She's the One (Lowcountry Lovers Series Book 2) (12 page)

“You know that’s not why I’m doing this. I told you I don’t want anything to do with Cassie. I want this place.”
I want you.

“Canceling a contract is
not
cool, Shane.” She bit her bottom lip and then looked away. “You and Cassie want the same things. You even want the same house, Shane. Give it up.”

The French doors opened and Cassie stepped out onto deck, looking like she had Shane exactly where she wanted him, with the exception of in her bed. “Love it so far, Shane. I’ve made a bunch of notes. Of course we’ll be working closely on this.” She raked her fingers down her throat until they rested on the swell of her breasts. “Glad the counter tops are just the right height,” she smirked.

Melissa blushed hard and looked away. Yeah, Shane remembered bending Cassie over the counter of the first house he worked on when he was in college. It was kind of their thing after that, christening the houses he worked on when no one was around. It had been a rush then and sexy as hell. Now the innuendo was just an embarrassment to him. And Melissa.

“Sorry, I have to run off, Cassie. Totally forgot an appointment.” Melissa wouldn’t even look at him. “Shane, please get Cassie back to her car. It’s parked at my office.”

M
elissa didn’t give Shane a chance to answer, just bolted away, jumped into her car, and headed across the connector. For the first time in her life, she felt like she
had
to get off the island or she was going to die.

She’d known when Cassie strolled into her office yesterday it was either fate or she was chasing Shane. Cassie had only asked to see one property, his spec home. He was at a closing when Melissa tried to call his office and tell him she had a contract on the place. His assistant said to fax it over and she’d have him sign it, and he had.

Could it be that he really hadn’t seen Cassie’s name, printed and signed, just below the line where he signed his own? He had seemed genuinely shocked to see her. The blinding aura Melissa had seen when Shane and Cassie collided at the oyster roast wasn’t quite as bright when Shane brushed past her to get Melissa’s Starbucks. Still, everything seemed to be lining up the way it was supposed to. It must have been, because Melissa found herself on Bo’s doorstep.

He’d worked late on a song and had texted her around four with some lyrics he was playing around with.
The working title’s My Sweet Melissa. Damn the Allman Brothers for taking that one. Having a hell of a time coming up with the last line.
Melissa scrolled through the rest of his text. Beautiful words any woman would love to wake up to.

He opened the door, smiled, and breathed out the words. “Hey, baby.” He was barefoot, dressed only in a pair of paper soft jeans, the bottom two buttons buttoned. He pulled her into the entry, kicked the door shut, and welcomed her with a long kiss that left her breathless.

“I’m sorry I woke you,” she whispered against his lips.

He tightened his arms around her, making her sigh. Melissa wanted this. To be wanted, to be loved.

“I was just dreaming about you, but this is better.” He pulled back a little so she could see his gorgeous, sleepy eyes. “Way better.”

“Bo,” Melissa whispered his name before he kissed her again. Gifted hands traveled under her shirt and up her rib cage, stopping just below her lacy pink bra. Bo could make her feel beautiful, adored.
Loved.
He could be her happily ever after. “Bo.”

Shane
, her brain echoed back.
Shane
.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he whispered against her neck between open mouth kisses. “For us?”

Yes. Say yes.
Bo was everything Melissa was sure she wanted. Except he wasn’t Shane.

“Um, I was just headed to Mitzi’s for a fitting.” Mitzi’s Bridal Boutique was across the street from Bo’s apartment. If Mitzi had a rewards card for every dress purchased, Melissa would have a slew of freebies.

“It’s a bit early; businesses around here don’t open until ten.” He smiled and pulled her down onto the couch. “You sure that’s all you came for?”

It was true, she had a fitting at ten; it was just after 8:00. Mitzi’s apartment was above her shop and, after all the dresses she’d bought from Mitzi, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d given Melissa preferential treatment.

“She’s opening early for me
.” Well, she doesn’t know it yet.
“But we need to talk.”

“Nothing good ever comes from that line.” He grabbed her hand and pressed it against his heart. “You’re going to break me. Aren’t you?”

“We can’t break up when were never really together, Bo.”

He shook his head. “I said break
me
.”

Silence. What could she say to that? Melissa knew where Bo thought things were going. Instead of setting him straight, she’d made him her back up plan. God, she was a bad person. Bad. Bad. Bad.

“Bo, I love playing with the band. I love jamming with you; I—”

“You just don’t love me.”

Melissa shook her head.

“You love that guy.”

“No.” And now she was lying to him, because she did love Shane. She just couldn’t have him, and she didn’t want to settle. “Yes.”

“You got me out of bed for this?” He laughed and shook his head. “I don’t suppose you’d give me a chance to change your mind?”

She raked her knuckles across the stubble of his beautiful face. “It’s not my mind you’d have to change.”

He walked her to the door, hugged her goodbye. “Just thought of the last line to the song,” he pulled back and looked at her. Now he was breaking her heart. “I love you, and that’s not going to change, Melissa.”

T
he bridal shop was in a Charleston double house built in 1846. It had been a lot of things before Mitzi bought it and converted the downstairs into her shop and the upstairs into her apartment. Melissa walked around to the side yard, knocked on the garden gate, and let herself in. The place looked like an explosion of magnolias, azaleas, camellias, and wild tea olive. Ivy covered the ground, outlining the ancient brick walkway that lead to a patio where Mitzi almost spewed her coffee.

