I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, you can’t possibly act innocent over this. You literally joined the cheerleading team because someone mentioned you’d look cute in the outfit. You didn’t even like the squad.”
“Okay, that’s one thing, but I did look cute in the outfit, so—”
“You distanced yourself from me for a while when the squad told you it was weird that all I did was hang out with boys.”
“I already apologized to you about that in senior year,” I complained, feeling put-out. “Do I not get credit for that?”
“Naturally. Why else would you be sitting here?” she said soothingly. Then she continued. “You went out with Liam Potts because Nicki told you that you’d make the most amazing couple. In reality, she wanted to make sure you were taken, so you didn’t ask Paxton to prom. You totally fell for it.”
I looked at her in shock. “Seriously?”
Carla shrugged. “Nicki was insecure, and she’d always liked Paxton, even when we were in elementary and middle school. Come on, don’t you remember how jealous of you she was because you were spending all that time with him as kids?”
“I was making fun of him.”
“Yes, but you still got to spend time with him because your families were friends. I remember Nicki egging you on to be meaner to him in middle school, too. She must have done it so the two of you would hate each other.”
“I …” I didn’t know what to say. If this was all true, then not only did I have to reassess half of the decisions I’d ever made in my life, but I also had to face the fact that I had been manipulated into making Paxton’s life a misery for someone else’s benefit.
“Nicki’s a bitch,” I muttered, finally.
“Now you get why she wasn’t invited to the wedding.” Carla rubbed her hands together like she was dusting them off. “I never liked her. She was two-faced and precisely the reason I preferred hanging out with the boys in school than the girls. You would have been a whole lot better off if you’d done the same.”
Emily looked at me sympathetically. “There’s no need to question your entire life because of this. Carla’s clearly trying to get a rise out of you. You’re happy with your life the way it is now, right?”
I nodded. “My job and stuff, yeah, but the guy I’d been dating in New York. I wonder if I’d have ever given him the time of day if he wasn’t well-connected. I was never a leader but a part of the herd. Why is it I’m only realizing it now?”
Carla frowned. “Because I’m not the kind of friend to blow smoke up your ass.”
“Honesty hurts.”
“I thought you said you’d never have guessed James was playing you until you saw it with your own eyes?”
John dropped off another round of drinks and disappeared.
“I might have been able to read him better if I’d spent more time with the guys in high school,” I murmured. “Maybe I’d have worked out how terrible he was before he broke my heart.”
“You don’t seem so broken-hearted to me,” Emily commented.
“That’s only because—”
I paused. I didn’t want to say it was because of Paxton, even though I knew that was the truth.
Both Carla and Emily didn’t need me to finish my sentence to know what I was going to say.
I glanced at John and raised my drink. “Thanks, John, I needed this.”
“That was obvious,” he shot back.
I stared into my drink. Why was my life so obvious to others and so confusing to me?
Chapter Seventeen
Paxton
“Remember when I said my house was getting too small for all of us to hang out in? I was being serious.”
“Aww, come on, Owen. Yours is the biggest one.”
“Has Carla been bragging again?” He waggled his brows in a ridiculous way.
Carla and Rich were sprawled on one end of the sofa nearest the empty fireplace.
Emily and Eli were on the other sofa, and Owen and I were leaning against the breakfast bar, opening fresh beers.
He clinked his bottle against mine. “I hear you’ve been seeing a lot of Rose lately. I was wondering what was going on at the cocktail party.”
“You’re not supposed to tell our secrets.” Carla threw a sofa cushion at him, which only made me laugh harder.
“What did Rose say to you, Carla?” I asked, trying to keep my tone light.
“Are you worried she was disappointed, Pax?” Eli teased. “She always did have high standards.”
“You be quiet,” Emily scolded him, holding a finger to Eli’s lips before kissing them.
“She didn’t tell me much of anything,” Carla admitted, which immediately set my heart at ease. “I figured some stuff out. Rose is pretty easy to read.”
“Quite an unpleasant woman,” Eli muttered.
Carla didn’t have another cushion to throw at him, so she glared in his direction instead. “Rein in your man Emily, or the guys will have to take him out to the woodshed.”
“How could you end up being friends with her for this long?” Rich asked his sister, chuckling. “You had one female friend, and almost everyone hated her? Seems bizarre.”
Carla shrugged. “Rose rubs people the wrong way, but deep inside, she’s a good person. Aren’t we all misunderstood at one time or another?”
“She’s not exactly who I made her out to be all those years ago.” How was it that a few days had erased years of torment? It was probably the sex. Great sex was like a magic elixir to all the world’s problems. Make love, not war was a perfect tagline for world peace.
Eli, Owen, and Rich looked at me in surprise. Only Carla and Emily seemed unfazed. Clearly, Emily was in the vote for Rose camp. What was it about weddings that made all the women become matchmakers?
My cell phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to distract myself from talking about Rose. Speak of the devil, and she shall appear. She wanted to know what I was up to, and I knew what that meant. More magic elixir was coming my way if I played my cards right.
