A Royal Mess and Her Knight To Remember

Kevin had the nerve to laugh, the ass. “Look at you, tough big brother, all jittery. You’re sweating, did you know that?”

Before Kyle could strangle his brother as he was itching to do Kevin straightened and headed for the stairs.

“I’m going to get our stuff,” he said. “Meet me in the car, you’re driving me to the church.” He paused and looked back. “On the way there you can tell me about your night. I heard it involved black vinyl.”

WITH THIRTY MINUTES left before Kevin put the ball and chain around his neck, Kyle stood in the church dressing room wearing only his shorts.

Where was Jimmy when he needed him? He could use a good hold up as a diversion right now. But, no, he’d had to go and get the guy thrown in prison. Which meant nothing could save him. He had to put on the tux hanging in front of him. He had to go out there and be the best man.

He didn’t feel like the best man. He felt like a frustrated one.

Not talking to Annie was a good thing, he reminded himself. Not talking saved face and pride, because God knows, if he’d gotten a chance, he’d have only made a fool out of himself.

Yeah. That was the attitude he was going with.

With a sigh he reached for his pants but the door behind him opened and hit him in the butt. Righting himself, he caught a flash of pink satin.

“You’re not going to believe this,” Annie said, skidding to a halt in front of him and grabbing his arms. “Not in your wildest dreams.”

“Uh…” He ran his gaze down her pink satin nightmare of a dress. “Your sheep ran away and you need me to herd them for you?”

She grimaced. “See? You think Little Bo Peep, too!”

“Baby, that’s the last thing I think of when I look at you.”

She went still, hands on his arms, eyes locked on his. “Kyle-”

“I’ve been waiting to talk to you,” the stupid part of his brain admitted out loud.

Suddenly she seemed to realize he was more than half-naked. With a hard swallow, she covered her eyes.

“Hey, you’ve seen it all before.”

“Just…take care of it.”

“Well, okay.” Purposely misunderstanding her, he put his hands on the elastic band of his shorts. “But you don’t have to be so rough. I already proved how easy I am.”

She dropped her hands and squealed when he went to pull his shorts down. “No!” She checked over her shoulder after her loud cry, then lowered her voice with apparent effort. “I’m not here for…for…”

“Overrated sex?”

“Look, torture me later, okay?”

“I’d like that.”

“Kyle, Lissa is in the women’s facilities.”

“Is that princess speak for the bathroom?”

“Yes, the bathroom!”

“Oh my God,” he said in mock horror. “Ring the press. The bride is in the bathroom.”

“She’s refusing to marry your brother, you idiot. I need your help.”

“Well, damn, I thought you needed-”

“I know what you thought,” she said quickly, covering her eyes again. “Just…get dressed. Fast.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He jammed his legs into the black pants, then slipped his arms into the shirt, fumbling with the cuff links on the shirt.

With a sound of exasperation, Annie pushed his hands aside and took care of it.

“You’re good at that,” he said, wondering if he should be jealous.

“I used to help my father,” she said in an oddly soft voice. “Not…”

“Not…?”

“You know…other men.”

That shouldn’t have made his heart leap, really it shouldn’t have.

“And…” She drew a deep breath, her hands brushing his chest as she buttoned his shirt for him. “Last night… well, you know.”

“No, I don’t.”

“When we-”

“Ah. The black vinyl.”

“It was more than black vinyl.”

“Yes, it was. What we did was-”

“Yes,” she said quickly. “That.”

“For the record, are we talking about when we made love?”

“Sex. We…had sex. And it wasn’t overrated, okay? It was…well, pretty much off the scale. Just so you know.”

With that shocking, and arousing, statement, she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the dressing room.

12

HE WATCHED her Little Bo Peep butt wiggle as she led the way. “Annie-”

“Shh,” was all she said. “She’s going to screw everything up unless you fix it.”

Whoa. He was supposed to fix this? Hell, he couldn’t fix his own life.

That’s when she tried to tug him into the women’s bathroom.

“Now just a second.” The last time he’d been in a women’s only bathroom had been in sixth grade. A group of ninth graders had forced him in, where inside had been the entire girls’ basketball team, changing.

He’d been suspended for a week, and the horror of it still made him dig in his heels at the threshold. “I can’t go in there.”

“No?” Annie gripped his arms and went up on tiptoe to whisper in his face. “If you don’t, she’s going to break your brother’s heart.”

Damn. He tried to peer inside the bathroom. “If there’s a naked basketball team in there, I’m going to be mighty upset with you.”

She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What?”

“Never mind.” He walked in, his hands stuffed in his pockets, looking straight ahead. The place was decorated in gold angels, and had a couch. A couch. What did women need a couch in the can for? “Lissa? You in here?”

“Go away.”

Ah, hell. The voice came from behind a locked stall, under which he could see a bunch of white satin. He crouched down and spoke into the space beneath the door. “Hey, maybe you didn’t know, but they’re playing your song. Here comes the bride.”

He heard a loud sniffle.

Oh, God. Tears.

“I can’t do it, Kyle,” she sobbed. “I can’t even remember why I wanted to.”

“Uh…” He searched his brain and came up with the reason Kevin had given him. “Because you get to have sex every night-Oof.” He rubbed his gut and glared at Annie. “What? It’s true.”

“That’s a guy’s reason,” she whispered furiously.

From behind the door came more sobs, and Kyle could only sigh. “Lissa, I thought you wanted this.”

The sobs increased in intensity.

Annie stared at him accusatorily, as if it was his fault his brother’s fiancee had gotten