Notorious: The Seaclusion Series Book Two

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

Luke stood alone, his face pale, the pain he so carefully kept in check, starkly apparent. Shelly’s parents headed for the doors to leave, and by their posture, they were nearly beside themselves with tears. It must have been an excruciatingly sad reunion, leaving both Luke and them devastated. Cassie was watching Luke, concern etched in her face. Kelly sighed. If anyone could distract Luke from his pain, it was she.

“Hey there, brother. I was thinking we should toast officially being family now.”

Luke turned toward her. She put a beer in his hand. His stricken expression changed to anger at her sudden appearance. His blue eyes stared into her eyes for a long moment, and then he looked over her shoulder, clearly dismissing her. Her toes curled at the slight.

She could handle the entire citizenship of Seaclusion’s disapproval of her, but for some reason, this one man’s utter disdain of her hit her gut with surprising force. She didn’t know why it was exactly, that she was so concerned that Luke Tyler thought so little of her. But she’d cared ever since the first time he turned his face away from her with a sneer of disgust.

She smiled wider at his frown. She had a huge smile, a smile that graced more magazines than she bothered to count, but right then, it took all her professional ability to keep her smile in place when faced with Luke’s glacial response to her.

“You and I are not officially anything. Nothing more than we were three hours ago. Which, in fact, is less than nothing to each other.”

“Sure, we are, we’re some kind of in-laws. Our siblings are married, so we’re like siblings in-law.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. And the last thing I am is related to you.”

“You know what they say, you can’t choose your family.”

“Family? You don’t know the meaning of the word. And you are most definitely not my family.”

“I know the meaning of the word.”

Her tone stopped him, and he glanced at her. She continued, “Just take a drink, and pretend you’re having a good time talking to me so that my sister, who is definitely my family, quits looking over here like she’s about to start crying for you on her wedding day.”

Luke glanced over at John and Cassie. His jaw tightened. Luke took the beer and nodded his thanks to her, as he gave her a strained smile. Then he took his drink and abruptly turned and left her alone.

The rest of the evening, Kelly did her best to stay in the vicinity of Cassie and John. She took pictures of them, talked and laughed with them, sat next to them, and toasted them. She was John’s first dance after Cassie. And finally, after every wedding tradition had been performed, dancing opened up, and there was a full dance floor almost immediately.

Kelly tried to remain out of view, in the corner of the room, hoping people were over the novelty of her and bored from looking at her. She was tired of it now and had no desire to try and pretend it was fine anymore.

She was standing there, quietly watching John dance with Cassie as they swayed intimately to a slow song, when she was suddenly jostled from behind by two men, in their early twenties.

“Hey there, model. Wanna dance?”

“No.”

“Come on! Give a guy a thrill, well beyond what you’ve already given us.”

Her nude photos graced hundreds of websites and magazines. She didn’t usually react to comments about it, but right now, she was at her sister’s wedding and distasteful wasn’t funny tonight.

“I said, no.”

“Why not? It’s just a dance. We’ve already done far more together.”

“I don’t want to.”

“What? You think you’re too good for us?”

Kelly shuffled her feet. She turned her back on the boys.

One of them grabbed her arm to turn her back toward them. She yanked her arm from their fingers with a snarl. She was used to turning guys down, used to them thinking that because they’d seen pictures of her n***d, they somehow had an in with her. Or that she was something to them. She so wasn’t.

But she didn’t want to deal with this tonight. Not here or in this town. But of course, it was a fact of her life that she should have expected. The later it got on a Saturday night, the sooner proper behavior toward her would dwindle. But this wasn’t just any Saturday night, and she didn’t want to cause a spectacle at her sister’s wedding.

The man’s lip curled up and his eyes narrowed.

Kelly sighed. “Look, I’m sorry I don’t want to dance with you, and I don’t want a scene, so please, just leave me alone.”

“What kinda p**n star are you anyways? What a b***h,” one of the guys said his tone far louder than necessary. It caused several of the Tyler family members to turn toward her.

“Better than a son of a b***h,” a man’s voice cut in sharply from behind Kelly. Kelly turned, startled, as Luke came up behind her and took her arm. “Come on, we’re dancing.” Then Luke glanced at the two guys and said, “Get lost.”

Instantly, the situation was diffused, and Kelly was in Luke’s embrace, dancing. She glanced back at the creep who made the scene as he scowled after them, then turned and blended into the crowd. There were a few lingering stares, but for the most part, people went back to their business. And to her relief, Cassie and John were off talking to John’s parents, and none of them had witnessed the episode.

“Thank you.”

“You know as well as I do that you didn’t need any rescuing. I was just trying to prevent an unnecessary scene for Cassie’s sake.”

“I wasn’t the one acting inappropriately, he was. Who is he, by the way? Family?”

“I don’t think he was an actual guest. I suppose you wouldn’t know that.”

“Know what?”

“Half the guests here aren’t our guests.”

“Because of me? You’re kidding, right? People came just to see me?”

“Yeah. Come off it, you’re used to it.”

“Yes, but it doesn’t mean I always expect it. Thank you, even if you were just saving the wedding.”

“I owed you. For earlier.”

They were quiet then. The music surrounded them, Luke’s arms encircled her. He held her with surprising strength and guided their movements with self-confidence. He was not only a good dancer, but she was physically reacting to him. His blond hair caught the lights off the dance floor, his blue eyes were suddenly close and compelling. His face, usually so at ease, looked intense no doubt due to her nearness to him. But still, it was hard not to feel an attraction toward him.

If only she weren’t an inch taller than he in her heels! But she was wearing heels so she was taller than Luke, ruining any effect she could have over him. No man wanted his woman to be taller. Luke and she stood eye-to-eye on flat feet. A fact that she used to drive him nuts over the past few months during many of their infantile squabbles and silent standoffs. All she had to do was put on any of her high heels and she was instantly taller.

“Did you hear what they said to me?”

“Yeah.”

“I suppose you think I deserve it. I know what you think of my career, and you’re pretty clear what you think of me and my life choices.”

Luke sighed and rolled his eyes. “I don’t think you deserve to be hassled after you said no.”

“For the record, I’m no p**n star. I’ve never crossed that kind of line.”

“And if you had, you still would have every right to say no to anyone you want to.”

“I know that. I’m glad to see you know that. But just for the record, so we’re clear, I’m not a p**n star.”

“Fine. Noted. Just for the record, I don’t particularly care.”

“You were just making sure I didn’t make a scene?”

“Was I supposed to do something more?”

“No,” Kelly said, her tone flat. She turned her head so he couldn’t see her grimace. For a second, she wanted to believe Luke had defended her honor or some archaic thing such as that. But no, Luke was only shutting her up.

“And for the record, you’re a lot of things, but I don’t think you deserve being called a b***h for not dancing with some drunk.” The song ended, and he let her go, disappearing into the crowd.