Winter's Kiss

She watched him carefully but there was no stiffness to his shoulders. No jealousy tightening his features.

Too bad. She could use some encouragement here.

“Has Ricky contacted you?” Oakes asked, again in lawyer mode. “Does he want to get back together?”

“He’s contacted me,” she said slowly, “but not to get back together.” Though when she’d broken up with him six months ago, she’d imagined him trying a bit harder to get her back. Guess she was easy to get over. “We met for coffee the other day and he told me he’s getting married.”

“I see.”

“I’m fine,” she told him because he was looking at her with sympathy. As if she was someone to be pitied.

Well, why wouldn’t he pity her? He thought—as everyone did—that Ricky had been the one to call off their engagement.

Probably because that’s what she’d told them all.

“I’m sure you are,” Oakes said quickly. Too quickly to be believed. “But if you need anything,” he said, giving her hand a pat, “you know I’m here for you, right?”

Her throat tightened. She did know that. It wasn’t just because he cared about her. It was because he was that kind of guy. The kind who was always there for people, for his family and friends, someone they could count on, could lean on.

And she was going to take horrible advantage of that very trait, one she found super sexy and one of the many reasons she was attracted to him.

And she was almost certain he was attracted to her, too—he just needed some help realizing it. And if that took a teeny, tiny bit of manipulation, a few half-truths and some serious acting chops on her part, then so be it.

She sighed, hoped it was the long, drawn-out sigh of the brokenhearted. “Thank you. I know I shouldn’t be upset about Ricky moving on, it’s just...it was a shock.” Partly because she’d never thought he’d return to Houston from Dallas, where he’d moved after their breakup. Or that he’d find someone else so quickly. Someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with after he’d begged her to come with him. When she’d told him she couldn’t marry him, he’d acted devastated. Had insisted she was his one true love and he’d never get over her breaking his heart.

She’d felt horrible. Ricky was a great guy and she’d hated hurting him but it seemed he’d managed to rebound nicely from his heartache.

“The worst part,” she continued, “is that he and his new girlfriend—fiancée—are getting married in a few weeks and, if you can believe this, he invited me.”

“That’s very...”

“Movie-of-the-week, I know. I don’t think he did it to be vindictive or to rub my nose in it, though.” She chewed on the inside of her lower lip thoughtfully. “I mean, he said all the right things, about how he knew it might be awkward, but that he still cared about me and hoped we could be friends and still be a part of each other’s lives...”

“You don’t believe him?”

“I believe he believes it. The only logical conclusion I could come up with was that Jenny—his fiancée—thinks Ricky and I need the closure that my witnessing their wedding to him would provide.”

Oakes grinned. “Glad that psychology degree is paying off.”

“Hey, if I can’t psychoanalyze ex-fiancés, what’s the point?”

“You’re not going to his wedding, are you?” Oakes asked.

“I don’t want to,” she admitted. Fact was, she’d rather pour hot sauce in her eyes than attend. “But I’m afraid if I don’t, Jenny—or worse, Ricky—will think I’m not attending out of spite. Or because I’m still in love with him.”

Oakes studied her, his gaze intense and searching. “Are you?” he asked quietly.

“Of course not.”

“All I’m saying is it’s only been six months since he broke things off—”

“Us splitting up was for the best,” she said, realizing she sounded like a jilted lover trying to act as if she was fine and dandy with being dumped. Guilt pricked her about not clarifying who, exactly, had done the breaking up, but she couldn’t tell Oakes the truth about her and Ricky. Not without giving too much away. “We weren’t meant to be. It happens.”

Oakes took her hand in his, held it lightly. “No one would blame you if you still had feelings for him.”

“Oakes, I said that I’m over him. I’m twenty-three years old—old enough to know my own feelings.”

That Oakes thought she didn’t was another blow to her ego and one of the reasons she couldn’t admit to her feelings for him. He’d never believe her. Would think this was a continuation of the crush she’d developed on him as a teenager or that he was some kind of rebound.

“Seems to me you said the same thing when you got engaged.”

Her face heated. No fair throwing her own words back at her. “I loved Ricky—at the time—and thought marrying him was the right thing to do. Turns out I was wrong.”

“I hate to say I told you so—”

“Not as much as I hate to hear it,” she said in a faux sweet tone.

