Back to December (Ward Sisters Book 1) (43 page)

He leaned close to her ear. “Just be grateful it wasn't planned heavily in advance. You'd have had Christopher feeling up your boobs earlier today so they'd sit perfectly in that dress.” He looked at her, and it had the desired effect: she laughed out loud.

“Too true.” He pulled her closer and they swayed to the music, cheek to cheek. It felt good to be in his arms again. Em closed her eyes and she almost forgot where they were and that it wasn't New Year's Eve, back at the beginning of all this.

The song ended and the DJ announced the bouquet and garter toss. Suddenly, the moment was about to happen. They played their part, participating in the event. When it came time for the bouquet toss, the rest of the women backed away and let Annie catch the spray of hydrangea. It was no surprise that Josh caught the garter – the other single men made a wide berth, but Rob looked as if he wanted to snatch it away, though he refrained.

Rob returned to the table, sat next to Emily and faced the dance floor as Josh put the garter on Annie's leg. When Josh pulled a ring from his pocket, Rob slid his arm around Emily's shoulder, leaned in and kissed her hair. He whispered, “You okay?” She nodded, tears in her eyes as Annie eagerly accepted the proposal.

Emily wasn't sad that Josh had proposed to her sister. She felt betrayed by the two of them. They had the nerve to be furious with her when she had done nothing wrong by kissing Rob in that club. This just proved that Josh's feelings for Em couldn't have been as strong as he had professed. Otherwise, how could he be ready to spend the rest of his life with Annie barely nine months after their relationship ended?

“Let's head to the bar,” Rob suggested. Emily agreed and they made their way there as Josh and Annie danced, cheek to cheek, to David Gray's
This Year's Love
. Emily inwardly rolled her eyes at the blatantly obvious symbolism.

Rob ordered them both a shot of whiskey. “Drink up,” he told her and they clinked shot glasses. As the alcohol burned its way down to her belly, Em thought she might die. But then a warmth spread from her stomach out to her her limbs and she shook her head as though to clear it.

Rob asked, “Better?” and Emily nodded. Her expression must have asked how he'd know that would help. “A shot of whiskey's always good for what ails ya. That's what my Grampa Deacon says.”

Em laughed and was about to thank him when Charlie came up to her. “Em! Oh, Emma Bean, I'm so, so sorry! I was trying to tell you earlier. I couldn't get away.”

She pulled Charlie away from the bar, off to the side. Rob stayed at a respectable distance. “You
knew
?” she asked under her breath, seething.

Charlie bit her lip. “Yes.” As Emily began to respond, Charlie put up her hand, “But only since last night. I told them they should let you know ahead of time. Did they tell you? Is that why Rob is here?”

“No, they did
not
tell me. Rob told me. And, yes, that's why he's here.” She lowered her voice. “He flew across the country all night so I wouldn't have to face that alone, Charlie. And not one damn person in my family had enough respect for me to tell me in advance. Who else knew?”

Charlie was silent. “
Who
, Charlie?”

“Mom and Dad. Josh asked his permission and of course, Annie told Mom.”

“How long, Charlie.”

“Em...”

“
How long
!?”

“Just since Christmas, Em. They started seeing each other at Christmas.”

“How long have you known?”

“She told me last winter. After you came home, she...she was worried. She thought you might want him back. Or at the very least that you'd throw a fit about him still being part of the wedding.”

“So, you've known for what, six months? And you never thought to mention it?”

“I kept your secrets about Rob, Em.”

“That's not the same, Charl! Rob isn't Annie's ex!”

“No. You're right. And I'm sorry. I should have been more thoughtful about that part. I was just thinking about the fact that you were disappointed when Annie couldn't keep your confidence. I wasn't sure you'd appreciate me breaking hers.”

“You owe me, Charlie.
Big time
. You're going to make sure that Rob has a seat at brunch tomorrow. Because I am not weathering
that
alone, either. And
you're
going to be the one to tell Mom.”

“Okay. I owe you at least that.” Emily went to leave. “Em?” She turned to look at her sister. “For what it's worth, I think they're truly happy. They really love each other.”

“Yes, well, maybe someday I can celebrate their happiness, but that's not happening today.” Emily walked back to Rob and grabbed his hand. “Let's get out of here. I'm all partied out,” she said, looking pointedly back at her sister.

