Dating the Guy Next Door (18 page)

“So you want your toxic family to harass me instead?” Riley tried to ignore the way his hands, roughened from years of well-digging and tree-cutting felt against her own fingers. Instead she needed to focus on how ridiculous the whole thing was. Besides, even though she had met and liked Tucker, she'd no desire to meet anyone else in his family. Least of all his father or his ex-fiancée.

“Yes, but they won't be toxic to you,” Will assured her. “They do have social skills. They just don't tend to use them when they're dealing with me. But you're adorable and cute and there's no way anyone could ever be rude to you. Please, Riley, I'm begging. In fact if I wasn't already sitting on the floor, I'd be down on my knees.”

“I'm sorry, but going to Tucker's wedding—or any wedding— isn't something I'm into. I kind of hate them.” Riley licked her lips and tried to ignore the tingling sensation on the inside of her palms.

“Who doesn't? But at least we can hate it together.” He nodded his head, his pale eyes willing her to say yes. “Did I mention the begging?”

“Yes, you mentioned the begging,” Riley assured him. “But I don't think you understand. I
really
hate weddings. Five times I've been a bridesmaid for my parents at their various weddings and all of them ended in disaster. Plus, I broke out in hives after my dad got married in that field in the middle of nowhere.”

“So we get some allergy cream. Besides, imagine that it's Lizzie and Darcy getting married. Or, you know, some of those other people Jane Austen wrote about it. Plus, I swear that we'll get there late and leave early. It'll be painless. I promise.”

Doubtful. Especially since Jane Austen wrote fiction and everyone knew that real life was never as neat and tidy. Or ended up as happily. Well, not in her experience, and watching her lovable but foolish parents make mistake after mistake with their hearts and finances, it had just confirmed that marriage was fragile and led to poor decision making and pain.

“I'm sorry.” Riley shook her head, hating that she had to say no to him. “I wish I could but I can't.”

“Of course you can.” He gave her an encouraging smile as he held the guinea pig up, as if to further his cause. “Besides, you owe me a favor. I helped you feed Bingley.”

“And I'm grateful,” Riley said, trying not to make eye contact with him, since it was only increasing her guilt. “But I'm not sure that's a good enough reason to go to a wedding with you. I mean I've been watering your potted plants for three months, but that doesn't mean I expect you to be my date at the library Halloween party.”

“I don't have any potted plants.” Will wrinkled his nose in confusion and Riley realized that now probably wasn't the best time to tell him that Sharon-at-work's mom moved into a retirement home and needed to find good homes for a giant collection of peace lilies and money trees. And fine, so perhaps this time Riley
had
been roped into taking them, but potted plants had rights too. So she'd taken as many into her own apartment as could reasonably fit and had put the rest into Will's. Besides, she figured it would make his sterile place seem a bit more homey for when he was there.

She also realized that she was doing a bad job of trying to explain just why she didn't want to do it.

“I'm sure you can find someone else. You know a zillion other girls who'd fall over themselves to go to the wedding with you. Plus, they'd probably own a grown-up type of dress, whereas I'm not much of a grown-up dress type of girl.” Riley waved her arm to demonstrate that the jeans and cat T-shirt she was wearing were a fairly accurate example of her wardrobe, while trying to hide the desperation in her voice.

“If I take someone who I've already dated or flirted with they might think . . . well, you know. They might get the wrong idea. Whereas you and I are friends, so there won't be any confusion. As for the clothing, we can go shopping. It'll be fun.”

Now she knew he was desperate since Will's idea of fun didn't normally involve shopping. Neither did hers come to think of it. Which was another reason why they got along so well.

“And the wedding itself?” Riley raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, so that's going to be less fun,” Will reluctantly admitted. “
But,
if you're there, it will be bearable and then when it's all over life can go back to normal. I don't want to put the pressure on but how do you think I'd feel knowing that you said yes to a guinea pig and no to your best friend in the entire world? Come on, Riley. What do you say?”

No.

Of course it had to be no.

Hives aside, the whole point of being friends with a guy like Will was that it was safe. There was no love stuff. No
dressing up. They just sat around in sweats, watching DVDs and arguing over whose turn it was to buy the pizza. And definitely no going to any weddings. Then she caught the tension that was barely visible around his mouth. The tension that he fought so hard to hide from the rest of the world. It only went like that when he talked about his family. His screwed-up toxic family. Another stab of guilt raced through her.

