Natalie’s invitation for the engagement party arrived the next day and now, here she was, in a cocktail dress, milling around Colin’s huge house filled with people she didn’t know.
That wasn’t entirely true. She knew the bride. And when her gaze met the golden hazel eyes she’d fantasized about as a teenager, she remembered she knew a second person at the party, too.
“Natalie?” Colin said, crossing a room full of people to see her.
It took her a moment to even find the words to respond. This wasn’t the boy she remembered from her youth. He’d grown into a man with broad shoulders that filled out his expensive suit coat, a tanned complexion with eyes that crinkled as he smiled and a five-o’clock shadow that any teenager would’ve been proud to grow.
“It is you,” he said with a grin before he moved in for a hug.
Natalie steadied herself for the familiar embrace. Not everything had changed. Colin had always been a hugger. As a smitten teen, she’d both loved and hated those hugs. There was a thrill that ran down her spine from being so close; a tingle danced across her skin as it brushed his. Now, just as she did then, she closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of him. He smelled better than he did back when he wore cheap drugstore cologne, but even then, she’d loved it.
“How are you, Colin?” she asked as they parted. Natalie hoped her cheeks weren’t flushing red. They felt hot, but that could just be the wine she’d been drinking steadily since she got to the party.
“I’m great. Busy with the landscaping business, as always.”
“Right.” Natalie nodded. “You’re still running your dad’s company, aren’t you?”
He nodded, a hint of suppressed sadness lighting in his eyes for just a moment. Good going, Natalie, remind him of his dead parents straight off.
“I’m so glad you were able to fit Lily’s wedding in at your facility. She was adamant that the wedding happen there.”
“It’s the best,” Natalie said and it was true. There was no other place like their chapel in Nashville, Tennessee, or anywhere else she knew of. They were one of a kind, providing everything a couple needed for a wedding at one location.
“Good. I want the best for Lily’s big day. You look amazing, by the way. Natalie is all grown up,” Colin noted.
Natalie detected a hint of appreciation in his eyes as his gaze raked over the formfitting blue dress her business partner Amelia had forced her into wearing tonight. Now she was happy her fashion-conscious friend had dressed her up for the night. She glanced at Colin’s left hand—no ring. At one point, she’d heard he was married, but it must not have worked out. Shocker. That left the possibilities open for a more interesting evening than she’d first anticipated tonight.
“I’m nearly thirty now, you know. I’m not a teenager.”
Colin let out a ragged breath and forced his gaze back up to her face. “Thank goodness. I’d feel like a dirty old man right now if you were.”
Natalie’s eyebrow went up curiously. He was into her. The unobtainable fantasy might actually be within her grasp. Perhaps now was the time to make the leap she’d always been too chicken to make before. “You know, I have a confession to make.” She leaned into him, resting a hand on his shoulder. “I was totally infatuated with you when we were kids.”
Colin grinned wide. “Were you, now?”
“Oh yes.” And she wouldn’t mind letting those old fantasies run wild for a night. “You know, the party is starting to wind down. Would you be interested in getting out of here and finding someplace quiet where we could talk and catch up?”
Natalie said the words casually, but her body language read anything but. She watched as Colin swallowed hard, the muscles in his throat working up and down as he considered her offer. It was bold, and she knew it, but she might not have another chance to get a taste of Colin Russell.
“I’d love to catch up, Natalie, but unfortunately I can’t.”
Natalie took a big sip of her wine, finishing her glass, and nodded, trying to cover the painful flinch at his rejection. Suddenly she was sixteen again and felt just as unworthy of Colin’s attentions as ever. Whatever.
“Well, that’s a shame. I’ll see you around then,” she said, shrugging it off as though it was nothing but a casual offer. Turning on her heel with a sly smile, she made her way through the crowd and fled the party before she had to face any more embarrassment.
Putting together a decent wedding in a month was nearly impossible, even with someone as capable as Natalie handling things. Certain things took time, like printing invitations, ordering wedding dresses, coordinating with vendors... Fortunately at From This Moment wedding chapel, she and her co-owners and friends handled most of the work.
“Thank you for squeezing this last wedding in,” Natalie said as they sat around the conference room table at their Monday morning staff meeting. “I know you all would much rather be starting your holiday celebrations.”
“It’s fine,” Bree Harper, the photographer, insisted. “Ian and I aren’t leaving for Aspen until the following week.”
“It gives me something to do until Julian can fly back from Hollywood,” Gretchen McAlister added. “We’re driving up to Louisville to spend the holidays with his family, and working another wedding will keep me from worrying about the trip.”
“You’ve already met his family, Gretchen. Why are you nervous?”
“Because this time I’m his fiancée,” Gretchen said, looking down in amazement at the ring he’d just given to her last week.
Natalie tried not to notice that all of her formerly single friends were now paired off. Gretchen and Bree were engaged. Amelia was married and pregnant. At one time, they had all been able to commiserate about their singleness, but now, it was just Natalie who went home alone each night. And she was okay with that. She anticipated a lifetime of going home alone. It’s just that the status quo had changed so quickly for them all. The past year had been a whirlwind of romance for the ladies at From This Moment.
Despite the fact that she was a wedding planner, Natalie didn’t actually believe in any of that stuff. She got into the industry with her friends because they’d asked her to, for one thing. For the other, it was an amazingly lucrative business. Despite the dismal marriage statistics, people seemed happy to take the leap, shelling out thousands of dollars, only to shell out more to their divorce attorneys at some point down the road.
As far as Natalie was concerned, every couple who walked through the door was doomed. The least she could do was give them a wedding to remember. She’d do her best to orchestrate a perfect day they could look back on. It was all downhill from there, anyway.
“I’ll have the digital invitations ready by tomorrow. Do you have the list of email addresses for me to send them out?” Gretchen asked.
Natalie snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at her tablet. “Yes, I have the list here.” Normally, e-invites were out of the question for a formal wedding, but there just wasn’t time to get paper ones designed, printed, addressed, mailed and gather RSVPs in a month’s time.
“We’re doing a winter wonderland theme, you said?” Amelia asked.
“That’s what Lily mentioned. She was pretty vague about the whole thing. I’ve got an appointment with them on the calendar for this afternoon, so we’ll start firming everything up then. Bree, you’re doing engagement photos on Friday