The Best Man (10 page)

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She stepped back onto the treadmill and lifted her headphones, hoping he’d take the hint.

“So, there’s a game this Sunday. I was —”

“I don’t think so.”

He frowned. “Should be a great game. We could grab a couple steaks after.”

“I’m sorry, Casey. I have to be honest. The thing is …” She took a deep breath. “You’re a catch. I mean, you are going to make some girl really lucky, but I don’t see us being anything more than friends. I don’t want to lead you on.”

Casey chuckled. “Come on, Beth, there’s some serious heat between us. That kiss was something.”

“I’m sorry.”

His eyes took on a cold edge. “You seeing someone else?”

“No. Maybe. I don’t know, but it doesn’t change this. I hope we can be friends.” Honestly, she didn’t care, but who said that?

“Sure, yeah. See you around.”

“Definitely.” She smiled, put her headphones on, and restarted the treadmill. She’d lied; Colin had everything to do with her ending things with Casey. Whether they continued seeing each other or not, Colin had changed things. He’d given her a taste of something different, something better. She couldn’t go back now. 

AT THE OFFICE THE
next morning, Eli quickly tested her good mood. “Sweetness, what are you doing here? You should be playing Florence Nightingale for our heroic VIP.”

“Colin’s fine and I have work to do.”

Eli’s eyebrows went up. He stared at her for a moment. “What’s wrong?

“Nothing. I just have a lot of work to get done. She gave him a brief smile. “Everything’s great.”

He shook his head. “None of that. I’m not just a pretty face, sweetie. I know you. You’re hiding something.”

Beth shook her head.  Eli had an eerie ability to read people, especially regarding matters of romance. She considered denying things again, but decided against it. She sighed. “Colin Pratt is … he’s … I may have … he asked me to marry him. I agreed to go on one date with him, and he asked me to marry him.”

Eli gave a delighted laugh. “That’s incredible.”

“Yeah, incredibly insane.”

“Or romantic.”

Beth frowned. “No one gets married after one date.”

He shrugged. “Says who?”

“Eli, be serious.”

“I am. This boy’s got you all worked up and it only took him one date to do it. That tells me everything I need to know.”

“He doesn’t have me all worked up. I’m just … I don’t want to hurt his feelings. I mean, he’s a sweet guy but he’s nuts.”

Eli just grinned.

“Stop that. I’m being serious here.”

“Mmhmm”

“Eli!”

“Beth, when was the last time a man broke through this little wall you’ve built around yourself?” He lifted a single hand to make a circular gesture in the air between them.

  “Not this again. I date, Eli. I date plenty. I’m just busy.”

“I’m not asking about dating. I’m asking about the tummy-fluttering, toe-tapping, can’t-say-his- name-without-smiling thing Colin Pratt has you doing.”

“I’m not.” She took in Eli’s grin and frowned. “He doesn’t make me do that. He’s just … different and — I’ll admit it — he is really cute.”

Eli nodded. “And?”

“And nothing. I like my life. I’m not looking to throw it all away for a man who …” she paused. “No sane person jumps into marriage like that.”

“Maybe not. But you, my dear, are tempted, and that’s incredible.” Eli leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I can’t wait to meet him.” He gave her a wink as he strolled out of the office.

Groaning, she dropped into her desk chair. There were flowers again, with a handwritten card asking her to call him. She pulled out a single rose and inhaled its sweet scent. No one could accuse Colin of lacking an aptitude for romance. Beth stuck the flower back in its place, and moved the vase to a side table.

“Beth?” Eli’s voice beat him to her door. “This is Miss Kara Stevens and her husband-to-be Grant Pearce.”

“Hi. Come on in!” Beth smiled brightly and pointed them toward the chairs in front of her desk. “Congratulations on your engagement.”

The bride, a pretty brunette, smiled broadly. “Thank you. I can’t believe you’re able to see us on such short notice. I promise we’re not normally like this. I just thought that maybe we could get a little information from a secretary or like some brochures, but Mr. Eli insisted we should stay and meet with you. I hope we haven’t interrupted anything.”