When her mom had returned from India heartbroken and minus her savings account, Riley had spent two weeks in California, helping her downsize and move to Washington to live in a small cottage at a friend's farm. And the whole time Riley was away, Will had point blank refused to charge her rent.

Then there was the time that her dad, Tom, had been between wives, jobs and places to live and Will had let him stay in one of the spare apartments for a month until he got back on his feet. It was stupid and ridiculous. But it was also Will all over. Idealistic, compassionate and with a heart that wanted to save the world.

And here she was being petty about a wedding because she wasn't a fan. Talk about being a crummy friend. Especially since it was thanks to the ludicrously cheap rent Will charged that she'd finally started to get her finances together. She owed him.

“Fine.” Riley sighed. Besides, at least it meant she would get to see more of Will before he took off again on his next adventure. And, like he said, it would just be for one day and then things would go back to normal. “Enough with all the desperate groveling and begging. I'll do it. I'll be your guest at the wedding.”

Will woke with a start as he heard a rustling noise coming from the next room. For a moment he thought it was the swarms of cats on Perhentian Island who liked to get into his supplies. But, as he rubbed a hand through his wild hair, he heard the faint sound of rain tapping on the window pane. He was definitely at home and as far as he knew he didn't own a cat. Mind you, he wouldn't have put it past Riley to give him one. After all, she hadn't been joking about the potted plants. He winced as he looked over to the three peace lilies that were currently dotted around his bedroom.

Then he heard the rustling noise again. It was coming from the kitchen and so he pulled on the first shirt he could find and reached for the old baseball bat that he kept next to his bed and quietly walked into the other room.

“Tucker?” He lowered the bat and stared at his older brother, who was dressed in an immaculate suit, eating a bagel and flicking through a newspaper. Will rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“What do you mean?” Tucker carefully brushed a bagel crumb from his chin and wrinkled his nose. “You've flown back for my wedding. I wanted to see you.”

“Yeah, but it's six in the morning.” Will groaned as he caught sight of the time. No wonder he was tired. Of course it hadn't helped that he'd stayed up half the night preparing for an investment meeting later in the day. He's spent most of his flight working on the proposal but there had still been a lot of loose ends to tie up if he wanted to ensure he got the money that he and Josh needed. That way at least some good could come out of the trip.

Not saying he wasn't happy for his brother's future-wedded bliss. It was just after spending the last three years working with people less fortunate than either of them, Will had a pressing sense of how much still needed to be done.

He also had to remember to get his spare key back off his older brother.

“I know but I've got a full schedule today and I didn't want to wait until tonight to catch up,” Tucker explained as he gave Will a hearty slap on the back. There were only two years between them and even though people often mistook them for twins, Will could never see the resemblance. Not only did the twenty-eight year-old Tucker have a wider brow and was a good two inches taller, he also had the ability to walk in and out of their father's toxic world with no visible scarring. Something that Will had never mastered.

Which probably explained why his brother worked for EH Developments and lived in a multi-million dollar loft while Will got a headache even thinking about his father's business. He rubbed his temple and stalked to the kitchen looking for food before remembering that he hadn't been to the store yet. Then he caught sight of two cups of coffee and his mood improved.

“All will be forgiven if one of those is for me.”

“Don't say that I never gave you anything, little brother.” Tucker sat back down at the bar stool and slid the coffee over. “I even went three blocks out of my way to get the fair-trade blend. Oh, and there's a bagel for you too.”

“I'm liking you more by the minute.” Will reached for the cup, gratefully breathing in the aroma as he felt life returning to his body. He sat down opposite Tucker and took the bagel out of the brown bag. “So, how's the wedding countdown going?”

“Nightmare.” Tucker absentmindedly picked up the old circuit board that Will planned to use as part of his pitch. “Did you know that there are sixty-five thousand different colors of white
and
that by me suggesting we should have a vanilla flavored wedding cake I was actually insulting Seattle's most famous wedding cake designer? I didn't even know that there was such thing as a wedding cake designer.”

