Clover Park Bride Read online

  He read the flyer, his brows scrunched together.

  You’re invited!

  PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE WEDDING OF

  LILY SPENCER

  AND

  NICO MARINO

  SATURDAY, THE SECOND OF OCTOBER

  THREE O’CLOCK

  BALDWIN PARK

  100 MAIN STREET

  CLOVER PARK, CONNECTICUT

  WEDDING CRASHERS WELCOME! PARTY TO FOLLOW!

  RSVP OR NOT.

  __ ACCEPT

  __ DECLINE

  DONATIONS TO THE EARTH DEFENSE GROUP IN LIEU OF GIFTS GREATLY APPRECIATED.

  Nico swallowed audibly and met her eyes. “How many wedding crashers? There’s four thousand people living in town, not to mention any random stranger passing through.” His voice got kind of loud at the end there.

  He must be worried about the expense. She knew he didn’t want her to spend her money on their wedding, he was sensitive to people using her for her money, but this was just as much her party as his, and she wanted everyone in her new adopted hometown to feel welcome.

  “The park is five acres,” she pointed out, taking the flyer back from him and setting it on the coffee table. “Plenty big enough to accommodate everyone. They have concerts in the park there all summer.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh-huh.”

  “And probably not everyone will feel comfortable crashing. Only people that I’ve already told about it.” Which was everyone she met.

  He slammed his hands on his hips. “Or it could be four thousand people.”

  “It’ll be so fun, I promise. I’ve already taken care of the food, there’s going to be lots plus an ice cream cart, and any leftovers will go to homeless shelters. And I’ve rented some big white tents, tables, chairs—”

  “How many chairs?”

  “A hundred, but I’m sure crashers won’t mind standing. The park is beautiful. Mostly we’ll be dancing.”

  He blew out a breath.

  “This will make me feel like a real part of the community,” she added. She knew how much he loved Clover Park. He’d grown up here.

  His lips pressed tightly together, which meant he wasn’t happy. He was going to squash her fabulous idea.

  “Nic, remember how much fun we had crashing that wedding?”

  He rolled his eyes. “I had no idea we were going to do that. I was in shorts and a T-shirt.”

  “You always say that. I added a tie.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Remember how much fun we had dancing, knowing we could get caught any minute? It was so exciting!” She did a dirty dance up against him.

  His hands cupped her ass, pressing her against him, joining her in a grind that shot desire straight through her. His voice was husky, his eyes at half-mast. “I always like that part.”

  “See?” she said, a little breathless. “It’ll be fantastic.”

  He loosened his grip on her, putting enough space between them to make the lust manageable.

  She met his dark eyes, waiting to see if he was on board.

  He framed her face with his big hands and kissed her. “Fine.”

  “Really?” she squealed.

  “Really.”

  “Oh, Nico!” She hugged him and he wrapped his arms around her in a warm embrace.

  She couldn’t stop smiling. That was one of the things she loved about Nico. He fully supported her right to have fun, even if it wasn’t his thing. Just last week their feisty senior citizen neighbor, Maggie O’Hare, had invited them to a free dance lesson at her husband, Jorge’s dance studio. Lily had enthusiastically agreed, eager to prepare for their special bride and groom dance. Nico had gone along with it, even though dancing was definitely not his thing. Of course, she’d sweetened the deal, bribing him with his favorite thing. He was such a sucker for that. Or she was, more accurately.

  She kissed him. “See ya tonight! Missy and I’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

  He smiled, shaking his head. “You sure do.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Nico drove straight to the Spencer mansion in Fieldridge to confront Lily’s father over the hoedown thing, which seriously pissed him off because George knew how excited Lily was about all she’d planned. But now that he’d overheard Lily tell Missy how much she was going to miss her and seen the tears still shining in Lily’s eyes, it occurred to him he had a bigger problem to fix. Lily loved Missy, Missy loved Lily, and the sisters should be together. First chance he got, he’d invite Missy to stay. That would be the best wedding present he could give his bride—the gift of her sister.

