Page 39 of Surprise Baby for Daddy's Best Friend

I took off my sunglasses and let the cool air inside the tent refresh my body. “If I knew we were going to have a heat wave today, I might have asked you for strapless dresses with a long slit. Any less fabric, and it’d be a bikini wedding.”

Mandi gave a wink, “I’m sure Kim’s special someone and Carl would love to see us all in some tiny bikinis on the beach.”

We both blushed and turned away.

“So, I was right in my assumption!” Mandi exclaimed.

“What?” My mind raced to try and figure out how Mandi knew it was her dad. “No, you got it wrong. I—“

“Don’t hide it.” Mandi put her hands on my shoulders, “I get it. They said you liked older guys, but I saw the way you two looked at each other.”

My face was really hot and I averted my gaze, “I can explain.”

“Explain what?”

“That I—“

Amanda wrapped her arm around my shoulders and shooed Mandi away. “We get it, Kim. During rehearsal he was all over you. We thought it might be something.”

“During rehearsal?” None of what they were saying made any sense. Jared and I were on completely different sides of the beach and had barely interacted with each other even then.

“You know, Brandon?”

“Brandon?” I raised an eyebrow and tried to place the person they were talking about. “Oh, you mean the groomsman that asked me out?”

“Exactly. We saw the way he looked at you. I could practically smell the pheromones and I wasn’t even near you.”

I clicked my tongue and let out a low hum, “Yeah… Brandon… That’s totally who it’s been.” I prayed Jared wouldn’t hear about our conversation. I didn’t need him to get jealous again.

Mandi raised a brow, looking thoroughly unconvinced, “It’s not him, is it?”

I shook my head, “No, it’s not.” I couldn’t lie to Mandi or Amanda. “He asked me out that day but I turned him down.”

Mandi sucked her front teeth and crossed her arms, “Damn it, I thought we were onto something.”

A woman at the back of the tent cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt your gossiping, but I’m on a bit of a deadline to get you all done with your makeup and get you in your dresses.”

Amanda turned back to the makeup artist, “Shit, you’re right.” She glanced back at us. “We’ll get to the bottom of this mystery by the end of the night, Mandi. I’m not going to let Kim get away with this for one more day.”

We all hurried over to the makeup artist who skillfully began to prep our faces, and laying out the different palettes, choosing colors to complement our skin tone and hair. For my eyes, she picked a beautiful shimmery blue eye shadow, and did up my lashes in a dramatic fashion. I could barely recognize myself in the mirror with how amazing I looked.

“Dresses, everyone!” The makeup artist clapped her hands and pointed to a rack of baby blue dresses. “They’re all in order of who is next in line.”

We slipped into our dresses quickly. Besides the maid of honor’s dress, each dress was strapless, and flowed down to our ankles, a slit on the side added a hint of sexiness. They fit us perfectly based on our body shapes and accentuated each person’s body type.

The wedding unfolded without a hitch. Everything flowed smoothly with plenty of crying from everyone. Every few minutes, I peeked over at Jared. When he wasn’t looking at Mandi, he was staring at me.

My mind spun back to last night. I didn’t want it to end, but there was no way we could keep going without at least taking a shower and heading back to our rooms to put on fresh clothes. Even his nice clothes were wrinkled from being tossed into a forgotten pile for most of the night. I squeezed my legs together to try and ignore the yearning to fuck him again while we were out here.

“You may now kiss the bride.”

My attention snapped back to the wedding as I joined the others in clapping while Carl and Amanda gave each other their first official kiss into their marriage.

As the wedding came to a close, I remembered Mandi and Amanda’s warning that they would figure out who I had been with almost every night since arriving here. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep it a secret. My phone was in the basket with everyone else’s phones. One swipe of my phone is all it would take to reveal the truth, the photos and messages I had sent to Jared were right there. And the minute they discovered that, it would be all over.

“We will continue the reception here. Drinks and meals will be provided for everyone. Thank you for coming to this wonderful couple’s wedding,” the officiant yelled so everyone could hear over the crashing waves.

Within the hour, the chairs the guests were sitting on, and the flower arrangements for the altar were all gone. Instead, multiple bonfires dotting the beach along with comfortable benches and tables piled high with food, were scattered everywhere. In the middle was an oversized DJ booth on top of a trailer playing nostalgia-inducing songs.

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