Nikki, who was seated in front of them, must’ve overheard, because she turned around and said quietly, “Oh, that’s Karina’s manager, Bernie! He has the most hopeless crush on Renata. It’s really cute!”
Emma smiled at the pair. They were an unlikely duo, but sometimes, that made the most interesting kind.
Next, Ryan Perkins himself appeared at the back of the house. Emma had seen him on YouTube and always thought that he was good-looking, but the small screen on her computer had not done him justice. He was much taller and much better looking in person. As he walked, the crowd applauded, and there were even a few whistles. He took his place at the front, next to Pastor Harrison, and gave a small wave.
Emma held her breath as she waited for the main event. That was just the opening act—wedding foreplay, if you will. The bride was always the big show. She would bet six months of royalty checks that Karina was going to be the most breathtaking bride she’d ever seen.
The tranquil strains of Pachelbel faded out, and after a few seconds of silence, the electrifying chords of “The Wedding March” filled the air. As one, all of the attendees turned and looked at the door leading out from the house, and there was Karina, a vision in bridal white.
Unlike her pop-star persona, when she wore over-the-top costumes, Karina’s wedding attire was more like Emma had seen her the past couple of years since she’d gone back to the basics; just her and an acoustic guitar. She looked simple, elegant, and perfect. The dress was a sleeveless, silk, A-line ball gown with a simple, thin, diamond-encrusted belt at the waist. She reminded Emma of the classic, elegant beauty of Jackie O.
Bernie had circled back around and stepped to Karina’s side, holding his arm out to her. Once she’d slipped her hand under his elbow, the two of them began the slow march down the aisle.
When they reached the front, the music faded away, and Pastor Harrison said, “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the joining together of two people we all love so very much, Karina Blackstone and Ryan Perkins.”
After thunderous applause, it took a moment for the crowd to quiet down. Tears slipped down Emma’s cheeks. It was an emotional reaction to all the love in the air—Karina’s and Ryan’s for each other, but also the love the whole town had for them. For an outsider looking in, it felt like more than just a tight-knit community. It was like they were all family. It warmed her heart at the same time as it highlighted the loneliness she’d felt for the past six years in Seattle.
When the crowd grew silent, Pastor Harrison said to Bernie, “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?”
Bernie grinned and said, “Well, I’ll tell you, Padre. I could say her grandmother, who raised her from the time she was a little girl. I could say me, because she’s been like a daughter. But I think anyone who knows Karina knows she’s got a mind of her own. So I’ll say, she gives herself, but with all of our blessings, to this fine, upstanding young man.”
The applause was again deafening and long, and Karina laughed as she stepped up and took Ryan’s hands with tears shining in her eyes.
Pastor Harrison affectionately looked between Karina and Ryan before he began speaking again. “Karina and Ryan share a special love, one that is as unique as they are. In keeping with that, they have written their own vows, which they will exchange now.”
Ryan took a deep breath and dove in. With shining eyes, he said, “Karina, my life didn’t start until the day I met you, sitting at that table in my grandmother’s café. I could have never imagined that, by moving to such a tiny town, I would be getting such a gigantic gift. Life is funny that way. I came here thinking I would escape from the world, but I actually gained the whole world.
“You are the most surprising woman I’ve ever met. Your wit is razor sharp, but your heart is as soft as silk. Your loyalty is unmatched. Your generosity of spirit, your willingness to give everything in your heart to the people you love, inspires me every single day to be the best man I can be. I know I could never be worthy of you. Who could? You’re a goddess, and I’m just a mere mortal man.”
The crowd chuckled.
“But it’s striving for that ideal, to be worthy of your love even though you give it to me so freely, that keeps me waking up every day, keeps me working to be the best I can be. And it always will.
“I love you, Karina Blackstone. With everything in my heart. I love you.”
With that, Ryan pulled a gorgeous ring from his pocket and slipped it onto Karina’s trembling finger.