“Oh, Melissa. We’re on for ten o’clock, aren’t we, or did I screw up?”

“It’s not you, it’s me.” Wow, Melissa was just full of breakup lines this morning. “I mean, I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d see if you might be able to fit me in a little earlier. If not, I can run over to Starbucks and hang out until you’re ready.”

“Just finishing up here.” She rose and gave Melissa a hug. “Have some strawberries. I picked them yesterday at Boone Hall. I have one of those Keurig machines, I can make you coffee or tea in a few seconds. What’ll you have?”

Between Bo and Shane and Cassie, Melissa felt jittery enough. “Nothing, thanks. The garden’s beautiful.”

“Thanks, it was an expensive addition, but a good one. Several brides have had their portraits done here. A few engagement pictures, too.” Mitzi drained her coffee cup. “So, how’s your mama? Haven’t seen her around in a while.”

“She’s good. Says she’s not lonely, but I think she is.”

Mitzi and Mama had been friends since high school; it was one of the reasons Melissa suggested Mitzi’s bridal shop to her brides-to-be. “Pretty woman inside and out, but she never got over your daddy. I was sure she would, he’s been gone, what, fifteen years?”

“Eighteen. Mama says another man’s just not in the cards for her.”

“And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Every time you call to order a dress, I get my hopes up that it’s a bridal gown.”

“You just like to make a big sale,” Melissa teased.

“Goodness, no, honey, I already love you for sending so many brides my way. I just want to see
you
happily married.”

“What if I got married and my gift suffered or went away altogether? Then where would you be?”

“Probably with your mama, oohing and ahhing over your babies.”

Melissa followed Mitzi through the back door into the foyer. She set her breakfast tray at the bottom of the stairs to take up later and led Melissa into the salon. “I wish your dress was in for Amanda’s wedding, you could just go ahead and try both of them on.” Okay, so Melissa was responsible for Heather and Nick’s wedding in two weeks, and Amanda and Guy’s wedding the week after that.

She really needed to learn how to say no. She’d passed the twenty-seven dresses benchmark before she turned twenty-seven and could probably pay her house off if she had all the money she’d spent on bridesmaid dresses and matching shoes.

Of course the bride always claimed she hadn’t picked a one-and-done dress, or shoes, which was a very lovely lie. The good news? Melissa had donated all of the dresses to Gown Town, a promotion sponsored by a local radio station, WHAM, that collected gently used, formal dresses and shoes to give to underprivileged girls.

“Pretty,” Mitzi said as she pulled the gown off the rack. But the dress was definitely a one-and-done. It was teal, strappy, and simple, until it got to the bottom. There were three layers of ruffles.
Ruffles.
And the shoes of course were dyed to match.

“How much is this going to set me back?”

Mitzi helped Melissa into the gown and zipped it up, standing behind her like she always did, studying Melissa’s look in the mirror. “This one is on the house.”

“That’s what you said the last time, and I told you no more freebies.”

“It’s a new customer appreciation plan. Buy ten get one free.” She put some straight pins between her lips. Melissa never understood this about Mitzi, why she couldn’t just pull the pins out of the giant pink, satin pincushion, one-by-one. She pinned the dress in at the waist on both sides. “I’ll have to take the ruffle off to hem it.” She let out a sigh. “This will be somebody’s prom dress for sure.”

Fifteen minutes later, Mitzi was satisfied she’d nipped and tucked the dress to perfection. Melissa was slipping out of it when Mitzi looked at her with a wry grin. “Before you get dressed,” she went to a huge rack at the back of the shop and started flipping through dresses. “Humor me?” Mitzi’s look was pure trouble.

“What is it?”

“Weddings are so expensive these days, and not as many people preserve their dresses and save them like they used to when your mama and I were your age.” She pulled out a white satin, poofy-looking gown, put it back, and flipped through a few more. “I was talked into doing a collection for brides like they do for Gown Town. This whole rack is going to be donated and will make someone’s special day. But you’d make mine if I could see you in this.” She pulled out a classic A-line, strapless, satin gown.

What could it hurt? Melissa nodded and Mitzi turned her around, facing away from the mirror. She helped Melissa into the dress and zipped it up. “Don’t move. I’m twisting your hair up so you can get the full effect.”

She pulled Melisa’s hair into a tight knot and stuck a pencil into the bun to hold it in place.

“Ow,” Melissa smoothed her hand over her crown. “Feels like you’re giving me a facelift.”

“I can’t believe you’ve come here more times than I can count and I’ve never gotten you into one of these.”

“That’s because I never had a reason to try one on.”

“Correction. You never let yourself have a reason.” She helped Melissa onto the pedestal with one hand while the other fisted the fabric in at her waist. “Lord, child, as much as I hate planning weddings, I would come out of retirement to plan yours.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that. Ever.”

“I’m not saying your Auntie Jo was wrong or that your matchmaker thing is bullshit. But I’ve seen a million brides come through my doors, and not one of them would have stood on that pedestal you’re on unless they opened themselves up to love.” She turned Melissa around to face the mirror.

Wow. Melissa brushed tears away. Wow. Yeah, she wanted to the bride. She wanted to be Shane’s bride.

“Courtship, a wedding, that’s all a fairytale, Melissa, but love? Love is some scary stuff. But it’s the
good
stuff, Melissa. The really good stuff.”

Melissa shook her head, swiped at her eyes, and tried to laugh it off. “If this is your idea of a sales pitch, you’d better hope I keep sending brides your way.”