Royal Bastard (21 page)

I thought about the woman who had stormed in here, telling me she hated my guts and who’d thrown a drink at me. She wouldn’t have been my first choice. Since she was already angry at me it would definitely be a challenge… but she had a feistiness that bubbled below the surface; a wildcat in disguise that needed some encouragement to let loose.

And if she channeled half as much anger as she did at me earlier, but this time in the bedroom instead then I would definitely be in for a fun time. I could imagine all the pent-up frustration she’d want to take out on me, desperate to get it out… she just had that look about her; wanting to be taken hard and fast, and I was ready to oblige. I laughed, she would probably kill me before even a week was up. At least it would be interesting.

“You scared?” Chase asked, shaking his body like he was trembling. “Is our big bad quarterback a pussy?”

“Watch your mouth, I ain’t no pussy,” I fired back. Could I do this? Fuck yeah I could. I was Connor fucking Haden. I could turn on the charm, win her ass over and last two weeks in paradise with her, right? It couldn’t be that hard. “I’ll do it, ten grand from each of you.” I quickly counted the eight in attendance, a slow smile coming over my face. “Eighty grand. What do you say, boys? Want to back down? Too rich for you?”

“Fuck no! We’re in. Eighty grand will be a nice ‘I’m so fucked I can’t do this’ present,” Eddie responded as the other guys came over. “To Connor and his inability to commit!” They all raised their glasses in a toast and I gave them the finger, my engine already revving to go.

I had a plan forming in my head. All I had to do was convince the wedding planner to go with me on the already paid for honeymoon and the rest would be easy. I would turn on the charm and she wouldn’t be able to resist, she would be putty in my hands.

Hell, no woman could resist me when I was in my element.

I
turned
the page of my book, sighing as the hero realized he loved the heroine and had been stupid to let her go. That was how all relationships should end up, I thought, but unfortunately they did not; this was real life after all. Picking up my fork, I speared and spun another bite of pasta upon it, relishing the fact that the chef made a darn good spaghetti bolognaise. A calorie-laden dish, full of carbs and heaven, with a glass of wine was definitely what I needed to forget the crappy day I’d had. I still couldn’t believe the gall of the man, dumping his fiancée and calling me honey! Who the hell did Connor Haden think he was?

Setting my book down on the table, I sat back and watched the comings and goings of the hotel restaurant, winding down for the night. Many of the remaining patrons were businessmen, with a few couples cuddling in the corner booths. Immediately I scanned some of their fingers for rings, my wedding planner mind sizing them up as future customers. It was what I did. I couldn’t turn it off, obsessed with my job, though after today’s debacle I’d be surprised if I had a job left to go to.

I was a wedding planner extraordinaire with five years under my belt of making people’s wedding daydreams come true. I loved watching the smile on the bride’s face as she first glimpsed her wedding reception, the day she had dreamed of since she was a little girl, all come together after months of planning. I enjoyed the satisfaction of pouring my heart and soul into every minute detail, knowing that I was making someone’s special day the best possible. It was exhausting work sometimes, but well worth the effort when I could walk away from a successful venue. Well, with the exception of this one. This was my first failing and I didn’t like the feeling one bit.

I blew out a breath and picked up my wine, thinking of the event that was going to no doubt piss my boss off and have me bumped back down to the mid-level brides. I had literally begged on my hands and knees to take this high profile, extremely difficult client. So I could prove to my boss that I had the talent and management skills to handle the celebrity customers, all with the hopes of being able to garner enough commission funds to round out the down payment on the lease for my own space to open my own party planning business. But now that wasn’t going to happen. All because of one asshole jock who thought the world revolved around him and his cock. I hated guys like him. They thought that every woman should kiss the ground they walked on just because they were smoking hot… and had startling green eyes that crinkled when he laughed. And he had laughed at me a lot.
Oh, god, those eyes.

Groaning, I nearly guzzled the last of my wine, glad that the lights were dimmed so no one could see the redness of my face. When I had taken the contract for the upcoming nuptials of socialite Crystal Wagner and Connor Haden, I’d been ecstatic at the opportunities that were going to come out of successfully marrying them in the most lavish ceremony ever, while keeping it all private too.

It was going to be splashed on the front of the tabloids, sending the media into a frenzy when they realized one of the most talked about couples had gotten married in ‘secret’. And I was going to be part of it, making me, or at least I had hoped, wildly popular if I had been able to pull it off.

