To Have and to Hold (The Wedding Belles #1)(25)

“Ms. Baldwin?”

She swallowed. “Right. Okay. Here’s the thing.”

“The thing,” Grant repeated, unhelpfully.

Brooke slapped Grant’s leg in mock scolding, and Seth gritted his teeth.

“I know that you want to be involved in Maya’s wedding planning,” Brooke said. “But we both know your overinvolvement has nothing to do with you caring about how every penny is being spent and everything to do with you lurking over her and Neil because you don’t like the guy.”

Seth shrugged. “So? No secret there. I told you as much in the car today.”

“Wonderful. So here’s what I’m telling you. Back. Off. Even if Neil is the scum of the earth you two seem to think he is, Maya needs to discover that for herself. And”—she held up a finger when she saw he was about to interject—“if you’re wrong, if he is a nice guy who loves your sister and will make her blissfully happy until they’re both old and gray, then you need to know this: you are ruining what should be some of the happiest memories of her life.”

“Now hold on,” Seth said, his temper spiking. “You don’t get to—”

“No, you hold on,” Brooke shot back. “She’s planning her wedding. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in which she gets to be the princess and everything she’s ever wanted, and instead of walking on sunshine, she looks ready to crack every time you open your mouth to bark out some complaint.”

Seth winced at the picture she was painting, and he let his mind flit back to the day that had just passed, realizing rather uncomfortably that Brooke was right. He’d gone out of his way to be an ass, mostly as a means of punishing Neil, but in the meantime he’d been punishing the one person he was trying to protect.

His head dropped forward in defeat, and he could barely muster a gruff thank-you when the server returned with his cocktail.

He took a deep pull of his drink and decided to try to explain himself. “I can’t—I can’t just turn it over to her and that bast—and Neil. I know you think I’m a penny-pinching *, but if I’m right, the wedding would be the perfect excuse for him to spend God only knows how much on caviar and the most expensive champagne, and I don’t know, f*cking doves and shit.”

“Doves really aren’t that expensive,” she murmured, and Seth gave her a look.

“Sorry,” she said, holding up her palms. “Irrelevant.”

Seth took a sip of his drink, then ran his hands through his hair, feeling suddenly tired. “I don’t know how to give up complete control and still be . . .”

“In control?” she said with a small smile that felt friendly instead of antagonistic for once.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. He returned her smile, and it was, well, not a moment, exactly, but it was something. It was something to be spending time with her and not feeling like he had to shove her away out of fear that he’d pull her close and have his way with her.

“Just pretend I’m not here,” Grant said in a stage whisper. “Oh wait, you already are.”

Brooke gave a nervous little laugh and broke eye contact. The moment was over, but that was okay, because she still looked happy, and happy Brooke was, well . . . interesting. Attractive.

And rare, he realized as he studied her.

She was smiling, which she did often. But whether it was the drink, or the fact that she was off-duty, or the company, she was relaxed now in a way he hadn’t seen her since they’d first met. Her laugh a little looser, her eyes less guarded, her gaze more open.

Seth realized then that maybe he’d misjudged the Barbie. He’d thought that the other Brooke was all there was, with her perfect smiles and inane platitudes that disguised sharp edges. But seeing her now, he realized there was another Brooke.

Perhaps the real Brooke.

The perfectly composed Brooke had made him want to do dirty, nasty things with her, and well, this one did, too.

But this relaxed, friendly Brooke who was currently looking at him with unshuttered eyes . . . he wanted to know her in ways other than just naked ways. Wanted to know what made her laugh, what made her cry . . .

Grant cleared his throat, and Seth jerked slightly.

Right. They weren’t alone. But someday soon, maybe.

“So what do you suggest, Ms. Baldwin?” Seth said, sitting back in his chair and trying to pretend that this was just another business transaction. “How do you propose I control how my money gets spent, ensure my sister’s not marrying a money-grubbing *, and make sure that Maya enjoys the process, if in fact, Neil is a decent sort?”

Brooke pulled her full bottom lip beneath her front teeth, biting down softly as she pondered this.

“Okay, don’t say no right away,” she said slowly.

Seth shook his head and took a sip of his drink. “Never start a negotiation that way.”

“Shush,” she said. “We wedding planners do things differently. Hear me out. You need to take a step back from the minutiae. Tag along to the big-money decisions, sure. The wine, even the dinner style. But when it comes to everything else, give Maya some distance. Let her shop for her dress and her cake and her bouquet without you hovering. Let her and Neil go cake tasting and ooh and aah over buttercream frosting versus fondant without her sulky big brother sucking all of the romance out of every single moment.”