A stab of guilt crushed down on me. I was the worst friend. “I can’t. I knew them growing up. It’s different.”
“Bullshit. It’s nice of you to pretend that you don’t notice their beauty, though.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me with her. “Come on, come on, come on. I’m ready for meat and liquor.”
I laughed and let her tug me out of my room and upstairs to the restaurant. Andrew had rented out the entire resort for the two weeks we’d be there. We’d have plenty of privacy to celebrate Macy’s wedding.
“Wow.” Megan let go of my hand to spin around under the magnificent chandelier that decorated the restaurant. The entire room was glittery with warm light and luxurious furnishings.
I seconded her feeling and walked to the windows that looked out over the snow-covered tundra. I could see elk in the distance, roaming free. It was so beautiful that it took my breath away. I had the stark realization that I had barely been out of the bakery for more than a few hours at a time since I’d started working for Malorie Shore, the owner of A Sweet, Shore Thing. I definitely hadn’t ever witnessed anything like elk moving through nature.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
I glanced over to see Lucas Strickland, standing with a glass of amber-colored liquid, watching me. He looked identical to Warren, except for the tattoos I could see stretching up from the collar of his white T-shirt and down his arms. His face looked harder, with one scar cutting through his eyebrow and anothercutting through his upper lip. Somehow, he just looked even more handsome because of it, if not a little dangerous.
Looking back out the window, I swallowed my nerves and nodded. “It is beautiful. Macy picked a great venue.”
“How’ve you been, Cupcake? It’s been a long time since I last saw you.”
Hearing him call me the same name his brother had been moaning earlier sent a forbidden shiver down my spine, and it was all I could do to not run away. I needed a church or something. I needed someone to cleanse the dirtiness from my brain so I could be a decent person again.
The other thing Lucas said hit me a second later, and that long-buried memory invaded the front of my brain like a speeding train. The last time he’d seen me was the night of my high school graduation. Their parents had thrown a party for Macy and the triplets had come home to celebrate. Someone had spiked the punch, and I’d gotten hammered without realizing it. When the cutest boy my age had approached me and had taken me outside to make out under the stars, the triplets had shown up. They’d shown up just to humiliate me. They’d told the boy, I couldn’t even remember his name, that I was a silly little virgin that didn’t know a single thing about what the boy wanted.
I’d been mortified. Drunkenly mortified, so I’d tried to fight with the brothers. I’d tried to argue with the boy that I was woman enough for him, which had sent him running. Then, I’d taken a swing at Andrew. All before Lucas tossed me in the pool in my white dress, in front of everyone. That had been the end cap of over ten years of them teasing me about any and everything. They’d tortured me for years and years and then left me the laughingstock of my graduating class after that party.
I remembered never wanting to see them again. I’d managed to make it so long that I’d forgotten some of those feelings. Hearing Lucas mention that night, however, brought everythingback. Shame washed over me. I’d slept with the enemy. Warren might be older, but he was still the man who’d laughed when almost my entire graduating class saw me come out of that pool in a see-through white dress and the biggest granny panties ever.
“Cupcake?”
I snapped back to reality, face probably bright red from that memory. I looked over at Lucas, at his alluring face and muscled body, and felt a wash of anger. I’d grown out of that quickness to anger that I’d had growing up. I was an adult and I didn’t have to play into the triplets’ stupid games. Maybe I already had, though. With that thought blaring through my head, I stepped away from the window and forced a smile. “Excuse me.”
I turned around and stepped straight into Warren’s chest. His arms wrapped around me and my body flared to life, despite the war happening in my brain.
“Where are you running off to, Cupcake?”
I pulled away from him and snapped. “My name is Sara.”
A throat clearing behind him caught my attention, and I looked over Warren’s shoulder to see Andrew. Stern, unforgiving, hard Andrew. He’d grown into someone rich and powerful, the upward move making him seem even more severe in his viewing me.
“We prefer Cupcake.” Stepping closer, Andrew adjusted his suit jacket and took my hand, pulling me away from Warren. “You’re all grown up, but you’ll always be our Cupcake.”
A flutter hit low in my stomach, and heat scorched my face. Staring up at him, I swore I saw hunger in his eyes. It was shocking, and I cursed the way my body reacted. Shame ate me up, though, and I shook my head, backing away. “Nope.”
When I pulled away, Andrew let me go. I scurried away from the three of them, desperate to get to safer ground. I didn’t know what they were doing, or what my body was doing. The threeof them had never been anything but rude to me, so the flirty behavior was strange and so unexpected.
I glanced back at them and saw that they were all still watching me. Warren took a step forward like he was going to come after me, but Andrew put his hand out to stop him. I planted myself between Megan and one of Jason’s brothers, firmly hiding.
“You’ve met Ryan before, right, Sara?”
I nodded and smiled, trying to get out of whatever funk the triplets had just put me in. “I have. Good to see you again.”
He replied, but I missed it. It was hard to focus when I spotted the triplets moving across the restaurant like a line of wolves approaching their dinner. Megan sighed next to me and Ryan turned to look at what the commotion was. With a grin, he shook his head and looked back at the two of us.
“Ladies, I know trouble when I see it. Those boys are flashing giant warning signs, but that never seems to matter, does it?”
Chapter 4
After a long night of avoiding Warren, Lucas, and Andrew, I had a crappy night of sleep, interrupted by an alarm blaring at the crack of dawn. Macy. I was going to murder her. She loved yoga and had decided that a morning yoga session was just what her bridal party needed. I could attest that I didn’t need a morning yoga session. I needed sleep. Still, I dressed in leggings and a T-shirt and made my way down to the gym.
The scent of eucalyptus welcomed me and I stopped to breathe it in before pushing into the gym and searching for Macy. Bent over, stretching in the middle of the room, she stood out in a vibrant yellow outfit. Beside her, Megan stared into the distance, exhaustion clear on her face. A few of Macy’s other friends from college and work were there, some of them peppier than others. Most of them, I noticed, were staring at the other end of the gym, mouths dropped open.
