The Wedding Truce Page 3

  And so it went.

  Xander’s parents had been married for thirty-two years. He’d come along eight months into their marriage. Clearly he’d been the reason they’d gotten hitched. Still, he often wondered if they’d ever loved each other. Had they ever been faithful? As long as he could remember, their relationship had always been contentious. Fighting and cheating and accusations and denials.

  He wished he could be truly surprised to hear his mom’s latest news but sadly, he was all too used to it. If it wasn’t his mom bragging about a new boyfriend, it was his dad gallivanting with someone half his age. Then his mom would retaliate by buying expensive jewelry while his dad would try to one-up her with an exotic trip.

  Nothing shocked Xander.

  The only question he did have was why had they never divorced. The psychologist he’d been forced to see during adolescence would surely draw a comparison between his confusion over his parents and his chosen profession as a divorce attorney.

  “Listen, Mom, I have to run. I’m at a work event.”

  “You’re taking your father’s side, aren’t you?”

  He stifled a groan. “No, I’m not taking anyone’s side. But I do have to go.”

  They said their goodbyes, and Xander actually felt grateful as he ascended the stairs and reentered the party. He was immediately met by Carl’s wife, Maggie, who just had to give him a tour of their new house. Along the way he was cornered by his boss and drawn into an insanely dull conversation. Could this night get any worse?

  As his boss talked shop with one of his other colleagues, Xander couldn’t stop himself from scanning the party, searching for something. Not something. Someone. Someone named Grace. He cursed himself silently. Why was he looking for her? What was this pull between them? It didn’t make any sense. She’d made known her feelings for him.

  And yet, when he spotted her talking to that jerk Derek, he actually smiled. He could stare at her all day. He was fascinated by the way she carried herself. Her looks made her seem delicate, but she definitely had a pretty strong dose of confidence about her, too.

  But as he watched, something caught his eye. Derek was latching on to Grace’s arm and pulling her around the wall into a very dark and secluded corner. Xander craned his neck. Even from his vantage point, he could see that Derek’s grip was too hard. Grace’s smile faltered and her eyes registered anger. Anger and something worse. Fear.

  Xander ignored everything around him. Instead, he placed his empty glass on a nearby tray and crossed the room in several fast strides.

  It all happened so quickly he didn’t have time to register anything. Not the fact that he’d just blown off his boss. Not that he’d been completely rude. Not even that he was interrupting something that was none of his business.

  All he knew as he watched Derek’s grip tighten around her arm was that Grace might need help.

  “Derek, let go,” she said.

  “You listen to me,” Derek said between clenched teeth. His eyes had darkened. Neither of them noticed Xander standing there.

  There was still a chance to back out, still a chance to mind his own business. But seeing the expression on Grace’s face, he knew he couldn’t do that.

  In the end, it didn’t matter—because Grace brought her knee up to Derek’s groin and then quickly and deftly twisted out of his grasp. She twisted his wrist behind his back in some kind of complicated-looking hold.

  Before Xander could swoop in and save her, she’d saved herself.

  And despite their mutual disdain of each other, he’d never been more attracted to her.

  Chapter Three

  Nothing like breaking out your self-defense skills at a cocktail party, Grace thought sarcastically.

  Thank goodness Emerson had talked her into that self-defense course. And the occasional follow-up class. Grace didn’t even want to think how this situation would have ended otherwise. She clamped down on the shiver that threatened to crawl up her spine. While she was holding strong on the outside, on the inside, Derek had really scared her.

  She’d informed him that he had no right to call her his girlfriend. That this would be their last date. And that she didn’t appreciate his getting sloshed five minutes into a party.

  That’s when any semblance of charm had vanished from him and been replaced by anger and outrage.

  You have this under control, she reminded herself. As she tried to catch her breath, she slowly realized that Xander was standing by her side.

  “Xander,” she growled. “What are you doing?”

  He was frowning. “What do you mean what am I doing?” He flicked his eyes down to where she had Derek’s wrist in a tight grasp. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m on a date.” Duh.

  A slow grin spread over his handsome face. “How’s it going?”

  Her lips twitched. She couldn’t help it. “I’ve been on better.”

  Derek winced in pain. “Let go of me, you little bitch.”

  Xander stepped forward and leaned down to get in Derek’s face. “Excuse me—what did you call her?”

  Without missing a beat, Xander gently took Grace’s hand and untangled her fingers from Derek’s wrist. At the same time, he used his free arm to bend the creep’s arm behind him, far enough to cause just enough pain to get the guy’s attention. “She’s not your property. And it seems she doesn’t want to be, either. So if you ever put your hands on her again, I’m pretty sure she’ll do far worse than put you in a basic self-defense hold.”

  Derek glanced at Grace, who leaned closer and whispered, “I’ll use my Taser on you.”

  The jerk looked like he was about to say something, but she grabbed the purse she’d dropped on the floor and left both men behind. All she wanted to do was get out of there as quickly as possible, go home and get out of this dress. I mean, I wore Spanx for this?

