Racing Outside the Line: A Love Story at 190 Mph (27 page)

He stared at me lovingly for a moment before kissing the top of my nose, "It’s incredibly beautiful, especially the view I have right now."

I rolled my eyes and he pounced on my lips, sending waves of sparks throughout my body. As he pulled back, his lips rubbed softly against mine, "We could disappear for an hour or two and no one would have a clue where we went."

"Well, now, I would," Wyatt’s deep authoritative voice made me jump. Wyatt sneaking up on you when you’re talking about running away to make love when you aren’t supposed to is sort of like Sean Connery catching you with your pants down. Seth dropped his head heavily on my shoulder and sighed in frustration.

"Hello son and soon to be daughter-in-law."

"Hi Wyatt," I smiled, "how have you been?

"I’m doing much better now that my no account son has finally gotten his brain out of his ass and realized he should have never let you go."

Seth turned to face him with a shocked expression, "Wha…
YOU
are the one who has always told me to stay away from her!"

"Yes, well, since when do you listen to me?"

Seth threw his hands up in the air and stomped away from me mumbling under his breath. Wyatt walked over to me and gave me a fatherly hug before looking down at me seriously. "Are you happy, sweetheart? Does this kid make you happier than anyone else in the world?"

"Don’t make me turn you over my knee, I did it once when you were a kid, and I won’t hesitate to do it again." He turned soft eyes back to me, "Now, what’s this about you two running off to be alone? I can’t allow that to happen, you know. You can’t be alone together until you exchange vows tomorrow, is that understood?"

"Yes," Seth agreed rolling his eyes impatiently, "we understand, dad, we’ve already discussed that and agree to occupy separate rooms tonight."

"Good," Wyatt seemed pleased. "I just came to say hello, I’m heading back to the pool to get a drink. Go change and meet me at the bar," he smacked Seth on his back. "I’ll give you ten minutes before I come back to make sure you’ve gone to your separate rooms."

"Yes, dad," Seth's voice oozed sarcasm as he watched Wyatt walk away. Then, he turned back to me putting his arms back around me, "where were we?" After driving me crazy for a few minutes kissing me, I finally gathered the willpower to pull away.

"Okay, okay, I’ll stop, I promise," he pushed my arms down, "I just want to hold you for another minute, that’s all." I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he picked me up swinging me around. "Did you know that I love you?"

"I love you too," I rubbed my cheek against his as he put me back down on the ground.

"Come on, let’s go find something to distract me from this overwhelming desire to tear your clothes off." I couldn’t help but smile, shaking my head at him as we headed toward the suites.

After a relaxing day of snorkeling and lounging on the beach, the evening came upon us. Ee got ready for the rehearsal dinner, which was more of a chance to thank everyone for putting up with us and enjoy a nice meal than an actual rehearsal. After slipping on my sheer ivory dress, Chelsea helped me curl my hair.

"Hey, Lex," Chelsea seemed very tentative. "Can I ask you something?" She seemed pretty serious all of a sudden. I couldn’t help but wonder what was on her mind.

"Anything," I tried to sound encouraging.

"Don’t laugh. I was just… uh… wondering if Desmond and Christina are dating."

Ah, I understood now. I couldn't help but let my mind wander for a moment thinking about Chelsea married to my brother. Chelsea's shy expression brought me back to reality. "I think they were, but that doesn’t mean much with Desmond. He’s sort of a player himself. I think it will take someone that can really give him a run for his money to be able to catch him. Someone that he realizes is better than he deserves." Trying to give advice without sounding like it was more difficult than you would think. I wanted Chelsea and Desmond to give it a shot, but I knew Desmond would have to be set up the right way. If anyone was capable of challenging Desmond, though, it was certainly Chelsea, and she looked amazing in a coral dress that almost indecently showed off her ample cleavage. I was sure that she would catch his eye.

In the hallway, we met up with the guys. Seth was as handsome as ever in grey slacks and a soft blue shirt. He raised an eyebrow as he held up his index finger and spun it in the air, encouraging me to turn around. I posed like a model as I twirled around allowing him to see the thin, airy material of my somewhat short dress. He shook his head and crooked his finger at me. I laughed, falling helplessly into his open arms.

"Is that supposed to be acceptable for dinner with your exes, ‘cuz it’s not. It’s sexy as hell, though." He ran his hands along my back kissing my neck and causing tingles to run down my spine.

"Hello, Miss I’m-about-to-bust-out-of-my-top,’" Desmond said extending his hand in mock introduction, "I’m Mr. I’d-pay-to-see-that, it’s nice to meet you."

I was about to call out a warning, knowing my brother’s tricks, but she already placed her hand in his, so it was too late. He yanked her forward until she was nearly up against his chest as he watched her cleavage bounce.
Hmmm
, I thought to myself grinning,
this might not be so difficult after all.

"They would be happy together," I tried to convince him. "You could help me, you know, I would reward you for your efforts."

His only response was a big grin as we walked out onto the verandah where we would be having dinner. I forgot all about our conversation when I was greeted by the breathtaking display of candles. They were on the tables in hurricane lamps, they were hanging from the verandah canopy, they were on tall stakes all around us, and it was beautiful.

The evening was devoted to a delicious meal, funny stories of my obsession with Seth, and tales of his attempts to make it look as if he were avoiding me. It felt surpassingly satisfying to hear Seth admit to everyone that he had been in love with me since I was fifteen. Desmond wasn’t happy about not knowing about it, but he had enough drinks in him to simply complain loudly. As Wyatt launched into a story about Seth teaching me to work on his car, I excused myself to use the restroom smiling the whole way there.

