Once upon a road trip to Mexico…

Payton Vaughn’s trip to Puerto Vallarta for her friend’s wedding was her big escape from her ridiculously overbearing mother–oh, and that little matter with her cheating fiancé. Now, her flight’s been cancelled, and she’s crammed into a tiny car with the gorgeous-but-irritating best man.

Viva la road trip from hell…

Cruz Sorensen doesn’t have time to babysit some spoiled socialite, even if she is the future daughter-in-law of the man who could change the fortune of his family’s company. He has no business getting to know her better—not even for all the tequila in Mexico…until they wake up with grande-sized hangovers as man and wife.

Now Payton and Cruz must decide if they’ve reached the end of their journey…or the beginning of a new adventure.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Discover the Sorensen Family series…

Her Backup Boyfriend

You Again

Love You Madly

Find your Bliss with these great releases…

Tempted in the Tropics

Crazy for the Competition

How to Lose a Bachelor

Blame it on the Kiss

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 by Ashlee Mallory. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

2614 South Timberline Road

Suite 109

Fort Collins, CO 80525

Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

Bliss is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC. For more information on our titles, visit http://www.entangledpublishing.com/category/bliss

Edited by Alycia Tornetta

Cover design by Heather Howland

Cover art from iStock

ISBN 978-1-63375-455-3

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition October 2015

To Grandma Patsy Christine Elaina Duarte Hartt, who wanted us all to learn to dance.

And to tequila, the mistress of all mischief.

Chapter One

What the heck is he doing here?

Payton Vaughn looked away from the familiar face with the chiseled jaw and lips that seemed to always be drawn into a frown—especially around her—and outside to the tarmac behind him where the plane was preparing for boarding. There was no chance that the best man boarding this particular flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Puerto Vallarta was a coincidence. Had he been on the earlier flight from Salt Lake as well?

Undoubtedly, her best friend had something to do with this. Didn’t think her maid of honor could make it to Mexico in one piece without a designated babysitter. Good thing Payton loved Kate like a sister or she’d be dead meat by the end of the night, whether it was Kate’s wedding weekend or not.

Cruz Sorensen, of all people, as her chaperone?

The song from Psycho’s shower scene erupted from Payton’s cell phone on the seat beside her. She closed her eyes.

The possibility of letting it go to voicemail came and was quickly dismissed. If she didn’t answer, her mother would call airport security and then the National Guard to put out a world-wide alert that her daughter was missing. Emily Vaughn hadn’t taken Payton’s plan to fly off to Mexico for a weekend by herself very well, and Payton had made the mistake of giving her mother a copy of her flight itinerary to ease her mind.

So she knew boarding didn’t begin for another ten minutes.

Payton tried not to sigh as she answered her phone. “Hello, Mother.”

“I only want you to know that I just hung up with the florist as you weren’t here to take the call but, please, don’t worry yourself. I’ll take care of everything,” her mother said in the martyred voice with a slight Southern twang Payton knew well. “Even if you’ll be thousands of miles away gallivanting around Mexico because your friend didn’t have the tact and graciousness to plan her impromptu wedding after yours. Despite the fact that yours has been scheduled for months.”

Payton let the words roll over her as she watched Cruz Sorensen click away on the keyboard, engrossed in the screen. He was pretty hard to miss. Shiny raven-black hair clipped short and neat, never a hair out of place. A dark countenance adding to that mysterious, sexy allure, thanks to his half-Mexican heritage on his mother’s side, something she had learned from Kate. And those dark brown eyes that, even though they weren’t looking her way, she knew captured his intelligence and wariness.

Even in a simple black button down shirt and jeans, Cruz Sorensen emitted an aura of intelligence and passion and, most of all, ambition. From what Kate had told her, it was this same ambition that had brought his family’s construction business from obscurity to recent fame in the skyrocketing Utah construction realm.

Too bad he was a certified ass-hat.

“Thanks, Mother. But you should let Camille handle all that. After all, she is the wedding planner. That’s what we’re paying her for.”

“Please. Camille, pretty girl that she is, wouldn’t know a dessert fork from a salad fork if the fate of the free world depended on it. The finer details of this event, I’m afraid, will be left to me. We wouldn’t want to show our governor, state senators, or any of the other guests anything less than the best.”

Yes, there was that. Lord. Payton couldn’t wait for this whole event to be over with. But as the only Vaughn offspring, her mother wouldn’t let her wedding happen without a grand and high-profile ceremony. She was just relieved she’d talked her mother down from an eight hundred-person guest list to a mere four hundred.

Payton glanced over to the row of seats against the window again. Cruz had paused long enough at the keyboard to look up and…there. She met his gaze.

A-ha. He couldn’t continue to pretend he didn’t know she was there. She raised her fingers and waved to him, which only earned her a scowl before he dropped his eyes back to his keyboard.

“You know I won’t be gone that long,” Payton continued. “The ceremony is Saturday evening, with a special post-wedding brunch on Sunday. I’ll be on a flight back Monday morning.” The short weekend was especially a relief now that Brad, her fiancé, had to bail on going with her because of a last-minute business meeting. Somehow, the prospect of spending a long weekend alone in the luxurious Presidential Suite sounded a lot less romantic.

“Just be sure to drink only bottled water and hold the ice in every drink you order—remember what happened to poor Danielle Edwards on her honeymoon. And wear your hat and sunblock every minute you’re there. With only a few more weeks before your big day you wouldn’t want to be all splotchy and freckled in your wedding photos like you were in your senior high school picture.” She sighed. “It’s too bad Brad couldn’t make it. I don’t like the idea of you gallivanting around Mexico alone.”

This time Payton did roll her eyes. “I’ll hardly be gallivanting, Mother. This flight is direct to Mexico, and I’ll take a cab to the hotel. But if you’re so disappointed, you’re free to call Brad and share your dissatisfaction with him.” Payton couldn’t hide the frustration from her voice. She didn’t know why it surprised her when Brad bailed on her; he’d become so good at it as of late. She’d hoped this weekend would be a chance for them to reconnect, to remember why they were going through this elaborate planning in the first place—or her mother’s elaborate planning, anyhow. Not going to happen now.

“Payton Vaughn,” her mother chastised, “you know better than to get angry at poor Bradley. He’s done nothing but show you over the years how much he adores you. If something called him away, then you can be certain he had a very good reason. Honestly, he’s only trying to provide for you and the wonderful life you’ll have together. A few sacrifices here and there will all be worth it. Just remember that gorgeous mountain villa he’s building for you outside Jackson Hole.”

Which was true. Payton had known Brad since his family moved to Salt Lake when she was in junior high. At twelve, she’d had little interest in the flashy seventeen-year-old who thought he was a gift to all woman kind. He’d gone off to college, and she hadn’t given him a second thought until he’d returned two years ago for his parent’s anniversary. Still arrogant and certain of his appeal, Payton had been immune to his charms initially. But his perseverance eventually paid off and three months later she relented and went on a date with him, discovering that underneath that shiny surface was someone who could make her laugh with his insight and wit. Plus, there was the fact that he knew what it was like living with overbearing parents who had your future planned since conception. His proposal a year later made sense.

Even if the news became the source of her mother’s unbridled excitement, certain she’d been responsible for the union.

The announcement overhead gave her an out from any further lecture. “Mother, they’re boarding now,” Payton interrupted with a sense of relief. “My flight lands in Puerto Vallarta at six tonight. I’ll call you when I arrive.”

She felt a twinge of guilt as she disconnected and stared down at her phone. Brad had been working extra hard these past few months, true, but it was because he wanted to give her everything. How could she begrudge him that?

She thought of how angry and short she’d been with him when he called her last night from New York, telling her that he wouldn’t make it this weekend after all. The arrival of two dozen roses hadn’t softened her feelings, and she’d dumped them in the nearest garbage can as soon as they arrived.

Am I being unreasonable?

She’d heard about the dreaded Bridezillas who turn into egocentric tyrants and thought that everything revolved around them and their “big day.” She’d never considered herself one of them, almost as reluctant as Brad to participate in all the planning her mother started. But maybe she’d been unreasonable…

“We’ll now begin boarding all first class travelers to Puerto Vallarta.”

A glance over at Cruz showed him still furiously typing on his keyboard. Come on. No one typed that fast. He had to be showing off.

She only had a moment, so she’d have to be quick. Rising, she grabbed the handle of her carry-on, slung her purse over her wrist, and pushed her way against the crowd now heading toward the boarding gate—which left the space around the large pillar wide open. Perfect for some privacy.

She pressed the FaceTime button on her phone, wanting to see Brad and tell him she understood and was sorry.

It kept ringing. Three rings. Four.

She glanced at the time. It was four-forty Dallas time, putting New York at nearly six. He had to be finished with his meeting by now.

On the sixth ring, she was about to push cancel when the call was accepted.

It took her a moment to see what was on the screen in her hand. The picture was kind of dark and grainy, but the image of the long-haired brunette woman, lying back on a bed, naked—at least from the waist up—was hard to miss.

“Hello? Can I help you?” The woman asked in a sultry, albeit antagonistic tone.

“I’m—I’m—” Payton’s throat felt drier than the dry Texas air, and she couldn’t find words.

“Did I hear the phone?” It was a man’s voice, somewhere off screen.

Brad’s voice.

“I think someone’s trying to reach you?” The woman on the screen was saying and, as she sat up, it was hard to miss the massive breasts that spilled forward.

Who answers someone’s phone stark naked?

She really didn’t want to see anymore. But at the same time, she needed to see his face. To confirm that this wasn’t some mix-up. Confirm that Brad was the man in the room alone with this naked bimbo.

A hand on her arm tried to pull her attention up but she kept her eyes trained on the screen. Brad’s tousled blond hair and naked upper torso came into focus just as the screen went dark.

He’d disconnected.

“Is something wrong? I’m pretty sure they’re boarding your class.”

What?

She finally looked up from the phone to find Cruz Sorensen staring down at her from his ridiculously towering height, a hint of impatience in his tone. As usual.

Was something wrong? She snorted. Only if you think having your fiancé screw around on you weeks before your nuptials was a problem.

She looked up into those sharp brown eyes, the brows furrowed in what some people who didn’t know him better might call concern.

She bit her bottom lip. No. She would not cry. Not now. She couldn’t. She was a Vaughn, and crying in public places—short of a funeral—just did not happen.

Not to mention that she’d never let this overbearing Neanderthal see her that vulnerable.

She took a step forward, ready to push past the arm that was holding too tight to hers and deliver a sly, breezy comment. Maybe tell him where he could take his fake concern.

Only her foot was falling forward into an abyss and she couldn’t stop from falling into it.

The damn idiot was going to faint. Did people still do that?

Cruz reached out, half catching Payton as she spilled toward the floor. At least she hadn’t totally lost consciousness, only stumbled forward with her eyes half-closed trying to right herself.

He eased her into one of the recently vacated seats and knelt in front of her. Either she was prone to theatrics or she had received a bit of a shock from that phone call.

He’d been watching her for some time, not because she was easily the prettiest woman in the terminal—which she very well knew—but because he’d promised his brother and future sister-in-law that he’d keep an eye on her. See that she reached the hotel safe and sound. Kate had worried that since Payton’s fiancé had bailed, Payton’s usual friendly and exuberant behavior—not quite saying naive—would send some wrong signals and get her in trouble as she traveled in a foreign country alone. Having met the woman on a couple of occasions, he couldn’t say he blamed Kate for her concern.

Delaying his own trip down to Mexico by a day so he could catch the same flight as Payton had actually worked in his favor. With the final terms being settled with Eastman Motors, he’d been loath to leave with the deal not signed. But after yesterday’s discussions, only a signature was keeping the deal from being final. He’d managed to snag one of the last seats on the flight, too, thanks to the frenzy of college kids heading out for spring break.

“Payton? How we doing?” he asked and studied her pale face. Her green eyes, which usually danced with laughter, looked back at him listlessly. “Payton?”

This time the sharpness of his tone seemed to reach her, and her eyes focused on him. Then her face almost turned green as she leaned forward. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

But nothing spewed out at him, which gave him some relief, although her breathing was coming fast and shallow.

“Keep your head down, and take long, steady breaths. I’m going to get a wet towel.”

He managed to get to the restroom and back with a paper towel in under three minutes. She was still where he’d left her. He folded the towel and placed it on the back of her neck.

They sat like that for a few more minutes, and he listened as her breathing slowed to a normal pace and her face turned a more natural shade. She sat up abruptly and looked around her. “Where are my bags? My ticket?”

“Here.” He nodded to the seat next to her.

“Last call for American Airlines Flight 353 to Puerto Vallarta.”

“That’s us. Are you going to be okay?”

Something seemed to click in her eyes and in an instant, the smile she usually wore slid back into place, leaving two dimples beaming at him. “Just fine. I’m sure once I eat the PowerBar in my bag I’ll feel much better.” She stood, a little wobbly, but with a determined look as she leaned down to grab her ticket and gripped her carry-on. “But we’d better hurry if we’re going to make this flight.”

“Lead the way,” he said.

Unfortunately, by the time they made it onto the plane, a glance around at the overhead bins, all closed, told him that finding a place for their luggage was going to be a problem.

A female flight attendant approached them. “I’m sorry, but we’re completely full. We’re going to have to store your bags below in holding.”

Payton clung a little tighter to the handle on her carry-on. “I’m sure I can find some space under my seat for this, let me just—”

“I’m afraid not,” the flight attendant said firmly and reached for Payton’s luggage. He watched as Payton held on another second before finally releasing her grip and handed it off to the stern brown-haired attendant who took his as well and disappeared.

“I’ll see you in Puerto Vallarta, Payton. You sure you’re okay?” He didn’t like the panicked look on her face.

She beamed her brightest smile. “Just peachy,” she said and squeezed past the aisle seat to slip into the seat at the window.

Whatever news she’d received Payton clearly needed some time to process. And at least for the next couple of hours, she couldn’t get into too much trouble. Right?

Cruz continued down the narrow aisle, keeping his laptop bag in front of him until he reached his own seat, several more rows back. The bag held some basic necessities as well as his laptop and phone charger, so it took a little effort to squeeze it under the seat in front of him. He managed, even if it made the already sparse legroom even tighter.

He clasped the seat belt and angled his head to get a better view of his charge. But other than the top of her head, he couldn’t see anything. No surprise since standing, even in those modest heels, she barely grazed his chin. She was on board the plane, though. His babysitting duties were nearly over.

He closed his eyes, ready to relax.

But the image of that bright smile and those laughing eyes still burned in his mind. Once again.

Dimples were just the tip of the iceberg with Payton Vaughn. With that reddish-golden hair that could best be described as strawberry blonde, a pert nose, and wide, welcoming lips that tipped into a smile without the slightest provocation, she was hard to tear one’s gaze from. And that was from the neck up. Because even with her petite frame, she was still slim but curvy in just the right way.

Fortunately for them both, Payton was not his type. He preferred his women tall and leggy, to match his own towering height, and without the regular vivacious commentary that Payton couldn’t help but share with everyone, which, when she was around him, was usually about him.

Then there was that effervescent personality that, combined with her beauty, drew attention wherever she went. Something he usually tried to avoid. Before she’d made her phone call, half the men in the terminal were slobbering after her. Even the kid at Starbucks had grinned like an idiot when he saw those dimples, and Cruz was almost certain he had thrown in the bottled water for free. Something that was particularly ironic considering Payton Vaughn could probably supply the population of a small third-world country with bottled water for a year with her hefty trust fund.

It was disgusting really.

And when she married the golden boy next month, who also, coincidentally, was the son of Dick Eastman of Eastman Motors and a former classmate of Cruz’s, between the two of them, they’d want for nothing. Have to work for nothing.

Completely the opposite of his own life. Not that he was complaining. He loved his family, and the hard work and long hours he’d put in at Sorensen Construction while attending business school had helped him appreciate his success all the more. It just irked him when he saw people get everything without so much as breaking a sweat.

And now he was stuck babysitting the little princess who couldn’t even see her way to board the plane alone. But he’d promised Dominic, and his little brother didn’t need anything to draw away from this weekend.

All the same, the sooner they arrived in Puerto Vallarta and reached the hotel, the sooner Payton Vaughn would no longer be his responsibility.

Payton secured the safety belt and sank back into the seat. She was going to be fine. Everything would be fine.

“Can I get you something, miss?” the flight attendant who’d absconded with her luggage asked her in an over-solicitous tone as she handed the guy next to her his drink.

That was probably the right idea—a little something to take the edge off the terrifying panic that was fighting to take hold of her. “Bloody Mary?”

The attendant nodded and went to the front, leaving Payton to stare outside at the tarmac. What was she going to do now? It was as if the world as she knew it—the world where her fiancé worshipped and adored her and she was secure in the knowledge they were going to have a picture-perfect life—was falling out from under her and she was being sucked into a whirlpool.

How could he do this to her? To them?

It was her parents all over again. Payton had learned in junior high about her father’s propensity for cheating on her mother and her mother’s propensity to pretend that everything was okay. Which was why she’d told herself that she didn’t need that one-of-a-kind, heart-stopping love they talked about in movies and fairy tales—something she hadn’t thought even existed up until her best friend found it. She just needed someone she could respect and who would love and respect her enough to not sleep with someone else.

They hadn’t even gotten out of the gate and Brad already was fooling around.

Was it her? Had she done something to bring this about? Sure, the last time he’d been in town they had both been too busy with wedding stuff and, later, too exhausted to do anything more than kiss and snuggle. Something at the time she’d been pleased about, thinking she had found someone who was happy just to have her in his arms. When in reality he’d probably needed a breather from the all-star porn marathon he was running from his apartment in New York.

Okay, that might be a stretch. She didn’t know how long this thing had been going on with that woman. Or any other women. But it was throwing a new light on the past few months of last-minute cancelations and aborted weekends.

The attendant returned with her drink and Payton took a sip.

The alcohol crept over her like a warm, fuzzy blanket almost immediately. She should probably be eating that PowerBar. She took another sip instead and waited.

Her head didn’t seem to be pounding as hard as before. No, everything actually seemed to blur a bit around her. She could close her eyes and blur her whole life out if she wanted.

The announcement overhead warned passengers they were going to be leaving the terminal momentarily, so all electronic devices would need to be off or in the flight mode. Two hours without contact?

Well, she’d better get the ball rolling before anymore time was wasted on this monumental failure of a wedding. Pushing the screen on her phone, she saw three missed calls and three voicemails.

From Brad.

She hovered over the voicemail option wondering what he thought he could say to make what she’d seen look anything different than it was.

Not a chance, buster.

She tossed the rest of her drink back, almost choking on an ice cube and scrolled though her calls until she spotted the number for her wedding planner. She drummed her fingers on the seat as it rang until, on the fifth ring, it went to voicemail.

Probably even better. She wouldn’t have to hear the small woman’s scream of panic when Payton told her the bad news.

“Yes, hi, Camille!”

Was that her voice? It sounded all high and whiny. Better take it down a notch.

“It’s Payton. Look, I’m on my way to Mexico, and I’m going to lose cell service here in a minute, but I thought you should know that there isn’t going to be a wedding after all.” She paused, daring herself to say it. “I’m not getting married.”

See? The earth didn’t stop spinning. It’s going to be fine.

“You may want to start notifying everyone as soon as possible so other arrangements can be made. If you happen to have a moment, you might share this news with my mother? Oh, look. I’m being told to turn off my phone. Well, thanks for all your help. You’ve been great, and I’ll be sure to recommend you to everyone. Take care.”

There. She wasn’t going to sit around and be made a fool of. She certainly wasn’t going to be another Emily Vaughn, brushing affairs under the rug because she valued her social standing more than her dignity.

Things were looking infinitely better already.

She had chewed and swallowed the last ice cube in her cup just as the plane reached the proper altitude. Perfect timing. She raised her hand to the attendant, signaling for another drink. She ignored the wariness that crossed the woman’s face.

She had the second one down in less time than the first.

Hmm. She’d better pace herself, even if she still had two hours to work the alcohol out of her system by the time they landed. Last thing she needed was to be sick when she arrived. She could see Cruz’s disapproving face now. No way. She wouldn’t do anything as disgraceful as barf in front of him.

Maybe she should find that PowerBar. She leaned forward and tried to grab her handbag tucked under the seat in front of her.

Suddenly, the plane lunged, and she smacked her head on the tray.

What the—

She tried to sit up as the plane dived again more violently.

Holy hell.

She was going to die.

Chapter Two

The blinding light of the Texan sun broke into the cabin as the doors were thrown open. They hadn’t even reached Mexico before the plane, thanks to some sort of mechanical failure, had been diverted to the nearest airport in Laredo.

Payton’s head was throbbing now, and she breathed in deep gulps of the dry air, trying to stop the wooziness. She’d stared at death, and somehow, for some reason, the fates decided to hand her another chance.

It was like they’d known she needed a redo.

Even if in those long, agonizing moments as the plane careened around in the sky, she hadn’t been sure what prospect was more terrifying. The possibility of meeting her maker, or living and facing her mother’s wrath when she learned that the modest four-hundred-guest wedding she’d been planning was being called off.

Everyone around her leaped to their feet, digging out their luggage from the overhead bins, eager to get off this death ship. She started to get up, too, only to realize that she didn’t have her luggage, as it was stored in the belly of the plane. Instead, she scooped up her handbag and waited for the handful of passengers in front of her to leave.

At least she’d have a head start to the ticket desk before the rest of the herd stuck in coach. She glanced back, expecting to see Cruz’s smug face staring at her but the crush of passengers was too thick.

A few minutes later, she stepped out into the sunlight, grateful to feel its warmth on her face again. It was a little after five in the evening and eighty-two degrees—if the pilot could be believed.

He had almost killed them, after all.

She took a step out on the metal contraption they’d brought out to the tarmac, her feet unsteady as they tried to hold her up. Crap. Two Bloody Marys?

Payton gripped the railing even tighter and climbed down the steep stairway. Last thing she needed was to take a swan dive from the top step while Cruz Sorensen watched. With her luck, she wouldn’t die and would have to live with the knowledge that he’d witnessed one more humiliation.

And to think, once, for the briefest moment, she had actually kind of liked the guy.

Immediately on landing, when everyone else was throwing themselves around the cabin, trying to get off the plane, Cruz remained in his seat. Turning his phone on, he was relieved to see he still had cell service and dialed his assistant.

“Hey, Cathy. Sorry to bother you so late, but my flight from DFW was diverted to Laredo. Can you try and find something that will get me to Puerto Vallarta, ASAP?” He glanced out the window and spotted his charge walking a little unsteadily across the tarmac and sighed. “Actually, I’m going to need transportation for two.”

“Oh, really?” It was hard to miss the interest in the woman’s voice. “Anyone I know?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. It’s Payton Vaughn, who isn’t only my future sister-in-law’s best friend and maid of honor, but also—”

“—also the future daughter-in-law of Dick Eastman. CEO and president of Eastman Motors. Wow. Small world.”

That was one way of putting it. “Anything you can find us will be great.”

“I’m on it.”

Fifteen minutes later, he was walking inside the airport, his optimism that Cathy could get this trip back on track slowly deteriorating.

Despite the “International” in the Laredo airport title, all passenger flights were direct to U.S. destinations only, including a flight back to Dallas Fort Worth, where they had just left. Returning to Dallas would, ordinarily, be their best chance at finding a connecting flight to Puerto Vallarta.

That is, if it weren’t for the fact it was late March and every outbound flight tagged with Puerto Vallarta as its destination—be it from Dallas, Texas or Monterrey, Mexico—was booked for the next two days. They could get on a standby list, but that meant sitting around airports for the next twenty-four hours, on the slim-to-none chance they managed to get on.

They were going to need an alternate mode of transportation.

“Okay, thanks, Cathy,” he said after she explained their options. “I’ll let you know what we decide on.”

Cruz stopped short when he saw the long line in front of the ticket counter where several dissatisfied passengers were loudly making their anger and disappointment known. He scanned his eyes over the crowd, trying to find Payton in the chaos.

Her soft, pretty lavender top and bright golden hair was an immediate draw. She was at the front of the line, of course, holding the woman at the counter captive if the woman’s face was any indication.

Only, she didn’t look very charmed.

He’d better get over there. He ignored the shouts from other passengers who thought he was cutting and came to stand behind Payton.

“You have to be kidding me,” Payton was saying. “There are no flights from this airport that can take me into Mexico? But aren’t we right on the Mexican border?”

“That’s right, ma’am. But this airport only provides passenger flights to Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, and Orlando. We will be happy to board you on the next scheduled flight to Dallas, where you’ll have several options for getting to your destination. Unfortunately,” she said, continuing to click away at the keyboard, careful to keep her gaze diverted from Payton, “we don’t have any flights returning to Dallas until tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow? No, no, no, no, no. Tomorrow I’m supposed to be enjoying a day on the bright beaches of Puerto Vallarta. Killing time until my best friend’s rehearsal dinner. In Puerto Vallarta. Toasting the happy couple. In Puerto Vallarta. I’m not supposed to be catching a flight heading north. South,” Payton said slowly, enunciating the word in case the woman didn’t understand, which didn’t earn her any favors from the daggers the woman was shooting in her direction. “I need to head south.”

It wasn’t hard to miss the waft of alcohol on Payton’s breath. How much could she possibly have consumed in the short amount of time they’d been airborne?

The ticket agent pinned on a fake smile. “Yes, ma’am. I’m well aware where Mexico is. But your best option if you plan on flying to your destination is getting a flight into a bigger airport with several outgoing flights.

Payton settled her hands, palms down, on the ticket counter and took in a long measured breath. Then exhaled. “Would you mind terribly seeing—once I get to Dallas tomorrow—what flights you could book me on that would get me to Puerto Vallarta by five o’clock?” At least she’d managed to sound reasonable.

The woman smiled again and ducked her head, clearly not buying the suddenly sweet act of the crazy lady in front of her. She turned her attention to her screen, her fingers clacking away for another minute.

Cruz thought about interrupting the exchange, but knowing Payton, she wouldn’t believe it unless she heard it for herself.

A moment later, the woman’s mouth pursed tighter, and she glanced uneasily at him then Payton. “There seems to be a little difficulty getting you on an available flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Puerto Vallarta tomorrow. All three of our flights are at capacity. As you’re probably aware, March is a pretty busy time of year for any beachside destination. I can place you on standby, but the earliest confirmed seat I have would be…Saturday.”

“Saturday?” Payton shook her head. “No. No. That’s not going to work. I have to be there by tomorrow. I have to give my best friend the last night of her life as a single woman. We’ve been planning this since we were twelve. I’m her maid of honor. I have to be there by tomorrow. Friday.” He could hear the edge of hysteria in her voice, as could the woman who was glancing around her, as if for support.

This was probably where he should try and intervene. Cautiously, he tapped Payton’s arm. “Hey. I think I have a solution for us.”

She turned around, her eyes widened when she saw him, then narrowed in suspicion. “Unless you’re about to confide that you’re wearing tights and a cape under your clothes and can fly us both out of here, pronto, then maybe you can wait. I’m not giving up this place in line, buddy.”

He smiled at the ticket agent. “Perhaps you can indulge us for a moment, but is there any chance you can guarantee us a seat on any U.S. or Mexican airline that will arrive in Puerto Vallarta by tomorrow night?”

This time the woman delivered a wide smile at him. “I’m afraid not.”

Satisfied, he looked back down at Payton. “So are you ready to hear me out now?”

She looked disgruntled but gave a terse nod. She threw an annoyed glance over her shoulder at the ticket woman before he dragged her away.

“Look, Payton, I’m as invested as you are in getting to Puerto Vallarta in time to see my brother get married. But unless we want to spend the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours sitting in airports hoping to snag a seat on an already oversold flight, then we need to come up with another plan.”

She folded her arms in front of her, looking as stubborn as a mule.

Damn his brother. It was his fault Cruz was on babysitting patrol. If not for his promise, he’d be enjoying a cocktail on the beach right now, having arrived the day before. Or at the very least, be making his way to the nearest bus terminal, not giving a second thought to the beautiful but aggravating blonde terrorizing the airline staff.

But he had promised.

And to be honest, helping Payton, Dick Eastman’s future daughter-in-law, might give him the boost he needed to settle his business deal in time for breaking ground in early June.

“You can release my arm now. I’m quite capable of holding myself upright.”

He raised his brow at that comment, deciding not to mention her near fall earlier today, and released her arm. She tottered for a moment but stayed on her feet. “We have two options. One would be to cross the border, rent a car, and drive ourselves to Puerto Vallarta. It’s almost nine hundred miles and, driving straight through, should take us around fifteen hours. Second option. We could buy two tickets at the bus station in Nuevo Laredo that would take us to Puerto Vallarta. Even with the added four or so hours, my choice would be to take the bus. We could just relax and do some reading without any of the stress of driving.”

“Take the bus?” This time her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “Are you a lunatic? Haven’t you seen Romancing the Stone? Don’t you know that bus rides for foreign women in third world countries never end well?”

He managed not to roll his eyes. “Payton, that was a movie, and it took place in South America, not Mexico. The bus system in Mexico is extremely reliable and safe.”

She smiled almost indulgently at him. “I can assure you that no matter how desperate I become, I will not be leaving my life in the hands of an unknown bus driver who’s not licensed or certified by any governmental authority I’ve heard of. And if I’m not stabbed first, how can I trust that someone won’t try to plant drugs on me during the trip? Didn’t you hear about that American woman last year who was held in a Mexican prison for allegedly transporting drugs they found taped under her bus seat? No. If we’re traveling, it’s going to be by car.”

He thought about mentioning the fact that the roads in the northern border cities were dangerous to any person, American or otherwise, whether on a bus or private vehicle, but didn’t think that would be productive to their discussion.

She took a step forward, smiling deeply enough for him to see those dimples again. “I appreciate your concern, Cruz, really. And if you’re not up to it, I’m more than happy to drive us there myself. I’ve been driving since I was sixteen and am quite capable. I’ve driven to Vegas more times than I can count, and that’s a six-hour drive, easily. You have nothing to be concerned with.” This time she reached out her hand and patted his chest.

He glanced down at her hand, so pale and soft against the dark color of his shirt. It was an innocent gesture, one he’d seen before when she talked to men, using small touches to manipulate them into giving her what she wanted.

But she’d never touched him before. And he hated the alarming way the intimacy made him feel. Like he wanted more.

Not a chance. This was Payton.

Her hand stopped, resting on his chest. Leaving the area under her hand hot, like it had been branded. He worked to keep his expression cool, as if her touch didn’t affect him.

Payton seemed to be lost in her own thoughts too—her eyes glued to the sight of her hand resting against him. Her eyes widened, suddenly, as if realizing what she was doing, and she pulled her hand away.

Awkward.

He heaved a heavy sigh and pinched the skin above his nose. “I guess we’re renting a car then. Let’s go find our luggage and catch a cab that can get us across the border. My assistant was going to try and track us down a rental car. I’ll see what she’s found,” he said and pulled his cell phone out.

Only, twenty minutes later, they were still staring at the baggage carousel when it careened to a halt, every bag claimed by someone. Except theirs.

Neither of them had said anything as they watched, bag after bag, the pile shrink to nothing.

He hazarded a glance at Payton, who was standing still, staring at the empty carousel. Then he saw something that looked suspiciously like a smile tugging on her lips before she exploded in laughter. Laughter that shook her so hard she bent forward, clutching her stomach.

She certainly was a lightweight. He’d have to find her some coffee and soon. But first there was the issue of their bags.

He waited until she slowed down enough to wipe away a few tears that had slipped down her cheeks. She snuck a look over at him and instantly dissolved into a fit of giggles again.

“I’m sorry,” she said, catching her breath. “I just keep thinking that nothing can get any worse and then…” She held back another laugh, her eyes tearing again. “And then it does. And you’re standing there with that serious expression, almost like you expected it. Resigned to accept the worst. Does anything ever surprise you?”

“Not usually.”

She shook her head, smiling again. “That’s too bad.”

He wasn’t certain why she was looking at him with sympathy. He just knew human nature and had resigned himself long ago to not hold high expectations. “We better report our missing bags and get started on the paperwork. If they haven’t appeared by now, I don’t think they’re going to.”

“Hey, if we’re lucky, they’ll make it to Puerto Vallarta before we do.” Her eyes twinkled at this prospect just before her stomach made a very unladylike gurgle and she clutched it. “Do you think we can find a cab that will stop through a drive-thru for some burgers? I might start eating the leather on my handbag if I don’t get something soon.”

He was pretty hungry himself, although he couldn’t get his mind around the prospect of Payton Vaughn gripping anything so gauche and messy as an old fashioned burger with those soft, manicured fingers. Sushi, a large garden salad, lobster…maybe. But a fast-food burger?

Guess there was always room for some surprises.

Chapter Three

Payton licked the sauce from her hand that had dribbled off her burger, her attention on the activity outside the cab’s window. She’d never crossed the U.S. border before—at least via land. She’d traveled in and outside the U.S. tons of times, of course, but it’s not like there was a sign you could see to mark the event.

The sun had dipped a few minutes ago, but the dusk light was still bright enough to see the bustling activity at the border as masses of people crossed the bridge over the Rio Grande on foot, many with shopping bags and messenger bags, probably heading home from work or the malls. Fortunately, the long line of cars on the bridge was lined up heading in the opposite direction as them—coming into the states, so their crossing didn’t take nearly as long as she’d anticipated.

She sank her mouth into her hamburger. It was pretty good. Especially after having only eaten garden salads and broiled fish and chicken for the past few months. A necessity when her mother had thought Payton would look better in a dress one size smaller than her usual, and ordered the designer dress accordingly. She glanced over to find Cruz staring at her with something akin to shock. “What?”

“Nothing. How are you feeling? Seeing two of me still?”

“Very funny. I was not drunk. It was only two drinks and I was merely…tipsy.”

“Of course. And it wasn’t you who fell in the lap of that poor old man back at baggage claim.”

“I tripped. On his feet. I think he orchestrated the whole thing.”

“With his wife sitting right next to him?”

Yeah, well, she had apologized profusely and, once she found an open seat, finally dug out that PowerBar.

Best to change the subject. “I called Kate about the delay so she knows not to look for us until tomorrow. She said she’d talk to the hotel, to make sure there’s no problem with our reservations, but we’ll likely have to eat tonight’s room charge. No refunds.”

“I expected as much.”

She eyed his French fries, still untouched. If she’d known they were going to smell so tempting, she’d have ordered some herself, and seeing as how he wasn’t interested…

“You going to eat those?” she asked.

He shook his head and pushed them toward her. A ping from his cell phone drew his attention. “Looks like Budget rental has two cars left. A Chevy Matiz, whatever that is, or a passenger van. My vote is anything but a van.”

Famous last words, as half an hour later, they both stood in awed silence, staring at the little car, just one step up from a clown car. “If it helps, I’ve seen smaller,” she offered. “This one at least has a backseat…I think. Or I guess somewhere to put…my purse.”

Cruz didn’t say anything, probably trying to envision how he was going to twist that tall and surprisingly muscular build into the tiny door opening.

This should be interesting.

They had to be joking.

Cruz shook his head, not finding words to express his disbelief, and headed over to the driver’s side.

As he stood outside the car, he’d swear the door was barely tall enough to admit a small child, let alone his six-foot-three-inch frame. He pulled the door open, slid his laptop bag behind the seat, and bent his head to try and fit through the tiny opening.

His head cracked against a corner.

Dammit. That hurt.

The ringing of laughter didn’t improve his mood, and he glared back. Her mirth seemed to increase as he found his legs pressed against the steering column. Whoever had driven this last had definitely been a kid. His hand groped for the latch to release the seat and he just managed to reach a position of minimal discomfort when Payton slid into the passenger side with ease.

She was still smiling. Those damn dimples were almost taunting him. Before she had even slipped the seat belt into the latch, he’d put the car in drive and pulled out of the spot.

Having studied the map in the cab as they crossed the border, he was familiar with the route they needed to take. But Payton had insisted on buying her own map and was spreading it out on her lap, using a pen to draw a line down, highlighting their route. She paused and bit the tip of her pen.

“We have a couple of choices once we hit Guadalajara. The southern path looks a little more direct, but it’s not a toll road like the northern route.”

“We’re taking the northern route. I know from experience that the toll will end up taking less time. And it’s safer.”

“Really? You’ve done this before?”

He shrugged. “My mom’s from Morelia. That’s just a little further southeast of Guadalajara,” he offered when he saw her scanning the map. He turned on his blinker as they made a right hand turn onto the main street. “Growing up, my parents took us down to visit her family. We spent a lot of time exploring the area. If we had more time, the other way is definitely more scenic, but we don’t have that luxury. Not if we’re going to make it for the rehearsal tomorrow.”

She remained quiet and he glanced over to see her staring sadly at an invisible spot on the dash. “What is it?”

She turned her attention outside the window, away from him. “Nothing. Just remembering my last trip with my fia—with Brad. We went to Cabo in January.”

The silence went on, and he sensed that whatever was going on with her earlier today had something to do with Brad Eastman. A subject he had no interest in hearing about. “Music?”

She nodded and he flipped it on. After a search through various stations, he settled on one that was playing a soft, contemporary Spanish song. Payton seemed to need time to reflect, and he could stand to focus on getting out of the city and onto the highway, all limbs intact.

The silence was unusual. His and Payton’s short relationship usually involved her making some ridiculous comment that cemented her image as a silly, self-centered rich girl, followed by his stoic but judging silence, with maybe the occasional grunt or eye roll.

Even before meeting her, Cruz had a good idea who Payton Vaughan was, due to her engagement to Brad Eastman, son to one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in Utah—and the guy who showed up Cruz’s senior year of high school and easily won over every girl at school with his fancy car and smarmy smile. Including Cruz’s girlfriend, Angelina, who Brad quickly dumped just one week later for a girl who was rumored to be related to Dutch royalty. And the guy had only been a junior.

So Cruz had a good idea of what Brad Eastman’s fiancée would be like even before Dominic relayed the news that she had a trust fund that rivaled Midas’s.

Beautiful, cultured, and stuck up as hell.

On meeting her, the first two assumptions had proven correct. Payton was not only heart-stoppingly gorgeous but had that personality that drew everyone to her. Charisma. Enough that he’d stopped in his tracks when he’d first seen her at the flower shop that night, both on their way to Kate’s birthday party and neither knowing who the other was. He’d been captivated. Had even considered asking for her number.

As to the last—her being stuck up—he hadn’t had enough time to confirm whether it was true or not. Although she’d been nothing but friendly toward his family when she met them all—officially—at Kate’s party that memorable night, he’d heard enough from Dominic about how tied up in knots Kate had been under Payton’s mother’s discerning eyes as they grew up, that he’d decided to withhold final judgment.

The muffled music that started ringing from her purse brought Payton a good inch in the air. He knew that tune…

Is that the song from the shower scene in Psycho?

She fumbled in the purse and pulled out the cellphone, trapped in a bright pink case. Only she didn’t accept the call immediately, continuing to stare at the screen instead. She was biting at her lip, almost looking afraid.

His curiosity was piqued. Who on earth had Payton so terrified to take their call?

Finally, she steeled her back and pressed accept, bringing the phone to her ear. “Hello, Mother.”

Since stepping off the airplane, Payton had done a good job—no, miraculous job—of pretending that nothing was wrong with her life, choosing instead to focus on one thing. Getting to Puerto Vallarta and being there for the single most important event in her best friend’s life.

Payton had become a pro at compartmentalizing her life over the years, and today would be no different. Besides, she’d have plenty of time to fall apart when she was alone and in the sanctity and privacy of her luxury suite at the hotel. And she had almost succeeded. Until she remembered the trip to Cabo with Brad, followed by the image of him and that…that very naked woman, doing Lord knew what back in New York.

And now her mother was calling.

Does she know?

What was Payton going to tell her?

