Wedding Date (Dating Series Book 6) Read online

  “Let me guess,” Kelsey says after a few minutes of silent eating. “Your brothers told you that you have to go to this wedding.”

  See? She knows me so well. “They’re assholes.”

  “Clearly,” she practically snorts. “But I also get why they’re pushing you. Listen, Theo, I don’t mind going. In fact, I’m dying to see this Jessica person who hurt you so badly. I’m also dying to see this jerk she left you for.”

  “Craig’s not that bad—” I start, but she silences me with a look.

  “He’s horrible,” she declares.

  He’s my cousin. I do tend to defend family members. Even when they do me wrong.

  “But you need to come up with some sort of plan,” she tells me, waving her fork in my direction.

  I set my burger down, hoping what she’s about to say doesn’t ruin my appetite. “What do you mean, a plan?”

  “You need to rub it in their faces how fucking fantastic your life is now that she’s not in it.” The giant smile on her face tells me she’s excited by this idea. “We’re going to strut into that wedding venue and show them just how great you’re doing. You need to wear your best suit.”

  I nod. “Done.”

  “And you can’t ever frown. Not once.” She takes another sip from her iced tea, and I momentarily dream of her lips wrapped around something of mine. Fuck, I need to stop. “You frown a lot when you talk about Jessica.”

  “Wow, really? What a surprise.” My sarcastic tone doesn’t faze her.

  “Let go of all that bitterness and act like the king you are,” she says, sounding like my personal motivational speaker. “You’re very successful at your job.”

  True. That’s about the only thing that gives me real satisfaction these days. Some might call me a workaholic. Once upon a time, Jessica called me exactly that.

  I always wondered if that was part of the reason she cheated on me. Maybe I wasn’t fulfilling her needs. Those last few months leading up to the wedding, our sex life had taken a nosedive. She wasn’t interested, and I was too tired to care. I figured stress from wedding planning was making her exhausted.

  Turns out she was just getting plenty of dick from my cousin and didn’t want mine anymore.

  “And you need to act like you own that shit when you walk into that church or wherever they’re getting married,” she continues.

  “You want to hear something funny?” When she nods, I continue, “They’re getting married here. Out on the lawn.” I wave a hand in the direction of the ocean.

  Kelsey rolls her eyes. “Of course they are. Want me to sabotage the wedding? I could. Or maybe I could mess with the catering at the reception. I’m sure that’s being held here too, right?”

  “There will be no sabotaging or ruining food at the wedding,” I tell her, though I’m semi-grateful she offered. “I don’t need to get revenge that way.”

  “Right.” She nods. Smiles, though it’s a vicious smile. Something you’d see on Maleficent’s face right before she poisons someone. “The best way to get revenge on your ex is by showing how much you don’t need or miss her.”

  Right after Jessica dumped me, that would’ve been impossible. And while my best friend Paul was doing his best to cheer me up by forcing me to go on a blind date with the very sweet Eleanor, that just didn’t work. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I was down in the dumps and in that moment, there was nowhere else I’d rather be.

  Kelsey helped get me out of the dumps. I have plenty of friends. I spend a lot of time with my brothers. But having a woman friend whose no-nonsense attitude and gives great insight into how the female mind works is invaluable.

  “Just like you were talking about,” I tell her.

  She nods. “Exactly. Too bad you haven’t found yourself a woman yet. Like, an actual girlfriend.”

  “Right.” I hand over a couple of fries and she greedily takes them.

  “I suppose…” Her gaze grows thoughtful as she chews on the fries I gave her. “I could hang all over you and convince them that you’re getting fucked—and well—every single night.”

  I nearly spit out the beer I just sipped. It takes everything for me to choke it down and I still end up coughing.

  “What? Are you saying you don’t want me to do that?” she asks with a little laugh.

  I get over my coughing fit before I wheeze out, “Please tell me exactly what you’re referring to.”

  If she’s asking if I don’t want to get fucked by her every single night, then she’s dead wrong. But I can’t take our relationship in that direction, so I keep my secret naked Kelsey fantasies to myself.

