Taking Chances (Learning to Love) (4 page)

"What's different? After six marriages, what makes you think this one is going to be anything but one more divorce waiting to happen?"

"I don't know how to explain it, just the way he looks at her, how he acts with her. He really loves her. I know he does." He believed that. I could tell he did.

His eyes begged with me for a hint of agreement.

"Why is it so important to you that I be there? No one missed me at the last few."

Matt looked away. I could tell he was hiding something from me. He would do anything for me. I knew he would. It shouldn't be so hard for me to agree to this one thing he was asking of me.

"Lexi, please, just do this for me." His eyes were glassy, like he was holding back tears.

The thought of my brother on the verge of crying left me with a crushing feeling in my chest. I knew refusing to go would hurt him, even if I didn't understand why. I hated the thought of going to my father's seventh wedding. Just the idea of my father being selfish enough to drag another poor woman into a relationship he knew wasn't going to work out, made me lose any shred of respect I had for the man.

This was Matt though, my big brother, the person who came to my softball games and read me books when I was sick. The one who remembered to put a dollar under my pillow when I lost a tooth and threatened any boy interested in me with physical harm if they broke my heart. He was the most important person in the world to me and I couldn't disappoint him.

"I guess if this is really that important to you, I can go," I said with a sigh, knowing I would regret it.

Realization of what I said registered on his face, turning the corners of his mouth up into a huge grin and he pulled me hard into a crushing hug.

"I don't mean to break up this touching family moment, but it's time for dinner," Kat interrupted, pointing to the table filling up with members of the wedding party

He planted a kiss on my forehead and took Kat's hand. I smiled as we took our seats, at the happiness on his face. Matty's facade of the good-time-guy was a mask. To see him truly happy was rare, and being in one of those times almost made me glad to go to my father's joke of a wedding. Okay, maybe not glad, but I would do it for Matty.

I managed to seat myself as far away from Jamie and her parents as I could to avoid listening to the arguments, which luckily enough, left me near the end of the table. The only empty seats were next to me and across the table. There had to be at least sixty people there. In my opinion, all you really need is the best man and maid of honor. Hell, if you had to go through with a wedding at all, fly to Vegas and get it over with.

Just when I thought I was in the clear from wedding drama, I noticed Gary making his way in my direction.

"Is this seat taken?" He slid into the chair next to me without waiting for an answer.

I shrugged at Gary, wondering what his plan was since I'd turned him down already that night.

"So are you going to be stuck wearing some frilly peach colored monstrosity for the ceremony?" Gary asked, making small talk as he reached past me to take a roll and three pats of butter.

I could have been nice and described the elegant, pale pink gowns Jamie had picked out that were not at all the horror dresses one usually is stuck with as a bridesmaid, but I figured that would only encourage him further. Instead, I shook my head, and turned to pretend to be involved with the conversation next to me. I couldn't really hear what Matt was saying to Kat, but Gary didn't know that. He reached over me once again and grabbed another roll and three more pats of butter.

Gary managed to keep to himself through the salad and a course of pasta that seemed more like a mini meal than a prelude to something more.

"You going to finish that?" he asked, gesturing to the pasta I hardly touched.

"If I did, I'd never make it to the entree." I pushed the plate toward him and smiled.

As they began bringing out the main entree, a tall man in a dark suit walked in and sank down into the empty seat across from me. I didn't recognize him. He wasn't at the church for the rehearsal. I would have noticed him for sure. He looked about late twenties, with a tall muscular build, and expensive taste in clothes. His hair was dark, buzzed on the sides and spiked up on top perfectly. His eyes were a sparkling ocean of blue that were so deep I lost myself for a moment. He noticed me practically drooling at him and a smile crossed his luscious mouth, which caused a deep heat to spread across my cheeks.

Normally I was not so easily affected by men. Sure I noticed when a gorgeous guy walked in a room, but I was not usually the one sitting open-mouthed, and wide-eyed like a school girl.

"So, Gary, what do you do for a living?" I asked, desperate for a distraction to take my mind off the Adonis sitting across from me. I could feel him watching me and my face burned hotter.

"I'm a manager down at the Shop and Bag over on Tenth Street," Gary said proudly, stabbing through three hunks of potato wedge and shoveling them into his waiting mouth. "What about you?" he asked with a mouth full of half chewed spud.

"I'm a hired assassin for the CIA," I said, not wanting to get too personal.

Gary spit a large chunk of meat at the hunk across the table. My eyes landed on the hottie, horrified and embarrassed, as if it were me who was to blame. I expected the stranger to be angry, or disgusted, but instead, he sat there looking right into me with a small crooked smile.

The heat in my face intensified and spread down my neck and chest. I had no idea why my body was reacting so intensely to a total stranger. It could have been the fact that he was the kind of gorgeous that was usually found on the front of GQ or walking down a runway in Milan, but that never usually got to me. It had to be something else, though what, I had no idea.

Gary jumped from his seat and darted around the table. He pawed at the stranger's jacket with his napkin, apologizing profusely, smearing the remnants of meat around on the man's lapel.

"I'm so sorry. I can pay for the dry cleaning. Oh my God. I… I can't believe that happened," Gary stammered.

"It's fine," the hottie across the table said, his voice cold as ice, and grabbed Gary's sweaty wrist to stop the assault on his jacket. His amusement faded. He flashed Gary a serious look, warning him to step back.

Gary immediately froze and stared at the stranger as if waiting for permission to return to his seat. Rather than give him whatever unspoken expression he seemed to need to move, the gorgeous, and quite intimidating stranger, got up from his seat, walked around the table, and sat down next to me. He turned toward me and extended his hand with a smile, flashing his dazzling perfect white teeth.