On my way back, I was so busy thinking about Seth that I nearly ran into Brad, who had apparently been walking in my direction. I smiled at him and started to walk past him when he grabbed my wrist. "I wish I had known," he said, but with the alcohol in my system and Seth stuck in my brain, I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about. "About you and Seth," he clarified. "I wish I had known about it. Why did you even go out with me?" He sounded upset and a little hurt. I wasn’t sure what to say.

"Brad, I—I’m sorry."

He continued to hold onto my wrist and look down at me. He wanted more of an explanation. He really hadn’t taken the time to get to know me very well or I think he would have figured the whole thing out as both Ace and Josh did so many years ago. It was the hurt expression in his eyes that finally made me want to help him understand. "I didn’t
want
to be in love with him," I tried my best to put it all in words. "I knew my life would be simpler if I cared about you the way I cared about him. You’re a nice guy, but no matter how hard I tried, I was still in love with Seth. I’m sorry that it hurt you, I really am. I really wanted to forget about him and be with you, I just… couldn’t."

He nodded and leaned in to kiss my cheek. "When I first heard about you two getting married, I was really angry with you. But, after hearing the stories all night and seeing you two together, I understand why it would have never worked for us. I’m still not thrilled about being in the dark about it all, but I’m happy for you both."

"Thank you," I patted his shoulder as he walked away from me toward the bathroom. Returning my eyes to the floor, I tried not to feel guilty for hurting Brad, he was a nice guy. I wasn’t paying attention as I nearly ran into Ace. I almost cursed when presented with this onslaught of exes.

"Guess it’s my turn," Ace stopped in front of me. I stopped as well, a few feet from him. "I’m glad to see you happy, too," he piggybacked off of where Brad left off. "But I don’t understand why you wanted
me
, specifically, to be here." I knew Ace well enough to know he was wearing his skeptical expression.

"You’re my friend and you’re dating my good friend Susanna."

Once again, I was given the you-call-that-an-explanation look as I hedged the question. I was really worried that the truth would upset him and make him angry with me. When he folded his arms in front of his chest and stared at me more intently, I gave in and continued, "Well, you’ve been there for me when I needed it, even after we broke up. You were still there for me. I care about you, Ace, I always have, I just…"

"Not as much as you love him. I know," he said, "and I’m okay with that, I get it. I always got it and
really
, I’m okay with it, but why did you want me here?"

"You’re still my friend, so that’s half of it, the other half is that you sort of… well, you represent everyone that’s seen me cry over him, that’s understood how much I loved him and was crushed by him. You get that better than almost everyone, I think, and it meant something to have you see me happy and to get to know him and get to know me with him. That probably doesn’t make sense…"

He placed his hands on my shoulders and stepped forward to press his lips to mine in a chaste kiss. "I understand what you mean, and I’m glad I get to be here to see it. Your beauty is radiant when you’re near him," I could see Ace as a seventy year-old man charming the panties off a twenty year-old model—he had always been smooth. "And I’ll try to like the guy even if I am still a bit jealous—not of him being with you, but because he has made you light up the way you are." He kissed me again on the lips and pulled away from me, walking toward the restroom. I leaned against the wall for a moment as I said a silent thank you for the fact that there were no more exes to be caught by.

As I pulled away from the wall and looked up, my heart raced at finding Seth standing ten feet from me. He was leaning his shoulder against the wall and staring at me, his jaw clenched and his lips tight.

I walked toward him, "How much did you see?’

"All of it," his tone was short, clipped.

"Did you hear it all?" I was suddenly embarrassed that I had allowed Ace to kiss me, and that I hadn’t just told them both to shut up and go away. I was embarrassed because I truly loved Seth and had no wish to ever be with either Brad or Ace, but that didn’t make me regret what I had done or said to either of them. It was all part of the process of closure, and I owed it to myself and to them to allow it all to happen.

Surely, he read all of my thoughts on my face, I didn’t know a single moment when he wasn’t able to, but it was apparent now since his expression softened and he pulled me into his arms. "Yes, I heard it all." He rubbed his cheek in my hair and let out a sigh that I could feel strongly as I stood with my arms around him. "Now I understand a little of how you felt when you saw Alexandria kissing me… I’m sorry, baby. I never wanted you to go through that. Hell, I could hear that Ace wasn’t trying anything, but it still bothered me more than I thought it would. I couldn’t look away, but it killed me to watch."

I hugged him and kissed his neck and cheek, "I guess we’re finally even then."

"Guess so." He seemed to want to say more, but held back. "Let’s just leave it at that." I was really glad that he decided to drop it. I didn’t want this night to be filled with any more drama, especially when it felt like Seth and I had finally gotten to an acceptable place in terms of "the kiss." He pulled away from my lips and put his arm firmly around me as we walked back to the verandah.

The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur. After dessert, we headed back to the rooms where the girls continued to drink and watch movies, jumping in the pool every hour or so to laugh with the guys who jumped in after us. Twice, I had to really break out my willpower when Seth managed to get me away from the group and proceeded to try to untie my bikini. Each time, though, the voices of Brad and Ace stopped him as I asked him what would happen if they happened to catch a glimpse of me naked. When it got so late that practically everyone was passed out in a room or on the couch, Chelsea dragged me back to our room and ordered me to get some sleep. Visions of Seth placing a ring on my finger danced around in my head until I fell into a peaceful slumber.