Don't Bite the Bridesmaid (9 page)

“What’s the problem? They didn’t compete with the likes of Brent?”

She gasped. “They could compete just fine. But not a one of them lasted more than a night or two, did they?”

“I can’t help it if I’m discerning, Miss Shepard.”

Miss Shepard.
God, he was such a jerk. “Discerning? With the line of models you’ve had through there? More like scared.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Scared?”

“Yes. Of commitment.”

“’Til death do us part is a long time.”

For him, especially, she wanted to say. But she managed to stop herself. “It is,” she murmured, instead.

He took a step toward her, so close now. Their eyes met and her breath caught in her throat. No anger danced behind his gaze and the corner of his mouth turned up. He was baiting her. Enjoying their argument. She should be mad. He’d brought up Brent, after all. But she couldn’t seem to summon any real ire. Her blood rushed through her ears, and she bit her lip.

Fists at his sides, he stopped, and the amusement drained from his expression. Only one step away, but the man might as well have been on the other side of the ship. And it was almost as if she could see his mental debate. His warning bells going off. His decision.

He turned away and reached for his bag. “My personal life isn’t any of your business. Don’t we have a dinner to get to soon?”

H
e had to get a grip.

Noah ran a brush through his hair and smeared a small dab of some product through it that Charles insisted he use whenever they went somewhere requiring a jacket or tie.

He’d almost kissed her again, deciding the chance to make love to Alice was worth any risk. He’d almost pulled her back into his arms so he could feel her softness pressed against him. Almost said to hell with dinner, to hell with his intentions to keep things businesslike between them, to hell with playing it safe.

Fuck
. He couldn’t afford to think like that. This was a one-week cruise. If he couldn’t get through a week without kissing one woman, what did that say about him? Vampires prized control above all else. They had to. It was what kept them safe. What kept the humans around them safe.

He’d be damned if he let Alice break the control he’d spent decades perfecting.

Their dinner in the ship’s Italian-themed restaurant flew by too quickly, because after dinner was the bachelor party. Not to mention the bachelorette party.

“Isn’t a bachelor party traditionally held the night before the wedding?” he asked Alice as she munched on the last bite of a large piece of tiramisu. She finished off her coffee before answering him.

“Sure. But who wants to be hung over for their wedding?”

She had a point.

“I take it you’ll be tossing dollar bills at some muscle bound idiot this evening?” Not that he cared. Had he sounded like he cared? Shit.

“We’ll see,” she said, expression far too innocent.

The idea of her watching men strut around all night didn’t bother him nearly as much as the possibility they’d enjoy dancing around her. It was silly, really. A night of harmless fun, even if there were strippers.

Hell, maybe strippers would be good for him. Take his mind off of Alice. He shook his head. Who was he kidding? No stripper was going to replace lovely, enticing Alice in his thoughts.

He followed the Robert—who, for a man entering his bachelor party, didn’t seem at all nervous—and the far-too-young Jake, to a medium-sized banquet hall. The brightness of the room surprised him, as did the lack of stripper poles. The room was empty save for a dozen or so men Noah recognized from other family events—wedding guests, then. Not a cruise ship-run strip club. A private party?

But instead of scantily clad women, the room had several poker tables set up.

He glanced at Robert, and the groom shrugged. “Didn’t really feel comfortable getting strippers with Cindy only a few rooms over. So instead, we have poker and some pretty cocktail waitresses. Also,” he grinned, “cigars.”

Brent walked in and Noah would have bristled at him if he’d had fur. Instead, he watched the other man with a suspicious eye. Brent, surprisingly, kept his gaze firmly away from Noah. And the few times he did glance in Noah’s direction, he slid his gaze over him, as if he didn’t exist.

Should he be insulted at Brent’s disinterest, or happy the other man was ignoring him? Maybe Brent had realized the battle for Alice was one he couldn’t win. Noah shook himself mentally. Battle for Alice? There was no battle. She was a prize he could never claim.

He narrowed his eyes as Brent outlined the plan for the night. Noah might not be able to take Alice for his own, but he’d be damned if he’d let an asshole like Brent have her either.

Shit
. He had to stop thinking about her.

