Page 6 of Runaway Bride’s Husband

My mom tightened her grip on my arm and started tugging me to the door. “Come on,” she said. “Cathy is looking for you. It’s time for another toast before the first game.”

Bridal shower games. Whoop.

I felt my face fall, but I allowed myself to be dragged back to the party anyway. It wasn’t like I had much of a choice here. Just before I followed Mom through the swinging doors, however, I couldn’t resist the urge to look back at him over my shoulder.

Ryan was still standing exactly where he had been, his phone still in his hand and his mother still talking to him, but he didn’t seem to be listening to her at all. Instead, he was watching me. Our eyes locked across the busy kitchen, and for a long beat, neither of us looked away.

CHAPTER 3

RYAN

Two weeks after I’d made my debut as a bridal shower planner, I leaned back in my seat on Alex’s private jet and looked out at the puffy white clouds drifting below. Very soon, we would be touching down in San Diego and I would have to leave the lap of luxury, but for now, I was just drinking it in, enjoying the smooth, expensive scotch in my hand and the fact that I hadn’t flown cattle class on a commercial airliner for years.

“They’re going to be fine, Jane,” Alex said emphatically to my sister. “I promise. The kids can survive without us for a few days. They’re in the best hands and they’re flying in with my brothers literally the day after the wedding.”

She sighed, sliding her hands out of his and turning to glance out the window. They were sitting across the aisle from me, facing each other, but right now, it didn’t seem like she wanted to look at him. My sister did not do the whole crying thing often, and with the tears in her eyes, I wasn’t surprised she was avoiding eye contact.

“I know they’ll be fine,” she said finally, swiping under her eyes like the tears were offending her. “They’re going to love spending time with the family in Napa when they arrive and I’m sure Adelaide will spend this whole weekend psyching them up for it, but still. I miss them already.”

Alex sighed and stood up to take the vacant seat next to hers instead, his arm sliding around her shoulders as he pulled her into him, but I tuned them out when he started murmuring to her. The guy’s cousin, Sterling, owned a vineyard in Napa, and after the wedding, they would be headed there with the whole Westwood tribe for a little family reunion.

As soon as Jane had a glass of Sterling’s wine in her hand, she’d be just fine, this whole episode already behind her. It was pretty sweet though, the way Alex comforted her despite knowing the exact same thing. Honestly, we couldn’t have found a better husband for my sister if we’d had him hand-crafted.

“Ryan?” Mom said, bringing me back into the conversation. “You’ll come to the rehearsal dinner with me as a guest, right?”

I blinked hard and almost said no, but I was only here because Mom thought I was some kind of wizard when it came to untangling the knots that would ensure this production went off without a hitch. In reality, I’d agreed to come to make sure she didn’t accidentally ruin the wedding, but I didn’t say that, simply grunting in response to her question instead.

Naturally, she took that as a yes, beaming at me as we landed. “Excellent. Did you pack a suitable outfit? This is going to be the wedding of the century, after all. We must consider the image we present to the world to show them that this is a new era for the Thayers.”

I groaned, but Jane took over then, reminding our mother that I was a fully grown man who’d known he was going to attend a wedding and would’ve packed accordingly. As it happened, I had packed accordingly, but I wasn’t sure the event itself was going to be as big of a deal—or as exclusive—as my mother seemed to think.

Personally, I’d always thought beach weddings were in poor taste. The sand, sun, and horrible lighting were not something I’d want for my own big day, but hey. This wasn’t my wedding. If this bridal couple thought a beachy wedding was a good idea, then so be it.

The second we disembarked, Alex thrust a hand toward me, his other hand firmly gripping my sister’s. “This is where we go our separate ways, but we’ll see you there.”

“See you.” I smacked my palm into his and shook with him, then led my mother to the car waiting for us while Alex marched Jane toward theirs.

We would be staying at the resort where the wedding would be taking place while my sister and her husband had had the good sense to stay as far away as they could until the actual wedding. Lucky bastards.

“Oh, this is beautiful,” Mom gushed as we drove along the road leading up to the resort, winding our way through lush, tropical gardens and a variety of swimming pools dotted across the lawns. “Don’t you think it’s simply gorgeous?”

I hummed a sound she obviously took as agreement, relieved when she left almost as soon as the car stopped to meet up with Maggie’s mom for dinner. That gave me the night off from wedding-related nonsense, at least.

After checking us in and having our baggage sent up to our rooms, I risked going to one of the many hotel bars. I had a ton of work to catch up on while I was on this unintended side quest. The resort spread out in all directions from the central reception area and I hiked my laptop bag higher on my shoulder, keeping my head down as I wandered from bar to bar until I found a quiet, almost empty one right at the edge of the property.

Strings of lights glittered overhead and the bar was right on the sand while the tables and booths were tucked along the perimeter of a semi-permanent structure to shield patrons from wind or rain, neither of which was a problem tonight. I grabbed a beer before making my way to a table in the corner at the back. While I didn’t know too many people at this wedding, I really did have work to do and I didn’t want to get pulled into a night with the boys or, God forbid, more wedding duties.

Daniel Hawthorne, the groom, and I went way back. We’d never been friends, per se, but we weren’t unfriendly either. Chances were, if I ran into him or a member of his family or crew, I’d never get anything productive done.

Almost as soon as I got settled with my laptop, however, I looked to the side, trying to decide where to start when I realized I wasn’t alone in my secluded little corner of the bar. In a booth only a few tables away, a woman sat nursing a Mai Tai in one of those horrific tiki cups. She was slumped enough to let me know she, too, wanted to stay out of sight, and even through her slate gray matching sweatshirt and sweatpants set with her hood pulled up over her hair, I knew it was her.

My blushing bride.

For a second, I considered ignoring Maggie, but at the end of the day, there were a few things I needed to talk to her about before I could finalize them anyway. Dutifully closing my laptop again, I stood up and walked over, opening the computer again as I sat down across from her.

“Do you have any interest in being the official wedding profiled for the summer edition of Bride Magazine?” I asked without preamble. “I have a connection there who’s interested in running more than just a short announcement with a picture of your dress.”

Even in the dim twinkling of the little lights above, I saw her shoulders fall, but then she drew her hood back and looked up, nearly knocking the damn breath out of me when I saw her totally makeup free and wearing glasses for the first time. This woman was getting married in a couple days, which meant she was very much off limits and off the market, but holy fuck.