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My body betrayed me.
I was instantly turned on, and terrified it showed.
Our gazes locked. He licked his lips, and my heart pounded loudly in my ears. I recalled his kiss, how he tasted of whiskey and all things sweet. How he pushed me hard against the wall. His erection pressing into me.
I ached in places I’d never ached before.
Ricky ended his call with Slate and shook hands with Hawk. His eyes were alight as they flicked between all of us. Words were on the tip of his tongue.
“So...” he begun. “What are you up to this weekend, Hawk?”
I groaned and turned to the fridge in search of more wine.
I could hear the smile in Hawk’s voice before he even started talking. “Crashing a wedding.”
I rolled my eyes and pursed my lips together to hide the smile. It would be just like Hawk to cause a scene, and everyone be in awe of it. He merely walked into a room and mouths dropped.
“How’d you score that gig?” Harry asked. “Britta was adamant she was going at it alone.”
Hawk turned to me and winked. “You wanna tell them?”
My palms grew sweaty looking at the three men standing in my kitchen. “Hawk’s coming with me because he’s going as my fake fiancé.”
They all continued to stare. Two wearing concerned faces, one trying hard to wipe the smirk off his face.
“Fake fiancé?”
I nodded. “More like cocky fiancé...”
Hawk gave another wink at the reference to his cock.
“Why your fiancé?” Harry wasn’t here for the earlier conversation with Ricky, so he was rightly confused.
“It just slipped out when I was saw Roman on the street the other day. He kind of threw me in the deep end when he asked me to the wedding. It was obviously the last thing I expected, and the lies just snowballed from there. Next thing I know... Hawk’s my fake fiancé.”
“You’re really going to go through with it?” Ricky asked Hawk.
He shrugged. “Would you prefer she go by herself?”
Ricky and Harry shook their heads in agreement. “So, I’ll accompany Britta. End of story.”
There was a knock from down the hall, and Harry, who seemed somewhat displeased by the conversation, went to answer the door.
Ricky, who was the most outspoken remained silent.
“Well...” Hawk began, “... after that bombshell. I’m out.”
He stood to leave as Harry returned with pizza. “You’re going?” Harry asked. “You only just got here.”
“I’ve got other plans tonight,” Hawk said, and the irrational side of me hoped it wasn’t with one of the lingerie models. One who was easy, and who he didn’t have to keep secret. “I’m just here to drop this off.”
Hawk reached into his jean’s pocket and dropped a shimmering gold card on the counter. “It was delivered to the office about thirty minutes after you left.”
I picked up the invitation and studied the cursive text of Roman and Rebekah’s names.
That should have been my name, not Rebekah’s.
That, however, was now just a memory I was keen to forget.
I’d moved on from Roman and his cheating ways.
“Enjoy your weekend, Brit.” His eyes found mine and he was smirking, giving no shits if my brothers saw what was going on between us. “See you Saturday.”
“Yeah, bye,” I returned, realizing I couldn’t wait until I saw him again.
I watched as he shook hands with the boys and headed down the hall.
“I’ll pick you up at ten,” he yelled from the door.
“Okay,” I said but mostly to myself.
“I love you, sis, but you’re an idiot.”
“What?” I asked, still caught up in Hawk’s heady cologne.
“I said, you’re an idiot,” Harry repeated. He most certainly didn’t seem pleased. “Each and every one of us picked up the pieces of you when you split from Roman, and now you’re engaging in celebratory mode with him only to have the emotions of the day possibly dredge up emotions from the past.”
“I’m over Roman,” I said with finality.
“Claiming to be over him and going to his wedding to another woman... yeah, that’s an entirely different thing,” Ricky butted in.
“Why let him think he’s won? He hasn’t won. No matter what he did, he didn’t win.” I sat back and stared at them both, waiting for their next comeback.
“Verdict’s still out on that one. Roman asking you to his wedding less than a year after shattering your heart seems like he’s trying to find another way to hurt you.”
“He can’t hurt me. I’ll be with Hawk.”
Harry sighed. “And there lies problem number two.”
“You guys are really starting to annoy me with the whole ‘steer clear of Hawk’ spiels. The guy has my back, and I’d appreciate it if you two could also.”
“We see the way he looks at you. The way he’s always looked at you.”
“Thank you for your concern, but I’m a big girl.”
“Britta,” Ricky was all serious. “We’re not mucking around with any of this. We can’t stop you from going to the wedding, but Hawk... he’s a no-go.”
