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“Yeah, he’s a good dude. And he’d probably think it was cool. You can put him down,” Paul said.
I wrote down Nate and Chase’s names, imagining the lineup in my mind. It would be a good looking group. “Are you guys going to wear your dress blues or regular suits?”
Paul turned to Shelby, and she clasped her hands together in front of her. “Will you wear your blues? Please?”
He rolled his eyes with a small smile. “If you want us to, yeah, that’s fine.”
“Yay, thank you,” she replied, leaning over for a quick kiss.
Inside, I groaned. Now walking down the aisle with Will would be about a hundred times worse. He was beyond hot in just jeans and a tee, but Marine Corps dress blues? I was going to have to keep from drooling all night, I already knew it. I’d only ever seen him wearing that uniform in pictures, but man. There was no doubt in my mind that he’d look drop-dead gorgeous wearing it in real life.
Again, I banished thoughts of Will and turned back to the task at hand. “It’s going to be hard enough for me to manage being the wedding planner and the maid of honor, so I recommend that you let me choose a wedding photographer from our list of vendors. I don’t think Lyndi will be able to do it if she’s going to also be the subject of the photos.”
Shelby grinned. “Makes sense. Whoever you think is best is fine with me. Just don’t hire that videographer guy that she went to Cassidy’s wedding with. That would be awkward.”
“Noted,” I said with a laugh, marking it down.
We spent the next hour going through all of the other things that Paul should be present for, saving minor details for girls’ nights. I loved that I would finally be able to plan a wedding for people I loved this much. It was going to be an amazing night, and Shelby would make the most beautiful bride. There wouldn’t be a dry eye in the house when she came walking down that aisle.
When we finished the meeting, we stepped out into the bright sunlight and headed for our cars. I’d taken the rest of the day off to hang out with Shelby, because as a small business owner, that was just something I’d decided to do so we could keep having our girly fun.
Then I looked toward the parking lot and my breath caught in my throat. Will hopped down from the tailgate of his truck and tucked his phone into the front pocket of his jeans. He wore a dark blue shirt and a baseball hat, looking like a freaking dreamboat as usual. I loved him in hats. I always had.
“Hey, how did it go?” he asked as he joined us. He kept his eyes on Paul, totally avoiding my gaze.
“Good,” Paul replied. “My head is spinning, but they seem excited.”
Shelby pushed his chest. “Whatever.”
“You ready to take off?” Will asked, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. “The game’s about to start.”
Will had driven over here with them so Paul could leave with him, and Shelby could leave with me. They had baseball tickets and we were closer to the stadium over here, so it had just made sense for him to wait outside while we did this meeting. Which was good, because if he’d decided to sit in on it, he would have been a distraction I didn’t need while I was trying to prove to my brother that I was a competent businesswoman. But that was the way it always was with Will. He’d been my first crush, distracting me from life for as long as I could remember. It was just too bad he didn’t feel the same way.
“Yeah, let’s roll,” Paul said to him, then leaned down to press a quick kiss to Shelby’s lips. As was typical for my clients in the weeks before their weddings, the kiss turned longer and they stepped closer, totally wrapped up in their love.
Will and I looked away at the same time, and accidentally locked eyes with each other instead. I wanted to look away, but his gaze held mine, something weighty there that I vehemently told myself not to read too much into. But my heart didn’t hold the smarts that my brain did, and as Will looked at me with more longing than seemed normal, my pulse kicked up a notch in response. And then just like that, it was like someone flipped a switch, and his eyes became flat and as unreadable as stone.
“All right, lovebirds,” Will said, clapping Paul on the back. “Your quickie wedding is coming soon enough then you’ll have your whole lives to make out like teenagers.”
“Hey,” I chided, “I don’t do quickie weddings. Three months is plenty of time for me to make magic happen. Don’t underestimate me, Paxton.”
His eyes returned to mine then, and a hint of a smile played on his full lips. “Never.”
And it was that little half-smile that stayed with me for the rest of the day, silly as it may seem. Because when it came to Will Paxton, I was resigned to simply take what I could get.
* * *
