One Night With His Ex

“Hey, there. You look like the party was getting to be too much for you,” Jackson said, coming up and putting his hand under her elbow.

His touch was nice. But it didn’t cause a chain reaction in her body the way that one small brush of Mauricio’s fingers had. That was the problem.

She looked at Jackson. He’d always been a good friend to her, starting back in high school when they’d both been in the International Baccalaureate program and study groups together. He’d been skinny and small and worn those glasses that were too big for his face. Of course, he’d changed. Matured into the kind of man she would have said was her type if not for that damned Mauricio messing with her body.

She wondered if she should just go home with Jackson and sleep with him. Maybe the fact that Mauricio had been her only lover was the reason why she still reacted to his touch. She toyed with the idea of sleeping with Jackson only until their eyes met. He was a good guy. He didn’t deserve to be dragged into her mess with Mo.

“When you look at me like that I know this doesn’t mean anything to you,” he said.

The sun was shining brightly, and it was the kind of late summer afternoon where the heat was so oppressive that being outside was a chore. She was just thinking that when she glanced past Jackson’s shoulder and saw Mo standing there on the patio outside the country club.

She shook her head. It was over between them, had been for longer than either of them wanted to admit.

“It could,” she whispered to Jackson, not sure if she was talking to herself or him. “It’s just...”

“I’m not Mauricio,” he said with his usual bluntness. “I never will be. And I’m not about to apologize for that.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to, and I don’t think you want to be Mauricio,” she said. “I like you, Jackson.”

He laced their fingers together and pulled her toward the willow tree that had been planted decades ago and now had large branches that cascaded down to the ground. He held the willow branches to the side as they stepped underneath them into the relative coolness of the shade provided by the tree. She could hear the melodic sound of the fountain in the nearby water feature.

He let her hand drop and then shook his head. “I like you too, Had, but not enough to play second fiddle to a Velasquez or any other man. There was a time when I might have considered it—”

“No, there wasn’t. You’ve always been such a strong, confident guy. That’s one of the things I’ve always admired about you.”

“But you’ve admired me as a friend, right?”

“Yes. But I thought that’s what you wanted from me,” she said.

“It is. I mean it would be a major cosmic F you to Mauricio if you and I had clicked and ended up married,” Jackson said. “But I wouldn’t do anything to mess with our friendship.”

“Me neither,” she said, putting her hands on the sides of his face. He had a strong jaw with only a hint of five o’clock shadow. His eyes were gray, so unlike Mauricio’s with their dark power. Jackson was the kind of man she’d always thought she’d fall in love with and end up marrying. But the heart didn’t work that way. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he said, before pulling her close and bringing his mouth down on hers. He angled his head for the kiss and she closed her eyes as their lips rubbed against each other’s. She opened her mouth and his tongue brushed against hers. He tasted of mint and it wasn’t an unpleasant experience but...

There was no spark.

Not a single bit of attraction. There was no way she could hook up with him to get over Mo. Not when all she could think was how one single brush of Mauricio’s fingers against her skin had set her on fire.

No matter how much she wanted there to be a spark with Jackson, there just wasn’t.

He pulled back and shook his head. “Well, hell. I guess we are meant to just be friends.”

She smiled at the way he said it. “I was hoping for something more too.”

“I bet,” he said. “You going back in? Want me to stay with you?”

She shook her head. She’d had enough of being the proper Southern lady her mama wanted her to be. She was done standing in the same room with a man she didn’t want to lust after and pretending that she was cool with every society matron gossiping about her lack of prospects. “I’m not going back in. I think I’ve done my sisterly duty.”

“Then I guess I’ll see you around,” Jackson said. As he walked away, she stood there in the shade of the willow tree and felt her hands clench into fists. She wanted to punch something or someone... Mauricio Velasquez, who had ruined her for other men, it seemed. She felt a scream rising up in her throat and realized she needed to get out of there. Go somewhere far away from engagements, her parents and the man she was thinking way too much about.

