* * *
I decided to take my clothes and dress at Utopia. Captain Bob, as accomplished as he was, could not shield me from the wind on the trip over. I arrived quietly and checked into a comped room, laying out my gown on the bed and heading to the shower. At just before five o’clock, I called Brayden’s phone and told him to meet me in the lobby.
“I’m already in the ballroom with our guest of honor. Sweetheart, would you mind terribly meeting me here? I’ll be standing with the guest of honor, and there’s no way you can miss him.”
“Sure, no problem.”
I found the ballroom and walked toward the front of the room. Brayden was standing next to a portly man, his arm on the man’s shoulder as they both laughed. He looked up and saw me and if there was one moment in my lifetime I could preserve forever in my memory, it would have been then. His mouth fell open, his expression turned to wonder and he dropped his hand from the man’s arm and walked toward me. I smiled.
“I can’t believe that’s you,” he whispered in my ear, folding my arm beneath his. “You are absolutely stunning.”
I blushed with pleasure. I was wearing a full-length strapless gown of a pale mandarin color that was slit from the high hip downward. I knew I filled out the bodice nicely and the back dipped all the way to the base of my spine. Meghan had chosen it and immediately brought it to me. “You have to try this one,” she’d told me. “It suits your coloring perfectly.” Apparently, she was right. I’d allowed my hair to air dry, which automatically made it nothing but ringlets. The bulk of it, I had piled on top and fastened with a silver barrette, leaving a cascade to fall over my shoulder and end in the cleavage of my breasts. I was wearing silver, designer spike heels and for the first time, my head topped Brayden’s shoulder.
But it was Brayden’s reaction that made me feel like a precious princess. He introduced me to the tenor, who seemed impressed as well as he asked that I sit with him. His eyes never left my cleavage. Brayden noticed this, as well, and he politely insisted that Mr. Marcianelli keep his seats for the mayor and the head of the opera company with his wife. He appeared disappointed, but I felt a sense of relief.
Brayden escorted me to a nearby table and seated me. He took the chair next to mine, and we had just settled in when a familiar voice came over my shoulder.
“Well, look who’s here,” Collin drawled and I saw the muscle in Brayden’s cheek begin to twitch. I looked up and Stephanie was standing with him, dressed in a black pantsuit that would have been better suited to a funeral. She was wearing entirely too much makeup and next to Collin, in his black suit with satin lapels, they could have blended well in Las Vegas.
Stephanie bent and hugged me, her perfume overpowering. I covered my cough and nodded.
I looked to Brayden for some sort of cue as to how to behave. I knew he was in a bad position, as Collin could make a real ass of himself if he didn’t get his way.
“I didn’t realize you were invited,” Brayden began.
“Well, that may be true but hey, where there’s a party, there’s Collin, right?” He was already swaying on his feet from alcohol.
Brayden cleared his throat. “Well, you may as well have a seat.” He motioned to the open seats.
“Why, thank you, brother. Don’t mind if I do.” Collin pulled out a chair and sat down, leaving Stephanie standing alone. Brayden leapt to his feet and held the chair for her. I was completely embarrassed. I reached over and patted her hand.
Collin seemed to have discovered me for the first time. His eyes trained on my bosom and he didn’t flinch when Brayden coughed. I was utterly miserable. Collin had us both in an untenable position. We couldn’t be ourselves, but had to cover for his garish behavior. I was being forced to be polite when what I wanted was to tell him to go to hell. I had no choice.
Stephanie, who I know was feeling rejected, smiled at Brayden and tried to strike up a conversation about the old days when we’d been in school together. She and Brayden were the same age and had a few classes together. Brayden was polite, but cool. His attention was on his brother, trying to run interference for anything embarrassing Collin could pull.
The speeches were done, and we’d begun dinner when Collin raised his glass and screamed, “Waitress! Another round for my friends here, would you? And put it on my brother’s tab.”
Brayden stood. “C’mon, Collin, let’s have a chat outdoors.”
