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He grins and kisses her forehead once more. “I know, Mom. But if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather share that spot.” He nods toward the door. “He’s a good man. I’ve looked up to him my whole life and giving you away to marry him—” He clears his throat and shakes his head. “I’m honored, because I love you both so much. Now, come on. We’re making the poor man sweat out there.”
And cue the waterworks.
Gabe steps up and offers his arm to Blair. Once she’s secured at his side, they make their way toward the trellis Logan made for today’s ceremony. Movement at my side causes me to pause, as does the intoxicating cologne I catch a whiff of hanging in the air. Logan extends his elbow, and I try to ignore the hum of desire sliding down my spine as I casually link my arm with his.
“Ready, Cupcake?”
I turn my attention toward the audience and paint a smile on my lips. “As I’ll ever be, considering I’m stuck with you for the next few seconds.”
His chuckle vibrates through my veins, landing squarely at the apex of my legs. “Hallie, Hallie, Hallie. When are you going to admit you really do like me?”
“Never.”
He tsks as we step forward and slowly make our way toward the front where TD waits. “One day. One of these days, I’ll get you to admit how you really feel about me.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” I mutter without so much as the slightest slip of my grin from my lips.
He pulls me closer as he leads me to the spot where we’ll stand with our friends. I try to ignore the fact my body seems to buzz with anticipation and lust with every step I take, especially considering his arm is resting against the side of my boob. Thank God I wore a padded bra. I’ll be damned if I let him see just how much he truly affects me.
It’ll be a cold day in hell when I let Logan Johnson see how badly I want him.
Chapter Two
Logan
“So, you’re next, huh?” I hold up my beer bottle for Gabe to tap before we both take a drink.
Once he swallows the cold brew, he grins from ear to ear. “Yep, I’m next. Hopefully before the end of the year.”
“Yeah?”
He shrugs, turning his attention toward the dance floor where Blair, Ellie, Hallie, and a few others dance. “We’re ready to have kids. None of us are getting any younger, you know?” he states, his eyes never leaving his fiancée.
I shift in my seat at his comment.
Honestly, I thought I’d be a dad by now. Even when I was young, I saw myself with a wife and kids. Of course, that was after my dream of playing professional football was over, and thanks to an extensive knee injury in college, that dream crashed and burned before I was able to enter the draft.
That still left the whole marriage and kids thing. Unfortunately, I came back to my hometown and went looking in the wrong places. Oh, it was easy to find, don’t get me wrong. Everyone seemed interested in dating the former hometown quarterback, who took his team to state and almost went pro. Too bad I jumped at the first woman to throw herself at me, which was my first mistake. Thinking she was in it for love and marrying her was my second.
I always knew I’d come back to Pine Village, though I assumed it would be later in life and not when I was twenty-two. I started working for my dad at our family-owned hardware store and lumberyard, something I always loved to do while I was growing up in this small town. So it was the logical fit to transition back to the business I was raised in. I even invited my wife to join us, which was my third fatal mistake.
Now, even after the marriage is dissolved, I can’t get her to leave.
“Earth to Logan.” Gabe snaps his fingers in front of my face, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Sorry.” I draw a long pull from my beer. “Spaced out for a minute.”
“I’d probably zone out too if my ex-wife showed up at my best friend’s wedding.”
It takes a moment for his words to register, but when they finally do, my wide eyes move from the dance floor to him. He uses his beer bottle to point toward the bar area, where my ex-wife, Shay, is getting a drink. She’s laughing and trying to flirt with Marcus, who looks like he’d rather be anywhere but trapped by the beer cooler and talking to Shay.
“Christ,” I mutter. “Doesn’t she know it’s a private event?”
Gage shrugs his shoulders. “When has that ever stopped Shay?”
He’s right. Shay does what Shay wants to do. She wouldn’t know how to put anyone before herself, and I just wish it wouldn’t have taken me the time it did before I saw what everyone had always known about her. I was just too dumb and blinded by the magic of pussy to see it myself.
Lesson learned the hard way.
