Cake (Bitterroot Saga Book 1) Read online

  Of course, Reagan already knew the answer. Or, rather, she knew enough to know she shouldn’t ask that question.

  Elana looked at her sharply, but didn’t answer.

  “Oh, come on, El. You can’t honestly think going is a good idea.”

  On the contrary, Elana knew it would be absolute disaster. But that didn’t mean she’d be able to stop herself. She sighed. “I know.”

  “But you’re going anyway.”

  Elana shrugged. Rather than pursue a discussion they’d already had and would never agree on, Elana reclaimed her beer and took a healthy swig. She raised her bottle toward Reagan. “Do you want one?”

  “Sure.” Reagan gave her a crooked smile and took the drink from Elana. “Thanks.”

  It wasn’t exactly what Elana meant, but she let it ride. If the price of Reagan dropping the subject of Bree’s wedding was a half-empty pint of beer, Elana was okay with that.

  * * *

  Kelly’s goal for the next three hours was to keep her head down and her mouth shut. She didn’t have to approve. She simply had to show up and smile when appropriate. The pew was harder than she remembered and she squirmed in place. Her mom shot her a look that made Kelly feel like she was seven and just got caught messing around during Sunday service.

  “And then you’ll step up to join David…” the priest said in a dull drone. Kelly’s mood reflected his tone perfectly. They’d already gone through this part twice and Bree, for all her dancer’s grace, couldn’t remember the basic moves that would take her from single to married. Kelly thought they should take it as a sign from the Universe and call the whole thing off.

  With a sigh, she shifted in her seat again. This time, David glared at her. “Come on, Kelly. Stop trying to ruin it.”

  Kelly rolled her eyes. Her brother was old enough to get married, just not old enough to keep from whining to get his way. Typical.

  “I still don’t know why you refused to be in the wedding party.” Her mom took up the baton of harassing Kelly. “You would look so lovely in the bridesmaid’s dress.”

  The actual bridesmaid, a vapid-looking gum-popper whose name Kelly couldn’t remember, preened.

  “She’s right, pumpkin,” her dad said gently. He rarely raised his voice. “Your brother’s only getting hitched the once. You should be up there.”

  Kelly crossed her arms over her chest. She’d already explained this at least twenty times since her brother announced his plans a few weeks ago. They’d managed to coordinate the ceremony with the ruthless efficiency of a shotgun wedding, but none of that changed one basic fact. Kelly didn’t know Brianna. Certainly not well enough to stand next to her as she recited her vows. Perhaps if David and Brianna had waited longer than twelve seconds to get married, Kelly would have had a chance to develop a relationship with her future sister-in-law. At this point, though, Kelly wasn’t even sure she wanted to. In the past hour, she’d gone from indifferent to borderline homicidal.

  “We’ve gone over this.” Kelly kept her voice even, trying to sound as flat and lifeless as the priest. She came close. She decided not to mention the bit about not knowing—or liking—Brianna. Instead, she said, “I’ll be busy with the cake, remember?”

  It wasn’t expressly true since they’d arranged for the caterer to pick the cake up the night before the wedding, but she wasn’t about to remind anyone of that little detail.

  “If it’s so much trouble for you, you should have said no. We could have hired someone.” David stood to the right of the priest, arms crossed to mirror Kelly’s. Kelly smirked, but remained silent. The cake she made wasn’t something he could get at the local grocery for a few hundred dollars. That’s why he’d asked her. Finally, he looked away. His voice was much softer when he spoke again, this time to Brianna. “Let’s just get through this.”

  Her mother left her position in the front pew and joined Kelly a few rows back. She sat next to her with a heavy sigh that put Kelly’s to shame. “Why can’t you be happy for your brother?”

  Kelly wasn’t unhappy for him, exactly. She just didn’t see a happily-ever-after happening after they said their I dos. “Mom—”

  “Stop. I’ve heard it all. None of it changes the fact that we’re here. Your brother has made his decision and he’s asked us to be a part of the moment. Nobody asked for your approval.”

