Only in Vegas (19 page)

*    *    *

“Well, she’s on her way.”

His sister’s words had Trey’s heart lodging in his throat.  Angel was coming.  He stopped his nervous pacing and turned to his and Angel’s wedding guests who were gathered just outside the entrance to the Little White Chapel.  His father and Angel’s two closest girlfriends, his sister and Cindy.

“Guess this is it.”

“Everything’s going to work out,” his father said, no doubt having sensed his son’s growing anxiety.

“I wish I were as sure,” he replied with a sigh.  “If only I had known weeks ago what I know now, I would have done things so much differently.”

“You mean you wouldn’t have asked Traci to marry you?” his sister asked with a teasing grin.

Trey nodded.  “I wouldn’t have had to.  And I didn’t ask Traci, you did.”

“Hey, you asked me if I knew anyone who would be willing to help out.  Traci was the perfect choice, her bright orange hair aside.”

“Kathy’s right,” Cindy chimed in.  “Traci is single and willing.  And it didn’t hurt that Angie know Traci thinks you’re hot.”

“Like every other woman at Sunset Travel,” his sister added with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. 

“It’s that Landers charm,” his father said with pure male pride.

“He might be charming,” Cindy said.  “But it’s his hot bod that causes all the commotion at the office every time he stops by.”

Mike Landers chuckled.  “That’s my boy.”

“Oh, please,” Kathy groaned.  “I’m not going to stand here and discuss my brother’s bod.”

That was fine by him.  Trey glanced at his watch.  “Look, I hate to cut this conversation short, but Angel’s going to be arriving any minute.”  And he wanted the chance to talk to her privately when she did.

“Hint taken,” his father said with a wink, then reached for the door to the chapel.  “Let’s go girls.”

“See you inside
once you two take care of the formalities,” his sister said with a quick peck on his cheek.

“Good luck,” Cindy said and then followed Kathy inside.

His father paused in the open doorway, their eyes meeting.  “She’ll say yes, son.  I know she will.”

“I wish I were as confident as you are, Dad.”

Who was to say how Angel would react to everything.  He had pushed her away to protect his heart because of Rick.  A huge error in judgment on his part.  And now she was on her way to Vegas to stop a wedding that was never going to happen in the first place.

“It’s in the bag,” his father assured him.  “The Landers’ charm never fails.”  He started into the chapel, and then stopped, turning back to his son with a grin.  “Oh, and if by some small chance the charm thing doesn’t work, you’ve always got that hot bod of yours to use for back up.” 

Before he could reply, his father disappeared inside.  “Hot bod,” Trey muttered with a chuckle.  The same one Angel intended to push around in a wheelchair someday.  Well, he had news for her.  Even when he grew old, he was still going to be carrying her off to the bedroom to make love to her.

His gaze drifted out to Las Vegas Boulevard, his heart pounding.  This was it.  The day he’d planned weeks for.  The most important day of his life.  His wedding day.  Now all he needed was the bride.

*    *    *

“How much further?” Angie asked the driver as she peered anxiously out the cab’s passenger side window.

“Less than a block,” came the muttered reply.

Her heart was racing and the
‘what ifs’
were whirling about in her panicked mind.  What if she was too late?  What if Trey was too hurt to listen to her explanation?  Even worse, what if he had decided not to wait until that evening to...

Before she could finish her thought, Angie saw him.  He was standing outside the infamous Little White Chapel, hands shoved into the pants pockets of his tuxedo as he paced back and forth. 

He was alone, she noted with a burst of hope.  If Trey had already married Traci, she’d be standing outside with him and she wasn’t.

The driver pulled up and stopped in front of the chapel.

Trey turned, his eyes meeting hers.

Her heart fluttered wildly.  She flung the door open and shot out of the cab. 

“Angel,” he said, moving toward her, his pace picking up the closer he got to her.

She ran the rest of the way to him, welcomed by his outstretched arms.  “Please tell me I’m not too late,” she said, clinging to him.

He stepped back and caught her face between his hands, smiling down at her.  “Truth is, you’re just in time.”  He looked her over.  “You look great.”

“Lady,” a male voice called out, drawing both their gazes.  “You forgot to pay,” the cab driver said with a frown.

“Oh.”  Paying had been the last thing on her mind when she’d seen Trey.  “I’m so sorry.”  Angie dug into her purse for her money, but Trey was faster.

“This one’s on me.”  He released her and walked over to pay the man, then carried her suitcase back with him.

She smiled.  “It has wheels you know.”

“I wasn’t going to waste any time getting back to you.  I’ve missed you too much.”

Not enough to keep him from asking Traci and her tongue ring to marry him.  But his words still managed to keep that flicker of hope inside her alive.

“Trey...”

“Angie...” they both began at the same time.

“Trey, please don’t say anything.  Not until you’ve heard me out.” 
Before I lose my nerve.
 

“But I need to tell you—”

“No buts,” she said, cutting him off.  “Don’t say anything until you’ve heard what I have to say.  Promise me, Trey.”

He sighed, and then nodded, setting her suitcase on the sidewalk next to them.  “I promise.”

She took a deep breath, trying to slow her racing heart.  Seeing Trey again brought back so many memories, so many emotions.

The sound of chapel bells ringing behind them had her pleasant thoughts turning to unwanted visions of Traci standing inside the chapel in a long white wedding gown.  Or in her case probably neon orange to match her hair, her nose ring winking in the candlelight from behind the sheer netting of her bridal veil.

“You can’t do this,” she blurted out.

“This?”