“But I did suggest you might be rushing things with him. You were too young to make such a huge commitment.”

“I wasn’t too young. But I did let it happen too fast.” She and Ricky had met at the end of her junior year at Rice, where he’d been a teaching assistant. Being with him had been easy. Maybe too easy. Too...comfortable. When he’d proposed on Valentine’s Day she’d thought it cheesy and romantic and had let herself get swept away with the idea of being in love.

And she had loved Ricky. Just not enough. And not in the way a woman should love the man she’d agreed to marry. When he’d accepted a position at a small, private college in Dallas and asked her to move there with him, she’d realized her mistake. She’d broken off their engagement but had told everyone he was the one who’d ended things between them.

It had seemed the lesser of two evils at the time. Her family and friends were all very supportive, very sympathetic. But she hadn’t fibbed to get sympathy. She’d done it to protect herself.

If the truth came out, she’d have to explain why she broke up with Ricky. And it wasn’t as simple as her making a mistake in accepting his proposal in the first place.

She’d done it for Oakes.

She’d realized that if she went with Ricky to Dallas, if she let herself get swept along with wedding plans and building a future with him, she’d have to give up her dreams of being with Oakes.

She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t let Oakes go. Not without knowing, for sure, whether or not they were meant to be.

She squeezed Oakes’s hand then slid free of his grasp. She didn’t need his pity, even if Ricky had moved on rather quickly. “Not that I don’t appreciate your advice—”

He snorted. “You don’t appreciate my advice.”

“True. Mainly because I don’t need it. What I need is a favor.”

“Why am I suddenly nervous?”

“Don’t be such a baby. I’m not asking for a kidney. I came up with the perfect solution to my problem. In order to stem any gossip or speculation, I attend the wedding...”

“That’s your perfect solution?” he asked after a moment. “I have to tell you, I really thought you’d come up with something a bit more...inspired. Or at least interesting.”

“You didn’t let me finish.”

“You stopped talking.”

“I was pausing for dramatic effect.”

He leaned back, waved a hand. “Then by all means. Continue.”

“As I was saying, I go to the wedding...”

“You want me to do a drumroll?”

“No need. I’m imagining one in my head. Anyway, my point is, I go with you as my date.” She lifted her arms in a gesture of ta da!

“You want me to take you to your ex-boyfriend’s—”

“Ex-fiancé.”

“—wedding?”

Men. So clueless. “Yes. If I go alone, I’m either the humiliated, sad, pathetic ex, there to weep over the loss of the groom, or I’m there to win him back. Neither option is appealing. But if I show up on the arm of one of Houston’s most eligible bachelors—”

“I thought we agreed to never mention that again,” he muttered.

And he was blushing. Gorgeous, smart and humble? He really was a dream come true.

“It’s not like I’d bring along copies of the article or anything.” Last winter a local magazine had run a piece on the city’s hottest bachelors under thirty-five. Oakes, to his chagrin, had come in at number two. “Though I might bring it up in conversation. Only if there’s an opening.”

“Daphne,” he said in warning.

“I’m kidding.” Sort of. “Look, if you go with me, it helps me save face and gives both Ricky and me closure.”

No one would ever doubt she was over her ex if she showed up with Oakes. Including Ricky and Jenny.

But more importantly, it would be a great chance for her and Oakes to spend some quality time together.

He studied her, as if trying to sense any hidden meaning behind her request. She kept her gaze on him, her expression open. Hopeful.

“If you think it will help,” he said, “then sure. I’d love to take you to your ex’s wedding.”

She gave a soft whoop of delight. “Hooray! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you have a good time.”

“I don’t doubt that.” He began clearing the bar. “And I’ll do my best to play attentive date. Just tell me when and where to show up.”

“The ceremony and reception are both taking place at the Sam Houston Hotel the day before Christmas.” She got to her feet and set her silverware on her plate. Noticed his frown. “What’s the matter?”

“I can’t go with you,” he said, sounding regretful. “Kane and Charlotte are getting married that same weekend.”

“Oh,” she said, wondering why she hadn’t known the date of his brother’s wedding. Probably because she wasn’t invited to it and Zach had never mentioned it was taking place on Christmas Eve.