  But Xander quickly caught up to her right before she could exit the living room.

  “You handled that really smoothly,” he said, amusement and something else in his voice. Surprise, maybe?

  “You think?”

  “What I think is that it was impressive. Damn impressive.”

  Aware that quite a few sets of eyes had turned in her direction and the whispers were beginning, she decided to throw all her attention at Xander. She whirled back to face him. “I’ve been dating since I was fifteen years old. Do you honestly think this was the first time I’ve had to deal with some creep? I really didn’t need your help, you know.” Although, if she were being honest with herself, deep down...she was grateful. Grateful she hadn’t had to deal with Derek’s brutishness alone.

  Even if it had to be Xander, of all people, who’d helped her!

  “Well, I... I’m sorry. I just hated to see you being treated that way.” His jaw worked, as if he couldn’t figure out what to say. “How many creeps?”

  She pretended to look at a watch she wasn’t wearing. “How much time do you have?”

  The party hosts, Carl and Maggie, rushed to her side. “Grace, are you okay? We heard something happened with Derek.”

  “I’m okay,” she said, trying to reassure them.

  “You may want to check on Derek, though,” Xander added, tucking his tongue into his cheek.

  Maggie looked back and forth between the two of them. “Oh, wait, what? What happened?”

  Carl was shaking his head. “I knew I shouldn’t have invited him. It’s just, his boss and our boss,” he said gesturing to Xander, “are tight. They all golf together.”

  “It’s okay,” Grace said.

  Suddenly, all the energy drained from Grace’s body. She was exhausted. But she didn’t want to be rude, so she said her goodbyes as fast as she could, if a bit robotically.

  “I’m so sorry to have caused any kind of scene. I truly am fine, but I’m ready to head home. I’ve got
an early day tomorrow. Congratulations on the new home. It really is beautiful.”

  Then she made a quick getaway toward the front porch. Once outside, she breathed in the fresh night air deeply, as if she’d been stuck in some kind of hole for the last couple of hours. In a way, she felt as though she had been. But things with Derek were over and she was fine. Just fine.

  She sensed Xander before he spoke. His deep voice washed over her like some kind of security blanket. She wanted to feel his arms around her, wanted to hold on tight and forget about this whole horrible evening.

  “Grace, are you okay?” he asked. Worry laced that sexy baritone.

  She inhaled deeply and then plastered the same smile she used with unruly brides on her face. She turned around to face Xander. “Of course—I’m fine. I just want to get out of here.”

  Uncertainty filled his eyes. “How are you planning on doing that? How did you get here?”

  “Derek drove. But I actually don’t live far from here. I’m going to walk.”

  “Walk? Why don’t you take an Uber or Lyft, at least?”

  “I think I can make it on my own, Xander,” she said with a confidence she knew was false, as she hugged her purse closer to her.

  “After what I witnessed tonight, I’m sure you can. But to be honest, I’d feel a lot better if you weren’t out on the streets all by yourself.” He stared out into the inky black darkness of the night. “If you insist on walking, why don’t you at least let me accompany you?”

  Was he implying that she was some damsel in distress who needed saving? Sure, she’d been a little nervous there for a second, but she was completely safe now. If she was honest with herself, she longed to find that one perfect person who would always be by her side, to be her knight in shining armor—hell, she’d built a career out of doing that for others. But deep down, well...she knew it wasn’t realistic to have a handsome rescuer at your disposal, to swoop in and save you whenever you got into trouble. And she definitely didn’t want to cast Xander, of all people, in the role of prince. Besides, she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

  She’d certainly done it long enough.

  Then why are you shaking? a little voice whispered in the back of her mind.

  “Look, Xander, I appreciate the offer, but I said I was fine. I think I can manage walking a couple of blocks.”

  And yet, once again, her mad faded. After all, Xander was trying to do something nice for her. If it had been anyone else, she would have gladly accepted the offer. So why didn’t she want Xander to walk her home?

  Because you don’t want to be alone with him. Really, she was afraid of what she would do if she was alone with him.

  “Please, go back to the party,” she said with little hope he actually would.

  Xander turned back toward the house. He gazed at the large picture window of the living room, where people were swirling their martinis and comparing the square footage of their houses. “You want me to go back in there?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  He gestured between the two of them. “Were we at the same party? And I use the term party loosely.”

  Unable to help it, she smiled.

  “Come on.” He nodded toward the street. “Let me walk you home. I’ll even let you insult me and my job on the way.”

  “Hmm, tempting.” She gave one more glance at the party, where she saw Carl talking to Derek. She shivered.

  You’re fine. You handled it.

  Her quick pep talk didn’t work. Suddenly, her mind was going through every possible scenario.

  “Hey, what’s that?” Xander placed a hand lightly on her arm.

  She shifted until she was right under the porch light, where she could already see a bruise forming on her arm from that idiot’s hand.

  “Does it hurt?” he asked.

  “It, um, it...”