Mauricio went straight to the bar, ignoring his brother who lifted a beer toward him. He needed the hard stuff if he was going to be able to drive the image of Hadley and Jackson holding hands out of his mind. He knew he had no claim on her, and thought he had made his peace with that until he’d touched her.

Touching her had proven that all of his growth since they’d broken up had been for nothing. The spark was still there. Maybe what they needed was one good lay to get it all out of their systems. But he somehow didn’t think that Hadley was going to be too interested in that.

He ordered Jack Daniel’s neat and downed it in one swallow, and then forced himself to turn and move away before he started that slide back down to the out-of-control-guy he’d been last fall.

They’d broken up when she’d moved to New York but had kept in touch with texts and video chats. Mo had missed her but he had been casually dating and hooking up as well. He’d texted her a few times saying he wanted her back in his life permanently without realizing that she was coming back to town the very weekend he’d sent his last text. Then she’d used her key to let herself in and surprise him at his place early one morning after he’d hooked up with someone else. She’d caught them together.

Until that moment he had never realized what an ass he’d been. He had wanted Hadley back but he’d also hated to be alone so he’d been playing both sides. He shouldn’t have done that. He’d regretted it since then but he was too stubborn to admit that at first.

He noticed Helena watching him with one eyebrow arched. He put his hands up and walked away from the bar, but as he turned, he knew he needed to sort this out. He was in the wedding party and had to spend the next nine months with this group. Helena deserved some reassurances that he wasn’t going to ruin her wedding with some sort of brawl.

He walked over to Hadley’s sister. “I’m not going to F this up.”

“Good,” she said. “Your mom reassured my mom that you were over Hadley.”

“She did?” For fuck’s sake, he thought. His mom was going around making sure that everyone knew he’d behave? That was messed up. Like really messed up. He didn’t need her doing that.

“Yup. You know what it’s like living here. It doesn’t matter that we’re the fastest growing small town in Texas, the attitudes are slow to change,” Helena said.

He sighed. “Believe me, I know. You should be in real estate if you want to see slow attitudes. No one wants to pay full market value for anything.”

“I’ve heard you have a way of charming them into paying the going rate,” Helena said.

Real estate was a nice safe topic and one that he had no problem discussing. Anything to keep from talking about Hadley.

“Your fiancé isn’t that bad at it either,” Mauricio said.

“Good to know...” Then after a long pause, she asked, “Has he made any investments lately...big ones?”

“Not that I know of. Why?”

“It’s probably nothing,” she said.

But he knew Helena. She wouldn’t have brought it up if it were nothing. “Want me to talk to him about something?’”

She shook her head. “I’m not even sure if there is anything to talk about. It’s just he’s been acting odd and we have some funds unaccounted for.”

Helena was notorious among their group of friends for her tight purse strings and keeping Malcolm on a budget. Or trying. It wasn’t that Mal didn’t earn a decent salary, but that he tended to be frivolous and impulsive in his spending habits. And Helena was a save-for-a-rainy-day girl.

“I haven’t noticed any big new toys at work, but we are playing cards tomorrow night with my brothers, so I’ll see what I can find out.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I don’t want to make a big deal out of anything, but I had to ask my parents to put a down payment on the flowers for the wedding and you know my mother. She thinks that means she’s in charge of the planning now.”

He did know. His parents were the same way. If they were paying, they micromanaged every detail, which was why he hesitated to ask them to invest in any of his projects. “You’re welcome. It’s the least I can do for causing you stress today.”

“I knew you’d behave.”

“Right, because of my mom.”

“Nah,” she said over her shoulder as she started to walk away. “Because you don’t like hurting Hadley.”

Of course, she’d lobbed that as a parting shot so he couldn’t argue or defend himself against it. But it was the truth so who was he to argue.

He noticed Diego watching him and just shook his head. He needed to get out of here. Now. He’d done his part to support his friend and even been pretty damned polite to Hadley’s new boyfriend, so he figured he could call it a day.

