Her laugh reached him as Ethan said something to her, and he saw the genuine emotion between them. In fact, the interaction between the entire wedding party was like that. His brother was close to people here; Brad could see that and knew it suggested he was probably an easy person to like. He just wasn’t there yet himself.
He smiled when she looked his way, and she returned it, the gesture sweet, and Brad knew enough about women to understand when one was aware of him. She wasn’t offering him her bed, he’d been the recipient of enough of those looks to understand them, but he saw the interest.
He had no rights to Macy. No rights to want to take her to bed and lose himself in that lovely body for a night. She was obviously his brother and sister-in-law’s friend, so that should be enough for him to not look her way again, and yet his eyes went to her again and again. Some invisible pull had him aware of her like he’d never been aware of a woman before.
People started dancing after the dessert, and Brad watched the man called O'Donnell lead Billy to his mother. She kissed and hugged him, and then the boy left, which told Brad he was more than likely spending the night away from her. However, that did not mean she could spend the night with him, even if he wanted her to. Something told him Macy wasn’t a one-night stand kind of girl, and again, he’d had a few of those in his life and wasn’t overly proud of many of them, or his behavior toward the women.
“So, I'm going to be mighty pissed with you if you leave before we talk.”
Brad looked up and found Ethan standing beside his chair.
“I’ll make sure to say good-bye before I go.”
His brother was silent, the Gelderman blue eyes surveying the dance floor, and Brad knew he was thinking about what to say next. Funny how he remembered his brother doing that before he left.
“I kept trying to text and call you but you never replied, so I thought you’d decided you didn’t want contact with me.”
Now that surprised him. Sure they'd texted a few times after Hope's wedding, but Brad had been certain that would stop. It seemed he’d been wrong.
“I lost my phone, and had no way of contacting anyone after that.”
“It's called social media, and then there's my business, Brad, and e-mail or something… anything would have been good.”
“The Geldermans are not into family connections,” Brad said, sounding like a dickhead, but he didn’t know what else to say. “We’re not like other people.”
“If that’s true, then why are you here… connecting?”
Brad sighed. How was he going to explain? Should he try for honesty?
“I was in an accident, a friend died, and I realized that if it had been me in that casket nobody would have known.”
“Jesussss.” The breath hissed from Ethan.
“I decided to start with the eldest and work down,” Brad added.
“Start?”
“Enough, Ethan. Now is not the time for this.” Brad didn’t want to get into things here at his brother’s wedding. In all honesty he didn’t think he’d ever want to, if his reaction today was any indication.
“All right, but please don’t leave town before seeing me.”
“Are you and Annabelle heading out on your honeymoon tomorrow?”
“No, we're going on a big trip to Europe next year, so we'll wait till then.” Ethan smiled suddenly, the smile of a man knee-deep in love. “Besides, every day is a honeymoon with her.”
“I can't believe those words actually left your lips.”
Ethan slapped him on the shoulder. “The love of a good woman can change you, Brad.”
“I'm seriously close to puking on your boots, Ethan.”
His brother slapped him again.
“It's good to have you here, bro. Really good, and now I know you’re not leaving until you see me, I can relax. Now go and dance with a pretty girl, there's plenty of them about.”
Looking to where Macy sat watching the other dancers, he got to his feet as Ethan walked away. Why not? He needed a distraction from all this emotion his siblings were dragging out of him.
Macy looked his way as he approached.
