Sister of the Bride (Fool's Gold #2.5)(12)

"We're tired, too," Katie said quickly, not meeting his eyes. "We'll come with you."

They rode the elevator together. He and Katie got out on the same floor and walked toward her door.

"Jackson, I--" she began.

"It's okay," he said, kissing her lightly.

"What's okay?"

"This isn't the time or place. There's too much of your family around for one thing. When the weekend is over, I'll call. We'll go out." He smiled. "In a more normal setting."

"You're not mad?"

"Katie, I'm not seventeen. I can wait." He kissed her again. "You're worth that."

He took the key she'd pulled out of her purse and opened her door. After handing it back to her, he pushed her inside. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Night."

Katie floated into her room more than walked. This couldn't be happening, she thought, practically dizzy with delight. It wasn't possible that Jackson really was funny and smart and handsome and interested in her. Was it?

All the signs were there. Only, she'd been fooled by signs before. But there was a very big part of her--okay, all--that wanted to believe he really was one of the good guys.

She'd barely stepped out of her heels when someone tapped lightly on her door and spoke her name in a low, muffled tone.

Excitement and worry battled in her stomach. While she liked a good seduction as much as the next girl, she really wasn't sure she was comfortable climbing into bed with Jackson right now.

She pulled open the door, prepared to tell him that when she saw the man waiting for her wasn't her date. He was her ex-fiance.

"Alex?"

"Katie, hi."

Alex took a step into her room, tripping as he crossed the threshold.

"You're drunk."

"Maybe." He stood in front of her, his expression hopeful. Kind of like a puppy. "Maybe we only tell the truth when we're drunk."

Uh-oh. She didn't like the sound of that. "Alex, whatever you have going on, you need to take it up with Courtney. You two are getting married in less than forty-eight hours." She turned him and gave him a push toward the still-open door. "Out you go."

He stood immovable as stone. "Katie, what if it's a mistake? What if I don't love Courtney?"

Alarms went off inside her head. "You're just nervous about getting married." And a jerk for acting like this less than forty-eight hours before the wedding, but that was a conversation for later. "That's all this is."

He reached for her. "Remember how it was with us? How great?"

"No. I don't."

He gave her a lopsided, sloppy smile. "You miss me. You know you do."

Hadn't she just been mature-girl, not two minutes ago with Jackson? Hadn't she done the right thing? And what? This was her reward? On what planet was that fair?

"Okay," she said, giving him a smile. "I need to take care of a couple of things." She pointed to the bathroom. "Just stay right there."

"I could take my clothes off."

She held in a shriek, but instead tried to look seductive. "Oh, Alex. Leave that for me."

He plopped down on the bed. "Okay. I will."

She ducked into the bathroom and pulled her cell phone out of her evening bag. Grateful her mother had given her Jackson's number and she'd put it in her phone, she dialed it and waited.

"Katie?"

"Alex is here. He's drunk and thinks he wants to have sex with me."

"There's a lot of that going around."

"Very funny. I need help."

"Be right there."

He was as good as his word, arriving before she'd walked out of the bathroom. Jackson looked at Alex, then shook his head.

"I don't think so," he said. "You had your chance and you walked away. Now, she's mine."

Confusion clouded Alex's eyes. "You're Katie's new boyfriend?"

"That's me."

"Damn."

Alex stood, leaned a little too far to the right, then straightened himself. He managed to make it to the still-open door and paused.

"Sorry, man."

"Don't let it happen again," Jackson said.

Alex waved and carefully closed the door behind him.

"Impressive," she told Jackson. "Thanks for saving me. If he'd tried anything, it would have been a disaster."

"A scandal, at the very least."

He wanted her. She felt it in his gaze, saw it in the set of his body. But being the kind of guy he was, he would respect her refusal and not even make a second attempt. As she'd thought before...nice.

The smart thing would be to let him walk away. They barely knew each other. This was an overly emotional situation and she wasn't thinking straight. Giving in to sex with a stranger was a big mistake. Huge. She would hate herself in the morning.

All very reasonable arguments, Katie thought as she walked over to Jackson and touched his glasses.

"How well do you see without those?" she asked.

"I see great close up."

"Good."

Sometime between their goodbye and his return to her room, he'd taken off his suit jacket and tie. Her work was nearly done for her. It would be a shame to let that effort go to waste.