more somersaulting from her internal organs, and hoped the jacket hid the telling action. But when Javy bent down to slip off a shoe, she had to ask, “What are you doing?”

He glanced up at her, his teeth flashing in the dim light as he smiled. Whatever he’d used to hold back his hair lost the battle as a thick lock fell across his forehead. Emily’s fingers instinctively burrowed deeper into the wool jacket. “Ever climb a tree in dress shoes? It’s a sure trip to the emergency room.”

Emily glanced down at her strappy gold heels. She’d spent hours practicing on pencil-thin platforms, insuring she could walk gracefully in even the most fashionable—and uncomfortable—shoes. “I don’t think I’ve ever climbed a tree.”

After kicking off the second shoe, Javy straightened. He pushed his hair back only to have it spring forward again. “You’re kidding, right? Did you have a deprived childhood, or what?”

It was the first time anyone had ever referred to Emily’s life as anything other than privileged. Her friends always commented how lucky Emily was to have everything she’d ever wanted. But she wondered if maybe Javy didn’t have it right, after all.

“Believe me, socks are the way to go,” he added as he stared up at a branch overhead.

Emily would have sworn it was out of reach, but he took a few steps back, enough to give him a running start, and easily caught the limb. Within seconds, he pulled himself up with a move Emily thought was reserved for stuntmen and gymnasts.

“Wow,” Ginny whispered in awe. “He’s like … a superhero.”

“I think you’re right, Ginny. And he’ll have Duncan down from that tree in no time,” Emily agreed with her niece as she watched Javy make his way from branch to branch until he reached Duncan. She heard a mix of voices, her nephew’s childish whisper and Javy’s low murmur in response.

Honestly, Emily’s heart was pounding out of her chest as the top of the tree swayed and leaves rained down, and they decided to stop and chat. She bit her lower lip rather than call out, afraid she might startle either one of them.

The moment of male bonding over, Javy held out a hand. Duncan unhesitatingly reached out, and Emily felt something in her heart give way at the trust she saw in the little boy’s face and the confidence she saw in Javy’s. Slowly, he led the way down, guiding Duncan every step of the way until their feet—Javy’s in black socks and Duncan’s bare—hit solid ground.

Emily immediately scooped her nephew into a tight hug, as if she still needed to protect him now that he was safely on the ground. Relief quickly gave way to exasperation as she leaned back to meet Duncan’s gaze. “You are in such big trouble, young man.”

Exchanging glances with Javy, Duncan nodded. “I know.”

Expecting a wealth of denials, Emily blinked in surprise. “You know?”

Her nephew nodded. “I should go back to the room now. Meggie’s probably worried.”

The words had barely left his mouth when a high-pitched female voice called out, “There you two are! Do you know how worried I’ve been?”

Meg, Aileen’s longtime babysitter, ran toward them, worry and relief combining on her young face. “Emily, I am so sorry. I left the room for a few minutes to go get a drink from the soda machine. I thought Ginny and Duncan were still in the bedroom suite, watching a video. When I went to check on them and they weren’t there …”

Her voice broke, and Emily wrapped an arm around the teenager’s shoulders. “Everything’s okay. Why don’t you take them back to the room now? I’m sure they’ll be more than willing to stay put now and finish that video,” she said, pointedly meeting her niece’s and nephew’s gazes.

Ginny immediately nodded, but Duncan dropped his gaze to his bare feet. “I better not. I’m probably grounded and stuff for sneaking out.”

Ginny reached out a sympathetic hand to her brother, and together they started back toward the hotel.

Meg turned to Emily with a puzzled frown. “Did Duncan just ground himself?”

Emily nodded. “I think so.”

“Well, that’s a first.” Shaking her head, the babysitter thanked them for finding the kids before following her young charges back to the room.

Waiting until they disappeared inside the hotel, Emily turned to Javy. “Okay, what was that about?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, the whole talk in the treetop and Duncan forfeiting watching a video without anyone carrying him, kicking and screaming, away from the TV.”

“Oh, that.”

“Yes, that.”

“It’s a guy thing. I really don’t think you’ll understand,” Javy said as he rolled down one of his shirtsleeves.

“Try me.”

“It had to do with Duncan seeing his house from the treetop.”

“He couldn’t possibly. Aileen and Tom live almost twenty miles from here.”

“Exactly. But sometimes a man has to take a chance, even if he knows he’s reaching for the impossible.”

He wasn’t talking about her. She had no reason to think he was talking about her. But as Javy stepped closer, Emily caught her breath, unable to deny the single-minded focus in his gaze as he raised an arm, reached out and … took the jacket from her hands.

Embarrassed and hoping her breathless assumption hadn’t been written on her face, Emily took a step back. Without his jacket to hold on to, her arms felt empty. She crossed, then uncrossed them before linking her fingers together in front of her.

“Thank you for, um, helping Duncan.”

“It was nothing. Just a typical day in the life of a superhero.”

Emily closed her eyes and counted to five, but when she opened them, Javy was still there. “You heard that, did you?”

“Yeah. Super hearing is just one of my superpowers.”

“Along with your super ego,” Emily muttered, trying to maintain an unaffected air when, in truth, she was as impressed as her six-year-old niece.

“There is that.” He laughed as he hooked the jacket collar on two fingers and swung the jacket over his shoulder.

Catching sight of a long scratch marring his muscular forearm, Emily reacted without thinking. She stepped closer, ducking her head to try to see better. Taking his wrist in both her hands, she turned him more toward the light. “You’re hurt.”

After a brief pause, Javy said, “I’m fine.”

“You need to get this cleaned out. There could be bits of bark caught in the cut. It could get infected.”

“Emily.”

She wasn’t sure what exactly she heard in Javy’s voice, but the sound was enough to make her realize how close they stood together. How his breath brushed the side of her face. How the muscles in his arms had turned to stone beneath her touch.

Helpless to resist, Emily looked up. With his dark hair and onyx eyes, he seemed a part of the night. Mysterious, cast in shadow and maybe even a little dangerous. His gaze dropped to her lips, and Emily swallowed hard. Make that a lot dangerous.