“And yet you're smiling.” Will reached over and plucked the circuit board away from his brother, before he could damage it.

“What can I say?” Tucker held up his hands that still bore the faint scars of when they had been play fighting with the pair of ornamental swords that their father kept in his study. The fight had been fun. Their father's wrath less so. “Danni's amazing and next Saturday can't get here soon enough. By the way, I told her all about you.”

“Really?” Will wondered what version his brother had given his bride-to-be? The one where Will Henderson had lost his marbles and turned his back on the family fortune to go build huts in the wild, or the one where Will Henderson fled the country, heartbroken after the betrayal of his father and ex-fiancée? Neither were quite true, but then it was hard to explain to Tucker just how claustrophobic Will had found his old life. Especially when Tucker was still very much living it.

“Yes. She particularly liked the story about how you stole my clothes and forced me to run two blocks home wearing nothing but my sneakers.”

“Wow, you really have been sharing everything with her,” Will acknowledged. As he recalled, that particular incident resulted in the neighbors having a less than flattering view of Tucker's manhood.

“I told you. This is the real deal,” Tucker said, a dreamy expression overtaking his face. “We have no secrets.”

“If you're happy then I'm happy,” Will said, trying to remember if he'd ever been like that with Lisa? He was pretty certain he hadn't. Then again, he was pretty certain that he'd never been in love with her either. Dazzled by her passion for the environment and her long legs, but not quite in love. Which was probably lucky since while her legs were real, he'd soon discovered that her passion was actually for his father's money rather than wanting to help make the world a better place. As far as Will was concerned, he'd had a lucky escape. He just hoped Tucker fared better.

“I am happy,” Tucker assured him before nodding to the circuit board that was once again sitting on the bench. “And now that we've discussed me, how about you tell me all about that thing? I'm guessing it's the reason why you're back here.”

“Um, no. I'm here because my lunatic brother decided to spontaneously propose to a girl he only just met and then threatened me with bodily harm if I wasn't standing next to him in the church wearing a penguin suit.”

“I'm sure I didn't use those exact words.”

“I believe you did,” Will assured him.

“Okay, fine,” Tucker conceded, before fixing him with a pointed stare. “But I also know you well enough to assume that my words alone didn't move you. What's going on?”

First Riley and now Tucker? Will hadn't realized that he was so transparent. He also knew that his brother, despite his family allegiance, had a keen business mind and getting his opinion wouldn't be the dumbest thing in the world.

“Fine.” Will leaned over and flicked the laptop on. “I've got an appointment today with Henry Cooper.”

Tucker immediately nodded. “I know Henry. He set up a not-for-profit arm for First Alliance Brokers last year.”

“Right.” Will nodded as the laptop screen flashed up and he took his brother through the presentation he and Josh had come up with. Despite the early hour Tucker immediately focused in on the numbers and after asking a few sharp questions he finally nodded his head in approval.

“I've got to say that I'm impressed, little brother. E-waste is a huge growth area. The way the business has been structured is pretty unique and your numbers are good. Very good. Though before you bite my head off, there are other ways to raise the capital. I know the old man's looking to get more involved in worthy projects.”

“Really?” Will said in a tight voice, since in his experience his father never did anything that didn't involve a profit margin. He'd built his reputation on steamrolling communities to put up urban complexes that catered to rich business people, leaving families homeless and unanchored. Then there was Will and Tucker's mom.

“I swear, he's mellowed,” Tucker said. “And I know you two are never going to be fishing buddies, but maybe—”

“No.” Will cut him off and folded his arms. Long ago, when Tucker had decided to join the family business, he said that that he wanted to create change from the inside. But Will had never been able to go down the route of diplomat. Besides, he'd had enough fruitless arguments with his father over the years to know that particular leopard was never going to change his spots. “Sorry, Tucker, it's not going to happen. And please, promise me that you won't mention this to him.”

“Of course not,” Tucker assured him. “I'm sure you'll have no problems convincing Henry. It's a good project. And now, about tonight's dinner, as promised, the old man won't be there, but I was thinking it would be a good opportunity to meet some of the bridesmaids. They're all single, and gorgeous.”