He left the country club and the party, but once he got outside, he didn’t fancy going home to his empty penthouse apartment. He had always liked the place because Towers On The Green had been the first big development he’d done on his own in Cole’s Hill. And he’d claimed the penthouse that overlooked the square for himself.

But he’d also lived there with Hadley for a short time and it had been where she’d come home from Manhattan to find another woman in his bed.

“Mo, wait up,” Alec called from behind him.

He turned toward his twin and stopped. Growing up, they’d gotten into a lot of good-natured fun switching places with each other and pulling pranks on friends and their parents. But these days Alec was busy running his tech company and Mauricio didn’t see him often enough.

“Thanks,” Alec said. “I need a ride to the airport. Just got an email and I need to get to Los Angeles to take care of a problem.”

“Sure.”

“Want to come with me?” Alec asked. “A few days out of town would be nice and we could hang out. I feel like I haven’t spent enough time with you lately.”

He shook his head. “I can’t. I have a meeting tomorrow with Homes for Everyone. It’s one of my bigger projects. I agree we haven’t been hanging out enough. When are you back in town?”

“Ten days,” Alec said.

“For the polo match that Diego set up?”

“Yes. I can’t wait. Should be a good game,” Alec said.

Diego and Mauricio had been working on a new horse stable closer to town and had added a field that was big enough to host charity polo matches. Diego ran the Velasquez ranch, Arbol Verde, which had been in the family for generations.

Mo dropped his brother off at the airport and took the long way home, stopping by the old warehouse district where Hadley’s loft was. He told himself he was checking out the land because it might be a good development project. But he knew a lie when he told one to himself, and as he stared up at the corner loft unit and noticed that the lights were on, he had to force himself not to call her.

Hadley spent a restless night trying to forget that one little touch from Mauricio. She went for a run and then showered and pretended that her week was starting like every other one. She had this. Of course, she’d broken up with Jackson and now had to find something to fill her hours, which made her feel exactly like the old biddies who thought she needed a man to be complete. It was just... Her sister was engaged and most of her friends were in long-term relationships, and it was hard being the third wheel all the time.

She went into her shop and took a moment to look around. The best part of coming back to Cole’s Hill was opening this place. She’d always known she wanted to do something artistic as an adult. After college, her career had taken her into brand marketing and graphic design, which was challenging and rewarding but had too many restrictions. She’d quickly realized she didn’t mind following a brief but hated having someone tell her exactly how to design a project.

But here at her art studio, she was finding her true calling. She still had a few clients in New York that she was working with until she could make this studio start to pay. Her sister, who was a CPA, had designed a long-term investment strategy for Hadley and so far it was going pretty well.

She had designed some lithographs of the surrounding Cole’s Hill area and had a commission to do the Abernathy ranch.

The bell on the door to her shop rang and she glanced over her shoulder to see Helena coming toward her with two thermal coffee mugs and a pastry box from the Bluebonnet Bakery. “I brought breakfast.”

Hadley leaned her hip against the back counter, eyeing her sister. “What do you want?”

“What makes you think I want something?”

“It’s not even nine and you’re in my shop with a bribe.”

“Maybe I just love my little sister,” Helena said, putting the box on the counter in front of Hadley and handing her the thermal mug that was emblazoned with #BRIDETRIBE. She took the mug and inhaled the aroma. A skinny vanilla latte. Her sister definitely wanted something.

“You could, but I haven’t known you to get out of bed this early unless you needed something,” she said. Helena was famous in their family as a late sleeper and ridiculously hard to wake up under normal circumstances.

“Well, I might need your help to run interference with Mother.”

Hadley took a sip of her latte and reached out to open the box. There were two cheese Danishes and a chocolate cake doughnut inside. Of course, Helena had brought her favorites so this must be serious.

“With what?” she asked.

“I had to ask Mom and Dad to put the deposit down on the flowers and now she’s trying to take over. I mentioned that you were the artsy one and had already designed the flowers for the church and the reception...”

“That doesn’t sound bad. I’m not sure you needed to bring the latte and the pastries to ask me to do your design. I was already planning to do it,” Hadley said.

