“Did you, though?” Mara asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “An apology must be sincere, and from the bottom of your heart, if you have one. All I got was a half-hearted offer for tacos, and an acknowledgment of you being a jerk. You said you wanted to apologize, but I don’t think you actually said it. And I think I deserve a little more than a few words and zero sorrys from the guy who made me feel small. When I’m the least small person in the room.”
They stared at each other across a chasm of flowers. Mara held on to her pride and dignity as Jay seemed to be trying to read her. He did not look like he was successful. “Has anyone told you that you’re—”
“A bitch?”
“I was going to say scary,” he said, slipping his camera into his jacket pocket. “But let’s drop it. You want an apology. Something big, and sincere. From my heart. My heart?”
“Yes, your heart.” Mara chuckled. He was cute. She appreciated cute. “You have one of those, Mr. Feelings-Are-Not-My-Thing?”
“Hey! I have a heart.” His voice was sharp, a little scary. He held up a finger in warning, and Mara jumped in surprise. Oh, Jay could get intense, really quick. “Maybe. No. I can do this. I’m good at this.”
“I’m sure.” She resumed her work. Made it sound like she didn’t think he was good at this at all. “I’m sure all the girls love it when you make an apology.”
“They do, actually!” His voice went slightly high-pitched as he came on the defensive. No so intense anymore, silly? He was squirming, and, ha-ha, mission accomplished. He was pacing in front of her, back and forth across the presidential table, and she could practically hear the gears in his head whirring. “But it usually ends, well, not at a wedding reception, that’s for sure.”
Mara laughed. “Has anyone told you that you’re a—”
“Ladies’ man?”
“I was going to say chick boy, but I guess that means the same thing.” She pulled a lone crimson anthurium from the arrangement in front of her. She waved it at Jay, who stopped pacing. “Well?”
He grinned. It was the grin of someone who knew he was about to make Mara eat out of the palm of his hand. That one grin was enough to make her stomach flip, her hands hold tighter to the flower in her hand. With a grin like that, it was no wonder David suddenly had to tell Marina he loved her. A rival like Jay was hard to beat.
“Mara Janine—”
“MaraJane.”
“Mara Jane Barretto,” he said, walking around the table so he could stand in front of her. And a fine man in a fine tux—even a man that annoyed her to her core ten minutes ago—was always going to take her breath away, especially when all that dramatic energy was directed her way. He paused, like he was considering something. “Can I hold your hand?”
“Do you think I can be swayed by a little romancing?” What could she say? As someone who had never experienced being romanced, this was overwhelming, but also (to her) very, very funny.
“Is it working?” He took her hand, still grinning. His fingers were longer than hers, his fingertips cool against hers. Mara pressed the flower over her mouth to contain her giggles, because he would be able to tell that she was feeling all the kilig. And it was not supposed to be this easy.
“I’m listening,” she said instead.
He squeezed her hand. A storm of butterflies rushed through her entire body, but she ignored them. Jay used his free hand to unbutton the front of his tux.Um?
“Mara Jane Barretto,” he repeated as he got down on one knee, in the middle of the wedding reception, with an audience of absolutely no other people, surrounded by flowers and mirrors and music in the background. MUNA’s cover of Britney Spears’s “Sometimes”played,which she had to admit was pretty perfect.
“I am so sorry that I posted that photo without your consent. From now on the only photos I will take are of you and your radiant beauty.” She wrinkled her nose in distaste. And to be fair, he picked up on that right away. “Too thick?”
“A little thick.”
“Well, I’m not taking it back. You are very beautiful, Mara. And I really am sorry about what I said, too. Clearly, you’re brilliant at what you do. Everyone can see it. And I was an idiot that I didn’t look hard enough.”
The words were soft, spoken only to her. Mara squeezed his hand back just to make sure she was still upright. This was sosilly.And yet it made her laugh, made her feel bubbly and light.
“I’m sorry,” he concluded. “And I mean that more than GMA did.”
Mara rolled her eyes, but she found this amusing enough. Jay hopped up from where he was kneeling. It was so quick, too quick really, that Mara jumped back in surprise. Jay’s quick reflexes remained, though, and he caught her easily, pulling her up by the waist to press against his body. He nearly lost his own balance, so he used his other hand to steady himself against her. Mara gasped, and Jay’s eyes widened in shock.
Too close, too intimate. Too fast. Mara didn’t like it, even if her heart was hammering in her chest. Was she sweating? She didn’t want to be sweating. She needed this to stop, they’d taken it too far, she didn’t—
“Mara?”
“Apology accepted,” she said quickly, looking away. “Let me go.”
“ATE MARA!” That was Mabel standing by the threshold of the ballroom, her eyes wide with shock and confusion. “Ano ‘to? Hath a miracle occurred? Should I call the Vatican?”
