Don't Bite the Bridesmaid (18 page)

Heading home and marrying some stranger was his unavoidable fate.

The hotel room door clicked shut behind him and he tossed his bag onto the lone chair in the room. Covered in colors even more garish than the ones that adorned the interior of the cruise ship, the room was depressing in its attempt at fake cheer. And it smelled faintly of cigarettes and sun tan oil, although neither scent was heavy enough to be picked up by a human nose.

Blinking against the sun, he closed the heavy drapes in the room. The near darkness was good for him, almost comforting, and he pushed down a sudden urge to tear down the curtains. He didn’t want to be comforted. Not right now, when the pain was so raw and real and he wasn’t entirely certain he deserved comfort.

He called down to the front desk and asked them to book him a flight out of Puerto Vallarta as soon as possible. They called back quickly and said he was booked on a flight departing the next morning. Then he stared at nothing, and tried to think of anything but Alice. But her eyes, her smile, the bright reflection of the sun off her hair dogged him.

The ring of his cell phone brought him out of his daze.

“Hello, Alex.”

“Noah,” Alex acknowledged. “I spoke with Charles this morning.”

“Plan’s off,” Noah said, hating the catch in his voice.

Alex paused, as if waiting for an explanation, but Noah couldn’t give him one. Not when emotion churned in his gut. If he opened up enough to let even a bit of it out, he’d be overrun with pain. Regret.

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that,” Alex said, finally. “I just wanted to give you a head’s up. Kane spoke of heading your direction to check out the plan you offered up to Charles last night. Wanted to let you know in case we couldn’t talk him out of it.”

To check out the plan—more like to check up on Alice. “Well, like I said, plan’s off. I’m flying back to California tomorrow. Tell Kane he doesn’t have to come get me.”

Alex paused, and the discomfort on his end of the line was palpable. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

Another pause. “I’ll be around if you change your mind.”

“Thanks,” Noah said, and his throat tightened around the word. He was thankful Alex had called, not Charles. Charles would have pressed him for information; Alex knew to let things lie.

Alex hung up without saying goodbye.

Noah stared at his phone. Less than three minutes after he’d hung up with Alex, it rang. Noah winced at the noise. Charles’s name lit up the screen, just as he’d known it would. Taking a shaky breath, he turned off the phone. Talking to Charles wasn’t something he could handle yet.

It’s for the best. She can live in the sun.

It was for the best.

She’d expected the day to pass quickly, they were so busy. But it didn’t. The day moved as if coated in molasses. She pointedly ignored the questioning looks her family shot her after Noah’s abrupt departure at the breakfast table. And she shook her head when her sister took her aside and asked her what was going on.

She couldn’t talk about it. If she talked about it, she’d never be able to pull herself together in time for the wedding the next morning.

So, like a zombie, she went through the motions. Helping Cindy with the final touches in the banquet room. Double checking that the food and cake was in order. Making sure the reverend was ready. And then there was the rehearsal.

She met Brent at the aisle’s edge, and avoided his gaze as she took his arm. She couldn’t look at him, he knew her too well. One look at the sadness in her eyes and he would know near enough what had happened. And if she saw the triumph that followed that knowledge, she just might deck him.

“Are you all right?” Brent murmured.

Dammit
. She was worse at hiding her expression than she’d feared. “I’m fine,” she said stiffly, keeping her eyes firmly affixed at anything else. Anyone who wasn’t Brent. And her gaze met Kristen’s, where she sat on the groom’s side of the aisle. Her former friend watched them, nervously chewing on the inside of her cheek.

It was then, walking arm in arm with Brent down the aisle that would be so beautifully decorated the next day, it hit her. A flash of a thought was all it was. Would Noah be jealous, seeing her walking with Brent? And she realized he wouldn’t even get the chance to be. She hadn’t seen him since she’d left the cabin that morning. Would he avoid her for the rest of the cruise? He might skip the wedding, but the ship wasn’t that big. And vampires still needed sleep—she’d seen Noah sleep after they’re jaunt on the beach in Cabo.