  He pulled up to the circular driveway of a Tudor-style home with manicured grounds and a six-car garage. Every single bay in that garage was filled with an expensive rare classic car George had bought from Nico. Fuck it. He couldn’t dwell on the fact that George was his wealthiest client or that every time George got a new car, he showed it off to his friends, who then stopped by the shop to buy their own classic cars. Or that George’s friends often bought cars for their wives and kids too. Adrenaline shot through him.

  He leaned on the bell and waited impatiently, bouncing on the balls of his feet. The door opened to a new white-haired housekeeper wearing the required uniform of black short-sleeve shirt with black pants. George had impossibly high standards and a no-second-chances policy that resulted in rapid staff turnover. Idiot. Any employer worth his salt knew to treat their employees right if you wanted to keep things running smoothly.

  “Yes?” the woman said.

  “Is George home?”

  “Who may I say is calling?” she asked in a formal tone. George loved formal manners. Maybe this one would keep her job longer than a month.

  “His son-in-law, Nico.” Soon to be, anyway.

  She cracked a smile. “Hi, I’m Beth. George has mentioned you and Lily. Why don’t you try him at the country club?”

  She didn’t say that George had said good things about them, but whatever. “Thanks, I will.”

  He drove to the country club, a feature in this town, skipping the clubhouse and marching right out onto the golf course out back. Golf was George’s favorite thing. Nico had played a round with him once, completely sucked at it, and was never invited back again. He spotted George at the nearby practice green, looking like an oversized Easter egg in a pink long-sleeved collared shirt and purple and green plaid pants. Fashion for the country-club set baffled Nico.

  He walked right up to him. George was in his sixties, his gray hair neatly parted to the side, a smidge taller than Nico’s six feet two, solid, and, above all, dignified. Nico still wanted to kick his ass.

  “Hello, George.”

  George’s blue eyes widened in alarm. “Nico! What’re you doing here? Is Lily okay?”

  Nico’s temper cooled a fraction because it sounded like George was actually worried about Lily. “She’s upset. A hoedown? Really? You compare our wedding, the thing that she’s been excitedly planning for months, to a hoedown?” His voice rose in volume at the end, but he didn’t care if everyone heard. All he cared about was Lily’s happiness.

  George straightened to his full height and looked down his nose at him. “Did Lily send you?”

  Nico pressed his lips together. “No.”

  George continued in a haughty tone, and Nico’s hackles rose even more. “How long are you planning to take up my daughter’s cause? If she’s upset with me, she can speak for herself.”

  He got in his face, baring his teeth. “I will take up her cause as long as it takes.”

  George pursed his lips like he was sucking a sour lemon. Pretty much his signature look. Nico took a step back from George, regrouping to the issue at hand.

  “Sorry to say, Nico,” George said, not sounding sorry at all, “but this wedding in the park is a far cry from what my friends are used to. I was prepared to pay for a wedding at the club—”

  “Which Lily didn’t want.”

  George’s lip curled. “I drove by your wedding grounds. There are corn
stalks tied to the gazebo and hay bales. There’s a playground. And, for some bizarre reason, poorly made scarecrows are tied to every streetlight.” The scarecrows had been handmade by kids during one of Clover Park’s many community activities.

  “That is beside the point,” Nico snarled. “You need to apologize to Lily for the hoedown shit and stop raining on her wedding parade. This is her big day. A once in a lifetime and I refuse to let you ruin it.”

  George crossed his arms. “And I refuse to let you talk to me this way.”

  Nico’s hands formed fists. “You have no idea how much—”

  “Hello, sweetheart,” George said, looking over Nico’s shoulder.

  Nico went stock-still. Lily would kill him if she found out he was here confronting her father. She insisted she’d accepted her dad wasn’t a loving person, and she didn’t want either of them to waste their energy on him. Besides, Nico had told Lily he was at work today. He slowly turned, prepared to apologize, but it wasn’t Lily.

  A beautiful woman stood there, smiling at George. She had long glossy brown hair, big doe-brown eyes, and wore a pink sweater tied over her shoulders with a white blouse and white pants. She looked awfully young for him.