“Nothing at all. Please, sit down.” She gestured again toward the chairs and walked around her desk to sit across from them. “Why don’t you start by telling me how you met?” They laughed and Beth found herself disarmed. “Ooh … that sounds promising.”

“Grant roomed with my big brother in college. Nick brought him home for Thanksgiving their freshman year and I was totally smitten.”

Beth giggled. “Sweet.”

Grant laughed. “Yeah. She was also thirteen years old and a terror.”

Kara shook her head. “I was fourteen and my father will assure you I was a delight.”

Grant’s eyebrows shot up. “A delight? If your father knew what you’d been up to, he’d have skinned both of us.”

Laughing, Kara turned back to Beth. “I may have snuck into the guest room and tried to seduce him.” She grinned and shrugged.

Beth laughed. “When a girl knows what she wants …”

Kara grinned. “Exactly.” She giggled and looked up at her fiancé. “We didn’t actually start dating until we saw each other again at my brother’s rehearsal dinner last year. Grant was his best man. I hadn’t seen him in years.”

“Adorable.”

Grant was staring at his bride with an awed expression. “Yeah, she is. I almost fell over when she walked in. I couldn’t believe she was even prettier than I remembered.” He turned back to Beth. “I then proceeded to make a complete fool of myself.”

Kara laughed. “He waits until we’re doing our pretend walk up the aisle and leans in and asks if I’ll be making any surprise visits to his room that night.” She swatted his shoulder and shook her head. “Jerk.”

Grant shrugged. “I honestly don’t know how I thought that was going to help me.”

Beth laughed with them for a few moments, then switched tracks. “So, you’ve just had a family wedding.”

Kara sighed. “Yes. My brother’s wedding was huge and formal, and my mother is all worked up already about making sure this wedding outshines that one. Which, for the record, I think is a horrible way to think and is really not my style. I love her, but she is making me bananas.” 

Grant nodded emphatically.

Beth smiled. “Weddings can bring out a lot of emotions, and also some unexpected streaks of competitiveness. Let’s start by talking about what you’d like, if you know, or even what you don’t want. Then we can talk about compromises for your mother.”

Kara shook her head. “You don’t know my mom.”

“Still, tell me how you picture your day.”

“We’re … fun. I want our wedding to be fun, too. Happy, you know, and cheerful. I don’t want things to be too fussy.”

“Excellent. How about some details? Do you want to be married in a church? Have you thought about what type of dress you’d like, or possible color schemes?”

“Outside. We both love to be outside.” Kara gave Grant a quick glance and he nodded.

Beth nodded. “What else?”

“Yellow. I think it’s bright and cheery, but my mom says you need more than one color, and that the yellow cummerbunds will make the groomsmen look like bumblebees. She also says yellow roses aren’t romantic, and other yellow flowers look cheap and she won’t have people thinking she went cheap on the flowers for her daughter’s wedding.”

Clearly, the bride’s mother was a challenge. The bride had lots of ideas but was second guessing them all. “Okay.” Beth smiled reassuringly.  “First, there is no rule about how many colors your wedding should have. Many people choose two colors, but many people don’t. I’ve seen beautiful weddings where a single color was focused on or where they had a palette instead of a specific color. Yellow is cheerful, but it can also be elegant.” Beth grinned broadly. “Don’t worry about your mother; we can show her arrangements featuring yellow flowers that will knock her socks off. Are we thinking summer?”

“We were thinking July.”

“Perfect.” Beth pulled a photo album off her shelf and set it on her desk. “Let me throw out a few ideas here. Just ideas -- no pressure.”

Beth chatted with them for a half hour, and scheduled a meeting for next week.

Grant shook her hand firmly as she walked them out.

“Thank you.” He said, meeting her eyes. “This is actually the first time I’ve seen Kara excited about the wedding in weeks. That’s … thank you.”

