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But all Cal truly saw was Lyssa. Her silky teal dress hugged her curves and flowed around her calves. She wore a pair of heels that made her legs look endless.
He thought of the teal paint splotch she’d sprayed on his shirt in London and how she’d pressed tight against him as they’d fought for the can. Which made him remember the taste of her, the softness of her skin, the sweetness of her lips.
He lived in fear of accidentally doing or saying something that would reveal to the Mavericks what he’d done. Surely it must be written in his gaze whenever he looked at Lyssa, or even stood in the same room, despite trying his hardest not to look.
“Where’s Evan?” Daniel said by his ear, and Cal damn near jumped out of his shoes.
“I haven’t seen him. Paige would know.”
He could only hope Daniel hadn’t seen him staring at Lyssa with all the lust in his heart. He loved this family. He loved these guys. And he’d screwed up everything by giving in to his craving for someone he should never have been with…and couldn’t stop thinking about.
At that moment, Evan entered the banquet room, dressed to the nines in an impeccable tuxedo. He strode straight to the arbor that had been set up by the dance floor, flowers threaded through it like a trellis.
Cal had thought it was a backdrop for photos. But now it dawned on him what the arbor was really for.
Susan gasped, clearly having realized the same thing, and took Theresa Collins’s hand in hers. Evan’s mother had come back into his life only a year ago, after disappearing when he was a kid. And she’d returned with the twins. More aptly, the twins had brought her back.
No question, Paige and Evan had been through the wringer. First, there’d been Evan’s horrible ex-wife, Whitney, then the amazing love story with Paige, who was Whitney’s sister, all while Evan had to deal with the return of a family he hadn’t even known he had. It had been a long year for all of them. Yet Evan, standing before them, seemed bathed in the glow of love.
Cal couldn’t help but think of his own family. Not one of them had ended up basking in the glow of love. Not even close.
When everyone was silent, Evan announced, “Paige and I got you here under false pretenses. While, of course, we want to celebrate Thanksgiving and Paige’s birthday, we have something extra special planned for you.”
With a flourish of his hand toward the door, the “Wedding March” began to play.
Paige stood in the doorway, her hand looped through the arm of Evan’s brother, Tony. She held a bouquet of brightly colored peonies. Her auburn hair was pulled up, her dress a cream-colored silk with a beaded bodice, the skirt flowing over her baby bump. Her pretty brown eyes glittered with joy. She was a truly beautiful bride.
It was on Cal before he knew it, an ache squeezing his heart. Evan and the rest of the Mavericks were ten years younger than he. Yet each of them had found the perfect love. Paige would have her baby in the new year, and Cal would watch them all start their families.
Looking back at the past twenty years of his life, what did he have to show for them beyond piles of money, a plane, and a bunch of expensive properties around the world? Though those things were all great, they couldn’t give comfort in the middle of the night when he was feeling low, and they sure couldn’t make him laugh unexpectedly when they nailed him with spray paint, or danced with him far above London with the city skyline as a backdrop.
Instinctively, his gaze was drawn to Lyssa. She was gorgeous, her features glowing, her eyes glistening with happy tears as she watched Paige walk to the love of her life.
The Mavericks had it all—love, family, happiness.
Whereas when Cal had finally found the first and only woman who had ever made him think about forever, she was the woman he could never have.
He had good friends, a great career, and the money to have whatever he wanted. Except the one thing he now realized that he truly needed—a family. Bitterness welled up in him, and he hated it. He didn’t want to envy the Mavericks. He was happy for Evan and Paige, happy for all of them.
He dragged his gaze away from Lyssa. It was too painful even to look at her.
Paige finally reached Evan, and Tony kissed her and stepped back as she took her place at her bridegroom’s side.
“She’s so lovely.” Susan dabbed her eyes with a tissue, still holding hands with Theresa Collins, whose eyes were shiny with tears too. While she was probably Susan’s age, she looked older, her difficult years having taken a bigger toll.