  “I don’t know her.” Kelly gave one last shot at explaining herself. Yes, she’d already said it. So many times the thought of saying it again made her temples throb. “Hell, he doesn’t know her. He didn’t even ask her to sign a pre-nup, for God’s sake.”

  The priest made a sharp tsk-ing noise at her use of the Lord’s name, but it didn’t change Kelly’s thoughts on the matter. Not that she’d tell him, but she’d gotten up to much bigger sins in this building. A little taking the Lord’s name in vain wasn’t going to land her in hell any faster than making it to third base in the confessional booth with her ninth-grade girlfriend.

  “Kelly Elizabeth Miller.” Her mother over-enunciated each name, clipping it off sharply at the end. “That is enough. You will be happy for your brother, starting now.”

  Regardless of how absurd her mom’s words were, there was no point in fighting it. Kelly pulled her lips back in what she hoped was a convincing smile and said, “Yes, Mom. So happy.”

  CHAPTER 3

  “This seat taken?” a woman asked as she scooped up Kelly’s program and purse and dumped them into her lap.

  “No, please, feel free.” She opted for the polite answer, but added a touch of frost to her tone because it was more fun than just taking it.

  The woman tilted her head and evaluated her. She gave a tight nod as she dropped into the seat she’d just cleared. “Thanks.” Then she stuck out her hand as though this qualified as a perfectly normal social interaction. “I’m Elana.”

  Kelly turned and made a show of looking at all the available seating left in the church, then she smiled picture perfect and took Elana’s hand. Yeah, this woman was presumptuous, but with her dark hair and even darker eyes, she was also pretty damned attractive. Her hair was cut short, almost to the skin at the sides and back, but long enough to flop over her eyes in the front. It gave her a deliciously androgynous look that Kelly found incredibly tempting.

  “Kelly, nice to meet you.”

  Elana nodded and smirked in a way that made her look even sexier. “I’m pretty sure the pleasure is all mine.”

  Kelly hummed, but didn’t really respond. Time would judge the accuracy of that statement, and she wasn’t in the mood to demure.

  Elana brushed her hands over her shirt and adjusted her stylish black suspenders and matching tie. Not that she needed to do that. The shirt was a stark white, sleeveless tuxedo shirt that had clearly been starched and pressed to perfection. Elana carefully adjusted her hair, smoothing it into place with her bangs tucked behind one ear. When she settled, she leaned close to Kelly and said, “Friend of the groom?”

  “In a manner of speaking, yes.” Most of the time, Kelly didn’t even like David, so saying they were friends was a bit of a stretch, one she wasn’t entirely comfortable with. Not that he was a bad guy. He just valued different things than Kelly did. And, even though Kelly was here in support of his wedding—an affair that took them all by surprise—she doubted she could say the same of him if their roles were reversed.

  Elana arched an eyebrow and almost smiled. “Interesting.”

  “David is my brother,” Kelly clarified. “Are you friends?”

  “No. I’m here for Brianna.”

  Kelly nodded and studied Elana a little closer. Brianna was exactly the kind of girl Kelly would have been friends with in high school. But now, ten years later? She didn’t have anything in common with her. She was a little too...everything…for Kelly’s tastes. In other words, she and David were perfectly matched. Not that they should be getting married ten minutes after meeting, but Kelly’s protests had been shot down. Now all she had to do was smile and nod and pr
etend to be supportive.

  “How do you know Brianna? Are you friends?”

  “In a manner of speaking, yes.” Elana echoed Kelly’s answer back at her, and Kelly smiled. Elana was cheeky and that worked for Kelly as well. Elana was pushing all of Kelly’s buttons. Flirting or not, so far, Elana was perfect.

  “Oh?”

  “She’s my ex-girlfriend.”

  Kelly almost laughed, but managed to hold it in. Finally, something to hold against Elana beyond just poor manners. She remembered, vaguely, Brianna telling her about a beautiful, sexy ex-girlfriend. She wished now that she’d paid closer attention. At the time, however, she’d assumed that Brianna was doing the thing that all straight people do where they tell her a story to assure her that they were “down with the gays” or whatever. She usually blocked those stories out because they were more irritating than anything, and Brianna wasn’t exactly a captivating storyteller.

