Magical Weddings (123 page)

“Of course I’m talking about you two. Kiss. Quickly before it’s too late.”

“But we’re not a couple.” Jenna cleared her throat and shot another sideways glance toward him.

“So what? Do it anyways. Just wish for something else and maybe it’ll come true too.”

Max shrugged.

Jenna bit her lower lip.

“Hurry up. Kiss her,” Jacob urged.

Max leaned forward and slipped his hand around the nape of her neck, pulling her into his space. He whispered in her ear, “Let’s get this over with and make them happy, okay?”

“Fine,” she whispered back.

“And don’t wish to fall in love with me, you know, just in case.” He was joking, of course. Their time as a couple was over long ago.

“That ego of yours never stops growing more inflated, does it?” she asked, sounding annoyed. Apparently she hadn’t heard the joking tone in his whisper. “Don’t worry. I have plenty of other things to wish for. Not that I believe this guy or some stupid kissing bridge legend.”

“What are you waiting for? We’re almost out from under the bridge,” Leah said, urgency in her voice. “Do it. It’s not like we’re asking you to marry each other. It’s only a little kiss. Surely you’re both mature enough to handle that.”

Without giving Leah the benefit of a reply, Max cupped Jenna’s jaw in his hands and pressed his mouth to hers. The instant their lips touched, he felt her straighten and stiffen against him. A hum of electricity made his lips tingle. His kiss softened and so did she, melting against his side.

Her lips parted and he slipped his tongue inside, savoring the heat of her mouth. It felt so good to kiss her again. Surprisingly good. Like coming inside to the roaring warmth of a fireplace aglow after being out in a snowstorm. He deepened his kiss, tilting his head slightly to the side to connect with her more. She responded by pressing into him.

He could’ve stayed there forever, kissing her, tasting her, but instead he forced himself to pull back, ending their kiss with a firm yet gentle peck on the lips. Her eyes fluttered open and she met his gaze. A hint of unexpected pleasure and passion reflected his feelings in her eyes.

“Now that was a kiss,” Leah said, fanning her face with her hand. “Damn. If that’s how you kiss when you’re not into each other, what were you two like when you dated?”

“That was nothing. We were only trying to make the bride happy on her big weekend, right, Jenna?” It didn’t exactly feel like nothing, but it was. Wasn’t it?

“Yep. Just being a good maid of honor.” She laughed but it sounded more like in nervousness than in humor. He chuckled along with her. Laughing it off was better than thinking about what had just happened.

Valentino sighed under his breath. They turned to look at him only to find him smiling boldly at them. “What?” they said together.

“It makes my heart so happy to see young people in love. The bridge has worked it’s magic again. I can tell already.”

“Well of course they’re in love. They’re getting married.” Jenna rolled her eyes at the gondolier.

But he wasn’t looking at Leah and Jacob. He attention was fully on Jenna and Max. “When you are in my gondola, the magic works. It’s a part of me and therefore a part of my boat.”

Max swallowed the sudden lump of unease in his throat. It was a silly legend. Something fun to tell the tourists. A way to make tips. Nothing more. There was no truth to this kissing bridge nonsense. And there was absolutely nothing weird about his heart pounding faster than an Olympic sprinter’s after finishing a race in record-breaking time.

As his gaze drifted down to Jenna’s lips, he couldn’t help but wonder if they’d always been that soft and supple.

And tempting.

Jenna climbed out of the gondola with legs that felt like wet noodles. As she wobbled off balance, strong hands grasped her around the waist and held her securely. When she finally found her footing again, she straightened her spine, then turned to thank Jacob for his assistance. Only it wasn’t Jacob.

It was Max.

His touch sent a lightning bolt of heat through her.

As quickly as she could make her feet move, she pulled out from his grasp and put a few feet of distance between them. She needed a little space to think about what had just happened. That kiss under the bridge was supposed to be a joke, something to make Leah happy, but the feeling of Max’s lips on hers had been anything but amusing to Jenna.

When his tongue slipped into her mouth, she’d felt the world flip upside down. Her head spun and the only thing she could focus on was the taste of him, the touch of him—the heat of his body melting into hers. She wasn’t supposed to have feelings for Max anymore. Those were long gone, dealt with years ago when their breakup had nearly crushed her. She refused to let the same thing happen again.