But after…

There would be no more seeing Noah after this trip ended. No more pestering him until he finally smiled for her. No more glimpses of the intense personality behind the detached mask he usually donned. No more feverish kisses.

She kept an eye out for him, heart twisting every time she caught sight of a tall man with dark hair. But he didn’t appear. Not even at dinner.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Cindy asked her quietly as they sat down for dinner in one of the cruise ship’s restaurants.

“Later,” Alice promised, and Cindy frowned. “I…I can’t talk about it right now, okay?”

Cindy leaned over and gave Alice a half hug and swift kiss on the cheek. “All right. You know where to find me if you need anything.”

They ate in near silence, and Alice barely tasted the food they put in front of her. Noah had lied to her. She shouldn’t feel bad. He was the one who messed it all up, tried to use her.

Her hand ached from how hard she gripped her fork, and she set it down carefully. Then she touched the spot on her neck where he’d bitten her. The marks were gone already. When she’d seen her blemish-free skin in the mirror before dinner, she’d almost cried. It was like every bit of proof they’d been together was disappearing.

Someone touched her shoulder and she looked up, half hoping, half dreading, seeing Noah behind her. But when her eyes met Brent’s, she swallowed down the tears trying to rake their way out of her throat.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” Brent asked.

She shrugged. Why not? A conversation with Brent was just the thing she needed to make this the best day ever.

She glanced around the table as she pushed up from her chair, noticing for the first time that everyone seemed to have donned nice clothing, where she still wore the casual outfit she’d worn all day. She should have felt embarrassed, but she couldn’t summon the energy to care. She’d been avoiding going back to the room.

Not only was Noah missing from the gathering, Kristen was as well. The churning in her stomach kicked up a notch.

Once they’d left the restaurant behind, she stopped. “This is far enough.”

Brent frowned. “There’s this balcony where we can—”

“You’ll say what you have to say here, or you won’t say it at all, Brent.” Thank God. The tremors that Noah had put into her voice were absent now. Her words came out confident and without emotion.

Brent shot a quick glance over his shoulder. “All right.” He stepped forward, a little too close, and she almost took a step back. But she stopped herself. She wouldn’t back down from Brent unless she had to. She might not be able to face Noah yet, but she could damn sure face down Brent.

“I need to apologize to you.”

She managed to not roll her eyes at him. Just barely. “Really? More apologies? You apologized while we danced. You’re sorry. I get it. Let’s move on.” And she’d had enough hollow apologies this week to last her a lifetime.

He winced as if she’d hit him. “No, Alice. You don’t understand. I really am sorry.” His gaze caught hers, and she had to fight again to stand her ground.

“Okay,” she managed. “Apology accepted. Can we all get on with our lives now?”

He took a deep breath. “That’s not all. I—do you think there’s any chance we could start over?”

“What? Like as a
couple
? No,” she said without hesitation, not even bothering to try to hide the disgust in her voice.

He gaped at her. “No? That’s it? After all we’ve gone through? All the time we loved each other? And you won’t even give it a second of consideration?”

“There is no
we
, Brent. Not anymore.”

He looked shocked, and she realized that maybe he had a right to be. What would she have said if he’d made the offer a few months before? If he’d seemed so truthful in his apology after she’d caught them, right after her world as she knew it had imploded?

She might have bought it. And that realization hit her with a chill, like he’d tossed ice water on her instead of apologizing so fervently.

Was Noah the difference? Had she traded caring about one jerk for another? No. Her eyes had opened up to the reality of Brent sometime in the last year, but the vampire didn’t spur the change. He just gave her something to compare Brent to. Someone who highlighted exactly how much of an asshole Brent really was, no matter how well he hid it behind his slick exterior.

Someone so unlike Brent that she couldn’t believe she’d ever compared them.

It wasn’t that Brent didn’t care about her—she could see now he genuinely thought he did. Probably as much as he could, which was about a tenth as much as he cared about himself. But Brent was shallow in his affection. Not like Noah.