He found himself sitting at a table between Jake and Robert, and directly across from Brent. He grimaced. What? The man couldn’t beat him at volleyball so he was determined to take him down playing poker?

Brent had a hell of a lot to learn.

A couple of other men sat at the table with them, but Noah missed their names. Alice’s uncle, he thought he recalled. And one of her cousins.

A cocktail waitress, in a dress so tiny she might as well have been a stripper, came by for their drink orders.

“Johnnie Walker Blue, straight up,” Noah said.

“Sounds good,” Robert agreed, a smile on his face for the waitress. “But make mine on the rocks.” The groom’s eyes actually managed to stay out of the waitress’s cleavage while he ordered. Good man.

Shockingly, Brent’s gaze also remained on the woman’s eyes as he ordered a Coke. But Jake didn’t even bother to conceal his interest. Noah doubted he’d even be able to say the color of the woman’s eyes if questioned with a gun to his head.

The dealer, also scantily clad, dealt the first hand.

“So, Jake,” Noah said once the waitress had disappeared to retrieve their drinks. “How long have you been seeing Edna?”

Jake dragged his gaze away from where the waitress had disappeared, eyes a touch glassy. “Oh, Edna and I have been seeing each other causally for two years now.”

Noah frowned. Defending Alice’s mother was hardly his job, but she was a good woman, and Jake’s lack of control annoyed him. “And do you drool over other women around her, too?”

Someone snickered, and Jake looked flummoxed, his eyes wide and mouth open.

“Well it’s not like Edna and I are exactly exclusive, Noah,” Jake said.

“Edna’s always got at least three guys on speed dial,” Robert explained, tossing two cards toward the dealer.

“Three, huh? She must be slowing down,” Brent added.

Noah wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he frowned at Jake. But Jake didn’t seem to be bothered by Brent and Robert’s observations. If anything, the man grinned a bit.

“You gotta understand, Noah,” another man said. Alice’s uncle, maybe. Then Edna’s own brother? “Edna’s quite a woman. But she won’t ever commit to a man again. Not after her husband. He was her very own Prince Charming. And she’ll tell you the same, if you ask her.”

“No one’s quite measured up to the kids’ father,” Jake agreed, not seeming insulted by the comparison. “Mostly, she keeps guys like me around for entertainment.”

“And you don’t mind?” Noah asked. Cigar smoke swirled around them, almost unseen, but the smell was strong enough to be distracting. A good smell, one that threatened to drag him into the past. How many nights had he spent in a club so like this, with glasses clinking and smoke filling the air? But that was a long time ago.

“Hell, no. She’s a great woman. We have fun together.” He tossed his cards back at the dealer along with a gratuity and she tipped an invisible hat to him in thanks.

Half a dozen hands later, Noah realized Brent wasn’t the pushover he’d assumed when it came to poker. The man was up almost as much as Noah, and even though the actual betting amounts were kept low, he found Brent’s skill annoying.

Gone was the man who exuded emotion, and before him now was one who actually seemed to know how to keep his cool. The transformation was unsettling.

The waitress dropped off the table’s latest rounds of drinks, and finally, Noah put his finger on the difference.

“Not drinking tonight, Brent?” he asked over the steady murmur of voices that grew louder with every round of drinks.

Brent eyed him over his hand. “I never drink while gambling. I like to keep a clear head.”

Noah murmured in approval but watched Brent carefully for the rest of the night. Alice’s shock at Brent’s behavior finally made sense. The man hid his snakeskin under a charming facade. Knowing what lurked just beneath the surface, Noah could still pinpoint the cruel glint in his eye. But if he’d met this man first—the man with the clear head—Brent might have even fooled him. For a short while, anyway.

Time seemed to tick by in slow motion as he watched the handsome man play hand after hand, winning far more often than he lost. If confronted by this man, would Alice believe the facade? Fall for Brent again? Surely not. She’d seen behind the mask and Alice was a smart woman.

But she’d been with him for years before seeing Brent with her best friend. Something about the man appealed to her. Got to her. Could he snake his way back into her life? With greater certainty than he should have felt, Noah was quite sure that was exactly what Brent planned to do.