I desperately wanted to excuse myself from Owen’s house to see her, to tear her clothes from her body, to spend time exploring her the way I hadn’t had time to yet, but something stopped me.
All around, the extended Cooper family turned to another topic of conversation, which allowed me to mull over whether I should reply to her text.
If I had another one or two beers, I would definitely tell her to come over to my house. I wasn’t stupid enough to not see that happening. I glanced at the bottle in my hand. Was I prepared to give up the beer in case?
It wasn’t as if sleeping with her again would be a mistake. We were adults having consensual sex. So why was I finding it so difficult to text her back? I’d always assumed she was the prideful one, but clearly it was me.
I feared if I gave in to my desire for her again, then I would lose for sure. Sleeping with her once felt like an allowable lapse in judgment. Sleeping with her twice … that was a conscious choice, but was it wise?
I swallowed the groan that inched up my throat. No one needed to know I was currently suffering from a stupid, internal struggle, one that pitted my brain, my heart, and my body against each other.
Owen moved from my side to discuss some ecological urban planning details with Emily, so I chose to sit on the floor by Rich and Carla.
Rich glanced down at me with a frown on his face. “You seem quieter than usual, Pax. Is something wrong?”
Carla smiled. “I bet I can guess what’s wrong. It wouldn’t have anything to do with Rose, would it?”
Leave it to Carla to hit the bullseye. “Things were much easier when you weren’t getting married.”
“Falling in love does stupid shit to people. Try it sometime. You might like it.” She kicked out her feet and set them on the coffee table. “Maybe if you didn’t keep ignoring her, you wouldn’t be bothered by her.”
“She’s like a bad hangover.” Was it possibl
e to ache all over from a woman?
“Hair of the dog,” Carla tossed back.
I raised an eyebrow. “What has she told you?”
“I already said she hasn’t told me anything, but she’s been restless and easily frustrated the last few days. It doesn’t take a genius to work out why.”
A sigh slipped out. “I don’t know what to do,” I admitted.
“You like her, don’t you?” Rich added in. “What’s the problem? This all seems needlessly complicated.”
“Exactly,” Carla said. “Which is why—”
She was interrupted by the doorbell. Since Owen was in the middle of discussing work plans with Emily, and nobody else made any effort to get up, I moved to answer it.
The last thing I expected was for Rose to be at the door. Frozen to the spot where I stood, I unabashedly stared at her.
“You were here, huh?” A flash of disappointment crossed her face. “You could have messaged me back saying you were busy.”
“I—you didn’t come here to see me?”
She let out a bark of laughter. “I didn’t even know you were here.”
“Who—”
“Oh, is that Rose?” Carla called out from behind me. I figured out exactly what was happening. “I’m so happy you weren’t busy,” she said to her friend, happily pushing me out of the doorframe to let Rose in. “Didn’t seem right that all the groomsmen were together, and I didn’t have one single bridesmaid to keep me company.”
Rose smiled awkwardly as Carla led her into the living room. “Where are your college friends, Carl?”
“Staying at Reilly’s hotel. I think they experienced a few too many mimosas, so they’re already asleep.”
“Here’s hoping they last through the night on your wedding day.”
Carla laughed. “They sure as hell better. You want a beer?” She pushed at her brother. “Rich, get up, let Rose and Pax have the sofa. We’ve been hogging it.”
Rich grinned at me as he moved.
“No beer for me,” Rose said. “I’m not a fan.”
“Ah yeah, I almost forgot. What about a vodka cranberry?”
Rose’s eyes lit up. “I’ll have one of those if you don’t mind.”
“How’s little Rose doing?” Eli asked, grinning in that way he did when he was hoping for some gossip. “I’m afraid none of us got to catch up all that much with you at The Bobbly Olive.” He glanced at me and continued. “You were preoccupied in the dark corner.”
She blushed. “I’ve been doing well in New York, thanks. Working as a fashion editor.”
“Any significant others we should know about?”
“No,” she muttered as Carla handed her a drink.
“That’s good,” Owen said, smiling. “What’s the fun of having someone back in New York who you can’t bring home with you to Frazier Falls?”
She seemed to grow a little sad at that, and I wondered why. I felt her arm stiffen beside mine. Worried, I risked grazing the edge of my hand against her skin. Her face warmed up immediately, and then it was as if the sadness had never been there at all.
“Better to be single when you come home for a wedding, anyway,” Eli remarked, casting an obvious sidelong glance at me in the process, “in case, you know?”
Emily elbowed him in the ribs. “Stop interfering.”
The conversation continued in much the same manner for a while, the entire group falling into easy chatter that caused the woman sitting beside me to relax.
As time wore on, I became increasingly aware of her presence beside me. The flouncy dress she wore showed off her amazing legs, which had caught enough of the sun to have a burnished glow. I had to resist the urge to slide a hand beneath the fabric and up her thigh.
She caught all of my glances, her cheeks blushing more scarlet as it became apparent what I was thinking about. As if to taunt me, she shifted, revealing even more of her skin.
Each glance and touch only increased my desire for her. The twitch in my jeans created the worst situation possible, so I stood up abruptly and turned to her.
