We have to be careful," Pen had warned when she and Merina strolled through the corridors and giant rooms of Reese's house yesterday.
Merina's eyes burned. She had the strong urge to sit in her wedding dress in this boutique and bawl her eyes out. Which was exactly why she gritted her teeth, stood, and smoothed her beautiful wedding gown with both hands. She tucked her hair behind her ears and swallowed the lump of emotion trying to take her down.
She had to remember why she was doing this. Because the hotel meant everything to her and her parents. This was a business arrangement. One she made because the Van Heusen was a landmark and deserved to be treated with respect.
A tap on the door came and a soft feminine voice called, "Ms. Van Heusen, how is it fitting?"
"Almost perfect." Other than a small hem on the straps and at the skirt, the dress fit, hugging her curves, like it was made for her. "Maybe just a few alter—"
Her words halted as she opened the fitting room door and revealed Reese standing behind the petite woman who worked at the store. He was in a dark suit, but she didn't have a chance to catalog what color tie he was wearing. She was too taken by his face.
He looked as sexy as he ever did, but it wasn't his good looks that floored her. It was his expression.
Reese Crane was stunned.
Chapter 7
It made sense in his head. Sash & Satin was on his way back from a meeting downtown. He figured why not? Now that he was looking at Merina, who was poured into a white dress—the same white dress she would be wearing as she walked down the aisle toward him—he felt woozy.
"You're here." Merina sounded as surprised as he felt. Not that he was surprised to be there, but he was surprised by his reaction to her. He knew he would marry this woman come Saturday, and he'd expected her to be in white. But now that he stood there with the wedding band in his pocket, in this room, he was having a hard time remembering that this was an on-paper agreement. He was going to be Merina's husband.
He'd be responsible for her.
The way his father had been responsible for his mother. The way he'd worked to provide for her. The way he'd kissed her good-bye before going to work and pulled her into his lap on the couch whenever they watched television as a family.
Suddenly Reese was having a difficult time separating what his parents had from what he and Merina would have. The walls felt as if they were closing in.
No.
This wasn't the beginning of a family. Of a life built together. He may share nuptials and a house with Merina, but theirs was a finite arrangement with a very specific end goal: getting him to CEO.
There. Thinking of what was to come outlined with bullet points took his blood pressure down some. Finally, he was able to peel his tongue from the roof of his mouth to speak.
"That's a beautiful dress."
"Mr. Crane." A petite brunette entered the oversized dressing area and delivered a glass of sparkling water. "If you need to sit, there's a bench right behind you. Many of our future grooms experience exactly what you are experiencing right now."
"Excuse me?" He accepted the glass.
She pulled in a deep breath and pressed both palms to her chest. "To see your bride for the first time in the dress you'll be marrying her in is quite something." Then she swept away.
He looked at Merina, one eyebrow raised. Her expression echoed his: perplexed.
"I'll just give you two a minute," the attendant who had been helping Merina said. She left and closed the door behind her.
Predictably, the air in the room thickened the instant they were alone.
"I didn't expect you to be here." Merina knotted her hands together, looking nervous.
"Me neither. I was going to call you tonight, but I was close by. Pen told me about your appointment." He glanced around the enormous room, at the various seats and racks of dresses and wraps, veils, and tiaras. A small side table stood by a chair and he put the glass of water down without taking a drink. "I'm surprised you're here alone." He'd figured Merina would be surrounded by an army of girlfriends, or at the very least her mother.
"Penelope Brand's orders." At that, he spotted something in Merina's eyes he didn't like one bit. Sadness. Again he thought about what his wedding planner said about this being a first wedding. Was Merina's wedding day one she had dreamed of? Had he backed her into a corner and now she couldn't escape?
Without thinking, he stepped closer to her. She lifted her face to his and the sadness deepened into hurt. He felt it like a punch to the kidney.
He was a fucking idiot. She was a strong woman but she was also a vulnerable woman. For years, his responsibility to the women he was with never extended past one night. He was out of practice for anything deeper.
What he wanted to ask her was if she was having second thoughts. But even if she was, he knew he wouldn't give her an out. Crane Hotels was his legacy. He needed Merina.
So instead, he said, "The only thing you're missing is the ring."
He pulled the felt box from his pocket, the moment weirdly intimate and definitely backward, considering she was already in the dress. "I wasn't sure what you liked…"
He swallowed past a lump in his throat and cracked the lid on the white gold ring with a princess-cut two-carat diamond.
Merina gasped, touching her chest with one hand, her mouth dropping open. "It's…oh my God, Reese. It's beautiful."
Pride flooded his chest along with that same tight, hot feeling about being responsible for Merina through this ordeal.
"Glad you approve," he said. "Matching wedding band will be at the ceremony."
There was an awkward moment when she reached for the diamond ring at the same time he reached for her hand. "Oh, did you want to…?"
"Let me."
"Okay." She let out what sounded like a cautious laugh.
"This makes it official." Reese plucked the ring from the satin, took her left hand, and slid the band home. "You were right," he said. "Perfect size six."
He released her hand and she smiled down at the ring. Her honey-blond hair was tucked behind her ears, her shapely figure accentuated by the dress, arms bare.
"Wow." She turned toward the mirror to look at the dress again giving him a view of her smooth back. The line of her spine shadowed gently into the low cut of the dress where it then flared out, cupping her ass in a ridiculously sexy way.