“Hey.” Jace clasped a hand on his shoulder and grinned. “Nice toast.”
Nate laughed, looking over his brother’s tux matched with Converse tennis shoes. “Yeah. A real crowd-pleaser.”
“I especially liked the part about me being an inspiration. The bravest person you’ve ever met. You forgot to mention my brilliant wit and panty-dropping good looks, though.”
Nate’s grin widened. “And be responsible for spreading lies at my own brother’s wedding? Never.”
“I think you have half the bridesmaids ready to climb Mount Nate.”
Nate rolled his eyes, watching the crowd thin, still not seeing Lilly. “Not interested.”
“Can I give you a word of advice?” Jace asked. “If you really care, go get the fucking girl. All the other bullshit will work itself out.”
Nate’s lips quirked at hearing his brother practically quote the advice Nate had given him last year when he’d told him to go after Hayden. “Sounds like you’ve been listening to one smart bastard.”
Jace made a face. “He’s got his moments.”
Nate scanned the room again, tugging at his tie. The damn monkey suit was suffocating him. Hayden danced over, laughing, and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He picked her up and spun her in a circle with a grin. “You look like something out of damn fairy tale, Half Pint.” Her ivory dress was simple satin, styled like a corset in the back, secured by what looked like a million strings and pearl buttons. He smirked, thinking Jace was going to have a hell of a time unwrapping his bride later. He smiled fondly down at her, wishing like hell his parents had been here to celebrate with them. He had no doubt they’d have been thrilled to have Hayden as part of the family. “Just beautiful.”
She beamed. “Since I’m officially your sister now, I think we should vote.” Her gaze drifted over to her new husband. “All those in favor of Nate banishing the nickname Half Pint from his vocabulary, raise your hand.”
He and Jace exchanged a conspiratorial glance, and Nate clinked Jace’s beer bottle with his own. Hayden was the only one raising her hand.
She pouted. “Not fair, guys.”
“Brothers rarely are,” Jace drawled.
Nate lifted his beer bottle in a toast to her, and smirked. “Neither are uncles, from what I hear.”
She gasped, and punched Jace in the arm. “Hey! You told him about the baby?”
Jace laughed, rubbing his biceps. “I had to tell someone.”
Nate smiled, thinking about a miniature Jace being a part of their lives. If he took after his daddy, they were all going to be in for one hell of a ride.
He kissed Hayden on the cheek and patted her barely there bump. “This is going to be one lucky kid,” he said.
Watching his brother and Hayden together made the hollow space in his chest throb—a steady beat that pulsed out the name Lilly over and over. He cast another look around the reception hall. “Is Lilly still taking photos outside?”
Hayden frowned and exchanged a look with Jace.
Nate frowned. “What am I missing?”
She sighed and laid her hand on his arm. Oh shit.
“Lilly left about an hour ago,” Hayden said. “She caught an early flight back to Charlotte.”
He took a step back. “What the hell? She’s the damn photographer!”
Hayden squeezed his arm, then dropped her hand. “I don’t know what you said to her, but she seemed a bit upset.”
He stabbed his fingers through his hair and tugged. No. Fuck… Please, no. She couldn’t just leave. It couldn’t end like this.
The floor seemed to drop out from under him and he was falling. She’d gone.
He thought back to everything he’d said last night, and cursed. She’d never trust him again. She’d meant it when she said good-bye.
How the fuck had he let this happen? He should have gone to her sooner. He should have reassured her.
He should have told her he loved her.
“Nate…are you okay?” Hayden’s concerned voice broke through the haze and he stumbled back.
Fuck this. Lilly wasn’t walking out of his life this easily. Not when he’d been agonizing all day, trying to figure out a way to keep her in it.
He turned and took off, scooping the keys to the truck out of his pocket. “I’m outta here.”
“Nate!” Jace called after him. “Where the hell are you going?”
He stopped at the door, praying to any god that would still listen to a fuck-up like him that he still had a chance to change her mind.
He tapped the truck key to his forehead and saluted his brother. “Taking your advice, bro. I’m going after the girl.”
Chapter Nineteen
Lilly was so screwed.
She was in love.
With a man she’d been avoiding for nearly two weeks since the wedding.
A man who was probably already on his way overseas with the Marines. She buried her face in her hands and a sob ripped out of her before she could stop it, echoing off the walls of her apartment bathroom. Normally she avoided tears at all costs, but these couldn’t be contained. She had wanted so badly to answer the phone when he’d called, but why would she? She couldn’t trust a word he said. Not anymore. Nor could she bear to hear him reject her all over again. There was no way she would ever tell him how she felt. Not when he was hell-bent on putting an ocean between himself and his life back here—including her. He’d resent her for telling him. For ruining his plan to escape with no strings attached.
She felt so inconceivably foolish that she had fallen for his shit all over again.
“Lilly.” Paige’s voice sounded from outside the bathroom door. When she didn’t answer, she heard Paige sigh. “Okay, if you don’t answer, I’m going to call your brother and tell him to come bust you out.”