“Get married today, I mean.”  She waved her hand toward the home of quickie weddings.  “This is all wrong.”

He caught her hand mid-air and lowered it, smoothing his thumb over the back of it.  “Angel, something that feels this right can’t be wrong.”

She pulled her hand away.  It wasn’t good to be thinking sexual thoughts about a man who was engaged to someone else.  “You won’t be happy.”

“I promise you, nothing in this world will make me happier than marrying the woman I love.”

Ouch.

Now what?  Take the chance of laying it all on the line, and from the sound of things most likely end up having her heart crushed, or just cut her losses and walk away?

“Angel?”

What the hell, she decided.  What good was having a heart if she would spend the rest of her life loving a man who was married to someone else?

“A marriage should be based on love.”

“I agree.”  He smiled and her legs went weak. 

Did his smile have the same affect on Traci?  She quickly pushed that thought aside, deciding it was better not to know the answer to that question.  Right now, she needed her focus to be solely on rescuing Trey from a lifetime of unhappiness.

“Love can’t be turned on and off like a faucet.”  Where had that come from?  She had just used the analogy of a plumber.  Angie groaned.

He chuckled softly.  “Believe me, Angel, I know that.”

“What I’m trying to say is that I never got your flowers.  If I had, I would never have left Pittsburgh.” 
Or you.

He reached out, running his hands up and down her bare arms in a slow, melt-her-like-butter caress.  “I know.”  His blue eyes held hers hostage.

“You do?”

“Yes, Kathy told me.”

“She did?”  She herself had only found out that afternoon about the flowers Trey had sent her and he was already on his way to the airport.

He nodded.

“When did you talk to her?”

He cast a glance toward the chapel, then back to her.  “This afternoon.”

And even knowing that bit of information he was still going to marry Traci?  Angie looked up at him with tears in her eyes.  “Then I guess there’s not much else I can say.  I hope you’re very happy.”  She pulled away, reaching for the handle of her suitcase.

“Angel, wait.”  He caught her, pulling her up against him.  “Where are you going?”

“Home.”  She didn’t want to hurt him, but this was more than she could take.  “I want you to be happy, Trey.  I really do.  You deserve the best.  But I can’t stay and watch the man I love marry someone else.”

He ran his thumb along her bottom lip.  “If you leave, there isn’t going to be a wedding.”

Nothing like guilt.

“Trey, you don’t understand...”  Her words trailed off as he dropped to one knee in front of her, taking her hand in his.  Her breath caught.  “What are you doing?”

“It’s my turn to talk now, Angel.”  He looked up at her, his eyes filled with...love?  “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Angel.  The only woman I’ve ever loved.”

“W...what about Traci?”

“There was never anything between her and me.”

“I don’t understand.  You came here to marry her.”

“No, Angel, I came here to marry you.”

“Me?”

“I love you.  I think I have since you moved in across from me, maybe even longer, but I was too blind to see that.  It was only after we spent that week together in Las Vegas that I realized I wanted to spend the rest of my life waking up to that beautiful face of yours.”

He had succeeded in making her speechless for only the second time in her life.  She blinked, trying to see him through the tears of happiness his words had brought about.

Releasing her hand, he reached into the inside pocket of his tuxedo jacket and pulled out a tiny, blue velvet box.  “Angelina Rossi...” he began with a smile as he opened the lid.

Her legs trembled beneath her as she watched him pull the diamond solitaire from its nest of satin.

“Trey,” she cried, her hand flying to her mouth.

His smile widened.  “Will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me today?”

She felt awful for Traci, but only for a moment.  Trey’s heart belonged to her and she wasn’t about to let him go again.  “Yes.”  She nodded, a tear rolling down her cheek.  “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

He shot to his feet and swung her around, shouting out for all the world to hear.  “She said yes!  Angelina Rossi is going to be my wife!”

A couple leaving the chapel broke into applause and several cars passing by blew their horns.  Heat rushed to Angie’s cheeks, even as her soft laughter filled the air.  She had never been happier in her life.  But there was still a matter that needed to be taken care of.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked.

He set her on her feet.  “Oh, yeah.”  Taking her hand in his, he slipped the diamond engagement ring onto her finger.  “There.  Now it’s official.”

The solitaire winked up at her in the sunlight.  “It’s beautiful.”  She looked up at Trey.  “But I was referring to Traci.”

“Traci?”

“Your other fiancée,” she reminded him.

“There is no other fiancée.”

“What do you mean?”

“I tried to tell you when you first arrived, but stubborn thing you are you had to have the first word.  There was no stopping you.”

She couldn’t argue that point.  She had been pretty adamant about going first.  “You wanted to tell me you and Traci had come to your senses and called things off?”

“Not exactly.”

“Are you telling me you’re engaged to both of us?” she
half-shrieked.

Trey caught her by the shoulders and smiled as he looked down into that beautiful face of hers.  God, how he loved this woman.  Now if she’d just give him the chance to explain.  “Traci and I were never engaged.”

“But Kathy said−”

“What I to
ld her to say,” he explained.

Confusion filled those big, beautiful dark chocolate orbs. 

“Seeing Rick at your apartment every day was driving me crazy,” he continued.  “And then when you didn’t respond to the flowers I sent you, I had to accept the fact that I was wrong about your feelings for me.  But then when you left for Miami and we talked on the phone, I felt like there was still something there between us.  I had to know.”

She shook her head.  “How could you even think for a moment that I’d let Rick back into my life?  Yes, he came to my place, but if you had paid a little more attention you would have seen that I sent him away every time.

“I suppose you could say that jealousy was holding my brain hostage.”