Reading His Mind (11 page)

Witty. Now, hand me my phone.”

“Why?” Alarm raced through me, and my eyes popped wide open. We didn’t need witnesses to this debacle.

“I’m going to call my brother. See if he can help.”

“How the hell do you expect him to help?” It didn’t matter which brother he called; we would never hear the end of it.

“I don’t know, Lyr, but I’m out of ideas that won’t rip out my scalp.” For a guy with a fair amount of hair attached to my clothing, he was mighty calm.

“No way. One Laugherty man in this room is enough for one night.” I started to sit up, the motion of which pulled his hair. He pushed me against the pillows.

“Okay. Okay. I’ll call Lily, then.” It was either Lily or Mel, and I would rather die than have my sister find me in such a compromising position with her ex-boyfriend. Handing him his cell, I waited while he explained the situation to Lily. “She’ll be here in a minute.” He tossed the phone onto the mattress next to him. “There is a remote on the table that opens the door.”

“Why would they have that?”

“In case you don’t want to get out of bed to answer for room service.”

A thousand intensely awkward minutes later, Lily arrived. A second after that, Dylan came in, followed by Ryan and his wife and then Max and Mel. Photos were snapped from every angle, and snickers were probably heard throughout the hotel.

“Wow, Lyric. You sure know how to dress to get a guy’s motor running.”

I flipped Dylan off. “Don’t judge me. He’s practically stealing second right in front of your face. How lucky are
you
getting tonight?”

“Touché.”

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.” I would have never guessed when I left home more than a decade earlier I would end up in a hotel room bantering with the Laugherty kids. But there I lay, in bed with one, while the others looked on. I found this moment of my life quite odd.

Lily worked on separating me from her brother. “Yeah, well, I have a very hot British guy in my bed. I was about to get lucky and would like to get back to it. So, shut up and let me work.” I couldn’t see her face, but knew from the laughter in her voice, she found the entire situation amusing.

“Sorry.” Our voices came together to form a single sound.

“How in God’s name did you get stuck in her zipper anyway?” She quirked an eyebrow as she quit working to free him.

“I was being a friend.” He squinted his eyes, daring me to challenge him.

“You just stick to that story,
pal
.”

“You’re lucky it was only your hair that got stuck. It could have been way worse.” Max stood against the bureau with his arms around Melody, her back pressed to his chest. “Little Jace could have died a very horrible death.”

I scanned the room. Oh, this would never end. Ryan mentally calculated how many jokes he could come up with, and Dylan read the comments for the picture he had already posted on Facebook. Max owned glad thoughts for Jace having found a way to amuse himself to keep his mind off Melody. She marveled at the speed with which I had wormed my way into Jace’s bed. Boy, did I have news for her.

Leaning forward, I hid behind yesterday’s hairdo. When I opened my eyes, I looked at Jace, whose face loomed less than an inch from mine.

He used the hand that wasn’t balancing his weight to brush my hair behind my ear. “Mad at me?”

Lily, tired of gentility, yanked the last strands free.

He sat upright, massaging the side of his scalp. “Damn, Lil.”

“I’m tired.” She shrugged. “Maybe, next time, move your big head out of the way before you try working her out of her clothes.” She stood, stretching. “I’m going to bed.”

Since he could move without fear of losing any of his golden tresses and was giving them each the get-the-hell-out-of-my-room glare, they all trickled out the door, leaving us alone.

I moved to my own bed. “Goodnight, Jace.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep.” Being in the same bed with him presented too much temptation. He still loved my sister, and I declined the opportunity to be any man’s second choice. My hormones had been fine before him. They would be again.

Someday.

I hoped.

He sighed, running his hands through his hair. After a moment, he crawled under his own blankets and switched the light off, plunging us into deep darkness. “Who is Wyatt?”

“He works at the firm that hired me. We went to college together.”

He stayed silent for a minute. “Are you seeing him?”

I sat straight up in bed. “Seriously? I would never have slept with you if I was seeing someone.”

“Okay. Goodnight, Lyric.”

