Authors: Deborah Hughes
“Just think, Al, someday you will be in this position. And when you are, you won’t want to sit still either.”
Alyssa smiled wistfully. “Perhaps.”
Something in her tone must have bothered Trisha because she again swung around to look at her. “You will get married someday, Al. You are far too beautiful a person for that not to happen.” She gave her a confident smile and turned back to the mirror. “If I were psychic, I would even say that it will be sooner than you think.”
Alyssa paused and met her eyes in the mirror. “Why do you say that?”
“Since I’m not psychic, I guess it doesn’t really matter.”
She wasn’t making any sense but Alyssa figured it was because she was far too preoccupied with her wedding to be talking sensibly. Setting down the brush, she stepped back and admired her handiwork. “Trisha, you are a beautiful bride.”
Laughing with delight, Trisha stood up, twirled into a low bow of thanks then pointed to the chair. “Okay, now it's your turn.”
It didn't take Alyssa quite as long to get ready. One, because she was far more patient than her friend, and two, Trisha gave her a quick loose chignon that didn't require a lot of work on her part. She couldn't have handled anything more complicated or time-consuming and Alyssa liked keeping it simple. She applied just a minimal amount of makeup then slid on her pale blue dress, the color accentuating the darker blue of her eyes. She loved the way the silky material molded to her body until it reached her hips. From there it flared in a loose skirt, the length ending just above her knees. She thought it showed off her legs and slender curves without being too flashy. The spaghetti straps left her shoulders bare and though the bodice was cut lower than she normally preferred, she didn't think the small amount of cleavage showing was enough to raise eye-brows. She felt beautiful and feminine and most importantly, comfortable.
"Al, your tanned skin makes me envious. You are gorgeous. You know that?" Trisha gave her a tight hug. "I love you. You are the best friend ever." When she pulled away, she was holding out a small box for her. "My gift to you."
Gasping in surprise, Alyssa took the box and opened it. A diamond tear necklace lay sparkling at her from a bed of cotton. "Trisha! It's lovely!"
"Turn around, let me put it on you. I'm so glad you are wearing a dress that will go very well with it." Once the necklace was clasped, she stood back and sighed with admiration. "You look fabulous."
Seeing that Trisha's eyes were tearing up, Alyssa wagged a finger at her, blinking her own eyes to keep them clear. "Don't make us cry. It will ruin our make-up!"
Laughing, Trisha slid an arm around her shoulders and turned them both so they could look in the mirror. "Seriously, aren't we looking wonderful today?"
"You are very beautiful, Trisha. That dress is perfect on you."
Trisha laid her head against Alyssa's. "The reception might be small but the few guys who are going to be there will be all over themselves trying to get your attention."
Alyssa laughed. "All four of them? Say it isn't so!"
Trisha gave her a friendly punch in the arm. "There will be more than four. Jack has friends and family you haven't met yet." She stepped away and headed for the window. "I wonder if the limo has arrived yet?"
While Trisha peered out the window, Alyssa stared at her reflection. She did look nice. Would Cole think so as well? The question no sooner took form and she was telling herself it didn't matter. Seriously, what the heck did she care what Cole thought? She turned to watch Trisha and loved how the light from the window put a glow around her. Hoping her friend didn't move, Alyssa searched for her cellphone then snatched it up and quickly took a picture. “Trisha you are going to bowl that poor man of yours right over.”
Trisha laughed and turned her head to see that Alyssa was looking about the room. “What are you looking for?”
“Smelling salts. We’ll have to revive Jack or there won’t be a wedding.”
Trisha laughed with delight, her face lit with an inner joy Alyssa envied. A knock at the door was quickly followed by Jenna's appearance. Her eyes sought out her daughter and when she saw her, Jenna drew in a quick breath and halted in her steps. “Oh my dear, you are so lovely." She turned to Alyssa and included her in the smile. "Both of you.” Giving a decisive nod and blinking rapidly to keep her tears at bay, Jenna clasped her hands. “Well then...I guess you’re both ready." She looked at Trisha, her expression solemn and meaningful. "The limo just arrived. It's time to go.”
Trisha drew in a deep breath. “Well, this is it.”
