Every Glance (Every Life #3) (34 page)

“Now who’s the prude?” Makenna asks through her laughter as I begin to close the door.

But before I do, I remember the message I was supposed to give. Kinda. “Oh, and Sawyer told me to tell you something about shoes. Uh, and elephants or something.”

“Elephant shoe,” she says, beaming. “He was half asleep one night and told me ‘I love you’ but it sounded a lot like ‘elephant shoe’ to me. It’s our code now.”

“That’s, uh, sweet. And pretty weird.”

By the time I make it back to our room, Sawyer is dressed and heading out to meet with the photographer, so I finish getting ready, too. I’m sure my time in front of the camera is coming pretty soon, as much as I hate it. It probably stems from the earlier years of my life when I could hardly stand to look at myself in the mirror, much less have my picture made. Even still, I have complex about it.

Just as I’m buttoning my vest, I hear the distinct click of heels against the wood floor, and they stop right outside my door. Knowing it’s most likely Makenna’s mom coming to drag me out for pictures, I grab my jacket and slip it on as I walk to the door.

“I’m coming, Mrs. Madison,” I call out as I approach, straightening my lapel before opening the door.

But it’s Devyn standing on the other side, looking all kinds of amazing. Her dress is the shade of eggplant, and it’s fitted through the bodice. The solid fabric covers up to just above her breasts, and sheer lace in a matching shade sweeps over the tops of her shoulders and the very tops of her arms. The full skirt hits just above her knees, leaving her long, toned legs exposed all the way down to those sexy, strappy heels.

Her hair is swept up off her neck in a mess of soft curls, held in place with jewel-accented pins. Only thin tendrils of loose hair have escaped, barely brushing the tops of her shoulders, and her smooth bangs fall perfectly over her smoky eyes. Even her makeup has a simple elegance to it. Nothing showy…just classic beauty. And the pale pink at her lips makes me want to kiss them until they take on that color all on their own.

“Are you just going to stand there and stare at me, or are you going to let me in?” Her question is full of laughter, making her eyes dance in the soft light.

“You’re stunning. Literally. I can’t move or think straight.” I open the door the rest of the way, allowing her to step inside. “That dress didn’t have those curves on the hanger.”

She leans forward and places a chaste kiss at my jaw. “You’re not so bad yourself, stud. Are you
trying
to make every woman here drool over you?”

“Just you.” I begin to snake my hands around her waist and pull her against me, but I pause to look over her shoulder. “Where’s Simon?”

“He wanted to watch the photographer, so he’s outside,” she explains, pressing her lips into a thin line. “I just wanted to let you know that we made it.”

I let out a long breath, feeling my lungs fully deflate before I fill them again to speak. “So he’s avoiding me now.” It’s not a question. I know he is.

She shrugs her shoulders and squeezes my hand. “I’m not sure what’s going on with him, but whatever it is will pass. You have enough on your plate to worry about today; we can talk to him about it tomorrow. He’ll probably be fine by the end of the day and everything will be completely back to normal. Simon can be a little temperamental at times.”

“Maybe you’re right,” I say, dragging her against me into an embrace. She melts into me, her body molding perfectly to mine as if it was made to do just that. Her face tucks right into my neck like a once-missing puzzle piece, making me feel whole. The same way I feel every time I’m with her.

A chill races down my spine when her warm breath caresses just under my chin, and my body shivers in response. The floral scent of her hair and her warm curves pressed against me aren’t helping my body’s reaction either. She does positively wicked things to me without even trying, without even being conscious of it.

“Dalton?” Makenna’s mom calls out from the end of the hall. “Are you decent? It’s time for groomsmen pictures.”

I press a lingering kiss just under Devyn’s earlobe before answering. “No, ma’am. I’m far from decent at the moment, but I’m dressed. I’ll be right out.”

Devyn smacks me playfully as Mrs. Madison wordlessly clunks away. “There’s no telling what she thinks you meant by that. She saw me come in here, you know. Now she probably won’t be able to look at us the rest of the day.”

“Well, she shouldn’t have asked that question. Nothing decent or moral is going through my mind when you’re this close to me.”

She shakes her head and smiles softly, looking up at me through her dark fringe of lashes. “Do you ever wish you could change the past?”

“That question is a little out of left field.” She doesn’t offer any explanation, so I think about my answer. “I guess I’ve thought about it before, but I wonder if I’d be the same person today without going through everything that I’ve gone through. Our pasts shape us…make us better and stronger than we were. What about you?”

“I only have one regret. I wish I had been given the chance to get to know you all those years ago. If I did, I’d like to think it would’ve been you waiting for me at the altar that day years ago, smiling as soon as our eyes met. It could’ve been you holding my hand while Simon was brought into this world or you teaching him how to pedal a bicycle or throw a ball. It could’ve been you cuddling with me in bed every night after a long work days. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, and I didn’t have it because it wasn’t you.”

Her eyes are brimmed with tears, and her chin quivers almost imperceptibly. She’s right, though. I wish it had been me, too. I always have.

I release her waist and take her face in my hands. “Devyn, I’ve wanted to be with you since the moment I laid eyes on you. You didn’t see me, but all I saw was you. Sawyer thought I was crazy, but I couldn’t get you out of my head, nor did I want to. I could say that nothing has changed, but honestly, everything has. I only thought I was in love with you then, but the more I get to know you, I realize it was only the beginning of so much more. I can’t contain it. I feel like it oozes out of me. We have a chance to have all that you said and more. I can’t change your past, but I can promise you the most fulfilling future imaginable, full of hope and love and adoration and laughter. All you have to do is let me give it to you.”

A single tear leaves a glistening trail from her eye to the corner of her mouth. “Okay,” she whispers.

