THREE WEEKS LATER

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“So how was the honeymoon?” Gavin was sitting with Jim at an outdoor café having coffee. It was cold but lately he found himself craving fresh air.

“Wonderful. It was so hard to come back. How have things been around here? How are you and Heather doing?” Gavin had been so excited about Heather after the night they spent together that he had told Jim about it at the wedding reception the next day. He hadn’t shared any intimate details but he told him that he really liked her and he was hoping to see more of her once they were both back in the city. He regretted jumping the gun on that now.

“That never really went anywhere,” he said.

Jim put down his coffee cup and with a concerned look he said, “What happened?”

Gavin shrugged. “I’m not really sure.” He told Jim about Heather leaving him her number and then never taking his calls. It was a miracle that he happened to be on the panel of investors that Davenport had put together and as soon as she walked in that day he had renewed hope. She had crushed those hopes quickly however and without even giving him an explanation as to why. He pulled out of the investment. Not because he didn’t support it, he thought she would go far in her career. She was smart and he had no doubt she would pull off that five year plan with a flourish. But there were three others who were ready to invest as soon as she walked out and since he knew she would be okay he decided not to get involved financially. When he convinced her that they were meant for each other he didn’t want her feeling pressured by any outside forces. He just hadn’t come up with a plan yet to convince her of that. He had called her cell phone and her office multiple times. She blocked him on the phone and her little secretary wasn’t letting anyone bother her boss if she didn’t want to be bothered. Gavin actually liked knowing that she had people that loyal around her. He only wished that they would make an exception for him.

“So, we need to think of a way to get the two of you together long enough for her to be unable to resist those charms of yours again,” Jim winked.

Gavin smiled. “We?”

“Hell yeah, I want in on this. I’d love to see you with Heather. You need someone like her in your life and from what I’ve seen of her, she could use someone like you too. I heard her talking to Sadie one day about her ex-fiancé. The guy screwed around on her and broke her heart...Oh shit!”

“Oh shit, what?”

“Chelsea.”

“You think Chelsea talked to her?”

“Maybe not her. But, I did see Chelsea and Kim chatting at the reception.” Gavin thought about that. He had seen them talking too, but was trying so hard to avoid Chelsea that he hadn’t thought much more about it.

“Damn it! If Heather is coming out of a bad relationship and Chelsea told her that fantasy story about me cheating on Annie, I’m sure that’s what turned her off so quickly.”

“That’s good though. Just tell her the truth about what happened and everything will be fine.”

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Do you remember how many people stopped speaking to me the first time Chelsea spread that rumor? These were people I was friends with and did business with for years. Why would Heather believe me? It’s probably why she didn’t even tell me. She’s expecting me to come up with some excuse or another.”

“So...”

“I’m not sure. Somehow I need to spend some time with her and convince her I’m not the dog that she thinks I am.” Jim suddenly smiled. He picked up his coffee cup, took a sip and smiled again. “Care to share?” Gavin asked.

“My very young and very broke paralegals are getting married.”

“Okay, besides the fact that you obviously need to pay your staff more, what does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, I’d be willing to bet that if someone were to make a generous donation to their cause they might be willing to say...pose as your young cousin and her fiancé.” Gavin was looking at Jim like he was crazy. “Look, how about you and I go in on this wedding together financially and we have the girl, Maggie, pose as your young cousin. You can take her to Blair Wedding Occasions and have Heather do her wedding. Trust me, you’ll be spending a lot of time with her. I felt like I lost a family member after things were all set for our wedding.”

Gavin couldn’t believe he was considering it...would it even work? “What if she says no, or assigns it to Kimberly?”

“We’ll send Maggie in first and have her say that she’s only interested in working with Heather. Once that relationship is established, her young fiancé will have to go out of town on business and she’ll need you to accompany her to the meetings and help her with the finances and major decisions...” Gavin smiled, it just might work.

“When did you become the master of the evil plan?”

Jim popped the last of his muffin in his mouth and grinned. “I’m an attorney, without the ability to make the evil plan, I’d go broke. So should I talk to Maggie and Bruce?”

Gavin smiled again. “Yeah...I think you should. And tell Miss Maggie that as far as her wedding is concerned, the sky is the limit.”

**

It was two weeks after Jim came up with the plan that Maggie was finally ready for Gavin. She and her fiancé had met with Heather twice to let her know what their overall view for the wedding was. It was finally time to talk numbers and Maggie had told Heather she’d have to have her cousin in on that part since he was paying for the wedding. Heather had readily agreed. Gavin dressed in a black, long-sleeved silk shirt and a pair of black jeans and boots. He was surprised at himself for being so nervous on his way over. Before Heather he hadn’t been nervous over a woman since high school.

Gavin let Maggie go in first and when he stepped in behind her he was glad to see Heather wasn’t in the front office. He didn’t want her to have a chance to bail out the back. He laughed silently at the thought. He had been nervous once, but he had never chased a woman. Heather was different though. He knew that she felt what he did when they were together. She’d just been hurt and she was in self-protective mode. He could understand that and respect it...but he couldn’t live with not trying to convince her otherwise.

“Hello Maggie,” the little blonde secretary said as she stood up from behind the reception desk. “Hi,” she told Gavin with a wide, pretty smile.

“Hi Rosie. This is my cousin, Gavin,” Maggie said. The twenty-one year old was in the midst of paying off student loans and trying to pay for a wedding. Once Jim presented the plan to her and told her the sky was the limit on her wedding, she thought for sure that Gavin must be an angel.