Tears were streaming down Karina’s face, and Emma loved that she didn’t even try to wipe them away or coyly hide them, as most women probably would’ve done. She just let them flow uninhibited. Her face shone with her love for Ryan, and there was nothing to be ashamed of in that. Emma found it inspiring.
Amanda handed Karina a ring, and Karina took a deep breath that matched Ryan’s own before starting to speak. “Ryan. My amazing, sweet, pure-hearted, hot cowboy.”
Again, there was a rumble of laughter in the crowd.
Sniffing, she continued with a wide smile on her beautiful face. “I love you with a love that goes deeper than words. Deeper than melody and harmony. I could write ten songs a day, every day, for the rest of my life, and never scratch the surface of what I feel for you.
“It goes deeper than my body. Deeper than my mind. Deeper than my soul. Deeper than my heart, even. I know this is true, because every time I give you all the love I have in me, every last drop, every iota of love, extended to you and given freely…the next day, I wake up and I love you even more than before. There’s a well of love so deep within me that it could never, never run dry. It never will.
“So, Ryan, here’s my promise to you—even though I realize the futility of trying to reach the depth of my love for you, and I realize that it’s a fool’s errand to even try to express what I feel for you in words or music because it’s too powerful and rich to be expressed at all—I am still going to try. Every day of my life, I’m going to spend all day, every day, just trying to tell you, to show you, how much I love you. I may never get it perfect. But it’s the only thing in the world worth doing, and I’m going to do it with everything I have. For now, though, let me just say it like this and leave it at that: I love you.”
With that, she slipped the ring onto Ryan’s finger. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, and the roar of applause and cheers was so loud that Emma barely heard Pastor Harrison say, “Well, I guess the only thing left to say is: I now pronounce you husband and wife!”
Logan’s thumb rubbed up and down her shoulder, and she had to remind herself that this wasn’t real. They weren’t on a date. They’d come to a friend’s barbeque that had ended up being a wedding. That was all it was.
No matter what it felt like.
*
Logan was having a hard time keeping his hands off Emma. He kept finding reasons to place his hand on her lower back to guide her somewhere or, when they were seated, put his arm around her. Normally, he wasn’t real big on public displays of affection, mainly because he’d never really moved past the hookup portion of relationships. Before he’d been to Hope Falls, most PDA had appeared forced to him, like people were putting on a show.
After seeing his brother and his new bride, and his cousin and his fiancée, not to mention the numerous other couples in this town, he decided to reserve his judgment to a case-by-case basis, because all of these people were genuine people who really loved each other. Still, he’d known he would never behave like that. But, from being at the wedding with Emma, he’d realized he’d never been so wrong about anything in his life.
He was only keeping the distance as he was because they weren’t a couple. She wasn’t his to kiss. He didn’t have those privileges. But if he did, it would be happening. A lot.
“Oh my gosh!” Emma gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. “Kyle Austen Reed is here.”
Logan looked up and saw that, indeed, one of the biggest movie stars in the world, Kyle Aust
en Reed, was walking up to the microphone on the small stage in the corner of the yard. Levi had told him that he was practically a resident of Hope Falls, but Logan had yet to run into him.
Lifting up on her toes, Emma whispered in Logan’s ear, “Karina told me the funniest story about how Kyle showed up here when she and Ryan had first started dating because Kyle thought that he and Karina were a couple. It’s really funny and pretty sweet. Remind me to tell you later.”
As she lowered back down, her blue eyes sparkled up at him, and it took everything in his power not to lean down and kiss her.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you all for coming to join in the celebration of the union of two of my nearest and dearest friends, Karina Blackstone and Ryan Jackson Perkins.”
The crowd erupted in cheers, and Emma shifted closer to Logan to make room for some of the other guests who’d gathered to get a better view of the stage. He took the opportunity to rest his hand on her hip and move her directly in front of him. For the sake of space, of course.