That kiss might have been good in the moment. Really, who wouldn’t enjoy a kiss by a guy like Max? But it was a joke with no serious feelings involved.

“Where to now?” she asked Leah, hoping it would be somewhere she could separate herself from Max for a while—like say, him on one end of the strip and her on the other. That ought to be far enough.

Leah checked the time on her phone. “I have reservations for dinner at Chez Maria at 6:30. If we head over there now, we’ll be right on time. I’ve heard the food is amazing.”

“They don’t make you kiss after each course or anything, do they?” Max asked quietly.

“Only if you want to.” Jacob grinned. “After what I saw on the boat, you may actually be looking for another excuse to start smooching with Jenna again.”

They walked the short distance to the restaurant and were quickly seated in a back room. Every spot had a name card and Jenna wasn’t at all surprised to see that Leah had seated everyone into bridal party couples.
So much for getting away from Max.

They ordered a couple of bottles of wine for the table, along with their meals. As the breadbasket arrived, the conversations turned from the menu options to casual chitchat.

“What was with all the kissing on your boat? Our boat ride was fun but clearly not as exciting as yours.” Sue pulled apart a chunk of crusty bread and dipped it into a puddle of olive oil and herbs.

“Ours was fine,” Jenna said, shrugging. She wanted to down play it and convince herself their boat ride hadn’t been that exciting—regardless of what her insides had claimed otherwise during that kiss with Max—but she didn’t want to belittle it either, since it was something Leah had looked so forward to doing. She took a bite of her bread, savoring the rich taste of the herbed oil mixing with the yeasty, fluffy bread.

“Our boat guy said that if you kiss under a certain bridge, the legend of the Bridge of Sighs comes true and the couple kissing will have eternal love.”

“That’s so romantic,” Marcy said with a sigh of her own.

“No, it’s ridiculous,” Max said. “It’s a good thing it’s your wedding or I never would’ve let you get away with forcing us to kiss.”

Leah raised her eyebrows. “You didn’t really look forced.”

“Wait a second. You mean you two kissed too?” Sue asked, pointing at Jenna and Max. “I thought it was just Leah and Jacob fooling around in that boat.”

Leah grinned and nodded. “Oh, they kissed all right. Gave us a run for our money too. No wonder the gondolier thought they were in love after that kiss. There was a lot of tongue involved.”

“It wasn’t that much. Leah is exaggerating. It was a little kiss. No steaminess whatsoever. Am I right?” Jenna asked, looking to Max.

He took a deep sip of his dark red wine and leaned back against his chair. “None. Like kissing my mother.”

His mother!
Sure, it wasn’t supposed to be a big deal, but it certainly hadn’t been that bad.
At least it didn’t seem bad…

“Oh God, dude,” Collin said, cringing. “If that’s how you’d kiss your mother, I don’t want to know how you’d kiss a woman you actually want to have sex with.”

“You know what I mean. It wasn’t that kind of kiss. Just lips on lips.” Max laughed.

The food arrived and they all dug into their plates. Jenna couldn’t believe how good it all smelled. Her chicken was rich, full of mushrooms, and completely satisfying after the long day.

“I don’t know why he’d try to get tourists to fall for that crock of shit. Do they tip better or something?” Max asked.

“Maybe he gets laid by all the women who have kisses refused by the guy they think is their soul mate.” Collin laughed, but only Daniel joined in with him.

“I don’t think the guy’s doing it to get lucky. He looked seventy years old. I’m amazed he could still push that gondola up the canal and back.”

“Maybe those boats actually have quiet little motors underneath or something, helping out the guy with the big stick,” Daniel offered.

Jenna relaxed as the conversation turned toward the logistics of the gondola boats and away from her kiss with Max. She didn’t want to think about it anymore and she certainly didn’t want to talk about it anymore either. Especially not after he implied the kiss had been awful, which wasn’t true, at least in her opinion.

By the time they’d finished off the wine, their delicious dinners had turned into scrumptious desserts of tiramisu and cannoli. Jenna had long since had her fill of food and drink, and was now leaning back in her chair, wishing she could undo the button on her skirt to give herself a little more room.