Over his dead body.

He beat Alice back to the cabin after the party. And from the way she’d stumbled into the room giggling and smelling strongly of appletinis, he suspected the bachelorette party had been a lot more fun than the low-key gambling of the bachelor party. But when he’d asked, even as tipsy as she was, she’d solemnly told him that her lips were sealed.

She fell asleep quickly, while his mind still whirred with thoughts. He nodded off to the rhythm of her heartbeat and the sound of her steady breathing.

They slept late the next morning and spent a lazy day relaxing around the ship. Alice hit up the spa with her sister again while Noah met Jake for an early lunch. Shortly before dinner, he returned to the room and showered.

He exited the bathroom and the sight of her hit him like running into a brick wall. The spa had agreed with her. She was stunning, in a flowing skirt that hit a couple of inches above her knees, and short-heeled sandals that accentuated her pretty toes and perfectly-formed calves. Her hair flowed around her shoulders, and pretty curls bounced around her face.

And he did his best to ignore the scoop neck of her blouse. The light material made it look like it would be all too easy to feel her body through it. To touch her breasts, which the low neck displayed clearly.

He dragged his gaze away before his attraction revealed itself in a most embarrassing way. A set of curlers sat on the nightstand next to the bed.

“They didn’t do your hair at the spa?”

She glanced back at the curlers. “I just wanted a little bounce—they flat-ironed it at the salon. We stopped by the gift shop. You like the sandals?” She pointed at her wiggling toes.

“Nice. Ready to go?” he asked, voice gruff. He swallowed hard.
Get a grip
.

“I’m ready,” she said. “You look nice, by the way,” she added, voice soft.

He didn’t dare glance her way. “Thanks. You, too.”

Dinner was a larger affair than the night before. They’d chosen a different restaurant—this one specializing in Asian cuisine—but the ambiance was much the same. Despite the large number of people, the space resonated a hum of conversation, but he could still clearly hear their dinner companions. And even more impressive, his companions could hear him without vampire senses.

He casually noted Brent and Kristen were not in attendance and Cindy replied that they’d be joining later.

“So tell us about yourself, Noah,” Edna said, warm smile on her face. He found himself smiling back, and some of the tension he’d carried since being reminded of how good Alice could look faded away.

Something about Alice’s mother made him feel comfortable, even as she pressed him for information about himself. An odd sensation. He would have attributed it to be a simple mother thing, but she was nothing like his mother had been. They were very different women. Of course, how could they not be, with centuries between them?

“I’m not sure what there is to tell,” he said, finally. He had a prepared background, of course. One that would withstand a good deal of scrutiny if a person was curious—or suspicious—enough to check it out. But he hesitated to lie to Edna.

“Well, start at the beginning, why don’t you? Where are you from, dear?”

“I’m originally from New York,” he said, the lie leaving a heavy weight on his tongue. “But I’ve lived in California for the last decade.”

“What brought you out here?”

“Work,” he said, and that much was the truth.

“Oh?” Alice asked. “You don’t seem to keep a regular work schedule.”

Edna shot her a considering look, before returning her gaze to Noah.

He suppressed a grimace. Alice had just revealed—to anyone who was paying close enough attention—that she didn’t know him well enough to call him her boyfriend. And he got the feeling Edna always paid very close attention to her daughters.

But a pleasant feeling filled his chest. How closely had Alice been observing him? Had she secretly watched him over the years like he had her? “My work involves importing and exporting with several Asian countries. I tend to keep their business hours, which keeps me up most nights working. The in-person meetings I attend locally only happen occasionally.”

“How fascinating,” Edna said. “What kinds of things do you import?”

“High-end antiquities, for the most part. Although, I’ve brokered deals for less exciting products as well.”

Edna rattled off a few other questions, and hearing the topic of discussion, the rest of the table asked about his business as well. He was suddenly thankful his line of work was one that could be shared. He had a feeling that even he would have been thrown by some of the odd details they’d asked if he hadn’t actually worked in his field.

“Have you ever been married?” Edna asked, after a barrage of questions from Cindy that seemed to suggest she thought he might be bringing in antiquities that were stolen from long lost emperors.