Collin shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere, bro. You invited us to sit down and now we’re going to eat and drink… and have a nice little chat. I can’t help but notice you’ve both been gone for a couple of days. Where have you been?”
“That’s not what we’re here to discuss,” Brayden said, trying to guide the conversation to safer territories.
“I hear there was quite a blow a little further to sea,” Collin continued. “Lots of damage. I saw the staff from here packing and hurrying out to the dock. What would cause you to send your staff somewhere when you were missing as well?”
“Enough, Collin.” Brayden was getting angry. I tried to flag his attention, but he was ignoring me. Collin, on the other hand, was not. Stephanie was miserable.
“Steph, let me show you something in the lobby,” I prevaricated, trying to cool down the situation.
“She’s not going anywhere,” Collin insisted.
“You can’t hold her hostage,” I protested, becoming angry. Anger did not become me. I’d burned more than my share of bridges because of it. I knew I was on thin ice. Stephanie had gotten herself into this mess, and she needed to find her own way out.
“Brayden, I want to leave,” I said. “Now.”
He looked at me, and I saw desperation on his features.
“Okay, I get it. You can’t leave right now.”
“No, I can’t.”
“So, that fat man up there is more important than me?”
“That’s not fair, Harper.”
“Gee, but you’re starting to sound very much like your crazy brother here,” I popped off, and I knew I’d crossed a line.
“Harper, not here. Not now.”
“Not a problem,” I said and pushed back my chair. I left the room at a leisurely pace, making people think I was only going to the ladies’ room. Once I reached the lobby, I pulled the room key from my clutch and disappeared inside. I hung up the dress, ripped the barrette from my hair and crawled into my t-shirt and panties. I threw myself on the bed, cried for a while and then flipped on the television and puffed the pillows beneath my head.
There was a knock at the door. I ignored it.
“Harper, let me in.”
“Go away.”
“No, I’m not going anywhere. You forget I own this place.”
“I get that. You own everything, don’t you, Brayden? Does that include me?”
There was a pause and the tone of his voice had changed when he said, “Harper, open this door or I will call the front desk and get the pass key. You’re humiliating yourself and me. We can have this conversation inside your room.”
I threw back the covers in disgust and padded toward the door, sliding the keychain lock and flipping the deadbolt. “Come in, it’s yours, anyway.”
Brayden came in, closing the door quietly, but firmly, behind himself.
“Why did you treat me that way, Brayden?” I thought I may as well start the fight as he would definitely be finishing it.
“You left me little choice. I thought you could see the position I was in. I had a ballroom filled with influential people who could have put this place out of business with a wave of their hand. You don’t walk out and go home on that, Harper. This resort, this place? It’s bigger than you and bigger than me. I have over three hundred employees who depend on me for their food and to provide medical care for their children. I have a responsibility that isn’t something I can be whimsical about. Do you see that?”
I nodded. I was feeling a little bitchy and knew I’d probably overreacted.
“Now, I want to say that you looked absolutely breathtaking tonight. I’ve never seen a more beautiful, more poised woman and you blew me away. I had no idea that woman was inside the girl I’ve loved for so long.”
What? Did I hear him correctly? I thought he may have spoken too loosely and I wasn’t ready for that conversation, yet, so I let it go. My heart was hammering, though. “I’m sorry,” I said and threw my arms around his neck. “I went over the line and put you in a position you hadn’t earned. Collin was bad enough, and then there was me.”
“Forgiven, now kiss me.”
I leaned toward him, moving slowly and kissed him deeply, pressing my chest into his as I climbed onto his lap. He reached forward and slid my t-shirt over my head, cupping my breasts and kissing them. I felt his hand sliding down my panties and soon I was naked and splayed across the bed. “What’s wrong with this picture?” I whispered to him.
He bent forward and kissed my pussy and shed his own clothes in record time. Brayden straddled me, kissing the length of my body with such tenderness and possessiveness that I began to think that it was just possible he meant it when he said he’d loved me. Could this be what it felt like?
When he’d found his release and given me my own, we crawled beneath the covers and slid tightly against one another, instantly falling asleep.