“Great. Glad to hear it. Mom is going to be over later to give you some notes on how she’d like the church to look. You will need to make some time to go and visit with the pastor, as well as with Kinley. Now that Mom is on board, we’re going to have Kinley plan it.”

Kinley Caruthers was a local girl who’d moved to Vegas and landed a primo job with Jaqs Veerland. The Jaqs Veerland, who planned weddings for A-listers and European royalty. Kinley had come back to Cole’s Hill to plan former NFL bad boy Hunter Caruthers’s wedding. Kinley had a complicated history with Hunter’s brother Nate and after they got engaged Jaqs opened a satellite office here in town so Kinley could work in Cole’s Hill.

“What?” Now the pastries were making a bit more sense.

“Sorry, sis,” she said.

“There aren’t enough cheese Danishes at the Bluebonnet to make this okay. Mom is going to be a complete tyrant about this,” Hadley said.

“I know. I’m sorry, but I had no choice.”

“Why not? I thought you’d budgeted to make sure you didn’t have to ask them for any money,” she said.

“I did, but something came up unexpectedly and we didn’t have enough for the deposit, so I had to ask Daddy.”

“That doesn’t sound like you.”

She shrugged. “You know how it is with brides.”

“Actually, I don’t. But I do know you and you have a backup for everything,” she said. She put her coffee mug on the counter and walked around to her sister. “What’s going on?”

Helena chewed her lower lip and turned away from Hadley, which made her even more concerned.

“Hel, whatever it is, you can tell me,” she said.

She put her arms at her sides and shrugged. “That’s just it. I don’t know what the problem is. Malcolm withdrew the money and I can’t ask him about it without it seeming like I’m checking up on him.”

“Uh, yes you can. It’s your wedding fund,” she said.

“I know, but I took out a large amount to buy him a wedding present and I asked him to trust me and he did...so now I have to give him the same trust,” she said.

“Did he say he bought you something with it?” she asked.

“No, he just said he’d have the money back in our account soon.”

“Soon? That doesn’t sound like Malcolm. When did he say that?”

“Six weeks ago,” Helena said.

“Uh...that doesn’t sound right.”

“I know. I asked Mauricio to see if he can find out what’s going on,” Helena said. “He was really sweet after you and Jackson left the party.”

Of course he was. She’d rather he was a jerk so she could go back to hating him and forget about how sexy he was, which she hadn’t been able to do since she’d left the party.

“Anyway, thanks for working with mom on this. How’s things with Jackson? He’s really cute. You two make a good couple.”

She shook her head. “I broke up with him.”

“What? Why?”

“For a reason I’m not sharing with you,” she said.

“No spark?”

“Yeah,” she said. She wasn’t planning to elaborate or let her sister know that Mauricio was still turning her on with a barely-there touch.

“So about the money...” Hadley said.

“I’m going to see if anything else comes of it from Mauricio. Otherwise, I just don’t know. Am I wrong to trust him?”

Hadley hugged her sister close. “I don’t know. My track record with trusting guys isn’t great. You know him the best.”

“I do,” Helena said, hugging her back. “You’re right. He’s fine. We’re fine. And you’re handling Mother so everything is good.”

She was glad she had her sister’s wedding to help design instead of focusing on her own non-existent love life. Of course, after Helena left the studio, all she could think about was that she’d said Mauricio had been sweet to her. She hated when he wasn’t a total douche because it made her remember how good things had been between them.

Three

Closing a deal in Houston, picking Alec up at the airport a few days earlier than expected and then driving back to Cole’s Hill hadn’t been what he’d planned for Friday, but Mauricio was hopeful that after the long day he’d fall into an exhausted sleep and for once not be tormented by dreams of Hadley.

But his youngest brother, Inigo, was back in town due to some downtime on the Formula One circuit and their father was in a rare mood, treating them all to dinner at the Peace Creek Steak House. His father loved it when he had all of his sons and his only grandson to himself. To be honest Mo liked these times too. Then they’d dropped the old man and Benito off at home in the Five Families neighborhood and headed out to the Bull Pit for shots of tequila and a grudge-match pool game.