“It’s way too hot in here. Want to join me outside for some fresh air?”
She agreed without a hint of hesitation. Not a single person in the room said anything.
Eli’s shoulders shook with a silent laugh, but he kept his mouth shut as I led Rose out the sliding patio doors of the house into the forest.
When we were out of sight, I twisted a hand through her hair and brought her lips to mine, pulling her against me as my back crashed against the trunk of a tree.
She paused only to artfully peek at the show homes that stood a few yards away. “Would it be better to go in one of them?” she asked, breathless.
“No.” I was too impatient already. I didn’t have it in me to carefully break into one of the houses.
My response seemed to flip a switch in her. She threw her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. My fingers slid down to support her, pressing against the skin of her thighs as she moaned into my mouth.
“I wanted to take our time the second time we did this, but I don’t think I can wait,” she murmured.
“Neither can I.”
We didn’t even undress. All it took was the unbuttoning of my jeans and pushing her panties to the side, and we were ready. She muffled a cry of surprise against my neck as I entered her.
I turned us around to press her against the tree, all the better to gain purchase and rock into her as she desperately clung to my shoulders and neck and hair, kissing me with such passion my lips would be swollen when she was done with them.
When we finished and returned to Owen’s living room, Rose made her excuses and left as quickly as possible.
Everyone looked at me.
“Didn’t know you had it in you, Pax,” Eli joked. “In the forest? I mean, Owen got close when he and Carla almost did it in the creek, but you went and did it in the forest.”
“Actually, we did it in the forest, too,” Carla smirked as her face grew red. “Several times.”
Eli burst out laughing. He looked at Emily, an eyebrow raised.
“Don’t even think about it,” she threw back.
“I think I’ll head off, too,” I said. “That woman wears me out.”
“I wonder why,” Owen called out as I left. I didn’t care about their jibes because I knew there was absolutely no shadow of a doubt that I wanted what was going on with me and Rose to be more than what it was, and nothing terrified me more.
Chapter Eighteen
Rose
Before I knew it, Carla’s bachelorette party had crept up on me. Owen’s party was happening at the same time. With Frazier Falls being a small town, I had no doubt I’d run into a certain Cooper brother at some point or another since the bachelor party was happening a few doors down at Reilly’s.
I hadn’t seen Paxton since we’d had sex in the forest outside Owen’s house. Thinking about it caused my face to burn. I’d never been so bold before, and I didn’t think I’d have ever been able to do that with anyone else. With Paxton, everything was different. With him, it was … natural. The word made me laugh, considering where we’d had sex. Can’t get much more natural than a forest.
Nick arrived at Reilly’s in time to start the party, which would move to The Bobbly Olive once the Cooper brothers got there. He had spent the last hour schmoozing everyone with well-placed comments that were designed to flatter. There was something to be said about our line of work—though people would assume we were overly critical about the way someone looked, we also knew how to find the one thing that worked on a person and make sure they knew how excellent that choice had been.
That was precisely how he had managed to get the bridal party to fall in love with him in under sixty minutes. I had a solid feeling he wouldn’t have to buy himself a drink for the rest of the night.
“Why are all the good ones taken or gay?” one of Carla’s other bridesmaids, Vanessa, complained. “You’re handsome, employed, a sha
rp dresser and funny. What’s not to love?”
“Yes, well, we all can’t be me.” He looked around the bar. “Eat your hearts out.” Nick crooned, and I pretended to vomit. He snorted in laughter as he came over and slung an arm around my waist.
“Unfortunately, Vanessa,” Nick continued, his tone merry and remorseful at the same time, “if I were in any way attracted to women, then Rosie right here would be the only one for me.”
“Shut the hell up with that ‘Rosie’ crap, Nick,” I admonished. “You sound like my mom. Or, ugh, James.”
“See, that’s the comment that warrants vomiting, not mine.”
I burst out laughing. “You have that right.”
“He’s still been asking after you, you know. He managed to get Denise into his good graces and has been siphoning information off her about what you’re up to.”
“Is this James, the scum-bag ex?” Carla asked, suddenly appearing from behind Nick with glasses of champagne in hand for us. She passed them over to a general murmur of thanks.
Nick nodded. “Yes, James, the scum-bag ex. Rose, if you’d actually married him, you’d be Rose Rivers. That sounds ridiculous.”
“What, you mean even more ridiculous than, say, Rose Rogers?” There’s nothing as nice as a little alliteration. Made everything roll off the tongue. I’d have liked to shout a few others out like Jackass James or Bastard Brady, but all I could think about was Perfect Paxton.
“Ooh, touché. Well done.”
“Do you know what would sound pretty great, though?” Carla gave me a side-eye.
Groaning, I shook my head. “Don’t say it. Don’t—”
“Rose Cooper.”
“You’re impossible.” The whole idea was ridiculous, but I couldn’t help but warm to the fact that it didn’t sound completely dreadful.
“Can’t say it doesn’t sound good.” Carla sipped her champagne and smiled.
I rolled my eyes, but Nick had attached himself to the new topic of conversation. If anything, Nick was like Velcro when he wanted to be.
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