Hidden Passions (7 page)

That was going to change. Nate would be her closest male family now. Chris gave her a squeeze he hoped didn't betray his own regrets.

"What matters is remembering you're marrying the man you love. Nate is a standup male. He's lucky to have you, but you're lucky to have him too."

Despite his intent to conceal his private yearnings, his voice cracked the slightest bit. Evina registered the sound. She turned and gave him a bone-deep hug.

"You're my bestest friend," she declared, imitating her five-year-old daughter's favorite exclamation of affection. "Just don't tell Mom or Freda that I said so."

Chris smiled against her veil. "You're my bestest friend," he returned. "For real."

Evina tipped her head back. Her golden eyes glittered with emotion. "I won't neglect you," she promised more seriously.

"I know you won't, but you have to commit to your new life."

She touched his face, gaudy wedding bracelets clinking, shining gaze searching his. He sensed her debating whether she should say more. Why hadn't he ever been in love? Why did he hardly date? In the end,
don't ask, don't tell
ruled her decision.

"Would you check on Nate and his pack for me?" she asked. "The tiger priest is due here in ten minutes."

"I'll check," he agreed. "No matter what, he'll marry you. If I need to, I'll have Liam sit on him."

A horror he didn't expect filled the tigress's expression. "You think Nate might have cold paws?"

"I meant I'd have Liam sit on the priest. The end of the Pocket wouldn't keep your wolf from being hot to trot to you."

Leaving her laughing seemed like a good idea. He slipped out the door to the outside, the cool autumn air a pleasure against his skin. Three feral cats scampered across the grass to him. Though they weren't pets, they were used to people. Lots of park visitors brought them treats. Chris crouched to pet them for good luck.

"Hello, cousins," he said as they wound around him. "Promise to carry Evina's prayers to the Tiger Queen?"

A gray and white female mewed, tilting her head for more scratches. Chris obeyed her bidding, then rose again. He was putting off the moment he'd have to face Tony.

Maybe the hot gay wolf would be gone. Maybe he'd have stepped out to fetch something.

Maybe the Tiger Queen of the Universe would help Chris win the Lottery.

Annoyed with himself, he closed the short distance to the Groom's Pavilion. He knocked, but no one answered. When he stepped in, the outer room was empty. The door to the inner was open a crack.

"You don't?" he heard Tony say.

Chris knew it was his voice. He'd replayed the message Tony left him a stupid amount of times.
I've got that thing you were looking for. Get in touch if you still want it
. Chris hadn't let himself compose even a pretend text in answer. He'd have been too tempted to hit
send
.

Nate said something Chris's roaring blood drowned out.

"Now I really want to marry you," Tony said.

Chris could tell he was joking. Nonetheless, the most extraordinary wave of rage rolled through him. The sockets around his canines heated, the tearing teeth verging on lengthening. Chris clenched his jaw. Tony shouldn't joke about marrying. Tony belonged to him.

The thought shocked him. If he believed it, he'd lost his ever-loving mind.

"Hello, wolves," he called in his steadiest voice. "I'm checking on you for Evina."

Nate stepped into the outer room, bringing his odd alpha energy with him. The wolf seemed relaxed, a
GQ
model in his tuxedo. The swiftness with which he popped out told Chris appearances might be deceiving.

"Is Evina all right?" he asked.

Chris had braced for Tony to follow Nate. When that didn't happen, he wasn't certain he was grateful. "She's fine. The priest is due pretty soon. Are you and your pack ready?"

Nate twisted his head over his shoulder. "Tony, can you make sure Adam and the guys fixed that flower thing?"

"Sure," Tony said. "I'll get Ari and the baby while I'm at it."

Nate didn't thank him. Then again, Tony didn't seem to expect it. He trotted briskly out, throwing Chris a sideways ghost-glance along the way.

Fleeting though it was, the look sent heat coursing through him for new reasons.

"He's a grouch today," Nate said. His eyes were coffee black, their sharpness going straight through Chris. "He'd have greeted you politely otherwise."

Tony was a grouch today? Had something happened? Was he mad because Chris was here? Chris forced his gaze away from the exit through which his hottest one-night stand ever had disappeared.