Noah had made a mistake. But who was she to not even allow him to explain himself? Not a perfect person, that was for sure. Yes, he’d kept something from her. But he should have at least had the chance to explain.

Her heart cried out that she’d made a mistake, and Brent watched her with fascination, hope pushing a half-smile to his face.

He reached out and slid his fingertips down her cheek softly, and then bent his head to kiss her.

“You’re an asshole, Brent,” she said in a rush of breath that stopped his descent. She stepped back then, and relief spread through her body at the distance it created. “You don’t deserve another chance with me, and I used to think you and Kristen deserved each other. Now I’m not so sure—maybe she’s too good for you, too.”

“I’m beginning to think you’re right about that,” a clear voice said from behind her. Alice spun just in time to watch Kristen stalk away. Brent started after her before spinning around, his gaze resting on Alice’s face for a second.

Disgust was the only thing he’d see there. And he must have figured that out, because he frowned, and then turned and yelled for Kristen.

Reliable Brent. Always willing to settle for his second choice when the first fell through. She’d have felt a bit flattered maybe, if she hadn’t known it was the size of her inheritance that made her Brent’s first choice. And maybe some affection he had for her, too. But her bank account had always drawn him more than she had.

Alice took a shaky breath.

Noah had done a shitty thing by not telling her his situation, and she wasn’t entirely sure she could forgive his desire to use her. But, she’d made a mistake too by not giving him the chance to explain. By immediately thinking he was a user like Brent. Not after her family’s money, but after something even more valuable. Her heart.

But what if he wasn’t a user?

Hope surged through her as she walked briskly to her cabin. Maybe Noah wouldn’t have a good explanation, but maybe
he would
. And just the chance of that being the case made her almost painfully hopeful.

She opened the door to the suite and started at the darkness. Okay, Noah liked it dark, vampire and all. Maybe he hadn’t wandered off to drown his sorrows at the bar or in a game at the casino. She clicked on the light, and something struck her as wrong about the room.

When she stuck her head into the bathroom, it hit her. His stuff was gone. His bags. His fake toiletries from under the sink. All of it, gone. Even the empty shampoo bottle.

Tears burning her eyes, she walked out to the main room. A piece of paper sat folded on her pillow. And something else.

She touched the glass-blown sun softly. It was so pretty. Bright and swirling with a rainbow of colors. Had he bought it for her?

Read the note
. She knew she had to, but her hand stilled over it. What if it held mean, nasty words that would forever scar her? What if it said he’d never felt anything for her, that the whole thing had been a farce?

No. Noah wouldn’t do that. She wasn’t that bad of a judge of character, she couldn’t be. And every cell in her body screamed Noah was—despite his omission—a good man.

With trembling hands, she picked up the paper, and then sat down on the bed gingerly. Forcing herself to breathe deeply, she opened the note.

It fluttered to the ground as she finally gave in to the tears that had pressed at her eyelids all day, clutching her hands to her chest. A few simple words, and they echoed in her mind.

I’m so sorry
.

Chapter Eleven

N
oah awoke to a small bit of sunshine streaming through a crack in the curtains, confused at the unfamiliar sight of the room around him. Confusion gave way to memory, and his chest tightened.

Alice had ended it. He’d kept the truth of his situation from her, and she never wanted to see him again. She’d compared him to Brent.

For a few minutes, he just laid on the bed, as if the weight on his chest wouldn’t allow him to move. Alice’s blood. God, he couldn’t imagine never tasting it again. Never making love to her again. Never watching her laugh. How could she leave him like that? How was he supposed to return to his old life after tasting the possibility of a life with Alice?

Realization hit him, and he sat up on the bed. He didn’t want to live without her. Because he loved her.

He
loved
Alice.

When had he fallen for her? It was almost too fast. Or was it?