  “Who’s that?” Nico asked George under his breath.

  “My lady friend,” George announced grandly. “I was hoping to bring her to the wedding as my guest.”

  It was open to the whole town. He was still trying to wrap his head around that.

  “Sure, why not,” Nico said, trying not to cringe. Now he had to warn Lily about her dad’s new girlfriend. And that she was half his age, or maybe a third his age.

  The woman smiled brightly at Nico. “Hi, I’m Bunny. Least that’s what my friends call me. Joining our twosome?”

  Shudder. Nico cleared his throat, searching for an excuse for his visit to the golf course that didn’t make him sound like a raging soon-to-be son-in-law. “Hi, I’m Nico. Actually I just stopped by to invite George to Sunday dinner tomorrow.”

  George coughed discreetly.

  Nico blustered on. “You’re both welcome, of course. It’s a family tradition, and since we’re—” he had to force the words out “—going to be family soon…” He trailed off, out of nice words.

  George spoke up. “Thank you for the kind invitation.”

  Nico let out a breath of relief. That was George’s polite no. He’d heard it before.

  “We’ll be there!” Bunny exclaimed, throwing her arm around George’s waist.

  George smiled down at Bunny indulgently.

  Nico gulped. “Great.”

  Shit. He’d just added to Lily’s stress. He was trying to put an end to her torturous stress nightmares, not make them worse.

  He headed back to his car when it hit him like a knock upside the head. Those nightmares were about abandonment. Missy leaving was another kind of abandonment for Lily. Every day closer to the wedding was a day closer to the sisters separating. That must be why Lily had started having those nightmares again. If he was right, then convincing Missy to stay should stop the nightmares.

  He had to wait to talk to Missy until that night when the sisters returned from plastering the town with wedding invitations. Then he had to wait some more. Missy had cooked dinner, and Lily insisted on doing the dishes so Missy could relax. That, of course, didn’t work because Missy then insisted on helping Lily—these two were inseparable—so he finally announced he needed to talk to Missy privately about maid-of-honor stuff.

  Both women stared at him.

  “Really, Nic?” Lily asked with a laugh. “You know about maid-of-honor stuff?”

  He jerked his chin. “Ma asked me to mention something in private.” Not exactly a lie because his stepmom had asked him to find out if Missy liked Italian wedding cookies, which he was not about to do because that was his stepmom’s sneaky matchmaking trick for single people. She’d offered those cookies to his older brother Vince’s girlfriend and it actually worked. Now they were married. Lily had eaten them too, but she was already a sure thing by that time. Nico had been about to propose. Anyway, he didn’t care about matchmaking, he cared about making Lily happy.

  Missy followed him out to the living room. He gestured to move to the farthest point in the room from the kitchen. The water was running in the kitchen, so hopefully Lily couldn’t hear. He didn’t want her to be disappointed if the answer was no.

  “What’s up?” Missy asked.

  “I wanted to invite you to stay here in Clover Park. You can live with us for as long as you like rent-free. We have plenty of room. What do you think?”

  She looked at the floor. “That’s a nice offer, but I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  She met his eyes. “I can’t just mooch off you guys. It’s really important to me I earn my keep, and I have a good job in Seattle. I’m used to being independent.” She squeezed his arm. “Thanks, though.”

  She turned and headed back to the kitchen.

  Dammit. Problem not solved.

  Chapter Three

  Sunday family dinner with the Marinos was Lily’s absolute favorite, and not just because they’d made her feel part of the family from the very beginning, it was the innate warmth and affection from Nico’s dad and stepmother, something that was very much a part of Nico and had never been part of Lily’s life with her dour father. Lily couldn’t wait for Missy to meet everyone. They’d missed last week’s Sunday dinner because Missy had wanted to see the sights in nearby New York City on her first visit to the East Coast.

  They made the short drive through Clover Park in Lily’s silver Tesla, an electric car that was good for the environment. Nico sold them now in his classic car showroom at her request.