Beth smiled back at him. “I’m going to make sure you two have a beautiful day.” She watched Grant place his hand on the small of Kara’s back as they left, and heard their light laughter as they shared a private joke. He loved her. Beth had seen it in every glance and touch during their visit. She would help them have a perfect wedding, and they would build a life together.

Eli stepped up behind her. “I see you charmed them right into a full service contract.”

“They’re going to be wonderful to work with.”

He shook his head. “How is it you can get all misty-eyed every time you meet a nice couple, and then be stone-hearted in your own love life?”

“I’m not stone-hearted.”

“No?” Eli pointed to a large, white box with a big red bow on the reception desk. “Your Romeo has left another offering, Pixy Stix. Have you called him yet?”

She looked at the box with wide eyes. “Oh.”

“Well, go ahead and open it. The suspense is killing me.”

Beth slid off the bow and lifted the lid. Laughing, she lifted out a stuffed pig. 

“I do hope there’s a story.”

“There is.”

“A good one?”

Beth nodded. “Yeah.”

He poked her side. “Call him. Now.”

Beth took her new toy pig back to her office, and set it on her desk. It stared at her with its
ü
ber-cute, unblinking eyes.

“Okay.” She nodded. “I’m going to call. You don’t have to keep looking at me like that. I just need to prepare myself first. Otherwise, I’ll end up letting him talk me into doing something crazy. Like talking to a toy pig for example.” She picked up the phone and dialed his number.

Colin answered on the first ring. “You called!”

Beth giggled softly at the excitement in his voice. “Looks like it. Thank you for the flowers and the toy. They’re both lovely.”

“Will you come to dinner with me tonight?”

She sighed. “I don’t think so. I think it would be good for us to spend some time apart.”

“Hmm … very sensible. If we had the same goal, I’d agree.”

“We don’t have the same goal?”

“Of course not. I want you to fall in love with me and you want desperately not to.”

“Colin, I just think we jumped into all of this too quickly.”

“I disagree.”

Beth sighed again. “I just —”

“What is it that frightens you the most?” His voice was calm and warm.

“I’m not frightened.”

“Bullocks. You’re terrified; that much is clear. Only, I’m not certain if it’s marriage that scares you, or love, or just the fact that I don’t fit your plan.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you do. You’ve given your life a great deal of consideration. You have a picture in your mind of the man you will marry, the job he’ll have, the house you’ll live in, the way he’ll support your career — all of it. You’ve got it all worked out and you don’t think I fit.”

“I never said that,” she replied. He was right. She was starting to hate when he was right.

“I’m in love with you, Beth Chase, and, as much as you might wish it otherwise, you like me. Give me a chance. Tell me what I can do.”

“I — I don’t know.”

He sighed. “Have dinner with me.”

“I can’t.”

“Fine. How about sex?”

“Colin!” She couldn’t help giggling.

“I can come over after dinner.”

“No.” She said it firmly, but softened the affect with a touch of light laughter afterward.

“You aren’t making this easy.”

She smiled at that. “Are you ready to give up?”

“God, no.”

SHE COULDN’T STOP THINKING
about him. Erotic thoughts about his tongue and the length of his back interrupted Beth’s otherwise normal dreams that night. The next morning, she tried to turn on the television to watch a few minutes of a local news program and discovered the DVD they’d watched the night she’d brought him home. Beth spent the next several minutes reliving the kiss he’d given her in the kitchen and the earnestness in his eyes when he’d asked if she would break his heart. Even her office was filled with memories of his apology and heroics — and their first kiss. Beth stared at the spot where she'd kicked off this madness. She’d only meant to give him a quick thank you. Sure, she’d found him charming and handsome, but she’d truly meant to express nothing more than a bit of sweet gratitude. How had it gotten so out of hand? Who could have predicted that nerdy Colin Pratt, with his messy hair and shy grin, could destroy her self-control with a touch of his lips?