Not Quite Mine (Not Quite series) - By Catherine Bybee Page 0,1
wouldn’t dare risk it. Grandpa would tie them up and leave them in the sun to bake if they crashed this party.”
Danny’s eyes grew big. “Really?”
“Ask Grandpa to tell you about the paparazzi and my sixteenth birthday.”
Dean and Tom cleared their throats behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and noticed both of them shaking their heads. A few misguided indiscretions of that day drifted to the surface of her memory. “On second thought, never mind.”
Monica leaned in and offered her own advice. “How about we make faces at them, Danny?”
He shot her a big smile before he lifted his head to the chopper and stuck out his tongue. Laughter filled the small group as each one of them wiggled fingers and contorted their faces toward the sky. Danny’s giggles kept them all animated. Chances were, the photographer in the chopper wasn’t focused on them, but Danny no longer seemed concerned that the hunk of metal was going to land on them.
Even if their faces did end up on the cover of the Inquisitor, Katie knew she looked fabulous. The floor length maroon silk dress hugged her curves like a lover’s caress. Lorenzo, the designer, had taken all three of the women in the bridal party into his studio and crafted identical dresses to work perfectly for each of their shapes. How he did it was a mystery. Not that he had to work around anything impossible. Both Monica and Nicole were over five seven and slender. And after a little work, Katie had shown them both the pleasure of designer heels. There was nothing sexier than a shoe that brought a guy’s attention to a shapely calf before sending that attention zinging up a thigh and straight to one’s ass. The second Katie had slid the two-hundred-dollar pumps onto Monica’s feet, she knew she had a partner in crime.
Katie made sure the length of her leg peeked through her dress as she wiggled her fingers by her ears for the paparazzi.
As their laughter ebbed, the photographer waved them all inside the church for more pictures.
Danny took Monica’s hand and pulled her with him as the rest of the party followed.
Katie adjusted her dress to make certain the low cut angle didn’t reveal too much.
“You look amazing.” Dean’s voice was low and heated as he slid up beside her.
She hadn’t realized he’d hung back, and she felt a little trapped in his presence. “You clean up well yourself, Prescott.” Boy, did he clean up. He brushed his dusty blond hair that always seemed a little long, but at the same time, perfectly right, out of his eyes. His Texas drawl reminded her of home. She’d worked hard to rid herself of her accent when she was younger, thinking it made her sound stupid. Blonde and rich labeled her as dumb, which she fought for some time. It wouldn’t have mattered if she’d become a doctor or a rocket scientist. The world looked at her as an heiress and treated her differently. Around her sixteenth birthday she’d snapped. Her hormones started to rage and her desire to be noticed ruled her brain. Her skirts rode high, her pants skintight. Those designer heels she loved so much pushed her height past most of the boys in school.
But the ones she wanted to look, didn’t.
Katie glanced into Dean’s eyes and quickly looked away. Her body tingled knowing he stood so close. The spicy scent of his skin made her want to lean in and take a deep breath. She fought her desire and found the silence between them painful.
She said the only thing she could think of, and then regretted her words instantly. “I’m sorry about Maggie.”
Dean’s jaw tightened. “It wasn’t meant to be.” Maggie had broken off her engagement to Dean a week before their wedding. According to Jack, there wasn’t an explanation as to why. Then she’d disappeared and asked that Dean not contact her.
“It must have been hard for you…watching Jack and Jessie.”
Lord knew if she’d been snubbed that close to matrimony, she’d never go to another wedding again.
The smile that always played on Dean’s lips fell. “It wasn’t hard at all.”
Katie wanted to tell him he was full of shit. If anyone knew his dreams, it was her. A wife and family had always been in his plans.
“Are you two coming or what?” Tom called from the door to the church.
Dean tilted his head, acknowledging Tom, then spread his fingers low on Katie’s back to usher her inside.