Page 61 of The First Best Man

Logan just stares at me with a shell-shocked expression for several long beats as I wrap up that extended monologue. I’d laugh if I weren’t so desperate for some good advice.

“What do you want?” he asks finally.

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean, brother. What do you want? To go back to your old life like this week never happened? Or something…else?”

I blink slowly, turning over his questions in my mind. WhatdoI want?

I want the life I have. It’s a great one.

But I also want Kate. I don’t want this thing between us to end.

I can’t have both. It’s impossible.

How in the hell am I supposed to choose?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Kate

Pennyand I are the first of our group to arrive at Miguel’s. She had a great fitting, and I cried when she walked out in the final version of her dress, looking like a vision, her face alight with joy. After she changed back into her clothes, we hugged and laughed and cried together for a while before collecting ourselves and making our way over here to the restaurant.

“Logan’s going to lose his shit when he sees you walking toward him in that dress,” I say after we take our seats at the reserved table.

“Do you think he’ll cry?” she asks, wiggling in her seat.

“Definitely. Niagara Falls,” I say with exaggerated seriousness, and we fall apart, giggling like a couple of schoolgirls.

Our humor cuts off as Blaine slides into a chair across from us, surprising us both.

“Good morning,” she says smoothly with a twinkle in her eye that has the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

“Morning,” Penny replies, then tilts her head to study Blaine a little more closely. “What’s wrong with your face?”

“What do you mean?” Blaine asks, panic lacing the words as she pats her fingertips against her cheeks.

Penny swirls a finger in the air in her direction. “You’ve got that ‘cat that ate the canary’ look this morning. What are you up to?”

“Oh,” Blaine says, her expression smoothing out. Then her gaze darts toward me. “I just had avery satisfyingmorning, that’s all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, suspicion prickling down my spine.

She’s obviously up to something. And whatever it is, I’m her intended mark. She’s trying to get under my skin, but that’s not going to happen. I’m too happy––too satisfied––to let Blaine’s not-so-veiled insults cut me today.

Even though Tucker left me with a weird vibe this morning.

I push the thought away, taking his excuse of wanting to get back to the B&B before Miss Ginny noticed his absence to heart. Tucker hasn’t lied or tried to mislead me all week, and I refuse to get paranoid now.

“I’m sure you can imagine what it means, even if you don’t know from firsthand experience,” Blaine purrs in answer to my question, and my brain refocuses on her as she subtly licks her lips.

She’s obviously hinting that she had sex, but why is she staring at me with that expectant expression? Like she’s waiting for me to put the pieces together?

Oh.

My back teeth grind against each other as it finally clicks. Blaine wants me to believe she hooked up withTuckerthis morning. My own eyes narrow as I study her, looking for signs of deceit. I mean, I know she’s lying. She has no idea where I spent my time all day yesterday, last night,andthis morning. I haven’t even told Penny yet.

That awkward scene between us and Tucker’s hasty departure flash through my mind again, and I stiffen. Could he have left my bed to go jump in hers?

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