All of the hard work, all of the long hours of trying to make the bride happy was going to pay off dividends for me. But no. The stupid asshole of a groom had ruined it all.
I was a failure, again.
I’d had a whole speech prepared for when I confronted him, but the moment I saw his smarmy face it was like my brain took a dive off a cliff. Everything came out wrong as I stood only feet away from him, almost bewitched in his presence, and I couldn’t help but think I’d made the whole situation worse by doing what I did.

And when I’d gone back to tell the bride that he was still serious about calling off the wedding, tail between my legs, she had gone into hysterics, accusing me of ruining her wedding, throwing things and totally trashing the penthouse suite while her bridesmaids tried to calm her down. I’d backed away slowly, praying that the damage wouldn’t be billed to me or the company I worked for. Let the person who caused all this mess in the first place pay for it, clearly he had more money than sense; he was already throwing away thousands of dollars by calling off the wedding.

I looked down at my plate of half-eaten pasta and pushed it away, my appetite diminished. It was a sad day when not even food could cheer me up. I tried not to think about the call I would have to make tomorrow, relaying the news that I’d lost the account, and I contemplated ordering more wine when a shadow loomed over me.

“Hey. It’s Avril right?”

Startled, I looked up to find the object of my sorrow and anger staring back at me, that self-assured cocky grin on his face making my blood boil. He looked nothing like a man who had dumped his fiancée and called off a very expensive wedding. He looked like…well, like sin, a dangerous, keep your hands off unless you want your heart broken type sin. I swallowed the lump in my throat. His body was built for football, with broad shoulders and biceps that strained under the sleeves of his dress shirt. His face was angular and hard, with a strong jaw and crooked nose that only added to his sex appeal. His hair was a dirty blonde, but those eyes, lord those eyes were like hard cut emeralds, staring directly into my tortured soul.

“It’s April! April Matthews. What the hell do you want?” I asked, disgusted that I was ogling him. The man had probably ruined my entire life over one selfish move, so why the hell was he bothering me now? “Just leave me alone.”

He took a seat across from me and leaned on the table with his elbows, a hint of whiskey on his breath.

“Seriously? Can’t you take a hint? Go away.”

“I’m sorry for earlier. I shouldn’t have been so rude.”

Taken aback by his apology, I studied him, warning bells going off. Was he drunk? He didn’t seem like it. But I had a feeling he hadn’t come in search of me just to apologize. I knew better than that. What did he
really
want? Did he want to reconcile with Crystal? Hope swirled in my belly, maybe the wedding wasn’t a write-off…

“You’re talking to the wrong person. You need to apologize to your fiancée.”

He grinned and I felt my pulse flutter in response before I shut it down. I was not going to be attracted to him, not after what he had done. He was the worst kind of man… he was supposed to be getting married in less than forty-eight hours. If anything, I should be blasting him from not only ruining the special day I had worked my tail off for, but also ruining my chances of finally leaving the business I was working for and breaking out on my own. I knew it was selfish to bet my future on his happiness or lack thereof, but I had worked so hard on this to get this far and I hated the fact I had just hit a stumbling block in the form of a hot, green-eyed groom with cold feet.

“She’s not my fiancée anymore,” he said as he continued to stare at me. I shifted in my seat and tried to look at anything but him, my eyes flickering about the room and finally landing upon the last remaining dregs of wine in my glass.

“I don’t understand why you are here, then,” I said through clenched teeth. “But you can leave now.” My heart was racing and he shuffled the chair around the table, closer towards me. I had to remain professional.
He’s just a client, nothing more.
But the closer he got, the more the scent of his aftershave enveloped me, the more I could feel my cheeks starting to burn up.

“Why is that?” he challenged, his eyes twinkling in the candlelight. “Do I make you nervous?”

“You wish,” I muttered, feeling the tremor of nerves course through my body. Damn him, he
was
making me nervous. My tongue felt thick in my mouth, like I was about to trip up over my words. I didn’t usually talk to men as hot as him, preferring those who kept a low profile, like my last boyfriend. Henry had been an accountant, safe, and the complete opposite of the sinful man before me. I’d done my time with a heart-stopping jock before but had only ended up crushed… standing in a white dress and spending years trying to get over him. “Did you come for my help with Crystal?”

“No,” he said with a wince, and I hid my surprise, curiosity making me wonder if their relationship had been without love and affection after all, and was more of a publicity stunt to make them both relevant. If that was the case, I thought how sad it was for the both of them. To get married without love should be illegal, I thought.

