Four Weddings and a Werewolf

Chapter Fourteen

Bright and early Monday morning, Veronica waited in the lobby of the hotel for the valet to bring her car around. She was more nervous to be on her own than before. Since the attack, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the stalker was closer. Watching her at all times.

Maybe she was safe here. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to find her if Logan’s name was the one attached to the reservation. It was the only thing keeping her nerves in check.

As her Lexus pulled up in front of the hotel, Veronica walked out and met the valet at the hood.

“Thanks,” she said, and handed him a five-dollar tip.

“No problem, ma’am,” he said, but instead of taking the money, he handed her a small white envelope. “I found this beneath your windshield wiper. Didn’t want it flying away.”

He handed her the keys and walked inside to help another hotel guest, leaving Veronica on the sidewalk, struggling to catch her breath.

She knew what the envelope was and whom it was from before her fingers curled around the edges. Flipping it over, she read: “The future Mr. & Mrs.…”

“Oh my God…”

He found me.

It was Leah and Jake’s wedding invitation. She recognized the red-ribbon decal lining the envelope right away. It was the same size. With the same rose bundle stamp that she’d ordered a month ago, specifically for Leah’s wedding.

Hands beginning to shake, Veronica bent the edges of the envelope and peered inside. No wolf hair. No red bloodstains. No emerald jewelry.

She sighed and pulled out the wedding invitation.

It was exactly how she remembered it. But there was another card inside. The RSVP card. Slowly, she pulled it out.

The will attend line was checked, and written at the bottom of the card was the word “soon…”

“Damn it all to hell.” Veronica hopped into her car and put it in gear.

Was the stalker watching her now? Waiting for her to leave so he could follow her to her next stop? She checked down the street, scanning both directions. Nothing. She glanced in the rearview. Everything was quiet.

Without thinking, she dug her cell phone out of her purse and started scrolling for Logan’s name.

No.

What was she thinking? Were her instincts totally out of whack?

She’d have to take care of herself. Look over her shoulder everywhere she went. Maybe after the dress fitting she should buy a can of mace or a knife. Better yet, maybe she’d stop by an ammo shop and see if they stocked Tasers.

Thinking about her course of action, Veronica took off as fast as she could into town.

Once she pulled into the Bridal Beat parking lot, Veronica got her things ready before opening her door. She took a deep breath and darted inside the building. The place was located in west Seattle, and had a Victorian theme going on with its gold-tinseled marble columns and long swags of fabric draped in front of the windows. She pushed through the glass front door and let it close quickly behind her.

Logan.

He was sitting on a puffy chair against the far wall. A rack of bridesmaid dresses stood to his right, towering well over his head, and a pedestal had been set up on his other side providing the perfect place for brides to spin and twirl in front of their entourage. He wore jeans and a mocha-colored sweater that really made his light eyes pop.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, repressing a sigh at the sight of him.

“My job.”

“Yeah, well, this was stuck to my windshield this morning. Looks like the guy knows how to sneak into parking garages.” She tossed him the invitation. “Should make your job a little easier.”

“Shit.” He read quickly, then met her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Of course I’m okay.” She pushed out a laugh, but it came out tight and much too chipper. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because now you have a definite meeting date,” Logan said, checking out the RSVP card. “Soon…”

“Soon could be any time,” she said. “Not necessarily the wedding.”

“Which is why you should be extra vigilant.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. He looked as if he hadn’t slept a wink last night. “I don’t know when he could’ve put this on your car. I was up all night.”

“What good would that do when I’m staying across town?”

“I slept across the street from the hotel. In my truck.”

“Oh.” That was sweet of him. Selfless, too. The truck couldn’t have been comfortable to crash in. “I guess he found another way in.” Veronica tried to keep her tone light, but her insides shook. “I’m getting so tired of this. I just want this to be over so life can go back to normal.”

“It’s all right to be afraid.” Logan’s voice was a melody of deep rumbles. “Anyone would be under the circumstances.”

“If I’m afraid of anybody, it should be—”

“Can I help you?” the saleswoman behind the counter asked. She was blond and young. Too perky for 9:00 a.m. Monday morning.

Veronica spun around. “I’m here to try on and pick up Leah Vale’s wedding gown and the bridesmaids’ dresses.”

“I see the dresses right here.” She pointed to the computer screen. “Go ahead and meet me in dressing room A and I’ll bring the dresses right in.”

“Okay, thanks.” Veronica watched as the blonde swept by the rack of dresses near Logan. He winked as she walked by, souring Veronica’s stomach. She shouldn’t have skipped breakfast. She was getting sick. “I don’t mean to cut in front of you, sir,” she said to Logan. “Were you trying on dresses today, too?”

Logan smirked and his dimple returned full force, making Veronica want to kiss his cheek and lick the sexy indentation. Wolf, she reminded herself. Not sexy. Hairy, foul, growling werewolf.

“I still have a job to do, Veronica,” he said, “and now that I know what the guy looks like, I’ll have a better shot of finding him.”

Striding past the pedestal, Veronica entered the dressing room and stripped down. “I feel awkward doing this knowing you’re sitting right there,” she said, stopping at her white lace bra and matching panties.

“What’s there to feel awkward about? Are you touching yourself in there or something?”

