Her soft gasp of surprise was followed, as he knew it would be, by tears. And it was okay. Setting down his glass, he walked over to her as emotions he’d held in check for years boiled through him, pushing out all the bitterness, all the fear.
Standing, she held out her arms, and he gathered her close. “I love you, Mom,” he murmured, his voice thick.
“I love you, too, Jack.” She squeezed him so tight he couldn’t breathe, but that was okay, too. Then she moved back and smiled up at him through her tears. “And now, I’m really ready to party.”
“Me, too.” Giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, he turned back to the head table.
And there was Josie, his sweet, sexy Josie, with tears running down her face, too. And that was absolutely okay, because he knew they were tears of joy. He wished he could kiss them away, but right now, he had a toast to finish.
He raised his glass again. “To Morgan and Gabe, and a lifetime of love.”
Once again, glasses clinked, and Jack made his way back to his seat and sat down.
Josie gazed at him, her eyes still brimming. “That was beautiful.”
He wanted to kiss her more than he wanted to breathe, but now was not the time. “No, you’re beautiful. That was… long overdue.”
“Jack, I wish we—”
“I know. Me, too.” He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Later.”
Nick stood. “I’ve had to follow Jack all my life, and it’s never been tougher to do than right now. Great job, bro.”
“I learned everything I know about sappy stuff from you, kid.”
The comment got a laugh, which Jack had counted on. Enough of the heavy stuff. Time to lighten up. But he hadn’t quite been able to let go of Josie’s hand, and he held it through Nick’s toast, and through Seamus’s endless speech. When Bianca finally put a stop to her husband’s rambling, the toasts ended and the dancing began.
Once the bride and groom had their time on the floor and had separated so that Morgan could dance with Seamus and Gabe with Sarah, Jack pushed back his chair. “Our turn.”
His arms ached to hold her, and maneuvering around the table so they could access the dance floor seemed to take forever. But at last they made it. When she turned to face him and moved into his embrace, he forgot all about dancing. At last she was in his arms, and he was never letting go.
He gazed into those soft gray eyes. “I’ve been such a fool, Josie.” The words came out without warning. He hadn’t planned to say anything until they’d danced a while, but he couldn’t seem to control the emotions surging through him or the urge to tell her everything. “There’s no forgiving how I treated you last October, but that’s what I’m asking you to do.”
The glow in her gray eyes gave him hope.
He plunged on. “In fact, I’m begging you to forgive me.”
“Of course I do.”
The tightness that had gripped him since early morning eased, leaving his legs a little rubbery. “Thank God for that. The thing is…” He searched her expression, trying to convince himself that she wouldn’t shoot him down, although she still might. What the hell, he had to say it, anyway. “The thing is… I love you.”
Her smile trembled. “Good, because I’ve loved you since last summer.”
“Oh, Josie.” He framed her face with shaking hands. “I’ve loved you from that first night we spent together, but I was too stupid — no, too stubborn to admit it.”
“Some things take time.”
He absorbed the happiness radiating from her. How he’d missed that. “Some things take a lifetime.”
“Yes.” Her gray eyes sparkled.
“Will you give me a lifetime, Josie?”
Her smile dazzled him. “You know I will.”
“I didn’t know it before.” He brushed her cheeks with his thumbs. “I didn’t let myself see the love in your eyes. But I see it now.”
“Hey!” Nick called. “You two gonna dance or what?”
Jack ignored his brother as he focused on Josie. “We’ll dance in a minute, okay?”
“Okay.”
“First there’s something I need to do.” Right before he kissed her, he closed his eyes and silently promised to keep his heart open — to Gabe, to Nick, to his mom, and most of all to Josie, the woman who had claimed it for her own.
Epilogue
Handling the DJ duties at a wedding had a surreal quality for Alex, considering that the last wedding he’d attended had been his own four years ago. Divorce had knocked him for a loop, but he was starting to recover. Still, he wasn’t quite so ready to believe in happily-ever-after.
His sister Josie believed in it, though, and after hearing Jack’s toast, Alex no longer worried that Josie was making a mistake to hook up with the guy. They had an even chance of making a life together, which was all anybody could ask for. Apparently Jack had seen the error of his ways and understood what love was all about. Alex wished he could say the same.
When it came to lust, though, he got it. The minute he’d been introduced to Morgan’s sister Tyler at the rehearsal dinner, he’d been hit with a gigantic case of old-fashioned, gotta-have-it lust. He’d spent Friday night dreaming of her bodacious body.
Thanks to his DJ job, he had a perfect view of the dance floor where he could watch Tyler’s sexy moves. He’d been guilty of bypassing the country tunes at times and deliberately choosing numbers that cried out for swiveling hips and shimmying breasts. Tyler’s mother Bianca could dance, but Tyler took that inherited sense of rhythm to a whole new level. Alex would love to have some of that action directed his way.
The idea was pure fantasy. Tyler would be leaving Wyoming tomorrow with the rest of her family. Alex knew nothing about her life or whether she had a boyfriend back home, wherever home was. He knew she was twenty-six, because he’d talked with her twin brother Regan at the rehearsal dinner.
He hadn’t quizzed Regan about his twin because that would have been way too obvious. And stupid. He and Tyler would be occupying the same geographical space for another twelve hours, tops.
In some ways that would be ideal for him, though. Getting it on with Tyler would simply be rebound sex, nothing more. He didn’t have the psychic energy for an actual relationship. No telling what her agenda would be, or if she’d even noticed him. He thought she might have. A couple of times he’d caught her giving him the once-over.
In any case, fantasizing about her naked had livened up this gig. He almost hated to see it end, because then he couldn’t ogle Tyler on the dance floor anymore. But end it did. Darkness crept over the meadow, the guests began to leave, and he started packing up the gear.
“You did a fantastic job.”
He glanced up to discover the object of last night’s wet dream standing before him, her black curls in disarray and her dark, long-lashed eyes shining with pleasure.
“Thanks.” He couldn’t think of a single other thing to say. This wasn’t the sort of situation where he could ask her out for a drink. The only bar was several miles away.
“You picked a lot of my favorite songs.”
“That’s good to hear.” He tried not to stare at her full mouth, the mouth he would not be kissing except in his dreams tonight.