I’m not someone who sleeps with a lot of guys, and the fact that it was our first date and I was already willing to go to bed with Carter shows how much of a connection we shared. Or I thought we shared. I was the only one who felt that way.
“I wasn’t rejecting you!” He gets up off the love seat and paces on the other side of the coffee table.
“No? What would you call it then?” I cross my arms and sink back into the sofa.
“I told you that night—it had nothing to do with you.”
“And I told you that was BS.”
He pushes a hand through his dark hair. “You’ve gotta understand… I’ve been best friends with your sister for more than a decade. And you look identical to her. When I got you into bed and started undressing you, I looked down, and all I saw was Steph. It felt weird. Wrong. Not only is she my friend, but she’s my other best friend’s fiancée. I freaked out for a minute.”
“I amnotmy sister!” I hop off the couch, leaning over the coffee table toward him. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to have a twin sister who looks exactly like you? Especially one who is a celebrity? Everyone thinks you’re the same person just because you look alike. But we couldn’t be more opposite. Stephcraves attention and loves being in the thick of things, whereas I don’t. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to get people to see that we’re not the same. We’re our own people. Can you imagine what it’s like to be constantly compared to your sibling?”
His shoulders drop, and he loses some of his defensiveness. “Yeah, I can actually.”
“Sure, you can.” I roll my eyes, sure he’s saying it to placate me.
“My older brother was an army ranger and before that, a football star—the kind of guy who’s always gone after what he wanted and succeeded, without fear. I looked up to him so much growing up. Then there’s my little sister, who’s the baby of the family, plus the only girl, so she could never do any wrong. I never really felt like I fit in, so I became the comedic relief. Now that’s all they see when they look at me, so I keep the act going.”
His expression is earnest and genuine. It pisses me off that some of my anger slides away at his admission and vulnerability.
I clear my throat. “I guess we both have our issues then.” I plop back down on the love seat.
Carter walks around the coffee table and sits beside me. “I really am sorry for how I made you feel that night. It wasn’t my intention.”
Nodding, I swallow hard. “Thank you. I just felt so stupid. The rejection stung.”
He frowns. “I never would have taken you back to my place—hell, I never would’ve let Steph and Doug set us up in the first place—if I’d known that was how I was going to feel. But Steph’s been going on and on about how amazing her twin sister is for as long as I’ve known her, so when they tried to set us up, it seemed like a good idea. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.”
“Let’s just put it behind us. We have to work together to get all this stuff done for the wedding, so it’s probably good we had this talk, but let’s not bring it up again.”
“Onward and upward?” He arches an eyebrow and gives me a charming grin that I know has won him more than a few ladies.
“Something like that.” I grab my laptop off the coffee table, signing back into my computer.
My sister texted me late last night to thank me again for being willing to work with Carter to get everything done for the wedding. She knows what went down between us and knows it’s not exactly comfortable for me to be around him.
“Steph sent an email last night with a list of all the things we still have to do.”
Carter looks at the list on my computer screen. “I thought she said there wasn’t that much.”
The list is longer than I expected, but I don’t think it’s anything we can’t handle. A lot of it is just following up with vendors, which should be easy enough.
The biggest job looks like it will be picking up the chairs, which are about an hour away. I’m tempted to ask Steph if we can remove that from the list and find a rental company that will deliver, but I know how she fell in love with those particular chairs. They’re antique gilded chairs she tracked down. They have incredible detail, and she thinks they’ll look amazing in photographs if her wedding pictures get shared by the press. She wants everything to look luxe. So, I guess Carter and I will have to play moving crew to get them.
Despite my sister’s lust for opulence, the wedding itself is small, which is why I’m able to host the ceremony and a small reception at the B&B.
“At least we get a meal out of it.” Carter points at the screen, where one of the items on the list is that we have to do the final tasting to approve the meal.
“Mmm. That will be good. Anna is a wonderful cook.”
“You know her?”
I nod. “She runs her catering business out of her house, and I’ve been lucky enough to attend a few events she’s catered. The food is always amazing.”
“Looking forward to that one then. Do you think it’s easiest if we divide and conquer most of this stuff? To get more done?”
I’m irritated that all I feel as a response to his question is disappointment that we won’t be checking these off together. But that’s ridiculous. My whole plan was to avoid this man as much as possible throughout the wedding events. Then again, that was before we went from best man and maid of honor to wedding coordinators.