  “Fair warning, Missy,” Nico said from the driver’s seat. He loved driving. “My family can get loud, but all that arguing is just us having a good time.”

  “They don’t argue,” Lily said. “It’s more like spirited discussions.”

  “Fine by me,” Missy said from the backseat.

  “And Nico’s dad is a fabulous cook,” Lily said. “He makes all this great pasta and sauces from scratch. He taught me how to make homemade ravioli.”

  “Yum,” Missy said. “I’d love to learn.”

  “Secret family recipe,” Nico said.

  “Missy is family,” Lily said.

  “I’m sure he’d love to teach you,” Nico said agreeably. He glanced over at Lily, and she beamed her approval. His dark eyes warmed on hers, and her belly took a delicious dip. Would she ever get used to her Italian underwear model? She called him that because he was an Italian hottie who loved to lounge in his boxer briefs.

  A few minutes later, Nico parked the car in front of his stepbrother Gabe’s house, a cheery yellow Victorian with dark green shutters, a wraparound porch, and a two-car detached garage with a recording studio over it for Gabe’s wife, Zoe.

  Lily went to open the passenger-side door when Nico’s hand landed on her shoulder, stilling her. She turned to him. “What?”

  “I probably should’ve mentioned this earlier, but you’ve been really busy with the wedding invitations and finalizing all the details, and I didn’t want to, you know, interrupt your flow.”

  She melted. He remembered her term for her happy focus place—flow. She worked from home on Fridays, and Nico had trouble keeping his hands off her when he got home. It was extremely flattering that he still wanted her even after their regular Friday lunch-hour hookup in his private office at work.

  She smiled sweetly at his hesitation. “What is it?”

  He craned his neck, looking all around, probably checking out the cars to see who’d arrived. Looked like most everyone. “I invited your dad to dinner.”

  “You did? Aww, Nico, that was so sweet of you.” They both knew her dad was the death of a party. “When did you talk to my dad?”

  He swallowed visibly. Sometimes he took things with her dad so seriously. She’d resigned herself to accepting her dad and his love limit
ations. “I stopped by his house on Saturday, and then the housekeeper told me to go to the country club, so I found him and invited him. He, uh, asked to bring his lady friend.”

  Her jaw dropped. “He’s bringing a hooker?”

  “Wow,” Missy piped up. “This should be interesting.”

  Nico winced. “I thought he meant girlfriend, though she did look young for him. Has he, uh, hired paid escorts before?”

  Lily shrugged. “I wouldn’t put it past him, but I can’t say for sure. He’s very discreet.”

  He gave her a pained look. “Shit. Did I screw up?”

  He looked so worried she had to kiss him. She’d had her nightmare again last night, and he’d been worried about her all day today. He’d only been trying to be a good son-in-law with the dinner invitation. “I’m sure the Marinos will drown him out in no time. Let’s go.”

  She went ahead on the front path, eager to see everyone, and rang the doorbell. Wild barking ensued, Fred’s fluffy gray and black head popping up in the side window of the door.

  Nico shook his head. “You set off the Fred alarm. It’s always unlocked.”

  “I know, but it’s polite to announce your arrival,” Lily said. Formal manners had been drilled into her since birth. Some had stuck better than others.

  “Just go in.” Nico reached past her and opened the door, quickly subduing the dog, offering his hand to sniff and nudging him back while Lily and Missy stepped inside. Fred was a keeshond with thick gray and black fur that resembled a lion’s mane around his wolfish-looking head.

  Fred trotted after Nico as he led the way to the dining room. Lily and Missy followed. Lily beamed at everyone the moment she crossed the threshold—Mr. and Mrs. Marino, the two Marino brothers, the three Reynolds stepbrothers, as well as her two soon-to-be sisters-in-law. Nine-month-old baby Miles stared at her from his mom, Zoe’s lap, drool running down his chin. “Hey, all! This is my sister, Missy.”

  “Hey, Missy,” the men said in a chorus of deep tones. “Hello!” the women called in near unison.