  Sex will ruin everything between us. I can’t risk it. I value her friendship too much.

  “I’m referring to the idea of us showing up to this wedding and acting like a loving couple.” That vicious little smile returns. “Wouldn’t it be fantastic? Me draped all over your arm, my boobs pressed against your chest. You could kiss me out on the dancefloor during the reception. I’d allow you at least one. Even with tongue.”

  “This is probably not a good idea,” I say cautiously, pushing all thoughts of wrapping my tongue around Kelsey’s firmly into the darkest corner of my brain. Exactly where it wants to be, conjuring up all sorts of dark fantasies involving Kelsey. And me.

  “Oh, come on, it won’t be that bad. It could actually be kind of fun, right?” She leans over and socks my arm lightly, right before she reaches for my plate and grabs a couple more fries. “You can really stick it to her.”

  “Sure. Sounds great.” My voice is less than enthusiastic and she knows it. Her shoulders deflate and she slowly shakes her head as she studies me.

  “Don’t act pathetic right now, Theo. Seriously. Be strong.” She reaches out, and this time instead of stealing my food, she rests her hand on my arm, giving it a squeeze. “I know she did a number on you. And you were pretty down in the dumps for a long time.”

  Everyone in my family—even my brothers and father—let me be sad and angry for approximately one month after the break up. Once the expiration date hit, they told me I needed to get it together. No woman is worth that much misery and pain.

  I couldn’t disagree with them. Deep down, I knew they were right. But that didn’t erase the misery and pain Jessica inflicted on me. The utter humiliation. We sent out wedding invites, for God’s sake. We lost our ass on deposits for the wedding and reception—mostly Jessica’s family did, but I did too. My parents felt sorry for me, and I hated that. Then I had to explain to my hard-of-hearing, eighty-nine-year-old grandma what happened, and that sucked probably most of all.

  Disappointing my family isn’t high on my agenda. Looking like a complete loser isn’t either.

  So I toughened up and acted like nothing bothered me anymore. I was over her. Fuck that chick! She’s a bitch.

  I said that a lot to my brothers, because that’s what they wanted to hear. I didn’t really mean it, though. Jessica’s not really a bitch. Coldhearted and unfeeling, yes. I can’t be mad at her anymore.

  In a month, she’ll be family.

  “You seemed better. I know you were better, but getting this invitation is not the reason to spiral down the toilet bowl of life, okay?” Kelsey squeezes my arm again, an encouraging smile on her face, and I can’t help but smile back.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I won’t spiral down the toilet bowl of life, whatever that means,” I tell her.

  She laughs. “Good, she doesn’t deserve you thinking about her. You know she’s not thinking about you, right?”

  Ouch. Way to keep it real. “You’re probably right.”

  “I am right. Trust me.” She gestures toward my plate. “Ready to cut me off a piece of that burger?”

  Sighing, I do as she asks, setting about a quarter of my burger onto the edge of her salad plate. I let her take over the conversation, watching her mouth move as she talks. As she eats. When Kelsey gets going, she never stops talking, which I initially found surprising. She has a bit of a myst
erious way about her. She doesn’t talk much about her family or her past. And trust me, I’ve asked. I’m a freaking open book, while she’s sealed up tight.

  Makes me wonder if she’s hiding something.

  Three

  Kelsey

  “I need to find a gorgeous dress that will make every woman who sees me jealous,” I announce to my friends.

  We meet at Sweet Dreams Bakery and Café at least once a week for lunch. I drive in from Pebble Beach. Stella’s family owns the place, and she works there. Caroline and Sarah both work nearby. So does Amelia. Eleanor used to work at a salon up the street, but she’s moved to Las Vegas to be with her man.

  If I fell in love with a professional football player like Eleanor did, I’d move anywhere he was too. Though I miss her. Terribly. We all do. She’s the sunshine, optimistic queen. So is our friend Candice, but currently she’s on vacation in the Bahamas with her husband, Charlie. The lucky B.

  “Just look in your closet,” Stella says, her voice dry as she contemplates me. “Pretty much everything you wear makes other women jealous.”