“If I were out there I would smack you.” She covered up. “If you have to be here, couldn’t you at least wait outside in your truck? You’d be annoying either way, but that way I wouldn’t have to look at you.”

“Don’t want me to see you in a wedding dress? Don’t worry,” he said, much too confident. “I won’t be getting any ideas. I don’t like weddings, remember?”

“Oh, you don’t need to remind me of any of your shortcomings. I remember them perfectly well on my own.” She knew better than to rile him, but couldn’t seem to stop herself. He was probably like every other born werewolf she’d come into contact with: completely incapable of controlling his anger. He hadn’t shown any aggression toward her so far, but who knew what would happen if she pushed him too far? The blonde knocked on the door, opened it, and came inside with a long, opaque bag. She put her arms over her head and let the girl work. “I’m just curious…how much did Jake offer to pay you to sleep with me?”

The woman gasped, then covered it with a cough, and gently guided the wedding dress down Veronica’s body. Even though Veronica was sure that Jake didn’t pay Logan to seduce her the way he had, Logan did sleep with her while getting paid for his “services.” Now she wanted to know how much those services cost her future brother-in-law. Just how much was her safety worth to him?

“Too little, in my opinion,” Logan said. “You’re worth way more.”

“Sweet-talker,” Veronica mumbled to the blonde. She smiled and got to work crisscrossing the straps on the back. “How much?”

“Five.”

“Five hundred dollars?” Veronica pursed her lips and watched the dress take form in the mirror. “You’re right. That wasn’t enough.”

“Thousand,” Logan said, his voice low. “It was five thousand.”

The blonde’s hands stilled.

“Oh,” Veronica said, feigning indifference. “That’s…more than I expected.”

“Still not enough.”

If he didn’t stop the sweet-talking soon, Veronica was going to have to invest in earplugs. And if they didn’t clarify what they were really talking about, the assistant was going to think Logan was a high-class hooker.

“You’re finished,” the blonde said. “It looks like it was made to fit you.”

Veronica wouldn’t have agreed, since she and Leah were so different, but when she studied the dress in the mirror, she couldn’t argue about a thing. The dress was mermaid style, satin, strapless, with a corset in the bodice and an exaggerated flared bottom. Wrapping around her waist on the right side, a cluster of diamonds dipped toward her hip. It was simple. Elegant. Somehow very couture with its unique accents. Veronica wouldn’t have picked the dress for Leah—it was more her style than her sister’s—but Leah must’ve loved it regardless.

“Go show him,” the blonde said, and urged Veronica out of the dressing room. “Then demand ten. You’ll get it in this dress.” She winked, and Veronica’s mood instantly lightened.

…

As Veronica tiptoed to the podium, the air seemed to evaporate from the room. Logan couldn’t take a solid breath—his lungs kept coming up shallow. The assistant flared the bottom around the podium to show the full effect of the dress, then stood back.

“What do you think?” the blonde asked.

“I, ah…”

Veronica caught Logan’s gaze in the mirror. He was staring at her backside, at the straps of the corset that crisscrossed down her back. How could he not? She was drop-dead gorgeous. Literally. He wouldn’t be surprised, not one bit, if his heart stopped.

“…it’s good,” he said, very matter-of-factly. He had to get out of here. “Yup, it’s good. I think I’ll wait in the truck.”

She spun around. “But you haven’t seen the bridesmaid dresses yet.”

His gaze studied the front of her dress, from the whimsical fluffy bottom, to the smooth, shiny fabric curving around her hips, to the straight-edged neckline that accented the soft swell of her breast. His mouth dropped, and he sucked some saliva off his bottom lip.

“I don’t think I want to see those, the bridesmaid dresses, nope.” He stood and started to walk out…and burst through a door into empty dressing room B. Confused, he spun around and strode toward the exit. “That’s the one you’re going to be wearing when you marry…I mean, that’s not going to be the one you wear at your sister’s wedding, right? When you walk with me down the aisle?”

“Ugh.” She put her hands on her hips. “I forgot I had to do that with you.”

“Go put that dress on.”

He wanted her out of that wedding dress as quickly as possible before notions of weddings and vows, taking her hand and slipping a ring on her finger, invaded his brain.

Too late.

His knees shook as he waited for Veronica to come out of the dressing room in something different. He needed to cleanse his visual palate. Forget all about the white dress and the way it hugged her body, and the fluffy bottom that made him want to crawl between her legs and—

She emerged from the dressing room and stopped his heart.

The dress was satin, tight and black, with a layer of lace over the top. The lace had intricate designs crisscrossing down her arms and across her back. While the top was high-collared and long-sleeved, the bottom was cut short, showing off her legs, their strength and beauty and flawless tan.

“That’s no better,” he said, squelching the desire to lick one of those fine stems. “Where’s the other part of the dress? The bottom half?”

“This is it.” She spun around. “What’s the matter, Logan? You look pale.”

He blinked quickly, trying to return the moisture to his eyes. It didn’t work. His lids stuck, making blinking at all highly painful. He rubbed them with the side of his hand. “I’ll be waiting in the truck,” he said. And as he strode around the building, Logan could’ve sworn he heard the sound of two women laughing their asses off.