She forced back her nerves and gave him a confident smile, hoping to bolster him. “Let’s go say hi.”
Chapter Four
Noah had been worried for nothing. Okay, maybe notnothing, but he should have trusted his past-self’s decision to fake-date Carly. She’d always been friendly and outgoing, and owning the bookstore with Zoe had honed her people skills.
And they were so comfortable together that it wasn’t as awkward as he’d feared to rest his hand at the small of her back or link their fingers together while they chatted. Unless his mind wandered to the lace she was wearing under that sundress.
He was doing his best not to think about his best buddy’s underwear.
“It’s so great to finally meet you,” Emily was telling Carly, and he forced his attention back to the conversation at hand. “Noah talks about you all the time, and we’ve seen pictures, but it’s nice to have a real person to go with the stories.”
“He really does love to tell stories,” Carly said, and if they’d been sitting at a table, he would have kicked her underneath it.
He didn’t love telling “stories” to his boss, but sometimes it was easier to lie than to end up married to your boss’s sister-in-law because you ran out of polite ways to tell him youreallyweren’t interested.
“Oh, I see somebody I have to speak to for a second,” Jim said. “Noah, I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes?”
“Not a problem.”
“Have you been to the Cape before, Carly?” Sara asked after Jim walked away.
“A few times, but not in a while and never a place as gorgeous as this.”
Noah tuned out the ensuing small talk about the venue, looking out at the patio and beyond that, the beach. As soon as it wouldn’t be rude to pull Carly away, he intended to make his way out there and enjoy the ocean air.
Then the women laughed and Noah turned back to them because the three of them laughing together was an almost musical sound. He noticed his wasn’t the only head that turned, which wasn’t a surprise. All three of them were beautiful women.
It probably would have made his life a lot easier if he’d been attracted to Sara. She was gorgeous and smart and as warm and friendly as her sister, who Noah platonically adored. Technically, he supposed hewasattracted to Sara, since he wouldn’t have hesitated to ask her out if he’d met her under any other circumstances other than her being his boss’s future sister-in-law. But he didn’t need a crystal ball to tell him they had so little in common, they’d be lucky to make a fourth or fifth date.
Somebody tapped his elbow and when he looked, Jim nodded his head toward the other end of the bar. The women paid him no mind as he stepped away and followed his friend.
“How was the drive up?”
“Good, until we hit the traffic.”
Jim nodded. “Some of Emily’s family got here yesterday to avoid the worst of it.”
Noah waved his glass in the direction of the view beyond the patio. “Worth it, though. I can’t imagine a prettier place to get married.”
“I thought I wouldn’t be able to wait until it was finally over but now that I’m here, I want to enjoy every minute of it.”
“As you should. You and Emily worked hard for this and it’s going to be perfect.”
“Mostly Emily,” Jim said, and they both laughed.
They were joined by a couple of other guys, including Jim’s brother and best man, Pete, who Noah had met several times at the office.
While they talked, Noah looked around the room, checking out the other guests. He knew they were mostly family with just a few friends thrown in to keep the wedding more intimate and less expensive.
His gaze was drawn over and over to Carly, which he supposed was natural since she was his date for the weekend, fake or otherwise.
She was also the most beautiful woman in the room. He didn’t really have a type when it came to hair color or body type, but he’d always been drawn to confident, outdoorsy and fun women.
And Carly was definitely all three.
“I think you should have included more single women on the guest list,” Pete said to his brother. “This party got more exciting when the woman in the light blue dress talking to Emily and Sara walked in, but—”
“She’s mine,” Noah said, probably more abruptly than the conversation called for.