Alyssa opened the door and curtsied. “Your chariot awaits, Mademoiselle.”
Trisha floated past her with a flourish, giving a regal nod of her head as she did so.
Smiling at her daughter's playfulness, Jenna linked arms with Alyssa. "We'll let our princess have her moment without sharing the spotlight. Her father and Cole are waiting impatiently to see her."
Cole and Thomas Delaney stood at the foot of the stairs, their eyes on Trisha and lit with the appreciation her friend deserved. Free to look without being noticed, Alyssa sucked in her breath when her eyes took in Cole’s handsome figure. Could he look any more gorgeous? Did he have to possess so much sex appeal? She couldn’t pull her eyes off him and was glad his gaze remained pinned on his sister. In fact, he didn't even so much as glance in her direction. Which was fine. Should he notice her ogling him, she'd have been mortified.
When Trisha made it to the last step, Cole gave a low whistle and bent to kiss her cheek. “Trisha, you are so lovely it hurts the eyes to look upon you.”
Trisha giggled. “And you are looking extremely handsome yourself, dear brother.”
Thomas stepped forward and offered her his arm. “Shall we, princess?”
With a slight dip of her head, she took his arm. "We shall, my father!"
Smiling with amusement, Jenna watched their greeting then turned to Alyssa once they reached the floor. “We thought you and Cole could ride together. We are going to ride with Trisha. Is that okay?” She glanced from her son to Alyssa and clearly did not expect them to disagree with the plan. It really wasn't a question.
Cole was focusing so hard on his mother and taking great pains to not look at Alyssa that he missed what she said. "What?" Was it too much to hope that they did not realize part of his brain was not functioning properly? It was too busy conjuring up images of him whisking Alyssa up the stairs to a bedroom, where he could then bring to life the fantasies playing in his head since he woke up this morning. Did she have any idea the affect she had on men? On him?
"I said, can you and Al ride together?"
Cole looked at his mother. She met his gaze with a lift of one brow. He nodded wordlessly, knowing that the longer he took to answer, the more she would question the reason for the delay. "Of course."
Jenna smiled and patted his cheek in a loving gesture before heading out the door. "You look so handsome, Cole. I'll see you both at the church."
Cole's hands tightened into fists as he watched his mother walk out the door, leaving him alone with Al. He wasn't expecting this to happen. He thought for sure Al would ride to the church with Trisha. How in the world was he supposed to handle being in the confined space of his truck with her? He’d be a wreck by the time they reached the church. Those images of her in his arms would not go away and now she was standing right beside him looking so beautiful, they were sure to make him go mad. The memories seemed so real. If it happened, he wanted it to happen again. If it didn’t happen then he wanted to see if the reality was as good as the fantasy.
Without turning to look at her, Cole strode to the door and waited for Al to join him. “After you.” When she didn't move, he glanced at her briefly, his eyes raking over her like a starved dog before returning to stare blindly out the door. Damned if he didn’t feel like a teenage boy whose hormones had gone into overdrive. He was thirty-one years old for Christ sakes, surely he’d learned how to control his body by now?
Alyssa finally moved, passing him without so much as a pause and leaving a trail of her perfume in her wake. Cole breathed in the fragrance. She was wearing that last night. His body tightened and he took a moment to settle it.
Alyssa stormed toward Cole's truck in a fit of temper. What on earth was his problem? His determination to ignore her should have pleased her. It didn't. It pissed her off. She hoisted herself up into her seat and watched as he came around to join her. Was he embarrassed at her finding him inebriated last night? Or was it her company, now he was sober, that he couldn’t stand?
Cole got in beside her, started the engine, put his truck into gear and then proceeded to the church without glancing once in her direction.
Alyssa twisted around in her seat to glare at him. As her anger mounted, her glares became more pronounced. Not that he noticed the mental daggers. Or the wounded gazes. The minutes ticked by and she became aware of more than the fact that he wouldn't look at her. His posture was rigid, tense. Further inspection landed on his hands which were wrapped around the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white. Was he upset about what happened between them? Well, so was she. But she was more upset with herself than with him. In fact, she was finding it impossible to calm her over-active imagination and drive all the unwanted thoughts of last night out of her very persistent mind. Why was it so difficult? Now she was facing this cold, remote stranger beside her, she couldn’t believe they had shared such incredible passion. But they did. And she couldn't forget it. It was all so hopeless. Giving up on his giving her any attention, Alyssa turned away and stared blindly out the window.
