I could still pull this off. I got away from him once. I could do it again. I could be too busy helping my mom and talking to people to notice him. I would surround myself with strangers so he couldn’t touch me.
He couldn’t lead me off into a private room for you-know-what if I didn’t let it happen. Right?
5
Brady
I spotted her the minute she walked in the door. Holy fuck, that dress worked miracles on her. She looked even better than she did in high school. The dress hugged her curves, and her heels made her ass sway when she walked.
Her face showed the signs of maturity. She wasn’t a little girl anymore. She understood pleasure and pain. She understood the heart in ways she never did before.
Her eyes widened when she saw me looking at her. She still wanted me. She still craved the attention of my eyes slipping over her curves, but they didn’t respond the way they used to. I could tell something was stopping her, but I wouldn’t allow that.
Gravity hauled me toward her. I had to get near her, but she kept slipping away. She hurried to the kitchen, and a dozen women engulfed her. No way was anyone with a cock getting in there. She worked with her mother and her aunts to get the buffet on the table. Bodies surrounded her so I couldn’t see her.
A moment later, her mother came into the living room. “Come and get it, everybody.”
The whole crowd came at a run. Charlie caught my arm. “You’re with me, man. Don’t think you can run off and leave me high and dry.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
He dumped me in the chair next to him, so I couldn’t get away. I caught sight of Victoria’s dress flashing gold and shimmering down the table. I kept calm, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. She spent the meal talking to other people. She never looked at me once.
Anger bubbled up in my chest. What was she trying to do to me? Didn’t she know what seeing her again would do to me? Didn’t she know how she drove me crazy? A guy couldn’t stand this much blood rushing to his nuts and cock without some relief.
Was she turned on right now? Did seeing her bring back old memories and old feelings, old desires? Did she ever dream about me the way I dreamed about her? I stole another glance at her, and she never once looked back at me. From the way she acted, anyone would think we never met at all. I could actually start to think she didn’t remember me.
How many guys did she play around with in the last seven years? Maybe some of them were ten times the lay I ever was. Maybe I was too young and stupid to make much of an impression on her. Maybe I squandered my chance to get close to her.
Charlie told everyone how funny I was. He told them all about the great jokes I used to tell, how I kept everybody rolling in the aisles. He kept nudging me in the ribs and telling me to tell everyone that joke about whatever. I didn’t feel like joking, though. I couldn’t get my mind to function.
Of everyone at that table, no one existed for me but her. She filled my whole world. I spent so much time dreaming about her, and here she was. She was just as enticing as ever. But she was out of my reach. She talked to other guys, but she didn’t flirt with them. Maybe they were her relatives. I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t think straight.
Charlie made some joke about me being preoccupied with my business affairs. Everybody laughed at my expense, but I didn’t care. If I could give them a laugh without taking my eyes off Victoria, I was happy. I didn’t want to talk to anybody right then.
Dinner broke up, and lively dance music bumped in the other room. Victoria hung back to help the women clear the table and put the food away. I lingered around in the doorway until I saw her coming back for another pile of plates. Then I moved in to murmur under my breath. “Why don’t you come outside for a walk with me when you’re finished here?”
She actually smiled. “I’d like that, but I have to help Mandy after this. We’re going over to pick up her luggage from the fitter’s, and then we have to take all the gifts to her place, and the bridesmaids are getting together to plan the bridal shower. Maybe another time.”
I started to say, “Okay, let’s make a time,” but she lugged her plates to the kitchen before I got a chance. Now I knew for certain she was avoiding me, and she did such a good job that I never got near her again.
What the fuck was going on? Why couldn’t we just pick up where we left off? I felt the same way about her, and now I knew she felt the same way about me. What was stopping her from migrating toward me the way I migrated toward her? She must have felt that cosmic pull bringing us together. She must understand it would happen one way or the other.
Charlie appeared at my elbow with some other reason I had to go back to the living room with him. I went along with it, but I kept glancing toward the door. I didn’t want to be there. I wanted to be somewhere alone with Victoria.
After several minutes of chatting with the other groomsmen, I caught sight of her heading down the hall. It was now or never. I made an excuse to the guys, and I hurried out to find her returning from the sunroom with a paper gift bag in one hand. It took all my strength not to kiss her then and there. I would have dragged her into a nearby room if I had my way.
I blocked her path again. “Come outside by the pool for a second. I want to talk to you.”
“I gotta go,” she replied. “Mandy’s waiting for me.”
I frowned down at her. “You’re not going anywhere until you talk to me. We haven’t seen each other in seven years, and you won’t look sideways at me. What’s going on?”
“Nothing’s going on. I told you I have to go. Mandy and all the other bridesmaids are waiting outside.”
“Why are you avoiding me? Why do you keep running off every time I try to talk to you?”
“Come on, Brady. You know I wouldn’t avoid you.”