“Stop thinking with your dick,” Jett insisted. “You can’t have sex every minute of your honeymoon. You’re trying to win her over, not wear her out.”
Since there were no guarantees she’d even end up in my bed, I did need a location where we could just relax and have fun.
“Hawaii?” I pondered.
Jett shook his head. “Uninspired. Everybody goes there on their honeymoon. It’s fun, but the food is nothing to get excited about.”
“The Bahamas?”
“Boring,” Jett scoffed.
“Cancun?” I growled, getting annoyed.
“Better,” he said with a satisfied nod. “It’s really nice there in the fall and winter, and I know Lia really likes Mexican food. Just a suggestion, but I’d go for Playa del Carmen.”
I’d been to both Cancun and Playa. They were close to each other, but Jett was right. Playa was a little quieter, but still didn’t lack for things to do.
“I’ll get the trip planned,” I agreed.
“She’ll love it,” Jett replied supportively, like he hadn’t just told me that I was uninspired.
“I’ll need to get moving on those arrangements. Lia’s twenty-eighth birthday is Saturday, so the wedding is happening late afternoon on Friday,” I informed him.
Jett nodded slowly. “Yeah, Ruby told me about the will requirements. It’s kind of strange. Was her grandmother in her right mind when she did it?”
I let out a bark of laughter. “You didn’t know Esther,” I informed him. “She was as sharp as a tack until the day she died. I don’t completely get it, either. She adored Lia. I don’t understand why she made any rules for the inheritance. And there’s nothing that says that Lia has to stay married for any length of time. She just wanted her…married. Not like Esther at all.”
“So the terms are easy to fulfill?”
“Very,” I informed him. “Lia asked me to look over every document, and I have. I’m not an expert in wills and trusts, but it was pretty straightforward.”
“Do you think Lia felt like she had to marry Stuart because of the terms of the will?”
I frowned at Jett and shook my head. “No. She doesn’t care about giving up the money—other than the fact that she wouldn’t be able to buy me out of our partnership right away. The stuff in the estate that has sentimental value to her is a little different, but I don’t think she felt pressed to marry Stuart at all. I think she convinced herself that she loved him, and that he was her perfect partner. I have no fucking idea why.”
“Is she okay?” he asked in a serious tone. “I mean, she didn’t really look terribly broken up earlier, but it could all be an act.”
It felt way too personal to share Lia’s confession that she’d intended to call off the wedding herself, so I didn’t.
“She’ll be fine,” I answered simply. “I’ll make sure that she is.”
“I think you should tell her how you feel, Zeke,” Jett insisted. “Keeping your mouth shut hasn’t exactly gotten you anywhere.”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I came to that same conclusion myself after I sat down in the chapel yesterday. I tried to tell her when we got back to my place last night, but like I said, she thinks I’m just making up a reason to help her. I swear, she has some strange idea in her head that makes her think it’s impossible for me to be attracted to her that way.”
Jett rose from the couch, and I followed him into the kitchen. I gratefully took a second bottle of beer, and sucked down half of it as we both leaned against the counter.
He took a gulp from his own bottle before he said, “Make her listen, Zeke. Put your heart on the line. It sounds like those feelings have been there for you for a long time. You can correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think this is all about a simple physical attraction. It’s pretty damn obvious that you care about her.”
I nodded. I was done trying to bullshit myself. “I’m in love with her. Probably have been for a long time. I can’t really pinpoint the exact moment that everything changed for me. Hell, I’ve loved Lia in one way or another since the day we met. I’m not even sure if the attraction came first once we were both adults, or if I was already in love with her by then. All I really know is that I finally have the opportunity I’ve always wanted to try to convince her that we were never meant to be just friends all our lives, and I don’t want to fuck it up.”
“Has it ever occurred to you that Lia could be in denial, too?” Jett questioned.
I shot him a doubtful look. “Not really. I’ve never seen a single sign that she wants to be more than friends.” That drunken birthday confession sure as hell didn’t count. “Believe me, I’ve watched for any kind of signal from her for years that she might be willing to take our friendship to a different level.”
He shrugged. “There’s denial, and then there’s complete denial. In your case, those feelings weren’t all that far from the surface most of the time. You could deny your attraction just enough that you never acted on those emotions. In her case, what if those feelings are buried so deep she doesn’t even know that they exist right now? It’s just a theory, but I know Lia adores you. Even when you’re not around, she’s talking about you. I think she mentions you in a single conversation a lot more than she’s ever brought up Stuart. I’ve seen you two together, Zeke. Maybe you’re not a romantic couple, but your dynamics are very similar, minus any of the touchy-feely stuff. I could be wrong, but in my mind, the feelings are there on both sides. She’s just learned to bury it a lot deeper than you do.”
“If that’s true, how in the hell did she end up with Stuart?” I growled.
“That’s your question to ask, not mine,” he answered calmly. “But it isn’t like you’ve never seen anyone else. If she’s under the assumption that the two of you could never be more than friends, don’t you think it makes sense that she’d be looking elsewhere? Maybe she picked the wrong guy, but you can’t blame her for searching. No matter how cynical we get, I don’t think anybody ever completely loses hope that the right person is out there somewhere. Even if we don’t admit it to ourselves.”
I shot him a questioning look. “Why do I have a feeling you’re talking from personal experience?”
“Because I am,” Jett admitted freely. “Love was the last thing I was hoping for when I met Ruby. I was scarred inside and out, and let’s face it, my activities are limited because of my bum leg. I’d already been dumped by one woman because I couldn’t do some of the things a normal guy my age could do. Having any woman fall in love with me was an impossibility to me back then, unless it was an act just to get to my money. I wasn’t expecting a woman like Ruby, and I sure as hell didn’t know that she’d find that tiny spark of hope that I didn’t even know existed. I’m still not sure exactly how it happened, but Ruby managed to find that well-buried, microscopic particle that still wanted to believe that a woman could love me like she does.” He grinned. “Once she did, it was all over for me, my friend.”