The happy couple came up for air and the organ started to play. The wedding was over. It was time to leave before I was spotted. This was Brendan and Mariela's day, the last thing I wanted was to make a scene. I knew I shouldn't have come at all, but I just selfishly needed to be a small part of their history.
I took the step that brought me out of the church, but before I could turn to disappear, I saw the falling flash of blood-orange. Kait's flowers had slipped from her hand, her smile faltered and her stare was that of disbelief.
As I remembered all the family, the kisses, the joy, the shouting and laughter between us, my childhood love looked directly at me. It was a moment lost to time. A moment that made the chaos in the cathedral stand still.
It was just her and I.
I was freer in a lot of ways than I'd ever been; it was why I was finally able to come back to my home town. Despite how much of a terrible idea it was to return, I knew I couldn't stand to be away from Kait one moment longer.
Even if that did rekindle a war that nearly broke our small town in half.
Tears rolled down her soft cheeks and spotted her dress. I'd have given everything I had to brush that water from her face, but now wasn't the time.
I took one last look at the most beautiful woman in the world, smiled, then left.
From my broken heart to my long hardening cock, Kait was so pretty that it made my whole body ache. Every part of me wanted her; the desire to claim her was crackling in my blood.
Like electricity on fire.
Chapter 2
Kait
My heart was in my teeth and beating like a war drum. A familiar looking form darkened the open double doors of the church's entrance. Reds and oranges stretched out from either side of him, the dying sun lit his silhouette on fire.
I refused to believe that it was who I thought it was. The one man I'd tried so desperately to forget, the one I'd hoped for and dreaded.
The form in the doorway handsomely filled out a black suit that was crisp and well-tailored. His hair was short cropped on the sides, but longer on top and styled forward. He wore light, nicely-groomed facial stubble that gave his already dark features a sense of hardened danger. The man was tall, and broad at the shoulders.
In short, whoever he was, he was gorgeous.
Mal was never that big, was he?
Despite actively trying to convince myself otherwise, my thoughts always rushed back to him. It was infuriating! To this day I don't know what that jerk did to place such a hold over me. Every relationship I'd ever had was a mess, because none of them could ever measure up to the one man who didn't want me.
You're not him, I told the mirage.
But it was the things that hadn't changed that threatened to make me a liar. His light brown eyes were the same. His firm jawline and his nose that was always a little too cute for his face; those were the same too.
I had been holding back tears for the whole stupid, beautiful ceremony. I didn't want to be the sister that fell to pieces when her brother tied the knot. Months of preparation that led to the two people I loved most coming together forever brought me right up to the edge of blubbering uncontrollably. My face was tingly, sinuses suddenly full and my eyes were floating, but I did not cry!
It was the smile across the room that did it. The slight flash of teeth as the man in the doorway turned to leave that sent a quiver through my lower abdomen. It was the smile of a phantom from my past that made my whole world pause.
“Holy shit.” The thunderstorm behind my eyes finally broke. Tears rolled down my cheeks in rivers.
Mal was back.
“Language!” My great aunt whispered angrily at me from the first row. Brendan and Mariela had started walking back down the aisle together. It took a moment for me to register that I even cursed, let alone that it was out loud.
Sorry! I mouthed the word back to her. Ugh, sometimes I felt like I had so much practice extracting my foot from my mouth that I should list it as a skill on my resume.
I blotted my face with the tissues I had tucked away. I'd figured I'd probably cry at some point during the ceremony, but I couldn't have predicted this. When I looked up again, Mal was gone.
Or rather, a man who looked like Mal was gone.
It was him, right? I was so sure! Wasn't I? It couldn't have been. My brain went into rapid fire mode to explain the impossible. It wouldn't be the first time I thought I saw him. I mean, it'd been eight years.
Maybe I just wanted to see him. Especially today.
Nerves. That was it. It had to be. Either that or I was finally going insane. Both of those would better explain why my first and most painful heartbreak would show up at my brother's wedding unannounced after disappearing for almost a decade.
I was already exhausted from months of helping Mariela plan the wedding. The last few days were just the worst. Everything that could've gone wrong did. The caterer got into a car accident and had to cancel. Mariela had a massive fight with her sister and a bridesmaid had to miss the wedding altogether. And that was on top of all the other minutia that we had to keep track of.