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The warm evening air of June heat in Eastern Washington is a welcome change. It’s been colder than usual back home across the mountains. Tonight, I don’t need a sweater to keep me comfortable. My arms are bare, with just the smallest straps of my dress draping across my skin. When I reach the paved path that leads to the main house, I remove my slippers and step into the black pumps I’ve been dreading. Immediately I wobble. My steps are slow and careful, but damn it if I don’t catch my heel on an uneven part of the path and before I know it, I’m going down.
I let out a short squeak of dismay, but instead of hitting the ground, I’m caught in strong arms from behind.
“Whoa, there, darlin’,” he says, his voice a low rumble that hits me in places it shouldn’t.
He puts me back on my feet and I turn to thank him, but my mouth runs dry. Colton Hayes has me in his arms. He looks the same as he did when I broke his heart so long ago. That’s a lie. He looks like a man now. A man who would shove me against a wall and have his way with me rather than the nice boy he had been. Dirty blond hair, carelessly tousled, sun bronzed skin, ruggedly handsome features, and green eyes I haven’t seen in five years all hit me at once.
“Colt?” I ask when I can finally speak.
“Chloe?” He looks as shocked as I am. “What are you doing here?”
“My…my cousin is getting married.”
“Georgia is your cousin?”
Shock rolls through me at his question. How could he possibly know her? She didn’t live here when we dated. “You know her?”
“I’ve known Porter since we were kids. I’m a groomsman.”
Shit.
His hand is on the small of my back, and I don’t hate it. I’d been head over heels for him when we were together. “We…we need to get inside,” I say, stepping away from him.
He doesn’t move to touch me again, but there’s tension between us strong enough to make the air crackle. When we get inside, I immediately spot Georgia, looking gorgeous in a chic red dress and matching heels. She pulls me in for a hug and I don’t stop her, welcoming the distraction from Colt’s presence.
“Oh, good, you’ve met Colton,” she says, looking from me to him.
“Yes, we ran into each other outside,” Colt says.
“Good, that makes everything easier.” Georgia smiles and snags a glass of champagne from the bar to her right. She hands it to me and winks. “He’s good looking, right?”
I take a long drink, letting the bubbles burn my throat while nodding. She has no idea how much of Colton I’ve seen. How his lips have explored every inch of me.
“So, we’re doing things a little…unconventionally with the bridal party,” she says.
“What do you mean?” I ask, a frown pulling my brows together.
“Well, we’ve got an uneven number of groomsmen. So…you get two.” She says it like it’s a blessing and not something that’s going to be super weird.
“Two?”
“Yes. Colton and...” She looks around and smiles, waving someone over. “Oh, here he is. Sean, come meet your bridesmaid.”
Everything stops when the sound of another masculine voice hits me. “Chloe, is that you?”
I turn my attention from Colt to find Sean McClain striding toward us. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
I’ve only loved two men in my life, and I’ve got to walk down the aisle with both of them this weekend.
2
CHLOE
“You know each other?”Georgia asks.
Before I can answer, both Sean and Colton say, “We dated.”
Then the two men look from me to each other, then back to me. Georgia’s red lips form a perfect O of surprise. “You dated them both?”