"No problem," Chris said to Nate. "Weddings mean changes for everyone."

His words were a wee bit pompous, but Nate broke into a grin. Chris respected and owed Nate already. The wolf won him completely over by bouncing on his heels like a ten-year-old.

"I cannot wait," he confessed. "I don't care if every flower in the park explodes. This is the best day of my life."

~

The flowers in the bridal tent hadn't exploded. The event planner had decided to save time by purchasing a spell to keep the festoons in place, rather than stringing them by hand. He'd also decided to save money, and the bargain basement enchantment expired early. Nate's packmates had snarled at the human until he quaked, but in the end the best solution anyone came up with was to arrange the flowers on the ground. Now a river of orange blossoms flowed from the door of the tent to its altar.

Tony thought the tigress bride looked stunning wading down the aisle through them.

When the groom tucked two blooms into his new children's curly hair, every eye in the house--no matter how macho--welled up with sentiment.

The wedding vows were short and sweet. As best man, Tony stood a few steps behind the couple, doing his best to act like Chris wasn't right beside him radiating his sexy tiger vibe through his tuxedo. Tony glued his attention to the couple, who swore to love, honor and cherish as if the words were invented just for them. Nate added a promise to respect and look out for Evina's clan.

"Me too," Evina said, surprising Tony by sending him a wink.

Unable to resist, Tony twitted Nate by pretending he couldn't find the rings in their safe pocket.

Nate shot a cool glare under lowered brows.
Idiot
, he mouthed at him.

Tony pretended he didn't notice Evina's beta's lips quirking.

The priest bound the pair's wrists together with a length of silk that was half tiger-print and half wolf. He covered their hands with his for the blessing. "May your mating prosper," he pronounced.

"Kiss her!" Evina's daughter Abby crowed.

"Kiss her good!" Her twin Rafi seconded.

Nate complied by bending the tigress backwards over one arm.

Wolves and tigers whooped and whistled in approval. The Bollywood-style musicians began to play, signaling the crowd to get off their folding chairs and dance to the banquet hall. The feast that waited was delicious, the champagne and humorous speeches equally plentiful.

Tony couldn't help but be happy through most of it. He was surrounded by his pack, and all of them were well. The tigers were on their best behavior--and similarly enjoying the party.

Joy could be shared when you were a group creature.

"Sweeten your mouths," the bride's mother instructed, helping the caterer wheel out the wedding cake.

Nate and Evina fed each other and their children a piece of it. Their auras were bright as dawn, their faces glowing with love and tenderness. Tony sat smiling a few more minutes. Then, suspecting no one would notice, he slipped from the hall for a breath of solitude.

~

Do not go after him
, Chris ordered his twitching feet.
You and Tony have nothing to say to each other
.

Nothing Chris could follow up on anyway.

He stood with his back to the wooden wall of the banquet hall, slowly killing a bottle of ice-cold elf porter. He'd left the bridal table some time ago, unable to calmly sit with Tony next to him. He'd forgotten how sexy the young wolf was, with his smooth tanned skin and his full dark mouth made for slow wet kisses.

Chris shifted uncomfortably, his dress trousers going tight at the direction his thoughts drifted.

"Dance?" invited Evina's slightly tipsy female friend Freda.

She'd appeared through the crowd without him noticing. She was a paramedic: hot, fun, smart . . . and totally wasted on Chris. She'd shared her favors with a few of their station's tigers--to no one's harm, that he could see. Though she'd flirted with Chris before, he'd always evaded her.

Having sex with someone Evina cared about, just to shore up his damned secret, didn't seem right to him.

"Two left feet," he said, softening his refusal with a smile.

"Like I care!" She laughed and pushed his chest playfully.

Still smiling, he shook his head. "Liam looks like he needs a partner."

She pouted but danced off, the sinuous motions of her tight tigress body letting him know what he'd turned down.

Sighing, Chris finished off his beer. The table for the empties sat near the rear exit, the same exit Tony Lupone had slipped out of.

Don't
, Chris ordered himself.

This time he didn't listen. He was a little drunk and maybe more than a little sad. Under those conditions, the lure of the hot young wolf was simply too powerful.