“What?” Will held up his hand. It also explained why his brother had come bearing gifts. No such thing as a free coffee and a bagel. “Slow down, Cupid. There will be no single bridesmaids. I'm only back in town for three weeks. Besides, I was just about to tell you that I'm bringing someone to the wedding.”

Now it was Tucker's turn to look surprised. “Since when?”

“Since yesterday afternoon. The invitation did say that I could bring a guest. Is that a problem?” Will challenged, relieved that he'd had the forethought to talk Riley into coming with him. It had only occurred to him on the plane that it might be a good idea to have someone to act as a buffer between him and his family. He just hadn't expected to need her help against his brother as well.

“Of course it's not a problem,” Tucker assured him with a quick shake of his head. “Just a surprise. So who's the lucky lady?”

“Riley.”

“Riley?” Tucker didn't look impressed.

“What's wrong with that?” Will's jaw tightened. What the hell was his brother's deal? “You like Riley, remember? Said that she was cute, smart and made a mean margarita.”

“Hey, don't get me wrong. Riley's a great girl and she has the patience of a saint to put up with you.” Tucker looked slightly surprised at Will's annoyance. “But she's also your best friend. Don't you think it's time that you took a step back from your Save-the-World mission and paid some attention to forming a meaningful relationship that lasts longer than two weeks? I know you're still upset about Lisa, but it's time to move on.”

“I'm not remotely upset about Lisa.” Will growled. “She and the old man deserve each other.”

And what was wrong with only dating someone for two weeks? It was a nice amount of time. Long enough to enjoy it and short enough not to get tied down to someone who only wanted you for your family name and money. If you asked him it was a win/win.

“So, what's stopping you then?” Tucker leaned forward and Will let out a silent groan. He'd forgotten to take into account that his brother was now a lovestruck moron who wanted to convert as many people as possible. Then again, he should've seen it coming. His brother had always been quick to preach, though in the past it had been confined to what beer to drink and brand of car to drive. “You've no idea what you're missing out on. The way a whole new side of you opens up when you're with someone you can trust. It's magical.”

“Right.” Will only just resisted the urge to vomit. To think that his once happily single brother now sounded like a greeting card was more than a little disconcerting. Will knew from experience that money changed people, but it was now becoming obvious that so did love. “I hope this isn't an indication of what your wedding vows are going to sound like.”

“I'm serious, Will. You're twenty-six and you're living out of a backpack in an apartment with no furniture and a lot of ugly potted plants that belong in a dumpster.”

“That's a little harsh,” Will protested. There was nothing wrong with the potted plants. He also realized that unless he wanted another week of this kind of speech, not to mention more matchmaking by his insane brother, he was going to have to do something about it. “Besides, who said that Riley and I aren't dating?”

“What?” Tucker's pale eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

“Sure. Er, I mean yes. Dating. Riley Harris is my girlfriend.”

“That's fantastic news.” Tucker's face broke out into a broad smile as he gave Will another slap on the back. “When did this happen and why didn't you say something sooner?”

Both very good questions and if only Will wasn't still feeling jet lagged he was sure he could answer them. Tucker folded his arms, as if to let him know that he expected an answer.

“Well, it's quite new and we didn't want to take away from your big day,” Will improvised and Tucker immediately broke into a smile.

“You idiot. You should've said something. Oh and damn. That means I owe Danni twenty bucks.”

“Excuse me?” Will was starting to feel like the conversation was getting a little away from him.

“When I was telling her all about you Riley's name came up quite a few times. Like when she dyed her hair blue because she had been roped into playing some kind of character at the library. And when the two of you both fell asleep at the cinema and woke up only to discover you'd been locked in. She immediately announced that you must be in love,” Tucker announced, with a look of pride in his eyes. “Damn, but she's good.”

Actually she was insane, Will wanted to retort. He hadn't met his soon-to-be-sister-in-law yet nor did he have anything against her, but the idea that he was in love with Riley was ridiculous. And yeah, sure he'd just told his brother that they were dating, it didn't mean that they actually were. More to the point, even if he did want to date anyone, Riley would be the last choice. Not because she wasn't gorgeous and smart and funny and a hundred other things, but because she wanted a boyfriend about as much as he wanted a girlfriend. In fact she'd probably take a frontal lobotomy rather than date anyone.