They’d known each other for years, though their relationship had been casual. But he could still remember the first time they’d met, and the lasting impression she’d made on him. He’d made an effort to see her whenever possible after that. Hell, he’d never gone to a neighborhood gathering before meeting her. And after? He hadn’t missed a single one.

While that had been more of a crush than anything, the chance to spend a week with her on the boat had made his feelings shift dramatically. Because every fantasy he’d ever had about her or any other woman, she had fulfilled. They were opposites in many ways, but they meshed so perfectly in the ways that mattered.

And he had to tell her that.

Noah dressed quickly, trying to force down the hope surging through him. Just because he’d come to understand his own feelings, didn’t mean they’d make one bit of difference to her. But he had to tell her. At least he could say he was—finally—being entirely honest with her.

Bag in hand, he opened the hotel room door. Then stared at the man behind it.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in, Noah?” Kane asked, voice harsh. When Noah didn’t reply, Kane pushed past him. “Luckily for me, you don’t have to invite me into a hotel room.”

Noah let the door shut and then turned around to face the man who had been a father to him for so long that he could scarcely remember a time when he wasn’t.

Kane didn’t really look old enough to be Noah’s father, although he had been older when he was changed—early forties to Noah’s thirty years. And his Japanese descent would have given him away as not being a relative regardless of his age.

“Please, come in, Kanehito.” He didn’t have time for this. But one didn’t just walk away from a vampire Kane’s age without permission. And that he was Noah’s blood father—his creator—made that even truer.

“I am surprised to find you here, not on the boat with your woman.”

Kane may have lost any trace of an accent centuries before, but he wasn’t entirely modern in his speech or his way of thinking. Noah had often wondered, especially after Kane first changed him, what the man’s background had been while he was still a human. He’d almost had to have been some sort of warrior, and once Noah had pictured him as an old samurai, fully garbed in Edo period armor, he’d never shaken the image.

Not that he’d ever ask Kane. The man wasn’t much of a talker, and that went doubly for talking about himself.

“That’s not exactly—”

“Speak clearly.”

Noah flushed, annoyed the man could still make him feel like a child—two centuries after he’d become a vampire. “She found out about the wedding. She left me. But I—”

“Then you no longer have a basis to postpone the bonding? Good.”

“That’s not—”

“This is good. We’ll return to California immediately—”

“No!” Noah yelled. Getting a word in edgewise with Kane hadn’t become any easier in the decades since he’d seen the man. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m going back—”

“Silence!” Kane said, raising his own voice. His jaw twitched and he eyed Noah like he’d never seen him before. “This is not a discussion. I thought that after a century on your own, you would have matured, but I see this is not the case.”

Noah took a step back. “I’m not going with you. There’s something I have to do first.”

Another twitch of Kane’s jaw muscle, and Noah almost thought he was trying not to smile. That was wishful thinking though. Kane never smiled.

“You have a duty to fulfill. You’re coming with me. Now.”

Noah tossed his bag to the ground. “I am not.”

Kane came at him so fast that his fist connected with Noah’s cheek before he even noticed his mentor moving. But he reacted immediately, stepping back out of the way of the next hit before it could land.

Kane hadn’t changed at all.

Noah ducked another punch, the air moving against his skin as the swing went wide.

Kane kicked, connecting with Noah’s stomach with his knee. Pain radiated from the strike point. Noah half stepped, half fell, back, ducking the next punch.

“Too slow, my son,” Kane said.

What felt like a baseball bat—but what was no doubt Kane’s fist—slammed into the back of Noah’s head while he was still ducking a punch. He fell to his hands and knees. The room spun, and he shook his head to clear the fog filling his vision.

Kane backed up a couple of steps, his body still defensively turned to the side, and his arms still up. But it was clear that he considered the matter settled.

Noah touched the back of his skull. Wet. He’d have been better off being hit with a crowbar.

He had to focus. Distraction during a fight would get you killed. Kane had taught him that, back when vampire factions still warred among themselves. A clear mind left more room for reaction to the fight itself. But his mind wouldn’t clear, even while facing down his blood father.