The depth of her disappointment surprised her. It wasn’t as if she’d never see the man again. But her spontaneous plan had been so perfect. She’d take Oakes as her date to the wedding, saving face with Ricky and spend a lovely evening with Oakes as nonfriends. The romance of the wedding, she was sure, would help loosen Oakes’s inhibitions where she was concerned.

Oakes patted her arm as he passed by, his other hand carrying his dirty plate. “I’m sure you’ll find someone else to go with you.”

She made a noncommittal sound. It wasn’t as if she had low self-esteem—Zach often accused her of having too much. Finding a date wasn’t the problem. Both men from last night had given her their numbers, telling her to call if she changed her mind. But she couldn’t imagine asking a man she barely knew to attend her ex-fiancé’s wedding with her.

That screamed of desperation and by God, she wasn’t there yet.

Besides, if she asked them to do this favor for her, she had no idea what they’d want in return. With Oakes, she didn’t have to worry about how much payback would cost her.

Plus, and this was a biggie, she didn’t want to be with any other guy—not any more. Not even for an evening. She wanted Oakes.

And suddenly a new plan, an even better one, started to take shape in her mind, and she realized that she could still have him.

“Eureka!”

At the sink, he glanced over his shoulder at her. “Did you just discover gold?”

“Pretty darn close.” She gathered her plate and cup and carried them to the sink. Standing at his elbow, she leaned against the counter. “I just had the best idea ever. It’ll take some planning, but then, what brilliant idea doesn’t?”

He ran the water, began rinsing dishes and setting them in the dishwasher. “Planning is good. But not exactly your strong suit.”

Oh, if he only knew. “I plan for the important things.” She pushed away from the counter and paced the length of the room, brushing his back as she passed. “We’ll need to check flights, which I’m sure won’t be cheap, especially for a holiday weekend. Plus I’ll have to find accommodations. And I’ll need to buy a few things,” she muttered, making a mental checklist. “A winter coat and maybe boots.” She stopped to find him staring at her curiously. “I’m assuming there’s going to be snow? So, yeah, boots for sure.”

He shook his head, totally confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Snow. In Pennsylvania, where Kane lives.”

“It snows there in the winter,” he said slowly, reaching to shut off the running water. “Why?”

He didn’t have to look so suspicious. Or so worried.

She smiled. “Because I’ve changed my mind. The favor I want from you isn’t for you to go with me to Ricky’s wedding. It’s for you to take me with you to Kane’s.”

CHAPTER FOUR

OAKES LOOKED SHOCKED, as if she had indeed not only requested a kidney, but also insisted he lay back so she could dig it out of him right now. “Excuse me?” he asked.

“I could go with you to Kane’s wedding. It’s a great idea.” The more she thought about it, the more she began to believe it. Knowing body language was an important part of any conversation, she leaned forward, hoping to convey her need and earnestness, and ticked off all the ways her plan was brilliant. “It’s the same weekend as Ricky’s, which means I’d have a legitimate excuse not to attend his nuptials and, if I go with you as your plus one, no one in Houston can say I’m heartbroken or missing Ricky’s wedding because I’m still in love with him or spiteful. It’s the perfect solution.”

“Perfect.” The word said he agreed but his muttered tone suggested otherwise. “Except for the fact that Kane’s wedding is in Pennsylvania.”

“Even better.”

A change of scenery would do them good. It might be easier for Oakes to stop seeing her as only Zach’s little sister, as only a friend, if they were away from Houston. Unfortunately, they couldn’t escape the Bartasavich family entirely as most of the family would be at the wedding in Shady Grove, but she and Oakes would have plenty of time and opportunity to be alone.

She’d make sure of it.

“Weren’t you invited to the wedding yourself?” Oakes asked as they both sat back down.

“Nope. Why would I be?”

She barely knew Kane or C.J., Oakes’s older brothers. Oh, they’d spent some time together at the hospital when Zach was first brought back to the States after he’d been injured. But it wasn’t as if she had anything in common with C.J.—Clinton Bartasavich, Jr.—the current CEO of Bartasavich Enterprises, who was so far out of her tax bracket, social sphere and peer group, they might as well be on different planets. And the same was true with the long-haired, tattooed Kane, who preferred biker boots over power suits and owned and operated a bar in Shady Grove, Pennsylvania.

Oakes shifted. Cleared his throat. “I thought you and Charlotte had become friends.”

“We did. Sort of. Just not the type of friends you feel the need to invite the other to an out-of-state wedding that’s taking place on Christmas Eve.”