  I blow out an exasperated breath. Look, being born with this face has been both a curse and a blessing. I have no control over it. I got my looks from my mama. When she was my age, she was gorgeous. Stunning. And she knew it. She wielded her beauty like a weapon, and she was ruthless. She’s been married five times. She’s had endless boyfriends and fiancés throughout her life, right up until the very end. I have no idea who my father is, because she divorced him before I was even born. Or were they even married?

  I have no clue, and I never was allowed to ask. Anytime I had a question about him, she shut me down. So I gave up.

  When I was a little girl, she entered me in a bunch of beauty pageants—and I won most of them. I was well on my way to becoming the next JonBenet Ramsey, if you know what I’m saying. But then one day, it all stopped. Mom ran out of money. The guy she was married to at that time lost his ass in the stock market, and she divorced him.

  While she went on the hunt for a new husband, I went through my ugly duckling stage. No more pageant wins for me. I was gangly and awkward. I desperately needed braces for my very crooked adult teeth. I had really long legs that I seemed to always trip over.

  In other words, I was a mess. Mom would watch me with pity, always making comments under her breath. And it broke me. I wasn’t her beautiful little doll anymore. I was ugly.

  Oh, but then the braces came off. I learned how to style my hair—thank you, YouTube—and I started to develop. Next thing I knew, I was tall and curvy, I had perfect sized boobs according to my mother, and my face looked exactly like hers too. I thought she’d be happy.

  Instead, she viewed me as competition.

  “I need something that’ll send someone over the edge,” I say, earning curious looks from my friends.

  “Explain yourself,” Caroline says. “Who is this someone?”

  “Theo asked me to be his date at a wedding,” I tell them.

  Sarah and Caroline exchange knowing looks. “Are you two finally going to date each other?” Sarah asks.

  “No. Absolutely not,” I say firmly. “We’re just friends. If we take it to the next level, we’ll ruin everything.”

  “You might not—” Caroline starts, but I shake my head, cutting her off.

  “No. Friends. That’s it.”

  “So why do you need a dress that’ll send someone over the edge?” Stella asks, her gaze sharp. “I figured you were referring to Theo.”

  A chorus of “yeahs” accompany her statement.

  “I’m not referring to Theo, I’m referring to…the bride.” I bite my lower lip, knowing that I sound like a complete bitch. Who wants to upstage the bride on their wedding day?

  Me, that’s who.

  “Whose wedding are you going to?”

  “Doesn’t it feel like there are a lot of weddings happening lately?” Amelia asks no one in particular. Everyone nods their answer, including me. “God, it’s like a disease.” Amelia had a nasty breakup with her ex, but has now found true love with a younger man who seems totally into her. It’s actually really sweet.

  “Theo was invited to his ex’s wedding,” I admit.

  The protests immediately start. They all hate this Jessica person, thanks to me complaining about her. Eleanor complained about her too. She’s the one who kept up contact with Theo first. After their disastrous first date—that I helped arranged via the Rate a Date app and Theo’s best friend, the eternal jackass Paul—Eleanor met with Theo, and he eventually became her financial planner. He’s also now Eleanor’s boyfriend’s financial planner, which is a huge deal. Mitch Anderson makes bank. He’s worth a fortune.

  So yeah, we all hate Jessica. She broke Theo’s heart.

  “I can’t believe that bitch would invite him to her wedding, after she broke up with him like she did,” Caroline says with absolute disgust.

  “She’s marrying Theo’s cousin, so in theory, he deserves an invite,” I say, wincing when they start protesting all over again.

  “He shouldn’t go!” Amelia says. “Who cares about that chick?”

  “Theo feels like he has to go,” I say. “Plus, his brothers told him he should.”

  They all know about Theo’s family. Specifically the brothers, and how pushy they all are.

  “He asked you to go with him then?” Stella asks.

  I nod. “Of course, I said yes. I want to be there for him, and honestly? I’m really curious to see this Jessica. I want to know what all the fuss is about.”

  “I bet she’s gorgeous.” This is from Caroline, who has a bitter expression on her face.