Max stretched his arms above his head and let out a long sigh as his arm fell to the back of her chair. “That was an outstanding dinner. Good pick, Leah.”

“Thanks. I heard about it from a girl at work. She said the food wouldn’t disappoint and I don’t think it did.”

“I couldn’t eat another bite if I wanted to,” Jenna said. As she folded her hands over her stomach in an attempt to soothe her digesting belly, the feeling of something rubbing along her shoulder comforted her. The warmth from the touch heated her skin and she found herself leaning into it, as if drawn to it by some magical magnetic force. It just felt so good, so right. Her eyes fluttered closed as she focused on the sensation.

“Still think that kissing bridge was bogus?” Leah whispered in her ear.

Jenna’s eyes shot open and she turned toward her friend. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing. Just that you seem pretty chummy with Max all of a sudden whereas earlier I could practically see the tension crackling between you.”

“There’s still tension. But don’t worry, I won’t let it get in the way of our good time tonight,” Jenna said.

“Sure there’s tension, but Max seems to be doing a really good job massaging it away. This is the most relaxed I’ve seen you in a long time.”

Jenna scrunched up her forehead trying to figure out what the hell her friend was talking about. Maybe she’d drunk too much wine with dinner. Jenna certainly had. While she pondered the comment, a strong set of fingers worked out the knot in her shoulder.

Oh shit.
Those fingers belonged to Max and she hadn’t done anything to stop him from touching her like she normally would’ve. In fact, she encouraged him to go on by leaning in, sighing, and savoring the sensation.

Damn it.

This wasn’t good.

“Must be the wine. I didn’t even notice,” Jenna said, with a shrug that effectively nudged Max’s hand. Out of her peripheral vision, she noticed he looked as shocked as she was to find his hand roaming her body. Seemed the wine had gone to his brain too. Neither of them was thinking clearly.

As he shifted away from her in his seat to engage in a conversation at the opposite end of the table, she leaned toward Leah as casually as possible. The smirk on her friend’s face said she’d failed miserably.

They could think whatever they wanted to, but she knew the truth. Just because she’d suffered through some stupid kiss with her ex-boyfriend beneath some stupid bridge didn’t change the fact that he was still her ex. Nor did it change her feelings toward him.

They were over. Max was her past.

And whatever his kiss might have made her feel in the moment, it was simply a product of being caught up in the romantic wedding mood of the weekend. Her feelings for him were definitely not rekindling and that kiss certainly wasn’t real, or magical.

The only magical thing about that gondola ride was the magical power a bride had over her attendants.

****

Max made sure to keep at least one person between him and Jenna at all times once they left the restaurant. It was bad enough being forced into her proximity on the boat and then at dinner, he couldn’t go through the rest of the evening with her by his side as if they were some kind of couple. Sure they were paired up in the wedding party, but that didn’t mean they had to be attached at the hip for the entire weekend.

After dinner they’d spent another hour or so walking along the strip. This time he’d actually enjoyed it. Whether it was the wine and food in his satisfied belly or the relief from the blazing sun now that it was dark, he didn’t know. Regardless, the return trip to their hotel off the strip was better than earlier.

They made their way up to the club Leah and Jacob had deemed worthy of their bachelor and bachelorette parties. Before they’d even gotten to the door, loud music seeped out into the hallway.

Loud music and drinks would be a great way to forget that kiss he’d had with Jenna. Damn if that girl hadn’t gotten better at kissing since they’d dated. Not that he remembered her being a bad kisser. He just didn’t remember her being so good either. He’d gone into the kiss with the intention of giving her a quick peck on the lips to shut up Jacob and Leah and had ended up with Jenna’s tongue in his mouth and the desire to explore every inch of her with his.

To say the moment had left him feeling unnerved and turned on was a gross understatement. But he wasn’t going to think about it anymore. Not when Jenna had so thoroughly shut down any notion he’d had that maybe she’d liked the kiss under the bridge as much as he had. And he
had
liked it, surprisingly.

Jenna was his past. End of story. That’s how he wanted it and clearly, that’s how she wanted it, too.