Page 32 of Always a Bridesmaid

“Mr. Norris is my father. Please call me Will. And you must be Sarah’s friend from summer camp,” he said, surprising Henry because how the hell did he know about Elle? Even before he’d walked out he’d barely been home, always at the track or out with the team celebrating. That’s why Henry would never do long term again. The inability to balance love and career was a family trait it seemed, and Henry refused to hurt someone like his old man had.

After his ex, he’d chosen racing as his only focus.

“She said you were coming all the way from America to be here. She’s been talking nonstop about your arrival.”

Talking nonstop? Just how long had Sarah and Will been in contact? What the actual fuck was going on?

“I’ve been looking forward to it as well,” he heard Elle say.

“Henry’s also pretty stoked about her arrival,” Jake the jackass said.

Will looked between the two of them and down at their hands, which at some point had become laced, and smiled. But it was the kind of smile his dad gave that saidgood choice, son, not because she was a good woman but because she came from good stock.

Fuck it. Who cared if it ended up on the front page of theGlobethat he’d knocked his dad off his rocker.

The next thing he knew, Elle was standing in front of him. Tonight those eyes were a vivid green, and they radiated under the strobe lights as she looked up at him with something akin to protectiveness.

“Dance with me,” she said so lowly he barely heard her over the commotion of the party in the background and the pounding of his own heart. But he could read each syllable as they fell off her red-painted lips.

When he didn’t answer, she took both of his hands in hers and walked backward, leading him onto the dance floor. And as if in some trance, he followed.

Behind him he heard the group laugh, then his dad say, “So, Jake, you work with Rocky. He and I go way back. He’s sure come a long way. Lead mechanic for Nova.” Will gave a low whistle. “When I knew him, we were both grease monkeys working at the Academy and making scraps for a living.”

“Small world,” Jake said, and there was an exhaustion to his tone that Henry knew well. It was the kind that came with the never-ending list of favors.

And as if on cue his dad said, “Do you think you could put us in touch?”

Henry stopped on a dime to turn back around and put a fist through his father’s teeth, but Elle guided him further onto the dance floor until they were in the center of the crush of people swaying to the pulse of the music.

“Jake is a big boy. He can handle himself,” she said. It was so loud, she had to enter his space to be heard.

“Is that what you’re doing? Handling me? Because I don’t like to be handled.”

“How about we make it even,” she said and put his hands low on her hips as she swayed to the music.

“You think you’re cute?”

“If cute is the word you’re using, then maybe I’m doing this wrong.” She wrapped his arms around her waist, then locked her fingers behind his neck.

She was so petite he was forced to curl his body around hers, pulling her to him, wrapping her tiny frame in his larger one. “How did you know that was my dad?”

“Sarah told me he was coming tonight and when I saw the look on your face, I put it together.”

He came to a dead stop. “So you knew at the tasting that he was coming and didn’t tell me. Even after what I told you?”

She cupped his cheek. “God, no. She just told me tonight.”

The idea that Elle hadn’t known, that she wasn’t a part of keeping the gigantic secret from him, sent a flood of relief rushing through him.

“So you came over to save me?” he asked, starting to move to the music.

“I came over because I think that tomorrow you’d be less likely to regret dancing with someone who annoys you than punching your dad’s lights out.”

“You don’t annoy me.”

She looked up at him, surprise in her eyes. “I don’t?”

He shook his head as his gaze ate up her lips. “You drive me crazy.”

---