“Well hello there, Cousin Gavin. It’s nice to meet you. You have a wonderful cousin. We’re having a great time working with her.”

Gavin put his hand on his “cousin’s” shoulder. “She’s a good kid,” he said.

“Well you must be a good uncle,” Rosie said, “This is a very nice thing you’re doing for her.”

“It’s what family does,” he said, feeling just a little bit guilty now about the lies.

“Heather had to step out for just a minute but I’ll show you two into the office. Can I get you a coffee, water, tea?”

Gavin politely declined and Maggie asked for a coffee. As soon as Rosie opened the door to Heather’s office he smiled. It looked exactly as he might imagine it. Her walls were dark wood and covered in photos of happy wedding couples. There was a plush beige couch in the center of the room, a wooden table and chairs off to the side and a small kitchenette where Rosie was now fixing Maggie’s coffee. Samples of flowers and fabric adorned racks all along the walls and bridal magazines covered the little coffee table. There was also a book shelf with stacks of books about flowers and cakes and venues. Heather’s desk was the smallest piece of furniture in the room. It held a phone and a computer and a stack of files. He suspected she sat there as little as possible. What he knew about Heather told him that she was a go-getter and she liked to stay in motion as much as possible. Maggie took a seat at the wooden table so Gavin sat down with her with his back to the door. Maggie sipped her coffee and within two minutes she looked up and said, “Oh there’s Heather.”

When Gavin turned around Heather was still smiling at Maggie. As soon as she saw him the smile fell from her face. He’d told Maggie to be prepared for Heather to be angry, but he was really hoping that she wouldn’t be.

“Hi Heather.”

She was dressed in a pair of beige slacks and a soft, brown sweater. Her auburn hair looked even redder against the brown and shone underneath the fluorescent lights. It looked so soft and beautiful that Gavin was tempted to reach out and touch it. He remembered how it smelled and how it felt against his face. He had woken up that morning with a piece of it across his eyes. He wanted to wake up like that again, and again.

“What are you doing here?” She looked at Maggie. “What is this, Maggie?”

“This is Gavin Dunken...”

“I know who he is.”

“Well, he’s my cousin and he’s paying for the wedding. You said it would be okay to bring him. Is something wrong?” Gavin was wondering if Maggie told her parents a lot of lies growing up or if she had missed her calling and should have been an actress. She was good. Heather looked back up at Gavin and he said, “It’s true.”

“It seems like a huge coincidence.”

“Oh it’s not a coincidence,” he said. “When I heard Maggie was getting married there was no question about who we wanted to plan it.”

Heather looked at Maggie again. The bride to be was looking at her with wide gray eyes that almost looked like they had tears in them. Wow. “Okay, let’s get started then.” Heather went over to her desk and picked up a file. She came back over to the table and they all sat down. She made sure to sit on the other side of Maggie so that the girl was between her and Gavin. She opened the file and began going over the cost of each item Maggie and Bruce had decided on. Gavin noticed that a lot of the prices seemed extraordinarily low. He hoped that she was just getting some really good deals and that she wasn’t selling herself short. It took her almost an hour to go through everything. Every so often she would glance at him nervously and then look away. He could actually feel the sexual tension in the room. He couldn’t imagine that she couldn’t feel it too.

“Okay, so that’s everything excluding the wedding dress. That will be up to Maggie. We’ve looked at a few and I’ve talked to several designers but the final pick is up to the bride.”

Maggie’s face lit up. “Oh! I want the lace one,” she said.

Heather smiled indulgently at the young girl. It was hard for Gavin to believe that Heather was only a few years older than Maggie. She seemed light years ahead of the twenty-one year old in maturity. It was one of the things that attracted him to her. She had an old, romantic soul...in a hot twenty-four year old body. “Well since they all have at least a little bit of lace, you’ll have to be more specific, Maggie.”

Maggie blushed. “Sorry. The one with the lace bodice and the pearls sewn into the skirt. Was that one a lot?”

Gavin covered Maggie’s hand and said, “It doesn’t matter Mags. Miss Blair has done a fantastic job keeping this wedding way under budget. You can have whichever dress you want.” Maggie surprised him by throwing her arms around his neck and squeezing.

“Thank you!”

He grinned. It made him feel bad to lie to Heather, but it made him feel good to be able to do this for such a nice young girl. He was about to find out that nice young girl was just as sneaky as his friend Jim as well. “Okay then, we can stop and put in the final order on the way to the restaurant.”

“The restaurant?” Maggie said. Gavin looked at her. She had told him after they talked about numbers they were supposed to go to the restaurant where the rehearsal dinner was to be held and taste the salmon, chicken, steak and vegetables. He didn’t know why she was now acting like she forgot.

“For the tasting...for the rehearsal dinner,” Heather said.

“Oh my goodness! Oh Heather, I’m so sorry. I promised my boss I would get to the courthouse before one to file a deposition.”

“Well I suppose I can...” Heather began.

“Gavin, couldn’t you go with her? I trust your opinion. You know what I like.” Gavin almost had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from smiling.

“Sure, of course I can go,” he said. He looked at Heather. She looked like she might be thinking of strangling little Maggie. “That’s okay with you Heather, right?”

She smiled. It looked forced. “Yes, of course it’s okay.” Gavin was going to send Maggie and Bruce on the honeymoon of their lives.