"I'm Sebastian Michelson." He was completely focused on me, despite the fact that the best man was now tapping his wine glass to get everyone's attention.

Tiny flutters danced around deep in my belly and my cheeks stung hotter than before. He looked amused, waiting for me to come to my senses and take his outstretched hand. I let out the breath I realized I was holding and took his hand for a quick shake.

"Lexi James," I managed to get out of my mouth, which was suddenly feeling quite dry. I downed the champagne that was sitting in front of me to wet my parched throat.

Owen, the hot best man, finished speaking and people got up to mingle. Justin walked over to us and Sebastian jumped to his feet to pull Justin into a friendly hug.

"You're late, Bas," Justin teased, slapping Sebastian on the arm.

"I told you I would be. I am sure you can fill me in on what I missed."

While Sebastian was busy talking with Justin, Gary took the opportunity to squeeze himself back into the seat beside me. I thought about propping my feet up on the chair. Before I could make a move, his ass was back in the seat, looking excited to be close to me once again.

Matt leaned in close. "I see you're keeping busy." He motioned to Gary and smirked.

I rolled my eyes and elbowed him in the ribs.

Sebastian patted Justin on the back and took his seat across from me again. He briefly glared at Gary, then smiled warmly at me. My mouth felt dry again and I bit my bottom lip trying to at least remind myself to breathe. Matt noticed something was up and he looked from Sebastian to me, giving me a quizzical look, and nudged my side uncomfortably.

"You know him, Kitten?" Matt questioned, sticking his nose into my business as usual.

"Kitten?" Sebastian asked, raising an eyebrow, his lips curved into a half smile.

Matt glared at him.

"I'm Sebastian, Justin's cousin," he said and stood, extending his arm across the table to Matt.

Matt looked at his hand, then eyed him critically. After a few excruciatingly long seconds, Matt stood and reached out to shake his hand.

"Justin hasn't mentioned you," Matt said flatly.

"I've been living in Europe for a while, so we don't get to see each other often."

It was then that the pieces clicked together. Justin had mentioned a cousin in Europe that was crazy rich and married to his work, and I was pretty sure he was standing in front of me.

"So, you came over for the wedding then?" I asked, disappointed. We had barely exchanged three sentences, but for some reason, it mattered to me if he left.

"I might stay for a while." He shot me a sexy smile and my insides melted as the room suddenly felt much too warm.

Matt snorted as he sat back down. He turned toward me instead of Kat, probably to keep an eye on Sebastian. Kat pouted for a moment before she realized what was going on. She pushed her chair out to slink over to Gary.

"Would you mind swapping seats with me?"

Like he had any choice
.

His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again as she flashed him a sweet smile.

He pushed his chair out slowly. "I…I guess so." Gary shuffled his feet and sat down next to Matt.

Part of me wanted to escape, knowing this was only going to turn into an embarrassing situation, for me at the very least. Another part wanted to chance it and learn more about the mysterious sexy stranger.

"I'm Katarina, by the way," Kat purred across the table, extending her hand and batting her long eyelashes at him. Whether she wanted a man or not, Kat always wanted to make sure they wanted her.

Matt gave her a strange look. She never introduced herself as anything but Kat.

"Nice to meet you," Sebastian said, only briefly making eye contact with Kat before returning his gaze to me.

Her eyes were wide at the snub and I almost laughed. I was pretty sure that hadn't happened since we hit puberty.

"So, Sebastian, what is it like living in Europe?" She leaned toward him and spoke a little louder than her usual quiet purr.

"Very much the same as here, Katarina. Though I can't say I get to see much of the country. I do spend most of my time working." He briefly glanced in her direction as he answered her, but his focus remained on me.

She leaned toward me, moving herself into Sebastian's field of view. "Doesn't your wife mind you working all the time?" She batted her eyelashes a few more times.

"I'm not married." He glanced down at my left ring finger and smiled.

Matt, who had been wary before, was downright suspicious then. "You know what curiosity did to the cat, don't you, babe?"

Kat saw the warning on Matt's face and backed off Sebastian. Normally her flirting barely caught his attention, but for some reason, she was laying it on a bit thick and he didn't like it one bit.

It didn't take long for some of the other guests to notice the perfect specimen of manhood sitting at the end of the table eyeing me like I was dessert. I was not used to being the center of attention and at that moment, that's exactly what I was. I saw Jamie's mother lean over to her aunt to whisper, and felt everyone's eyes on me. I was done. I excused myself from the table and practically ran to the bar.

As quick as I could get the bartender's attention, I ordered a shot of tequila and tipped it back. Gary came up behind me before I even had the chance to place the glass back down.

"They're about to serve dessert." He touched my arm bravely.

I motioned to the bartender to give me two more shots and handed one to Gary. He looked unsure and a little afraid, but he took a deep breath and knocked the shot back with me. He set the glass on the bar with a clink as he tried not to gag.

"Look Gary, I'm not sure what gave you the idea I was interested, but this isn't going to happen."

"I'm sorry, it's just that I saw what you said to your friend, and well, I figured you were just being shy."

"What do you mean?" I narrowed my eyes at him, as the heat from the alcohol spread out from my throat across my body.

"Back at the church, you said you wanted to leave with me. You asked your friend to cover for you, and well..." he trailed off, turning a bright shade of scarlet.

I fumbled around, trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about when it hit me. "How did you…"

Gary noticed my complete confusion and a triumphant look spread across his face. "I uh, can read lips."