It always took RJ a few seconds to take in Rose’s beauty. He remembered the first time he met her, when he was interviewing for the position at the Rose Chalet. He’d expected a round, matronly woman to be the owner of the wedding venue…not the young, gorgeous, vibrant redhead who had greeted him with a brisk handshake and a long list of incisive interview questions.

Perhaps it should have made a difference that today was her wedding shower, and that she was marrying someone else. But it didn’t.

Because she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

“Julie asked me to bring this.” He lifted the full tray of food a little higher.

Phoebe quickly came to intercept. “Oh good, RJ, you’re here with the rest of the buffet. I’ll let Julie and Andrew know.”

Rose stepped aside to let him in, but not before he breathed in her clean, fresh scent. RJ walked into the living room, put the tray down on one of the smaller side tables, and uncovered it.

“Everyone’s so busy, I should probably just take care of laying the canapés out properly,” Rose said.

Knowing she always wanted to make sure every last little thing was perfect, without any prompting he mirrored Rose’s movements as the two of them laid out the canapés with the rest of the food on the buffet table. Anything he could make easier for her, he would.

“Well,” she said when they were finished, “I think that looks pretty good. Hopefully, Donovan’s mom won’t be able to find fault with the food.”

“How could she possibly find fault with anything here today?” RJ asked, turning to her as he asked the question.

That was a mistake, because the dress she wore clung to her in a way that RJ couldn’t take his eyes off, matching the deep green of her eyes perfectly.

Though the truth was that she looked just as good in jeans and a slightly too-large old shirt when they were working in the chalet’s garden on a quiet morning when no clients were around.

Rose shifted nervously. “Well, there’s my mom…”

“You’re worried about your mother meeting Donovan’s mother?”

She sat down on one of the chairs in Anne’s living room, looking out the window. “They don’t exactly come from the same world. I just don’t want either of them to be uncomfortable with the other.”

RJ didn’t know what to say, even though he knew exactly what he wanted to say. Namely, that if Donovan’s mother wanted to disapprove of Rose or her mother, then that wasn’t Rose or Susie’s problem. It was Mrs. McIntyre’s.

“Maybe they’ll both get along famously,” he suggested instead.

Rose looked up at him from the chair. “I can’t see that happening somehow. I mean, Vanessa is a wealthy, sophisticated woman, while my mom probably earns half the salary of Vanessa’s house cleaners.”

There were moments when RJ wanted to shake Rose and remind her that her working class roots weren’t anything to be ashamed of. And she definitely shouldn’t be ashamed when it came to being in the same room as a woman whose major contribution to the world seemed to be giving birth to Donovan McIntyre. That was hardly a major achievement in RJ’s book.

But Rose was his boss, and his friend, and if RJ wanted things to stay that way he knew he would have to add that sentiment to the ever-growing list of things he didn’t allow himself say to her.

“I can’t imagine anyone not being impressed by the way you’ve made the Rose Chalet such a success. Vanessa McIntyre would have to be crazy to think you aren’t good enough for her son.”

“Thanks, RJ,” Rose said with a small smile that didn’t linger nearly long enough. “How is it you always know just what to say to make me feel better?”

Maybe because he knew her better than anyone else?

Or maybe because it hadn’t been intended as a pep talk, but as the simple truth. Because not only was Rose more beautiful than any other woman he’d ever met, but on top of that she’d made the chalet the premier boutique wedding venue in San Francisco.

“It’s just a knack, I guess.”

“Well, I hope it’s a knack you hang onto,” she replied, “because I get the feeling I’m going to need a few more pep talks before everything is perfectly in place for the wedding. You’ll do that for me, won’t you, RJ?”

Maybe he should say no. Or maybe, just maybe, he should say what he’d wanted to say for so long, that Rose should abandon the wedding and give him the chance to show her how good they could be together.

The trouble was, he could never break up someone’s relationship. He could never be the other guy. Not when he knew only too well how bad that felt. Hadn’t it felt like part of him was dying when he found his now ex-wife in bed with another man? A man he’d known from their social circle. A man he’d trusted with his wife.

So even though he wanted Rose so much he ached with it, RJ had told himself he could never get in the middle of her relationship with Donovan.

Still, how could he forget the one perfect kiss he and Rose had shared? Because when they’d kissed that one, unexpected time, it had felt like she understood everything about him, and that they were meant for one another.

Yet he’d obviously been wrong, because she’d never so much as mentioned the moment since. And if their kiss—their connection—hadn’t meant as much to her as it had to him…well, then he would just have to keep adding to the list of things he wouldn’t say to her.

Hating how nervous and worried she looked, he had to assure her, “Your wedding is going to be perfect. Even by your crazy standards,” he teased.

“My standards are not crazy,” Rose insisted. “They’re just meticulous.”

He grinned. “Meticulous, huh?” It was so easy to fall into this playful banter with her.

Rose glanced around the room with a look that he recognized all too well after working with her for five years, as if she might go around and check everything for the party just once more.

“Maybe if I—”

RJ put his hand on her forearm. “Everything is going to be fine. Better than fine. The wedding shower is going to be perfect. Trust me.”

Rose sighed as she relaxed slightly beneath his fingers. “What would I do without you?”

It was so good seeing her finally relax a little. Just those small changes as she loosened up slightly, the tension leaving the corners of her mouth and around her eyes.

He wanted so badly to reach out and pull her closer. It wouldn’t take much to drag Rose tight against him, his hands going up to soothe the tension from her shoulders while his lips moved down to hers.

Suddenly, Rose seemed to sense how close they were too, because her breathing came a little quicker. Or was that RJ’s imagination?

Well, the heat in her eyes wasn’t, nor was that slight parting of her lips and the flush in her cheeks as she stood up. He stood up, too, knowing all he needed to do was move an inch closer and then he could—

“There you both are,” Anne said, sweeping into the room with Julie at her side.

When Julie pulled Rose away, asking a question about wedding cake designs, Anne took RJ’s arm. “It’s almost time for this bridal shower to start. Which means no men. Even you. So out you go. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

As RJ let Anne lead him to the door, He said, “Take care of her today, Anne, will you?”

She gave him a look that spoke volumes. “Of course I will, RJ. She’s my best friend and all I want is for her to be happy.”

That was all he wanted, too.

Excerpt from The Wedding Kiss: Four Weddings & A Fiasco #5, copyright 2014, Lucy Kevin