They stood outside in the warmth of the August night where a cool breeze floated from the coast every once in a while. They were tucked between the hotel and the tent, trying to find a private place to talk away from the wedding guests. Only a few people outside her immediate family had recognized Rob, and as far as they knew no one had said anything.

Rob had looked at Emily with a wistful expression most of the night. In the lead-up to the bouquet and garter toss, he had stolen glances at her repeatedly. She had no idea what any of that meant. But in light of the recent proposal – which Em felt would be forever seared in her mind as her sister's betrayal – she could only imagine Rob was thinking about what might have been for them.

For now, he had his arms around her, his face pressed to her hair. She sniffled into his shoulder, sadder that her family had failed her than she was about Josh and Annie.

The song from their earlier dance played over and over in Emily's head. It brought back all the nights since February when Em had wondered if she could have done anything better.

“I kept thinking,
I wish I could go back
,” Em said.

“What do you mean? Go back to where?” Rob asked, pulling away to look at her.

“Not where. When. I wish I could go back to December. To the day we met. I'd do things differently.” She stepped away and walked slowly toward the hotel, arms crossed.

“Like what?” he asked as he followed her.

“I'd say no when you asked if you could kiss me.”

He looked at her in disbelief. He had been there, too; she had wanted to kiss him as much as he wanted to kiss her.

“Or...maybe I'd hold up my finger for a moment when you asked if I was single, and I'd call Josh then and make it official.”

“Why does that matter?”

“Because then maybe I could have avoided feeling like I'd shamed my family. Or the thoughts that kept telling me I was using you to prove a point and that it wasn't real.”

“Were you?”

“Using you? I used to think so. Especially just after I left L.A. But when I think about how I felt that first time you kissed me, how I felt
every
time you touched me or kissed me after that, I know it wasn't that simple. I thought that you had been a means to an end, a way to get my mother off my back, to destroy things with Josh so no one would pressure me into going back to him. But that's not what happened between us.”

She stopped to face him and he stopped too, just shy of the entrance.

“What happened between us, then?” He looked so hopeful, the way he had when he had asked her if she was single that first night.

“Magic,” she whispered.

He laughed. “Magic, huh?”

Emily stepped toward him. She took his right hand, laced his fingers into her left. She pulled him closer to her, slowly. As he got nearer, she grabbed his lapels and brought his face to hers, hovered with her lips a breath away from his for a moment. The air crackled and her breath hitched in anticipation.

Then she kissed him and the electricity arced between them. He kissed her back, hard, ran his fingers through her hair, down to her waist. She could tell he had missed her by his body language and by what she could feel pressing into her pelvis.

She pulled her mouth away. “If that's not magic,” she said, breathless, “then I don't know what is.” He smiled with that quirky grin she loved and she kissed him again.

After a few minutes kissing passionately, Emily knew they needed to take this somewhere private. They couldn't contain themselves around each other, even from that first night and that first kiss. He kissed her neck and whispered in her ear, “Do you...”

“God, yes. Where are you staying?”

“Well...” he said, pulling back to look at her with a sheepish grin.

“You didn't book a hotel before you left?” He shook his head. “Well, lucky for you I have a room upstairs. Good thing this is a destination wedding and I'm willing to take you home with me. You would have been hard pressed to find a room last minute.”

Rob grinned.

She rolled her eyes.

“What am I saying? They'd have made space for you.” Rob smiled again. He put his forehead to hers and she had to laugh. She led him into the hotel lobby.

“Let's go upstairs. Then you can show me how much you missed me.”

“What makes you think I missed you?” he teased as they stepped onto the elevator.

Emily stepped as close as she could to Rob, pressed her body against his and forced him into the elevator wall as the doors closed. He took in a breath involuntarily sharp.

“That,” she said, and he pulled her closer, kissing her like it was the last time he would ever see her.

They barely made it to her room. Rob kissed her neck as she unsuccessfully tried to open the door, twice, before the key registered in the electronic lock. As soon as the door shut behind them, he had her up against it, his mouth on hers and his hand sliding up the slit in her skirt that went to her thigh. As he ran his hand around her butt, he pulled away and looked at her.

He said, “Are you even wearing underwear?”

Emily laughed and wiggled her eyebrows. “G-string.”