Alice.

Her face. Her laugh. The look in her eyes when she studied him. She was there with him. In his mind and in his heart. He couldn’t let her go without a fight. He had to talk to her. And no one—not even one of the toughest sons of bitches in the world—was going to stop him.

He leaped at Kane. Pain shot through his shoulder as he connected. The man was as hard as a damn rock, and while he was a couple of inches shorter than Noah’s six-foot-two, he had to have twenty pounds on Noah, and every bit of it muscle. Not that physical appearance necessarily mattered with vampires. Some simply had more strength and speed due to bloodlines, while others inherited different abilities. But he knew from experience that Kane was very, very strong.

Kane stumbled back a step, but it was enough. Noah swung and connected with the other vampire’s solar plexus to knock him off balance, then shoved him with all of his strength and desperation.

Kane flew
through
the hotel room wall, missing the window by less than a foot.

The third floor. He’d just sent his blood father through the wall of a third story hotel room. Quickly calculating in his head, he figured that gave him about a thirty second head start. Maybe a minute, with the sunlight raining down, given Kane’s age.

He had to get to Alice. Talk to her. Convince her somehow that he really did love her. Because if Kane caught him, he’d never get another chance. He’d gotten a lucky shot in, but he wasn’t fool enough to believe he’d beat Kane the next time.

Noah ran.

A
lice tugged on the curling iron, and her sister’s hair fell into a perfect twisted curl. Surrounded by the smells of makeup and perfume and hairspray, Alice’s mood had lightened somewhat. She’d spent the night alternatively calling Noah and crying, wishing she’d done things differently and trying to sleep. Thank God for makeup, because every one of those fitful minutes had shown on her face this morning.

“Thanks for fixing that. I swear, doesn’t matter how much hair spray I use, curls always fall out. And I think the hairdresser must have used a gallon,” Cindy said.

Alice nodded and murmured appropriate noises as her sister continued to talk about her hair and dress and big day. It was nerves, and Cindy had every right to burn away some of her stress by prattling at her maid of honor on her wedding day, less than fifteen minutes before her actual wedding. But Alice, for the life of her, couldn’t keep her mind on the wedding.

It was seriously selfish, she knew that. And guilt only added fuel to her worry. She couldn’t seem to keep her mind from wandering to Noah. What was he doing now? Where was he? Was he thinking about her?

Worse, was he actually going through with the arranged marriage she’d heard him whisper about?

She’d called him, multiple times the night before. And she feared her voicemails nudged toward the double digits. But he never answered. The calls always went immediately to voicemail.

Maybe his phone was off? Would he have called her back if it wasn’t? She didn’t know.

“…and then I decided we should have hippopotamuses for flower girls. And at the reception, we’ll all wear purple, spandex one piece pantsuits that are cut low enough to show lots of cleavage and chest hair. If anyone refuses, we can shoot them,” Cindy said.

Alice stared at her sister. “What?”

“Spandex. It’s an underrated material.” Cindy laughed. “Sorry, couldn’t help messing with you, even in your sad state.”

Alice sat in the chair across from Cindy and put her face in her hands. “Is it that obvious?”

“Yes, it is. Careful not to smudge your makeup.”

Alice moved her hands to her lap and stared at her sister, misery rolling through her. “I’m so sorry. This is your day. I’m such a jerk.”

“You’re not a jerk. You’re sad, and it’s understandable. Or, I’m assuming it’s understandable since you won’t talk to me about it. I’m a pretty awesome person, so I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt.”

Alice groaned. “Thanks for trying, but I think my mood is beyond repair right now.”

“We’ve got,” Cindy glanced at the clock hanging over the dresser, “fifteen minutes. Talk to me. It’ll make you feel better.”

“This is your day,” Alice insisted.

“Spill!”

She took a deep breath and glared at her sister. “Fine, but if my makeup runs off my face, I’ll hold you accountable.”

Cindy grinned. “We’ll be five minutes late to fix your raccoon face if we have to be.”