But she shouldn’t have worried about providing any kind of explanation to her mother when she answered the phone because the woman wouldn’t let her get a word in for several minutes. Starting first with why Payton hadn’t called as soon as she landed, leaving her mother to hear the news of the emergency landing after the fact and spending the past hour in a panic, before seguing into the “ludicrous voicemail” Payton left for the wedding planner.

Cripes. Payton had forgotten about that hasty message in the chaos that followed. She placed her fingers to the side of her temple and rubbed. What had she been thinking?

“Have you completely lost your mind?” Payton held the phone away from her ear as her mother yelled. “What on earth do you mean leaving some crazy message for Camille saying your wedding is off? I had to have the silly girl play the message for me, since I was ready to fire her, right then for making up lies.”

Payton could almost hear that argument, and see poor Camille flinching under her mother’s passive aggressive tirade. Camille had assured them early on she’d handled many different personalities and nothing would prevent her from throwing them a successful wedding.

But that had been before she met Emily Vaughn.

“Really, Payton. Of all the asinine games for you to play at such a pivotal time in the planning—the girl had been about to call and cancel the ballroom at Grand America before she came to her senses and gave me a call first. What do you have to say for yourself? Why would you do something so reckless? Have you been drinking the water even though I distinctly told you not to? Are you on some sort of mind-altering drug? What is it? And where on earth are you? Are you back in Dallas? Tell me you’re returning home and forgetting the ridiculous notion of going to Mexico alone.”

Payton took a deep breath in. Where on earth to start?

Her wedding, she supposed. Was it still on?

An image of Brad’s sleepy bedroom eyes flooded her mind, followed by the cheap image of “Boobalicious’s” envious rack swaying as she handed him the phone.

Payton wasn’t an idiot. There was no way that what she saw was any kind of misunderstanding, no matter how many voicemails Brad left her before she’d finally blocked his calls. He had cheated on her. Lord knew how many times.

There was simply no wedding to salvage.

Some Justin Bieber song was suddenly blaring from the radio, and she couldn’t help but whip her head around to glare at Cruz. Was he playing with her now or did he really have an affinity for horrendous music?

He held his hands up in apology and reached over, flipping the radio off. But now the silence was doubly loud, not just in the car, but on the other end of the line.

What was she going to tell her mother? Her stomach roiled again and bile rose to her throat. Could she tell her mother, now, with Cruz all ears to hear how her once perfect life had suddenly fallen apart?

It was so humiliating.

Her mother, still not having an answer, started again. “Payton? What has come over you? You need to stop thinking of yourself and think of everyone who is relying on you. Me, the planner, your father, and, of course, Brad most of all. What would he think about that little trick you played? He would be as hurt and outraged as I am. To turn your wedding into a joke like that.”

What would Brad think? That was rich. This time she snorted.

Here her mother was accusing her of being selfish when all her life Payton had bent herself into a pretzel trying to please everyone around her—her mother most of all. She’d sacrificed her career trying to become what her mother wanted—essentially someone’s trophy wife. And for what? So Brad could boink some skank when they should be spending a romantic vacation seeing her best friend get married?

She was done. It was over. She was living her life, starting now, on her terms.

That plane trip had offered her more than time to think. It had offered a new start.

“Mother, I’m sorry that you think I’ve been selfish here, but I meant what I told Camille. It’s off. There will be no grandiose reception, no stuffy church wedding, no Christmas stocking with Brad’s name to add to the Vaughn mantle. Unlike you, I am not going to spend the next thirty years ignoring his exploits. And if you want to know what I’m talking about, then maybe you can call Brad and ask to speak to Miss Boobalicious—the giant-breasted Playboy bunny sharing his bed last time I called. For now, I’m heading to my best friend’s wedding, where I am going to at least see someone get their happily ever after. I’ll see you Monday. Good-bye.”

Before her mother could spew any more hysterics, Payton hung up.

The silence was unnerving, and she refused to glance over at Cruz for his reaction. She wouldn’t say she was feeling relief, because she knew she was only postponing another inevitable confrontation with her mother, but she wasn’t going to worry about that now.

The ring bursting from her cell phone again alerted her that her mother wasn’t done.

Inspiration hit her and before she could talk herself out of it, she rolled her window down and, with a surprising burst of strength, threw her cell phone out.

It clattered against the road and landed about fifteen feet away. Still intact, bright and pink and shiny. At least until the large cargo truck ran over it. With some satisfaction, she saw it shatter and fly into pieces across the blacktop.

The car was silent.

Cruz still hadn’t said anything. Probably trying to decide if he should take a detour to the closest loony bin so he could deposit her. She snuck a peek. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought she spied the tiniest smile around the lines of his mouth.

“You know, you could have just turned the phone off.”

She stretched her arms in front of her, already feeling lighter. “Yes, but this felt a hundred times better.”

“So. Boobalicious?” he asked, raising a brow as he glanced over at her. “Want to talk about it?”

She ran her fingers through her hair and breathed in deeply. “Not really. In fact, I’d prefer we don’t talk about anything related to my former fiancé, my mother, or the mess my life is in. For the next few days, I just want to enjoy some freedom. Freedom from diets, from wedding planning, and most of all, from Emily Vaughn’s rules on proper comportment and conduct becoming of a Vaughn.”

No more calls to return to caterers, florists, or videographers. No more stressing about whether Brad’s best man would make it through his speech without insulting half the guests. No in-laws to worry about impressing with her social grace.

Her life was her own again.

The sharp pain of betrayal stabbed her in the chest but she closed her eyes. She would not let Brad ruin this moment. Come Monday, she could fall apart in the safety of her condo. Not here. Not now.

Not under the scrutiny of the man beside her. She needed to keep some dignity.

Chapter Four

The next half hour passed quietly enough, and Payton was initially surprised at the restraint Cruz exhibited in not pestering her for the details of her phone call—something she’d be doing if their roles were reversed. But then she realized, this was Cruz. He had probably already forgotten the whole conversation anyhow. Too busy hatching some business scheme or another.

What time was it anyway? Payton reached for her purse, where her phone was stowed only to stop as she realized…she no longer owned one.

Crap. She glanced at the dash, trying not to get twitchy. Maybe she’d been a little hasty…

“What’s the first big city we hit again?”

“Monterrey. Probably close to two hours away.”

She nodded. If she had her phone, she could change her relationship status to single. She could tweet about the nightmare flight or post a pic of their ride to Instagram. She could find something infinitely more interesting than counting the mile-markers—make that kilometer markers—on the road.

She clenched her hands, the sudden need to know if she’d missed any calls or texts becoming overpowering. Being without her phone was supposed to feel more liberating.

What if Kate was trying to call her? She should at least let her best friend know how to reach her. “Umm, do you think I could borrow your phone for a minute?”

“Seriously? Didn’t you just get rid of yours?”

“Yes, well…I may have been a little hasty getting rid of the phone entirely. The least I can do is let Kate know how she can reach me.”

“I thought you talked to her while I made the rental arrangements?” he asked and reached into the front pocket of his shirt to pull out a large black smartphone.

“I did. But in case she tries to call me before I get there. I wouldn’t want her to worry about me or anything. And I want to give her a tiny heads up that my mother might call her. She may want to be prepared.”

He kept his eyes on the road and handed her the phone. She slid the screen open, wondering what kind of personal picture Cruz would have on his device, but it was a simple black screen. She dialed Kate’s cell number.

“It went to voicemail,” she announced, while she waited for the beep, in case he was interested. “Hola, Kate! Hope you’re not having too much fun without me. Now, don’t forget, I’m still planning on taking you out tomorrow night after the rehearsal dinner, so don’t even try to make up any excuses about being tired or needing your beauty sleep. You have to have a proper bachelorette party, after all. But in the meantime, I had some…slight issues with my cell phone and…well, basically, I don’t have it anymore, so if you need to reach me, call Cruz’s phone. Oh, and if my mother should happen to call you, can you not mention this number? I need a little break. I’ll explain everything when I see you, but for now just know I’m fine, and Cruz and I should be there some time after noon tomorrow. Okay. Love you.”

She hit disconnect and started to hand the phone back to Cruz but paused midway. “Actually, maybe I should hold onto this. You know, in case Kate calls. I’d hate to bother you for it while you’re driving. Could be a road hazard.”

“Of course,” he said in a mocking tone. But she didn’t care. It felt good to hold the familiar rectangle device in her hand.

“So, I can’t help but notice you don’t have any pictures of a significant other on here.” Like the woman who’d practically claimed his lap at Kate’s birthday party. Something that had irked her at the time since at the flower shop just twenty minutes earlier, he’d been definitely throwing off a vibe that told her he was interested. “Don’t you have a girlfriend? What about that woman at the party? Becca, was it? How come she’s not here with you?” She was actually relieved to turn the conversation in a direction other than her own life.

“Becca’s probably at home, I imagine. We’re not seeing each other anymore.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “No big deal. Things have gotten a little busy at work, and I wasn’t able to give her what she was looking for. She understood.”

Right. Sure she did. From the possessive looks the cute brunette had been giving him that night, Payton would beg to differ. She snorted.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cruz asked.

Up ahead, a toll station came into view and she leaned forward to count out some pesos from the console where they’d dumped the money Cruz had the forethought to get at the airport.

“Nothing. You’re just a typical man. Too wrapped up in your business life to realize what’s going on around you.” Like her father. And, coincidentally enough, like Brad—at least these past few months. Although to be fair, Brad had likely been less busy with business details as he had claimed and more busy with sowing his oats.

Whatever.

She handed Cruz some cash. “I doubt that Becca saw your relationship as casually as you do.”

“You saw her for all of about ten minutes. How would you know?” He handed the guy the money for the toll.

“Please. She was practically picking out the china pattern for the bridal registry. You might have been casual but in her mind you were branded as hers. You really are oblivious.”

“I’ll pretend you didn’t say that,” he said and pulled forward, picking up speed again.

Ouch. Okay. Good point. She couldn’t really preach to anyone else’s obliviousness when she hadn’t seen what was happening right in front of her face.

“Hey, I’m sorry, Payton. That was unnecessary and mean.”

She glanced over at him, catching his eyes softened in apology. “You had a point, though. It’s the whole pot calling the kettle black, isn’t it? But maybe I’ll just rest my eyes for a little while. I’m suddenly pretty wiped out.”

“Yeah. I understand.”

She sank back farther in the seat, closing her eyes.

Maybe attempting conversation hadn’t been such a good idea.

Cruz cricked his neck and flipped through the radio for something new. A glance at his passenger told him she was either sound asleep or pretending to be to avoid further conversation. Either way, she wasn’t likely to brook much argument on his musical choice.

He’d been mulling over the bit of her conversation he’d overheard for the past half hour. The fact that Brad Eastman had been caught in a sordid position didn’t surprise him in the least. But Payton’s surprise had.

Brad was a player. No matter how gorgeous Payton was, men like Brad liked the conquest, the score of something new and different. Cruz had thought people in Payton’s position just overlooked those kinds of things. Something, if Payton were to be believed, her mother had done in the course of her own marriage.

He had to give Payton points for spunk. Her mother sounded like a shrew—since he pretty much caught the entire conversation thanks to the high decibel rate the woman had been yelling at through the phone—and it couldn’t have been easy for Payton to stand up to her like she did.

He smiled again as he remembered Payton chucking her pink cell phone out the window, grinning in satisfaction when it was creamed by a truck. She certainly surprised him. Surprises were something he tried to avoid. He preferred order and predictability in his life, which was probably why he and Payton couldn’t stand each other.

Although to be truthful, she wasn’t turning out to be as big of a pain in the ass as he anticipated. Well, the night was early. Could only be a matter of time.

The roads over the past hour had gone from flat and boring to more mountainous and curvy, so he’d had to be more alert to the traffic around him, sometimes crawling, sometimes whizzing by. Up ahead the bright lights of the city of Monterrey greeted them.

“It’s beautiful.”

Her voice broke the silence and caught him unaware. He jerked the wheel to the left and almost into the car passing them, who lit off their horn in a warning that brought a shrill scream from Payton.

He righted the car again, shaking his head. “Sorry. You startled me.”

“I can see that. Why don’t you pull over and let me drive for a while?” She was still gripping the handle above the door, panting from the near collision.

He glanced at the time. Nearly eleven. Leaving them close to eleven, maybe twelve, more hours of driving. He rubbed at his eyes, now straining against the bright lights of the oncoming cars. Honestly, he hadn’t realized how drained he was until that moment. And from what he’d heard Payton was going through, she had to be even more emotionally drained than him.

“Not that I don’t trust your mad driving skills, but what would you think about stopping for the night? My assistant sent me some hotel and restaurant suggestions, and I’m sure we could find a place with room service. We could be up and back on the road by six. Just fashionably late to the rehearsal dinner and with plenty of time for you and Kate to paint the town red.”

She released her grip on the handle, stretched her legs in front of her, and curled her back like a cat. “You had me at room service. Not that a long hot shower doesn’t also sound divine.”

She tilted her head back to look up at the dark sky, revealing the delicate skin of her creamy neck. Even with the minimal light, he could see two moles placed close together.

The blaring of a horn from his left nearly sent him careening off the road, and he realized he’d been drifting into the left lane. Again. Shit.

It had to be fatigue. Why else would he be staring at the neck of someone he had no right thinking about?

Someone who would be demanding and high maintenance, and…too far out of reach for him anyway.

Payton had just finished washing out her underwear when she heard someone knock at the door. Room service, finally.

She glanced down at the oversized cotton T-shirt she’d bought in the lobby gift store and wondered if she should slide on her wrinkled capris that were now hanging up in the steamy bathroom. But the length—hitting her knees—and bagginess probably offered her more coverage than many of her slinkier dresses anyhow.

And she could practically taste the chocolate mousse. Too many months of deprivation so she could squeeze into that beautiful—even if too small—wedding dress had her looking forward to eating anything and everything she wanted.

Only, when she opened the door, it wasn’t her food waiting for her to pounce on, but the six-foot-something mass of a tired but still too handsome Cruz Sorensen standing in her doorway, his cellphone up to his ear. His hair was poking almost straight up, giving her the impression he’d been running his fingers through it and hadn’t realized the effect. Nerdy but strangely…sexy.

She was delirious. This was Cruz she was talking about. The guy who’d sooner insult her than pay her a compliment.

“Yeah. Okay. I have her right here. You too, Kate.” He paused and held the phone out to her. “You have someone who wants to speak with you.”

Payton took the phone and held it to her chest while she spoke to Cruz. “Remind me what room you’re in, and I’ll drop it off when I’m done.”

The ding of the elevator, followed by a short statured man carrying a tray, told her the food was finally on its way. Only, instead of leaving, Cruz stood back to the let the man in, before following him inside.

“No chance,” she heard him say under his breath.

The guy placed the tray on the desk and handed her the receipt and a pen. With panache, she flicked the pen across the paper while still holding the phone and handed it back, all the while aware of Cruz’s dark gaze watching her every move. Or she should say the server’s every move, by the scowl Cruz was giving him before shutting the door on his back.

“Can you really be that naïve? You can’t be wandering around a hotel in the middle of the night or letting strange men into your hotel room—especially not dressed like that. This isn’t the States and you have no idea the kind of trouble you could get into.” He ran his hands through his hair again, stopping to scratch the top of his head as if pondering something. “I would let you hold onto the phone until morning but I’m expecting a call. Why don’t I come back in…half an hour?”

Already putting the phone to her ear, she nodded and waved. She noticed the way he looked back and forth down the hallway as he left her room in case a small, stealthy ninja was waiting around a corner, before shutting the door. She rolled her eyes.

“Kate? You still there?”

“Yes, are you kidding? I wouldn’t hang up for the world. I just wish I had thought to take my phone with us when we left for dinner and site-seeing earlier. I only saw your last message half an hour ago. Now what the heck is going on? Your mother has already left four messages. She’s freaking out. Something about you calling off your engagement?”

Payton sank onto the bed, her head cushioned by the pillow and told her friend about the ill-fated video call she’d made to Brad just before boarding. She hated how her voice hitched at the end when she described Brad’s state of undress.

Kate stayed silent for a moment and Payton expected to hear Kate’s denial, her argument that it couldn’t have been what she thought it was. But her friend only said, “I will kill the little twerp. No. I’ll sue him, I’ll”—she paused then and sighed. “I’m sorry, Payton. Have you heard from Brad since he hung up?”

“He left several messages earlier but I haven’t had the chance nor the inclination to talk to him.”

“I can’t believe you never said a word of this when you called earlier. And there I was going on about our dinner plans like an idiot.” But Payton had been sitting in the baggage office while Cruz filled out the paperwork for their missing luggage and hadn’t thought it was the moment to dump the horrid mess on Kate. She didn’t want to risk having a nervous breakdown in such a public place. It was easier to pretend everything was fine.

Now, she didn’t have to pretend. And the uncomfortable pressure rising in her throat and to her eyes, where tears pooled, was too heavy to ignore. She tried to muffle a sob as hot tears slipped down her temples and into her hairline.

“Everything will work out, you’ll see,” Kate said in a warm and comforting manner. “I’ll field calls from your mother in the meantime. You never did tell me what happened to your phone.”

A little sheepishly, Payton said, “I—I chucked it out the window.”

“Okay. That’s one way to avoid your mother’s calls.” Kate sounded like she was trying not to laugh. “But you’ll be here tomorrow and we can get through this. You need some time to decide what you’re going to do. Just don’t make any hasty decisions. At least until you’ve had a chance to talk to Brad. Are you thinking of calling him?”

“Not right now. I need some time to process. We can talk when I get back home.” Payton stared at the ceiling, surprised to feel a little better having shared everything with her best friend. Her best friend who was two nights away from marrying her soul mate. Crap. She wasn’t being a very good maid of honor. “I’m sorry,” Payton whispered.

“For what?”

“It’s your wedding weekend and here I am bringing you down. Making it about me.”

“Oh, Payton. That’s not what you’re doing. You’ve always been there for me. Back when Michael dumped me and I took more than a year to get over it, you were always there to cheer me up. Always. And when Dominic came into my life, you were so supportive. Like always. Being supportive for you now is the least I can do. And I should remind you of what you told me way back when I thought my heart was breaking. Things will get better. Something better will come along. I promise.”

Payton nodded, knowing her friend couldn’t see the gesture but would understand.

“So how are things with you and my future brother-in-law? Stuck in a car together? I can’t believe you haven’t killed each other yet. Not after the way you two hit it off at my birthday party.”

The sarcasm was clear since the only way she and Cruz hit it off that night was in that they both agreed they couldn’t stand the other. Probably starting when she overheard Cruz asking his brother in a derisive tone if “the prom queen” had arrived or if she’d gotten lost and needed a rescue crew. She’d been standing right behind him, Kate’s yellow roses in her arms. The jibe was even more biting when he turned around for an awkward introduction and the seconds passed infinitely slowly as they recognized each other from the flower shop. When, for a fleeting moment, she had thought him charming.

“Accidentally” slamming the vase against the side of his temple had made her feel a little better. It had also given her perverse satisfaction to torment Cruz through the night with quips about his height, his appetite, whatever she could think of that would get a rise from the brooding hulk. To be fair, most people usually laughed and deflected her comments, but Cruz only grew moodier, barely grunting a response. The thought of seeing him again at the wedding had not been something she looked forward to, but she’d thought Brad would be at her side to help ease her pain.

That plan hadn’t worked out so well.

“Cruz and I have reached a sort of tentative treaty. We’re focusing on getting to Puerto Vallarta for now.” True enough, even if they had a rocky start initially. But she had to give him credit. If it weren’t for him, she’d still be in Laredo waiting to catch a morning flight back to Dallas and praying she’d find a seat on a plane—any plane—heading into Puerto Vallarta. She would never have dared to make this kind of trip on her own.

She could hear a male voice on the other end, probably Kate’s soon-to-be husband. They needed time alone. “You know, I’m pretty wiped out and you need to get back to that fiancé of yours. Tell Dominic I said hi.”

“I will. And remember, I’m always here for you, Payton. Love you.”

Payton dropped the phone on the bed next to her and continued to stare up at the ceiling. Talking to her friend had been cathartic, no matter how brief the conversation had been. And for the first time, she was ready to think about how she felt about her discovery. To touch and prod the wound.

Hurt. Betrayed. Humiliated. Definitely all fit the bill, but… She thought about Kate’s sadness when she’d broken up with her skeazy boyfriend, Michael, and then later when she ended things with Dominic before she knew the depth of her feelings for him. Her friend had been heartbroken, but infinitely more so about the latter. The pain evident in her eyes.

Was Payton’s heart breaking at the thought that Brad had been cheating on her? She wasn’t so sure. Was she ready to draw blood from him if he were in this room now? Undoubtedly. But after she’d physically maimed him, was she going to feel that deep sense of loss and sadness, like she’d lost almost a part of her heart, as she’d sensed with Kate?

It was an uncomfortable truth to know that she wouldn’t.

Maybe she was wired differently than Kate about these kinds of things. For all Kate’s bristly nature, she was a softie underneath. Wanting the unattainable—a happily ever after. Payton had never had any illusions that such a thing really existed. So maybe that’s why she didn’t feel things on a deep level like her friend.

This truth didn’t, however, diminish the pain she felt at Brad’s betrayal. Because she loved him. Truly she did. He was a good friend, a good companion. And they would have had a wonderful, perfect life together because they were so compatible. Same family background, same social connections. They were…well matched. Like a perfect china set.

And in one moment of truth, one ill-timed phone call, their future together was now in question. She couldn’t—no, wouldn’t—lead her mother’s life.

She remembered the night Brad proposed. Always so cocky and full of himself, but in an endearing way, he had actually been a little nervous when he gave her that ring. He promised her a good life. His love and devotion. And in that moment, she was happy. Content.

Tears pooled in her eyes again and fell. She didn’t try to stem them this time, even as their saltiness reached the creases in the corner of her mouth.

She didn’t know how long she laid there, tears streaming down, when she heard the short rapping of knuckles on her door. Cruz.

She sat up, wiping her tears away, trying to compose herself. “Just a minute.” She stopped in the bathroom, hating the splotchy way her face looked, and splashed some cool water on before drying off on a towel.

When she opened the door a minute later, Cruz looked almost worried standing there with his brows furrowed. His brown eyes staring at her with intensity and concern instead of his usual disdain. He didn’t wait for her to ask him to come in. He just stepped inside and shut the door. He reached his hand out and rested it on her shoulder. It felt good, heavy and solid.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He’s actually worried about me.

Damn, damn, damn. The tears pooled again, and she tried to laugh. “Don’t mind me. It’s just a mild break down. I’ll be my normal chipper self by morning. Tomorrow night at the latest.”

He didn’t argue, only led her to the bed and helped her take a seat. He grabbed the chair at the desk and pulled it over and sat down, leaning forward as he faced her. “You know, whatever it is, you might feel better if you talked about it. If it helps, I have a pretty good idea what’s going on. I heard some of your conversation with your mother. And of course, there was the whole Boobalicious reference.”

This managed to earn another strangled laugh and she hiccupped at the end. How could someone she was certain hated her suddenly be there offering his strength and support?

She hated Cruz just like he hated her, right?

She wiped another tear away. “Yeah, well. It isn’t very hard to color in the lines from there. I made the mistake earlier today of trying to have a video chat with Brad before I boarded the plane. You see, I was pretty ticked off with him when he told me he wasn’t coming with me this weekend and I had laid into him. But then I started feeling bad about it, realizing his working was only to help ensure our future together.”

She stopped a moment, as emotion swelled in her throat. She swallowed and continued. “Well, let’s just say when the other line picked up, it wasn’t exactly the image I had expected.” She relayed the visual, ending with the phone disconnecting. “So you can understand why today is not really a highlight in my life.”

He didn’t say anything at first, just remained still as he studied her. “Well, I think you have a pretty good shot that tomorrow can’t be worse than today, if that offers you any comfort. Because I’d agree that this is one shitty-ass day.” He twisted the cap off a bottled water that she realized for the first time he’d been holding since he arrived. “Here. You could probably use this.”

She took the water and let the cool liquid slide past her parched mouth. Before she knew it, she’d gulped down half the bottle as Cruz watched.

He nodded to the phone still on the bed. “You going to be okay if I take that? Did you need to make any more calls?”

She shook her head. “I think enough has been said for today. Take it before I do something stupid.”

“Okay. I’m going to go now.” He came to his feet, returning the chair where he’d found it. “You’ll be all right?”

She tried to smile but it was a pitiful attempt. “I’m not going to drown myself in the tub, if that’s what you’re worried about. Maybe just the dessert under that room service tray.”

“Well if you need anything, I’m in room 626, right down the hall. Otherwise, I’ll come by at six so we can grab something to eat downstairs and get on the road.”

She followed him to the door and held the door as he walked out. “Thanks, Cruz. I—” she stopped when he turned around to meet her gaze. She was used to seeing his dark eyes filled with censure or annoyance, frustration or anger. But the warm softness in those dark amber eyes was something new. Almost…friendly. She swallowed and tried again. “I appreciate your looking out for me today.”

He nodded. “See you in the morning, Payton.”

She closed the door behind him, leaning against it for a moment as she thought about their conversation.

Maybe the rest of the trip with the usually mulishly silent giant wouldn’t be so bad after all. He might even be growing on her.

Chapter Five

Payton dropped the change in the hand of the toll attendant and, once the gate popped up, pressed on the gas, sending the car lurching forward. Cruz closed his eyes, having vowed not to say a word upon leaving Monterrey that morning.

But seriously. The woman was a menace behind the wheel. He’d almost swear she was doing it just to test his fortitude.

She snuck a glance at him, and he turned in time to see a dimple and smile before they disappeared. Normally, he might be irritated that she was trying to goad him. But this morning, after knowing what she’d been through the day before and the toll it took on her, he was actually relieved to see some of that familiar spunk.

But he couldn’t resist imparting one warning. “I know we’re in a hurry, but you realize that being placed in a Mexican jail for speeding probably wouldn’t help us arrive any sooner.”

“They put people in jail for speeding?” She actually sounded shocked.

“They can do anything if they have reason to. A couple of Americans racing through Mexico may raise their suspicions, and they could fabricate a reason for holding us. You have to remember that in Mexico, you’re presumed guilty until you prove your innocence. Do you really want to push it?”

Payton’s foot eased off the gas a little.

“I’d recommend we go a few miles under the limit, just to be safe. We’ll still easily make Guadalajara by three-thirty.”

He watched her again, the bright morning light making it easier to see her features now that the sun had risen. Since their luggage was temporarily AWOL, Payton didn’t have on the usual light touch of makeup. Her lashes were bare and light like her hair, but instead of making those green eyes disappear into her pale creamy skin, the effect made her look younger and more innocent. If not for the slightest pink tinge around her eyes, you wouldn’t have known she’d spent the night before crying.

His hands tightened in a grip as he remembered that helpless feeling he’d experienced as she crumbled in front of him, tears no longer dammed back. Knowing she was being ripped apart by the actions of the one man who was supposed to love and protect her. Having two sisters, he’d seen first hand the pain and devastation that love can bring, and he’d been careful in his thirty-five years not to get close enough to any woman to cause that pain. It wouldn’t be fair to them.

Unlike Dominic, a family, house, woman of his dreams…they weren’t something he ever envisioned. He wanted to make a name for himself. Conquer the business world and make sure no one ever underestimated him. He couldn’t let himself get distracted by the mess that love could cause. Having Angelina crush his naive seventeen-year-old heart had been enough.

His thoughts turned to the other thing that had stood out about last night. That had, in fact, kept him company long into the early hours, when sleep evaded him.

Payton.

What the hell had she been thinking answering the door in that T-shirt and prancing around the room like she had? Did she have no idea how enticing and sexy as hell she’d been with her hair tousled and around her shoulders, her cheeks flushed, her eyes brilliantly green? It was obvious she didn’t.

But he did. As had the guy who’d delivered room service, sneaking glances at her legs and chest when she was too distracted with signing the slip and holding the phone to notice. It had taken every ounce of strength not to slam his fist into the guy’s belly when he couldn’t keep his gaze higher than her breasts.

At least this morning she was fully dressed again and Cruz could think straight.

A catchy song came on the radio and Payton’s head bounced slightly to the music. Her hair that had been so carefully straightened and styled yesterday was now in softer waves around her shoulders. Pretty. Probably silky and smooth too.

Once again, he asked himself what the hell Brad had been thinking cheating on a woman like her?

If Cruz was where Brad was, with an enviable last name and business title, ready to inherit a massive financial empire, and a beautiful and smart and funny woman at his side, he wouldn’t need to mess around with any cheap bimbo. He’d have everything he needed. Just goes to show that some people could really be bat-shit crazy, never appreciating what they had.

Reaching behind the seat, Cruz pulled his laptop out of the bag and booted it up. Even without an Internet connection, he could still get some work done. Cathy had called earlier to confirm he was scheduled for a conference call with Dick Eastman later this afternoon, and he wanted to be ready. He just prayed his cell service, which had already been spotty, would hold out until then.

Payton glanced over at his screen and then back at the road. “Seriously? You’re going to work for the next few hours? Isn’t this supposed to be a vacation?”

He didn’t look up as he responded, “First, I think we can both agree that this adventure isn’t anywhere near a vacation. Second, there’s no chance I’m letting you take the wheel longer than three hours. And third, when you have a job you love, that you’re passionate about, work is less of a trial than a thrill. But then again, I can’t imagine a social butterfly like you has ever worked a day in her life or aspired to be anything else than pampered.”

“Gee, and here I thought we were making some progress and you were something other than an ass.” He flitted his eyes up to see her grip the steering wheel and just as quickly release the tension. She swept her hair to the side and breathed in, as if following some three-step program for stress relief before she continued. “Not that I have any reason to explain myself to you, but I’ll have you know I had other aspirations once. I was even in the top fifteen percent at Vanderbilt—not an easy feat.”

“Vanderbilt? Isn’t that some snooty school turning out southern belles every season?” he asked, as if he hadn’t already Googled the school.

“It’s only one of the top-rated colleges in the country and was ranked number sixteen by U.S. News last year.”

Okay, he was being unreasonably condescending but he couldn’t help himself around this woman. For some reason, Payton Vaughn brought out the worst in him. Like he was taking out all his frustration with the business world and the good old boy’s club that he’d been working against on her. It wasn’t fair. He knew it but couldn’t seem to stop himself. “What did you major in, anyway? Home Economics? Embroidery? No. Don’t tell me, Liberal Arts and Science.”

Instead of getting under her skin, as he’d been trying, she only smiled at him and shook her head. “Earth and Environmental Science. I wanted to be involved in land-use planning and environmental management one day. Even spent a summer in Costa Rica. The way they’ve incorporated conservation techniques while maintaining economic sustainability is commendable.” She sighed and scrunched up her nose in distaste. “Now I’m resigned to making sure the charitable events I’m on the board for have appropriate recycling receptors and limit themselves to serving shrimp as an appetizer only twice a year.” She glanced over at him and added, “You have no idea the ecological devastation shrimping has on the oceans.”

Okay. She’d shocked the hell out of him. He was suitably impressed. “So how come you’re not doing anything with your education?”

She shrugged. “Emily Vaughn envisioned something else for her daughter.”

She was silent another moment, as if trying to decide how much more of herself she wanted to share with him. He shut the laptop, letting her know she had his attention. She smiled a little wistfully. “After I graduated and returned home, I had ambition. I even took the LSAT, like Kate, and was accepted into the U’s law school. I was going to focus on environmental law, maybe be a lobbyist or something.”

He nodded, encouraging her to continue. “What happened?”

“Just one crisis after another, starting with my grandmother dying—a woman my mother avoided like the plague when she was alive. Her death sent her into a spiraling depression. With her incapacitated, I found myself putting off law school and stepping into her shoes for the next year, thinking it would still be waiting for me later. But I did such a great job with the functions I helped host, and they needed new blood so badly, I found it hard to untangle myself from those obligations. And I have to be honest, it was fun and liberating at first, not having to worry about the next exam or research project, staying out late and sleeping in until well past noon. I was frivolous and stupid and…”

She stopped, considering her words. Finally she shook her head, almost in disgust and sighed. “I guess, when I put it like that, I can’t blame my mother entirely for the course my life has taken. I could have said no. But it was so much easier going along with the tide than fighting it. And then Brad came back home and I starting seeing him, which made both of our parents ecstatic, and I got wrapped up in having the perfect life with him and”—she darted a glance his way—“you can see how well that went.”

“So what are you now, twenty-seven? Twenty-eight?”

“Twenty-nine.” She definitely sounded disgruntled about that.

“Twenty-nine, then. It’s not like you’re in your fifties and are just now seeing Brad for who he is and having to get back out there and reinvent yourself. You’re still young. You can still go to law school, have a career. If you wanted to.” Look at him. He’d become Payton Vaughn’s own virtual cheerleader.

“Maybe,” she said, not sounding particularly convinced.

“Well, what else have you got to do? Host more tea parties?” Ouch, that sounded harsher than he intended.

She laughed, though, unfazed. “You know, it’s only been twenty-four hours since the life I thought I was going to have was ripped out from under me. Give me a little time to recover. We can’t all be ambitious business men and women trying to earn a profit equal to the gross capital of—of Chile.”

He smiled. He couldn’t help it. “I can assure you, that is not my goal. I just want to see my family’s company reach the level of respect and profit that it’s due.”

“Yeah. About that. As Kate and Dominic tell it, you’re obsessed with some new deal that’s going to put the company on the map. Is that what you’re working on now?”

“Yes, and if I nail this thing, the future will definitely be looking up for Sorensen Construction.”

“Really? Who’s the deal with?”

He flexed his fingers, reluctant to impart the details with her of all people. At least not until it was a done deal. It seemed like bad luck, not to mention potentially humiliating if for some reason this deal didn’t happen. But she would probably find out soon, so may as well get it over with. “Dick Eastman and I have been negotiating for months on a contract to build four new car dealerships for Eastman Motors and the new Eastman shopping district down in Provo.”

“Dick Eastman? My almost father-in-law Dick Eastman?” She visibly shuddered. “I suppose congratulations are in order. I’m sure that must be a great opportunity. Only…” She stopped, wrestling with something.

“Only what?” Did she not think he was good enough, that Sorensen Construction was not good enough for the likes of the Eastmans? As quickly as he thought of that, he dismissed it. He knew his company and its capabilities. Payton’s reluctance seemed to stem from something else.

“Well, I’m guessing you’ve met the man by now. You should have some idea what I mean. He’s a controlling, manipulative, sexist pig.”

“Who up until yesterday was going to be your father-in-law,” he added incredulously. “You didn’t mind then.”

“That is the brightest silver lining in this whole thing. The way that man uses people, his son included, is disgusting.” This time she looked at him, meeting his gaze. “I’m sorry. I am sure this will be great in a business sense for your company. I’d just make sure you’re going into it with your eyes wide open.”

“Your concern is duly noted, but I think I can handle Dick Eastman. As far as I’m concerned, this deal is going to give Sorensen Construction the opportunity to become a more recognizable name, which will have far wider benefits than just this contract.”

She shrugged. “Just glad it’s you and not me. I always got the impression he was looking at me more for my gene pool, for what I could pass onto the next generation of Eastmans than any happiness I might give his son.”

He could see it. Dick was definitely more old school than Cruz liked—more caveman-esque—but it wasn’t like he was joining the family. Wasn’t going to be marrying a sister or a daughter. It was business. That was all.

But it did give him a little more insight into Payton Vaughn. Made him a little more sympathetic. It seemed that in her eyes, the only value she’d been made to feel in her twenty-nine years, was in the parties she hosted, the people she rubbed shoulders with, and the man and family she could marry into. Whether he was a cheating, lying bastard or not.

At least she was finally standing up for herself. Finding her own value, which, from where she was coming from, was pretty amazing. Admirable even…

After ten minutes of listening to Cruz’s fingers click across the keyboard, Payton reached over and flipped the radio back on. “Is this going to bother you?”

“I can work through anything. Just keep your attention on the road.”

“Yes, Dad,” she said in a singsong voice. Jeez. He needed to loosen up.

She hazarded a quick peek at her companion. Even without a change in clothes or access to his own toiletries he looked…pretty damn good. The shadow around his jaw was dark and pronounced, and combined with those wicked brown eyes that looked at her with an intensity that always made her feel a little uncomfortable, he was sinfully sexy. His shirt might not be as crisp as it was yesterday, but with the sleeves rolled up above his forearms—which had dark, wispy hair curled nicely against his tanned, warm skin—he still managed to maintain a presence. One that had had the front desk attendant at the hotel almost in a puddle at his feet.

It wasn’t like Payton hadn’t noticed Cruz’s dangerous good looks when she’d first seen him. But after she overheard him insulting her, sight unseen, it had been easier to envision some added horns and a tail making him a caricature of pure evil. It was easier to loath and dismiss him as a jerk, because then she could ignore the fact that being near him set her blood boiling in more ways than one.

But now, with their new and tentative truce, and his surprisingly supportive demeanor over the past few hours, it was harder for her to put up her usual blockers where he was concerned. Which could get dangerous.

Couldn’t he at least have BO? Or flat and greasy hair? But no, he smelled decidedly masculine in the close quarters of the car, something like incense and leather. Dark. And of course his hair was lustrous. Almost disgustingly so.

Gah. She needed to clear her head. Where was a familiar tune to sing to?

She didn’t know any of these songs. It was a road trip. They needed tunes. Okay, she needed tunes. It was just how it was done.

“Hey, do you have any music on that phone of yours? I think this car can sync with your phone’s Bluetooth, if you have something worth listening to.”

“No.” He continued to click away at the keyboard.

“No, seriously. I won’t critique it—well, not too much. But I need something I can sing to.”

“I don’t keep music on my phone,” he said matter-of-factly.

What? She shot him a disbelieving look.

“Eyes on the road,” he reminded her, without taking his attention off the laptop screen.

“You’re kidding me, right? You’ve got to have something.”

He shrugged. “Never had a need for it. My phone is for making calls and texts and for sending and receiving emails when I can’t be on the computer. Those are the only reasons I need a phone. If I wanted to listen to music, I’d buy a radio.”

“You know, for a guy who can’t be more than…forty—”

“Thirty-five.”

She suppressed a smile, knowing very well how old he was but enjoying the rancor in his tone. “Thirty-five, then…you sure act like you’re seventy. I bet you yell at small children who step on your lawn back home too.” Which again she knew wasn’t true because he lived in a condo up by the Capital. Not that she’d been stalking him, but Kate had mentioned it once in passing. “And I bet you bemoan the invention of the television and the arrival of that devil music called rock and roll.”

She snuck another glance at her now silent partner. His jaw flexed, either in irritation or humor, it was hard to tell. “So why even get a smartphone if you’re not going to take advantage of all the features? What about apps? Have you downloaded any of the free apps? Twitter? Facebook?”

“Please,” he said, and made a face. “What a waste of time.”

“Netflix? Pandora? What about Fandango?” More head shaking. “Okay, so you and Becca are out on a date and—”

“I told you I’m not seeing Becca anymore.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Whatever. So you’re out on a date with someone and you both decide you feel like a movie. What are you going to do? Find a paper? Call the theater? With the app, you just touch the screen and it lists all the theaters in your area, what movies are playing, and show times. You’re totally set. It’s magic,” she said and snapped her fingers for effect.

“I can assure you, when I take a woman out on a date, I know the plans for the evening ahead of time. I don’t ‘wing it.’”

She gave him a sideways look. “Wow. You’re certainly Mr. Spontaneous, aren’t you?”

“I told you. I don’t like surprises. I like to know what’s going to happen when I can.”

“All right. So walk me through one of Cruz Sorensen’s signature dates.”

He ignored her, typing a few sentences on the screen instead.

“What, is it a secret? Proprietary information? Come on. Humor me. I have no music or other entertainment. So you have to give me something.”

