Paulie Hajek has loved weddings since childhood, so naturally it makes sense that his current job is in the wedding planning business. Unfortunately, that also means he works with Van Tremaine, his boss’s brother and a former bed partner who refused to commit to something permanent, like marriage. Paulie has been heartbroken for a year, but he’s not giving up on happily-ever-after, though the gloss has dimmed somewhat.<br><br>Van has a lot to prove to Paulie, whose love-tinted view of the world once struck fear in his forty-five-year-old heart and made him act like a fool. It doesn’t help that Paulie catches him with an intern in a compromising position, either.<br><br>To prove he’s changed, Van resorts to a bit of trickery which, in the end, may or may not give Paulie what he’s always wanted, if he can forgive Van for being an idiot. Will he say yes?

Paulie and the Wedding Bell Grouch

The rehearsal dinner was an affair filled with laughter and innuendo. My parents had been dead a long time, and as an only child, I didn’t have much in the way of family close by. Van, however, had that in spades. The officiant for tomorrow’s ceremony was also present. I was still in a daze. Viola looked smug the entire time, knowing she’d pulled off the perfect coup right under my nose. I’d be mad, but I was about to marry Van, so I refused to complain.


At the end of the evening, after everyone had left, Van and I walked to his car. He unlocked the back door and retrieved the tux I’d be wearing the next day. I took it from him and ran my hand gently over the plastic-covered material.


“I’m astonished, still. Is this…” I gazed at him. “Are you sure this is what you want? You were so against anything like this, it seems odd that you would, all of a sudden, want to change that.”


Chapter 12