“Oh, God. I wanted to slide my hands up that slit in your skirt the second I saw you walking down that aisle. If I had known you weren't wearing anything more than a G-string under this dress, I don't think I could have waited so long to touch you.” He kissed her breathless.

She loosened his tie and pulled his shirt out of his pants as he took off his jacket. As she slipped the tie over his head and put it on her own neck, she grinned and he returned it. They both recalled the night at the house in Minnesota when he came home later than she did and found her by the fire in nothing but the thousand-dollar shoes she'd worn to the gala and a red silk tie she'd bought him that day.

It was meant to be a bit of a joke. A play on the
Pretty Woman
comment she had made on Boxing Day, she reenacted the scene from the movie where Edward comes back to the hotel to find Vivian in a similar state of undress. But it led to some very exciting lovemaking that made her appreciate silk ties and her designer shoes.

“Like that, is it?” he asked, his eyes twinkling.

“Well, these shoes were only $850, but that tie looks more expensive than the one I bought you before, so maybe it's a wash,” she said.

He laughed and turned her around, swept aside her curls to kiss her neck as he slowly unzipped her dress and let it cascade to the floor with a
swish
into a pile of chiffon.

“God, you're beautiful,” he groaned.

She had her hands against the door and he skimmed his fingers down her arms, across her back to her hips. He slid them around to the front of her body to cup her breasts, teased her nipples as he kissed her neck.

“I can't believe you weren't wearing a bra, either.”

“Built into the dress,” she breathed.

“You were practically naked under that dress.”

“Good thing I didn't tell you earlier. I'd have missed the whole reception and my mother would really kill me then.”

He took the tie off her neck, but instead of putting it around her wrists, he said, “Later. We'll have time for fun things later. For now, I want to make up for all those months I didn't have you in my bed and show you how much I missed you.”

“Condoms. I don't know if I have enough for that.”

“I have plenty in my bag.” He pointed to the other side of the room where his bags sat.

“You...”

“...were being hopeful. Are you mad?”

“God no. Just take me to bed.”

Rob made love to her slowly, even though her body remembered his and it didn't hurt as much as it did the very first time. He parted her thighs and eased inside as moans and sighs of pleasure vibrated through their joined lips

She had missed this, had missed Rob, the feel of him inside her, the smooth skin of his back under her finger tips, the curve of his butt as her heels dug into his backside, his sculpted chest pressed into her breasts while his hips drove her mad with desire.

“You feel so good,” she whispered.

“I missed you so much,” he replied.

They savored every second, each stroke a reminder of their connection, each rotation of their hips claiming what they had lost. When they came together, she thought she would die it was so intense, the waves washing over her again and again. The emotional release toppled her and she knew Rob felt the same when she heard his breath catch in time to her own. As he held her in his arms while they came down from the bliss, he caressed her hair.

Emily had waited months for this moment. She turned so that her chin was on his chest. She bit her lip, her head nervous despite the fact that her heart was sure. Tears filled her eyes as she said, “I love you, Rob. I always have. I'm
so
sorry I didn't tell you that before. And I am more sorry than I can ever say for hurting you.”

He pulled her to his chest and hugged her. “I love you, Emily. I can't tell you how happy I am to know you really do love me. I thought you did, but when you left, when you said it had all been a lie...I was devastated.”

Her heart soared. She had wanted to hear him say he loved her for months. Had wondered if she imagined the whole thing, had been wrong that he really did love her.

“I cried the whole way home. And for days afterward, actually. I told myself that it was because I felt like such a fool, that I had disgraced my family and had gotten sucked into the vortex that was you and Hollywood. After a few weeks, I questioned if I was so upset because I was really in love with you and the mistake was walking away.”

He brushed the hair from her face, caressed her cheek as he did. “Was it a mistake?”

“The relationship or running away?”

“Either. Both.”

Emily sat up and put her hand on his face, trailed her fingers until she toyed with the hair at his navel.

“I told you, I should have done things differently. I should have been honest with Josh about our relationship and ended it when I left for Minnesota. Then I could have met you with a clear conscience. I didn't use you on purpose, Rob, but I did take advantage of the situation. I was glad that being with you upset my mother and the rest of my family so that they wouldn't try to get me and Josh back together. Little did I know that he and Annie were already a couple.”