“I overheard Noah on the phone. I—don’t know all the details, but the gist of it is that he was planning on using our relationship to get out of some sort of vampire arranged marriage.”

“Arranged marriage?” Cindy’s nose scrunched. “How old fashioned of them.”

“He lied to me. Not once did he mention this marriage thing.” She shook her head. “I flipped out at the idea of someone being with me to…to use me again.”

“Noah isn’t Brent, Alice.”

“Don’t you think I don’t know that?” She blinked back tears and nodded gratefully when Cindy offered her a tissue. “But I was so upset, and he didn’t deny I’d heard him correctly. So I broke things off. And when I got back to the room last night, he was already gone. I think he’s left the ship.”

“Well, good riddance. Bastard was just trying to use you, anyway.” Cindy tossed a free curl over her shoulder dramatically. Not an easy feat with the veil attached to her head.

“It wasn’t like that! Or, at least, I don’t know for sure that it was. I didn’t even give him a chance to explain the situation.” Why hadn’t she? She was too stubborn, that’s why.

“Explain, shmexplain.” Cindy waved her hand in the air dismissively. “What excuse could he possibly have? You’re better off without the jerk.”

“He’s not a jerk. And I’m not better off without him. I lo—” Alice clapped her hand over her mouth and her sister jumped up, a huge smile on her face.
Crap
. She loved him. She’d let herself fall in love with her neighbor. Her
vampire
neighbor. Within the space of a few days at sea. What the heck was wrong with her? And what was she supposed to do about that?

“I knew it! I knew you were totally falling for him.” Cindy laughed and tugged at Alice’s arm. “Honey, things will work out. I just wanted you to realize how you felt. The rest of us—well, it’s been on your faces since you two slept together—a fact that was totally obvious by the way, Miss Googly-Eyes. Even if neither of you realized it yet.”

“That’s not—faces?” she asked, putting emphasis on the plurality of the word.

Cindy sat back down, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “Oh, he’s just as smitten with you as you are with him. I know things will work out for you. Don’t fret.”

“You don’t understand, Cindy. He was going back to get married. And he won’t answer my phone calls. And—” Her voice broke, and she swallowed hard. She couldn’t cry. They had less than five minutes before they had to walk down the aisle. Making Cindy late to her wedding would only compound her guilt.

“Try him again before we go.”

Alice shot a nervous glance at the clock, but hit Noah’s name on her cell phone. Again, right to voicemail. She almost hung up, but steeled her spine instead. She could live with failing to get him back—maybe. But only if she knew she’d tried her best. Anything less and she’d always feel regret.

“Noah, it’s me again—Alice. I really need to talk to you. Please call me before you do anything drastic.”
I love you
. The words teetered on the edge of her tongue, but she couldn’t confess her love on his voicemail for goodness’ sake. She hung up before the temptation overran her good sense.

“Come on, we’d better get you out there before Mom comes looking for us,” Alice said. She set the phone down on the dresser, but the temptation to carry it with her was fierce. No. That would be crossing a line. What would she do if he called her back? Answer it during the ceremony? Not likely.

“Are you sure you don’t want—”

“No. I’ve left him messages. There’s nothing else I can do about him right now.” She forced a smile onto her face and looked at Cindy, really looked at her. Reaching out, she slid her fingertips over the veil. “You’re such a beautiful bride.”

Cindy smiled back, and fanned away tears of her own. “Thanks, sis. Now let’s go do this before Robert decides we’ve taken off with some cabana boys.”

N
oah didn’t bother with a cab. The cruise ship dock wasn’t far, and it was nearly ten o’clock, so the ship should have redocked for the day. It was the second, and final, day it would dock in Puerto Vallarta. Then it would be gone. And for all intents and purposes, Alice would be lost to him. He couldn’t evade Kane for days, not with how intent the man was to bring him back. The sun beat down on him, and by the time he got to the ship, a headache threatened and he was faintly nauseous.