Emmie Dark - Just for Today...

Sean’s life, in comparison was...different. Very different. Much to the despair of their parents. But despite all the family difficulties, they were still brothers, and so here he was. For Rob, he’d do just about anything—even face his mother’s frown and his father’s scowl and the general disapproving air from the rest of the snotty Paterson clan.

He scanned the room again. Weddings were so not his thing—family or otherwise. But there was—

“Who’s that?” Sean asked. He’d noticed the woman before, at the ceremony, but lost sight of her when he’d had to go with the wedding party and pose for a ridiculous series of photographs in ever-more-unlikely locations: the bustling kitchen of a Chinese restaurant, and on the tram tracks in the middle of one of Melbourne’s busiest city streets. For the couple of hours they’d been under the photographer’s control, Sean hadn’t been sure if she’d been trying to photograph them or get them killed.

“Who?” Rob asked.

Sean pointed with his chin across the room. She was hard to miss. Sitting at a table by herself, trying to look okay with that fact, but failing badly.

Bronzed brunette hair hung in waves down her back. Her burgundy evening dress was cut low in front and swept across her hips to fall in soft folds around her legs. They were great legs—Sean had noticed when she’d sat down in the church. From his vantage point, he’d had a great view of the generous split up the front that had parted and almost revealed all her assets before she’d primly pulled the two halves of the skirt together and covered herself from his sight.

It was one of those moments that Sean always noticed—a moment his writer’s brain took in and preserved for future character-revealing traits. Her little maneuver told him a lot about her: she’d worn an unmistakably sexy dress, and yet wasn’t quite comfortable in it. Intriguing.

“Oh, the brunette?”

Sean nodded.

“Yeah, that’s Hailey’s boss.”

“The vet?”

Rob nodded, his head bouncing as though it was attached to his neck by a spring. “Uh-huh.”

“Who’s she here with?”

“Oh, uh, I think she came on her own.” Rob was distracted by someone calling out to him from the other side of the room.

Sean stopped himself from rubbing his hands together. “Nice,” he said under his breath.

Rob heard and his attention abruptly returned to their conversation. “Sean, she’s Hailey’s boss.”

Sean didn’t miss the warning. “I’ll behave,” he said.

Before Rob could say anything more, the room was filled with the sound of cutlery clinking on glasses—a tradition that demanded the newlyweds kiss before the noise would stop.

“Oh, jeez, again?” Rob groaned.

The guests had been taking great delight in forcing Rob and Hailey to kiss as often as possible—and usually when they were on opposite ends of the room.

Sean gave Rob a shove toward the dance floor. “Better go do your husbandly duty.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Rob’s words were flat but his expression showed he was nothing less than thrilled about another chance to kiss his bride. He took a step toward the dance floor, but then paused and turned back. “Hey, man?” Rob settled a serious look on his brother. “Thanks. You know? Really. I know how much this sucked for you. I’m just glad you could be here.”

Rob grabbed Sean in a drunken embrace, and Sean found himself stepping into it, clasping his brother in return, slapping his back hard, then just hanging on. He’d had a key role in the wedding, but this was the first time they’d had the chance for a brotherly moment—every other minute of the day had been packed with tasks, obligations, and with Sean taking great care to avoid being alone with either or both of their parents.

Rob stepped back, blinking suspiciously.

Sean wasn’t about to get that soppy. Besides, unlike Rob, he hadn’t had much to drink—he’d learned from hard-won experience it was better to keep his wits about him when surrounded by his family.

He gave Rob another slap on the arm. “You’re welcome. Now go be a husband.”

Rob grimaced, but Sean watched his face transform as he headed to his bride, the frown turning into a goofy smile when Hailey did a clumsy pirouette and began to dance in his direction.

Poor sucker.

Sean turned his attention back to the room, scanning it before his gaze once again settled on the brunette. Hailey’s boss—she owned and ran the small vet clinic where Hailey was working while she finished her veterinary studies. Rob hadn’t told him her name. Oh, well, at least that gave him his opening.

* * *

JESS’S FEET WERE TWITCHING in their uncomfortable heels, and she hoped most people would mistake it as an urge to dance. Actually, it was an urge to get the hell out of here.

It had been a lovely gesture for Hailey, her veterinary nurse, to invite her to the wedding. It was wonderful to see Hailey looking so beautiful and so happy; she and Rob were the picture-book bridal couple. Jess had listened to all the wedding planning and prewedding nerves over the past few months, so it was nice to be here to see it all come together—especially knowing how much the whole thing cost. There’d even been a photographer in attendance from one of the glossy magazines—apparently a Paterson family wedding was a bigger deal than she’d thought. She also better understood some of Hailey’s bridezilla-style hysterics now, having met the indomitable Mr. and Mrs. Paterson, who presided over the event like a stern king and queen.

But at the moment, Jess wished she’d been able to find an excuse not to come. When Margie, the clinic receptionist and third team member of their tiny practice, had realized she wouldn’t be able to attend the wedding because it clashed with the Pacific-island cruise she’d booked with her husband, it had been too late for Jess to retract her acceptance.

At least if Margie had been here, Jess would have known someone. It wasn’t that she was a wallflower, really. It was just hard being the odd man out, so to speak, in a room full of people who otherwise all knew each other.

Unfortunately, she’d been seated at the table with Hailey and Rob’s university friends. Jess could understand the logic—a lot of them were single, too, and they weren’t family. But they were all Hailey’s and Rob’s age—making them at least ten to twelve years younger than Jess—and that made her feel like the grown-up who’d been seated at the kids’ table. While they’d made occasional polite attempts to include her, they’d spent most of the night getting very drunk and reminiscing about their shared history and university high jinks and pranks. It had been fun, at first, but it was only possible to stay enthusiastically interested in such things for so long.

Especially when she was sober.

How early could you politely leave a wedding reception, anyway? Weren’t you supposed to wait until after the bride and groom left?

She stifled a yawn as she watched the happy couple grooving on the dance floor. Didn’t look as though they were in any hurry.

The thought of her bed had never been more appealing.

Jeez, when had she turned into such an old, boring grump?

“You look like you could use one of these.”

A misty glass of champagne appeared in front of her and Jess looked up to see mischievous green eyes twinkling down at her with a predatory grin beneath.

“I, uh...” Her hand took the proffered glass more out of reflex than anything else, but her temporary wine waiter took that as encouragement and sat down beside her, placing his own glass on the table.

“I’m Sean Paterson. Best man. And you are?” he asked.

It was such a smoothly delivered line Jess’s instant reaction was to shoot him down, but he was the first person who’d approached her since her tablemates had all moved to the smoking area outside. At least with someone sitting with her, she wouldn’t look like such a loser.