“All right. For a first date, I usually try to determine what the woman’s interests are and tailor the evening accordingly. For example, Becca is a dental hygienist who I happened to know enjoyed funny movies and—”

“Dental hygienist?” she interrupted, unable to resist. “Don’t tell me. Did you actually ask her out while she was digging in your mouth? Is that how you met her?”

“—and flowers.” He finished. “And yes. I met her at the dentist on my six-month visit.”

“Romantic.” She chortled. “Does that mean you’re going to have to find a new dentist, now that you’ve called it off?”

His fingers paused over the keyboard. Probably picturing a rabid Becca gripping sharp metal tools as she told him to open up. Ha.

“All right. So back to the date. Becca—and every other human on the planet—likes comedies and flowers. So what?”

“For our first date, I took her to a comedy club and then made her dinner and dessert at my place.” The smug smile on his lips told her dessert was likely a euphemism, and she rolled her eyes. What a guy. “Our second date, we went to an outdoor showing of a Sundance flick up at Red Butte Gardens. She was impressed with both choices.”

Payton had to give him points. Those did sound pretty good. Better than the old dinner and a movie option—not that she didn’t love that too. But there was something to say about originality. “Okay. What about me? Based on what you know of me, where would you take me for a first date?”

He turned to her, and she felt those discerning brown eyes studying her carefully.

Do not squirm.

“That would depend on the season. If it were summer, I’d say one of the outdoor concerts the symphony puts on at Park City. We’d bring our own blankets and wine and lay out under the stars.” She worked to keep her jaw from dropping open. It was exactly her idea of a night out. Had Kate told him? He continued, “In the winter? Maybe a show at Capital Theater and dinner or… Actually. Scratch that. Hockey. Yes, definitely hockey, and dinner would be nachos and hot dogs from the concession stand.”

“Hockey?” That hadn’t been anything near what she’d expected to hear. “Now you’ve overplayed your hand. I don’t even like hockey.”

“Have you ever been to a hockey game?”

She paused. “Well, no. But I don’t have to see the game to know I wouldn’t like it.”

“Which is why it would be memorable. And how can you possibly know you don’t like something that you haven’t tried?” He shot her a disgruntled look. “My point is, I think we can both agree that, contrary to me, you get a thrill out of the unexpected.” For some reason, it struck her that he said this in an almost admiring tone. “And then I’d probably offer some dessert after,” he added, and she glanced over to see a smirk touch those lips. “At my place.”

She laughed. “I’d just bet you would.” Only, the thought of heading to Cruz’s for some dessert and all that it might involve actually sent a jolt of excitement through her. And a little terror.

In Cruz’s hands, she didn’t know what she might be capable of.

She noticed he was still staring at her and she felt her cheeks warming, almost as if he could read her mind and knew what delicious things she’d envisioned. She cleared her throat. “You definitely seem to have it all down to a science. You hook the girl in, then when she’s positively enamored with you and orders the embroidered towels from Pottery Barn with your names entwined, you cut her loose and move on to the next hapless victim.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I do,” he said in a droll tone, turning his attention back to his computer. “And above my headboard are the nicks I’ve made for each conquest.”

“Come on. You’ve almost said as much yourself, and I quote, ‘Things have gotten a little busy at work and I wasn’t able to give her what she was looking for,’ which is code for”—she lifted her hands from the steering wheel a moment and made air quotes—“a serious relationship. You run at the first sign someone wants something more than a casual fling.”

He truly looked perplexed. “Well, of course. I want to be honest with them. My life, my immediate and future plans, they’re wrapped up in Sorensen Construction right now. It’s best to be upfront with the women I date. Becca made it clear she wanted to take things to another level. Something I’m not prepared to give her or anyone at this time in my life.” He said it, however, almost as if he’d never have the time.

“Wow, you sure are a romantic.”

“Just realistic.”

“Have you always been like this? Wasn’t there anyone who you ever wanted something more with?”

“Not since I was seventeen. Seventeen, naive, and hormonally challenged.”

She didn’t know if she felt sympathy for him or wanted to kick him. “How is wanting to spend your life with someone naive?”

“I’ll tell you another time,” he said in that smug way of his. And for a second she imagined some poor moony-eyed teenaged girl handed her heart by Mr. Sensitive. “Just remember we weren’t all born with a silver spoon in our mouths, the world at our feet. Look, I have a conference call I need to make in another hour with Dick Eastman and want to have some figures ready. Can we table our discussion for the time being?”

“Fine. Whatever.” She returned her attention to finding a song on the radio. Why did he have to bring it back around to her and the fact that she came from wealth? They were talking about love here. Or whatever came close to it. The subject was definitely not over.

Because she was curious now as to what happened to the naive seventeen-year-old Cruz Sorensen that had made him the cynic he was now.

Chapter Six

Cruz held the phone up, dread building in his stomach. Where were the service bars? Any bar. Anything to ensure he could make this call. He hadn’t worked his ass off the past few years to culminate in this one deal, only to have it fall apart because he couldn’t make the final phone call.

Ten minutes ago he’d had full service. He should have just had Payton pull over then. But he’d known how important it was to both of them to close the miles between them and that wedding.

“Anything?” she asked him.

He let his silence confirm the fact.

Three minutes passed. He only had two minutes until he was supposed to make that damned phone call.

Then, there it was.

One—no, two bars now. “I’ve got something.” He looked at the road ahead of them. No sign of a road or turn off. “Pull over.”

“What? We’re on the interstate. I can’t just stop here.”

“Look, it’s imperative I make this call now, and we don’t have the luxury of waiting for the next exit.” He kept his tone even, but there was a steeliness beneath it. She sighed and turned on the blinker.

A horn blared from behind them as their car slowed down, and Payton swerved and let out a squeal of terror. “I hope this call is worth more than our lives.”

He continued to stare at the phone and no sooner had the car stopped than he had thrown the door open and was stepping out. He glanced back to see Payton shaking her head at him before turning her attention to the radio.

A minute later, Dick Eastman was on the phone, his voice that familiar booming sound equal parts friendliness and confidence. “I’ve looked over all the final numbers you’ve proposed.” Even with the noise of cars passing by, Cruz could hear paper rustling. Dick was old school, preferring hard copies in his hands over email. “And even though it’s not the lowest offer I have on the table in front of me, your numbers are reasonable. But as you know, it’s your company’s quality guarantee that has made this easy for me.”

Cruz was careful not to sound too eager. “Glad to hear that, Dick.” Using the man’s first name still felt odd to him, but Dick had all but insisted. “I assure you quality is paramount in all of our ongoing concerns. We have a deal then?”

Dick paused and the seconds ticked by abnormally long. A gust of wind brought a swirl of dirt up around Cruz’s feet. “Well, son, the pen is right next to me now and I can say that this thing is almost as good as yours. However…”

Cruz’s hope that had spiraled a moment ago sank. That single word couldn’t be good.

“One thing you probably know about me by now is that a lot doesn’t get past me,” the old man continued, and Cruz could picture Dick sitting in his massive office in a pinstripe suit and cowboy boots propped up on the desk. Like he’d seen too many Dallas episodes—new and old—and considered himself a regular old J.R. Ewing. He just needed a ten-gallon hat to finish the picture. “I like to keep my finger on the pulse of everything and everyone that could impact me and mine. Family, that is. And I know for a fact that you’re en route to a family event somewhere south of the Rio Grande. With my son’s fiancée, I hear.”

Shit. How the hell did he know already? In the back of Cruz’s mind he’d hoped that eventually his acquaintance and partnership of sorts with Payton would reach the old man’s ear in a positive way, confirming that Cruz was a man to be trusted. But to hear old Dick Eastman already knew was a little…disconcerting.

Then there was the fact that, according to Payton, the engagement was off. He didn’t think it was his place to share the news with the man now. He’d hear about it soon enough.

He cleared his throat, wishing he had a bottle of water from the car with him to wet his parched throat. “Yes, sir. Payton Vaughn and I happened to be on the same flight that—”

“Frankly, I don’t care a pirate’s fart about the hows and whys of why you’re together and you want to know why? Because I know you’re not an impetuous man, Cruz. You weigh the risks and rewards in just about everything you do. And diddling your most important client’s future daughter-in-law would not only be imprudent, it’d be downright suicidal to this partnership.”

Diddling? The old man certainly had a way with words. Not that there was any worry there. Payton Vaughn had as much interest in him as she did the guy who’d filled their gas tank earlier.

“No, what I want to discuss with you is a little different,” Dick Eastman continued. “I’m betting that at some point during this road adventure Payton has shared something of the drama going on between her and my son. She’s a beautiful girl and just as expressive. I don’t see how she couldn’t be. But I assure you; it’s simply a lover’s quarrel that will be put to rest as soon as they can clear the air. My son may be foolhardy, but he’s not a complete idiot.”

More silence and Cruz had to admit, he was still unsure where this conversation was going. So he agreed with the old man. “Right. Of course, I’m sure that’s all it is.”

“See? I knew you would understand.” He did? “I know from her mother that the gal feels that she has to cancel the wedding to save face under the circumstances.”

Ah, Payton’s mother. That’s probably how Dick Eastman knew about their current predicament. He hoped.

“But I know you can make her see the idiocy of that plan. She and Brad are going to be married in a couple months and eventually, they’ll be giving me several grandkids that I can pass everything on to. The Vaughns are a respectable family, and I couldn’t ask for a better match. We already think of her as a daughter.”

Hell, put like that, Payton’s estimation that the man saw her more as a brood mare than a member of the family, was looking even more spot on. Chosen for her pedigree, her bloodlines. “I don’t think I understand what you are asking of me, sir.”

He turned back to the car, where Payton was mouthing the words to some song she must have found on the radio. When she saw him staring at her, she tilted her head. Then crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. His lips twisted in a smile despite himself and the nature of the conversation going on at that moment.

“I need you to make sure she doesn’t do anything too…impetuous. Crazy. Dear girl she is she just might run off with some Mexican field worker to prove a point.”

He spewed the last as if a Mexican field worker was worse than a psychotic murderer. Forgetting that Cruz and his family—on his mom’s side—were Mexican. Not that it surprised him, but it rankled.

“Not that we couldn’t extricate her from such an unsavory predicament, but you can see how avoiding the whole thing would be best. Can I trust you to watch out for the girl? Maybe even get her to see reason and realize that Brad’s the only man for her. I think I can say with absolute certainty that you do this little favor for me and this contract is as good as signed and notarized come Monday morning. What do you say?”

Payton had her thumbs stuck in her ears now, her fingers waving at him like she was three years old. Trying to throw him off his game he’d bet. Completely oblivious that she was the topic of the conversation at this point.

It grated on him to even have to agree to anything under these circumstances. But ultimately, he realized that he was already taking care of her and making sure she reached their destination safely—as he’d promised his brother and Kate. He’d just continue to do what he was doing.

If Dick Eastman thought it was as some favor to him, then so be it.

“Yes. Of course. I’ll see that Payton makes it to the wedding and is safely boarded on a flight home come Monday morning. With no extra…complications.”

The gurgling of Payton’s stomach just after noon became too persistent to ignore any longer. Since Cruz’s business call nearly an hour ago, he’d been quiet.

Well, quiet was something characteristic of Cruz. It was more of a quiet brooding.

She hadn’t dared utter a peep, instead letting him take the wheel and buckling herself in the passenger seat until his mood improved. To kill time she’d started putting together a playlist, a task that had kept her busy up to now.

“I don’t know about you, but as delicious as the first four Kinder Bueno bars were,” she said, referring to the chocolate-covered, hazelnut-flavored sugary goodness candy bars she’d bought a full case of earlier, “I don’t think I can eat another one before I get actual food in my stomach. Any chance we might be able to stop for some lunch?”

Cruz pulled himself from the zombie zone he’d been in the past hour to glance her way. “You’re hungry?” He seemed to think about that for another few seconds. “Yeah. I guess I could stand to eat something not coated in chocolate. It may throw us off our schedule a bit.”

“I’m willing to risk it. Especially if there’s a clean restroom included in this plan.”

“We’re almost to Zacatecas. I know a place we can get some food.”

Half an hour later, Payton stared up in wonder from the car window at the beautiful architecture of a city that, up until today, she’d never heard of. The façade of many of the structures was actually…pink.

“It’s sandstone,” Cruz explained. “The pink? Most natives call the city ‘con rostro de cantera rosa y corazón de plata.’ It means ‘face of pink stone and heart of silver.’”

She’d be lying if the sound of the curling Rs under his tongue didn’t do something to her. She cleared her throat. “Silver?”

“There are silver mines in the hillsides surrounding the city.” With ease, Cruz commandeered the streets and eventually found a parking spot. “We can walk to the restaurant from here. Come on.”

A tall pink structure that she was certain was baroque in style soared above them. A church, maybe? With turrets and a dome.

“This is the cathedral,” Cruz said, again, reading her mind.

It was definitely cooler than she thought it would be, and she wrapped her sweater around her a little tighter. Unlike the ugly concrete on most U.S. streets, the streets here were paved with stone, giving it a charm she wouldn’t have expected.

Okay, walking around in this somehow magical city where she could feel the history and mystery surrounding her, with a well-versed and incredibly hot guide had a charm all its own as well.

The savory smell of spices and roasting meat reached her, and her mouth watered as her stomach wrenched inward in hunger. They turned the corner and she blinked at the marketplace that spread before her. Like eye candy, she took in the colors and variety of objects available to buy, from silver jewelry and Panchos, to leather, wine, and all variety of sweet confections.

As if sensing her yearning to stop and ogle a display of silver jewelry, Cruz laughed and tugged at her hand—which instantly drew her attention at the feel of his hand on hers, even if momentarily. Her hand tingled where he’d touched it. “I thought you were hungry. It’s just over here.”

Cruz led her inside a brightly colored and crowded restaurant and grabbed them a table, obviously familiar with the place and the protocol. The server came over and Cruz broke into his melodic Spanish, keeping her spellbound even if, for all she knew, he was ordering pig intestines and cow brains as their entrees. At least it sounded romantic.

She studied him, so clearly at home and comfortable in this place, something she hadn’t seen before. Gone was the all-business, no-smiles man she was used to, replaced with someone who actually looked like he was on vacation—and enjoying himself.

He stopped a moment to look at her, a smile lighting his eyes, and her belly twisted again. Okay, maybe lower than her stomach, definitely lower. Especially when he rubbed the dark stubble of his chin as if he was considering something before turning back to the server.

“Gracias,” he said as the guy walked away, and returned his attention to her. Cruz asked her something.

“What?”

He gave her a bemused smile. “I said I hope you don’t mind that I ordered for you.”

“Oh. Not at all.” Not when you talk like that.

“Don’t worry, nothing too exotic. Just a sampling of the local specialty.”

A few minutes later, their server brought them each a plate filled with steaming tortillas filled with some savory goodness that had her mouth watering.

“They’re gorditas,” he told her.

She looked at the thicker than usual tortillas on plates before them. “Okay. I know I’ve heard of those on the menu at Taco Bell, but can you remind me what they are exactly?’

“I thought you might want to sample a few. One is filled with rajas—that’s a mild green pepper—another with a mole sauce and rice, and some with various cuts of meat and sauces and cheese.”

Each one had to have at least four hundred calories. Maybe five. “Good thing I’m no longer dieting. Give me three.”

“Seriously? What on earth would you be dieting for?” he asked and pulled a stack of the stuffed round gorditas onto a plate.

“My mother’s idea. Which was why when she ordered my one-of-a-kind designer wedding dress, she ordered it one size too small. I barely managed to squeeze into it at my last fitting. But…” she paused in chewing, remembering the soft, silky fabric that caressed her skin. “It did look gorgeous.”

What would she do with it now?

“I won’t even try to understand what goes into the mind of a woman who thought you needed to lose weight.”

“I doubt after this adventure I’m going to be able to squeeze into it. These are really good, but my mouth…” she waved her hand in front of it, as if she could cool the rising temperature.

He pushed another gordita toward her. “Here. This is milder. Might lower the heat in your mouth.”

She bit into it, aware of his gaze still on her. The milder cheese was helping ease her discomfort. “Thanks.”

They were silent for a minute, each focused on their meal. Cruz had put away the three gorditas on his plate and picked up a soda. His dark eyes were watching her carefully now. Almost warily. His relaxed casual demeanor from earlier replaced with a ramrod straight back and tense shoulders.

Curious. Maybe he was thinking about his call with Dick?

“You seem in better spirits today. Have you reconsidered your decision to call off the wedding?”

Where on earth had that come from? “Ummm. No? I meant what I said. It’s over. I can’t marry someone who could do that to me.” She licked the grease off a finger. “For me, cheating? That’s unforgivable.”

He picked up another stuffed tortilla. “I only ask because I’m sure you and Brad have some history together. History that led you to say yes to him once. I can’t imagine that overnight those feelings just disappear.”

She took another bite and chewed slowly, buying some time. She swallowed and met his inquisitive gaze. Dark brown eyes that looked…almost uncomfortable; he glanced down for a moment.

“It hurts,” she admitted. “It hurts to think that he could do that to me. But if I’m being honest with myself…well, I’m not like Kate. She’s always believed in happily-ever-afters and one true loves—too many old movies I’m afraid. I’ve always been the realistic one.”

His brows quirked up at that comment.

“It’s true,” she insisted, seeing his doubt. “Well, at least when it comes to matters of the heart. All I want is someone who shares the same goals as I do. Who cares as much about me as I do him. I thought I had that with Brad. I was wrong. Do I feel anywhere near the depth of despair I saw Kate experience when she first lost Michael, and later Dominic? No. I don’t think I’m wired to. So to answer your question, I guess you could say I’m sad…but not shattered.”

Although, saying all this out loud, admitting to someone other than herself, made her feel uncomfortably naked. Vulnerable.

She hated giving him such an unfettered look at her life and her emotions. She felt the uncomfortable prickling warmth behind her eyes that told her tears were close.

He looked even more uncomfortable, staring at something over her shoulder instead of meeting her eyes.

“Why are you asking about this all of a sudden? About whether I’ve reconsidered marrying Brad?” A new suspicion hit her. “Dick didn’t say something to you, did he?”

His gaze snapped back to hers, and the way his jaw tensed and flexed gave her the answer. “Hell, Payton. I’m sorry. I’m not going to let that man get in my head again. He did ask me to keep an eye out for you. Even asked if I might lend a positive word about Brad. But I can’t in good conscience do it. Brad was a prick, and he doesn’t deserve another shot. And aside from whatever Dick has asked me, I’m not going to tell you that going back to Brad would be a good idea. Forget I said anything.”

She swallowed. She wished she could forget it. It didn’t surprise her that Dick had stooped that low, to try and manipulate Cruz to get something he wanted. But to know that Cruz had started this conversation, not out of concern for her, but because he was fishing for an opening to build Brad up to clinch this business deal, bothered her more than she wanted to admit.

It served as a good reminder of why she and Cruz weren’t compatible. No matter how attractive he was and how he made her feel when he swept those dark eyes over her, he was a businessman first and always. Just like her father.

She needed to get away for a minute.

“You know,” she said in a falsely bright voice. “I’m going to run to the restroom. Get cleaned up. Who knows how long it might be before I get another chance. I’ll be back.”

Scooping her purse off her lap, she fled the table.

Cruz watched Payton cross the restaurant, making sure she reached the restroom safely, with the sure knowledge that he was the biggest douchebag in the universe.

Hell. Did he want this account badly enough to push Payton back into the arms of a guy like Brad Eastman?

Hell no.

He was better than that.

And yet, he’d asked her those questions with the ulterior motive of getting her to see the possibility that her relationship with Brad could be redeemed. He’d sunk lower than he thought himself capable.

Payton deserved better than Brad. And as much as he wanted the account, he resolved never to attempt to do something as shitty as he’d just done again. There were other ways to make the deal. Playing someone like that wasn’t how it was going to be done.

Whether she went back to Brad or not was on her and her alone. Cruz was only there to make sure that she got to the hotel in one piece and eventually made her way home, where she could make those decisions herself.

His cellphone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to see his future sister-in-law was calling. “Kate. How’s the bride-to-be? Have you finally spent enough time with my sisters to send you screaming for the hills?”

She laughed. “Not a chance. Although Benny has been betting that you might arrive with Payton tied and gagged in the trunk and several bald patches where you’ve torn out your hair.”

Yeah. That sounded like Benny, the youngest of his siblings and who he affectionately called “the brat.” Even her fancy medical degree wouldn’t change that. “Tell Benny that we don’t all have to resort to such tactics as binding and gagging someone to get them to spend time with us. But I assure you, your friend is doing fine and if I do end up gagging her, I won’t be putting her in the truck. Nah. It’s too small. I’ll just duct tape her to the passenger seat.”

“Oh. Well now I feel better,” she said and laughed. “Is she around?”

“She’s using the restroom.” He briefly filled her in on their coordinates and that he expected they should still be arriving sometime around six that evening.

“Just be careful. It’s only a simple rehearsal dinner with the family and a brief run through of the ceremony. Nothing worth risking your lives for.”

“I’ll try and tell her that, but she seems to think there’s a certain order of how things are supposed to go. And part of that is getting you out for some crazy girls’ night. Something about how this has been a party fifteen years in the making may have passed her lips.”

“Well, don’t share this with Payton because she’ll probably be devastated, but the whole girls’ night party thing had always been her idea. I’d be just as happy hanging out with her in the honeymoon suite, drinking champagne and doing our nails. But seriously, Cruz. Thanks for looking out for her. She’s the closest thing I’ve got to family.”

Kate’s voice softened, and he could feel the tenderness she clearly felt for her friend. “I know you two didn’t really hit it off when you first met but you’ll see with time that, although Payton may seem impervious to anything, resilient, and even charming and funny, most of the time it’s just a facade to hide how sensitive she really is. If you lived with her mother for long enough, you’d probably understand why.”

He grunted, thinking about the kind of woman who would be controlling enough to order her daughter’s wedding dress one size too small—and who’d tell her to forgive and forget her fiancé’s treachery. “Yeah. I’ve got some idea.”

“Would you believe that the woman has called me four more times this morning trying to get updates on Payton and to demand that I bring Payton to her senses and stop being so selfish?”

His hand tightened on the phone. In the time he’d known Kate, selfish was the last thing he’d call her. She had a big heart and only wanted to help people. Hell, she’d left a high-powered law firm so she could take on more downtrodden and financially challenged clients—like his sister, Daisy—just a few months ago.

“Don’t worry, Dominic shared a few of his thoughts with her when he heard that.” He could hear the smile in her voice.

“Glad to hear it. But rest assured, Payton is doing all right and holding her own. You just worry about yourself and remember…this weekend is for you. You and Dominic. Don’t let that dragon lady unsettle you. I’ll let Payton know you’re looking forward to partying hard tonight.”

He hung up the phone and picked up the last gordita on the plate and sank his teeth into it. What did that make…five? No sense letting good food go to waste. Especially since he couldn’t take another bite of those chocolate bars Payton bought that morning after taking her first bite and falling in love.

He shook his head again at the thought that any mother would force starvation on an already gorgeous and healthy daughter so she looked the right way for a wedding. It made him doubly grateful for the warm, loving parents he and his siblings were graced with. Who accepted all of them for who they were—although, since Dominic found Kate, there had been more “helpful” hints from his mom about not getting too caught up in finding success he didn’t have someone to share it with.

But to tell the truth, none of the women he’d dated had sparked that interest in him. Sparked that need to be with them longer than it takes a construction project to run through to completion, to want to plan a future with someone who, in twenty years, he’d want to snuggle up against him in bed—ideally naked.

Not until recently.

Hell and damnation. He was not going to think about Payton that way. He couldn’t. Not because there was anything wrong with her, contrary to what her mother may have ingrained her to believe, but because…he didn’t have anything to offer someone like Payton.

Not yet.

Not until he could prove that he and his company were as good as Dick and Brad Eastman, like the Vaughns and Vaughn Communications. Not until he could rest assured that another person, someone like Brad Eastman, couldn’t just walk into his life and steal away his happiness again.

Until he had everything to offer to someone like Payton.

Chapter Seven

With Cruz at the wheel, Payton went to work syncing his phone’s Bluetooth to the car’s radio. She stared at the phone, waiting as it tried to find a connection.

Four hours. They were still four hours from Puerto Vallarta, and if she didn’t have some recognizable music soon, she was going to go insane. Well, that or be forced to start singing “99 bottles of beer.” Maybe even the song about finding a peanut.

Cruz would be the one ready to go insane. But that would only serve him right for the little stunt he tried before. Although, now that she’d had some time to nurse her wounds, she was willing to put it behind her. This deal was important to Cruz. To his family. And he at least came clean.

It also had made her face a few things about herself. About her feelings toward Brad.

Finally, the connection took, and she went to the “music for the road” playlist she’d put together.

Hmm. This really is an art. Choosing the right stuff. Which one to lead with…

She spotted a title and smiled.

The speakers shuddered for a moment as she turned the music up and then AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” blared out.

She looked over at Cruz, waiting for a reaction.

He gave her a sideways glance. And smiled. “Okay. I’ll give you that one. Solid choice. But if I hear any country, it’s going off.”

“Hey. There’s nothing wrong with country music, buddy. The old clichés of drunk assholes bemoaning the loss of their wives and dead dogs is not even close to true.”

He guffawed.

Is that a challenge?

She brought up the music store on his cell phone and typed in the next musical choice. This was too much fun.

When the AC/DC song was over, Brad Paisley’s twangy “I’m Gonna Miss You” streamed next. She hadn’t been able to resist but already had another song waiting to follow it up.

“I’m going to be sure to send you my phone bill from this little trip of ours.”

“Every dollar will be worth it,” she said smugly and watched as he rolled his eyes as Brad sang about a man choosing fishing over his wife. But there was still the tiniest of smiles.

“Which actually reminds me,” he said, clearing his throat and turning the music down to a more manageable level. “Kate called earlier to check in on you. She mentioned that your mother reached her. Seems pretty determined to speak with you.”

“I’ll just bet she is.” Payton was reminded once again why she’d chucked her phone, and any lingering regret flew away.

“You okay?” he asked, a note of concern in his voice from her continuing silence. She noticed his tanned fingers gripping the steering wheel. Concern for her?

She took a breath and tossed her head back, this time smiling a full sincere smile. “I am. Really. And if my mother knew what was good for her she’d book herself into a spa somewhere for one of her bi-monthly serenity checks.” Something her mother did anytime Payton resisted her attempts to control her life. “Thank you, though. For your concern.”

“Oh. And Kate also wanted you to know that she’s really looking forward to your girls’ night out but we’re not to kill ourselves trying to get to the hotel in time.”

At this she laughed outright. “Did she actually tell you that?”

“Um, something along those lines, I think.”

“You’re almost as bad of a liar as she is. No, Kate thinks my plan is to paint the town red and all that, as I’ve convinced her, but I know my best friend better than anyone and I know that a night in, just the girls, is closer to heaven for her. My real plan is to surprise her later tonight. Not to say I don’t have a few surprises, but they’ll all occur in the safety of her suite.”

“It’s good to see it’s not only me that you like to torture.”

“Nope,” she fluttered her eyes at him. “It’s not just you. But you do bring new challenges to my endeavors.”

He laughed out loud at that and turned his attention back to the road. His shoulders relaxed, his shades on. Payton tried to resist staring at him. It was difficult to remember why she didn’t want him turning to her and leaning across the way, placing a kiss on her lips, feeling his breath on her, his fingers in her hair, maybe lower…

“Tell me about you and Kate. How did you two meet?”

Damn. Shifting gears…

“From what I know about Kate, I can’t imagine you two were playing in the same social circles. Didn’t you go to some ridiculously expensive private school?”

“Not by choice, but yes.” Any place would have been better than one filled with stuck-up snots high on their own self-importance. Snots who’d been her friends—or what she knew of friendship up to that point. Until she met Kate. “Kate transferred in sixth grade.”

He threw her a dubious look. “Kate attended your uppity school?”

“You might have noticed that my best friend is very driven. Brilliant. Hardworking.” Something that Payton had always admired. And the way Kate stood up for herself and anyone else she cared about. “She was awarded one of the few financial scholarships the school handed out every year, something I count my blessings for every day. I can’t imagine what my life would be like if Kate hadn’t come into it.”

A Sheryl Crow song came on but she was barely paying attention as she remembered that day seventeen years ago. She smiled. “You should have seen Kate then. She took herself so seriously—kind of like you. Always had an answer to every question asked, and it wasn’t hard for her to earn a few haters among the other kids. Kids who were ruthless in their taunting, mostly about things like her Payless shoes, since the uniforms eliminated the possibility of much teasing on that score. She had no reason to like any of us.”

“What about you?”

“Me? I wasn’t anywhere as smart as Kate, but I did okay. Academically and socially, since I was able to stay up on the latest fashions, thanks to Emily Vaughn, who actually hired me my own personal stylist. Don’t ask.

“Anyhow, it was probably just a month after she’d transferred. Poor little old me, with my big first world worries, was crying in the bathroom because I’d heard Heather Little bragging about kissing the boy who was supposedly my boyfriend at the dance the Saturday before. Not important in the big scheme of things and, like I said, Kate had no reason to be nice to any of us. But all the same, it was Kate who found me and who tried to comfort me.”

“Yeah. Sounds like her.”

The soft admiration in his tone gave her the oddest twinge of what could only be described as jealousy. Kate was wonderful. But could Cruz ever see her, Payton, in the same light?

“Kate not only got the tears stopped, but after she told me she’d seen Rob just that morning with a cold sore the size of Mount St. Helens on his upper lip and that Heather may soon have more than a story to share about her special night, I almost bust my gut laughing. And just like that I went from sobbing to laughing on what had felt like, moments before, the worst day of my life.”

“Don’t leave me hanging.”

She looked at him in confusion and he smiled, giving her that squishy feeling again in her belly. Thank goodness she couldn’t see his eyes through those lenses or she might have actually purred.

“Heather’s lip?” he asked in clarification.

She smiled. “It swelled to the size of a small apricot. Kate and I have been best friends ever since. She’s my family. And right now, I’m about all she’s got in this world, which is why it’s so important that I be there at her side on the biggest day of her life.”

“You’ll be there. No worries. And I’m betting right now, with my sisters’, mom’s, and all the aunts’ attention, she’s having second thoughts about having any more family.”

“Not possible. This is everything she’s ever wanted. And I couldn’t be happier for her—” Her voice broke off unexpectedly and she felt tears well in her eyes. She was happy. But all of a sudden, seeing Kate about to be welcomed into this large unknown family, she felt a little lonely. Would Kate still need her as much?

Cruz’s heavy hand settled on her shoulder. So solid. Warm. It felt like he was sending electromagnetic waves through her body. She willed herself not to lean her head against it. “You’re a good friend, Payton. You have every right to feel a little sad that things are changing.”

She wiped a tear away, already done with it. “I am happy for her. Really. Just a little sorry for me is all. What if she doesn’t—doesn’t need me anymore?”

“Never gonna happen. You’re pretty irreplaceable.”

She cracked a grin even as her ovaries squeezed at the raspy way his voice had dropped. “Are you saying that as a compliment?”

“Take it as you will,” he said and smiled back. Something she definitely liked on him, even if it turned her into Ms. Crazypants.

The beginning strain of “I Like Big Butts” flooded the cab and she laughed at Cruz’s pained expression.

She was going to have to work on getting him to smile a lot more often. It really worked for him.

The view outside the passenger window had been spectacular as the freeway curved and looped up and down once they’d began the westward trek away from Guadalajara, and Cruz was glad he’d given in and let Payton have a turn at the wheel again. It was nice to sit back and enjoy things without having to be in control.

The rising hills had begun to space themselves apart, and he could see the bluish tinge of the rows upon rows of agave in the fields nestled between them.

They’d passed most of the past few hours in a comfortable silence. Just enjoying the view or deep in their own thoughts. Payton hummed almost absentmindedly to the latest tune, something that sounded an awful lot like country music and yet…he didn’t totally hate it.

Just like he was finding that after all this time, he didn’t totally hate Payton either. In fact, maybe he never had. It had been easier to fight the unsettling attraction he’d felt for her since he first saw her by almost demonizing her, assuming she was as shallow and selfish as she was pretty.

But now he had another image in his mind. An image of two twelve-year-old girls becoming fast friends and giggling in the school restroom. Of an overbearing mother who tried to mold her daughter into who she thought the girl should be and the girl who, despite that, went off to college and studied things as gauche as environmental and earth science. Payton was a secret tree hugger. At that thought, he smiled.

She was definitely not what he had expected.

“How much longer until we make it to Puerto Vallarta?” Payton asked, pulling him from his thoughts.

He glanced at his watch. Just after three. “We should be there in about three and a half hours. Which is actually something of a relief. The last couple of hours of driving can be pretty treacherous. It’s a two-lane highway that winds through the mountains, and I wouldn’t want to experience that without daylight.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, just staring ahead at the view of the sun on the fields outside. “It really is beautiful here. I could almost forget everything that’s waiting for me back home,” Payton said, her tone wistful. “I’m going to have to come down here again and really explore the area when I’m not rushed for time.”

Hearing the sadness in her tone at returning home, the place where she should be happy, rankled. Not sure of her reception to his question, he started cautiously. “I have a pretty good idea what it must have been like growing up with your mother.”

“Ha! You don’t even know the half of it.” But she was still smiling.

“I can only imagine. You never really mention anything about your father, though. Where does he fit into everything?”

“My father doesn’t fit in anywhere. Not in my life.” The brightness and warmth had left her voice as she looked ahead at the road. “His life is his business. Vaughn Communication is first and foremost in his life. His mistress of the month is a close second, and then somewhere after that is my mother and then me. I’m frankly surprised he even managed to pencil my wedding into his busy life.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.” Cruz’s own father might no be as ebullient and openly demonstrative with his emotions as his mom, but he loved his children in a more quiet, subdued way.

“I assure you it is. At my sweet sixteen party—a party I hadn’t wanted, by the way, but Emily Vaughn saw it as a necessity for any young woman coming of age—he was supposed to lead me in the first dance. It was all arranged, what song the band would play and I’d even been practicing with Kate so I wouldn’t be a total spaz in front of him. Then he had a last minute trip to San Diego that couldn’t be rearranged. I danced with my Uncle Walter instead. It was pretty humiliating, even if I was only half surprised.”

He didn’t know much about a world where sixteen-year-old girls had large parties with bands, but he did know something of teenage girls—having lived with two sisters. As much as they might pretend they didn’t care, these things were important. It obviously left a lasting impression on Payton.

“So what is it I’m seeing planted out in the fields?” she asked, clearly ready for a change in topics.

“Agave plants. Or what you might know better as the fruit that will soon become tequila consumed across the world.”

She shuddered.

“What, you’re not a fan?”

“Only if you have limes—lots of limes—and a beer to chase it down.”

“Don’t say that around my mom. She’ll brand you a heretic. Out here, tequila is an experience, almost a religion.” At New Year’s his mother usually brought the good stuff out and passed it around so they could all toast to prosperity in the coming year.

“Let’s just say that six shots followed by a soak in a hot tub was not my brightest choice in college.”

She turned a devilish grin his way, her hair blowing in the wind from her open window. It put an image in his mind of a younger but just as mischievous Payton Vaughn drinking shots in a bikini. A white bikini. She’d have been something to look at. Still was. “No. Probably not,” he said, savoring the image.

“How about you? You haven’t said where you went to college.”

Definitely not as scintillating of a conversation, but probably safer. “Not much to say. I worked with my dad out at the construction sites through high school until I was in my early twenties. By then I was more aware of the many opportunities that were ours to take, but we didn’t have the wherewithal as how to do it. Don’t get me wrong. My dad’s a pretty sharp guy. But his goal had always been supporting our family, providing food and clothing, splurging on the occasional family trips. We grew up the better for it, but at the same time, a lot of prestigious and lucrative jobs passed us by. Something I wanted to change. So I went to community college and after I had enough credits, transferred to the U. Eventually got in to the business program there. The rest you already know.”

“Driven. Dedicated. Got it. But what did you do for fun? Did you go to any parties? Hang out with a bunch of kids and just goof off? Live a little? I mean, you’re only young once.”

“I had responsibilities to the company. My family. My dad.”

She looked over at him with something akin to sympathy. “That’s admirable. But also…a little sad. As obsessed and hard working as Kate was, I always managed to get her to take a break every once in a while. Go to a few parties, head south for spring break.”

“I kept my eyes on the prize. Partying wasn’t going to get me what I wanted.”

“Which was?”

“Success.” He stared at the rows of agave plants as they passed. “You wouldn’t really understand.”

“What do you mean?”

He pulled his fingers through his hair, uncomfortable even mentioning this. It was the past. He made the future. But there were things that maybe he could help Payton understand. “You are wealthy, pretty, and…white. People didn’t look at your skin color and think that you were destined for nothing more than cutting their lawn or cleaning houses. When we were little, I saw the looks people gave us, especially when we were out with our mom, and they weren’t respectful.”

He remembered hearing a couple of ladies once mock his beautiful mother, who with her halting English accent, was clearly not originally from the States. They looked at them all with barely disguised contempt. “They’d watch us carefully in the grocery store line, waiting to see if we pulled out food stamps or tried to pocket a candy bar—anything they could use to judge us.” Things had improved, of course, as things gradually did over time. But there were still a few people with preconceived ideas of who he was, what he was capable of doing.

Making him all the more determined to prove them wrong.

“I’m sorry, Cruz.” She hesitated and snuck another look at him. “Did this play any part in that story you mentioned? Of not being in love since you were seventeen?”

He rested his head back on the headrest and sighed. “Something like that. It’s not anything to make a movie out of. I was just a stupid-ass kid who thought that the pretty girl I was dating was my one and only true love.” He snorted for added measure at that naiveté. “At least until the new hotshot rich kid pulled up in his shiny sports car. A car he gave her the full tour of the night of the spring formal a week later. Something that wouldn’t have been so bad had she not arrived with me.”

She grimaced. “Ouch.” She turned and looked him over. “Who was he? Brad Pitt?” she asked.

“Interestingly enough, it was your former fiancé.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You’re playing me.”

“Wish I was.”

“What happened? I mean, clearly he and this ex-girlfriend of yours didn’t ride off into the sunset together.”

“Not even close. Rumor was he was seeing some other girl not less than a week later. Someone reportedly linked to the Dutch royal family.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s actually correct. I remember her. She was horrible. But then again, so was Brad back then. I was about twelve, maybe thirteen, and I couldn’t understand what every girl was going on about. His head and ego were bigger than the Goodyear Blimp. He used to call Kate carrot-top—which she hated—and me her highness—which I really hated.”

“And yet you agreed to marry him.”

“Yeah, well. I won’t make that mistake again.” Her green eyes met his, and she tried to give him a reassuring smile, those dimples almost smacking him in the face.

The blaring of a horn brought both of their gazes back to the road.

Just as a yellow school bus headed straight for them.

Chapter Eight

Payton was already jerking the steering wheel to the right to avoid the bus that had careened across the lines of the two-way road and entered their lane when Cruz grabbed it and yanked it harder. She slammed on the brake and held her breath as time slowed down.

She waited for the sound of crashing metal and shattering glass. But the only noise was the screeching of brakes followed by a loud crack that came from somewhere under the car. Then the car was still, even if her heart was hammering away. The acrid smell of burning rubber was in the air and a glance in the rearview mirror showed a long smudge of tire tracks on the road’s surface.

Slowly she turned to Cruz, whose hands were still resting on the dash in front of him, as if he’d been bracing for the worst.

“What the hell were they thinking?” he said and turned to face her. “You okay?”

She nodded. “Think so. But my heart may have stopped beating for a minute there.”

Someone was pounding outside on her window and she jumped. Her heart raced back up as she dreaded what she might find outside the car. Maybe some angry driver who was ready to ream her for her careless driving. Even if, at this point, she was pretty certain she hadn’t been at fault.