  “Her ex? Does she know you’re here?”

  Elana shrugged. “She sent me the invitation.” She wrinkled her nose a bit. “Of course, it had a Care Bear sticker where the stamp normally goes, so…”

  Kelly gave in and laughed at that. She didn’t know Brianna well, but it wasn’t surprising to hear she’d sent a wedding invitation without including postage. “That sounds like her.”

  “She’s just... She thinks differently than most people.”

  “Yes.” That was a very succinct, and yet completely vague, way to describe Brianna. “So why are you on the groom’s side?”

  Kelly was really impressed that Elana had made it past the ushers without being guided to the other side of the aisle. They’d zeroed in on Kelly the instant she walked in and had been less than pleased when she insisted on sitting toward the back of the church. She was messing with the balance of their seating order and they didn’t appreciate it. Maybe that was because they all knew her, but she didn’t think so. She’d seen others seated with the same determined efficiency.

  Elana scanned Kelly’s body deliberately and winked. “Because you are.”

  “Excuse me?” Kelly narrowed her eyes because that was just a bit too blatant for her liking. The comment implied that they knew one another, which they didn’t. Or perhaps Elana thought of Kelly as a foregone conclusion, which she definitely wasn’t. As much as she liked the idea of getting to know Elana better—at least certain parts of her—the assumed familiarity still made her bristle.

  “Relax.” Elana waved her hand dismissively. “All I meant was that I looked for the hottest woman in this place.” She smiled and Kelly had to admit that she found Elana charming even though she really shouldn’t. “And so, here I am.”

  “You sat next to me because I’m hot.” Kelly moderated her tone, unimpressed by Elana’s determining criteria of her worthiness. This was a wedding, not ladies night at the local club.

  “Yep. The fact that you’re his sister is a total bonus, though.”

  “Uh-huh.” Kelly shook her head, but she couldn’t quite produce the affronted outrage that she was trying for. It was far too amusing. She arched one eyebrow and asked, “Did I just become your date?”

  Elana raised her eyebrows to match Kelly’s and smiled roguishly. “I think you did, yeah.”

  She offered her hand and Kelly took it. She let Elana hold her hand throughout the ceremony because the one time she let it go, Elana tried to put her arm around her. Attractive or not, Kelly didn’t want to cuddle on a hard wooden bench. Especially not in church.

  When she noticed Elana tearing up during Brianna’s vows, Kelly patted her hand, tilted Elana’s face toward her, and kissed her lightly. Maybe it wasn’t the right time or place, but she wasn’t the one getting married. That meant she didn’t have to wait for the old guy in black robes to say “kiss the bride.” Besides, it totally worked because Elana stopped staring at Bree as if she’d stomped her kitten and started looking at Kelly like she wanted to get to know her better.

  By the end of the ceremony, when David and Brianna were presented to the congregation as husband and wife, Elana was smiling. That didn’t even change when Brianna caught sight of her and physically stopped moving down the aisle to stare.

  “Elana?” Brianna stuttered out the name while David tugged on her hand, pulling her toward the exit.

  “Hi, Bree.” Elana started to let go of her hand, and Kelly gripped even tighter. Elana looked like she was about to float away, and the couple of times Kelly’d felt like that, she’d wished someone had been there to keep her grounded.

  David tugged hard enough that Brianna had no choice but to continue down the aisle. Still, she looked back over her shoulder at Elana.

  Kelly waited a few moments before gently turning Elana’s head back toward her with a couple of carefully placed fingers at her chin. She smiled softly because it had to suck to watch your ex get married, and then, because Elana had stopped smiling and looked a lot like she was going to cry, she kissed Elana softly. Elana’s grip on her hand tightened, and when Kelly ended the kiss, Elana started it again, nipping at her bottom lip before she finally allowed it to end.

  Elana glanced down and cleared her throat. When the couple next to her left, she slid far enough away that only her knee touched Kelly’s, and she rested her elbow on the back of the pew. She toyed with the ends of Kelly’s hair. “Thanks. I needed that.”

