Page 30 of Always a Bridesmaid

“Well, that’s new,” Sarah said.

Jane pulled her eyes off Henry. “What?”

“What’s going on between you and Henry?” Sarah asked, accusation thick in her tone.

“Nothing, why?”

“Either that was the most intense staring contest in the history of the world or you guys were having sex with your clothes on.”

“I was just making sure your dad wasn’t here?” Jane said weakly.

“By undressing my brother with your eyes?” Sarah crossed her arms and Jane’s face heated. Thank god for the dark club. “I have never seen him look at a woman like that. Not even his ex.”

“Really?” Jane said before she was able to stop herself.

“So you do like him?”

“Like, loathe,” she said in a sing-song tone liketo-may-to, to-mah-to. “Not that it matters. It’s a line I won’t cross.”

“You have no idea how many of my friends have said that, only to try and fail,” Sarah said, and Jane felt a flicker of embarrassment. Not that she was trying to land the infamous Henry Norris, but Sarah’s comment reminded her just how out of her league she was in this environment.

Jane forced out a laugh. “I’m not trying. All he does is go out of his way to annoy me.”

Sarah’s eyes narrowed. “You’re his type.”

“You meanElle’shis type.”

“No, Jane, I mean you.”

“I am a middle-class girl who lives in the burbs. I sleep in flannel, live in leggings, and shop at Target. I am so not his type.”

“When you’re being you, you’re genuine, funny, and normal. He doesn’t get a lot of that in his world, and he craves it. You’re the kind of woman he’d fall for.”

“I have freckles made from fake tanning cream. I am far from normal.”

That was a word Jane hadn’t felt since her ex made her out to be a lying con artist. He’d chipped away at some of the pride she’d had for what she did and what she’d accomplished. He’d also taken something that was special to her, something that she excelled at, and turned it into a dirty word.

“I’m here in a professional capacity. Nothing more,” Jane added. “Plus, I role-play for a living. What would I say after the wedding? ‘Oh, by the way my name is Jane and your sister hired me to fill in for her bridesmaid, so pretty much everything I’ve ever said to you is a lie.’” Except that wasn’t the whole truth. She’d shared more truths about her past with him than she had with anyone in a long time.

So even as the words came out, Jane thought back to yesterday when Henry had taken her hand. How tenderly he’d wiped away her tears as she’d shared stories about her dad. How he hadn’t just listened to her but really heard her, opened himself up to her pain.

If the circumstances had been different, would she be asking Sarah for the green light? Not to sleep with him, but to get to know him better. To have more days like yesterday. Even thinking about it made her feel guilty, because even though she loathed him, she was also starting to like him. And she was afraid it was more than just chemistry.

“Areyou going to eye fuck her all night, or are you actually going to talk to her?” Jake asked loudly over the bump of the bass, and everyone burst out laughing. Everyone except Henry; he was too busy staring.

He couldn’t help it.

All Elle was wearing was a simple black dress and heels, with her hair hanging in long waves down to the middle of her back. But it was as if there were a spotlight aimed at her, he was so aware of her every move.

He’d caught her looking his way a time or two, but instead of playing coy she’d held his gaze, which was sexy as hell. She didn’t have a coy bone in her body, this woman. And she was all woman. And that hadn’t gone unnoticed by the male half of the population at the club.

“Amico is too busy thinking up more ways to cockblock himself,” Enzo said, patting Henry’s chest, where the short but binding contract he’d had his lawyer draw up last night after leaving her hotel room was weighing heavy in his inner sports coat pocket.

“Sod off.”

“It’s true, yes?” Enzo pressed.

“I’m just being thorough,” Henry said. “You’d do the same. Admit it.”

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