  Jealousy stabs me right in the heart, and I tell it to take a hike. Seriously, why would I be jealous of a gorgeous Jessica? Who cares what she looks like? She broke my friend’s heart. Stomped all over it with sky-high stilettos.

  I have no idea if she wears stilettos. I’m just assuming.

  “It’ll be difficult to outshine the bride at her own wedding,” Stella says, ever the honest friend. “But out of any of us at this table, I have faith in you the most that you can do it.”

  I can’t help but laugh, relief flooding me. Exactly what I needed to hear. “I’m going to give it an old-fashioned go.”

  “You can do it,” Amelia says with a wicked smile. “What does Theo think about your plan?”

  I go quiet for a moment, grateful when Sarah asks Amelia a question and shifts the focus off me having to answer.

  What did Theo think of my plan? He seems reluctant. Like he doesn’t want to walk into that wedding with his head held high and me on his arm. Theo is a very low-key person. He doesn’t want to draw a lot of attention to himself, and he knows when he walks into that wedding?

  All eyes will be on him.

  The pressure of that alone must be enormous. I’m sure that’s part of the reason he wants me to go with him. So I can carry some of that burden. But I draw attention too. It’s the curse of my face. Sometimes I don’t wear makeup, or I pull my hair back tight or even wear a hat so people won’t notice me.

  At this wedding, though? I want people to see me. I want them to believe Theo and I are dating, and yes, he is so over Jessica.

  But can we pull it off?

  “I have a question,” I say, right in the middle of all of them talking.

  Their gazes swivel to mine.

  “What’s up?” Stella asks.

  “It’s for Caroline and Sarah.” Weird that two of the women out of our friend group participated in fake relationships. Like, who does that? Sounds straight out of a movie to me, but here I go…

  Caroline and Sarah face me more fully, their brows raised in matching expressions.

  “What’s it like to pretend to be in a relationship with someone?”

  “Oh, this ought to be interesting,” Stella mutters.

  “Are you thinking of doing that with Theo?” Caroline’s eyebrows shoot up even higher.

  “Well, it seemed
to work for you and Alex. You guys are married now,” I point out, before turning my attention onto Sarah. “And you’re engaged to Jared. So phony relationships must be successful.”

  “Is that what you want from Theo? To marry him?” Sarah asks.

  “No!” The word shoots out of me like a bullet, fast and hot. “Of course not. He’s just my friend. But—I want us to look like a couple, you know? So everyone at the wedding thinks we’re together.”

  “To prove to Jessica that Theo is over him,” Caroline says.

  I nod. “Yes. That. Exactly.”

  “Then you’re going to have to act like a real couple,” Sarah says. “Arm in arm. Loving glances. Flirtatious laughter. The works. And it can’t seem awkward either. You need it to be believable.”

  “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation,” I say, having a surreal moment.

  “What about his family?” Caroline asks. “Doesn’t he have like…twenty brothers?”

  “It feels like it,” I say with a laugh. “He has three brothers and a sister. His family is very close.”

  “Well, you need to break past that barrier first. You need to go have family dinner with them or whatever. Otherwise, you’re the so-called girlfriend coming out of nowhere. They won’t believe him. Or you,” Caroline says.

  Shit. I never thought of that, but of course Caroline is right. His brothers will call Theo out immediately if we suddenly show up and act like a couple. He pretty much tells them everything.

  “I think we’ll need to come up with a plan,” I say, my mind already racing with all the things Theo and I need to do.

  “That sounds like a start,” Sarah says, her smile gentle. “I know you always say he’s your friend, but are you sure you don’t feel something…more for him?”

  “I don’t,” I say vehemently. “I can’t. Our friendship is perfect just as it is. We bring any sort of—romantic feelings into it, and everything’s ruined.”

  “Everything?” Amelia asks. “So dramatic.”

  “And so true. I can’t keep a boyfriend to save my life. Something always gets in the way.” Like my face. Like other men being attracted to me and making whoever I’m with jealous. Or men who have certain expectations just because of the way I look. When I don’t meet those expectations, they get angry.