  “Sure.” The church was emptying out and people were watching them. A kiss or two wasn’t exactly scandalous, but they were being regarded as if they’d set a small fire in the pew and the whole church was on the verge of going up in flames any minute. Which was silly, really, because any flaming that might happen between her and Elana sure as hell wouldn’t happen on something as hard as that bench. “You ready for the reception?”

  Elana took a deep breath. “I don’t know.”

  Kelly eased her up until they were both standing. “You have to come. There will be cake. And Champagne.”

  “I’ll need a full open bar,” Elana grumbled as she led the way out of the church, still holding Kelly’s hand. “And wedding cake always tastes like ass.”

  Kelly narrowed her eyes at Elana’s comment, but slipped her sunglasses on before Elana could possibly notice. “This one doesn’t.”

  They paused on the steps and faced one another.

  “How could you possibly know that?”

  “Because I made it.” Kelly tried not to sound annoyed and offended, but probably failed. She’d made too many wedding cakes for Elana’s ass comment to be anything less than insulting. She was good at her job, dammit. And Elana needed to learn that before the end of the day.

  Elana gave her an appraising look, then settled for a simple, “What about the bar?”

  Kelly laughed, even though it wasn’t really funny, but the negative energy in her chest had been displaced. That made her feel lighter, and laughter was a good response to that. She shook her head and tried to keep her tone dry and serious but couldn’t quite pull it off. “I’ve never made a bar, but if I did, it wouldn’t taste like ass, either.”

  Elana shook her head and said, “Okay, so reception? You’re driving, because I took a cab.”

  CHAPTER 4

  The inside of Kelly’s car—a shiny, black Escalade—smelled of new leather and, weirdly, vanilla. Elana inhaled deeply and held it for a moment before breathing it out. She’d seen Bree and it had sucked, but not as bad as she’d thought it would. If she let herself think about her friend, the girl she grew up with, she felt something really close to happy for Brianna. But when she thought about her ex-lover, the woman who spent years playing with Elana’s affection, grief overwhelmed her all over again.

  She should have said no when Kelly asked her to the reception, but it’d been too long since she’d felt that instant spark of attraction. Sure, Kelly was hot as fuck, but it was more than that. It was the line she walked between flirtatious and bitchy. That was what had Elana so spun that she’d said yes when she fully meant to say no.

  Kelly climb
ed into the driver’s side and took Elana’s hand in hers. She smiled and said, “Are you sure you’re up for this? I could drop you somewhere if you’d rather.”

  “Well, that depends.” Elana returned her smile, but she went for sultry instead of sympathetic, like Kelly. She leaned over the console and cupped Kelly’s cheek. “Are you going to let me do,” she pressed her lips to Kelly’s, drawing the words out and letting her mouth linger on Kelly’s, “this.”

  “Mmm, definitely.”

  Elana eased away from Kelly slowly. If she had her way, they would stay here, in Kelly’s car that smelled of leather and vanilla, and just kiss. She didn’t need more than that at the moment, just the soft, sweet feel of Kelly’s lips brushing against hers as they breathed each other’s air.

  When Kelly clicked her seatbelt in place and started the engine, the seat and steering wheel moved into driving position. It was a definite step up from Elana’s six-year-old Corolla.

  “God, this car is almost as sexy as you are.”

  Kelly threw her head back and laughed. Maybe Elana wasn’t as smooth as she thought. So far, it seemed to be going well, as though she’d reclaimed her flirty groove. But, generally speaking, laughter wasn’t the response she was going for when she complimented a woman. She stared at Kelly, waiting for her to stop.

  “Sorry,” Kelly touched her arm, “but if you only knew why I bought this car. Sexy was the last thing on my mind.”

  “Don’t tell me that you actually have six kids to fill up all those seats.” As far as Elana was concerned, there were only two reason someone bought an SUV—image or seating. And with an Escalade, it was usually the first.

  “God, no.” Kelly scrunched up her face as if she smelled something bad. “No kids.”

  “Then why?”

  By unspoken agreement, Kelly joined the line of cars headed toward the reception. They were one of the last vehicles to leave, so she could still turn off without too many people noticing.