“For those of you who don’t know, I am Kyle Austen Reed.”
There were more cheers.
“I thought long and hard for what to give my two best friends to celebrate their love. When inspiration struck, I called my friends and asked if I could have the honor of announcing their first dance. So here I am. Ladies and gentleman, Karina and Ryan, my gift to you. Eric Benét.”
The crowd turned, and sure enough, Eric Benét was walking from the house up to the stage. The applause was almost deafening. When he stepped up to the mic, a slow song Logan didn’t recognize began. Karina and Ryan made their way to the center of the dance floor, and the crowd pushed in to watch.
Emma looked over her shoulder, her hands clutching at her chest. “Aww! ‘Spend My Life With You!’ I love this song! It’s one of the most romantic songs ever written.”
As she looked back, Logan felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Eric Maguire behind him.
“Hey, man. Do you have a sec?”
The last thing he wanted to do was leave Emma, but Eric was a good guy and he didn’t want to be a dick.
“Yeah, sure.”
He patted Emma on her hip, and she glanced over her shoulder.
“I’m going to go talk to Eric for a sec.”
“Okay,” she said then quickly turned around to watch the first dance.
He and Eric walked away from the crowd, and Eric offered him a beer. As he took it and popped the top, he asked, “What’s up?”
“I was just wondering if you’d given any more thought to the job offer. The budget got approved and I can bring on someone full time and someone part time. I totally understand if you’re not interested, but since you’re my first choice, I wanted to see where you were at with it.”
Taking a swig from the longneck, Logan tried to clear his head. He hadn’t given it any thought. All of his thoughts had been taken up by the blonde he’d just left.
“I am interested,” Logan answered. “How much time do I have before you need an answer?”
“I can give you a week, but then I’m going to need to move forward with contestant number two.”
“All right.” Logan smiled. “Thanks, man. I’ll let you know.”
Logan walked back towards the grass area where he’d left Emma and didn’t see her. But he found her sitting at the table with Shelby, Lily, and Kyle Austen Reed, who was a little too close to Emma and smiling a little too wide for Logan’s comfort.
He crossed the grass with purposeful strides, and when he took an empty seat at the table, Kyle asked Emma, “So tell me about yourself, pretty lady. Something I don’t know.”
“I’m a writer.”
“Ah, yes. I played a writer once, in Ink is Thicker than Water. Well, a journalist. I also played a novelist in Mightier than the Sword.”
“I saw them both.” Emma smiled.
Logan was happy to note that it was a friendly smile and not a flirty one.
“Of course,” Kyle Austen Reed replied smoothly, as if that hadn’t even been a question. “I learned that writing is a lonely life. In order to prepare for Mightier, I wrote a novel. A thriller. It spent a few weeks at the top of the New York Times Bestseller list.”
“I read it. It was quite good, actually.” Emma looked across the table, and when she saw Logan, a different smile crossed her face. A private smile.
“Well, yes,” Kyle Austen Reed replied, again unsurprised by her assessment.
Even though Logan had no rights to Emma, he still didn’t like this situation. And when he didn’t like something, he changed it. He didn’t want to spend the night with Emma being hit on by Kyle Austen Reed.
So he stood and inclined his head towards the dance floor, which was now filling with people. “Can I have this dance?”
She nodded, and as she stood, she glanced at Kyle. “It was nice meeting you.”
He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “You too, mon cheri.”
Logan’s jaw tensed at the sight.
As they walked away, Logan placed his hand on Emma’s back. When they reached the dance floor, he pulled her into his arms. He wanted so badly to kiss her, to show Kyle and every other man there that Emma was his, but he couldn’t do that.
“Is everything okay?” she asked tentatively, her blue eyes shining up at him.
“With what?” he snapped. It wasn’t until he’d heard himself speak that he realized how much Kyle Austen Reed had gotten under his skin.
