May The Best Man Wed. Darlene Scalera

get dressed.”

      He shrugged. “Okay, but I’ve got to warn you I sleep in the nude.” He started to push back the covers.

      “I already knew that.” Savannah moved to the door, adjusting the starched collar and cuffs of her shirtwaist, as his rich laughter came. “You have a fitting at Mr. Max’s Formal Wear today. We’re to be there in less than an hour. I’ve never been late for an appointment in my life and I don’t intend to start now.” She walked from the room without another look at him.

      He sank back against the pillows as the door closed, Savannah’s sweet taste and soft warmth still holding him like a dream. He had drunk too much last night for the first time in many years. Yet it was also the first time he’d been home in many years. A throbbing ache began in his head. He closed his eyes, but not to relieve the pain. No, he welcomed the pain. He closed his eyes to wipe out the memory of the moment that had just happened. Desire only strengthened. He opened his eyes, everything too real. He had wanted Savannah. He had touched his lips to hers and tasted the sweetest of promises. He threw back the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He shook his head. “Hell.” He laughed again, this time at himself as the need clutched him.

      Savannah made it as far as the second stair before she gripped the rail to steady herself. Still, sensation overwhelmed her. Every boundary she’d ever crafted seemed to have dissolved, leaving her vulnerable. It’d been the surprise, the shock, that’s all, she told herself. Nothing more, nothing more. Still the urgency rose.

      She watched him come down the stairs twenty-five minutes later. “You forgot to shave,” she noted.

      He smiled at her. “I didn’t forget.”

      “I hope you at least brushed your teeth.” She turned to the door.

      “Why? You gonna kiss me again?”

      She spun around, angry with him, even more furious with the desire spiked by the mere suggestion. “You kissed me.”

      “You kissed me back.”

      “A gentleman wouldn’t—”

      “Now you’re flattering me, Savannah-Banana.”

      She forced her expression bland. She didn’t have to tell him how much she hated nicknames. She had the feeling he already knew.

      “We keep going the way we are—” he still smiled “—and soon we’ll have a whole repertoire of anecdotes to share at family functions.”

      Her hand sliced the air, dismissing him and his efforts to infuriate her. She yanked open the door. “Let’s go. I don’t want to be late.”

      “Why?” He tripped down the porch stairs, easily catching up to her. “They’ll force us to wear pink cummerbunds?”

      “Actually, they’re peach.” Savannah pulled open the car door.

      Cash stopped dead, such a look of alarm on his face, Savannah would have smiled had it been anyone else.

      “You’re kidding?”

      She looked at him, confused. “They match the bow tie.”

      She slid into the driver’s seat, enjoying a smile until Cash slid in beside her.

      “You are kidding,” he decided.

      She glanced at him, her expression betraying nothing. “Buckle up.” She put the car into gear and headed for the interstate.

      “Stop.” He pointed to a mini-mart as they came to an intersection “I need caffeine.”

      “There’s no time.”

      “Come on.” He elbowed her in the side as if they were old school chums. “A man can’t live on love alone.”

      She had an urge to rev the engine and shoot past the convenience store, but she always drove at the speed limit.

      He leaned back against the seat, stretched his arms, reducing the space even further within the car. “If you’re in such an all-fired hurry to get downtown, why are you driving so slow?”

      “I’m driving at the posted speed limit.” She snapped on her blinker, eased into another lane.

      “Follow all the rules, don’t you, Slick?”

      “That’s what they were made for, Walker.”

      “Maybe, but it’s more fun to break them.”

      “There’s more to life than fun.”

      “Is that what you want on your tombstone?”

      She decided to ignore him. In reality, she was too aware of him—his size, the movement of muscles as he shifted in his seat. The omnipresent heat, seductive as a southwest wind. Heat that she’d told herself she’d only imagined, until this morning when she’d felt it with her own body.

      Fortunately they weren’t far from the heart of downtown now, having left behind the old-money estates and new-money monster mansions. Mr. Max’s was north of the city’s center among the upscale department stores and towering hotels and office high-rises. Cash groaned as they passed an advertisement for Fresh Mountain Roast Coffee.

      He slumped against the seat. “All I can say is the bridesmaids better be gorgeous—each and every one of them.”

      Savannah thought of her sister. Cash would be pleased. “I’m assuming then, you’re not bringing someone to the wedding?”

      “Why? Do you need a date?”

      Patience, Savannah, patience. “You just seemed rather fond of this Angeline person—”

      “Angeline?”

      The unexpected steel in his voice drew her gaze. His expression was even harder.

      “That’s the name you called me when you accosted me in your bedroom. I assumed—”

      “Honey, I’ve done a lot of things in a bedroom but accosting has never been one of them.”

      As usual, his recovery was swift. Jaw set, she focused her attention on the traffic.

      “You’re thinking you don’t like me again, aren’t you, Slick?”

      Her jaw muscles locked.

      “Angeline was the woman I left at the altar seven years ago.”

      She swung her head to him. He was watching the passing buildings, the streets busy with people. “I’m sorry.”

      He angled his head to look at her.

      “Really, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I mean I knew what happened but, but—” She was actually stammering.

      “The story isn’t exactly the type of fare that lends itself to amusing anecdotes at family reunions, is it?”

      His barbs were rendered null and void by the pain etched in his expression.

      “Why’d you do it?” Her words came without thought. Blame it on her current situation. Blame it on the loneliness she sensed beneath his laughter. She needed to know.

      He shook his head. “She knew it was over. I had told her that morning.”

      “Maybe she didn’t believe you?”

      His words were certain. “She believed me.”

      Savannah sensed he would say no more. She tried to fill in the blanks. “You were scared?” She felt her own fear, refused to let it take hold.

      “Not at all. I wasn’t scared of anything back then. I was gaga about her.” He winked at her. She had to smile, her own fear falling away.

      “Wild about her, absolutely wild. Followed her around hot as a three-dollar pistol.” His smile was rueful as he looked out the windshield at nothing and remembered. “It ended badly, but boy, in the beginning…it was