But the face of an older man, with white tufts of hair standing straight out above his ears, perspiration beading down the smooth top of his head, and wide blue eyes staring back at her on the other side of the glass, looked worried. Not angry. She exhaled in relief.

Cruz stepped out of the car and greeted the guy as she took some breaths to calm herself. From the rear view mirror she could see a whole busload—literally—of people climbing out into the street and heading in their direction. Steeling herself, she unbuckled her seatbelt and, on shaking legs, climbed out of the car.

“Are you two okay? I can’t believe how close that was,” the old man was saying. “This dog came out of nowhere and before I could think, I jerked the steering wheel to avoid it. Almost took you two out in the process.” The guy rubbed the balding circle at the top of his head.

A woman with short brown hair and a long floral skirt, somewhere possibly in her late fifties, came over and surrounded Payton with her arms and the sweet distinctive scent of Juicy Fruit chewing gum. “We’re just glad y’all weren’t hurt,” she said with a Texan twang. She pulled away and stared hard into Payton’s face, as if looking for some hidden injury. “Are you okay, hon?”

“I think so. Just a little shaken.”

“Appreciate your stopping though,” Cruz said and shook the man’s hand.

“Least I could do. Why don’t you turn the engine? Let’s make sure everything is running okay. Wouldn’t want to leave you two alone by the road here without knowing everything’s in tip-top shape,” the older driver said.

“Good point,” Cruz said and slid into the driver’s side.

“These narrow roads are downright chilling,” the woman said to Payton. “Why, since we left Puerto Vallarta earlier we’ve been scrunched between two semis as we rode through the mountain pass. And even then several cars came up and passed us, despite the traffic still coming from the other side. I’ve been biting my nails since we left.”

Cruz turned the key and a horrible grinding noise started. He tried again but with the same result.

A new fear gripped Payton. What was wrong with their car? It had to be okay. How were they going to get to the dinner tonight? Heck, forget the dinner, what about the wedding tomorrow?

It had to be okay.

Cruz and a couple of the men walked to the front of the car and lifted the hood, tinkering around inside. Fifteen minutes later, there were various diagnostics offered but the conclusion was the same.

The car wasn’t going anywhere.

Panic swept through her as she caught Cruz’s gaze. He seemed to be reassuring her with that dark, confident stare. He nodded. “We just need to get it into a shop. That’s all, Payton. I’ll call someone now.”

“We’re heading into the town of Tequila,” the bus driver said. “It’s only a few miles away. We’d be happy to give you two a ride.” Payton remembered spotting a sign just a few minutes back mentioning the town. “I’m sure you could find a garage there. We’re performing there tonight as part of a celebration one of the distilleries is hosting to kick off the introduction of a new line.”

“That would be much appreciated,” Cruz said and nodded to the group. Looking back to her, he said, “We’ll find a shop in town that can send someone out to get the car. I’ll also call the rental office and see if there are any other options. It’ll work out.”

She did feel better at his assurance. A hand wrapped around her arm. “Payton? That’s an intriguing name. Love it. I’m Bev. My husband, Lenny, you’ve met,” she said, pointing to the semi-balding driver with white tufts of hair. “We’ll make more introductions once we’re off the road. Why don’t you grab your things and we’ll get loaded back onto the bus.”

Infinitely grateful for the couple—even if they were the cause of their current condition—Payton smiled back. A space was cleared behind Bev’s seat near the front of the bus. Another woman introduced as Pat, joined Bev on the seat, and they turned fully around to stare at the newcomers. Cruz snagged the aisle seat, his bulk needing the space to sit comfortably, his arms folded in front of him.

“So where you two from?” Bev asked, looking back and forth between them. Stoic, serious Cruz was back, and Payton sensed he would leave the talking to her.

“We’re from Salt Lake. Ever been there?” Payton chirped.

“Actually, I have. My sister lives in Twin Falls, Idaho, and we’ve traveled through several times. Beautiful city. We’re from Waco, Texas. Been on the road for about a week now. Third year in a row we’ve toured Mexico. It’s beautiful and everyone is so darned friendly. How about yourselves? What brings you two here?”

“Cruz and I are on our way to Puerto Vallarta.” She paused, a crazy but intriguing notion entering her head.

She shouldn’t do it. She really shouldn’t.

But a little devil inside her screamed at her to run with it. Have some fun. It might make this detour a little more interesting. It would be a lie, but it seemed harmless. It wasn’t like they were ever going to see these people again after they reached Tequila.

And the bonus was seeing how Cruz would react.

“We’re getting married, isn’t that right, sweetie?” She turned to him, smiling as he slowly turned to stare at her like she’d sprouted snakes from her head. His arms remained folded across his chest, but she noticed his fingers tapping against one arm. Other than that, he remained silent.

She tilted her head to rest on his shoulder and fluttered her eyelids at him for a moment.

Then she saw the oddest thing.

He almost smiled.

Cruz could not believe the gall of the woman. Lying. Plain as day. And looking like the devil as she played to the crowd. But he knew her well. He knew that this game was targeted at him.

She was playing with him.

And Lord help him, it actually gave him the slightest thrill. There was a sense of familiarity returning to their usual roles of antagonists rather than their new friendly truce. But it was a little different. Almost…flirty.

“Last week we were at a hockey game—we just adore hockey,” she added, he was sure, for his benefit. “Well, right there in the middle of the game, Cruz turned to me and before I knew it, he was sliding down on one knee and holding a box in front of him. I almost fainted dead away, right then.”

The occupants on the bus were all riveted and he heard oohs and ahs escape from a few of the women as Payton warmed to her story. “And then, what do you know, he pointed to the big screen in the center of the whole place and there were the words flashing across the screen. ‘Payton, will you marry me.’ And the crowd almost collectively held their breath, waiting for my response. I just looked into Cruz’s eyes, so dark. Hypnotic. Filled with love,” she smiled back up at him, a mischievous sparkle in those green, glimmering eyes. “And I knew he was the only one for me. Well, of course I cried yes and he pulled me into one of those swoony lip locks that had the whole place going crazy.”

The women were beaming, looking like they might eat them both up, they were that adorable. He managed not to roll his eyes.

“That is the cutest story I ever heard,” Bev said, actually looking a little misty-eyed. “So why did you two decide to come down here?”

The questions weren’t even posed to him anymore, not that he’d know how to respond. It was her lie, not his.

Payton didn’t hesitate a beat. “Cruz has some family down here and we thought, why not make a trip of it? Surprise them. Then our flight almost crashed near Laredo and with spring break upon us, the only way we could get out to Mexico was by car. And Cruz was such a sweetie, assuring me that driving here, just the two of us, would be a wonderful adventure we could tell our kids about in the years to come. Believe me. It has been that. And this latest detour will certainly be something to remember.”

This time the gazes returned to him. He shrugged his shoulders, resigned to their new facade of soon to be newlyweds. Fortunately, no one minded his stoic silence and the next few minutes passed as the women regaled them with stories of their own nuptials.

Glancing around the bus, he was certain none of the occupants—save for him and Payton—were under age fifty. All of them seemed to be part of a couple. The men, like him, sat mostly silent as the women shared, looking like they’d heard the stories many times before.

A few minutes later, they reached the little town of Tequila, which wasn’t the quiet, peaceful town he’d been hoping for. Instead, it was teeming with tourists in jeans and shorts walking in the same direction they were headed. He prayed there was a garage still open and he could persevere in getting the car fixed that evening.

“It should be somewhere down this way, if I remember right,” Lenny said. Sure enough, a moment later, several stacked tires near the front of a garage told them they’d arrived. In the lingering late afternoon sunlight, the facade looked muted, almost vintage. And open, if the sign in the window was any indication.

Lenny parked the bus in front and turned around to address Cruz. “Why don’t you go see what they can do for you? With the festival, they might be closing shop early. We’ll stick around. Your fiancée’s welcome to wait here.”

“I’ll just be a moment,” he said to Payton, who nodded and waved him off as a couple of the older ladies continued to bend her ear, already enchanted with their new guest. Something he could relate to.

Ten minutes later, Cruz was back on the bus. Payton’s smile looked a little more strained. “He’s going to tow it now. He won’t know more until it’s back. But…” He took a seat next to her, watching her eyes widen in uncertainty. She wasn’t going to like this. “…By the time he gets it back here and can take a look, even assuming it is an easy fix, it’s going to be pushing sunset. And this next stretch of road? We’re going to want all the light we can get. It’s pretty dangerous.”

“You’re saying we’re not going to make it into Puerto Vallarta tonight, aren’t you?” Her voice was remarkably calm, but he could see by the way her hands squeezed tight together she was stressed.

“Yeah. I’m afraid so. Which means, we’re going to need to find somewhere to stay for the night.” He chose not to add that the prospects weren’t very promising based on their timing in the middle of the festivities.

“I think we have just the place for you, if you’re interested,” Lenny said after conferring with his wife for a minute. “Glen and Mags had to bow out of the tour at the last minute on account of Mags breaking her hip. But their room is already paid for and there’s no sense in letting it go to waste. Especially since we’re likely the reason for your current predicament.”

Actually, Cruz would say there was no doubt they had caused it, but there was no reason to belabor the point. He looked to Payton, who was already tilting her head to him as if to say Why not?

“Please say you’ll accept,” Bev said, giving them a toothy grin. “We’d love to have you. And you can join us later on when we tour the distillery and have dinner down in their underground taverns. They’re spectacular, so romantic. We’ve had the reservation for months.”

“We’d love to,” Payton said, her eyes shining with excitement now. She turned to him. “Right, honey?”

“Besides, you can look at it as a little pre-marital celebration,” Bev threw in, likely hoping to clinch the deal. “You can be the guests of honor as we all drink to your upcoming wedding.”

Oh yeah. And then there was that.

It was close to an hour and a half before Cruz made it to the hotel, having gone out with the mechanic to get the car and to wait for his diagnosis. He had to give it to their new Texan friends; they had great taste in hotels. The bright and airy hotel felt authentic and unique and was definitely well tended. Even the hotel clerks were bright and friendly, though maybe a tad too excited to see him.

“Gracias,” Cruz told them and palmed the key they placed on the counter.

As if she was close to bursting, the young female clerk added with a sly smile, “We hope you and the lovely senorita enjoy your stay.”

He paused. He knew that Lenny had mentioned one hotel room, but he’d been almost certain that Payton would have found a way of using those feminine charms to secure an extra room. He decided to be certain. “So…is the senorita still in the room?”

“Si, senor. She only returned half an hour ago.”

Returned from where? He supposed he should just feel relieved she was back at the hotel, safe and sound, since who knew what kind of trouble that woman could get into alone.

But he felt anything but.

Probably because he was too stressed wondering how the hell he was going to share a room with Payton Vaughn and not do anything he’d regret.

Thanking the two again, he went down the hall in the direction they’d pointed and climbed the three flights of stairs. How was he going to explain this one to Dick Eastman?

He slid the key in and turned the knob, deciding he should probably knock and give her a quick head’s up before just stepping in unannounced.

“Cruz? I’ll be out in a minute,” she called from the bathroom.

“All right,” he said and shut the door, taking in the room that was as unique and interesting as the hotel. Dark terra cotta tiles polished to a near shine covered the floor, only broken up by a couple of bright rugs. The bed—a queen—was covered with a dark red and white paisley cover. Paintings in vibrant colors interspersed with masks covered the walls, giving the whole thing an eclectic feeling. And from where he was standing, he could even see beyond the window and the door that led to a small balcony to the town square below them. Nice.

If only he could stop staring at that damn bed.

“I thought for sure that you’d have finagled us into two separate rooms somehow.” He dropped his laptop bag on a chair in the corner and pulled out the cord and computer, searching the room for somewhere to charge it.

“I tried. But after Bev made a big deal with the front desk about our predicament and pending nuptials, it didn’t seem like the right time to say we wanted separate rooms.” She paused and he heard some clatter. “Tell me about the car. Can they fix it?”

“Yeah.” He thought about the extra incentive he offered the guy to guarantee it would be ready to go bright and early. It had better be ready—and possibly have a new paint job and stereo for what it cost him. “We’ll be out of here by seven tomorrow morning, at the latest.”

He found the outlet and plugged in the laptop and then his cell phone. He took a seat, ready to scroll through his incoming email.

“Oh, thank God. I already feel terrible I’m missing tonight. The rehearsal. The party. I’m going to have to throw Kate something post-wedding—I don’t care if she’ll already be married. How did she and Dominic take it?”

“I didn’t give them the details—no sense worrying them. Just let them know we had some car trouble but would be back on the road in the morning and we would see them for sure by afternoon.” He scanned three emails from subcontractors, trying to confirm if the Eastman Motors contract was signed and their services would be needed. “They’re going to hold off lunch until we’re there.”

“Then we’d better not disappoint them,” she said, still preoccupied in the bathroom. “I had an interesting hour out shopping with Bev and Patty and the others. This tour they’re on, did you know what it’s for? What they’re doing tonight for their performance?”

“Hadn’t really thought about it.”

“They’re square dancers. They’re booked here tonight and have six more events in the next two weeks across Mexico. Who’d have thought? Anyhow, they’re going to be meeting down in the lobby in fifteen minutes to make it to the tequila distillery. You know, if we wanted to go with them. I was thinking it might be fun,” she said from the doorway of the bathroom.

He looked up.

Dear God Almighty. The woman really was going to make this evening as hard on him as possible.

“I picked up a few things, too, while we were out. I couldn’t stand the thought of wearing the same outfit again tonight and when I saw this in the shop window, I couldn’t resist. It’s not usually my style, but it just seemed to…speak to me. What do you think?”

Caliente red. That’s the color of the dress.

Caliente was the word that fit how hot and delectable and downright tempting the woman inside the dress was.

It was short—but not too short—and skimmed that sweet little body like a second skin until it reached mid-thigh, where it flared loose and soft. As a tease, the fabric crossed one shoulder at the top, but left the other bare. And her hair. Soft and full with one piece that fell in front of her eye, even after she tried to pull it away. Her lips were almost the same shade as the dress and smiling a little uncertainly at him. Eyes, dazzling green, looked back at him with the same uncertainty.

“Well? Is it too much? Lord knows what my mother would think if she caught sight of me in it, which might be why I was drawn to it. But now… I’m afraid I might have let Bev’s and Patty’s compliments go to my head. I don’t look like a hooker, do I?”

He blinked and cleared his throat. “No. I can safely say you don’t look like a hooker.” But she did look like a dream. A dream that would have every man within twenty feet ogling to see more of, to maybe even touch her. To see if that mouth was as hot and enticing as the rest of her…

He had to stop.

Realizing she still needed some reassurance, he forced his voice to sound even and unaffected, though he felt a stirring that was going to make the one bed even more hellish. He’d better get used to this chair. He was going to sleep in it, if he knew what was good for him.

“You look damn sexy, and you very well know it.”

Her smile dropped the shyness and it was like someone plugged her in because she was positively glowing now. “Why thank you, Mr. Sorensen. But don’t let me stop you, if you want to turn my head a little more…”

“And ruin the perfectly antagonistic relationship we’ve developed after all this time? God forbid.”

But it didn’t feel antagonistic anymore. In fact, as they stared at each other from across the room, the heat and magnetism between them was almost palpable. What he wouldn’t give to be any other guy than the one he was now, one who had nothing to lose by closing the distance and showing this woman just how much he wanted her.

It was her turn to clear her throat a little nervously. “Well, I think the tour starts in twenty minutes. Did you need the bathroom to clean up or anything?”

Hell yeah, he needed the bathroom. He needed some time to get a grip on himself and some space away from her.

“Yeah. I’m going to need a shower,” he said and stood, leaving the laptop on the chair and grabbing the smaller bag of personal items he kept in the laptop carrier.

How was he going to keep his vow to his family, Dick Eastman, and himself most of all, and deliver Payton safe and sound when the thoughts crossing his mind would shock them all.

A few minutes later, when he left the steamy bathroom, he found her standing on their balcony. The sun was close to setting and shone a golden glow on her hair. She looked over at him and he came to join her, the sound of music and crowds growing stronger as he did.

“It’s the prettiest view, I’m sure,” she said.

She only knew the half of it.

He willed himself to look out past the woman before him to the plaza and festivities that were bound to continue throughout the night. “Prettiest view but no doubt also the loudest. We’ll be lucky to get any sleep, even with the window closed.”

She laughed. “Lighten up. It’s going to be fun. You ready to head down?”

“Not really. But there’s no way I’m going to trust you not to get into trouble. So I might as well stay close.” He sounded chagrined and annoyed.

“What has you in such a foul mood? I don’t need a babysitter. If you want to stay, feel free.” He couldn’t mistake the flash of anger in those eyes. “I’ve survived this long without you shadowing me. I think I can manage a little longer.”

“Miraculously,” he muttered.

He was being kind of a jerk and he reminded himself it wasn’t her fault if, since he met her, everything seemed to go wrong. He also was aware enough that his curmudgeonly attitude was a cover. To hide the fact that the prospect of spending the evening with Payton Vaughan excited him more than any date he’d had in the past five years. Probably longer.

“And don’t forget that just managing not to look like you’re about to strangle me isn’t enough.” She smiled sweetly at him. “You have to pretend that I’m the best thing to happen to you, so much so that you plan to spend the rest of your life with me.”

He rolled his eyes and grumbled, “No thanks to you.”

Truth of it was, it probably wasn’t going to be something he’d have to pretend very hard at.

Chapter Nine

For a liquor that Payton didn’t care much for unless it was chased down with salt and a lime and another drink, the tour of the purple-hued agave fields and the distillery had been fascinating. The worker in cowboy boots and a wide rimmed hat had made quick work of digging out what had looked like an overgrown pineapple from the ground. He’d made it look so easy that it became comical when Lenny and a few others tried to imitate his actions when invited to harvest an agave plant.

It was definitely harder than it looked. She’d even seen Cruz crack a smile at the theatrics. Probably made more humorous by the fact that the men and women were all bedecked in their square-dancing finery. The women in full ruffled blue skirts and the men in matching blue shirts.

Finished with the tour, they had been escorted down into what looked like a cavern, but lit by soft lighting and candles, it felt almost magical. The large round table where they sat was surrounded with chairs carved from old oak barrels, adding to the ambiance.

Up to now, Payton had been surrounded by the women of the group as they were whisked through the fields in golf carts and then walked through the distillery, but she was ever conscious of Cruz’s presence behind her. Certain he was watching her. With those dark, swoon-worthy eyes that felt like they could see right inside her head. Now, as they took their seats, the couples paired off, and she couldn’t avoid him any longer.

They were, after all, supposed to be a couple. In love.

Their server circled the table, a bottle of tequila in hand. He poured a little of the whiter, less-aged product into her glass and invited them to smell the liquor’s distinctive aroma, to notice how the liquid clung to the glass, showing it’s sweetness.

Payton stared into the glass with some trepidation. No chaser was around today, and she was certain she would probably offend them if she even asked for one. Cruz took a sip and nodded. He looked back at her with some amusement in those dark brown eyes.

“Gonna give it a try?”

When he looked at her like that, his eyes almost dreamy and languid in the dim lighting, she’d do about anything. She sipped and immediately grimaced as the liquid burned its way down. But the aftertaste…well, it actually wasn’t so bad. Light. Flavorful. She maybe even liked it.

The burning in her belly grew hotter as Cruz looked at her in approval. He had to stop looking at her like that. It was unnerving.

Then there was the fact that now, ensconced so close to each other, it was hard to miss the faint smell of soap and aftershave that clung to his skin. The familiar leather and incense that conjured up a dark bedroom, satin sheets, and all the sorts of forbidden thoughts that were more appropriate to Fifty Shades of Grey than her life.

The server returned with another bottle, more amber than gold that he called an anejo that was aged a minimum of a year. She let him pour it but held off on drinking it until she had some food in her stomach so as not to repeat yesterday’s unpleasantries. And to make certain she didn’t do anything crazy, like lean across the space dividing her and Cruz and lick the dark crevice under his jaw. Something that may have passed her mind a time or two in the past five minutes.

“So tell us,” Patti said over the din around the table and pulling her gaze from the dark figure next to her. “How did you two meet?”

She met Cruz’s eyes but looked away quickly. The image of him standing at the door of the flower shop that night flashed in her mind. Remembering the way her heart had hammered like some cartoon character at the way he looked at her.

She took a tiny sip of her drink, needing a little more fortitude.

“Funny story.” She cleared her throat. “His brother, Dominic, had just gotten engaged to my best friend, and to surprise his new fiancée, Dom had planned a surprise party. Before that day, we had never met each other, so when we ran into each other at the florist the night of the party, we were complete strangers.”

Bev and the other women leaned in, smiling encouragingly at her. Cruz was still silent, though. Listening. Up to now, neither of them had ever acknowledged the fact that they had met each other there, before their later, less fortunate, introduction.

“So there I was waiting for the lady to grab the bouquet I’d ordered from the cooler in the back when the bell rang over the door. I turned around to see Cruz standing there, looking so tall and impossibly big that he filled the doorway. He was soaking wet—it had been raining that night—water dripping down his face, his hair slicked back all dark and delicious. He walked so purposely toward me, and I worried he could hear my heart pounding as his gaze stayed on mine the entire time.”

“It was hard to take my eyes off of her.” His voice intruded, low and husky, and she froze as he took over, not daring to look at him. But his words washed over her, hot and thrilling. “She was wearing a long emerald gown—the color of her eyes.” That’s right. She’d been coming from a fundraiser she had chaired for Primary Children’s Hospital. “She was breathtaking. And that was before she smiled.”

There was a long pause and she realized that he was waiting for her now. To hear her version of things. “We made small talk, about the weather and it being unseasonably warm for January. But there was some strange pull between us, even as we talked about nothing. I think he mentioned something about Singin’ In the Rain. The movie?” She caught a glimpse at him from the corner of her eyes, saw him nodding as he remembered as well. “When the woman returned with my flowers, I was suddenly loath to go.”

But she’d also been engaged at that time. And the feelings she was experiencing, although thrilling and exciting, were foreign and entirely inappropriate. “But I was still in a relationship with someone, so it wasn’t like I could just ask for his number. In fact, I was so flustered, I thanked the woman and, turning to Cruz, told him I hoped he had a good night. To be honest, as I left, I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t stop me. Didn’t ask me for my number or at least my name.”

“Not that I didn’t want to,” Cruz said. “But I was already late with the flowers my brother had wanted so I grabbed the order and started back. She was on my mind the entire drive, though, and before I arrived I’d already decided to go back to the shop to convince them to tell me what they knew about her. A name, anything.”

He had? She turned finally to look at him, his eyes so dark but soft as he stared at her. There was that faintest smile on his lips again and she caught her breath.

“So imagine my surprise when a few minutes later, at the party, I turned around to find the same beautiful woman from the flower shop standing there with the flowers she’d left with. Yellow roses.” He didn’t go on to describe what he’d said and the crack that followed when she’d smacked his head with the vase. Accidentally. They both remembered that and what happened from there all too well.

“It’s like it was fate. Kismet. The two of you meeting like that,” Bev said and wiped a tear away. Payton might have had a few that were ready to drop as well.

She’d never known, all this time, if she’d imagined their connection or not. She didn’t have to wonder that anymore.

He’d planned on finding her.

“To kismet.” It was Lenny, holding his glass of tequila up, inviting everyone to join in his toast.

She paused before taking her own glass and met Cruz’s eyes again.

“To kismet,” they all repeated, glasses clanging. It was with some relief that she closed her eyes and tossed the rest of the contents down, the heat blazing a trail down to her belly that was already on fire.

When she opened them, it was to find Cruz looking at her more bemused. Speculative.

Time to regroup. “And that, ladies, is why I agreed to marry the knucklehead. He’s a man of few words except when it really counts. And when he does, every word has meaning.”

They all laughed but she felt Cruz’s gaze steady on her.

“Then there’s the fact his eyes positively burn whenever they settle on you,” Bev said next to her. “It doesn’t take a lot of words for a man to truly express how he feels about a woman, and I’d say your man here wouldn’t need a lot of them when he’s staring at you in that way. Like he’s going to incinerate you with that smolder.” The woman waved her hand as if her face were on fire and everyone laughed.

But the words gave Payton a moment’s pause. Was that true? Did he look at her, stare at her, like he really wanted her that way? No. Not anymore. Not since that first meeting, when there had been possibilities.

These people were only seeing what they wanted to see.

She laughed with everyone else but knew her cheeks were warm.

“Can anyone blame me?” Cruz’s hand settled on hers resting on the table, and her entire body tensed at the touch.

She found the courage to raise her gaze to his. He did seem to be looking at her exactly as they all described—with need. Desire. But was it real? Or an act to appease them?

It didn’t matter. Because she knew that over the course of the last few minutes, both of them lost in the events of that first night, something had irrevocably changed between them.

Something that had her breathing coming shorter and shallower. Wanting more than the touch of his hand resting on hers.

The first jarring beats of a mariachi band pulled her from her thoughts and all eyes turned to the troupe who had arrived at their table.

Cruz hadn’t taken his hand off hers. He leaned over, his breath a whisper at her ear. “Wouldn’t want to look like anything less than a happy couple. How’m I doing?”

She swallowed and bobbed her head, not daring to look into those eyes in case he could read her mind.

“Just fine.”

Cruz sucked in the night air as they left the restaurant and walked out onto the sidewalk, Payton at his side as they joined the other revelers. Their troupe of dancer friends had left them at the door so they could check in for the night’s festivities, and now it was just the two of them.

He took in a deep breath, the cool air feeling fresh and sharp in his lungs. He needed to clear his head, having consumed four shots of tequila already. More than his limit, but at the time, the flavor and taste a welcome diversion from the feeling of having Payton nestled under his arm while they kept up the pretense of engaged lovers.

Payton was silent next to him, her steps a little less certain, and he slowed his pace to hers. They needed to keep better track of their alcohol intake if they were going to keep their heads.

He thought about what Payton had said earlier, while recounting their first meeting. He’d been certain that she’d never given him a second thought that night, not with the way she’d rushed out of the shop so fast, before he could even catch her name.

But it hadn’t stopped him from thinking about her. He’d meant what he said about wanting to find her that night. He’d already had a great line in mind to use to finagle her details from the cashier.

All this time, he’d concluded he’d imagined their connection. But he’d been wrong. There had been a moment there, a moment when they both had the opportunity for a different start. A different relationship. Until he’d opened his big mouth and not just insulted her but sealed the terms of a different type of relationship. One full of mistrust and contention.

What would have happened if it had gone differently?

They’d never know, but he did know one thing. He owed her an apology.

“Payton, about that night. What I said at the party? I didn’t know you and my comment was completely out of line. Maybe it was some lingering resentment I still had for Brad—I don’t know. But I am sorry.”

She looked up at him, her eyes wide and shining, not holding any indication of resentment. “I accept. And I’m sorry for clobbering you with that vase.”

He laughed. “I earned that.”

“Glad to see we agree on something.” The sound of music from up ahead began to play, and Payton hurried her steps. He reached out, grabbing her hand so as not to lose her in the burgeoning crowd. It felt nice. It seemed to fit perfectly. She glanced back at him, a knowing glint in her eye, but didn’t slow down, instead cutting through the crowds.

They reached the stage set up near the gazebo, already teeming with people, some dancing to the music that filled the warm night air. Payton seemed entranced by everything around her, smiling and laughing, throwing her head back. Her enjoyment was infectious, and he couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off his own face. It had to be the tequila.

At one point, Payton paused and stared up at the night sky. He followed her gaze. “I was just trying to see the stars.”

He noticed the way the light reflected off her hair, shining, and he wanted to touch it. He found his voice instead. “Going to have to get farther away from the lights to see them.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It just seemed like everything else was so magical, that I might catch a few.”

The shuffling of dozens of boots on the stage brought their attention up where Lenny and Bev and the rest were walking across the stage. They hesitated only a moment as the new song came on, before bursting with surprising energy, swinging and clomping around the stage. The crowd was energized as well as they clapped to the beat. Payton looked so young, so free as she clapped along with them, joy and wonder glowing on her face.

She should always look so free. So happy.

A woman in bright costume was working her way through the crowds with a tray filled with small cups that people were taking. The local refinery throwing this shindig certainly knew how to celebrate the introduction of a new line.

Payton was already stretching her hand out for one and he beat her to it, grabbing one for each of them.

It couldn’t hurt to have one more. Wouldn’t want to waste a perfectly decent shot of tequila.

Gone was Payton’s initial reluctance to taste the strong liquid as she first sipped and then threw the rest back. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes danced with laughter, her dimples deep and charming. Damn. He was going to need all the self-control he could muster to not kiss her at some point tonight.

She looked at him, waiting for him to throw his back.

“Maybe I shouldn’t—”

“Are you saying that a big, strapping man like you can’t hold his liquor?” She batted those eyelashes, teasing him. “Come on, Cruz. You only live once. Try it.”

She was incorrigible, but he had to admit, he was having fun. And the scent of the liquor in his cup was enticing. Before he could talk himself out of it, he threw it back, enjoying the flavor, and placed the cup on a passing tray. She grinned in victory.

Damn. She really was a temptress. A sweet, dimpled, funny temptress.

It has to be the alcohol. This moment of temporary insanity.

Of feeling like she belonged with him.

Their friends finished their dance and another group moved to the stage. Women in vibrant skirts with matching tops twirled around, the color almost became a blur. And then a cowboy followed, showing everyone his dexterity while hopping through a lasso.

Payton remained mesmerized by it all, occasionally looking up at him and smiling before returning to the activities. Her hand somehow found itself back in his and a wave of possessiveness hit him as he clasped it.

When the performances were over, the lights around them suddenly burst on, lighting the town-square with white twinkle lights. The musicians up in the gazebo played a faster tempo, and the crowd cheered as everyone spread out and started to dance.

Another tray with more tequila appeared and Payton grabbed two shots, holding one out to him. “To Kate and Dominic.”

Well, he couldn’t very well say no to that. And the next one slipped down.

Caught up in the celebration, he didn’t care anymore about tomorrow, about what was the right thing. He was with the one woman who’d been haunting him since he first met her. A woman who was as complicated as she was beautiful. Who made him laugh. Made him feel things he hadn’t felt before.

Her hand still in his, he brought her around to face him as his other hand slipped around her waist and he pulled her against him. She was so soft and smelled so sweet and enticing.

She sucked her breath in, surprised by his actions almost as much as him. Her mouth parted and he didn’t hesitate.

He brought his lips down to hers, initially just to graze them, to feel their silky touch. But she didn’t hold back, and leaned in, her mouth moving against his. Demanding more, so hot and sweet. In that moment, he forgot they were surrounded by people, laughing and dancing around them. He could shut all that out, believing that they were the only people in the world.

She melded her body against his like a second skin and a different need grew, one that wanted to see this woman naked under him, welcoming him just as fully and completely.

He heard familiar voices around them and became aware that they were no longer invisible among the other revelers as the square dancing troupe surrounded them, cheering and smiling at what they saw as a young couple’s antics.

Payton seemed to realize it, too, as their lips broke contact and her eyes slowly opened. But remained locked with his.

He held his breath, waiting to hear her reaction. Her gasp and realization that they’d made a mistake. For her to pull away. But she didn’t. Her lips only turned in a smile of what could be described as wonderment.

“I think we should work on that,” was all she said and he couldn’t help but laugh.

But he wasn’t ready to let Payton leave his grasp and instead grabbed both hands and swept her out at arms’ length and twirled her back in that familiar dance his mama had made sure he knew. She looked even more surprised. “You dance too?”

He grinned back. “There’s a lot of things I can do. And one thing you should know about me: I don’t just ‘do’ them. I excel at them.”

Her hand tightened in his. “I hope that’s a promise.”

Hell and damn.

Because it certainly was.

Chapter Ten

Bright, blinding light seared into Payton’s eyeballs no matter how tight she squeezed them shut against the unwelcome intrusion.

Why does my head feel like it’s being smacked against a wall?

Tentatively, she opened one eye, trying to get her bearings.

Crap. She felt like she was going to die.

The sudden twisting in her belly immediately became her most pressing concern as she jerked upright in bed and swung her legs to the floor. She raced to the bathroom, making it just in time.

Oh. Crap.

Exactly how much tequila did I drink last night?

The tiles under her knees were cold and welcoming as she laid her head on her arm, waiting for the next spasm to start.

Another minute passed, though, and nothing came, but her stomach ached. She breathed slowly, hoping she’d rid the worst of the contents from her belly. What on earth had possessed her to drink so much last night? Even more importantly…

Why am I completely naked?

Wait. She was in that hotel room in Tequila. A room she’d shared with—

An image of a naked torso moving above her, of dark eyes staring into her own as they shared the closest intimacy two people could have.

Oh. My. Gosh..

She raised her head. She needed to clear this fog clouding her brain. Because there was no way she’d do something so idiotic just days after breaking it off with her fiancé.

Although…for some reason, the faintest blurry memory of last night didn’t seem like something to be ashamed of. No, the memory seemed to bring her a feeling not just of obvious pleasure but something more.

Of happiness. Excitement. Tenderness.

Coming to her feet, she turned the faucet on and let the water trickle into her hands before patting some on her face. She scooped the water, ready to bring it to her mouth when she remembered where she was. No, she couldn’t risk getting a parasite. She already felt like she was dying. What she needed was some bottled water. The bottled water from her purse outside the bathroom.

Was he out there?

In her rush to get out of bed, Payton hadn’t processed if she was alone in the bed or if someone else had been next to her.

Sneaking to the bathroom door, something she’d somehow found the will to shut before kissing the porcelain throne, she pulled it open far enough to look out.

The bed was empty. No. The whole room was empty.

Maybe it had all been a dream. Something she’d thought about one too many times in her waking hours that took over in her drunken stupor.

Although it didn’t quite explain her nakedness now.

Where was he then?

Grabbing a towel in case he returned, she wrapped herself in it and scurried across the room to grab the water before barricading herself back in the bathroom.

She turned the bathroom light on and for the first time got a glimpse of herself in the mirror and gasped in horror. Her hair was ratted in the back and fell limply around her green-tinged face. Dark raccoon-like rings appeared around her eyes, a combination of mascara, dehydration, and too little rest.

Lord. She was a mess.

What she needed was a shower. A long, hot shower to wash away all the stink and then maybe she’d be able to remember things more clearly.

And it wouldn’t hurt to look human again.

She started the water and tested it before climbing in. Her stomach roiled at the steamy moisture, and she turned it down before letting the water sink into her skin and hair. Giving herself the freedom to pick at her memories. To try and remember how she’d landed herself naked in that bed out there.

The tour of the agave fields and the distillery. That she remembered. A shot of tequila. Dinner down in the cavern beneath the distillery. A second shot of tequila. Candlelight. Conversation. More tequila. Later, dancing with Cruz under the stars. Tequila. The hypnotic gleam in those dark eyes of his, and—

A kiss.

A kiss like she’d never had before, one that made her toes curl and her insides turn hot and squishy. A kiss that had made her hunger for more.

More images started coming to her.

Of Bev and Lenny and Pat and the rest, smiling and teasing them as they caught their kiss. Another shot as they toasted the happy couple. A late night tour of the old church in the town-square. Of several couples making their vows to God and each other before the crowds and a slightly inebriated priest. Of—

She froze. No. Not possible.

But the memory of standing face to face with Cruz, her hands in his as she stared into those dark eyes that promised so much. Seeing him smile, something she’d been determined then and there he would do each and every day as they said the words. Familiar words. Promising loyalty and fidelity. Love. Of promising to take care of each other…

All the days of their lives.

She let out a strangled cry and ripped the shower curtain away and stumbled back out of the tub. Trailing water she slipped her way across the floor and into the bedroom where she studied every surface of the room. She stopped as her gaze fell on a piece of paper tossed carelessly on the nightstand.

Her legs trembled as she walked to the stand, praying it wasn’t true. Her wet fingers lifted the paper and she took a breath before processing the words.

It was in Spanish, but it wasn’t hard to miss her signature below. And Cruz’s. And a few others.

Not even able to understand the words on the document, she knew without out a doubt what it said.

She and Cruz were married. They were husband and wife.

Cruz busied himself filling two cups with coffee at the hotel lobby. He didn’t know how Payton took her coffee, so he grabbed a handful of sugar and sweeteners and creamers and stuffed them in his pocket.

She was going to need the sharp hit of caffeine when she remembered everything from the previous night.

Memories that were still sweeping over him.

He couldn’t believe he’d done something so foolhardy. So spontaneous. So…stupid. Because how else would you qualify marrying someone you barely knew while both people were heavily intoxicated?

See. This was exactly why he went with the expected.

When he awoke this morning, the insides of his skull pounding about, he’d been more than a little stunned to find Payton draped across his chest. It had taken three point four seconds for it all to come back to him.

The kiss.

The special moment of watching other couples making that commitment to each other, of feeling so hopeful and excited at the promise of a future with the woman next to him. Of thinking it could be forever.

The moment she brazenly asked him if he wanted to get up there before God, their new friends, and everyone else who had crowded into the church, and make whatever was happening between them the real deal.

Forever.

God help him, in that moment, he was a goner. He’d said yes.

And then the long night of discovering each other, finalizing their newfound marital bliss. Of her under him, on top of him, of her giving herself to him in every way that he’d been so humbled and proud and filled with such affection he’d lost his breath.

Still did.

Only, the future that had seemed so possible for them both, so attainable last night, somehow in the light of day and without the powerful influence of alcohol seemed like a silly fairy tale. Women like Payton didn’t end up with guys like him.

They ended up with guys like Brad.

And as soon as Payton woke up and remembered everything, she was going to realize that. Realize the mistake she’d made in asking him to be her husband. Maybe she’d even been teasing him, not expecting he’d say yes. Then again, she was drunk and vulnerable. And he should have said no.

Any decent guy, no matter how much his head was clouded with his emotions for the woman, would have said no.

Meaning when he walked into that room, she just might try to kill him.

He took the stairs up, balancing their coffee in his hands along with some aspirin from the front desk, trying to think of what he was going to say.

Then he was at their door and there was no putting off the inevitable.

With the coffees stacked and balanced between his chin and his left hand, he slid the key in and pushed the door open.

She was awake.

And standing naked in the middle of the room, a puddle of water spreading around her feet.

Her eyes lifted from the paper in her hands to meet his, wide and shocked. It was safe to assume she had figured out some of the events of last night.

“Please tell me that this is a trick? That this document doesn’t say what I think it says.”

This was going to take some time. And as much as he enjoyed staring at her lovely naked body—a body he’d become quite familiar with over the past few hours—he was going to need to be thinking clearly. He headed to the bathroom and turned off the water she’d left running before grabbing a towel.

She barely acknowledged his overture, as he tucked it around her. A naked Payton made it hard for him to concentrate. Period.

“I have coffee. Why don’t you have a seat, and we’ll try and figure this out.”

“What’s there to figure out?” Her voice was a couple of octaves higher than usual. “Not only did I spend a drunken night in a hotel room in Mexico with a man I barely know, but I decided to pile on the craziness and marry that man too. I’d say with my track record over the past few days, I might be certifiable. How on earth could you let this happen?”

He sighed and took both coffees and sat down on the bed. He raised one up in her direction. “I seem to recall I wasn’t the one who actually proposed.”

At that, her eyes shifted to the side and she paused, almost like she was replaying a movie in her head. Realization seemed to hit her and she met his gaze again. “But you didn’t have to accept,” she practically screeched.

He took a sip of his coffee. He couldn’t even respond to that. Mostly because he had been asking himself the same thing.

“My mother is going to kill me.”

She began pacing the floor in front of him, one hand on the towel—barely keeping it around her, giving him an enticing reveal of her backside mid-step—the other hand waving the paper about.

