Page 40 of Yours to Keep

I fucking hate this. “If Neil is the man you think he is, he’ll listen if you tell him that or anything else. It might take him some time to process it, but he will listen. You guys are going on a honeymoon, right? So use that time to talk to him about how you’re feeling.”

She nodded quickly and swiped under her eyes. Then she inhaled a deep breath before grinning at me. “You’re being very helpful for a man who usually delegates his feelings.”

“I don’t delegate feelings,” I said. “I suppress them.”

She snorted. “Because that’s so much healthier.”

“It’s efficient.”

Her mouth curved into a sly smile. “Does that mean you’re suppressing your feelings for Bree?”

I didn’t miss a beat. “I don’t have feelings for Bree.”

“Uh-huh.”

She had that look in her eyes that told me she was basing this line of questioning off an observation rather than it being a simple shot in the dark, so I sighed and shook my head at her. “I don’t know what you think you saw⁠—”

“You changed the gowns,” she said. “You hate admitting that you’re wrong.”

“Sure, but have you tried one on? They’re objectively terrible.” I cringed just thinking about it. “Bree was simply the only person with the balls to bring that atrocity to my attention, but as soon as I actually felt them, I would’ve switched them back immediately no matter what.”

She was smiling now, fully amused. “You’re not subtle.”

“I’m not anything,” I said flatly.

Liana arched an eyebrow at me but went back to the gift bags. As I joined in, dropping little soaps and all sorts of absurd but thoughtful tokens into every bag, the truth sat heavy in my chest.

Bree Bennett was a complication I hadn’t planned for, and I had to get my head on straight where she was concerned before I wound up doing something even more stupid than I already had.

Eighteen hours later, I stood outside the church in my new tux, shaking hands and greeting guests as they arrived.

“Sullivan Crowne,” I said, smiling like I wasn’t mentally running through contingency plans in case this thing went sideways. “Thank you so much for coming.”

Liana had told me to turn on the charm today, and I’d listened. It came effortlessly when I wasn’t at work, trying to wrestle an entire institution into compliance. Away from the office, I could turn it on like a switch, and for my sister, that was the least I could do.

This was the version of me people liked, the one who asked about their kids, remembered names, and laughed at jokes that weren’t funny. As I squeezed another hand, the older man grinned at me like I was his best friend. “It’s a beautiful day.”

“It really is. Perfect for a wedding,” I replied, meaning it.

Despite the knot of anxiety in my chest, I was genuinely happy. Liana was excited in that glowing, barely contained way, and I wanted the day to be exactly what she’d dreamed. I wanted to protect that smile at all costs.

What I didn’t want was to keep scanning the sidewalk and not seeing her fiancé. There were a thousand reasonable explanations for why I hadn’t seen him yet, but none of them stuck and that wasn’t a good sign.

I checked my watch, then my phone, but there was nothing. Maybe he used a different entrance. He could’ve forgotten a cufflink.

“Relax,” I finally muttered to myself when I realized how tense I was becoming. “This isn’t about you. They’ll be fine.”

As I lifted my gaze again, ready to resume my duties, everything else suddenly disappeared. Bree was walking up the sidewalk toward me and my brain fully collapsed. I’d seen her outside of the hospital before, of course, but when we’d gone cake tasting, she’d had on jeans, sneakers, and a sweater.

That version of her had already done dangerous things to my pulse, but this one? This was a fucking problem.

The dress skimmed her curves like it’d been designed specifically to ruin my life. It wasn’t flashy or trying too hard, but elegant in an understated, natural way. Her hair was done in soft waves, loose enough to touch, and my hands actually twitched at the thought.

She looked radiant, like she belonged in this moment, in this place, and had always existed in color while I’d only ever seen her in grayscale. It got worse when she smiled as she saw me.

My reaction to her was immediate and violent—heat and want combined with something deeper and far more alarming. My heart kicked hard against my ribs, and for half a second, I forgot how to breathe.

This is ridiculous.