It took a long time to fall asleep. I counted sheep. I relived every moment of the night before, which did nothing to help my predicament. I said the alphabet backward then forward and, what felt like hours later, I drifted off. I awoke to the sound of room service wheeling a cart into the room.

“Good morning, sunshine.” Jace looked gorgeously refreshed. He’d either slept very well or he didn’t require anything from the REM category to appear so handsome I lost my breath.

“Please say there’s something caffeinated on that tray,” I begged.

He handed me a steaming mug. “Cream, sweetener, and a single cube of ice.” He used his hip to scoot me over. The bed dipped under his weight, sliding me closer to him than I considered smart for either of us. “Did you sleep well?”

“Like a baby,” I lied. “You?”

“Same.” I took little satisfaction in the fact that while his words said one thing, his thoughts screamed another. “Big wedding day. Are you going?”

Was I? I hadn’t decided yet. “I really should clean up my place. It isn’t fair to stick George with all of it.” I grimaced. “Besides, I’m sure my parents are going to be there, so I should stay away. You know, let Melody have her day without a bunch of drama.” I frowned. She’d asked me to come, and Lily had made it a point to tell me how hard she had taken it when I ran away. I bit my lip. “Do you think I should go?”

“I think it would make her happy.” He did his best to keep his thoughts hidden behind a blankness I knew took work to achieve, but I kept seeing flashes and I couldn’t tell which were memories or hopes. I also couldn’t tell if those thoughts featured me or Melody.

I shook my head. “I think everybody will be better off if I stay away.”

“I understand.” His mind screamed to mine. He didn’t get it.

“Jace, this is a hard decision. She’s my sister. I hate letting her down, but I don’t want to ruin it for her either. She’s close to them. She loves them, and she wants them there.”

He remained unconvinced.

“If she wanted me there, she would’ve called me when she decided to do this.”

“Hey, it’s up to you.” He backed away, but he thought I hid from an uncomfortable situation because of selfish pride.

“I’m not being selfish, and I never hide from anything.”

“I didn’t say you were.” His voice calmed, almost soothing.

“No. But we both know you don’t have to say it, don’t we?”

He nodded. “Okay. Fine. Go. Don’t go. Hurt her if you think you have to, but she isn’t the one who left you.”

I knew what bothered him, and I didn’t even have to look inside him to see it. He couldn’t stand to see me wound his precious Melody. “She doesn’t love you, Jasper. She loves him. In a few hours, she’s marrying him. No matter how much you try to protect her from me, nothing is going to change it.”

“That’s not what I was thinking.”

“Bullshit.” I stomped into the bathroom, rattling the mirror as the door slammed. I seethed while I showered, fumed as I dressed, and shouted curses when I realized my parents had more to do with my hiding than Mel.
Well, isn’t that dandy?
He could read me as well as I could him.

I twisted the knob for the beginning of round two and found I’d slammed the door with such force it refused to budge. “Jace?” No answer. “Jace?” Putting my ear against the door, I listened.

Silence.

“Jace!” Grabbing the knob, I pulled with all of my might. The knob came off in my hand. I stared at it, open-mouthed. “Jace, please. Come back.” My cell, tucked in the pocket of my purse, sat in the sleeping area. I looked around for a phone. There was a jack, but the spot for the accompanying apparatus mocked me with its emptiness. “Seriously?!”

What if he didn’t return to his room before the ceremony? He had to. Right?

Six hours later, I waited for someone to find me. I’d enjoyed a leisurely soak in the to-die-for tub, brushed my teeth, deep conditioned my hair with the complimentary products supplied by the housekeeping staff, gave myself the smoky-eye look, and then, out of ways to amuse myself, sat against the wall, waiting for someone to save me. I heard movement and shouted, “Jace?”

“Lyric?” His voice sounded cautious, as though he couldn’t believe someone was in his room. Or maybe he couldn’t believe the sound came from me. Probably not a lot of girls in his life—even the bimbos—managed to lock themselves in his bathroom. I didn’t care if he compared me to whatever bevvy of babes he had as a point of reference as long as he let me out of this room.