“The one thing she’s made clear to me since I could remember is that she’s been planning the minute details of my wedding since I was born and that under no circumstance was I ever to even consider the possibility of elopement or she’d skin me from head to toe. And I did it. Not only did I go out and marry some guy I barely even know in a Mexican church with the proof in a language I can’t even read, but I did it practically on the eve of my marriage to another man.”

“After last night, I wouldn’t exactly say you barely know me,” he couldn’t help adding.

But she didn’t appear to hear him as she stopped and her hand went to her mouth. “I haven’t even officially broken off my engagement with my fiancé. Haven’t canceled the caterers or flowers or church—even though I told my planner to do it I knew that there was no chance she would have the guts to do it without getting my mother’s approval and that she would never get—”

“Payton,” he said a little louder this time, figuring her monologue had gone on long enough.

But she paid him no mind, only resumed the pacing again. “My father will be horrified, having to face Dick Eastman, the man he’d been ecstatic to call family…”

And that was when Cruz heard the other shoe drop.

He hadn’t even begun to consider the consequences to himself for this little indiscretion. Cruz would guess that hearing the news that the man he’d asked to watch over his future daughter-in-law had gone and married that very woman would probably not sit well with the man. Not when Dick Eastman was under the impression she was still going to marry his son. If Dick found out, Cruz could kiss their business agreement good-bye as well as the hopes he’d had for the company.

This time his voice was firm but sharp as he broke into whatever ruminating Payton was still doing. “You need to calm down and think about this rationally.” She stopped and turned to him, suddenly hearing him for the first time. “This mistake…we can fix it. I’ll call my assistant and have her track down an attorney who specializes in foreign marriages and divorces. We can get this taken care of, quietly. No one but us will ever have to know.”

She blinked a few times and nodded. “A mistake. Right. That’s what this is, and I’m sure once we explain everything to whoever we need to, a judge, a city clerk, we can get this annulled or dissolved or whatever. My mother doesn’t have to find out.” At that last bit, she exhaled loudly and plopped herself down on the bed next to him. “Can I have that coffee now?”

He handed the other cup to her and dug into his pockets for the condiments that he tossed on the covers. “I didn’t know how you took it so I brought everything.”

She glanced down at the stuff and sorted through it, grabbing a sweetener. “Your own wife and you’re not sure how I take my coffee,” she muttered.

He smiled. Sounded like she’d started to regain her sense of humor. “Yeah, well there are a few other things I’ve learned that you like over the past few hours. Let’s just call it even.”

More silence followed and he hazarded a glance in her direction, finding her cheeks were pink as she likely was remembering a thing or two about what took place on this very bed. Something he fortunately was able to remember in detail. It would have been a shame for those memories to be hazy.

His back pocket began buzzing, and he pulled his cell phone out and stared at it for a minute. “It’s Kate.”

Payton’s stare fixated on the screen too. “I can’t talk. Not just yet.”

Well someone was going to need to speak with them. Assure everyone they were still safe and on their way. He took in a breath. “Hello, Kate? And how is the blushing bride-to-be?”

He looked up and met Payton’s gaze. His bride’s gaze, technically, as Payton was that.

His bride.

She seemed to pick up on it, too, as her eyes bulged even wider. Her hands went to her mouth and he barely heard her whisper, “What am I going to tell Kate?”

“I’m managing,” Kate was saying, unaware of her best friend’s new dilemma, “but your brother is getting a little anxious. I told him that there’s nothing on this earth that could keep either of you from being here and that you’re probably on the road now.”

“Yeah.” Shit. What time was it? The clock said eight-thirty. “We got kind of a late start but we’re checking out of the hotel soon and then we’ll get the car. Payton’s in the shower but I can have her call you later.”

There was a considerable pause as Kate took that in. “No. No, no rush,” she said finally but he could hear puzzlement in her voice. And here he’d thought he sounded completely relaxed but apparently she’d read something into what he’d said. “The ceremony isn’t until five. If you’re here in time for lunch, great, but it’s not the end of the world.”

“We’ll be there. Who else is going to hold my brother up when he sees the vision of you walking down that aisle toward him? We’re only three and half hours, four tops, away from you, and I already have assurances from the guy at the garage the car is ready to go.”

She sighed in relief. “Good to hear. Okay, I’ll talk to you both soon. Drive safely.”

Cruz hung up and looked over at his wife. My freaking wife. It was a surreal thought.

“I guess I’d better get dressed if we’re going to get out of here,” she said and stood, revealing the delectable creaminess of an inner thigh. A few more memories from the previous night hit him and he caught his breath.

The weight of this woman in his arms. The taste of her skin as his tongue trailed down her lovely body. The sigh she gave later, after they’d both spent all their energy and lay in each other’s arms.

He cleared his throat, relieved she wasn’t looking at him. “Good idea. I’ll call my assistant and get the ball rolling on our little…legal fiasco.”

Only, when she looked like that, with the memories of last night stirring in his mind, it didn’t sound like such a fiasco anymore. It sounded like a dream. A fantasy come true.

He really should get his head examined.

Their departure wasn’t as quick or as unremarkable as they’d hoped. Apparently notified by the front desk of their imminent departure, the whole busload of square dancers headed them off in the lobby and Bev just about tackled her to the ground in a hug.

“You didn’t think you two were going to take off without giving us a chance to say good-bye.” She reached over and gave Cruz a similar hug and then beamed at them both. “Come on. Follow me. I know you’re in a hurry but we have a little surprise for you two.”

They followed Bev outside and into the blinding morning sunlight. Payton shielded her eyes with her hand and tried to process what she was seeing. A garishly decorated car, covered in art and cans dangling from the… She blinked her eyes a few times, certain that the little car looked more than familiar.

She was almost certain it was theirs. This time she read the words smeared along most of the tiny car’s windows. Just Married, with swirly cues and hearts in pinks and purples adding unnecessary pizzazz.

A glance over at Cruz told her he was as surprised, his expression near shock before setting into something akin to a smile. She couldn’t help it; she laughed and leaned forward to grab her belly. Especially as it roiled the tiniest bit from the motion.

Collected again, she turned around to the well-meaning group surrounding them and threw her hands out, going around and hugging them and accepting their wishes for a long and happy future together. Even if their engagement had been fabricated from the beginning, the joke was on Payton. There wasn’t anything pretend about it now.

She was, in fact, married to the guy.

And in that moment, as they continued to speak all at once, pounding Cruz on the back and a few of the women sneaking kisses, she felt a bit of wistfulness.

What if this were real?

What if she and Cruz were departing here today with the prospect of their whole lives together before them? Of being able to return to those arms any time she wanted, arms she had vague recollections of as they held her close to him, of feeling she was with someone real and solid and who made her feel special.

Bev stepped forward again, this time with a small package in her hands and handed it to Payton. It was a book—a photo album, she realized as she flipped it open. Her stomach dropped as she saw the featured topic.

Staring out at her was a picture of her and Cruz, in front of the priest, sharing what had to be their first kiss as husband and wife. The next page had a picture of her and Cruz smiling for the photographer, holding hands as they smiled with such happiness, even if their faces and eyes were bright and unfocused from the butt-load of alcohol they’d consumed, that she felt a sense of warmth and longing.

“We managed to get the front desk to print those pictures for us as a little wedding present,” Bev was saying as Cruz came to stand next to her, looking down at the gift.

Tears formed as Payton turned page after page and saw photos with her and Cruz, clearly under some lovesick spell, and a few other photos with their new friends. She couldn’t remember most of what had happened in those photos but it was evident she and Cruz were having a good time. And the way they looked at each other…it sent goose bumps down her arms.

She looked up to Cruz, who was studying the photos quietly, no expression on his face. She ached to know what he was thinking. He lifted his gaze to hers and something passed in those dark eyes that she couldn’t comprehend before he finally broke into a smile. He winked at her, and she nearly fell back in surprise.

Bev still had the floor as she continued, “I put our addresses and phone numbers in there as well as the website for our little troupe. We’d love it if you would stay in contact with us.”

“We will. Thanks everyone. This is such an incredible gift.”

“It was our pleasure.”

She and Cruz stood there almost awkwardly as all the beaming faces stared at them with such good will. Cruz’s hand slipped around her waist and brought her against his side in surprising ease, sending her heartbeat racing. It touched a memory of the same arm wrapping around her as they danced, as they embraced, as they kissed, many times the night before. It didn’t feel foreign to her, though. It felt right.

They finally said their good-byes and climbed in the car and buckled up, Payton almost trembling with the rush of emotions she was feeling. Cruz slowly inched the car down the street, the loud sound of tin cans in their ears. She turned around in the seat and waved to everyone who still stood in front of the hotel to watch them go.

The loud banging of the cans against the road made it impossible to hear her own thoughts, and she cringed as her headache that had abated thanks to the caffeine and aspirin Cruz had provided, threatened to return. “I hope we’re not planning to travel the rest of the way with those cans on the car. I don’t think my head can take it.”

“I figure we’d let them get their show. As soon as we turn at the next block, I’ll stop the car and clean up.”

Payton sat in the car a few minutes later, sipping some hot water with lemon she’d managed to snag from the hotel to help her belly, trying to figure out why she felt like crying. It was crazy, this sudden melancholy washing over her as she watched Cruz remove the last of the group’s well wishes from the car.

Kind of like he was wiping all proof that it had even happened. Just as he would when he reached an attorney who could handle their “mistake.”

He climbed back in the car. “All set?”

“Absolutely,” she said with an enthusiasm she didn’t feel. She looked out the window of the town, watching it disappear as they put the miles in between it and their destination. Just another memory to look back at with bittersweet tears.

She set the tea in the cup holder and picked up the photo album. Unable to help herself, she opened it and studied the pictures. She came to an image of Bev and Lenny attempting to teach them how to square dance. Lenny was swinging Payton around, and she had the faintest memory of him calling out the next step and looking over to see Cruz and Bev dancing together like they’d been doing it for years. Payton hadn’t been as sure-footed and had laughed anyway, a moment now captured on the page before her.

“I remember that one,” Cruz said and she looked up to see him glancing down at the page. He chuckled. “You danced like you had two left feet while I was busy keeping Bev’s hands…above the waist. She definitely wasn’t shy in offering her congratulations.”

“Bev? You’re kidding.” She laughed and studied the photo a little more carefully. Sure enough, in what looked like a moment when Cruz and Lenny were about to hand off the women to each other, Bev’s hand was planted directly on Cruz’s buttock.

Payton dissolved into giggles. Tears slipped from her eyes, happy tears, the tension of the past few days all but forgotten. Cruz looked at her uncertainly.

She grabbed his arm, trying to explain. “When my mother envisioned her only daughter’s big day, she planned for twelve-piece orchestras and Champagne. A professional photographer and a six layer tiered cake. Not mariachi bands and tequila or Kodak instant cameras and churros—which were delicious, now that I can remember them.” She paused and took in a breath. “Then again—neither did I.” Her stomach quivered with more giggles and she gave into another belly laugh.

This time, Cruz actually joined her. Her body seemed to be relaxing under the endorphins flooding her, a euphoric feeling of calm settling over her.

Cruz nodded to the album. “Let’s see some more.”

For the next few minutes, with Cruz keeping his attention on the road in between glimpses of their wedding album, they studied memories from a night that neither one of them seemed to be able to remember in full. Cruz shook his head at one where he was on his knees in front of Payton, his hand under her skirt. “What am I doing in that one?”

A rush of heat warmed her face as she remembered and explained, “I think Patty had tied a handkerchief in place of a garter around my leg and was insisting you…remove it. This was taken just before you, uh, used your teeth to pull it down my leg.”

“Now that should be a memory I have emblazoned in my mind,” he said in a decidedly wistful tone.

She smacked him and laughed again. “Well, you weren’t the one mortified by the gazes of all the lecherous old men trying to catch a glimpse of more than I wanted to give them.”

Reaching the end of the book, she closed it, her hand resting on the cover. That same melancholy feeling hit her.

For a night that Cruz had summarized as nothing but a mistake, memory holes and all, it was one of the best nights of her life.

An image of Cruz tickling her under her rib as they lay together, tired and spent, in the early morning came back to her.

Maybe even the best night of her life.

Chapter Eleven

It was just after noon when the taxi they’d taken from the airport—where they’d dropped off their rental car—pulled up to the front of the hotel. Cruz paid the driver and helped Payton climb out, a courtesy that came easily to him.

Not so easy was knowing he had to relinquish her arm, and let her go.

He had thought that when he reached this moment, as he handed off the duties of sole protector of Payton to her friend and his family, that he would be feeling overwhelming relief that she wasn’t his to worry about. Instead, there was a sense of sadness. Of loss. Of a chapter ending that had been—although unexpected—strangely fun and exciting.

He followed Payton inside and up to the check-in counter. Despite the hangover from hell that they both had been recovering from most of the morning—who knew those Bueno bars would be the prefect hangover cure?—he was unable to keep his eyes off her.

Her face makeup-free but bright and glowing, those green eyes that looked at him with a little bit of wonder and surprise the past few hours, she was beautiful. Just as beautiful now as when he danced with her under the moonlight in that dress, or later, when he’d held her in his arms naked and resplendent. When he’d thought she was and was going to remain…his wife.

At least, until morning came and the haze of alcohol was wiped away with sobriety. And needling doubt.

They passed a fountain and a bar where people were leaving with tall fruit-rimmed drinks. The hotel attendant was already checking in another couple, so they hung back and waited. The silence between them was now painful, and neither of them made eye contact with the other as they instead feigned interest in the hotel’s bright orange toned walls, the high-pitched ceilings, and the people passing through the lobby.

“We’re here at last,” Payton said brightly, but the words sounded forced. She was trying to fill the silence that had grown between them over the past couple hours as they arrived closer to their destination.

“Even made it in time for the lunch with half an hour to spare.” His own words sounded equally hollow.

The hotel clerk, a younger guy in his twenties with decent English skills, motioned them over. Cruz stood next to Payton, waiting patiently as she checked in first. News that their luggage had arrived the day before and was already up in their rooms brought a squeal of excitement from Payton, and she reached her hand out and squeezed his arm before stopping, almost uncertain, and then pulling away. “Sorry.”

Right. Payton and he were already falling back into their usual awkwardness.

The next words from the hotel agent froze them both to their spot. “It appears your mother also arrived a couple of hours ago, Ms. Vaughn. She wanted me to relay that you’re to call her immediately on arrival as she was hoping to, uh, stay in your room. Of course, under hotel policy, we couldn’t release the rooms to Mrs. Vaughn, regardless of your relationship.”

Cruz looked down to see how Payton was handling the news. Her fingernails almost dug into the surface of the desk where she’d been resting them.

“My mother is here.” But it was a statement rather than a question. “Of course she is.” She looked up at Cruz, her eyes imploring him now. “Cruz, can I have a moment alone with you?”

He nodded to the hotel clerk and they stepped away from the desk.

Her voice was low and laced with panic. “Under no circumstances can my mother know that we shared the same room last night—let alone…well, everything else. Even taking away the whole marriage thing,” she gulped and took a breath before starting again, “I couldn’t bare to have her go into a lengthy lecture of the impropriety of my lewd and immoral behavior. Sleeping with a man who wasn’t—in my mother’s eyes—my fiancé.”

“Of course, Payton. I’m not usually in the habit of parading the details of my private life to anyone,” he added, his voice cool. It sounded an awful lot like Payton was ashamed of being with a guy like him. That he was someone to be ashamed of. And it cut to the quick. “It will remain our secret.”

A family of four arrived in the lobby and started toward the desk. “Look. Why don’t we both get settled into our rooms, take a moment to relax, and remember why we’re here today. To watch the two people we care about really do this marriage thing the right way. We can talk later.”

She nodded but her eyes were already unfocused, and her shoulders seemed so tight and tense that he was afraid she’d shatter to the touch. But they stepped forward and continued with the registration. They were just getting their key cards handed to them when a familiar voice cried out for them across the lobby.

And like that, their crazy, unexpected trip, a trip that had brought him more adventure and excitement, the feeling that he was fully alive, came to an official end.

“Payton! Cruz! I’m so happy to see you,” Kate said, the relief palpable in her voice.

Payton turned to find her friend rushing toward them, her vibrant red hair hard to miss, as was the dark handsome fiancé who followed close behind. Kate pulled Payton into a hug that threatened to bruise a few ribs if she didn’t let up. It was another reminder of how much Dominic and his big-hearted family had worked miracles on Kate, who before knowing him, would have been more likely to pat Payton awkwardly on the back than give her such an effusive hug. Payton liked the change.

“Isn’t it bad luck for you two to see each other before the ceremony?” Cruz asked Dominic, who was similar in height and coloring to his older brother, but was freer with the disarming smiles. And whereas Dominic’s eyes twinkled blue in mischief, Cruz’s dark brown eyes were more sharp and astute, seeming to have the power to look inside your soul—or maybe that was just her.

Kate waved her hand. “Not a chance. We only have two weeks to be together without the pressing worry of trial dates and Dominic’s studies,” she said in reference to her fiancé’s recent return to the architecture program he’d abandoned a few years before to help out with the family business. “I’m not wasting even a minute holed up in a hotel room to honor some silly old superstition.”

Dominic’s hand was around Kate’s waist and he brought her up against him and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Nor would I run the risk leaving her alone in our opinionated aunties’ care. They’d only share more stories from when we were kids that would best be forgotten—for both our sakes.”

“Too late on that score,” Kate said and laughed, and turned to Payton to explain. “They used to come here every summer growing up, getting into their fair share of trouble. Once, the two of them, six and four at the time, broke into the town’s candy shop during siesta time, and then snuck back to their beds, almost undetected. They might have gotten away with it if they didn’t have melted chocolate plastered all over their faces. Who’d have thought I’d be marrying a known felon.”

The image of Cruz doing anything as undignified—and illegal—as breaking into a candy store at the tender age of six brought a reluctant smile to Payton’s lips. But it couldn’t quite quell her sudden anxiety at having her mother pounce on her before she’d had a chance to decompress for a few minutes.

Kate was studying her, and as if sensing her feelings, stepped forward and grabbed her hand. “I’m going to entrust my future husband in your hands for just a little while, Cruz, while I take my maid of honor up to her room to get settled. We have a few things to talk about.”

“Like the fact my mother is somewhere in this very hotel waiting to welcome me?”

In a conspiratorial voice, Kate said, “I have it on good authority that your mother is out at the pool drinking daiquiris waiting for your call. If we slip away now, we should have some time before she’s tipped off that you’re here, since I understand most of the hotel staff is hiding from her.”

Payton exhaled a tiny bit in relief. Kate pulled on her hand, but Payton felt a strange pang at the thought of leaving Cruz behind. She turned to him, hoping her face showed only relief and gratitude instead of the unsettling sadness that their time together was over. “Thanks again for making sure I got here in one piece. It’s definitely been an adventure.”

“That it has.” They studied each other a few heartbeats more before Kate pulled on Payton’s hand.

“Come on,” Payton heard Dominic saying to his older brother, “Let’s get you cleaned up. And mom wants to see you, make sure you’re actually in one piece.”

“The roads down here weren’t that bad.”

“I wasn’t talking about the roads,” she heard Dominic distinctly say, followed by their laughter.

“Okay, I’m guessing we have less than ten minutes before your mother starts pounding on that door demanding an audience with you,” Kate said a few minutes later as they stepped into Payton’s room and shut the door. “So you had better start talking.”

Payton dropped her purse on the desk. “Talk about what?”

“Oh, let’s see,” Kate said and tossed her long red hair over her shoulders before turning those laser-like gray eyes on her friend. “About the fact that two nights ago you were devastated to discover your fiancé was sleeping around and then last night, when I tried Cruz’s phone four times to reach you to see if you were okay, I only got voicemail. And then Cruz tells me this morning you got a late start and you couldn’t talk because you were in the shower.”

Payton raised her brow, feigning confusion. “And?”

“And you’re my best friend and I know when you’re avoiding talking to me. So I wondered, what on earth could you have done that would have you dodging my calls? What kind of trouble could you get into with a dark brooding guy whose picture, if I wasn’t happy and in love with Dominic, I would be pinning to my fridge?”

Payton laughed a little uneasily. “Kate, you know how Cruz and I are together. We can barely stand each other.”

“Some might call that mere…foreplay. Because I know that despite how much you and Cruz seemed to hate each other sight unseen, there was also a certain chemistry there from the moment you met. The first time,” Kate added, having heard the whole story that same night. “But since you were engaged to Brad the Bozo, I didn’t give it a second thought. Until…you weren’t engaged. And I thought, knowing my impetuous young friend who was reeling from a bad break-up and who might be looking for some payback, what would she do that might have her too embarrassed to talk to her old friend?” Kate crossed her arms in front of her, towering over Payton by a good six inches. “So spill. Don’t make me wrestle you to the bed and tickle it out of you.”

Payton wasn’t intimidated in the least by her friend. A friend who knew her so well that it was sometimes freaky how she could get into her head like she did. But Payton had resolved not to bend Kate’s ear any more than she already had with the tumultuous and disastrous twist her life had taken. This was Kate’s weekend. No—her wedding day. This wasn’t about Payton.

“Kate. I love you. You know that and I really appreciate your concern, but today is your big day. A day when you are about to commit to the man of your dreams for the rest of your lives.”

“You think that me wanting the salacious details of your life is going to ruin my day? Heck, Payton, I’m dying to know, and if you make me wait another minute, I’m seriously going to dial your mother’s cell right now and have her come up here pronto.”

From the determined gleam in her friend’s gray eyes, Payton knew Kate had her beat. In defeat, Payton flung herself onto the bed, her arm draped across her eyes. “Let’s just say that the night started with good intentions. But somewhere between my first and—oh, ninth?—shot of tequila, it appears I managed to kiss the best man, and later…” For a moment, Payton considered spilling everything to Kate. Like the fact that she’d said I do somewhere in the past twelve hours. But she couldn’t be that selfish, not on her best friend’s wedding day. She’d wait until the dust settled to come clean with everything. Instead, she took a deep breath and finished her sentence. “And ended up in bed with said best man.”

Kate’s mouth dropped open, but nothing came out. Instead, she blinked several times.

“Kate? This has got to be a first. I have actually stunned you speechless.” Her friend would be practically catatonic if she were to tell her the whole truth.

Kate sank on the mattress next to Payton, shaking her head, as if trying to understand something. “Okay. Wait. Let’s go back. You’re saying that all it took was one kiss from Cruz to get you two horizontal? Wow. That must have been some kiss.” There was a smile in her voice.

“Well, it was a kiss—a fantastic toe curling kiss—followed by some dancing, a little more kissing, and loads of tequila. But only because we had to keep up the charade we were in Mexico to get married.” She closed her eyes. “Man, if I’d known when I told that fib—you know, just to get under Cruz’s skin—to the busload of Texan square-dancers who ran us off the road that we’d be staying with those people for the rest of the night, I probably would have rethought it.”

This time Kate actually grabbed both sides of her head. “What? Okay. You really have to go back a few more steps. Start with the bus.”

It took Payton five minutes to relay the whole story, careful to keep out any details of the impromptu wedding ceremony. Which wasn’t hard since a lot of that was still blurry—although bits and pieces were coming back to her.

“I knew something was up when Cruz answered the phone this morning. I could sense it in his voice,” Kate said, shaking her head. She turned sideways to look at Payton. “And?”

“And what?”

“And what happened this morning? Did you guys talk about it?”

They certainly talked, talked about how the heck they were going to get out of their mess. But did they talk about all the emotions that had been building that led to that moment? That up until things got hazy thanks to the barrel of tequila she’d consumed, she’d been having strong feelings for the best man that had left her confused but also excited?

“No. Not really,” she answered truthfully. “We focused on getting here.”

Kate snorted. “That must have been some ride back. Well, now that you’ve had some time to process it all, how are you feeling? Do…do you like him?”

Man, she knew confiding as much as she had with Kate was going to be trouble. “Do I still think he’s a complete Neanderthal with no redeeming qualities other than his silence? Probably not.”

Kate laughed and pushed Payton’s shoulder. “Come on, tell me the truth. You like him. You did when you first saw him, no matter how much you talked yourself out of it. And now that you’ve dumped Brad and have nothing stopping you from getting to know him better…”

“Actually, I do have something stopping us. Or someone. You know this huge deal Cruz has been putting together? Did you know that it’s with Eastman Motors?”

Kate’s brows furrowed for a moment. “Eastman Motors? As in… Oh. But you’re not engaged to Brad anymore. I’m not sure if this is as big as you think it—”

“Did I tell you that Dick already had a nice chat with Cruz yesterday? About trying to bring me around to resolving things with Brad?”

“What a slimeball. But Cruz didn’t do it. He was upfront with you…” She trailed off when Payton shook her head.

“He wasn’t initially. But you’re right; he did own up to it and apologize when I caught onto him. But it just goes to show you how important this deal is to him. So whether I have any feelings for him or not, that isn’t what’s relevant here. Not when I can’t see Cruz running the risk of jeopardizing this deal by ticking off Dick Eastman. This is the only thing that that matters to him right now.”

Kate’s eyes softened. “So maybe you might have feelings for him?”

She was relentless. And Payton couldn’t help but laugh.

She took a deep breath in and thought about the man who she’d spent the past two days getting to know. Thought of that hard, stern face that sometimes looked like it didn’t know how to smile, those eyes that sometimes glared at her in exasperation and anger. “He’s definitely moody,” she started. “And he makes me crazy enough that I want to throw something at him or tease him until he stomps out of the room.”

But other moments were beginning to eclipse those more tense times, when his eyes softened as they looked at her, like warm, melted dark chocolate and his lips curled up into that sensuous smile that made her heart feel like it was going to pound right out of her chest. “Sometimes I think that’s just a front to hide his true emotions. He has a great smile if he’d relax once in a while and not worry himself to death.”

She remembered the easy way he’d guided her on the dance floor, the way he had wrapped her in his arms, bringing his lips to hers, watching her so intensely she was ready to melt. “When he does loosen up, he’s actually quite…charming.”

She covered her eyes with her hands as other images of Cruz played in her memory, a generous and sensuous Cruz who for all his stoicism and reserve…was actually an incredible lover. But she wasn’t going to share that just yet with Kate. He was going to be her brother-in-law after all.

“By the blush on your face I would bet there are a few more attributes about the man that are definitely on the plus side.”

Payton smiled. A few.

A few attributes that made her lose all sense of reason and sanity and throw caution to the wind and actually say…I do.

Attributes that made her think whether it was such a mistake after all.

Chapter Twelve

Cruz got off the phone with his assistant and stared straight ahead into the mirror above the dresser of his hotel room. Finding yourself married in a foreign country on a bright Saturday afternoon certainly posed challenges to finding any legal counsel available to offer some guidance. He’d told his assistant to keep trying, wanting to know as soon as possible what exactly he and Payton had gotten themselves into.

For a fraction of a second, he thought about asking Kate for her opinion. But sanity returned. That was not ever going to happen. He’d never hear the end of it from his brother or the rest of his family when they found out he, Cruz Sorensen, whose longest commitment to anyone was his hairstylist, had gone and tied the knot.

Best to keep it quiet, as he and Payton had agreed, and wait. First thing Monday, they’d find someone to get them out of this mess.

He glanced at his watch. Ten minutes before brunch. With a suitcase filled with actual clean and unworn clothes waiting for him, he was itching to get out of the pants he’d worn the past three days. He could squeeze in a shower and maybe even a quick shave.

Other emotions seemed to keep pushing up at him, wanting to battle him for attention, demanding to be analyzed, considered, pondered, but he pushed it all to the back of his mind. Today was his brother’s wedding day. Whatever other emotions he might be feeling would have to wait.

Fifteen minutes later, and with some help from the front desk, Cruz found the Garden Room where the pre-wedding lunch was scheduled. The room itself, though bright and airy thanks to the natural light that filtered through the full ocean-facing windows, wasn’t very big and he doubted at first he was in the right place. Then he heard the laughing and shouts from the open patio door and looked out to see several tables already filled with food and people.

The moment he stepped outside, his boisterous Mexican family, who he probably hadn’t seen for five years, besieged him, swarming him with kisses and hugs and demands as to when he was going to be the next Sorensen to walk down the aisle. His sisters sat back at the main table with their mother, wide satisfied smiles on their faces, probably having something to do with the fact he was now the center of the aunties’ attention instead of them. Even his Aunt Glenda, Kate’s neighbor, was smiling a little too smugly at the comments.

He was well aware that Payton wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Same with her mother, and he felt a pang of guilt at the battle of a different kind she was going through now.

Kate and Dominic sat together at another table, already packed full with their relatives. They had blissful and glowing looks on their faces as their hands twined together. But he saw a certain something in Kate’s eyes as she sipped her drink and stared at him a minute too long for his comfort before returning her attention to his Aunt Essie.

It was with relief that he sank into the chair next to his youngest sister, Benny.

“Glad you could finally make the show, bro,” she said and bit into a buttery-looking croissant. “If one more of our well-meaning aunties asked why I was here all by my lonesome and that they had several young men they’d be happy to make my introduction to if I was that hard up, I’d have drowned myself in the ocean. They didn’t seem to hear me explain that a pediatric residency at a premier children’s hospital doesn’t really allow for much of a social life—or that I’m not looking for one.”

He grabbed the bottled beer he’d had the forethought to snag from the refreshment table and took a long pull, enjoying the cool taste as it went down—a different experience from the almost burning tequila of last night. “Yeah, but it wouldn’t hurt you to occasionally put your toes in the water. Get out there once in a while.”

“Said the pot to the kettle. That’s rich coming from Mr. I-Don’t-Do-Commitment, working probably as much if not more hours a week than I do.”

Which was all true. Except for the part where less than twenty-four hours before he’d made the biggest commitment a man could make to another person. He looked across the table to his other sister, Daisy, who had a slight smile on her face as she watched her three kids run around with their cousins. She looked amazing for a woman who’d been through so much these past few months. Her weasel of a husband had taken off with their money and some girl half his age, leaving her to pick up the pieces.

Benny followed his gaze, dropping her tone to more of a conspiratorial whisper. “At least the aunts were a little kinder to her, mostly muttering curses at her waste of an ex-husband, intermixed with prayers that he get what’s coming to him. That got her actually laughing. I’m just glad he signed the divorce papers and didn’t fight her on custody of the kids.”

Him too. Not that anyone thought the weasel really wanted to be tied down to three kids—no matter how awesome his two nieces and nephew were. No, it was more the kind of thing Daisy’s ex would have done just to add a little salt to the wound. The guy was lucky he didn’t have two broken legs. Kate had swooped in and made sure that Daisy got what she was owed and then some. Something Cruz would be eternally grateful for.

A wisp of long dark hair flew across Daisy’s eyes and she brushed it back and caught them both staring at her. “You guys don’t have to look so tragic,” she said and laughed. “I’m doing great. Better than great. Did Benny tell you I was promoted at the bakery? Gina’s even giving me artistic license to create a few of my own recipes that we’re going to add to the daily specials.”

“Not even surprised, sis. When you set out to do something, you always kick ass.”

A hand slapped him on the shoulder. “Language,” his mother said before leaning over to give him a hug and kiss on the head.

He looked around for his dad, finding him in conversation with the uncles, the barest smile on his mouth. A big Nordic man with quick discerning blue eyes and blond hair slowly turning to gray, he carried authority despite his age and the heart condition that necessitated surgery a few months ago.

His mother took a seat next to Daisy and stared at him with her sly brown eyes that usually knew more than he liked. “Glad to see you survived your trip. I haven’t seen Kate’s friend though. I hope you didn’t leave her behind at a gas station or try to sell her to the gypsies.”

“Tempting, but no,” he said, a smile tugging at his mouth. The gypsy thing was an old joke his mother used to say when they were kids as a threat when they got out of line. Until he was eight, he’d actually expected they would arrive for him one day and take him away, since he and Dominic made being naughty an art. “We managed to get here just fine. You can even ask Dominic. He saw her. She’s probably cornered somewhere by that mother of hers.”

At this the women all visibly shuddered. “She’s definitely something to get used to,” Daisy said with some restraint.

“Get used to? I’d sooner have an enema every day than be subjected to that woman,” Benny said. “She’s only been here a couple of hours, but I’ve already seen the hotel staff run and hide, crossing themselves whenever they spot her. Kate at least managed to get her isolated out at the pool—under proper shade, she insisted—and out of the staff’s hair for a little while.”

“Yeah. I hear she’s a pill.” Cruz took another drink and considered the possibility of hunting down Payton himself. Just to make sure she was okay.

No. That wasn’t necessary. Payton was a grown woman. She had to decide what she did and didn’t want. If she didn’t want Brad, then she had to be strong enough to resist her mother’s threats. In fact, after the spirit and spunk Payton had shown the last few days, maybe it was her mother he should be worried about.

Then he thought about the restrictive diet the woman imposed on her already beautiful daughter. The way she’d manipulated Payton into giving up her dreams of practicing environmental law for a position as part-time party planner. How the woman thought Payton’s only value was in being the trophy wife to a dipshit like Brad Eastman.

He got to his feet, ignoring his sisters’ curious stares. Maybe he’d just make a quick appearance after all.

Payton knew from the quick rap on the door, insistent and terrifying, that her mother was on the other side. She smoothed invisible lines on the sundress she’d slipped on moments before, glad she’d had the chance to apply a minimal amount of makeup to meet her mother’s approval, and went and answered the door.

Her mother stood there in a knee-length apricot-colored skirt and matching jacket, her mouth turned down in that perpetual frown she’d perfected, as she stared at her daughter. She took a step closer and Payton got a good waft of her mother’s perfume, something she’d always thought heavy and overbearing. Perfect for her mother.

“Well I can see you didn’t listen to a word I said about applying sunblock and wearing hats. Your face is positively tanned and splotchy. We’ll need a good layer of foundation to cover those freckles along your cheeks,” she said and swept into the room, wheeling her carry-on behind her.

Payton shut the door, gritting her teeth before forcing a smile. Her mother left her luggage by the couch and walked around the suite, looking into the bedroom, the bathroom, and then joining her back in the living area. “It’s a little small but it should do.”

“Should do for what?” Payton asked slowly, already knowing the answer.

“A stage for the New York Rockettes. Really, Payton?” she said in her most exasperated tone. “For our stay here. What else?”

“I wasn’t under the impression this was our hotel suite. In fact, I’m not even sure why you thought it was necessary to come down here at all. But now that you’re here and can see I arrived in one piece and in relatively good health, save for a little tan, you might as well head home. I’m sure you can find a taxi to get you to the airport. I’ll see if the front desk can do that right now.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Payton. I’m not about to leave you in Mexico without a proper companion. No, when I leave, it will be with you. I already had my agent book the two of us on a flight tomorrow afternoon.”

Her mother went over to the sliding glass doors and tried to open it, struggling with the latch. “You’d think that Kate could have picked a hotel with more class, though. There was a perfectly lovely five diamond hotel just a little further north.”

“The hotel is fine. Actually, it’s beautiful. It’s a perfect place for Kate and Dominic to share the biggest day of their lives with all the people they care for. A five diamond hotel isn’t something that most people could realistically manage nor would Kate expect it.”

“Yes.” Her mother sniffed and finally thrust the door open. “I’ve met a number of that…brood.”

Payton didn’t want to hear her mother’s litany against Cruz’s family and turned the conversation back to the issue of the room. “Maybe you should contact that other hotel. I’m sure you’d be more comfortable in your own private room at a top resort. There’s only one bed here, and I know how much you hate squirmers,” Payton couldn’t help adding in a more patronizing voice.

When Payton was little and went through a phase of nightmares, no amount of begging her mother to let her sleep with her worked. Her mother claimed Payton just squirmed way too much for anyone to get any rest. It was also the reason she had offered when Payton asked why her father took a room down the hall from her mother’s—she couldn’t tolerate the squirming—although now Payton had her suspicions on the real reason for that arrangement.

Her mother sighed heavily. “I’m not looking forward to sharing a bed with you anymore than you are with me, but I’ve told you, I’m not leaving you to your own devices in a strange country. Not even for a night.” Her mother sat on the edge of a chair and crossed her legs. She stared at her daughter another moment, letting Payton know she was waiting for something.

Payton stared back.

“Oh fine,” her mother said finally. “You know, you haven’t asked me one detail about how things are coming along with the wedding planning. But despite that glaring lack of manners, I’ll share with you anyway. We’ve heard back from nearly everyone and you’ll be happy to know that we have nearly one hundred percent acceptance. I’ve also had a few very heavy-handed hints for invitations, but as I’ve explained, we’re already at capacity.”

Payton nodded. She wasn’t going to yell. Not today. “I might be happy about such a high acceptance rate if there was going to be a ceremony. At this point, the only way I could see it happening is if you decide to slip into that too-small designer dress and marry Brad yourself. Because it’s not going to be me.”

“Are we really back to this again, Payton? I would have thought you’d be over this little fit of yours by now. If you’d actually call Brad and hear him out—something I did when he called me last night, heartsick and broken up about the misunderstanding from the other day—”

“I didn’t misunderstand that there was a naked woman in his bed or Brad’s equally naked body. Are you trying to tell me you don’t think he was screwing her?”

“You don’t have to be vulgar.”

Her mother looked at Payton again and shook her head, her pristine, almost white blonde hair not moving from its sleek French bun. Her mother once heard someone liken her to a young Tippi Hedren from those old Hitchcock movies and had been wearing that signature hairstyle ever since. The only thing missing from her ensemble right now was a pair of white arm length gloves, but that would be too much, even for her mother.

Her cool blue eyes were hard as they pierced her with their intensity. “It’s about time that you grew up. Men have…needs. Because they occasionally have a few indiscretions here and there doesn’t say anything about how they truly feel. Their answering a more basic instinct is something they can’t help—and they always come back to the one they really love. Don’t throw away everything you have with Brad, everything we’ve worked for, because of something that didn’t mean anything to him. He loves you, sweetie. I can see it when he looks at you.”

Payton flexed her hands, tightening them into balls and releasing them. She repeated it until she was sure she could keep her voice level. “As…fascinating and completely archaic as that theory is, mother, it doesn’t change anything. First thing I’m doing when I return home is calling Brad and officially putting an end to our engagement. And whether you approve or not, if Camille can’t bring herself to call the rest of the vendors and the hotel without fear of your wrath, then I will call them myself. Because I can tell you right now, you might have been happy spending the last thirty-three years staying married to a man regardless of his numerous indiscretions, but I certainly will not. I’m not going to take second place in any man’s life.”

Her mother flinched, and in a surprise turn, instead of shouting her daughter down, as she usually did, she shook her head. When she spoke, her voice was strained. “I don’t think you realize just how lucky you are, Payton. Some girls would give anything to be where you are, loved and desired by a man who comes from such wealth and social standing. What else are you going to do?”

Instead of anger or resentment at her mother’s old-fashioned notions, Payton only felt sadness for her. Sadness that she never valued herself enough to demand more. Expect better. Payton knew nothing of her mother’s childhood, what her grandparents were like, as her mother refused to talk about it, but she could only imagine that part of Emily Vaughn’s perspective of life came from them. But Payton wouldn’t be like her mother. She wouldn’t settle for anything less than her happiness first. Not anymore.

She thought about the question she’d posed. What was she going to do if she left Brad? She smiled, as the sureness of what she was going to say took hold. “I’m going to finally do what I’ve always wanted to do, live my life on my terms. And hopefully, figure out a way to get admitted to law school again—as uncouth and unladylike as that might be to you. Now, if you don’t mind, I really need to get downstairs and take my place next to my best friend for this long anticipated day. If you’re staying, you might want to head down and get yourself another keycard for the room. I’m taking mine.”

Before her mother could brook any further argument, Payton stormed to the door, leaving her mother with her mouth open and her eyes blaring. Her exit, however, was temporarily blocked by wide shoulders and hands that reached out to stop her from running into him.