  With that, the last bits of adrenaline left her. Without warning, without a moment to stop herself, she collapsed into Xander’s arms.

  * * *

  Xander would have been less shocked if Grace had told everyone at the party that they were best friends.

  Truth was, he shouldn’t be surprised that Grace was in his arms, holding on tightly. She’d had quite the night. Plus, during their discussion, he’d spotted her shivering.

  Still, she’d been so confident, even while handling Derek’s attempted abuse. In every interaction he’d ever had with her, Grace had always been completely poised. For once, it was kind of nice to see that armor disappear, though he wished it was for a different reason.

  He heard her take a deep shuddering breath and rubbed his hands up and down her back.

  “It’s okay, Grace. You don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

  After a long moment, she finally straightened. He watched as she pulled herself together, putting on that armor once again. She smoothed a hand over her hair and took a deep breath.

  “Thanks, and sorry,” she said.

  “Sorry? What for?”

  A flush crept across her cheeks. “For having to deal with me just now. When I, uh...”

  “Had a perfectly natural human moment?” he offered.

  As expected, her flush disappeared and she narrowed her eyes. “I just needed a second to gather myself.”

  “Whatever you say.” He grinned, and she made a low sound that actually resembled a growl. “But I’m still walking you home.”

  It looked like she was going to fight him on it. But then she glanced back at the house and finally nodded in agreement. They descended the stairs of the porch and turned left onto the sidewalk.

  “So,” she began, “I don’t get it. I was at that party on a date. I barely knew those people. But it seems like you do. Is this the type of event you go to often?”

  He groaned. “Unfortunately, I do more often than I would like. It’s a work thing.”

  “Your boss requires you to?”

  “Let’s say he strongly suggests it.”

  “Ah. One of the perks of working for myself,” she said.

  They fell into silence for a moment, the only sound the click-clack of her heels on the sidewalk.

  It was a beautiful night for the first day of October. There was a full moon overhead, lighting the way. The weather was still warm, but a refreshing breeze was blowing through the trees, which were just on the cusp of changing colors.

  Xander realized this was the first time he’d ever been completely alone with Grace. Not that they’d spent all that much time together to begin with. But usually Jack and Emerson were around, or they were surrounded by customers at The Wright Drink, Jack’s bustling bar in Old Town. “Speaking of being your own boss, how’s the wedding business going?”

  She sighed.

  “What? I’m trying to be nice here.”

  “You had an attitude when you asked that.”

  “No, I didn’t,” he protested.

  “There was a tone.”

  “A tone? Come on.”

  “I already know how you feel about my profession, Xander. You made it crystal clear the first time we met.”

  “It goes both ways. You’ve made it evident that you hate my job.”

  “You’re a divorce attorney. You see the end of marriages every day. What is there to like?”

  He shrugged. “There’s more to it than that.”

  “Oh, really? Astound me.”

  “People come to me when they’re ready for a change in their life. It’s not always fighting and yelling. Sometimes a breakup is a healthy thing.”

  “Oh, please.”

  “Not everything can be rainbows and lace and tiered cakes,” he said.

  She threw her arms in the air. “Some of those tiered cakes are really fantastic.”

  “What’s your favorite?” he asked out of the blue
. His impromptu question made her halt briefly.

  “You’d think it was gross,” she answered.

  “Try me.”

  “Carrot cake. I really love it.”

  Interesting. “That’s my favorite, too.”

  “My grandmother used to make it for me all the time. Her recipe is to die for. Speaking of,” she said as her phone started playing “When You Wish Upon a Star.” “Excuse me.” She held her phone to her ear. “Grammy, hi, is everything okay? It’s late... What?... Oh, sorry about that. I had to rush from work to this party.”

  As she spoke to her grandmother, they continued walking. Xander tried to give her some space by taking in their surroundings. The streets had definitely emptied since he’d arrived at the party, but there were still some stragglers out and about. Some were returning from work, others were coming or going to a night out. There was a softball field about a block away and he could hear hooting and hollering right before the crack of a bat and the roar of a crowd.

  When he turned back to Grace, she’d ended the call and was putting her phone in her purse. “I’m sorry about that. I talk to my Grammy almost every day and she was worried when she didn’t hear from me today.”

  “That’s nice you talk so much to your grandmother. I’m sure your parents appreciate the effort.”

  She glanced down at the ground, suddenly very interested in the red brick sidewalk. She had such expressive eyes and right now they were emitting a clear sadness. He wanted to know what had made her feel that way.

  Instead, he decided to change the subject. He realized he knew very little about Grace Harris. Other than that she got under his skin like no else ever had.

  But suddenly, he really, really wanted to know more.

  “What made you go into wedding planning?”

  “I’ve always loved weddings. I even did the Disney internship program back when I was learning the business.”

  “So you like the planning aspect?”

  “I like everything about weddings. My grandmother used to read me all of these wonderful fairy tales. They always ended with a marriage. A perfect happily-ever-after. I guess I just wanted to help others make that happen.”