“Yes. Oh, thank God!” I’d never been happier to hear another person before in my life. “I am stuck in the bathroom. I broke the doorknob.”

“Stuck?” He jiggled the door, popping it right open. “Have you been in here since this morning?”

I nodded, stepping out past him.

“Why didn’t you just call someone?”

“Oh, my gosh. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.” I rolled my eyes. “Wait. I did. But there’s no phone in there, and mine is on the bed.” Snatching it up, I waved it like a flag in front of his face.

“Well, lucky for you I came back when I did. I had to change because my mom hates this tie.” He loosened the knot.

I gave him a thorough once over, taking a minute to appreciate the handsome in front of me. His sunny-blond hair seemed even brighter against his black jacket and shirt. His tailored pants fit in the exact way Giorgio Armani had intended.

He removed the red silk tie and pulled a blue one from his suitcase. “Better?”

Speechless, I nodded. Never before had I seen him look quite this good. I probably needed to wipe drool from my chin, but I might as well have been carved in stone, voluntary movement not possible. He formed the knot, noosing it into place, then turned to me as my phone rang. I glanced down at the screen. Wyatt. I hit ignore and continued to gawk at Jace.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be my date?”

“I just think it’s better this way.”

He nodded. “Will I see you later?”

“Probably not. It’s going to take a while to get the mess at my apartment cleaned up. Then I should read up on the case I’m working on.”

“You’re really not going?” His puppy dog face told me I had one of those last-chance-to-change-my-mind moments. “I’ll protect you. I promise.”

I laughed a little. “Jace, the Incredible Hulk couldn’t protect me from them.”

He blinked twice, disappointment evident in his eyes.

What did I care if I disappointed him with my behavior? I would never see him again after this weekend anyway. The truth, though, I did care. “Oh, fine. I’ll go.”

A grin split his face. “Come on, beautiful.”

I looked down at my clothes. I’d chosen my outfit intending to get up early to head to the apartment to clean. “I’m not exactly dressed for a wedding.”

“There’s a shop downstairs. I’ll buy you whatever you want if you hurry up, so we aren’t late.”

***

“Do you Melody, take Maximus….”

I looked over at Jace, smiled, and mouthed
Maximus?

“To be your lawfully wedded husband….” The preacher stood under a white flowered archway with Max and Mel who leaned together, hands held, eyes locked.

My mother sobbed in the front row like she’d had lost her best friend while my father glowered at Gran. Jace sat beside me a few seats behind the rest of the family, having just made it before Melody walked down the aisle.

Her dress, an amazing combination of silk and tulle with a jeweled bodice and skirt, had a cathedral train. It seemed kind of ridiculous in the tiny chapel, but glistened in magnificence. Max was a testament to masculine elegance in his black tuxedo with a long tie and a crisp, white shirt. Lily stood beside Melody, Ryan next to Max, as they handed over the rings.

My mother let out a loud sob. My sister turned, rewarding her with a glare, and Gran elbowed her in the ribs, shushing my mother. A gurgle of laughter almost escaped me, but I tucked it back. I promised myself a nice, loud guffaw later on.

“If anyone here knows any reason why these two should not be bound together by law and by love, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”

I’d never understood why anyone would include that particular line in their ceremony, but I looked over at Jace with raised eyebrows.

He put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close. “I really think they belong together,” he whispered.

“Me, too.”

The ceremony ended with a kiss, almost setting the walls around us on fire. When they walked back down the aisle, all eyes remained glued on them. Whispers of hopes for happily ever afters followed, and my mother wished for a grandchild she could spoil—probably in the most literal sense of the word.

I strolled toward Mel at the same moment she rushed forward, snatching me right off Jace’s arm to pull me into a fierce hug. “I am so glad you made it.” She held me out at arm’s length then yanked me in tight again.

“I wouldn’t have missed it,” I lied.

“Come to dinner with us, tonight.”

“God, will you never learn?”

“I already warned them if you came, they had to be nice or I would never, ever give them grandchildren.” She grinned. “Plus, Gran is already all over Mom to behave, or she’s cutting them out of the will.” She winked over at Gran.

“Okay, but I don’t want to stay out late.”