So many emotions rushed through her as she stared into that familiar gaze. Relief. Happiness. Breathy excitement. And then a tremble of anxiety as her mother cleared her throat behind her.

Waiting for an introduction.

To…her husband.

“You okay?” Cruz asked, not taking his eyes off Payton even though another woman, who he could only assume was her mother, came up behind her, peering out at him.

“Never better,” she said a tad too brightly.

Yeah. He’d bet. He looked over to the blonde, older woman whose cold blue eyes didn’t offer a sliver of warmth. She cleared her throat and turned to stare at her daughter pointedly.

Payton seemed to register the fact her mother was waiting for a formal introduction, as if she was the freaking queen of England, and stepped back. “Cruz, this is my mother, Emily Vaughn. Mother, Cruz Sorensen, Kate’s future brother-in-law and the person who made sure I arrived here in one piece.”

Emily Vaughn didn’t attempt to disguise the fact she was inspecting him from head to toe, not looking particularly impressed. When she finally met his gaze, her mouth pursed in a thin-lipped frown.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Vaughn.” He could at least exhibit politeness.

“Mhmm. Well, I guess I owe you my thanks, Mr. Sorensen. I know how hard it can be to keep my daughter out of trouble at times. But I’m here now and you needn’t worry yourself any longer where she’s concerned.”

Payton looked back at Cruz, forced smile still on her face, but this time her eyes danced with a little humor as she crossed them together and pulled a face.

He barely managed to tamp down the laugh that was trying to make its way out when Payton relaxed her face again and turned back to her mother, appearing the picture of innocence.

“I just wanted to see if Payton needed any assistance finding the room where the brunch is being held. Kate was concerned since she hadn’t arrived yet,” he added, even though Kate hadn’t said anything of the sort, but the old bat didn’t know that.

“That’s awful sweet of you, Cruz,” Payton said. “I was just heading to the front desk to get directions. But maybe you can escort me yourself.”

“Why don’t I grab my purse and I can join—” Payton’s mother started.

“Mother, I know you’re tired from your long trip and weren’t you just telling me you wanted to rest before joining everyone this evening for the ceremony? As you can see, I’ll be in good hands. You don’t need to tag along.”

Mrs. Vaughn looked like she wanted to argue for a moment but instead pursed her lips together in disapproval. Probably realizing that she’d make more of a scene if she insisted.

“Very well. I’ll just do a little unpacking, maybe order up a light lunch. But for heaven’s sake, Payton, please take a hat with you. The bright Mexican sun is destroying your complexion.”

Payton sighed and walked to the bedroom, returning after a minute with a wide-brimmed hat.

“We’d better go. I’ll see you later,” she said to her mother.

He opened the door and turned one last time to say good-bye but the woman had already left the room. In the hallway, Payton groaned. “Sorry about that. Please don’t take offense. She’s like that with most people.”

“Really? And here I was thinking she might actually like me.”

Payton snorted in a very unlady-like way and led the way down the hall. Leaving him to admire the way her hair fell soft and shining over her shoulders, how her ankle-skimming dress—a soft blue—clung to her curves in a tantalizing way, reminding him of the way her body fit against his, perfect and lovely.

He imagined for a moment what it would be like to actually call her his wife. To announce to everyone the commitment they made to each other and intended on honoring…all the days of their lives. Or, at least until she woke up and realized he wasn’t enough for her. That she needed more. More of what Brad Eastman and the millions of dollars at his fingertips could offer her.

No. Best not to let his imagination get away from him. Payton would never be happy with someone like him.

They reached the elevator and pushed the call button. “I reached my assistant earlier,” he said, hoping to ease her mind. “She’s looking into finding an attorney for us to speak to. But with it being the weekend, it might have to wait until we get home on Monday. What time is your flight home?”

She didn’t look at him, keeping her eyes on the doors that were still shut. “I’m actually leaving tomorrow. My mother booked us both return tickets home. Something I would have argued with if I hadn’t realized that if I didn’t go along with it, I’d be stuck with her as my roommate another night.”

She was leaving tomorrow. He didn’t know why, but the thought of her getting on a plane, leaving him behind, filled him with an unsettling feeling in his chest. “I’m sure news that your mother will be gone by tomorrow will give the hotel staff some relief.”

“I’ll bet.” But she was smiling. The elevator opened, empty and waiting, and they stepped inside. “Um, I should probably warn you. Kate and I had a little bit of a heart to heart. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her about us being married, but I did mention something about the high volume of tequila we consumed and how we managed to…uh, get Biblical last night.”

He grinned. “Biblical? Honey, I don’t think any of those moves we did last night were sanctioned by the good book.”

She raised those green impish eyes to his, smiling back. Neither of them looked away as the eight floors passed above them as the elevator slowly descended. Then they weren’t smiling, and Payton’s mouth had dropped the barest amount. Just as it had last night when he’d been about to kiss her. Her face was flushed, and from the way her chest was rising and falling, she was having as hard of a time finding her breath as he was.

The lurching of the elevator as they came to a stop broke their eye contact. He glanced up to see they were only on the second floor. An older couple, in matching yellow floral shirts got on. “Looks like you might have room for two more?” the older man asked.

One damn floor. They couldn’t take the stairs for one floor? Cruz had been that close to…

He glanced again at Payton. She was biting her lip, as if trying to stop herself from laughing. The old couple turned and looked at them with suspicion, knowing they’d interrupted something more scintillating than just a kiss, before turning back around.

A few seconds later, the doors opened and they all got off, but he wasn’t in a hurry to join the rest, and slowed his pace as they crossed the lobby. Payton didn’t seem to mind, either, her hand at her side. Close enough for him to reach over and place in his. The urge was almost overwhelming.

But before he could actually act on that foolish notion, they reached the Garden Room and dozens of interested eyes settled on them when they stepped out onto the patio.

And he thought facing Emily Vaughn had been a challenge.

She had nothing on the wide and mischievous smiles of his aunts when they saw them, undoubtedly ready to sharpen their matchmaking skills on the two of them.

He would have warned Payton about them, but he didn’t have time before she was enveloped in the generous bosom of his Aunt Essie.

Chapter Thirteen

Payton had never been as mauled by so many women in her life as when Cruz introduced her to his family, their names and faces becoming a blur. And even though physical contact wasn’t something she was used to from her own family, let alone strangers, she was oddly comfortable.

Fifteen minutes later, she finally snuck away from two particularly nosy but well meaning aunts and sank into an empty chair next to one of his two sisters. Over the rim of the glass of iced water, she tried not to sneak peeks at Cruz, who had left her side to check a message he’d received and, even now, was sitting two tables over, his face still buried in his phone.

She knew why he did it, worked himself to death in the name of business. Cruz, as much as he tried to pretend he was a cold and levelheaded businessman first, did everything for his family. To secure their future as much as his own. And here, sitting in the loud but loving grasp of his family, who were teasing each other, cursing at each other, and all connected by this bond called family, no matter how tenuous the connection, she could see why the success of their business might be so important to him. And she could see why Kate thrived under the affection, since she’d never had that kind of thing herself, which made Payton beyond ecstatic for her friend. Even if a little sad.

She thought about the fancy engagement party her mother had forced on her last December. A stuffy affair with people who she barely knew and who didn’t care about her even half as much as these people cared for Kate. Heck, to be honest, her own family of aunts and uncles and cousins were prickly and cold, more inclined to a careful peck on the cheek than the full-bosomed hugs and embraces that Payton had already received today from a dozen strangers.

For a moment she thought about what her mother would do if Cruz’s Aunt Essie, with the wide smile and generous bosom, had tried to pull her into a hug and she almost giggled at the prospect. Her mother’s head would probably explode, or she’d bust off one of her ridiculously expensive veneers while gritting her teeth.

“What has you so amused?” Kate asked, taking a seat across from her. She burst into laughter when Payton explained, catching Benny’s attention.

The youngest of the siblings, Benny was also the one giving her the most discomforting glances. Like she knew something was up and was going to wrestle someone to the ground to get the information. And although she was a smaller-framed woman, close to Payton’s size, Payton wouldn’t put it past the woman to be able to pin Cruz down based on her guts and cunning alone.

“Wait until later tonight,” Benny said. “After the wedding, the real celebration begins. You might want to warn your mother that alcohol and dancing always sends this family into planet crazy-pants.”

Payton froze, the piece of melon she was about to bite still on the fork prong. Was that a hint that Benny knew that had happened last night?

“Stop, Benny,” Kate said still laughing. “She just might believe you.”

Payton pushed her suspicion aside and smiled into the woman’s wide blue eyes. Damn. She would kill to have those long lashes. “Should we expect you to table dance later on tonight?”

“Only if you’re joining me,” she said and they all laughed. Benny studied Payton another minute, shaking her head. “I can’t imagine being stuck in a car with my older brother for two long days. He’s such a backseat driver. When I was sixteen, he took me out once for a lesson but after twenty minutes of telling me I wasn’t holding the steering wheel correctly or that I should have put my turn signal on four seconds before I did, I was ready to push him out of the moving car. Dominic, thank God, was way more laidback.”

“Cruz must have mellowed over the years,” Payton said. “He mostly just gripped the dash if he thought I was going too fast or distracted himself by staring at his computer screen.”

Benny sighed. “Seriously? You should have tossed that thing out the window in Laredo. He’s on freaking vacation.” They all took that moment to look over to the other table where Cruz was studying something on his cell phone. “I love him and know that he’s working really hard all to make dad and everyone proud, but I wish he’d learn to have a little fun too. Since as long as I can remember he’s always been working toward something and keeping his nose to the grind, not permitting any distractions.”

“And this is coming from someone who easily works sixty to eighty hours a week doing her pediatric residency up at the U,” Kate added.

Payton looked at Cruz’s sister in surprise. Make-up free, her hair thrown in a simple ponytail and a large shapeless dress that did nothing to show her figure underneath, Benny looked more like an undergrad in herbology than someone who’d graduated medical school and was doing a residency at a premier hospital. In comparison to Daisy’s more trendy and pretty outfit of a flowing skirt and tank, Payton couldn’t help but wonder if the uninspiring look was on purpose, or because Benny really had no clue how gorgeous she was. The way the woman shifted and pulled the dress away from her body, clearly uncomfortable in the dress, she’d bet on the latter.

Payton felt self-conscious. Sitting there with two women, similar in age to herself, one a doctor and one a lawyer, she didn’t know if she’d ever felt more inadequate. If Benny were to ask her what she did, what would she say? That she was on the board of a number of charities, planning various events, phone drives—or in plainer terms, planning parties and what kind of wine goes best with cocktail wieners.

Payton knew one thing, however. She wouldn’t be gopher to her mother and her dozens of charity events, not anymore. She meant what she’d said to her mother. She was going to do something with more purpose. Whether she had her approval or not.

“How’s your big wedding coming?” Benny asked, taking a pull from a beer. “And how come your fiancé didn’t come down with you?”

Payton set her glass down. With surprising calm and relief, she said, “The wedding’s off.” The more she said it, the more real it finally seemed. She really was doing this. Or not doing this, rather.

“You’re kidding.” Benny’s eyes rounded like saucers. “What happened?”

The sting of Brad’s betrayal was lessening and Payton imparted the worst of it to Benny who added appropriate epitaphs and groans as the occasion warranted. She was funny and open and, surprisingly, even more sarcastic than Kate.

As Payton finished, she cautioned a glance over at Cruz and realized he was watching them, a strange look on his face. She wondered if he could hear their conversation from there and if, for all she knew, he’d been following it all along. It gave her a certain level of embarrassment and excitement to think so. Meeting her gaze and realizing she’d caught him, he dropped his own back to his phone.

“Well, you’re holding up pretty well, which I’d say is a good sign that you made the right decision,” Benny said.

“Yes, well, don’t tell that to my mother or she’ll murder you on the spot. She’s…having a harder time with it.”

Benny grinned. “I’ll bet.”

“Which means she’s going to be an even bigger pill later when she watches my best friend get married, thinking about everything she’s going to miss. Speaking of which…” Payton said and turned to Kate, looking so bright and happy and relaxed, “…you should probably be getting upstairs if we’re going to get you and Dominic married before the sun sets. Just like you always dreamed.”

Kate smiled over at Dominic, all the love she had for him shining in her eyes.

Payton’s own heart tightened in happiness and joy and, admittedly, a little envy.

How would it be to be able to express that love for someone you cared deeply about, without worry, without restraint? Kate had asked her how she felt about Cruz, and she’d managed to sidestep the question then.

Then there’d been the moment on the elevator, when their eyes met and she’d seen such yearning, such naked desire on his face, she’d been stunned. It seemed to echo what surely was reflected on her own face. He’d been about to kiss her, she was almost certain, and had anticipated the touch of his lips, the rush of blood flushing through her body, and her belly had fluttered—or perhaps it had been the motion from the elevator dropping. But then the moment was over and she was left breathless and frustrated.

She couldn’t deny that somehow, in the past few days, she’d dropped whatever defenses she’d put up where Cruz Sorensen was concerned and begun to possibly, just possibly, fall in love with the big brute. Just a little.

A man who hours before had said the moment that had culminated in their saying I do before God and the church full of people had all been a mistake.

“How you feeling?” Cruz asked, hazarding a look to his right, where the man of the hour was standing.

“Never better,” Dominic said with a surprising amount of calmness.

Cruz studied his brother’s face for any signs of distress or nervousness, even though both emotions weren’t anywhere near his more laidback brother’s usual MO. But the only emotion he could see was something akin to excitement, happiness, and a sort of…peace. As if he knew everything he’d ever wanted was about to be his. Which from what Cruz could tell from seeing the couple together over the past few months, was likely true. Other than his own parents, Cruz didn’t know if he’d ever seen two people more in love and right for each other. “Yeah. I can see that. You’re a lucky man.”

“Don’t I know it. I just hope that someday you’ll be standing where I am. Having found the one woman who you know will make you the happiest man on the face of the planet.”

Cruz could imagine standing in that same place. Had done it, in fact, just a few hours ago. Not that he was about to tell Dominic that, Cruz only nodded, and turned his attention back to scanning the familiar faces of the guests, seated in eight rows evenly placed on each side of the aisle. He paused when he saw Emily Vaughn’s surly expression.

Seated in the second row on the bride’s side—which technically was filled with most of Cruz’s abundant family—the woman was doing a great job of pretending that no one else sat on either side of her, keeping her gaze glued ahead in the distance. Fortunately, everyone around her was just as keen on avoiding Payton’s mother and were laughing among themselves. He heard more than a few joking references to the sour-faced woman—all in Spanish, of course, and he smothered a smile and turned away, taking in the rest of the view outside on the patio.

Normally Cruz didn’t give much thought to things like fading light and scenic views, but he had to give Kate and Dominic credit for finding such a gorgeous vista for this moment. It was glorious that fine evening, the clouds hanging over the ocean in the background that, with the waning sun reflecting off of them, had become deep shades of pinks and purples. The large private patio where the ceremony was being held offered an incomparable view of the ocean in all its blues and teals set against such a gorgeous sky.

His cellphone vibrated from his breast pocket, telling him he had an email, but he forced himself to ignore it. Having already chatted briefly with Dick earlier, confirming that Payton was safely delivered to the hotel, he was expecting a copy of their contract emailed any minute now, with Dick’s signature on the bottom line. Leaving only Cruz’s signature to finalize the document. His chest puffed slightly at the thought of the headlines reporting the massive deal and the buzz that would surround the company. He would be deemed worthy of Payton Vaughn by anyone’s standards at that point.

His finger itched to check the phone, just once. To be sure. But this was his brother’s wedding, and Dominic would kill him if he knew the phone was with him, let alone if he actually checked his messages.

Instead, he turned back to the front where the guests were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the most illustrious of attendees—the bride. As the music began to his left, announcing the beginning of the big event, there was another person Cruz was looking forward to seeing almost as much as, if not more. Enough that the lure of the message waiting on his cellphone was completely forgotten as he waited in anticipation.

But it looked like the order was his sisters, Daisy and Benny, first, smiling widely at their family as they took agonizingly slow steps to the front, pink roses grasped in their hands. Daisy’s steps looked effortless in her heels and pretty, flowing dress in a shade of turquoise almost like the ocean behind her. Benny’s were a little more precarious as his sister was more used to high tops and sneakers than heels. But she looked beautiful, and he was stunned for a moment at how well his youngest sister cleaned up when she wasn’t hiding behind baggy clothes.

His nieces came next, dropping flowers and looking adorable. His nephew threatened to steal the show, however. At six, Paul strutted down the aisle with the proudest grin bursting on his sweet little face. When he reached the end of the aisle, Dominic and Cruz each took a moment to ruffle his hair before positioning him in place.

Cruz caught his mother and father in the front row giving each other smiles, tears in his mother’s eyes before his dad pulled her in and kissed her. He wrapped his arm over her shoulder and they turned to look upon their family.

Then the familiar sound of the wedding march started and people were coming to their feet. An overwhelming sense of need to see…her—Payton—filled him, and he wondered how Dominic was bearing under the same pressure. Heads were tilting this way and that to try and get the first glimpse and in another moment, the vision Cruz was waiting for almost breathlessly turned the corner and came into view.

Lovely didn’t even begin to describe her.

His heart burgeoned in his chest as he took in Payton’s almost ethereal beauty. Dressed in the same pretty dress as his sisters, she somehow managed to make it all her own as it clung to her graceful figure—a figure that had fit so well against his own—the hemline ending just above her knees. Her strawberry blond hair shone in the diminishing light, and he admired the way it was swept up and off her shoulders, leaving that creamy pale neck exposed. He waited, as she drew nearer, to see the two moles just below her ear.

She met his gaze, and he was confounded by the deep green depths, so alive and bright and luminous. Eyes that promised forever last night; he was near crazy enough right now to believe that she was looking at him in that same way now.

Like she was his.

Then she glanced away and passed Dominic to find her place in the line. Cruz’s heart was pounding so loud he thought his brother was going to look over at him in alarm but he didn’t. Cruz was relieved to see that everyone’s eyes were now trained at the start of the aisle, waiting for Kate.

Save for one.

Emily Vaughn’s gaze was on him, her eyes narrowed almost to slits, and he knew without any doubt that whatever emotions he felt for the woman’s daughter had been naked and exposed not just to Payton’s gaze—but to her mother’s. Heaven help him.

A bright and beaming Kate appeared next and the crowd came to their feet, eager for a better glimpse at the beautiful bride. He patted Dominic’s shoulder, but his brother barely noticed, his eyes only for one woman.

On notice from the glaring woman in the audience to keep his attention where it should be—on the bride and groom—Cruz turned to the justice of the peace who was officiating over the ceremony.

But it was hard. So hard. Because now on opposite sides of the row, both facing the couple in the center, he was hard-pressed not to stare into Payton’s pretty face. To take in his fill of the soft contours of her jawline, the curve of those deep red lips that he ached to taste again. Stare into those eyes that were staring back at him just as ferociously.

Damn. He should have kissed her in the elevator. Should have crushed her to him and finally been honest with her. Confessed to her that she aroused so many different needs and feelings in him that he was still trying to figure them all out. But that if she stayed by his side—in his arms…in his bed—they could figure things out together.

Dominic began to speak, to promise words of love to one woman, but it was Payton that Cruz was watching. His words from the previous night came flooding back to him. Promising to love her, honor her, stay true to her always and forever, promising himself only to her.

Dominic repeated those same words, and this time Cruz tore his gaze from Payton to stare at Kate, his almost sister-in-law. Kate stared in rapturous wonder at Dominic, her heart there for everyone to see.

What would it be like to have Payton standing before him again, sober, with that same look? To be standing where Dominic was, knowing this woman loved him so deeply and entirely, pushing away any doubts he might have that he was never going to be enough?

That she only wanted him, now and always?

Like the best thing that could ever happen to him.

Payton watched Dominic swear his love and devotion to her best friend, working hard the entire time to keep her gaze from meeting the man’s just behind him. The man who, when she’d come down the aisle just moments ago, had looked at her with those dark, haunting brown eyes, eyes that made her think for a minute he was waiting there for her.

Kate repeated the same vows and despite herself, Payton found tears slipping down her cheek. All too soon, the official proclaimed them husband and wife, and Dominic pulled Kate in for their first kiss, sending the audience into wild applause.

Payton dared a quick glance at Cruz. Yep, he was watching her, and she wiped the tears from her cheek and put on a bright smile just as Kate turned around and reached for her bouquet.

“Congrats, Kate,” she whispered, and her best friend hugged her tightly, then turned back to her new husband, as he took her hand and they walked down the aisle together.

At least one of them could have it all.

By the time pictures were taken and they were free to their own devices, the sun was tucked away and the sky above them dark save for the bright twinkling lights that crossed overhead, lighting the dance floor and dinner tables underneath.

Kate had foregone designating where anyone was going to sit for the reception and had left that to the guests—a wise decision since Payton wouldn’t put it past Cruz’s boisterous family to disregard name cards anyway. Most tables were full but one was left reserved for members of the wedding party. The sisters were already there, trying to get the kids to settle down. Kate and Dominic were held up speaking to Cruz’s parents, which left Cruz unaccounted for.

Payton’s eyes searched the tables again, in case she missed someone. An odd prickling at the back of her neck told her that she’d found her quarry when seconds later, his warm breath tickled her bare skin.

She didn’t dare to move, didn’t know if she could, as this man, this man who engendered the most bewildering conduct from her, reached her side. Neither of them seemed capable of speech, just enjoying the moment. She was almost afraid to speak for fear the magic of the moment would be broken.

“Payton,” Cruz finally said, his words deep and soft.

But whatever he was about to say was lost as Emily Vaughn’s determined face appeared in front of them, and Payton took a step back involuntarily.

“There you are, Payton. Cruz,” she muttered, barely glancing his way before returning her attention to Payton. “I was worried that Kate was going to keep you hostage the rest of the night for wedding photos. Now that you’re here, we should go take a seat as it appears they’re finally going to serve us dinner.”

“Oh. I was planning on sitting with the rest of the wedding—”

“I hope you understand how difficult it is for me, Payton, being here in this strange place,” her mother said in that long suffering voice Payton knew all too well, “not knowing anyone except you. You’re not going to leave me to sit by myself for dinner, too, are you? I promise I won’t make you miss out on the festivities. In fact, I’ll make myself scarce right after dinner. You may want to consider it, too, since our flight leaves in the afternoon and we need to make sure we leave plenty of time to check in and—”

Payton barely managed to restrain from rolling her eyes. “Yes. Fine. Of course, I can sit with you.” If it meant that her mother would retire to their room as soon as they ate, she could force herself to share a meal. A peace offering to the news that she’d dropped on her mother’s lap.

“We’ll both keep you company,” Cruz said and glanced around “We could probably squeeze in another chair at our table, if you’d like.”

“Isn’t that…sweet. But it won’t be necessary. I already have my sweater and purse holding our seats over there.” She pointed to a location several seats away from Kate and Dominic’s.

If Payton wasn’t actually stressed at the unlimited amount of barbs and insults her mother could level on Cruz in the space of twenty minutes, she might have put her foot down. Told her mother that she wanted Cruz’s company and if she didn’t like it, she could leave.

But Payton knew all too well how the woman’s jibes could cut to the bone. And although she was sure Cruz could handle anything her mother threw at him, she would rather save the peace. For now. “It’s fine, really,” she said in reassurance to the concern she saw in his eyes.

“We’ll catch up later,” he said, almost like a promise. He turned to her mother, and nodded briefly. “I hope you enjoy your dinner.”

Casually, he brought his hand to his heart for barely a second as he met her gaze. With a warm smile that left her stomach twisting all over again, he walked over to the table where his family was already seated.

A memory niggled at her. Of Cruz smiling as she nestled into his crook just after making love. Of him taking her hand in his, then laying it over his heart and whispering something in Spanish that she hadn’t understood, but insisted he translate. He’d kissed her hand and returned it to his heart saying—

“Payton? Are you okay?”

Payton jerked her head and tried to smile with nonchalance. “Just thinking how happy I am for my best friend. The ceremony couldn’t have been more perfect. Should we go take out seats?”

Payton slipped into her seat, barely hearing the litany of complaints her mother unleashed about the horrible hotel service. She was thinking about what Cruz had promised. The words playing in her mind like he was right there, whispering them again.

“You have my heart, always and forever.”

Her mother asked her something, but Payton couldn’t remember the question much less give a response, and her mother glared at her in disapproval.

But she didn’t care. Because tonight, like she’d told her mother, she was going to finally do what she had always wanted for herself.

She was going to live on her own terms. Do what made her happy.

And whether or not she and Cruz decided to permanently dissolve their marriage come Monday, tonight she wanted to dance in the arms of the man that she had promised to love and honor all the days of her life. She wasn’t going to worry about what might happen the next day; she was going to trust in this thing that had developed between her and Cruz and see what happened.

And she couldn’t wait to tell him.

Chapter Fourteen

Cruz sat through an interminable conversation between his sisters as they debated the appealing qualities of Henry Cavill, Brandon Routh, and Tom Welling, all men who, in the past decade, had played Superman in various screen adaptations. Daisy seemed to have a soft spot for the brainier, more introspective of the three while Benny’s preference was purely physical—making him fidget for a moment trying to tune out their conversation.

He glanced over to where Payton and her mother sat, looking for any sign of distress on Payton’s part. He’d already decided to rescue her the moment Payton looked the least bit upset, no matter how hard the dragon lady might glare at him. But Payton almost seemed to be in her own world, barely hearing whatever her mother was discussing next to her.

“You are in big trouble,” Daisy’s voice said, breaking into his thoughts. It took him a minute to realize she was talking to him and turned to look at her. She leaned back in her chair, an arm casually thrown over the back of it, and smiled at him with a little too much satisfaction.

He sat up a little straighter. “What do you mean?”

She laughed softly and shook her head. “The way your eyes have been glued on her all night tells me that you’re interested in Payton Vaughn as more than just an…acquaintance.”

He thought about denying it but decided it would be pointless. But he wasn’t about to wax poetic on all the reasons he found the woman intriguing and passionate and like a refreshing breath of fresh air in his life. Especially since that breath of fresh air was about to disappear in a matter of hours. Back to her life. He decided silence was his best defense.

“Fine. Don’t confide in your favorite sister. But from the way her mother is watching her, I’d say you’re going to have your work cut out for you. She’s guarding her like a prisoner. Don’t think she’s going to take well to you shattering her plans for her prodigy.”

Daisy hit the nail on the head with that assessment, but she always was very intuitive. Scarily so.

Kate and Dominic’s wedding party wasn’t overly large but even so it took a couple of attempts for the DJ to get their attention. With the usual introductions and pomp, he introduced the new couple and asked them to go start the evening out on the dance floor as husband and wife.

Kate was flushed with excitement as Dominic brushed her up against him for a soft kiss, taking one hand in his and holding her so close as though he was afraid she was going to slip away. The soft folksy tune of “Crazy Love” began to play and from the look on Kate’s expression, Cruz could see she was shocked and touched by the choice, as some memory must have been triggered.

For a brief moment, the bride glanced across the room at her maid of honor, and Cruz took the opportunity to sneak another long look at Payton. Something passed between the women and she nodded to Kate, a wide smile bursting across her face, tears slipping down.

She was so damn beautiful. Inside and out.

He could watch her all night. The song came to a close and another slow song started. At the DJ’s invitation, his parents and some of his aunts and uncles crowded on the floor.

To hell with Emily Vaughn and whatever certain fit she was going to have. He rose and walked across the patio until he reached Payton. Her eyes were wide with uncertainty.

“Let’s dance.”

“Payton, I don’t think it’s a good idea when you have an early—” her mother started.

But Payton rose to her feet, her eyes still on him. She placed her hand in his. “Love to.”

Whatever else her mother said was lost to him as he slid his arm around her waist, bringing her in closer to him, enough that he could breathe in her sweet familiar scent.

“You know that Emily Vaughn is probably sic’ing a henchman on your ass right now.”

He heard the smile in her voice, though, not disapproval. Not fear.

“Let’s face it. No one can be as terrifying as your mother.”

At this she laughed, the light, melodic sound that reminded him of those carefree moments in the car. Shoving Bueno bars in her mouth with relish as she joked about needing twine and Vaseline now to squeeze into that bridesmaid dress.

“Yeah,” she said finally. She looked up, her green eyes bright. “But somewhere in the past few days I’ve realized that I’m not afraid of her anymore. The power she had over me? That ever-present deep-residing need I’ve always had to try and please her, please my father, to make them somehow…love me?” She shook her head. “I can’t do it anymore. I’ve gone to the right schools, hosted the right parties, dressed the right way…even got engaged to the right guy. But I still didn’t feel good enough. There was always something I should be doing better. So I say the hell with it all. I’m not going to do anything to make anyone else happy first. I’m going to try and decide something new. What makes me happy.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You came into all of this in the space of one dinner with your mother? What kind of chicken were they serving you?”

She smiled. “Just sitting there tonight, hearing the usual Emily Vaughn complaints where no one was ever good enough when compared to the high standards she’s set for herself, it came to me. She isn’t ever going to be happy, no matter what I do. I started remembering things, happy moments in my life. Moments over the past few days that have made me realize there was more to life than trying to earn my parents’ love and approval. I want to try and feel that way again.”

Happy moments over the past few days. Was she saying moments with him? “So dodging yellow school buses barreling your way on a Mexican highway is your idea of happy times?”

“It was definitely a highlight. But none compared to the moments with you.”

Now his heart was stopping. “Like what?” he asked, his voice gruffer than he’d intended.

“Like discovering that, that night, when we first met? You were going to find me.” She smiled. “I had no idea.”

“Yeah, well you had been pretty unforgettable. Beautiful, of course, but it was your smile, the tilt of your head when you looked up at me. You were just brimming with life and love and spirit. Even in that first moment I felt that any man would be invincible with you by his side.”

She flushed at his words but didn’t say anything, instead letting him hold her as they danced like no one else was around them.

“Cruz?” she asked finally, she paused, biting her bottom lip. “I know you said it was a mistake, but when I asked you to marry me? I think that was the first time in my life I’d ever followed what was in my heart. I knew, in my heart, that you could make me happy.”

He stopped mid-step to study this vision in his arms. She was looking at him almost wistfully now, as she waited for his response. Payton Vaughn. The most enigmatic, passionate, and beautiful woman he’d ever known. He stepped more firmly into the next beat, tightening his arm around her waist, trying to find words.

But Payton wasn’t done. “I know it’s insane, but everything we’ve done the past two days has been absolutely crazy. And I’ve never been happier. What—what if we tried this out. You, me. Just for a little while?”

It was almost too incredible. Too impossible to believe.

But there was no denying she was there, slight but steady in his arms, her eyes staring at him with hope, her lips soft and parted, aching to be kissed. No—for him to kiss her.

Something he’d been fighting the desire to do since she first appeared at the end of that aisle tonight, walking toward him.

Maybe, just maybe…he could be that man.

He could be the lucky guy to have Payton at his side, loving and supporting him, just as he would love and support her.

He brought her against him, holding her there. Then with a quick flip of his wrist, he twirled her out, earning a yelp before he twirled her back in. “Mrs. Sorensen,” he said, the words surprising him as much as they did her. “Are you fishing for a date with me?”

She smiled, her dimples deep and etched in her face as she turned toward him. “I do believe I am.”

He looked down at where her hand rested in his, soft, graceful. He longed to kiss it, to hold it to his heart again. But there were too many eyes. Not here. Not just yet. “I have a few ideas of where we might want to go. But all of them involve you not leaving tomorrow morning with the old battle axe.”

She had dropped her gaze to where their hands were entwined, her breathing a little shallow. “Do any of them have to do with hockey? Because I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find an ice rink here in Puerto Vallarta.”

He chuckled and rubbed his thumb against the softness of her skin. “No, but they did involve you. In or out of a bikini. And sand and water, and maybe a few moments in that extra large tub in my room.”

“I think that might be something that can be arranged.”

This is absolutely crazy.

She, Payton Vaughn, just days after ending a longstanding engagement, was about to step into the suite of the one man who’d driven her crazier than any other man she’d ever known. Who would probably continue to drive her crazy.

But crazy seemed to be their mantra. Nothing they did was normal or rational—especially getting married just one night before on the spur of the moment. It was what made it all the more exciting.

Cruz slipped the keycard in the door, taking a moment to look down at her, his eyelids heavy as if he was already envisioning her naked. He had to stop looking at her like that or she’d be a puddle at his feet before they even got started.

He pushed open the door, waiting for her to go in.

She was doing this. She was really doing this.

Swallowing a nervous hiccup, she entered the low-lit room, thanks to the lamp he’d left on by the window. But it wasn’t the front room that she was interested in exploring, and she continued on to the bedroom, feeling his gaze on her. Her heart pumped loud and frantically from anticipation and she turned to face him.

Scared because she didn’t think she’d wanted anything more than his touch.

Cruz raised his hand to her face, his thumb outlining the curve of her jaw as he closed the space between them. His lips touched her jawline, tender, and slipped to her neck. She shivered and raised herself on her toes to bring him closer.

But Cruz had other ideas as he swept his arm under her upper thighs and lifted her up in his arms, cradling her to him, before taking three long strides to the bed. He laid her down so gently it was as if he feared she might break and stood there for the longest moment, just looking at her, almost as if he was as disbelieving as her that she was really here.

Now. In his bed.

His first kiss was soft, teasingly so, as he kept his eyes on her. She wanted to savor the satisfaction in those dark eyes, but his hand was moving alongside her body making it impossible to think. To stay focused. Then he was kissing her everywhere, and deft fingers were loosening the fabric around her until it was no longer there and she was nearly naked under his gaze.

“You’re sure about this?” he whispered as his lips nuzzled her neck, making her dizzy with need.

She sighed and shut her eyes as the rush of tender emotions shook her. “Not a doubt in my mind.”

Not that she didn’t have other doubts. Doubts as to where this might lead, whether Cruz would find room for her in his life. Whether whatever place she took up in his life would be enough.

But right now, in this place, at this time, the only thing she didn’t doubt was that she wanted to try. Wanted to see where this thing with Cruz might take them.

And to feel his lips, his mouth, his hands make love to her with the same passion and fervor as the hazy memories from last night showed him capable. Enjoy the moments, for however long they might last.

Although she was hoping for forever.

Payton felt like a wayward teenager as she crept down the hall later the next morning toward her own room. If she could hole up in Cruz’s room the rest of the day she would, but there were some things that had to be settled. Starting with letting her mother know she wasn’t going to be taking that flight back home today after all.

So with a quick note written on the hotel’s stationary and a longer kiss on Cruz’s still sleeping lips, she’d quietly snuck out to go face the dragon.

Her key card slipped in and she slowly opened the door, anticipating the chain to be an extra hindrance to entering unannounced. But no chain was stretched across to bar her entry, and she breathed a sigh as she shut the door behind her and dropped the shoes she’d been carrying to the floor. She’d only taken two steps into the suite when she realized she wasn’t alone, as the person seated on the corner chair, unmoving, came to their feet.

She expected to see her mother’s frown but instead found herself looking into a definitely masculine, handsome, and all too-familiar face. Blue eyes tinged with golden brown turned down. Almost filled with sorrow. Apology. And confusion.

“Brad,” she whispered.

“Payton?” Her mother’s voice rang out from the bedroom and a moment later she joined them.

But Payton could only stare at the man in front of her. The man she had thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with until three days before. The aching pain of his betrayal stung her again, but admittedly less forcefully, as the pain was replaced with a newfound excitement and happiness. And maybe even a little guilt.

After all, she had ended up marrying someone one day after his betrayal.

“Payton,” her mother started again but it was high and absurdly bright. Definitely hiding something. “Brad arrived almost an hour ago. As I told him when he knocked on the door, hoping to find you and get some time to finally talk, you had an early breakfast with Kate and a few of the others in the wedding party and would be along soon.”

Ahh. So her mother still thought their wedding could be saved. Payton actually felt a moment of pity for her. She wasn’t going to like what she was about to hear. But all in good time. First Payton owed the truth to Brad. And then she’d handle her mother.

Brad was still staring at her, almost in disbelief as he took in her barefooted appearance, the hair that was still uncombed and probably ratted in the back thanks to all the hairspray she’d used to keep the up-do for the ceremony. And possibly the bright glow that she felt emanated from every pore, she was that happy.

He scratched his head, barely mussing the thick dark blond mop on his head. “Payton? What’s going on? You went to breakfast like…this?” Even he didn’t sound like he believed it.

“Mother. Maybe you could check out the pool? Take a walk on the beach? It’s a glorious day outside.”

Just be anywhere else but here.

“I think I’ve had enough sun,” her mother said, ready to argue before taking a long pause. “But I would be happy to leave the two of you alone for just a moment. First, I need a word with you, darling. In private.”

“I’m sure that what you have to say can wait. Brad just—”

“No. It’s okay,” Brad said. “Look, Payton, I love you. I’m not going anywhere. Take a minute with your mother,” he said and walked to the door, “and I’m going to run to the front desk for a couple of bottled waters. We can talk when I’m back.” He gave her a reassuring smile, before opening the door, leaving them alone.

“Payton Elisabeth,” her mother now hissed, any pretense of goodwill and cheer gone. Payton finally looked at her mother. White linen pants and a short-sleeved matching top gave her mother a casual but elegant style that contradicted the fury on the woman’s face, her fingers clenched into fists. “Of all the ridiculous, short-sighted decisions you could make, you would choose the absolute worst. Dancing with that man like you did last night in such a vulgar display. I finally couldn’t bare it and had to retire to our room just to calm myself.”

Payton only smiled and shook her head, trying to be patient and understanding. But she was having a hard time of it seeing as how she was barely controlling her glee at what she was about to impart.

“You can wipe that smug grin off your face, young lady. I’m on to you. Onto everything. Had I not seen those photos of the two of you, I wouldn’t have believed it. Making a mockery of marriage like that in such a lewd, disgusting way. That behavior is deplorable and thank God I had the fortitude to look through everything and get on the phone with your father.”

“What are you talking about? What photos?” Payton asked, despite having a strong suspicion.

“You know very well which photos I’m talking about. After all, you went to great lengths to hide them from me, stuffing them in the back of that drawer like that. But it’s not the first time I had to search for the truth where you’re concerned, since I know I’d never get it from you. Honestly, Payton. I can’t imagine what on earth you were thinking. Getting married to a man when you are still betrothed to another.”

“I was thinking that for the first time, I was with someone who didn’t care about my lineage, my education, who my parents are…I was with someone who only saw me. Who made me happy.”

“You don’t even know him,” her mother said, coming dangerously close to a shout.

“I know everything I need to know about him. I know he’s honorable and smart, and he loves his family and wants only to make them proud. I know that when he looks at me, I can barely catch my breath. I know that with him I can finally be myself.”

“Now you’re being ridiculous. You don’t build a life with someone based on that. You and I both know that the only reason you did this was because you’re angry with Brad and hurt. But once the two of you finally talk and clear the air, get back home where you belong without the taint of this…adventure influencing you, you’ll see that Brad is who you want, who you’re meant to be with.”

“Whether I married Cruz or not, I still wouldn’t be getting back together with Brad, Mother. I don’t love him. I never really did. But right now, Cruz is my husband. He’s the man I married, the man I want to be with. And when we get back home in a few days—yes, that’s right, I’m staying here with him a few more days—we’re going to give this marriage a chance. Either with or without your support.”

Her mother smiled and shook her head as she walked over to the couch and took a seat. “Before you go shouting your intentions to the rooftops, perhaps there’s something you should know about this marriage of yours. Last night, after I saw that license I called your father immediately. He of course got on the phone with our attorney to try and figure out how to get you out of this mess. But it seems that my worries were all for naught. There is no marriage.”

“Maybe not in your eyes, Mother, and if that’s the way you feel about it, then I’m prepared to accept that. But it is real. And neither of us are ready to give up on it. I—I love him.”