Daphne liked Charlotte Ellison, Kane’s fiancée. She was smart and funny and it had been great having an RN with them in the hospital to cut through all the medical terms. She’d been extremely patient about explaining things to Daphne and her mother. But it wasn’t like they’d become BFFs after spending a few days together—even though those were important days in Daphne’s life.

Realizing Oakes was grasping at straws, looking for any reason not to take her with him to Shady Grove, she frowned. He wasn’t doing much for her ego, that was for sure. “Do you...do you already have a plus one for the wedding?”

A distinct possibility given that he was seeing Sylvie. But Daphne couldn’t imagine Oakes bringing some woman he was casually dating halfway across the country to his brother’s wedding.

Talk about a commitment.

“No,” he said slowly, in that way people did when they were trying to find an excuse to get out of doing something they didn’t want to do. “I hadn’t planned on bringing a date.”

She laid her hand on his knee. “But there’s no reason you can’t bring one, right?”

She let her hand linger on his leg. It was nice, touching him, feeling the warmth of him through his jeans. But mostly she liked how he reacted to her touch. As if it made him uncomfortable and not in a he-found-her-repulsive way, but the opposite. He must have felt the spark between them, too, and was fighting his baser instincts for all he was worth.

A girl could dream, right?

He brightened suddenly and she would have bet her last dollar that he gave himself a silent eureka.

And that made her nervous.

“You can go with Zach,” he said. Just as he’d done last night, he covered her hand with his briefly and then slid it away from his person. But she noticed his fingers hadn’t been completely steady. “I’m sure he’d be thrilled to take you.”

“As you’re well aware, Zach is never thrilled to do anything. But you’re right. He would take me. If he was going.”

“Zach isn’t going?” he asked. “Why not?”

She shrugged. “Says he’s not up to traveling.”

As excuses went, it was a valid one, seeing as how he was still recovering from his injuries and in rehab, learning to live without the use of his right arm and leg, both of which had been amputated.

But it was still an excuse.

Zach went out of his way to have as little to do with his father’s side of his family as possible. And if that meant missing his brother’s wedding, then so be it. Though out of all his brothers, Kane was the one Zach seemed to like the most, but that wasn’t saying much. About the only two people in the world her brother cared about were her and their mother.

“I’m cutting him some slack and not bugging him about it because he has been through a physically and emotionally traumatic event,” Daphne continued. “But I think what’s really stopping him is that he doesn’t want to travel in the wheelchair.” He hadn’t been fitted for prosthetics yet and still used a wheelchair to get around. “I don’t think he wants people feeling sorry for him.”

Oakes exhaled heavily, shoved a hand through his hair. “Yeah. I can understand that.” He got to his feet, stepped away, then turned again. “Is this the real reason you came here last night? To ask me to take you to the wedding?”

No. She’d come to tell him she loved him, wanted to marry him and have his babies.

Thank God she hadn’t confessed those things.

Damn tequila. Not only was it some sort of legal truth serum, but it also gave people delusions of grandeur.

“You think it’s a bad idea?” she asked, wide-eyed and innocent. “Us going together?” He opened his mouth, probably to say yes, but she kept right on talking. “Because I think it’ll be fun. I’m a great date, honestly. I promise you’ll have a good time.”

“What about the holiday? Won’t your mother be upset about you not being home for Christmas?”

“She’ll understand my reasons. Plus, I can fly back early Christmas morning, be home in time for dinner.”

He was going to say no. She could see it in his eyes, in how he held himself, so stiffly and unyielding.

She stood, crossed to stand in front of him. “Please, Oakes,” she said softly, not realizing until this very second how badly she wanted him to say yes. How much she needed him to say yes. If the moment they’d shared six years ago on her graduation day was the beginning of her feelings for him, the beginning of their friendship, then this moment, right here, right now, was the turning point. His decision would either take their relationship to the next level...or leave them to crash and burn without ever having a chance. “Please.”

He scratched the side of his neck. Sighed, then nodded. “I’d love to have you with me at the wedding.”

He wouldn’t. That much was clear in his conflicted, tight expression. In his unenthusiastic response. Guilt nudged her. Hard. She shoved it aside. She had nothing to feel guilty about. She wasn’t tricking him. Wasn’t lying to him.

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