“Twins versus the baby and the favorite,” Alec said, coming back to the high table with a round of Lone Star longnecks.

“Works for me,” Mo said. He and Alec had been a team since the womb, and they were pretty unstoppable once they got playing.

“Or as I like to think of it, the wusses versus the awesomes.”

“Awesomes? That’s not even a word. No wonder you’re a driver. You’re not smart enough for anything else,” Alec said, winking at Inigo.

“I’m plenty smart for you,” Inigo said. “Who gets paid to drive fast and who has to sit in an office in front of a computer? I think we both know who’s the smart one.”

“Touché,” Alec said, lifting his beer toward his little brother as Diego set up the balls and they tossed a coin to see who would go first.

As Mo listened to his brothers josh with each other and tossed the coin in the air, he felt a shiver go down his spine. He looked toward the jukebox and saw a pair of skintight jeans encasing an ass he’d never forget.

Hadley.

She had her hair loose, hanging over her shoulders, and was wearing a flimsy blouse and her hand-tooled leather boots. She threw her head back to laugh at something her sister said. Mo felt every part of his body tense and come alive at the same time. He could tell himself that he’d just imagined his reaction to that one touch at the engagement party, but he knew he would have been lying.

The coin fell to the floor and he cursed but didn’t bend down to pick it up.

“Dude...damn. Is it too late to change teams?” Alec teased.

Mauricio gave him the finger and bent to pick up the coin. “It was heads. We go first.”

“You’re going to need every advantage as long as Hadley is here,” Inigo said.

“Doubtful,” Mauricio said. “I was distracted by something else.”

“Really?” Diego asked. “What was it that caught your eye?”

His brothers were going to be asses and not leave this alone, and unless he wanted to turn a friendly Friday night into fight night and get himself kicked out of the Bull Pit again, he needed to shrug it off.

But that was his problem. He’d never been able to just shrug off anything where Hadley was concerned. He knew it and his brothers seemed to, as well. He was screwed. He’d moved on. Or had until that damned photo session. He should never have agreed to be a groomsman. Then he could have stayed away from Hadley until he found another woman. Someone who could push the last of the lingering sexual attraction he felt for her out.

“Dude, stop staring at her,” Alec said.

“Shut it, Alec. I’m not looking at her.”

“Whatever,” Alec said. “It’s your turn. Don’t screw up.”

He made a face at his brother and leaned over the table to line up his shot. The sound of the jukebox playing loud country music on a Friday night made it easier for him to focus on the game. He took a deep breath and broke the balls. Though he knew this was a friendly rivalry amongst his brothers, he didn’t want to lose.

He took his next shot, sinking a ball in the corner pocket, and then moved on to line up his next shot. He had a pretty good run of three balls before it was Diego’s turn. Mauricio went to lean against the high table next to Inigo, who was posting to one of his social media accounts. His youngest brother was a hot up-and-coming driver who had been on the Formula Two circuit for a few years before making it to the big leagues of Formula One.

“Not bad, Mo. I’d hate to see what would happen if you were really concentrating.”

“I am concentrating,” he said.

“Sure you are. Like you didn’t notice Hadley on the dance floor,” Inigo said, drawing his attention to the small wooden floor set to one side of the jukebox.

He cursed under his breath as he saw her dancing with a group of her girlfriends, and was unable to tear his eyes away from her. He tried to remind himself that he was over her, but when she moved to the music, her arms in the air, hips swaying, his body reacted like she was still his.

Maybe one more night together was what he needed to clear her out of his system for good. Of course, Hadley deserved better than that. She deserved an apology, not because he wanted something from her but because he never should have slept with Marnie when he was still...hell, while he still liked Hadley.

If losing her had taught him anything it was that he hadn’t wanted things to end so horribly between them.

He took another long swallow of his beer. That kind of thinking was dangerous, because he knew if he let himself dwell on it too long, he’d start believing that it was a viable option. That sleeping with his ex would be the solution to finally getting over her.