With a silent groan, Lilly flipped open the lock on the door and sank back against the wall. There was no point in arguing. Her twin brother was an overprotective, overbearing ass. If he heard about her crying, she had no doubt he’d be over there with his police cruiser lights blazing, to save the day. Hell, he’d probably bust the hinges to get in. And she didn’t doubt for a second Paige would call him. If nothing else, it would give her friend one more chance to ogle him in his cop uniform before moving out.
Paige peeked through the doorway, and stilled when she saw her.
“Lilly…” She sank down in front of her and grabbed her hands. “Come on, honey. You need Ben and Jerry, stat.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” Lilly asked. “Your grand opening is tomorrow.”
“Probably.” She smiled and wiped the tears from Lilly’s cheeks. “But this is more important. Now, talk to me.”
Lilly thought back to the anguish in Nate’s pleading voice as he’d begged her to answer the phone. Then the door. To let him explain.
Didn’t he understand? There was no fixing their relationship. Every time things got serious, he pulled away. How could they ever have a future when he allowed his life to be completely dictated by his past? She believed he wanted her, but she also knew he’d always choose the seven men he’d lost over her. And she couldn’t live like that. She couldn’t live the way her mother had, existing only for the brief moments that he’d deign to pop into her life for a damn booty call.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she told her soon to be ex-roommate.
She pushed herself up and peered at herself in the mirror to dab away the mascara smudges from under her eyes.
“I don’t want to be like my mother,” Lilly choked out. “I refuse.”
Paige frowned and pulled her into her arms. “You will never be like her. Do you hear me?”
Lilly nodded, hating that Paige was seeing her cry. That anyone was.
“In case you’ve forgotten, I knew your mom,” Paige said, reminding Lilly of a time when Paige had been her and her twin brother’s only saving grace when they were kids. “You are so much more than she ever was,” she said gently. “You’re not weak. You’re not cold. You are one of the strongest and kindest people I’ve ever known. If your brother heard you talking like that he’d kick your ass.”
Lilly glared at her. “Don’t you dare tell him you saw me cry.”
“What?” Paige batted her eyelashes innocently. “And throw away the first piece of blackmail you’ve given me in years? Never.”
Lilly let Paige pull her to her feet and they wandered into the living room, where she collapsed onto the couch. Paige went to the kitchen and came back with Lilly’s emergency pint of chocolate ice cream and handed it to her with a spoon.
She took it with a sigh. “I should throw this right in the trash because it’s so damn cliché.” She popped open the lid and her stomach growled.
Paige snorted. “But you won’t.”
“I thought yoga instructors were all about healthy living. I’m surprised you didn’t throw it out while I was gone.”
Paige joined her on the couch and tucked her knees up to her chest. “I had a feeling you might need it after that truck ride.”
She stabbed her spoon into the ice cream, her appetite dwindling. She stared at the answering machine on the table. How many missed calls were there from Nate? How many messages? She was afraid to look.
“Can I give you a little advice without you getting pissed?” Paige asked.
Lilly sighed. “Since when has me being pissed ever stopped you from giving me your opinion?”
“I think you should give him a chance to explain,” she said. “The guy I saw on the other side of that door…he wasn’t a guy who wanted to use you. He was a guy dying inside over the thought that he’d hurt you. He loves you, sweetie. Anyone with eyes can see that.”
Lilly wrapped her arms around her middle to hold herself together. She could feel her insides cracking, splitting, aching. She wanted that to be true so much.
But she knew better.
“He doesn’t want me, Paige.” She bit her bottom lip to replace the pain inside with another. “If he really cared about me, he wouldn’t have lied. He wouldn’t have led me on, all the while knowing he was leaving any minute.”
Paige grabbed a piece of paper from the coffee table and handed it to her.
Lilly glanced over what was written on the paper. A time, date, and address. “What’s this?”
“Well, if you’re not to going to listen to me, maybe work can take your mind off the man,” Paige said. “Some people called needing engagement photos done tomorrow. I told them you’d try to fit them in, but I couldn’t find your schedule book to be sure.”
Yes. This was exactly what she needed. Work. A distraction. Her camera in her hands.
And Nate Jennings as far from her thoughts as possible.
Chapter Twenty
“Nate!” Jace called from the other side of Nate’s front door as he beat the shit out of it. “Open the damn door before I kick it the hell down.”
Nate dropped a stack of plastic cups into a box marked “kitchen” and opened the door.
Jace glowered at him, then pushed past him to stalk into the now half-empty apartment. “Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”
Nate didn’t even know where his phone was. It didn’t matter. The one person in the world he wanted to call never would. “Didn’t hear it. Sorry.”
Jace silently watched him pack for a moment before he picked up a box to help. “You should have called me. I could have come over and helped with this.”
Nate swallowed another lump of guilt. “I know.”
His brother tossed a stack of books into a box. “Have you heard from Lilly?”