Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“Take a deep breath,” she instructed, closing the door behind me and wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Whatever it is, we’ll fix it, okay? Aunt Tilly once gave me a whole rundown on hiding a body… though I think she figured Uncle Teddy was the Marian most likely to commit a felony, not you.”
I shot her a look. “Not helping.”
Ella squeezed my shoulder. “You are okay physically, though, right? Because you kinda look like you were mauled.” She waved a hand at my wrinkled-as-fuck button-down and raised an eyebrow in a silent question.
Thinking of the answer to that question turned my blood to liquid fire—Foster’s big hands yanking up the fabric, the warmth of his palm at the small of my back, the flex of his fingers like he was as greedy for the contact as I was—
“I’d guess you and Kari were pre-gaming the wedding night,” Ella went on. “Except your bride isn’t due in until tomorrow, along with the rest of the fam. And, frankly, I can’t imagine Kari ever getting hot and heavy.” She snorted lightly.
My bride.
Hearing her say those words was a cold dose of reality, reminding me why I’d had no business kissing anyone earlier and no business fantasizing about it now.
I was supposed to be getting married in three days. The perfect Hawaiian wedding of Kari’s dreams.
“Fuck.” I stumbled over to the bed and threw myself onto it, face-first. “Christ, how am I going to tell her?”
“Tom.” Ella sat beside me and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Whatever you’ve done, I’m sure she’ll forgive you. I mean, if you took a job at a hospital that wasn’t prestigious enough, or accepted a speaking opportunity in a country not on her list of pre-approved travel destinations—”
“Worse,” I breathed. “So much worse. We’re in the cone of silence, Ella. Swear to me.”
“Babe,” she said, dropping the joking tone. “What is it?”
I turned my head and met her eyes. “I kissed someone.” Just saying the words set my cheeks on fire again.
She gasped dramatically. “Holy shit! Tell me every single thing. Start with what kind of special magic this woman had to make you cheat on your fucking fiancée literally three days before your wedding!”
My hands were shaking, and, honestly, it felt like the rest of me was, too. “Not a woman. And it wasn’t actually cheating. At least… I don’t think.”
I ran a hand over my face. If cheating included emotions, I was at least slightly guilty.
“Not a woman?” Ella jumped slightly, making the bed bounce. “Omigod, I owe Alex so much money right now. I said you never flinch when I show you hot guy pics, but he said given the number of queer people in our family, there’s no way you wouldn’t have considered—”
“Ella!” I squawked. “Can you be serious? My life is imploding right now. Everyone is arriving tomorrow for my wedding.”
“I am being serious. He must have been something special for you to cheat on Kari. For real.”
“I didn’t cheat,” I insisted, feeling like I doth protested all over the fucking place. “I… look, I was at the bar by the pool, talking to Foster, the guy who was sitting in front of us on the plane—”
Ella sucked in a breath. “That guy? Oh, Tom. He was so hot, and so nice, and so… so…”
“Yeah.” The word came out like a sigh, one that encompassed all the wonder of Foster Blake. “We just talked. For, like, hours, El. It was so easy. He’s into a lot of the same stuff I am. He goes rock climbing and hiking. He’s a search and rescue guy and trains tracking dogs. I could have listened to him talk all night.”
“And then?”
“His ex-boyfriend showed up—remember the asshole he was talking about on the plane?—and I pretended Foster and I were together, just to get his ex to go away. Then to sorta seal the deal, Foster… kissed me.” My entire lower abdomen clenched, and I whispered, “I didn’t know it could be like that.”
She let out a startled laugh, then paused, then laughed again. “Hold up. You kissed a stranger to make Foster’s ex jealous. On a family wedding week. At a hotel bar.”
“Uh, yeah. That’s what I—” I suddenly realized why she was laughing. “It’s not the same,” I argued.
Ella hooted and smacked my shoulder lightly. “It is! My dad showed up to a family wedding, saw his shitty ex-boyfriend, and whined about it to a random guy at a bar, so the random guy pretended they were together. Now, decades later, he sometimes jokes that maybe it’s time they stop pretending.” She rolled her eyes, but her voice rang with love and pride. “Their first meeting is family legend.”
“Yeah, well… this isn’t like that, okay? There’s no happy ending here.” My stomach burned, and I found myself close to tears… for all the wrong reasons. “After the second kiss—”