Page 6 of Sweet Surrender
3
ALEX
Iglanced at my watch for what felt like the millionth time. I only had one more hour to go, and I could call an end to this façade. It was a beautiful wedding, and I wasn’t hating on it, but I wasn’t feeling it either.
I couldn’t count the number of times that I felt like a fool for going through with it. Yet, I had never backed out of a contract or went back on my word, and I wasn’t about to start. My business was everything to me. I had worked hard to get through school, studying late, taking a job so that I could pay for anything beyond tuition and boarding, since that was mostly covered by scholarships.
The first day that I opened this shop, I promised myself and my associates that we would always operate with integrity. I worked hard to build my reputation in the community, and so had my two associates, Serena and Brielle. Either of them could have taken this contract on, but Princess was adamant that she wanted my services. Her mother even threw in an extra five grand to ensure that I was the one who would oversee the wedding and that I wouldn’t pass it off to someone else.
While both of my associates were in attendance, they were only here to help pull things together.
“Hey, I wanted to stop and thank you again for doing this for me, Alex. You are so sweet, and I truly appreciate it. Any other woman wouldn’t have, and that tells me you have a beautiful, confident spirit.”
“You’re welcome, Princess. I told you, . . . things between he and I were long over. I’m in a great place, and this is my business.”
She smiled, squeezed my hands, and headed back to enjoy her reception. She really was a good person; there was no malice in her heart. I watched the ceremony for another five minutes before the next interruption occurred.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
The voice was smooth and rich, an experience, like sipping a glass of aged bourbon while listening to Miles Davis. I fought the smile that wanted to take over my lips and chided myself at the warmth that washed over me as though I had consumed the bourbon.
Spinning around slowly, I replied, “Just noting that another successful event is under my belt.”
“Is that right?”
“Yep.” I bobbed my head, trying to talk myself down from the reaction my body had to his proximity.
Judah St. Charles was one of the older brothers of my ex, Issachar. In fact, he was the fourth oldest brother, and as fine and smooth as an aged cognac. He was a couple inches over six feet with a muscular, well-defined body. Smooth, bronze skin was blemish free and made him look like he should be a male model. Downturned russet-brown eyes assessed me the same way that I was checking him out just before those long lashes hid his gaze from me.
He pulled his fingers through his hair, and I found myself wanting to do the same. A woman could get lost playing in thosethick curls of his in a postcoital moment. They were kind of long, but they looked good on him.
The thick curls didn’t stop at his head; they surrounded his lips and hid his chin. I usually didn’t go for men who had thick, bushy beards, but in another life, Judah St. Charles could get it.
“Now do you want to tell me what you were really thinking?” he asked, lifting a couple of champagne flutes from a passing waiter’s tray and handing me one.
“I really shouldn’t do that.”
“Doesn’t matter whether you should or shouldn’t, just do it. It’s the least that we can do for you after having to deal with this bullshit. You need to be inducted in Sainthood. This bullshit would have made Mother Teresa curse.”
I laughed so hard and shook my head. “Judah, you’re silly. You always could make me laugh.”
“Champagne?” he asked, lifting the glass again and making a silly face.
“Judah, I really shouldn’t. I’m the wedding planner.”
“Baby girl, taking a drink is the least of your worries. You should be drunk and telling them to kiss your ass.”
My face grew warm at his confirmation that everyone else thought that I was a fool for taking the job too.
“Excuse me?”
“Baby girl, I just want to know how you landed this job?”
“They hired me.”
He chuckled, a low, sexy sound. “I get that, but why did you take it? I could’ve kicked my brother’s ass for placing you in this situation.”
“Well, it was a fluke, really. I can’t blame him. Princess and her mother came in for a scheduled meeting. We had no idea who each other was. We talked in depth, we hit it off, and I agreed. I had taken their payment and everything. The only thing that we needed was to have the contract signed. I emailedit to her so that she and her fiancé, Char, could discuss it and then sign it together.”