Her eyes widened as her head tilted to one side. “With Eric? Is everything okay?”
“Oh, yeah. He just has a job offer for me,” Logan explained.
“A job offer?” she repeated.
“Yeah.” With each sway of their bodies, he felt the tension that had been building up all night then come to a head when he had seen Kyle hitting on her draining from his body.
“Are you thinking about taking it?”
He was, actually, but before he had the chance to answer, Drew ran up to Emma and Logan, interrupting their conversation. He was already four “moms” into his speech before he had reached her.
“Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom! Mom!”
“Yeah, bud. What’s up?”
They stopped moving, and Emma looked down at her son.
“Can I spend the night with Noah? Ryan just gave him his Xbox One? Please? Please please please?”
“Is it okay with Noah’s dad?” she asked just as Rick Barnes walked up.
“Hi, Emma. I’m Rick. It’s nice to meet you.” Rick shook Emma’s hand. “Hey, Logan. How you doing?”
Logan nodded. “Good.”
“It’s fine with me if the boys have a sleepover. I can take them both to Mountain Ridge in the morning.”
“Okay. If you’re sure. Does Amanda have your number?” Emma asked.
“Yes, but I’ll have Drew text it to you too.”
“Great, and just if you could watch—”
“The junk food?” Rick finished, smiling a parent-to-parent smile. “Done.”
Noah ran up, clearly as excited as Drew was over the console. “Dad, can we go? I put the Xbox in the car!”
“Yep,” Rick answered, and then the trio navigated through the crowd as they exited the dance floor.
“Be good,” Emma instructed as she and Logan waved at Noah, Drew, and Rick. “I love you.”
Drew looked over his shoulder and waved. “Love you too, Mom.”
Then Emma gazed up at Logan and grinned a grin only for him. “Looks like we have the evening to ourselves. I know we’re boring, but what do you feel like doing?”
Actually, Logan knew exactly what he wanted to do.
“Do you trust me?” he asked her.
Smiling a smile that he felt in his soul, she answered, “Yes.”
“Are you ready to get out of here?”
“Yes,” she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with excitement.
He knew she might’ve been excited because she hated social situat
ions, but he also hoped that she was excited at the prospect of uninterrupted adult time being anything but boring. He sure as hell was.
Chapter 22
‡
“When you asked me if I trusted you, this wasn’t what I had in mind.” Emma stared up at him with genuine fear in her eyes.
Part of Logan wanted to let her off the hook. If she had boots on, she would literally be shaking in them. But another part of him wanted to push her past her comfort zone. Only because, with him, she’d be safe. And, in his opinion, she needed to let go. To be free. To, for a little bit of time, not feel the weight of the responsibilities she carried. Even if the thought of it terrified her.
Truly believing that this was the best thing for her, he tried to reason with her. “Look, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. I know that you never wanted to—”
“How do you know that?” she snapped, crossing her arms.
Logan lifted his arms in mock surrender. “The Christmas that Lucky and I spent with you guys, right after Drew was born, Lucky was talking about how much he loved riding and you said that you were terrified to get on a bike. You said that, when you were growing up, your parents had drilled into you that they were death machines.”
“How did you remember that?” Her mouth was gaping. It would’ve hit the floor if it were humanly possible to do so.
Since Logan was asking her to step out of her comfort zone and trust him, he thought that it was only fair that he did the same thing. “When I was a kid and my mom passed away, the state made us see a shrink for the first year that Levi had custody of us. She diagnosed me with an eidetic memory. Then, when I enlisted, after the physical, they told me that I had a photographic memory. I’ve always been able to remember things. If I look at a piece of paper, I can see it in my head and read it. I can recite verbatim every conversation I’ve had or overheard since I was about three. I can recall facts for any situation I’m in, movie I’ve seen, or book I’ve read down to the minutest detail.”
Emma stared up at him in disbelief. “You can?”
“Yeah, I can.” Logan waited for her response.
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