The Wedding Band Read Free Page B

that airplane.”
    â€œYou could come with us.” He dangled the bait. “A week on the beach. No phone, no internet . . .”
    â€œJust what Tana needs, more ­people horning in on his honeymoon.”
    â€œI’m not horning in. I’m staying in the guesthouse clear across the island. Besides, you told me I should hole up in October.”
    â€œI meant a month on the space station, or dogsledding to the South Pole. Not tagging along with your brother and his bride.”
    â€œThey’ll never even know I’m there.”
    â€œPfft. You’ll get lonely and start pestering them after twenty minutes.”
    She might be right. A solitary week reading scripts and watching the Pacific sunset sounded idyllic a month ago, when he was humping rocket launchers through steaming jungle and deadlifting bodies into helicopters.
    But once his latest film wrapped and he got back to L.A., all that alone time started to hang heavy.
    Em muscled him into his chair. The head table was empty at the moment, the bride and groom still with the photographer. Propping her butt on the edge, she looked him in the eye.
    When she spoke, her tone was softer and gentler than usual. “You’ll be fine. Tana’s still your little brother. You’re not going to lose him.”
    Sometimes Em saw too damn much.
    â€œYou and Tana,” she said, “are closer than any two ­people I know. Nobody can come between you. And it’s got to be obvious even to a bonehead like you that Sasha doesn’t want to. She likes you.”
    â€œI like her too.” And he couldn’t deny that she encouraged Tana to hang out with him. It wasn’t her fault his brother preferred her company most of the time. The guy was gone for her.
    â€œI know you’re used to having Tana to yourself,” Em said. “Jetting off to Vegas or Miami or New York on a whim. Taking armfuls of women to the island instead of a wife and a boring pile of scripts. But Kota, come on, you’re thirty-­five next month.”
    Ouch. “Thirty-­five’s not old.”
    â€œNo, but it’s mature, or it should be.” She cocked her head. “I think a week alone is just what you need. You can clear your head. Think about what comes next.”
    Which was exactly the problem. He didn’t want to think about what came next.
    Desperation made him reckless. “I’ll give you a month off when we get back.”
    Her smile was sad. “That’s bullshit. You wouldn’t last a day in L.A. without me. And besides, I’ve got plans with Jackie this week.”
    â€œBring her along.” Talk about reckless; Jackie drove him nuts.
    â€œI can’t. We’re Houston bound. She’s finally going to tell her parents.”
    He snorted. “They’ll probably shoot you. Best case, they’ll stick you in separate bedrooms. No sex all week.”
    â€œMaybe. But I can go without sex for a week. You’ll be chasing the sheep around the island.”
    He smiled, as she’d meant him to. “You’ve got a sick mind, Em. That’s why I love you.”
    â€œI love you too,” she said. And with a bracing shoulder punch to offset the mushiness, she left him to fend for himself.
    No easy feat once the happy ­couple arrived.
    â€œCongratulations,” Kota made himself say, earning an Oscar nomination. Not that he wasn’t happy for them. He was. It was himself he was miserable for.
    â€œThanks, man.” Tana’s eyes, the same changeable blue as Kota’s, crinkled at the corners when he grinned.
    Tana pulled out Sasha’s chair, settling her like a princess on a throne before taking his place beside her.
    Kota leaned forward to see around his brother’s big frame. “Sasha, sweetheart, you’re the prettiest bride to ever walk down the aisle.”
    â€œOh, Kota.” A fat teardrop leaked from one emerald eye. “Thank you.