“Dalton? Please, don’t make me come back there. We’re waiting on you.”

“On my way, Mrs. Madison. Sorry.” I kiss the tip of Devyn’s nose. “I better get out there. You coming?”

Her cheeks tug at the corners of her mouth and she nods once. “I’ll be out in a sec. I’m going to check my makeup first.”

I reluctantly back away from her and move toward the door, stopping for only a moment to look back at her. “You know…Sawyer told me that he can’t wait to see Makenna walking toward him down the aisle today, and I didn’t truly understand it at first. But I think I do now. Someday, all of this will be for us, and I’ll get to experience that moment for myself.”

Devyn folds her slender arms over her chest and smirks. “You seem pretty confident about that, Dalton Hoover. You’ve been back in my life for only three weeks, so there’s still plenty of time for me to scare you off. Besides, I don’t seem to remember you asking me to marry you.”

“I’m confident because I knew it the first time I kissed you. And you’re right. I haven’t asked you. But unlike Carter, I will, and you’ll know it when I do.”

Leaving her speechless is a rare treat.

THE WEDDING WENT exactly as planned.

Except the part where the minister tripped over his own robe. And when Makenna’s dad walked on her train. And especially exempting the part where I caught Sawyer checking out his wife’s chest pushed up high in her strapless gown, so I whispered to him that he could look at those later, sending a good portion of the wedding party into a fit of giggles. There were plenty of tears shed before the ceremony ever started, but they were all from laughing too hard.

But I’d say it was pretty damn perfect.

Sawyer surprised all of us by singing and playing his guitar. Makenna cried during the entire ceremony, a watery smile plastered to her face. Callie was stoic—probably doing all she could to maintain composure. Wes and I exchanged looks every few minutes, silently taking bets on when her façade would crack. All in all, it was short, sweet, and exactly what we all needed to lighten our moods after our rough week. I’m glad William told them not to postpone.

The best part of it all was watching Sawyer’s face as Makenna floated down the aisle in billows of white fabric. I looked back and forth between the two of them, and I saw exactly what I knew would be there. At that first glance, they exchanged so many promises and so much understanding.

Almost immediately, my eyes found Devyn in the crowd, and I noticed her somber smile as she watched Makenna make her way down the aisle. Her expression was a little hard to read at first, but judging by our talk earlier, I believe she was reliving her regret again, silently wishing to do it all over again. And I plan on giving her the chance to do that someday.

Even now as I look across this reception hall, watching her with Simon on the dance floor, it’s all so impeccably clear. Three short weeks is all it has taken to completely turn my life upside down, changing everything I thought I knew or wanted. I’ve always balked at stories of people falling in love and getting married after only just meeting, never imagining the possibility of knowing that the other person was your other half in such a short time.

Hell, a colleague of mine from my residency days even went to Vegas with some friends one weekend to do some gambling and came back married. Four short days was all he’d known her. Four days was all it took for him to take that kind of chance.

I remember sitting in the cafeteria, reading a medical journal article about the whole body effects of hyperthyroidism, when he slumped into the seat across from me, looking like he hadn’t slept at all that year.

“You look like shit,” I muttered to him. “Must’ve been a hell of a trip. Win anything?”

He didn’t answer, so I looked up from my article again. Waiting for my full attention, he nodded. “Yeah,” he said, raising his left hand into view. “A wife.”

I remember being astonished, not completely believing the words until I saw the thin gold band encircling his finger. “You didn’t even have a girlfriend before you left.”

He only shrugged. “She was in the room across from mine and had locked her key card inside. I let her use my phone to call the front desk. We ended up going out for dinner that night, and I didn’t let her out of my sight for the rest of my stay. The night before I was supposed to leave, she told me that she couldn’t imagine not having me in her life, so I asked her to marry me. We got married first thing yesterday morning before we both had to leave for the airport. She’s driving up from Georgia tomorrow with all of her stuff. We’ll have to go out to dinner, so you can meet her.”

“I hate to rain on your parade, but don’t you think she might realize how fast all of it happened and change her mind? Divorces are a bit of a pain, you know.”

He shook his head and smiled, not even fazed by my negativity. “No need for that.” He stood and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Sometimes you just know. Sometimes life throws you a bone, and you’re given exactly what you’ve always wanted or needed, without even realizing what it is yourself. But when you get it…you know.”

And I do know now. There’s not even a niggling of doubt in my mind.

I never knew that I wanted to settle down and have a family. I never knew what it could be like to want to fill every waking moment with their smiles and laughter. I didn’t think that I could enjoy snuggling up on the couch with a little boy who cackles dramatically at the silly cartoons on television. Or that I could hold a woman in my arms and feel complete for the first time in my life.

Devyn and Simon have changed everything.

“I never thought I’d say this. Not ever.” Sawyer leans against the wall next to me. “But you’re next, you know.”

“Yeah, I
do
know. And I never thought I’d say it either.”

Sawyer smiles, his amber eyes are brighter and more alive than I’ve seen them in years. “Love looks good on you, brother. It’s about damn time you joined the club. I was really starting to worry about you.”

“Devyn has always had this way of breaking down my defenses. The moment I laid eyes on her in the clinic, my bachelorhood went down in an explosion of flames. I never had a chance. The only thing I’m struggling with now is stopping myself from asking your minister to marry us right here and now. I don’t want her to get away again.”

Sawyer leans in closer and nods toward the group of women across the room, causing me to follow his gaze. At that very moment, Devyn sneaks a glance at me, smirking when she knows she’s been caught.

“See?” He asks. “I’ve been watching her watch you all day, so I know she’s got it just as bad as you do. She’s not going anywhere.”