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“Looks like you’re partnering up with me,” a woman said. Ace turned to give her the mandatory smile that was expected, and then his jaw just about hit the floor. “I’m Chloe’s best friend, Dakota Forbes.”
Ace stood there like a stupid man while he tried to find his voice. She had bright green eyes with a Disney-type sparkle to them and high cheekbones that didn’t need even the barest touch of makeup. Her lips were full, the kind that were most definitely made for kissing, and they were painted bright red, making his mind instantly go to the gutter.
The maid of honor dress she wore was red, matching her lips, and hugged her delicious curves in all the right places. His thoughts definitely sank farther down into the gutter, and he was grateful his brother hadn’t decided to get married at a church or he feared he might be struck down by lightning for the immoral thoughts rushing through him like crashing ocean waves.
“Hey, big boy, my eyes are up here,” Dakota said with a laugh, snapping Ace’s gaze from her terrific breasts to her laughing eyes. She licked her lips, and his pants became unbearably tight. He had instant thoughts about where he wanted those painted lips of hers to be on and around his body.
Ace was never a man without words, but he couldn’t seem to find a single syllable in his vocabulary as he gazed at this woman. Had he known his brother’s wife-to-be had such a delicious best friend, then maybe he would have made it to the dinner the night before. Damn, he’d missed out on staring at her during what normally would be a very tedious meal—and possibly talking her into coming back to his tiny apartment with him. Well, weddings were all about the hookups, weren’t they? The mood he’d been in all day had just improved a hundredfold.
“Did you say Forbes, like in the Forbes?” he asked when his brain was working somewhat normally again.
She laughed out loud. “I know you think that’s a unique line, but you would be absolutely amazed how much I get asked that. And before you expect an answer,” she said before pausing, “some things are better left to mystery.”
Ace was growing hotter by the minute next to this damn woman. He might even be falling into instant love—well, that was if he was capable of such an emotion. If he was, this woman would be holding his heart already. He could say with certainty that he was, however, in lust.
“Ready to walk down the aisle?” he asked, his lips turning up in a confident smile.
“Hmm. Are you?” she said, giving him such sass his pants felt as if they were on fire and his heart was surely going to beat out of his chest.
“Oh, I’m certainly ready for anything,” he told her. Yes, he was going to bed this woman!
“Be careful, Ace. You might get caught if you aren’t careful,” she warned him.
Ace decided to ignore the cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck. This woman was sugar and spice and everything nice. She was confident, beautiful, and capable of making him ache in so many ways, he couldn’t remember ever feeling such hunger. It had been too long since he’d taken an interest in the opposite sex, and she was waking him up in such pleasant ways.
“She’s your new sister-in-law’s best friend. Not someone to bed and run from,” Cooper whispered in his ear, instantly irritating Ace. He didn’t respond but shot Cooper a look that clearly told him to mind his own business.
Dakota looked between the two of them, but she didn’t seem at all concerned that Cooper was whispering to him. She seemed to be floating as she stood before them. He wondered what it was that made her so damn happy.
The music started, and Ace found himself standing at the back of the line as his brothers and their wives walked side by side down the aisle. Too quickly, it was his turn to do the same.
Dakota slipped her arm in his and gave him one more blinding smile before she began moving. The sweat on the back of his neck dripped down his back as he stared straight ahead, trying not to scope out the crowd for signs of danger.
The gorgeous woman next to him helped ease that response in some ways, but in others, she made it worse, because he felt the instinctual need to make sure nothing happened to her. The intimate setting—rose petals on the ground, ribbons festooned down the aisle—made this so much worse.
There was no way in hell Ace had ever thought he would follow his brothers down the matrimonial aisle. But standing beside a beautiful woman as they made their way to the front of the decorated room put frightening things in his head. He was almost glad when she pulled away from him to go stand next to the other bridesmaids. Then the wedding march music began and Chloe walked down the aisle, her eyes shining and focused solely on Nick.
Ace looked down as he stood beside his brother. Maverick was beside him and patted Ace on the back as if he could hear the turbulent thoughts rushing through his brain. This time the pat didn’t seem like a punishment, but Mav pulled back quickly, making Ace think, for just a moment, his brother might have forgotten he was supposed to be angry with Ace.
Ace didn’t hear a word spoken in the ceremony, didn’t pay attention as his brother spoke words of love to his new wife. All Ace seemed able to do was glance across to the other side of the stage, where Dakota looked so delectable. Her eyes clashed with his several times during the ceremony, and the little wench didn’t seem at all shaken up like he was. At one point, she even winked at him.
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That was most certainly a good thing, Ace determined. It meant she was just as interested in him as he was in her. But even though he told himself he didn’t give a damn what anyone thought, his brother’s words kept repeating themselves in his mind—she wasn’t just any woman, and she couldn’t be messed with. The marriage made Chloe Nick’s bride—and that meant Dakota was now part of their family. Crap!
Looking up for only a moment before his eyes once again zeroed in on the ground, Ace made sure he turned his lips up as Nick kissed Chloe. He clapped when he heard the rest of the room come together in applause. And then he moved behind his brother and Chloe and accepted Dakota’s arm in his as they made their way back down the aisle.
He didn’t dare breathe in her scent the entire walk, but as soon as they exited the door, he pulled away from her. She patted his arm as she smiled at him, and he cursed his traitorous body and how much he wanted this woman.
“That was so beautiful. Chloe deserves a man as wonderful as Nick. I almost had to kick your brother’s ass for hurting my best friend, but he wised up and now I adore him,” Dakota said.
“Wait. What?” he asked as her words processed in his head. She stared at him, waiting for him to continue. “You almost kicked Nick’s ass?” That was something he would have loved to have seen.
“Yeah, I grew up with four brothers, and I don’t take crap from anyone,” she said with a laugh. “Nick was having a crisis of conscience or something, so I came to beat some sense into him. But he realized he was in love with Chloe, my beautiful and amazing friend. Albeit he thought he was having a heart attack, but still, he got the point rather quickly after realizing what the chest pains were all about,” she continued.
Ace couldn’t help it. A burst of laughter started low in his belly and then exploded from him. He could just imagine the scene—his brother gripping his chest as he tried to understand what in the hell was going on with him. Once he started to laugh, it seemed there was nothing on earth that was going to stop the sound.
Dakota’s lips turned up, and soon she was laughing with him. She had no idea what was going on inside his brain, but she didn’t seem to care. She just continued laughing as she reached out to him again and held on as she bent over.