She’d never uttered those words about any man before, not even to Cruz, but she knew with certainty that she did. And she’d never felt freer.

But whatever response she’d expected from her mother to this statement, her laughter was the least she’d expected. “The only marriage you two have is symbolic. Not legal. Trust me, honey. That little paper you have doesn’t mean anything.”

Payton didn’t believe it. Didn’t want to believe it. But there was something so definite in her mother’s tone that she found herself growing uneasy. “What did Daddy’s attorney say?”

“Something about filing paperwork and birth certificates, and some nasty business about blood tests before you’d even be given a marriage certificate. And even then, marriages can only be conducted by a civil servant—not some Mexican priest.”

The logic of what her mother was saying sank in.

Cruz wasn’t her husband. They were never married.

But it didn’t change how she felt. It didn’t change what was in her heart. “Be that as it may, Mother, it doesn’t change the fact that I love Cruz. That we want to be together.”

Her mother raised her brow. “You love him and you want to be together. How about Cruz? What does he want? Has he told you he loves you?”

Neither of them had spoken the words. It was too new, and they were still figuring this out. Not that any of this was her mother’s concern. “I’m not discussing the personal details of my relationship with you. In fact, right now I only have two people I need to talk to. Neither of them is you.”

Her mother examined her perfect manicure, picking off something invisible in the cuticle bed. “Very well, Payton. But let me remind you, less than twenty-four hours ago you were standing in that very spot telling me how you weren’t going to be like me. You weren’t going to settle on being second in anyone’s life. I’m warning you now. In the end, where men like Cruz are concerned, they’re always going to choose work first. Every time. And the sooner you resolve yourself to that inevitably, the less pain you’ll experience later on. Trust me, Payton. I know what I’m talking about. Cruz is no different than your father.”

She had thought she was impervious to whatever comments her mother could make. But she hadn’t expected this. To be likened to her mother? No.

She shook her head. “I’m nothing like you, and Cruz is nothing like Daddy.”

“Payton, do you think when I married your father that I was resigned to being the woman in the shadows of his life? That I was resolved to put up with whatever indiscretions he had over the years? To know that I would never—we would never—come first? I was once just as bright-eyed and naive as you. I thought we’d be going through this life, side by side. But somewhere along the way, that changed. No, this isn’t what I ever envisioned for myself. But it’s what I’ve accepted.”

She came to her feet and stopped in front of Payton, resting her cool hand on Payton’s arm. “I know that you want to believe Cruz is different. That things will be different between you two. But I know how men like him are. Their ambition and insecurities blind them to the more important things in life. At least with Brad, you know what you’ll get. He’s not blindly ambitious, doesn’t suffer from insecurities in the least, dear boy. Both of which flaw him…that’s true. But he does love you. And he could make you happy. Think about it.”

Payton stood there another minute after her mother closed the door behind her, leaving Payton alone. To her thoughts. To her doubts. Doubts that she couldn’t shut out as she stood under the pulsating water from the shower a couple of minutes later.

She was wrong. Her mother was wrong.

Cruz would never be like her father.

Chapter Fifteen

Cruz heard someone knocking at the door but it took him a full minute to finally open his eyes and realize where he was. He reached for the bed next to him, where he’d last seen Payton, naked and smiling before he fell asleep. Empty.

He sat up.

The pounding on the door returned.

Had she left for something and gotten locked out? He grabbed his pants from the floor and slipped them on, aware that the bathroom door was open and it was dark inside. She wasn’t in there. Or the main room, as he looked around, before finally throwing the door open.

Brad’s familiar too-cocky face met him. What the—?

“Cruz Sorensen. Been a long time. What’s it been? Since high school?” The guy stood there with that same air of confidence and entitlement he’d always had, a few bottled waters tucked under his arm.

But Cruz wasn’t intimidated by his demeanor. Not anymore. He knew he was just as good as Brad, that over the years he’d come into his own, built Sorensen to what it was now through his own hard work and determination—not his daddy’s work or his family’s name. And then there was Payton. Who’d chosen him.

Cruz ran his hand through his hair, a lazy grin on his face. “Something like that.”

He looked up and down the hallway, curious as to where Payton had gone. Probably to go battle the dragon lady. Did she know Brad was here?

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m here. Don’t worry, I’m not here to punch it out with you. Payton’s mother has given me some idea what’s been going on over the past few days between you two. Can’t exactly say I blame Payton for wanting to exact a little revenge. Tit for tat. And seeing her sneak back to her room a few minutes ago, it doesn’t take a genius to realize what you two have been up to. God knows if the opportunity landed in my lap like that, a beautiful, vulnerable woman like Payton, that I wouldn’t have done the same as you.”

“You and I aren’t anything alike, Brad.” Thank God.

“You say that like it’s a relief. There’s no need for hostility. I’m not here as an outraged fiancé ready to sucker punch you—not that I wouldn’t be within my rights. But, no. I’m here in more of an official capacity. As one business representative to another. Can I come in?”

He may as well hear whatever it is Brad had to say and get it over with. Nodding, Cruz stepped aside and let the guy in. He wondered how Payton was faring, if she’d gone to confront her mother. He wished she’d at least waited for him. He would have made sure the woman didn’t bully Payton, let her know they both were in this together, their eyes wide open. Well, as soon as he got Brad out of here, he’d go and rescue her.

Brad set the water down on the coffee table and reached inside his jacket, pulling out a thick white envelope. He dropped it to the surface. “That’s the contract. Some of the dates have been moved up since dad is anxious to see that shopping center ready by the Christmas season. But other than that, it’s all signed and ready to go. Just needs your signature on the dotted line.”

Cruz narrowed his eyes. What was this? “Just like that. You and Dick have decided to finally move this forward. And no hard feelings?” His tone was suspicious, justifiably so. He was waiting for the catch. There always was one.

“None on my part. The figures are sound; you’ve shown your company is more than qualified to pull it off. Besides,” Brad smiled smugly,“this thing with Payton? I know it’s only temporary. I know that in due time, she’ll come to her senses. Realize who the person she’s more compatible with is.”

“Is that right?” Cruz went to the table and picked up the envelope and pulled the papers out. He glanced through it, spotting Dick Eastman’s signature on the bottom. He also saw they wanted to break ground one month ahead of schedule. “You think Payton is going to want you? After you cheated on her? Good luck, pal.”

“It’s not luck. It’s just the way of things, Cruz. Payton and I are the same. We come from the same cloth, the same backgrounds. We understand things that you have no idea about. It’s that bond that brought us together the first time, and that same bond is going to bring us back together. Look, I know you probably think what you and Payton have is something special. Unique. You’ve had some fun the past few days. Easy to do when you’re both away from the daily grinds of your lives. But eventually you’ll both go back home. And all the problems that you two have been avoiding are going to be waiting for you. Have you even met her father?”

“Can’t say as I’ve had the pleasure yet. But from what I hear, it’s not really like the man’s in his daughter’s life much anyhow.”

“That’s just it. He’s not there, but with that absence, his footprint in her life is even stronger. He’s never going to approve of you in her life. And no matter how much Payton denies it, she desperately needs his approval. It will throw a wrench in whatever it is you think you have.”

“What I don’t understand, Brad, is why you’re even here, telling me all this, if you’re so certain she’s coming back to you.”

“Maybe because I know that you have Payton’s interests in mind. And to hope that you’ll step aside when the time comes. I know I messed up, and I feel horrible for the shit I caused her. But I love her. I’m going to make sure she knows this and that I’ll do anything to win her back.”

“Yeah. Well good luck with that. You’re going to find that Payton’s not the same woman she was when she left home. She knows what she wants now, and she’s willing to stand up to anyone who tells her otherwise. There’s also one other little detail you may not know about. Something that tells me that whatever you may think, Payton’s moved on and is ready to make a commitment with me. Payton and I are married.”

This time Brad’s face scrunched up into a smile. He laughed, two short brays that were almost as obnoxious as the guy’s smug grin.

“It’s true. I’m sure Payton will show you the certificate if you have any doubts. Maybe let you take a peek at a few photos too.”

“Man, I kind of feel bad for what I’m about to tell you. But it’s probably best to make it quick so you don’t continue humiliating yourself like this. This so called marriage of yours? It’s not real, dude. You’ve got to know that. And I’m not just saying it’s completely incredible, but because you can’t just up and marry anyone you want in Mexico. You’d think you would know that. Aren’t you part Mexican or something?”

“Here,” Brad pulled out a folded piece paper from his back pocket and handed it to Cruz who took it but didn’t make any attempt to open it. “When Payton’s mother called me last night to tell me about what was going on, I printed this off the internet from some destination wedding place here. It tells you what you need to have an actual legal marriage.”

The guy was really starting to piss Cruz off. Not just because the words he was saying, if true, were something that he’d need a moment to consider the implications of, but because the damn cocky way the son of a bitch delivered the news and still stood there smug as ever. Cruz really was beginning to despise him.

“I’ll take a look at this. Don’t worry. But whether we’re really hitched or not doesn’t change the fact that Payton was here last night, spending the night with me. That she has chosen me. She may not be married to me now, but that’s just temporary. She’s never going to want to marry you.”

There was a flash of annoyance and anger in Brad’s eyes, but it was gone as fast as it appeared. “If you say so. Guess only time will tell. Anyhow, the contract is ready for your signature. Can’t wait to do business with you.”

Cruz nodded, not daring to say anything else that he would later regret, and watched as Brad Eastman crossed the room, stopping at the door for a parting shot. “What was the name of that girl again?”

“What girl?”

“That girlfriend of yours, the one with the big doe eyes and the rack that could put Pamela Anderson to shame? You know the one.”

Cruz clenched his fist. He would not let this prick get to him. “Angelina,” he managed to say between clenched teeth.

“Ah. That’s right. You do have good taste in women. But they always seem to know who the better man is in the end.”

With an obnoxious salute, Brad let himself out.

The paper was still in Cruz’s hand and as much as he wanted to rip it up and drop it in the garbage can, he couldn’t, not without reading it first. He opened it and scanned the words. It was as Brad said. Paperwork and birth certificates and application fees had to be filed before they could say I do. Followed by a civil ceremony to make it official.

He crumbled the paper and tossed it in the garbage. It didn’t change anything. Not for him and he was almost as certain not for Payton. But…he’d be lying if he wasn’t sweating just a little at what the prick had said. About Payton and her issues with her dad and trying to please him and that sour-faced mother until she was wrapped up like a pretzel with trying to please everyone but herself.

There were other things that Brad said that rankled too. Things that had occurred to Cruz many times over the course of the past few days. How different he was from Payton, who grew up with wealth and social connections, parties and charity events. As much as she said she was tired of it all, wanted a different life, how much did she mean it? She had said the same thing when she came home from college, before being sucked back into that life of high society parties, canapés by the pool, ritzy vacations to Cabo with Brad and Lord knew where else.

Damn. This was stupid.

He was letting Brad shake him, shake his confidence in Payton.

It wasn’t going to work. He trusted Payton.

He trusted them.

“I am sorry, Brad. But I know that this is for the best. For us both.”

She’d spent the past fifteen minutes explaining why it wasn’t going to work, listening to his apology, his claim that she was who he wanted and he’d just been so scared about the commitment they were going to make that he’d screwed up. Big time.

And she wondered, for a moment, if Cruz hadn’t come into her life, shown her what real happiness was, whether she’d have accepted his apology. Maybe grieved a little longer, make him grovel, show real contrition, and eventually…taken him back.

It was a sad truth to know it was a distinct possibility. That she had thought so little of herself, of the possibility of real happiness, that she would have accepted being just okay. Content even.

Until she saw all the possibilities that were open to her, thanks to Cruz. And herself. Now, she was impatient to get this thing over with Brad so she could find Cruz. Tell him that although their marriage may not be legally binding, it didn’t change anything for her. She still wanted to give them a chance. Maybe even consummate that choice a time or two before they went downstairs to the brunch that was planned with his family.

She glanced over to the clock on the wall. Almost ten. Was Cruz still asleep? She’d hoped he would have come looking for her by now.

Brad was still studying her, really studying her maybe for the first time. “You actually think this Cruz guy is going to make you happy?”

She sighed. “You’ve heard about us then?”

“Your mother was pretty keen on getting me out here, thought I should know about this guy that you went and got yourself married to so that I could come down here and talk sense into you.”

“Is that why you’re here? Because you were jealous?” For a minute there she had thought that Brad had shown up here because he needed to apologize.

“I am here because I knew that I made a mistake and I needed to tell you. Besides, as your mother has probably already told you, your marriage wasn’t real.”

Wow, her mother had wasted no time sharing everything with Brad. She wondered why her mother had even bothered with the farce this morning of pretending Payton had been at an early breakfast since it seemed everyone knew where she’d been.

“And yet, knowing this,” Brad continued, “knowing that you’d spent the night with this guy whose motives, I have to tell you, seem less than stellar, I still got on that flight and came here. Look, Payton, I think these past few months of planning, we’ve both lost sight of what was important. Each other. I love you and want to be with you, and I am willing to look past this…thing you had with Cruz Sorensen,” he uttered the name with blatant contempt, “and hope you can find a way to forgive me and we can work this out.”

“I’m sorry, Brad. Really I am. It’s just not going to work. I’m sorry you came all this way—actually,” she paused and grinned, “no I’m not. It’s the least you could do after what you put me through.”

He returned her smile. “Yeah, I guess I can give you that. But if I’m going to have to bring your mother home with me, then we’ve got to call it even. You might even owe me.”

“Don’t push your luck.” She looked at the clock again. “What time are you planning on heading back?”

“I’ll give the pilot a call and see how soon he can get us the go ahead, but I’m hoping later this afternoon. No sense hanging around this beautiful paradise if I’m not with the person I want to share it with.”

He really was a charmer, and she could see how the two of them could lead an easy life. But it wouldn’t be anything as exhilarating as one with Cruz. “You’re free to hang around here, but you’ll have to excuse me, I need to go find Cruz.”

“Thanks.” He hesitated, “There’s one more thing I should tell you. I kind of already had a chat with Cruz earlier.”

She stopped at the door. “You spoke with Cruz?”

“After I left here. I had something my father wanted me to drop off. A business contract. And I might have mentioned to him that your marriage wasn’t real.”

“Why? Why would you think it was okay to interfere in my life like that?”

“I’m not proud. I guess I was just being a little childish. He’s getting you, right? I think I had a right to be…peevish.”

Here she was all this time chatting up Brad, trying to let him down easy, when Cruz was back at his room with God knew what kind of doubts running through his head. He knew they weren’t married. That they didn’t have anything that really kept them together anymore. They could walk away from—

She was being paranoid. Last night had been more than she could ever have hoped for. She’d never felt closer to anyone in her life. Not being married didn’t change that.

Still. “I’ve got to go.”

She headed down the hallway, trying to calm her anxiety. Brad had mentioned something about dropping off a contract.

He’s just distracted. It had nothing to do with them. Right? Maybe it was something to do with the deal with Dick?

For some reason, that possibility didn’t make her feel any better.

Outside his door, she knocked. After ten seconds, she was ready to knock again when he opened the door wearing loose khaki shorts and a white T-shirt that accented the natural depth of his warm, tanned skin. He’d showered, just like her, his hair still wet and slicked back, and from the dab of shaving cream under his ear, freshly shaven.

“Hey,” she said, suddenly nervous and tongue-tied.

“Hey,” he said just as carefully. He watched her warily, as they stood there in silence. Her instinct begged her to wrap her arms around him, to ask him to hold her as he had last night.

But fear gripped her. What if instead of sadness at hearing their marriage wasn’t real he felt…relief?

So she waited, the sound of her own breathing seeming unnaturally loud. He took a step back finally, opening the door wider. “Come on in. Guess it’s time we talked.”

She looked pretty and sexy as always in a white strappy sundress, the sides of her hair twisted and held back leaving her lovely face exposed. But she kept her gaze down, unable to meet his eyes, which sent an alarm through his system. He’d been sweating bullets since Brad left, wondering with every minute that ticked by and she wasn’t back, if she was having second thoughts.

Because maybe she’d just been making the best of a bad situation before. And now that there was nothing holding them together, she was seeing an out.

“I’m guessing you got my note?”

He shut the door, taking his time. “Note? No.”

She walked to the veranda where he’d left the French doors open earlier. “I left a note explaining that I was heading over to talk to my mother and to change.” She turned to face him. “I’ve spoken to my mother and—and to Brad. I gather he told you? About the marriage?”

His eyes met hers, solemn and maybe a little wary. “Yeah. He did.”

She smiled and finally met his gaze. “I guess in hindsight, it was kind of silly for us to think that we could get married so easily.”

“Maybe it was.”

“But…” she bit her lip, trying to decide something. “Nothing has changed for me. About you? About us? I still…I still want to be with you.”

A weight that had been pressing on his chest seemed to suddenly fly away and he could breathe again. He couldn’t stop the smile that slid across his face. He took a step toward her. “Yeah? And what exactly did your mother say to that?” He reached her and slid his arms around her waist. “Should I expect the firing squad to arrive any minute?”

“She’s putting a call in now.” Her eyes were so expressive, filled with hope. “Actually, I’m hoping she’s packing her suitcase and getting ready to head home with Brad. Giving us complete privacy and time to ourselves.”

“Well, save for the fifty-odd family members staying here with us. And the lunch downstairs in about…twenty minutes?” He slipped a finger to her lips, outlining their softness.

“Twenty? That should be enough time.”

“I have no idea what you mean.” He kissed her then, feeling her open to him completely, stretching up on her tiptoes so she could wrap her arms around his shoulders, deepening the kiss.

When they were together, like this, he could shut everything else out.

Pretend they were the only people who existed.

Except… “Payton?” he pulled back, tucking a stray strand of hair from her face. “Although there is nothing I’d love more than to figure out the ties on your dress and have it lying in a pool around your feet, I have just one call to make. Two tops. I have some good news.”

She looked up at him, curiosity lighting those green eyes. “Does this have something to do with the contract that Brad said he delivered?”

He couldn’t stop the grin that split his face. “It does. It’s mine. No—it’s ours. The contract with Eastman Motors. Dick Eastman signed it yesterday and, as of ten minutes ago, I added my own signature. Do you have any idea how much this deal is worth?”

Her eyes shone back with something akin to pride and she took her hand and wiped a smudge of shaving cream from above his ear. “Substantial, I take it. So we’re celebrating, then? Have you told your father?”

“Not yet. But there was a small hitch on the contract in that Dick has moved up the time table a full month, which means I need to call a couple of my subcontractors and get things rolling. I’ll meet you downstairs as soon as I’m done.”

She sighed and took a step back, still smiling but a little less brightly and nodded.

“I promise,” he said and took her hand to his heart, enjoying the feeling as he had that first time at the airport all those days ago. “And then you and I have a date. I’m seeing the two of us on the beach, you in the tiniest bikini you can find. On the other hand,” his smile turned a little more devilish, “maybe we should stay closer to the room.”

“Okay, I guess I should at least go see my mother off anyhow. But you had better hurry. I don’t think our escape last night went entirely unnoticed and I can just imagine the questions those sisters of yours are going to ask me.”

“Just look at it as baptism by fire.” He leaned down and placed one more peck on her lips.

He’d been worried for nothing.

For a brief moment, he considered just bagging his plans to get in touch with his subcontractors. In just enjoying this moment and calling Payton back so they could fully appreciate what they had in each other. It could wait until tomorrow.

But it was just twenty minutes. It was only fair to give everyone a head’s up. Then there was the matter of the press release that was ready to be sent to the news outlets tomorrow morning. The new employees and subcontractors he’d need to hire to get started on the new projects in the coming months.

Payton understood how important this deal was to him, to the future of his company, and ultimately, to both of them. He’d be downstairs and at her side soon enough.

Chapter Sixteen

Kate and Dominic were, not surprisingly, ten minutes late to their scheduled brunch, arriving with the same flush and glow of excitement and happiness they’d been exuding for the past twenty-four hours. What had surprised—and more than a little disappointed—Payton was that Cruz had still not arrived.

Nor had he arrived by the time she’d finished her fruit and morning coffee and successfully headed off any questions from Benny or Daisy about how her night had gone. They very well knew where she’d been and what she’d been doing, but other than a few wide grins, they’d managed not to pester her for the finer details. Which was no small relief.

She’d just asked for a second cup when Kate slipped in the seat next to her.

“I’m going to need sunglasses to look at you if you don’t stop beaming like that, Kate.”

Kate looked her over carefully and smiled. “I might have to say the same thing. I’ve heard a few…hints that maybe you and Cruz had a busy night yourself.”

“Good grief. You’re kidding. Was it Benny?”

“Actually, it was his Aunt Glenda. I dare say they’re already estimating how long it will be before wedding bells are ringing again. But in all seriousness, contrary to everyone’s belief that Dominic and I were only gazing into each other’s eyes all night, I did see you and Cruz together and I can honestly say, I’ve never seen either of you look happier.”

Payton remembered the long night the two of them had spent getting a lot better acquainted. Kate giggled. “I can see that you’re still reliving some of those finer moments.” She looked around. “But where is the lucky guy? I don’t think I’ve seen him.”

Payton told her about the contract being finalized and the push up of the dates that had Cruz trying to take care of a few things. “He’ll probably be down in the next few minutes.”

“I haven’t seen your mother, either. Tell me you didn’t duct tape her to a chair and hide her in a closet.”

“Tempting, but no. I expect she’s packing right now and getting ready to head back home with Brad on the Eastman jet. I’ll tell you all about it later, but for now, I can see Dominic is looking for you. Go on, Mrs. Sorensen.”

It was strange to say the title, the same title that for a little while, she thought she’d shared. Payton Sorensen. Or Payton Sorensen-Vaughn—she shook her head. What was she saying? Putting the horse ahead of the cart, wasn’t she? They weren’t married anymore.

She was still waiting for her coffee refill a minute later and finally decided to get up and stretch her legs. Maybe call up to the room and see what was keeping Cruz.

She’d only made it to the lobby when she spotted Brad sitting on a chair, talking on the phone. At seeing her, he hung up and rushed over. “Glad I was able to catch you before I left. They just called. The jet’s been refueled and we should be leaving here in the next hour or so. Your mother, too, I’m afraid.”

Payton laughed, and for a moment, it was like before. They’d always joked about her mother’s intensity. It had been what first broke the ice between them when he’d returned all those years later and they caught up at that charity function. He’d likened her mother to a rabid French poodle.

“You’re obviously heading somewhere—and you look beautiful by the way—but I was wondering if you might take a last walk with me. Ten minutes at the longest.”

Payton looked around the lobby, no sign of Cruz. And Brad was taking her mother off her hands, which brought her immense relief “All right. But only because I hate to wait out here like a sitting duck for my mother.”

Out on the beach, the sun seemed to sink deep into her skin and she thought for a moment of the hat she’d left upstairs just as she tipped her head back and felt the sun gloriously on her face.

“You really are lovely,” he said almost softly. “I’m going to miss you.”

She looked over at the man who had been not just her lover but her ally in many ways these past couple years. Her friend. Which had been part of why his betrayal had burned her so bad. “Yeah. Me, too.”

They walked in silence to the end of the marked part of the beach indicating the end of the hotel property and turned back.

“You know what I’m not going to miss?” he asked, delivering her a sly smile. “Family dinners like the one at Christmas when my mother was trying to outmaneuver yours on the dinner menu.” She laughed. “And I’ll confess, I might have peeked into a few of the wedding gifts that had arrived at the house and can definitely assure you that we will be relieved to be able to return the gifts from your Aunt Gertie, my Nana Billick, and someone by the last name of Tiernan.” He pretended to shiver from the horror. “Think gargoyle, a few new age nude sculptures, and—” A high pierced ringing from his back pocket stopped him.

“Sounds like your father’s calling.”

He didn’t pull out the phone, only took the step up from the beach leading to the walkway back to the hotel. “His meeting is probably wrapped up and he’s wanting to pull my leash in.”

“Business meeting? He doesn’t give up even on a Sunday.”

“You know how it is. He can rest when he’s dead as he always says.”

They reached the lobby again, and Brad was looking at her with that sad, achy smile. “I guess I’ll go find your mother so we can get going. I’m sure we’ll touch base in the next few days. I have no idea what’s involved in calling off a wedding but I’m here if you need anything. And if you want to come to my place and get anything you left, give me a call and I can make myself scarce.”

She looked at him in surprise. He was being so accommodating. “Not that I’m complaining here, but I thought earlier you were set on fighting for me and proving to me that you can be better.”

“Yeah. And then I remembered that old saying. About letting something go. Seeing if it comes back to you. And I’m not giving up, Payton, I’m just…going to wait.”

He said it with such confidence that she felt the slightest bit sorry for him. “Sorry, Brad. But have a safe flight.” Tipping on her toes, she kissed his cheek, and let him give her a long hug before finally pulling back. “Now if you could only channel all that charm for good instead of evil,” she said and smiled.

“Where would the fun be in that?”

She watched him go, her heart sad but feeling a little lighter at knowing that he would be okay. Eventually. They both would be.

Turning around, she was more than stunned to find a set of dark eyes, watching her. A face set in a decided frown as he glanced between her and the parting back of her ex-fiancé.

But there was nothing for him to be worried about. The only thing she and Brad had exchanged was their first real good-bye.

She stepped toward the man she was choosing, ready to tell him that. When he turned on his heels and headed to the elevator.

Leaving her openmouthed and gaping.

Cruz was halfway down the hall when Payton called out to him, but he couldn’t speak to her just then. Not when it took every ounce of strength not to stride after Brad and belt him in that smug mouth. A mouth that he knew was smiling even now, as he wormed his way back into Payton’s arms.

Instead, Cruz made it onto the elevator just as the door was closing and he received some satisfaction as he pounded the button to the third floor.

He’d spent the better part of the last ten minutes looking for Payton after arriving at the restaurant and not finding her. Then he’d gone to the lobby to see if she’d left a message for him and found her in the arms of Brad Eastman.

Is it always going to be like this?

He made it to his room and began pacing, knowing she would arrive any moment and he still needed to get ahold of this unbridled anger and jealousy that had sprung at him so hard. Too soon, she was knocking on the door.

“Cruz. What on earth is going on with you?” she demanded and stormed in, slamming the door behind her. He almost blinked at the anger she was giving back to him, so used to seeing her smile and laugh her way out of most situations.

“I’m trying to work out what the hell I just saw down there. Between you and Brad? The guy who you said you were never going back to. It looked mighty chummy to me. Are you playing a game here? Payton? Trying to lead us both on, until you’re certain which guy you really want?”

Her head whipped back slightly, almost as if he’d slapped her. “I can’t believe you just said that.” He could hear the hurt and anger in her voice. “What you saw was Brad and I saying good-bye after I spent the last hour waiting for you. I thought you were just making one or two calls? Did you forget that your family—that I—was downstairs waiting for you?”

Cruz rubbed his jawline again, trying to steady his breathing. Why the hell was he going off like some half-cocked redneck because someone looked at his woman? She was right. He wasn’t being reasonable. He breathed a deep breath in and out. “You’re right. Maybe it was something that Eastman said that still rankled. That it was only a matter of time before you realized who you’re meant to be with. And he sure as hell didn’t mean me.”

“I don’t care about what he told you. You don’t have to worry about him anymore. He’s leaving and he’s going to be out of my life permanently.” She took a step toward him, placing her hand on his arm in reassurance and smiled. “Not only is he heading back in the next hour, he’s also taking my mother with him. It’s just going to be you and me. Alone. In a hotel room for a few more days.”

Shit. He still had to break it to her. Why he’d been up there for so long. “I’m sorry, Payton. I have a bit of bad news. I know we’d hoped to stick around here for a few more days. Just you and me…but it looks like moving the timeframe up a month has made everything a hundred times more complicated. There are building permits we need to get started on, subcontractors to hire, and I’m going to need to get back home to begin orchestrating it all. Tomorrow.”

She pulled her hand back. She looked like he’d said there would be no Christmas, the disappointment was so stark on her face.

“Hey, listen. I’ll make it up to you. I just need to get things rolling, but it won’t be forever.”

She turned away quickly, looking out at the terrace instead of him.

“So we’ll go back home, and you’ll go back to work,” she said, her voice dangerously quiet and unemotional. “Will I be able to see you for dinner tomorrow?”

“Of course. I mean, it’s going to be crazy, but I have to eat. You can come by the office. I’d love to see you there, introduce you to everyone. And we’ll get away together, soon. Just us.”

“Right. This is just temporary. When do you think things will get back to normal again? I mean this project. It’s pretty big. When do you expect to be caught up enough that you and I might have some time for each other?”

The truth was, he didn’t really know. Ideally, he’d like to hire someone to be his right hand man, someone who could help with the day-to-day scheduling, the planning and organizing. Eventually. But if he were honest, he’d worked too hard to risk someone messing it up. He’d get there eventually, but not yet.

“You’ll see, Payton. It’s going to be tough at first, but it will all be worth it. And I’ll be able to give you the kind of life you’re used to. One you deserve.”

Payton looked out at the deep almost turquoise-colored ocean that had filled her with such hope just hours earlier, and now only reminded her of how naive she really was. Thinking she could have it all.

“The only life I want is one with a man who I can share it with. Share the little moments, the joys, the sadness.” She blinked back tears. For a short moment in time, she thought she was going to have it all. She thought she was going to have someone who got her, who saw who she was and wanted only her.

“I don’t begrudge you this success, Cruz. I’m thrilled and excited for this opportunity, even if I have my own reservations about your business partner. But I was downstairs and ready to toast to that success with you, with your family who want only the best for you and would have been happy to be part of that celebration. But you never came down.”

He couldn’t take the minute to celebrate the moment with her, too focused on the big picture. Not enjoying the moment. Just as her mother has warned her. He was more like her father than she’d ever wanted to admit.

“We’ll go tell them soon. We can celebrate with them tonight. You’ll see.”

“You say that, but I know what’s going to happen, even if you don’t. Something will come up, some emergency that you can’t let anyone else handle. It has to be you. And I’ll be waiting downstairs alone. Again.”

“So what would you have me do? You want me to rip up this contact with Dick Eastman? You want me to thumb my nose at this deal, this deal that’s everything I could ever have wanted?”

All he ever could have wanted.

She turned to face him. “No, of course not.” She pinned a smile on her face. “This is what you’ve worked for. It’s just…I made a commitment to myself over the past few days. To not settle on being second best to anyone. I think that maybe, right now, you and I need some time. Some space to figure out who we are. What we want.”

She didn’t mean anything of the sort though, but it sounded really grown up and responsible. No, what she really wanted was for Cruz to crush her against him again, to say that space was the last thing they needed. That they’d figure this out and that he knew it would be hard, but he would work hard to make them a priority. That he wouldn’t let business take over his life.

To make some effort so she could believe him.

“Maybe you’re right.” His tone was different. Wooden. “You have a lot on your plate right now, a wedding to cancel, your whole future to figure out. And I have weeks and months to get this project off the ground. The last thing either of us needs is another commitment.”

His words were like ice to her heart, but she nodded, as if he made all the sense in the world, willing the tears not to spill. For him not to know her heart was breaking.

“Then maybe if it’s not too late, I might see about hitching a ride back with Brad. No sense just hanging around another day by myself. Kate’s going to be a little preoccupied.”

Ask me to stay.

“Sure. That makes sense. You should head out. I won’t have to worry about you passing out in the airport or getting in an argument with the airport staff and being hauled away to jail.” He smiled, but his eyes didn’t hold the same smile. “Maybe we can even have dinner sometime, when I get back.”

She nodded again. “That sounds great. Well, I better get going otherwise I might miss my ride.”

With one last long look, staring at that strong, handsome face, the lips that could look so stern and hard but soften and feel so heavenly on hers. She memorized it all, creating another memory that wouldn’t be in any album.

Then with a little wave, she walked past him and out the door.

Hoping he’d stop her.

Cruz knew he needed to stop her. He wanted to stop her. Wanted to tell her that no matter how much this deal meant to him, meant to his business, he’d never let it become more important than her. That he’d always make room for her.

But then she’d dropped the announcement she was going to get a ride back on the Eastman jet. A privilege only available to her because of her connection to the formidable Eastmans. A privilege and convenience he couldn’t offer her.

Not yet.

She wanted time and space. He could give that to her. If she really wanted him, really was ready to make this commitment to him, what were a few more months? He’d get this deal going, would reap the rewards, including the recognition he’d long sought for Sorensen Construction. Recognition his father’s company was deserving of.

If Payton Vaughn and he were really meant to be, then there would still be tomorrow. There would still be the future to show her that he could be everything she wanted.

That he was worthy of her love.

Chapter Seventeen

Payton typed in the three-number security code from the back of her credit card and stared at the screen in front of her.

“Come on, do it. Or I’ll push it myself,” Brad said from behind her, pretending to reach over to press the enter button on her computer.

She pushed his hand away and took a breath before hitting the button, registering herself for the U’s LSAT prep course. The first step to getting admitted into law school again. Unfortunately, as she’d found out over the past week since returning from Mexico, her previous LSAT score, taken six years before, was no longer valid, and she had to retake it to be considered for admission anywhere.

It was probably for the best as it gave her time to prepare, and not just for the LSAT she’d take in June, but for her law school applications. She shut her laptop and sat back on her couch.

“That wasn’t so hard, now, was it?” Brad asked next to her.

“Easier than I thought. I can’t believe I’m doing it. Finally.” In the time since coming back from the ill-fated trip, she’d had a lot to think about. About what she wanted, where her life was going, and if she was going to sit around and let choices be made for her or finally do something for herself.

Discovering that she still wanted to focus on environmental law and reading up on all the recent progress in that area had been so invigorating and exciting. She felt hopeful.

Even if she’d lost a big part of her heart and didn’t know if she’d ever feel whole again. But it was done. She knew that, finally, because her mother had gloated over the details of the deal that had been picked up by several media outlets and, as Brad had confirmed, some big contractor magazine was going to feature Cruz as a mover and shaker next month.

At least he was getting what he wanted.

And soon, she’d be on the road to feeling a lot better about herself. Maybe not getting everything she wanted, but close. She’d even told Camille to go ahead with canceling the wedding, much to her mother’s horror. But she was leading her life her way now.

“Should we celebrate?” Brad asked and leaped up from the couch, heading over to her open kitchen.

“Maybe after I get my LSAT score. I’m a little rusty when it comes to test taking. I might crash and burn.”

“I insist,” he said and pulled a bottle of red wine from the shelf. “It’s not Champagne but it will do. This is a momentous step, Payton. You have to be proud of yourself for taking control of your life again. And can you imagine the look on your mother’s face when you tell her you’re going to law school and dropping out of the social circuit?”

“Yeah,” she said and set her laptop on the coffee table in front of her and tucked her legs underneath her. “That will be epic. She’s entirely too satisfied with how things progressed last weekend. When I stepped on that plane with you, I thought she was going to actually crack some semblance of a full-faced smile, she was that happy with herself.”

He pulled the cork from the bottle and poured two glasses before rejoining her. “Yeah, I think she even considered throwing me a high five for a minute there.”

Payton smiled and sipped her wine. It was surprising how understanding Brad had been about the whole thing with Cruz. And for the first time in a while, she felt they were both being honest with each other, with what they wanted, their plans for themselves. Something they’d never really done before, always holding a little back from each other. Yes, he might have destroyed her trust in him when he cheated on and lied to her, but she had to be honest that over the past week, he’d done a lot to repair that trust.

He held his glass up. “To both of us making better choices and telling our parents where to jump.” His eyes twinkled, and she realized that he had some news of his own.

She paused before taking a drink. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Only that last night I received an offer from the New York marketing company I’ve been working closely with for Eastman Motors. They want me to join their department. Not because I’m an Eastman and not because of anything my father arranged. But because they saw the work I did and loved it and thought I’d make a great addition to their team. I’m joining them in two weeks.”

“Shut up,” she said in disbelief and then let out a squeal before hugging him, sending her wine precariously close to spilling.

“Watch that wine. You wouldn’t want stains on this eggshell fabric,” he said in a tone that mimicked her mother.

“Then I’ll dye it cranberry. I’m so happy for you, Brad. Really.” She held her glass up and tipped it against his. “To telling our parents where to jump.”

The wine was warm and comforting as it went down, and she felt a similar sense of warmth and comfort in his presence. His face changed, growing more serious, and he set his glass down. His fingers were almost cold as he took her hands in his and she looked up in surprise. What was coming over him?

“Come with me.”

“Come with you? Where, to New York? Are you crazy?”

“Far from it. We can turn a whole new page. You can study for the LSAT there. And hell, you’ll have your pick of top law schools in New York. Columbia? NYU? Even Yale is only ninety minutes away. We can start fresh without our families watching our every step, plotting our entire lives. We can do what we should have done from the start. Make it about just you and me.”

Last week, she’d have leaped at the chance. Now, though…there was another person she wanted. Another person who had her heart. Now and maybe forever. Even if he didn’t feel the same way.

Starting over with someone else, someone she cared about and who cared about her…it could maybe help her heart heal. But…

“It sounds so tempting,” she said honestly. “But I can’t do it, Brad. It wouldn’t be fair to you or me. I don’t say this to hurt you, but what I had with…Cruz, even so brief…well, I don’t think I could feel that same way about you.”

“Good,” he said, not looking the least bit upset. Only earnest. “Because whatever you might have felt or still feel for that guy wasn’t anything to build a foundation on. It might have felt different, earth shaking even, but eventually that would have dissipated and you two would have been left with nothing but those old memories. You turned to him when you were hurting and in pain, and I don’t believe you ever would have looked at him twice if I hadn’t done what I did. I blame myself. But you and I, we’re alike. We both have meddlesome, overbearing parents, similar backgrounds, education, interests. Everything to build a solid foundation for a long-term relationship. Even a marriage.”

What is he doing? Is he asking me to marry him all over again?

Payton remembered the stomach-clenching pain she’d felt in those minutes after she left Cruz. Returning to her room, packing up, and then…she had waited for him. Hoped and feared that he’d knock on that door and try again. Make her see his way, anything. Just fight for her.

But he didn’t.

She’d boarded that flight, the pain excruciating, wondering how she’d ever feel anything again. Those hours on the plane had felt like the longest in her life.

Monday came and then Tuesday and Wednesday and she’d lay in bed watching her favorite romcoms and eating her weight in chocolate-covered cherries in between going through boxes of tissues for the constant flow of tears. She’d almost made it out once, to go pick up a new cell phone.

Then she thought about all the long hours that she’d spend staring at it. Willing it to ring. Willing Cruz to call and tell her he’d been an idiot and he’d move heaven and earth to be with her—she’d clearly been watching too many romcoms.

And when he didn’t, it would crush her all over again, that is if there were anything left to crush.

So she decided she liked her ignorant bliss. Of shutting out the world and hiding under the comfort of her duvet. Wondering if only she hadn’t put such a condition on Cruz, they might be together now. If she’d been more flexible. Then she put on one of her favorite Sandra Bullock flicks for the eighth time and cried some more.

Until Thursday came. And she realized she was done with changing anything in her life for anyone but herself. She needed to find out what exactly she wanted. Live for herself. No one else.

Even though she now woke up every day, her chest feeling almost ripped open again as the memories flooded back to her, she resolved to move on.

To forget.

She had to admit, what Brad was offering was tempting. New life. New memories. New adventures in a new city. And what he said made sense. About having the basic foundation of building something together—even if trust was still going to be a long time coming.

It would be so easy to say yes. Things would be fun and comfortable with Brad. But she’d be running away. Hiding herself in something that was only…second best. She could see that, and as tempting as that might be, it wouldn’t be right.

Sadly, she shook her head. “I’m sorry, Brad. I just can’t.”

Cruz sat in his car another minute, unable to tear his gaze from the scene. Payton and Brad sitting on her couch, laughing together. Talking. Enjoying a celebratory glass of wine.