“I’m not here to win Crystal back. I have something for you,” he continued. He reached out and I thought he was going to grab me, but he took the stem of my wine glass instead, licked his lips then drained the last drops of my drink. I almost passed out when he ran his tongue over his lips again.

“I’m not interested,” I said, trying to keep my breath even, signaling for the waiter. Whatever he was going to ask of me or give me I was going to decline it. I wasn’t interested in anything he had to say. The waiter came over and I scribbled my name on the receipt, keenly aware of his eyes on me the entire time. I needed to leave, get as far away from his eager eyes as possible and started to walk away from him. I wanted to go to my room and hide out until this wedding weekend was over, then I could go back home and mourn the fact that everything I had planned for was going up in smoke.

“Just hear me out,” he said as followed me towards the door. “You’ll like it, I promise.”

I turned around, aware that we were right outside of the restaurant, in full view of everyone walking by the lobby of the hotel. That’s all I needed; a scene, and rumors flying about. “I’m sorry, Mr. Haden, but anything you have to say to me doesn’t amount to a hill of beans unless you are going through with this wedding.”

“Call me Connor. April, I want you to go on my honeymoon for me,” he said with a wide cheeky smile.

I burst out into loud laughter, I couldn’t help it. It was the last thing I expected him to say, and I clapped a hand over my face to stop the hysterical laughter as I started to notice people glancing over. Go on his honeymoon? Was he completely insane?

“That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard,” I forced out. “But you’re funny, I’ll give you that.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and I gulped at the strong forearms that were now on display, his dress shirt rolled up to expose his tanned skin. Once upon a time I was a sucker for strong forearms… I shook my head and took a step away from him.

“It’s an all expenses paid, all-inclusive two week vacation to a private island in the South Pacific. Surely you would want to go, and I just so happen to have a free ticket. You deserve some down time after all you did with the wedding planning stuff.”

“Mr. Haden,” I started again.

“Connor—”

“Mr. Haden,” I repeated with force, “I have no intention of going on your honeymoon, you must think I’m crazy! Regardless, I don’t have the time to even think about taking a trip like that, since you aren’t going through with the wedding, and once I sort out and cancel all the arrangements I will be going back to my job as normal. And you will be going back to whatever you were doing before this weekend.”

I ran his words over in my mind again. A tropical getaway that was to be his honeymoon? No thank you, no matter how much I wanted the break. But I’d had enough of this couple for quite a while and wanted no further reminders of this wedding disaster. I never wanted to see his face again after what he had done to all of my hard work.

“Think about it,” he said, his eyes full of confidence as he obliterated the gap I’d made. He held out a slim envelope. “Two weeks away from reality with no strings attached. Just think of it as a way to make up for all of the hard work you did on this wedding.”

“How many times have you been knocked on the head or sacked during a game?”

“Er… I don’t know, a few, why?”

“Because I’m trying to figure out why you can’t get it through your thick skull that I’ve said no!” I fired back, turning to go. I didn’t want a parting gift. I wanted my hard work to be on the front page of all those glossy magazines, and for it to launch my own successful business. But none of that was going to happen. Not unless he was going to walk down that aisle like he was supposed to.

“This is probably the best offer you’ve had in a while,” he called out as I headed to the elevator, twisting the knife. I stopped in my tracks. What had he just said to me? Oh, no he didn’t.

I stalked towards him, ready to rip him a new one, no longer caring who heard or saw me take this jock down a level in the hotel lobby. “How dare you? Who the hell do you think you are, anyway? The best offer? I’ll have you know, Connor Haden, I’m a fucking catch. I’m inundated with countless offers from men; just last week a billionaire wanted to take me on a yacht. Do you have a yacht, huh? Didn’t think so. Your offer is nothing special and YOU aren’t fucking special either, so you can take your little mediocre holiday and shove it where the sun don’t shine!”

I caught my breath, giving him one final glare, then walked back towards the bank of elevators with my head held high. I was so full of shit pretending I had men banging down my door, but he didn’t need to know that.

“At least we’re getting somewhere, you called me by my first name!” he said with a laugh from across the lobby.

I hit the button on the elevator again, almost breaking a nail, urging it to hurry up. I made myself not look back to see if he was still there. Honeymoon? The prick. He should have thought about that before he dumped his bride-to-be. I was through with Connor Haden and would count my blessings if I could get out of this hotel without ever having to see him again.