The Thrill of the Chase (13 page)

Ashley told Julie in confidence that she thought there must have been someone in Monica
'
s past that broke her heart. They didn
'
t know who it was or if they were even on the right track. Monica played her cards close to her chest.

But they got a big kick out of their guys offering up a buddy for Monica. It seemed to prove both guys had it bad.

They certainly treated them like princesses.

Julie began to spend more and more time at Gibson
'
s house.

She slowly learned to cook. She was amazed when he ate just about all of her mistakes. He told her it was good, when she knew it was not.

She slept in his bed every night. He held her until she fell asleep. He hinted that she give up the apartment all together. He started parking the corvette behind her car and blocking her in. When she complained, he told her to drive the
'
vette. That happened repeatedly until she had her own set of keys and began driving it everywhere. It seemed to make him happy.

Four months after they began dating they were sitting in the backyard, watching the stars.

He stood up from his chair, knelt in front of her, and with his hand over his heart, he asked her to marry him.

His hand gripped hers tightly and his voice shook.

Julie bit her lip as tears came to her eyes. Never in a thousand million years had she expected such a romantic proposal from him. And certainly not this soon. She reached a hand out and touched the ring he held in his fingers. It was a beautiful, sparkling solitaire, mounted on a thick platinum band.

She looked from the ring to his face. He was watching her intently, breathing hard. One hand gripped hers tightly, the other held the ring in front of her.

It was a moment before she could speak.
"
Really?
"

He took his hand from hers, and touched her cheek.
"
Please.
"

"
Gibson, I
--"

Panic colored his features.
"
Please don
'
t say no, babe.
"

Her eyes widened on his.
"
Are you crazy? I
'
m not going to say no!
"

He relaxed and smiled.
"
You
'
re not?
"

"
No way. Give me that ring.
"
She held her hand extended, her ring finger prominently displayed in front of him.

He began sliding the ring on her finger, and Julie was amazed to see his hands were shaking even more than hers.

He picked up the hand that now held his ring. He kissed her palm.
"
I love you, babe.
"

She wrapped her arms around his neck.
"
I love you, too.
"

"
Forever, babe.
"

"
Yes, forever.
"

####

Kyle and Monica

Monica Lambert bent down and surreptitiously adjusted the train on Ashley
'
s wedding dress. The ceremony was almost over and she wanted the material to flow smoothly when her friend turned and walked back down the aisle with her new groom.

The task accomplished, she was turning back when her gaze was ensnared by a pair of dark, liquid eyes on the front row. She felt a rush to her head and her lips parted unconsciously when one dark eyebrow lifted and wouldn
'
t release her from his hold.

Her breath jittery, her belly squeezing, she turned back and faced the front of the church on shaky legs.

She had known Kyle Weldon would be here today. He was Ashley
'
s only sibling and there was no way he would miss his sister
'
s wedding day.

Even if he had been absent from the rehearsal dinner the night before.

But of course, everyone had understood. As a firefighter, Kyle had been called away at the last minute to fight a four-alarm blaze on the east side. His family was used to it, but Monica had broken out in a cold sweat and felt the same debilitating fear she always felt when she heard he was fighting a fire.

Not that he was any of her concern.

He was only her best friend
'
s brother.

And another woman
'
s man.

Nothing to her, really.

Except she
'
d been in love with him for a long, long time.

When had her feelings changed from an unrealistic crush to deep-seated love? By the time she was twelve, she definitely knew she had a crush on him. When she got hurt at fifteen, and he carried her in his arms, and held her hand while she received ten stitches, she thought she loved him then. Could you love someone when you were fifteen years old? Maybe it happened the week before her senior prom when her date had called her and cancelled and she
'
d been left without an escort? Kyle had stepped up to the plate and offered to take her. Her heart had almost tripped out of time then. Or had it happened the actual night of the prom when he
'
d treated her like a fairy princess, and shown her exactly what a true gentleman was?

What did it matter exactly
when
her feelings had taken the turn? The truth was, he was only her friend
'
s brother, he
'
d been in a relationship for several years, and she rarely saw him anymore, if ever.

She tried not to compare every man she dated to Kyle Weldon. It was the truth that no one could compare to him in height, looks, or manner. So why even bother?

She sincerely hoped the woman that claimed him appreciated what she had. Ashley had told her he seemed unhappy and that she thought they fought often. It made her ache that he would be unhappy.

As much as she wanted him herself, in her heart, she really wanted him to be happy.

