Take Me On

Honestly, she would’ve relegated that fantasy to teenager-ish fairy tales too…except that proof of its reality was right in front of her.

Well, good for them. For her, there were more important things in life.

“You know, it’s not like you’re…old love or anything,” said the twenty-four-year-old Candace to the two thirtysomethings in front of her.

“Oh, thank you so much.”

As the laughter and chitchat went on, Gabby forced herself to participate, but her mind was with Mark. It was almost time. What was he doing? Was he nervous? It seemed improbable that a man who could perform lifesaving surgery without so much as breaking a sweat would get clammy palms over repeating a few words in front of a crowd, but she liked to think he would. Because he would be saying those words to her, and those words meant forever.

She had a flock of hummingbirds in her stomach. And she wanted her mother, who was out wandering among the guests at the moment, ever the social butterfly.

“Are you going to cry?” Kelsey suddenly demanded.

“No!”

“I probably am. Fair warning.”

Another knock sounded. God, it was getting so close. Gabby glanced at the clock—ten minutes until showtime. Ten minutes. She glanced down at her chest, fully expecting to see her heartbeat through her dress. Hopefully, Mark wouldn’t have to resuscitate her at the altar, but at least she’d be in good hands.

Since her mouth had gone so dry she couldn’t muster the voice to answer, Kelsey got the door. Gabby chugged from her water bottle like a parched desert traveler. Her good friend Tina—third and final bridesmaid—slipped inside. She had Gabriella’s bouquet, a gorgeous spray of lilies and roses. The only snafu of the day was that it hadn’t been delivered with the other flowers. “Got it!”

Gabby gave a thumbs-up, still drinking.

“She’s freaking out,” Kelsey explained softly, taking the flowers. But before she could close the door behind Tina, Evan appeared in the doorway, and Gabby slowly lowered the water bottle from her lips.

She didn’t know why her heart gave a few more thrashes and plummeted to her stomach. Maybe it was seeing him at all—he was a groomsman; he should be in Mark’s camp. Maybe it was the line that always appeared between Evan’s dark brows when he was troubled, which wasn’t often. It was there right now in full force.

“Hey,” Kelsey said on a rising note of confusion at seeing him. “Wasn’t expecting you over here. Everything okay?”

Alex, Evan and Kelsey’s two-year-old son, toddled past his parents into the room and headed straight for Gabby, arms outstretched. She tore her gaze away from her brother and scooped Alex up, burying her face in his thick black hair and clinging to him like a lifeline while it seemed everyone was shifting uneasily now. Even Candace had moved over to Gabby’s side.

Evan’s gaze flickered past his wife to Gabby. Something was wrong. Oh God, something was terribly wrong. “I need to talk to her for a minute. Alone, if that’s okay.”

As everyone filed out, they cast nervous glances back at her. She did her best to return a carefree smile, but most likely it came out weak and desperate.

Evan shut the door. He turned to look at her. Gabby’s pulse throbbed in her neck; she could feel it. “Evan, what is it?”

Something in his green eyes broke for her. He didn’t have to say anything.

It began to occur to Gabriella Ross that she wasn’t getting married today.

Or probably any other f**king day.

Chapter Two

June

“Dude, she’s spiraling.”

Ian Rhodes glanced over at his boss, who was staring out the front windows of Dermamania. Following Brian’s gaze, Ian watched the lithe brunette stalk across the street toward their establishment. He didn’t see any spiraling there. He just saw a tall, beautiful woman with a purposeful scowl on her face, whose stride was so forceful that her hair lifted in quick bursts of wind with each step. Big, dark sunglasses shielded her eyes in the late-afternoon glare.

“Who is that?” he asked.

Brian had been drying his hands after finishing his last piercing job. He threw the towel in the bin behind him now with a sigh. “My sister.”

“The one you said got jilted at the altar a few months ago?”

“Do not f**king mention it.”

“Or she’ll scratch your eyes out,” Ghost supplied from the computer at the counter.

Okay, that might be cause for spiraling. “Understood,” he said, unable to look away. The closer Gabriella came—he knew her name because Brian had mentioned it before—the more apparent it became that whoever the bastard was who subjected someone so gorgeous to such abject humiliation was a damn fool. Unless there were some severe character flaws there—but then they shouldn’t have gotten as far as the altar in the first place if that were the case.

“And it’s apparent she’s spiraling at this moment because…?” Ian asked as she drew closer. There didn’t seem to be anything too outwardly alarming about her appearance.

“Because she’s here. Hey, Gab!” Brian called brightly as the door flew open and she rushed in.

Damn. Damn.

Brian had never mentioned his sister was a knockout. But then, that might’ve been a little weird. Her hair was a warm chestnut brown, long, thick and silky enough to catch the overhead lights. She had a dancer’s body, and it was shown to its full effect in a skintight tank and cutoffs.

He didn’t dare glance at her legs. If he did, he knew his gaze would get trapped there and she’d catch him looking, and that wouldn’t be good. Especially in front of her brother. His boss. What he really wanted to see, though, were her eyes.

As if reading his mind, she pushed her shades to the top of her head. Dark green stunners swept over Ian then, assessing and dismissing in one smooth motion. His breath nearly choked him in that split second.

“This makes, what, exactly once that you’ve graced us with your presence?” Brian grinned and boosted himself up onto his counter.

“You’re the one always bugging me and Evan about getting some ink,” she said. Now that Ian could see her face in its entirety, he knew the only thing marring that gorgeous skin was the dark circles under her big eyes. She held out her slender, inkless arms. “Here I am.”

“Are you shitting me right now?” Brian asked. Ghost watched the exchange with amused interest.

“No. I’m not shitting you.”

“What brought this on?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yeah.”

Gabriella rolled her eyes. “After all these years, and all your smart-alecky bullshit, you’re actually going to balk when I finally give in?”

“Well…” Brian seemed to be choosing his words carefully, and when he began saying them, they sounded rather pointed. “It’s kinda like a one-night stand. It might seem like a good idea in the heat of the moment, but the consequences are yours to deal with for the rest of your life.”

She stared at him for a couple of seconds and burst out laughing. Her even, white teeth were a striking contrast to her dark-cherry lips. “Jesus, Brian.”

“Seriously. I don’t want you to do it now while you’re…” He trailed off, at a loss.