When Alyssa finally let out a sigh and turned away, Cole let himself relax a bit and chanced a glance in her direction. It was a relief to not have her staring daggers at him, especially when he wasn't sure why. Was she mad because he'd been drunk last night? Did he do anything inappropriate? Something had to have happened to put her on edge because every time she looked at him there was something in her eyes that made him want to squirm. Right now, however, she seemed quite determined to ignore him and he found it rather convenient because he'd been wanting to get a good look at her and now he could do just that. Sitting as she was, her dress pulled up enough to show off her sexy legs, he gave a silent whistle of appreciation. The girl was gorgeous and therein was the problem. All he wanted to do was look at her. Like now when he was supposed to be concentrating on his driving. Try as he might, he just couldn't get his eyes to obey his head. She was worth looking at, staring at. Ogling. In fact, she deserved his complete attention. Wishing he could stop this annoying obsession, Cole's fingers flexed on the steering wheel. He'd give anything to have the freedom to reach over and slide his hands across those smooth, shapely legs of hers.
Sweat broke out on his brow. He had to get the hell out of this truck.
Think of something boring, Cole
.
Get a damn grip
. His foot pressed a little harder on the gas pedal. Why the hell did his sister have to choose a church so damned far away to get married in? He tried doing mathematical calculations in his head. The diversion helped. Some of the heated tension in his loins was slowly relaxing. He pulled into the church parking lot and barely contained his sigh of relief.
Once they were parked, Alyssa wasted no time escaping him. Cole watched her rapidly retreating figure and closed his eyes for a brief moment of fortification. Well that was a pretty clear message of what she thought of him. Last night couldn’t have happened. Not the way he was remembering it.
Alyssa entered the church and caught sight of Paul the moment she stepped through the door. She rushed to him with relief flooding her system. Never was she so happy to see him as she was in that moment. “Paul, I’m so glad you came.” She gave him a hug, making it last longer than usual but she needed his strength.
After giving her a moment, sensing something was wrong, Paul stepped back, his hands sliding around to take hers. With a gentle, reassuring squeeze to her fingers, he gave her a sweeping glance and nodded in approval. “You look beautiful, Alyssa.”
"Thanks, Paul." Thankful for his comforting presence, her grip tightened. More than anything, she wished she could just stay with him for the rest of the evening.
Wondering at the cause of her tension, Paul was about to ask her when he looked past her shoulder and got his answer. Cole was coming towards them looking about as disturbed as she did. So they were at it again. Not sure what he could do to ease the situation, Paul gave her hands a reassuring squeeze before letting them go and turning to the man now standing silently beside her. Holding out his hand in greeting, Paul offered him a friendly smile. “Cole, it's good to see you again.”
Though he was loathe to be civil to the one man Alyssa seemed to truly care for, Cole forced himself to shake Paul's hand. Watching their touching little greeting had him seething with resentment and the fact he felt that way only added to his irritation. The guy seemed like a pretty decent fellow and that’s what made it so difficult for him. It would be so much easier to dislike him if he was as flawed as her other boyfriends.
Realizing he needed to say something, Cole settled on the politest response he could come up with. “Trisha will be pleased that you're here.” It came out sounding stilted and he didn't care. He didn’t like how Alyssa was crazy about the guy and that was all there was to it.
Puzzled by Cole’s response, Paul took a step back and glanced around, looking for a polite reason to be on his way. Last thing he wanted to do was cause any trouble. “Well then, I guess I better go find myself a seat.” He pressed a quick kiss to Alyssa’s cheek then hurried off before she dreamed up an excuse to keep him there.
Alyssa whirled around and pinned Cole with a narrow-eyed glare. Well aware she needed to keep up friendly appearances, she lowered her voice to a quiet hiss. “You have no need to be so rude to Paul.”