****

Kyle watched the slender line of Monica
'
s back and felt his hands unconsciously tighten into fists of restraint.

Damn, she was gorgeous
.

He
'
d watched her grow up, going from a skinny, tomboyish ten-year old, to a tall, slender wisp of pure femininity. She was Ashley
'
s age, twenty-five. At twenty-eight, the age difference between them now was negligible. But growing up, the three-year difference in their ages had always stood between them. For years, she was too young for him to even notice she was a girl. But somewhere around her fifteenth birthday he
'
d begun to notice, and as the years passed, the wanting on his part had only intensified.

The years, the distance, and other relationships had always kept her from him. But now he wasn
'
t in a relationship and he knew from Ashley, that Monica wasn
'
t either.

It was time.

He was going to go for it.
Go for her
. He needed to know how this would play out. She was certainly old enough now to handle anything he could dish out.

His eyes slid from her and fell on his young cousin who stood beside her and acted as the other bridesmaid. Julie was already married. His mind still had trouble wrapping around the fact that she
'
d been caught and caught good. Her dress fell in soft folds that only hinted at her pregnancy. She was ecstatically happy about both the marriage and the baby, and he
'
d been vaguely surprised to learn it had come in that order. He
'
d just figured when he heard Julie was pregnant and married, that was the order of things. But not so. Her groom, Gibson Jones, had gone the semi-traditional route and hustled her to Vegas and then set out to impregnate her as quickly as he could. His mother, and Julie
'
s favorite aunt, had supplied that bit of loving gossip.

Kyle couldn
'
t really blame Gibson. As he looked at Julie, he realized exactly how grown-up and pretty his cousin really was. A guy would be a fool not to lock that to his side. And from what he knew of Gibson, the guy was anything but a fool.

His eyes fell back to Monica.

He wasn
'
t a fool, either.

****

Monica took a sip of champagne and waited for the bride and groom to make their grand entrance into the reception room. Julie and Gibson stood beside her.

From the corner of her eye, she watched Kyle move around the room and greet the friends and relatives he hadn
'
t been able to see last night when he missed the rehearsal dinner. The older women, his mother, aunts and grandmothers, were elated to see him. As always, he was the perfect gentleman as he kissed each papery thin cheek and smiled his killer smile.

Her insides clenched.

She ached to be the recipient of that smile.

She couldn
'
t help herself and asked Julie,
"
Where
'
s Kyle
'
s girlfriend?
"

"
What girlfriend?
"
Julie sounded confused.

"
I don
'
t remember her name. Jane, Jan, something like that?
"
How was that for nonchalant? She knew exactly what the woman
'
s name was.

"
Do you mean Jennifer? They broke up
ages
ago.
"

An arrow of relief ran through Monica.
"
Really? How long ago?
"

"
About a year, I think.
"

"
That
'
s too bad.
"
She tried to inject sorrow into her voice, but she knew she missed by a long shot.

Julie laughed.
"
Right. She was a bitch. He
'
s lucky he made his escape.
"

"
It
'
s always sad when
--"
She stopped speaking when Julie raised her hand and motioned with it.
"
What are you doing?
"

"
Calling him over here,
"
Julie answered bluntly.

"
Why?
"
Monica knew her voice sounded both wary and jittery.

"
Shut up, Monica, and go with it.
"
Julie was a matchmaker extraordinaire, and Monica knew she prided herself on the wedding taking place today. She took total credit for getting Ryan and Ashley back together after a particularly nasty breakup.

"
Julie
--"
Monica took her advice and shut up when she felt Kyle walk up beside her.

Julie beamed a bright smile and walked into his arms to greet him.

"
Hey, Kyle.
"
Julie said.

"
Hey, little cousin,
"
he answered affectionately.

Kyle let go of Julie with one arm and reached out and shook Gibson
'
s hand.
"
Hey, man. Congratulations, dude.
"
Although Kyle and Gibson didn
'
t know each other well, they had met a few times at family functions.

"
Thanks, man,
"
Gibson replied.

"
It
'
s a boy,
"
Julie said as she threw Gibson a
told you so
kind of look.

"
Awesome. Best kind of baby to have,
"
Kyle teased.

Julie hit him playfully.
"
As a man,
you would
think so.
"

Kyle let Julie slide back into Gibson
'
s arms as his eyes cut over to Monica.
"
I am a man,
"
he said, answering Julie but with his eyes on Monica.

As Julie laughed at that response, Kyle ran his eyes over Monica.
"
Hey, pretty girl.
"