~

A stone half-wall separated the running path from the riverbank. Tony leaned on it with bent forearms, watching the dark current flow. The sun had set, probably after the first meat course.

Times like this he wished he smoked. That's what people did when they left a crowd.
Went out for a cigarette
, they'd say, not:
Needed to escape the hot fireman I've got a hankering for
.

Footsteps approached along the walkway behind him. Dress shoes. Worn by a large tall male. The swoosh of expensive fabric suggested a tuxedo.

"Tony," said the very fireman who'd driven him out here.

Tony turned and leaned back against the wall. He told himself he could be as cool as Nate if he wanted to. "You owe me a clean set of sheets."

Chris stopped, too close and too far at the same time. His handsome brow furrowed. "What?"

"You promised you'd wash the sheets yourself if we messed up Nate's bed. I guess your promises don't mean much."

God, Tony sounded childish. He refused to drop his gaze regardless. Looking at Chris fed something inside him he couldn't bring himself to deny.

"I'm sorry," Chris said. "About everything."

He wasn't looking away either. Perversely, Tony longed for him to move closer.

"You knew it was me calling you from that blocked number."

"Yes."

"I made myself only call you once."

"I appreciate that." Chris's cheek muscles worked, his jaw so square he was like a fricking superhero on a kid's cereal box. His shoes made a scuffing noise on the path as his weight shifted. "You know my situation."

His voice wasn't pleading but his eyes were. Tony wasn't used to having the upper hand. Now that he did, he wasn't inclined to give it up.

"Why did you follow me out here?"

The big cat rubbed the back of his beefy neck. "I drank too much and I couldn't not." He sighed out a curse. "You're too fucking hot in that tuxedo."

His words thrilled and hardened Tony, which angered him quite a lot for about three seconds. "You're not too shabby yourself," he grudged.

Chris's lips curved faintly. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "More than you probably believe."

Tony grunted a sound the fireman could take as forgiveness if he wanted.

"Truce?" Chris asked.

"I'd agree if I knew what you meant by that." Suddenly, he couldn't look at the man anymore. He turned back toward the river, hoping--stupidly--that he didn't seem too rude. He guessed he didn't. Chris came to lean on the wall with him. His thickly muscled arm brushed Tony's.

"I want to make this up to you," he said.

Tony's blood already sang from the light contact. At this, his hard-on lurched vertical. "Given your 'situation,' I don't see how you can."

Chris was silent for a few heartbeats. "Maybe--"

Tony cut him off. "Don't start with me like that. I like you. You and I have good chemistry. If I'm going to screw around--which I don't rule out--I'll choose a Maybe I don't mind getting kicked to the curb by if he decides I'm too risky."

Chris wrapped his hand around Tony's and squeezed tightly. "Have you?" he asked in a low voice.

Tony was trying to get his head around the fact that Chris was holding his hand. "Have I what?"

"Screwed around."

"Jesus," he said. "It's barely been a month since you and I had sex."

"So you haven't." Chris's statement was smug.

"That's not your business," Tony retorted.

Chris's thumb rubbed the side of Tony's hand. It was a little gesture, but tingles immediately shot up his arm, through his body, and into his throbbing dick. The downward surge of blood was so dramatic Tony went lightheaded.

Wanting this man so badly was dangerous.

"Christ," he breathed. The fireman knew why. His chest started going in and out as fast as Tony's was.

"Come with me," he said, tugging him away from the river view.

Tony guessed where he was headed. A gingerbready gardener's shed sat slightly off the path not too far from them.

"It'll be locked," Tony warned even as Chris pulled him into a run.

Chris grinned, yanking the cheap padlock so that it snapped.

Tony did love a bad boy. His heart knocked his sternum as Chris pushed him inside and backed him into the dark shed's wall. He smelled mulch and damp concrete, the scents mingling weirdly well with Chris's grassy savannah aroma. Tony was a big guy, but Chris seemed huge in the confined space--hot and male and totally powerful. Being crowded by his taller body chased delighted shivers down Tony's spine. Probably Chris noticed. His hands gripped him at the waist.