Obviously together.

It was like someone had dropped a load of bricks on him then sucker punched him just for the hell of it. He’d expected this, hadn’t he? So why was he so surprised?

Monday had been tough, arriving in Salt Lake alone and trying to get back to work. There’d been tons to do, people to talk to, and he’d been able to completely fill his day, barely having time to collapse into bed and repeat it all the next day. And the day after that. Until nearly a week had whizzed by and he’d barely had any time to think about what he left behind. The life he thought he was going to have.

Only tonight, he’d found himself aimlessly driving and before he knew it, he was outside her place, excited and terrified when he first saw her sitting alone on the couch through her open blinds. Something he’d been thinking he needed to warn her about, since she didn’t know the number of pervs out there.

Then Brad had joined her.

Cruz still didn’t know why he’d come here tonight, what he’d hoped for. He only knew that this past week he’d missed Payton with such savage intensity that he had needed to see her. See if maybe she still wanted to give this thing a shot. To tell her he’d been an idiot to let her get on that flight back home without him. For even letting her out the damn door.

Only, he hadn’t expected to see she had company.

Brad Eastman of all people.

Maybe this was good, him seeing her like this. Happy. Not pining away for him. It was the kick in the ass he needed to get his head back in the game.

Because he had to admit, these past few days, his head had been anywhere but at work. He was going to blow the whole thing and everything he’d given up would be for nothing.

It’s done then.

He didn’t have to worry that he let her down. He didn’t have to think about her at all.

He only hoped he could live with his feeling, this deep sense of loss, that he’d let the best thing he’d ever had get away from him.

Cruz arrived at his parent’s house the next night for the usual Sunday dinner, something that he’d missed last week in Mexico, when he couldn’t face anyone and had holed up in his hotel room until his flight the next day.

He’d imagined his family downstairs waiting in the restaurant, passing grins and knowing glances at what might have his attention upstairs enough to miss their Sunday dinner. It was better to let them think that than to come down and face them with the real truth.

That Payton had hopped on a jet with her ex-fiancé and mother, deciding to move on with her life. Without him.

But Payton would have been a distraction, one he couldn’t afford. Which was why he’d first instilled his rule of no serious relationships. They consumed too much time and worry. And time was in short supply.

It threw him for a minute when he walked in to his parent’s kitchen to see everyone gathered around the table, his parents, and Daisy and Benny. Dominic was still on his honeymoon for a few days or he and Kate would probably be there too. And it didn’t take a genius to figure out who they were talking about since the room went awkwardly silent when he entered.

He pretended not to notice and went to the stove, lifting a pot and smelling the savory goodness inside. “Smells great. Sorry I’m late. I was at the office running a few numbers. I think we can get the first crew started on that demolition by Wednesday,” he said to his dad.

Petter Sorensen sat with his usual stoicism at the head of the table, his arms folded in front of him. He nodded. “I am sure you have it all handled.”

The women all gave each other meaningful glances and he waited to see who would take the lead. His bets were on Benny, the youngest and most fearless.

“Heard anything from Payton?” Yep. Predictable.

“No, Benny. I haven’t. Nor would I expect to.” He poured a glass of water and watched them from over the rim as he drank.

“Seriously? You don’t think everyone noticed the way you two looked at each other, spent the whole night staring into each other’s eyes, and then quietly disappeared together?”

He pretended to mull her words over. “Payton is a beautiful woman. Can you blame me for wanting to enjoy her company? I would think you’d be congratulating me for getting up and dancing instead of brooding in a corner.”

This time Daisy intervened. And not on his behalf. “Yes, but coming from the guy who thinks even a hug is too much of a public display of affection—from your mother—your turn into a regular Don Juan was a little surprising.”

This was exactly the reason he’d been hiding from everyone for the past week. They never let up. He sighed heavily. “Payton had just broke up with her fiancé,” he said with emphasis, “a guy she’s known for years and was about to spend the rest of her life with. She wasn’t looking for anything serious, just a good time. Same with me.”

“That’s not what it looked like to me, dear brother,” Benny said again.

“Look guys. This deal, with Eastman Motors, it’s huge. And it’s going to take every minute of my time for the next year, at least, to get all the projects green-lighted and crew hired, not to mention speaking with Dominic about designing us a new headquarters for Sorensen Construction. I don’t have time for anything else right now.”

Benny started to interject again so he tried again, his voice louder. “Even if I were to have any interest in having a love life, I’m afraid it wouldn’t be with Payton Vaughn. Other than physical attraction, we don’t have anything in common. She’s planning charity functions for people with nothing to do but spend money saving dolphins or whales or whatever. Believe me, we’re not compatible.”

It killed him to say that. But as soon as he did, he knew it was true.

He wanted to tell them that even if he did want her in his life, it was too late. She was already back with Brad. But then he’d have to admit he’d been practically stalking her. So he let it go, waiting for the next argument.

Fortunately, his mother decided to—finally—come to his rescue as she laid her hand on Benny to stay further comments. “Leave him be.” But she did look at him a little longer with sadness in those dark, loving eyes. “He’ll have to realize some things for himself.”

Ouch.

“If we’re done with the third degree, maybe we can eat? I have tons to do back at the office. Where are the kids?” he asked Daisy.

“They’re with their dad,” she said, disbelief on her own face. “He’s had them since Friday and will be dropping them off later tonight. They were ecstatic. And it’s giving me time to start the packing,” Now she was barely restraining her excitement, her lips tugging into a grin.

“Packing? What’s going on?”

She clasped her hands together, almost as if in a prayer. “My lovely new sister-in-law is what’s going on. For weeks she and Dominic have been negotiating where they’re going to live, and it looks like they decided that, despite being farther away from Kate’s work, they’re going to live at Dominic’s.”

“Okay,” he said slowly, not sure what that had to do with Daisy unless… “Are you moving into her place, then?”

She was beaming as she nodded. “Seeing as how the market is still getting back on its feet, Kate wants to hold off selling for now and she thought maybe the kids and I would want to move in. Get our own space. I’m paying her rent, of course.”

He nodded. His sister had stubbornly refused all handouts since going through the divorce, much to everyone’s dismay, so it wasn’t a surprise that she’d insist on paying rent. Probably top dollar too.

“It’s such a beautiful house,” she gushed, her eyes shining. “And what with living right next door, Aunt Glenda has already assured me she’d love nothing more than to help me watch the kids after school. I can’t imagine it being more perfect. The girls will have to share a room, of course, but they’re fine with it. I think Paul might even be a little jealous,” she added, referencing her youngest and only son.

“But don’t forget I want to help too. Even if they won’t be under the same roof,” their mother interjected, looking a little weepy. “I’m expecting lots of sleepovers.”

Daisy softened her smile and placed her hand on her mother’s. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“This is great news, Daise,” Cruz said. “I’m excited for you and the kids.”

“Good. Because I’m going to need your help moving. With Dominic and Kate gone until next late Saturday night, I need some brawn for the heavy lifting.”

“Isn’t that what we have Benny for?” he asked and took another drink.

Benny smiled wryly. “Don’t worry, big brother. I know you’ve gone a little soft in your old age, might suffer a bit from early arthritis. I’m prepared to pick up your slack. I can probably hook you up with some geriatric medical supplies too. Just say the word.”

“When do you need me?” he asked Daisy, ignoring his youngest sister.

“I can’t get off early until Saturday, around three, and I would really like to get it done then. It shouldn’t take too long. Kate left the keys with me and has insisted I use most of the furniture she already has. Probably just a couple hours. Unless you want to help us get a couple of Kate’s things moved over to Dominic’s. He had a few things he wanted in place before they get back, something to have as a nice homecoming for Kate.”

It was going to put a serious kink in Cruz’s plans to have a decision made on which subcontractor he was going with by the end of the week, but it couldn’t be helped. It was family.

“Fine. I’ll meet you here around three. Ben,” he asked, trying to turn topics. “Did you hear anything yet about that fellowship?”

Which did the trick. With everyone onto a new topic and busy dishing up dinner, Cruz pretended to listen while letting his mind go somewhere else. On someone else. Again.

Oh, hell. He entertained the idea of slamming his head against the table to try and knock some sense in his damn brain but figured that would only alarm everyone around him.

Moving on. Seemed like something everyone was doing around here. Benny as she wrapped up her residency in pediatric medicine at the U and looked toward the future; Dominic who was starting a new life with the woman he loved. Hell. Even his newly divorced sister was moving on—literally and figuratively. And, of course…Payton.

For all he knew she and Brad were back to pricing out china patterns again for the big nuptials in between planning cocktail parties for her mother and her friends.

She’d moved on.

Maybe it was time Cruz did, too.

Chapter Eighteen

Payton added another yellow rose to the vase and stood back, tilting her head to try and get a different perspective. She wanted them to be perfect for her friend when she arrived home late tonight from her honeymoon.

“They’re gorgeous,” Benny said from behind her. “Kate will love them.”

Earlier, Cruz’s sister and Kate’s new sister-in-law, had arrived on her doorstep asking for a favor. With Kate and Dominic arriving in town sometime after midnight, she’d wanted to do something special for the couple. Bring a few of Kate’s things from her old house over, buy a few groceries and other things to help make the house feel warm and inviting. Set it up for a couple just returning from a honeymoon—and wanting to leave the house as little as possible.

With assurances that it would just be the two of them, since the last thing she needed was an inopportune run-in with Cruz, Payton had agreed. Even if she was nervous that Benny would ply her with question about what happened between them. Fortunately, Benny had remained mum on the subject, instead chatting away over some funny stories involving her young patients and then how lucky Kate and Dominic were to find each other.

“Mrs. Kate Sorensen,” Payton shook her head and grabbed another long-stemmed rose, trimming the bottom before pushing it in the vase. “It’s so crazy. I can’t believe my best friend is married.”

She was happy. Ecstatically happy for her friend who deserved all the happiness in the world. But, if she were totally honest, she had to admit also feeling a little sad for herself.

Her friend was starting this new stage in her life, while Payton was trying to catch up.

“Daisy and everyone should be here any minute now,” Benny said and pulled two bottles of Champagne from a bag on the kitchen counter.

Benny had conveniently waited until after they’d arrived, arms loaded with flowers and groceries and supplies, to drop the news that the rest of the family would also be stopping by to bring some of the heavier items. She’d quickly reassured Payton that she didn’t have to worry about running into Cruz since he was busy with work and Payton managed to tamp down the panic that first seized her at the thought of seeing him.

Benny opened the fridge and placed the Champagne inside next to the rest of the groceries they’d brought. “I’m going to move my car so they can back the truck up to the porch.”

Knowing that the rest of the Sorensens were descending on the house, Payton desperately wanted to make herself scarce. It would be too painful and embarrassing seeing them now. Remembering how thrilled and happy and excited she was when she’d last seen them.

She wondered what they thought about her now, about her actions. What had Cruz told them? But she didn’t worry too much on that end. He never spoke unless he had to. Especially about his personal life. Which might be why Benny had brought her here in the first place, to pump her for information, even if she hadn’t reached the subject. Yet.

No way was she prepared to face everyone.

She glanced at her watch. Almost five. She should be going if she was going to meet Brad for dinner by six. “I think I’m done here anyway. I’ll get out of everyone’s hair.”

“Oh, really?” Benny looked crestfallen and glanced down at her cell phone. “Would you do one last favor for me, then? I bought a whole load of votive candles and little holders for them and wanted to set them up around the room. You know, help with the ambiance? Can you get me started on that? I have no sense for that kind of stuff.”

Payton glanced at her watch again and bit her lip. “Five more minutes but then I really have to go.”

“Great,” Benny said, her face slipping into a wide smile, her blue eyes suspiciously bright.

Benny traipsed up the stairs to the upper landing that led, due to the slope on the mountain where the house sat, out to the driveway. Leaving Payton alone in this little piece of heaven nestled away from the world. Kate was very lucky.

Payton grabbed the bag that Benny left and looked around the room. The vista outside the window in the main room was gorgeous. The sun was setting across the treeline before the windows, giving the room a warm, homey feeling. Finding a seat on the couch, she opened the first bag of candles and began the task of dropping them into the holders. She was on the third bag when a ruckus from the top of the stairs alerted her that Benny was back.

“I think you bought enough candles to set the whole mountainside ablaze,” she said looking in the bag at the endless amount of candles still packaged as Benny reached the bottom step. She looked up. “I didn’t know how many—”

Only, it wasn’t Benny.

Her heart felt like it was ricocheting in her chest and the only sound she could hear now was the rushing of blood as it pumped erratically sending a whooshing through her ears. Thank Heavens she was seated because she was certain she’d have slumped to the floor otherwise.

No, the hulking giant before her could never be mistaken for the smaller woman.

Crap. Why did he have to look so good?

His hair was shorter, even and clipped above the ears, but still long enough where she could tousle it with her fingertips. His eyes, now wide in disbelief as he caught sight of her, were that same deep chocolate brown that had looked at her like he wanted to shove her out of the car one second, and then like he wanted to kiss her senseless a second later. His jaw was dark with growth, showing it hadn’t seen a razor in at least two days, maybe longer. She wondered if it would be soft to touch, or rough, stinging her chin like it had that morning when he’d woken her up with—

Dear Lord. What am I doing?

The seconds continued to pass and the giant just stayed there unmoving. It made sense now, why Benny wanted her here. Had distracted her enough until Cruz could get here.

Had he wanted to see her? Did he know—of course he didn’t know, judging by the slack in his jaw.

Why didn’t he just say something?

“Cruz. Hello.” Lame.

Lame, lame, lame.

He blinked a couple times, almost like he hadn’t believed she was there until she spoke. “Payton.” Hearing him speak her name, so soft, nearly undid her. He blinked again. “What are you doing here?”

He didn’t sound happy. He didn’t sound angry either. She couldn’t tell anymore.

“Your sister, Benny. She asked me to help set some things up for Kate and Dominic. Do some staging,” she said and swept her hand toward the pile of votive candles next to her.

He nodded but didn’t take his eyes from hers. “So. How are things with you? You look…well,” he said, hesitating slightly before the last word.

“You too.” Only she said it in a near whisper as it seemed like she was struggling just to breathe under his intense gaze. She rose, needing to do something other than sit there like a rock. She walked back to the kitchen island and began fussing with the flower arrangement again. “I doubt either Kate or Dominic are going to even notice any of this when they arrive tonight, but Kate will appreciate it in the morning when she’s wanting half and half for her coffee that’s not a week past its expiration.”

Why was she blathering like an idiot? Cruz didn’t care if Kate had half and half in her coffee.

She turned to him, forcing a bright smile.

And realized he had closed the space between them somewhere in the last few seconds and was standing so close she could see the pulse at the side of his neck. Smell his wonderful sensuous scent.

“Payton, I—”

Only whatever he was about to say was cut off by the sound of voices from upstairs. A high-pitched female one that was insisting she bring down the box herself and didn’t need to wait another minute for anyone to help her.

Cruz blanched ever so slightly and glanced over to the figure coming down the stairs. Payton’s eyes followed. She recognized the bubbly brunette balancing a wide box in her arms, having met her months before at Kate’s birthday party. With Cruz.

She pinched the flesh between her thumb and index finger, trying to keep the tears from surfacing.

Oh. Goody.

Cruz had brought a date.

Cruz was still stunned from the unexpected sight of seeing Payton, here, looking so gorgeous and cheerful—something that had been in short supply for him—when he heard Becca making her way down the stairs.

He cursed himself for even taking her call yesterday. Or agreeing to go out with her for, as she put it, old time’s sake. But he’d been feeling lonely and angry and thought any company was better than stewing about the woman he could never have.

He glanced up at the cute brunette trying not to fall down the stairs in the teetering heels she was wearing and couldn’t help but find her short on the appeal that Payton had. He looked back at Payton, trying to gauge her reaction. Did she even care anymore? Was she already back with Brad?

“There you are, Cruz,” Becca said and dropped the box she was carrying not very gently to the floor, her interest more on the meeting going on over at the kitchen island. She almost ran to his side. “Hi there,” she said, possessively tucking her arm through his.

He didn’t pull away, watching Payton’s expression instead. Looking for anything. Some sign that she still felt something for him.

But her face stayed bright and she widened her own smile. “Hi. It’s Becca, right? I’m Payton, I think we met a few months ago at Kate’s party.”

“That’s right, you were there a little late. Is your fiancé around—”

Any further conversation was interrupted again, this time by his nephew and nieces who were running down the stairs now, their mother and the rest of the family hot on their heels. He’d make bets they’d been holding everyone outside for as long as they could to give him and Payton a moment.

This was a total set-up.

But little did they know that when he agreed to help tonight, he wasn’t coming alone. He should have known something was up by the panic in Daisy’s eyes when she caught sight of Becca. He’d just chalked it up to her disappointment he wasn’t with Payton. Which he had no idea why, since they barely even knew her.

And now, with the two women smiling almost too eagerly at each other, his sisters could reap the repercussions of their little scheme.

Daisy reached the bottom of the steps first. “Hi, Payton,” she said a little too brightly. “So glad to see you. It’s sweet that you wanted to come up and make sure this place felt homey for Kate.”

Payton leaned across the island and grabbed her purse, tucking it under her arm. “Thanks. And congratulations to you. I hear you’re the new tenant?”

Daisy eyed the purse. “The kids and I are pretty excited. Tonight’s going to be our first night there. You weren’t leaving, were you? I brought my special tres leches cake to share with everyone.”

It was ridiculous, the way he was actually holding his breath, hoping she’d stay. That he would be able to spend a little more time looking at her, remembering how she felt in his arms.

“I’d love to but I’m afraid I’m already running a little late for my dinner date.”

And like that, the breath he’d been holding was pushed out, as if someone slammed him in the stomach.

Of course. It’s Saturday night. She wouldn’t be sitting at home alone. Not someone as beautiful and full of life as Payton. Just, dear God, don’t let it be Brad.

Benny gave him a look, as if expecting him to say something, but there wasn’t anything really to say, so he watched as Benny and then Daisy squeezed Payton good-bye. His mother and father reached the bottom of the stairs as she was about to start up.

His father looked surprised as he saw her, but there was something in his mother’s eyes as she looked at her and then over at Cruz, that told him she knew very well Payton was here. Judas.

“Payton, we’re sorry you have to go,” his mother said and grabbed the woman in a hug. She released her and her smile turned to a frown. “Just watch yourself on the roads. It looks like a snowstorm is coming in soon. Cruz?” His mother looked at him in disapproval, her brows furrowed. “Can you please make sure Payton gets safely to her car? It’s getting dark out there.”

In about an hour, he wanted to say, but instead nodded and extricated himself from Becca’s clutches. Becca started to say she’d be happy to go along but Benny interrupted her, asking if she’d help finish the task of stuffing the votive holders that Payton had abandoned.

He was well aware of the dozen eyes that watched their ascent, probably wishing they could find a way to eavesdrop without being obvious. They reached the landing and walked across to the door. He opened it before she could, and warm air rushed in, the kind that usually precedes a big snowstorm.

Stepping outside, he looked around the lot for Payton’s car. He could see it now, nearly hidden under the trees. He waited at the top of the porch while Payton searched in her purse.

“I’ll be fine, Cruz, if you want to go back inside. I don’t need a chaperone.”

The breeze lifted her hair and it flew around her head, framing that sweet familiar face. She raised her eyes at his, green and lustrous, and it actually caused him physical pain to know she had almost been his.

“Found them,” she said and held her keys up. The wind was whipping at her jacket and she clutched it closed, trying to tuck a strand of hair flying wildly in front of her eyes behind an ear. “Bye, Cruz. Take care.”

Then she turned and was down the porch steps and nearly running toward her car. As if running from him, although he knew it was more from the blustery wind than from him. He was almost certain.

“Payton, wait,” he called out, not sure what had moved him to do so. He just didn’t want to see her running away from him again.

She paused as she reached her car door and looked back. Without hesitating, he bounded down the stairs after her.

“I just wanted to say…” Hell. He didn’t know. Maybe…don’t leave. Don’t walk away from me again. Please, let’s give us another try. See where this thing we have can take us. That together they can overcome anything. But those were words for the movies. Not real life. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. Sorry the way things ended like they did. And…I hope you’ll be happy.”

She bit her bottom lip, her eyes looking almost wild for a moment but then she turned away and opened her door, sliding in, her face still hidden.

He did want her to be happy. Even if it wasn’t with him. “Take care, Payton.”

“Thanks, Cruz. You too.” Then she slammed the door shut and started the car. He backed up, giving her room.

And he watched her drive down the road, away from him. Again.

Payton only made it to the beginning of the trees, Cruz’s figure still visible in her rear view mirror, before the tears came. Her heart felt like it was breaking all over again.

When he’d called out to her, her heart had risen to her throat, hope building that maybe he was going to stop her. Insist she stay with him. Tell her that he loved her.

But instead…he’d said good-bye.

It became impossible to blink the tears back, and instead she let them trail down her face all the way home. But they were quiet tears, not the soul-wrenching sobs that she’d shed the week before. Tears that accepted that things were over. What other choice did she have?

Chapter Nineteen

Cruz popped the top from his second beer and took a pull. He was sitting in the kitchen of Daisy’s new place—Kate’s old house—as the kids yelled in laughter from the other room where his Aunt Glenda had a game of Twister set up. Daisy and Benny were across from him, Benny wolfing down half the bowl of guacamole that Daisy had whipped up. Dominic, who’d just arrived, hunkered down in the chair next to him.

Now they were just waiting for his parents to arrive. He had something he wanted to show them all together. To make it all worthwhile.

“Where’s Kate? Are you telling me that five days after you get back from your honeymoon she’s already finding you too much to stomach?” Cruz asked his younger brother.

“You really want to go there?” Dominic smiled back, almost as if offering him a warning. “Kate and Payton are having a girl’s night out, so it’s just me.”

She was with Payton. He was going to have to get used to that. They were best friends; that wasn’t going to change. Cruz nodded and took another pull as, if the kids’ shouts were any indication, his parents arrived.

Game time. He stood, and after corralling his siblings into the front room—Benny with a death-grip on the guacamole—he pulled the folded up magazine from his pocket.

“I know you’ve all thought I was crazy all these years, keeping my nose to the grindstone, never taking time to enjoy the finer things in life—blah blah blah. But I think what you’re going to see will show you why it was all worthwhile.”

At least he hoped it did. Because after staring at the article for the past twenty-four hours, he was more than disappointed that he hadn’t felt the level of exhilaration, of pride and satisfaction that he always thought he would. Hadn’t felt even half the same exhilaration he’d felt when he thought for that wonderful day that Payton was his wife.

He held up the magazine cover, so everyone could bask in the glory. “Not only did Sorensen Construction make ENR’s list of top 400 contractors in the U.S., but it’s featured in this week’s regional section, thanks to this deal with Eastman Motors.” He presented the magazine to his dad first. “Dad, I know that the past few years you struggled health-wise and it was an honor that you trusted me to take the reins and see what I can do with the business. I hope that this assures you that our company and our family’s future is going to be secure for a long time.”

His dad took the magazine, and stared at for a minute, the slightest smile on that usually stony face. “I didn’t doubt you for a minute, Cruz.” He opened the magazine and found the article that Cruz was so proud of and read it silently.

His sisters and Dominic, Aunt Glenda, and the kids all gave him a hug and congratulated him. For the next couple of minutes he basked finally in the glow of their excitement, their pride. His mother came over and kissed him on the cheek and then came to stand next to her husband, still seated on the couch. “This is so exciting, Cruz. There’s a picture of you and everything.”

“In a suit, no less,” Benny said, also peeking over her father’s shoulder. “Nice touch.”

“I think now’s a good time to finally feed the kids. Is everyone hungry?” With her own sense of pride, Daisy, with the help of her sibling, brought out platters of food that she’d been working on all day and everyone took seats at the dining table. “I’m still getting the hang of Kate’s range so I hope everything’s okay,” Daisy said tentatively.

Which was crazy as everything was delicious as she very well knew. But he knew what it felt like to hear praise from the people you love. He needed it just as much. Only sitting here, among those people, he felt like something was still missing. That someone who he wanted to share this with wasn’t here.

Payton.

Her name seemed to echo inside his head. Over and over. She should be here.

But why would she be? He hadn’t done anything to show her how important she had become in his life in the short time they’d had together.

He looked to his parents, where his mother was standing over his dad, insisting on helping him, fussing about him despite the fact it had been months since his surgery and he was healthier than he’d been for a long time. But his dad didn’t seem to mind, just watching his wife and, when she was done, grabbing her by the waist and smacking a kiss on her cheek.

It was his parents who had instilled in them all the importance of family, of taking time to spend quality moments with them. Of family dinners, vacations, and just hanging out together. Without them, all of his accomplishments would mean nothing.

But somewhere in the past few years of his life, he’d forgotten that basic notion. Family. What was he working for if at the end of the day, he didn’t have a partner there to hear about his accomplishments as much as his failures, if he didn’t have children to teach a thing or two about responsibility and being there for each other as his siblings were there for him?

He’d lost sight of what he was doing it all for.

And the only person he wanted at his side through this crazy adventure of life was the same woman who’d been at his side during that three-day journey through Mexico.

It might be too late. He understood that. She might very well be with Brad. And if so, if it made her happy, then he’d step aside and accept it.

But she deserved to know how much she meant to him. How much he’d show her each and every day of their lives together how she was the most valuable and cherished thing in his life, never to be taken for granted.

She’d be first. Always.

“Dominic? Where did you say Kate and Payton went?”

“You’re not going to believe me if I tell you. Apparently Payton got it into her head that she had to go see a hockey game, part of this thing she’s doing of trying new things. Fortunately for her the hockey season is just winding down this week, and she managed to snag a couple of tickets to tonight’s game.”

A hockey game. Of course.

Cruz came to his feet, the sound of the chair screeching across the floor drawing everyone’s attention. “Excuse me everyone. I’ve got something that I have to do.”

Dominic grinned, his eyes smiling. “Is that right? Well, just don’t do anything foolish. Like going and getting married to the poor girl without all of your family there to show their love and support. Oh. Wait. You already did that.”

He closed his eyes, understanding that this was probably the warning his brother had given him earlier. The table was still silent for four point five seconds. And then the room erupted into chaos as all the women immediately began yelling at him.

He shook his head at his brother. This was going to have to wait.

Without any further response, Cruz grabbed his keys and ran out the front door.

With her arms loaded with nachos and sodas and hot dogs—everything that Cruz had once told her made the experience—Payton returned to her and Kate’s seats.

“Are we seriously going to eat all this?” Kate asked, taking a cheesy covered nacho chip and biting into it.

“It’s part of the experience.”

Kate licked a glob of cheese from her finger. “And I thought you were fearless before. Now you’re just downright frightening. Tell me, what did your mother say when you told her that you’d registered for the LSATs? You were going to tell her at dinner last night, right?”

“You mean after she stalked up to me in the middle of the first course?” Payton smiled. She’d expected such a reaction, what she hadn’t expected was what followed. “There I sat, thinking I was going to be eating my butternut squash bisque alone—because, of course, Daddy was working late—but not two minutes later, she came back. And handed me an envelope.” She shook her head, still stunned at learning that her mother had once had her own hopes and dreams for herself. “It was her admission letter to business school, dated thirty-five years ago. She never went, of course, because her parents wanted something different for her. And we know how that went.”

Kate’s eyes bugged out. “Emily Vaughn entrepreneur? It’s unbelievab—no. Never mind. I could totally see her running a company, even a third world country with an iron fist.”

“I know, right?” Payton said and laughed. “Anyway, she didn’t want to talk about it, just wanted me to see and understand and then ordered Annie to bring in the roasted chicken and put the soufflés in the oven. And like that, our moment was over. Although, when I left, she did ask me to keep her updated with my application.”

“That’s about as close to approval as you’re going to get from Emily.” Kate slurped from her soda, giving Payton a sideways glance before asking not so nonchalantly, “What about Cruz? Anything?”

Payton knew that he was going to come up at some point in the conversation tonight. She was just surprised it had taken her friend this long. “No, and after seeing him with what’s-her-name, I really don’t expect to. In fact, you’ll have more chance of hearing from him than I would, seeing as how he’s your new brother-in-law.”

“I’m afraid if I saw him right now I would probably not only smack a vase into his head, but I’d break it over his head.”

“Just get it on camera,” she said, smiling. But to tell the truth, as hurt as she was that he had already moved on, she didn’t want to inflict any real pain on him. She hadn’t been enough for him, important enough to him, for him to make her a priority. At least he’d been honest.

Another scuffle seemed to be breaking out between the players on the ice, and she and Kate craned their heads, trying to figure out what was going on, something made more difficult since neither of them had ever watched a game before.

“Payton.” The voice came from behind her, so strong and familiar. She froze instantly.

What is he doing here?

He climbed down the last two stairs so he was standing in the aisle right next to her. The nacho she’d been about to shove in her mouth, still hanging midair.

There was a small grin on his face as he stared at the feast of junk food displayed on her lap before he met her gaze. “You know, if you were going to do this thing right, you’re supposed to have beer, not soda.”

“I—I’m driving.” Were they really having this conversation? “What are you doing here, Cruz?” She looked behind him, realizing that he could be there on a date. The thought made her want to hurl the nacho chips.

“I’m here because I was given the great pleasure of receiving an early copy of this big deal contractors magazine that featured Sorensen Construction, something that should have had me flipping cartwheels and popping open the Champagne. But I got home and looked around and realized the only person I wanted to celebrate this coup with wasn’t there. Not only was she absent from my condo, but she was also absent from my life. And it was all because of me. Because I had my priorities all screwed up. See, I thought that I had to have the success first. That once I had success everything else would fall into place. That I’d gain the life, the self-confidence, and the woman that would make it all complete. But I realize now, that I had it backward. Success should follow all of that—so when you finally have it, you have someone who can share that moment with.”

Kate nudged her and Payton was barely aware of her friend pulling the nachos and hotdogs and drink from her lap, and finally tugging the nacho chip still clutched in her fingers.

The clashing sound from the ice and the crowd’s uproar told her that something had happened that didn’t look good for the Salt Lake Grizzlies. But she was unable to pull her gaze from the man in front of her, who had somewhere during that long litany, sat down on the step next to her so she could hear him better. So she could look into his face, touch it if she wanted.

“Payton,” he continued, having to raise his voice as the crowd’s fury around them grew louder. “I should have gone after you that first night. At the flower shop. I should have insisted on getting your name and your number and we could have avoided all this drama. I should have gone after you that day in Mexico when you walked out of my hotel room. Should have stopped you from leaving. I should have realized then that you are and would be my biggest priority. I should have gone down to brunch with you. I should have taken you to the beach like I promised. I should have made love to you every day. There are so many things I should have done, but I was a fool and I didn’t. Not realizing until now how much…how much I love you. Until it was too late.”

Tears sprang to her eyes and she tried to wipe them away but his hands stopped her, wiping them away himself. It took her a moment, once the blur from her tears was gone, to realize that he was now kneeling next to her. And from his jacket he was bringing out a box, holding it out.

It was happening exactly like she’d described it that day in that hot school bus outside of Tequila, Mexico, when she hadn’t even been sure he was listening to her.

Someone behind her patted her on the back and she finally processed that the people around them weren’t cheering on the game anymore, but were cheering them on…

Cruz was smiling, but there was reserve in his smile, uncertainty. “I am choosing you, just like I should have that day when you asked me to. And I didn’t. When I didn’t put us first. I’ll forever be sorry for that moment, but I promise you now, I’ll put us first every day, every minute, every second of our life. I choose you and sure as hell hope you still choose me. So to be clear, Payton Elisabeth Vaughn. Will you agree to marry me, to love and laugh with me all the days of our lives…again?”

She didn’t really have much choice when he put it like that. All she’d wanted was to hear him commit to her, to hear him promise to try and place them first even if at times life would make it hard. She reached out, running her hand over that bristly jawline. “Of course I’ll marry you.”

When he dropped his lips to hers and kissed her soundly, forgetting decorum, forgetting the hundreds of people around them, she melted into him. The shouts and cries around them finally seeped in after a moment and thanks to Kate, who pointed up to the Jumbotron, Payton realized their private moment was flashing above them.

Just the way she’d told it.

“I’m sorry to leave you like this, Kate,” Cruz said as he brought his arm under Payton and pulled her up against him. “But I think that my fiancée and I have a few more things we need to talk about.”

Then with the applause surrounding them, he carried her up the stairs and away from the blinding lights and camera lenses. Stopping only when they were out of sight and standing on the other side of the arena door.

Her back pressed up against the wall, Cruz looked down with love and tenderness in those eyes. “I meant it you know. I do love you, and I promise I’ll show you how much every day, every morning, and every night you grace me with your presence in my life.”

“I insist on nothing less. And if you haven’t figured it out, I love you too. Love you for accepting me as I am, pushing me to be true to myself, and showing me what happiness could be.”

He kissed her again, long and hard, and she was having a difficult time remembering where they were. Until the bright light from over his shoulder caught her attention. “Cruz?” She pulled away, and stared into the camera lens and the grinning faces of those around them.

He turned and saw them. His hand grabbed hers and he bent down to her ear. “Guess we better make this good.”

Then he was kissing her again, and she didn’t care about anything but the fact that he loved her.

And she was finally going to get her own happy ending.

Epilogue

The hot Mexican sun was relentless above their heads but neither of them cared as they wielded their shovels and hacked away at the stump in front of them. Payton envisioned little bursts of freckles popping up on her skin, something that her mother would certainly abhor.

And that Payton relished.

This time Cruz was successful as he whacked away at the large agave plant he’d dug up from the ground. And the crowd burst into applause.

“Your husband is certainly quite the charmer,” the older woman who was part of the tour said next to her.

She thought about the past couple of months, beginning with Cruz pulling her away from her first exhilarating hockey game and whisking her away for some much needed talking, interspersed with lots of lovemaking. His family had, of course, eagerly accepted her into their happy herd, all of them insisting, rightfully, on taking some responsibility for events that led up to their wedding.

But the real reason for this change of events was both she and Cruz letting go of everything that had held them back—whether they saw it at the time or not—and embracing whatever thrills this road together could take.

And just four days ago, the Sorensens and even her own dignified parents had stood as witnesses in a small, private but unique and beautiful civil ceremony where Payton walked herself down the aisle with Abba’s “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do” playing overhead. They’d all been just as delighted to see them off in the car that Cruz had rented just for the occasion. One nearly identical to the first one they’d set out in just a few months before.

Cruz looked up and winked at her, sending chills through her.

Cruz? A charmer? “He certainly is.”

Many hours later, the stink of the dirt and sweat from their tour washed away, and their bodies sated and tangled together in the tangle of the covers, Payton thought about how lucky she was.

“Hey. Don’t even think of conking out on me now,” Cruz whispered in her ear. “I’m only just getting started.”

She sat up, pressing a kiss against his mouth, basking in her happiness. She reached over to the nightstand. “I was only giving you a chance to catch your breath. But in case you needed any musical inspiration…” She picked up his phone, scrolling through it, an idea for a song already forming.

But Cruz placed his hand on hers. “I have something already in mind.”

He took the phone from her and scrolled around another minute, obviously not as familiar with the music app. She bit her lip to stop from smiling. “I’ll have you know,” he continued, “I’ve not only created my own playlist, but I’ve added that Fandango app you’re so fond of, along with Facebook and the Twitter. You’re going to have to help me figure out that whole tweeting thing, though.” He shook his head.

She thought about correcting him, telling him that it’s just pronounced “Twitter,” but she laughed instead. “Okay. Lay it on me. What musical selection does Cruz Sorensen prefer listening to in his free time? Madonna? A little Enya? Maybe Barry Manilow?”

He just smiled smugly and set the phone onto the small stereo on the nightstand before turning back to her.

It was a breezy reggae song that started and it took her a few seconds to recognize the unmistakable sound of Bob Marley singing “Is this Love.”

She listened to the lyrics for a moment, understanding that Cruz was confirming for her that he was going to love her. Every day.

More tears filled her eyes. But then she laughed at the devilish grin on Cruz’s face as he leaned across the bed toward her and nipped her sensitive ear lobe, sending chills down her spine.

“Heaven help me, woman. I do love you,” he whispered.

“And I love you. All the days of my life.”

And what a wonderful life it would be.

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Acknowledgments

I want to thank the wonderful readers who found my first book in this series, Her Backup Boyfriend, and fell in love with the Sorensen family and asked that all the siblings get their own happily ever after, too. I hope you love Payton and Cruz’s adventure just as much as I do.

I’d like to thank all of the support team at Entangled Publishing who’ve worked seamlessly to make this book a success, including my editor Alycia Tornetta, production manager Crystal Havens, publicist Debbie Suzuki, cover designer Heather Howland, and so many more people working behind the scenes.

And as always, to my family. Always my biggest cheerleaders. xoxo

About the Author

Ashlee was thirteen when she discovered her first Kathleen E. Woodiwiss book hidden away in her mom’s closet. After two days of staying home “sick” from school to finish it, she was hooked. Her rabid love for romance has continued ever since, and after a misadventure in the world of law, she is finally settling into her dream job of writing about people finding their happily ever afters.

Whether writing sweet contemporary romances or light romantic suspense, she always aims to create down-to-earth heroines and heroes with small-town heart who will make you laugh and fall in love all over again.

You can find out more about Ashlee and her upcoming books by subscribing to her newsletter at http://eepurl.com/P1K2n or by visiting her website at www.ashleemallory.com. You can also drop her an email at ashlee@ashleemallory.com, she’d love to hear from you.

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Discover the Sorensen Family series…

HER BACKUP BOYFRIEND

When straight-laced lawyer Kate Matthews’s ex gets engaged and a big promotion is on the line at work, she blurts out that she has a new boyfriend. Except there is no boyfriend. And Dominic Sorensen is hot, charming, and very definitely not Kate’s type. But he wants to help Kate renovate her home and he’s willing play “boyfriend.” Now instead of Mr. Right, Kate has a delectable Mr. Fix-It-Right—and some unbelievable sexual chemistry. And if falling for Dominic is a breach of contract, Kate is guilty as charged…

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CRAZY FOR THE COMPETITION

a Hope Springs novel by Cindi Madsen

The rebel in her ultra-conservative family, Quinn Sakata wants to restore the old Mountain Ridge Bed and Breakfast in her hometown of Hope Springs. Except that there’s another bidder—her high school crush, Heath Brantley, who is all kinds of ripped, tattooed hotness. So much for her “nice, conservative boys” rule. But when rivalry shifts into an unexpected zing of chemistry, Quinn realizes she’s in deep trouble. Because not only is she in this to win, but she has an iron-clad rule that is a deal-breaker pretty much for every guy she’s ever dated…

HOW TO LOSE A BACHELOR

a novel by Anna Banks

When Rochelle Ransom auditioned for the dating show Luring Love, she had big plans for winning the prize money to help her favorite charity–and if she won the hot bachelor’s heart, even better. But at the last minute she finds out the hot bachelor is her ex-boyfriend, Grant Drake. After Rochelle broke his heart, Grant’s out for revenge, and there’s no way in hell he’ll vote her off. When her hilarious antics to get kicked off the show escalate, Grant’s reminded why he fell in love with her the first time. Now he isn’t sure which might be more fun… Seeing how far Rochelle is willing to go to get away or how far he will to keep her forever.

BLAME IT ON THE KISS

a Kisses in the Sand novel by Robin Bielman

When Honor Mitchell promises to do the things on her dying best friend’s wish list, she’s determined to follow through. Then she’s thrown together for wedding duties with the one man who complicates her vow—just by looking at him. Bryce Bishop’s trust in women is shot, but he can’t help but help Honor tick off the items on his ex’s list, even if it puts him in a no-win situation. He’ll help Honor get what she wants…even if being the do-good guy puts his plans—and heart—in jeopardy.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author

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