Page 17 of Alistair

Indio grinned. “Well, whatever supernatural entity is in charge of soulmates, I hope they don’t make me wait.”

Alistair hoped that too. Because while he knew that Maggie was worth the wait, he wished he’d met her years earlier, so they would have had that much more time to spend together.

“All I know is that whenever it happens, it’s the right time,” Cael said.

Alistair parted ways with the males and hurried through the park to the apartment to get ready for his date.

He couldn’t wait.

Maggie really hated saying goodbye to Alistair Friday night. It had been on the tip of her tongue to ask him to come in, when he’d kissed her sweetly and said goodbye. She could feel the connection between them, the instant attraction and the way they just seemed to enjoy each other’s company.

So why hadn’t she invited him in?

Partly because she’d rushed things with her ex, hurried to the bed, and then even after it had been disappointing on several levels, she’d felt like all they’d ever had was physical. She definitely hadn’t loved him, though at the time she thought she had. To make matters worse, when she’d confided in her mom and sister about how things weren’t what she’d hoped they would be with him, they hadn’t understood. When he’d cheated and she’d finally ended things, the support she’d needed from her mom and sister hadn’t been there at all. They simply…hadn’t understood why she’d ended things. At least her dad had been supportive of her, because he always wanted what was best for her and trusted her judgment.

But the feelings she’d had for Seth were nothing compared to how she felt about Alistair after just one day, and that scared her a little.

Okay, maybe a lot.

She didn’t want to jump into bed with him before she got to know him. That never seemed to really work out. So she’d kept her mouth shut, and then she’d spent the night dreaming about what it might have been like to invite him in.

More kisses.

More touching.

More everything.

She’d woken up feeling achy and needy in ways that she hadn’t ever really experienced before, and she knew that meant he was special. And she wanted to treat him that way.

The wordsoulmatehad flitted through her mind off and on as she’d gotten dressed to go to her parents’ house to help with the final touches of her younger sister’s wedding. Did she even believe in soulmates? Was it just that her poor, still-kinda-healing heart wanted to believe she’d finally found the right guy?

Since her family hadn’t been all that supportive of her ending the relationship with Seth, she decided to keep Alistair to herself for now.

When she got to the house, she parked next to her sister Penny’s convertible and headed into the old rancher they’d grown up in. The house was exactly the same as it had been when she moved out at twenty-two after college, a snapshot in time to the eighties, which was the last time they’d decorated. The inside smelled like cinnamon rolls and bacon, and she knew her mom had been hard at work in the kitchen in preparation for the long day ahead of them.

Penny was sweet but flighty, and tended to leave things to the last minute. She was one of those people who said they worked better under tight deadlines, when what she really meant was that she chose to procrastinate and then panic and get things done.

Maggie was the opposite. She didn’t like tight deadlines, preferring to be done early with something rather than rushingat the last minute, so she and Penny had butted heads a few times since she’d started planning the wedding to her fiancé, Brian.

In the end, of course, it was Penny’s wedding and Maggie had taken a firm hands-off approach. She hadn’t minded a bit when Penny and Brian wanted only a Maid of Honor and Best Man as their attendants, and Penny had chosen her childhood best friend, Geneva. She didn’t mind avoiding most of the stress related to being part of the wedding, and was going to get to sit back and enjoy the day, at least once everything was underway.

The 100-person event was going to be held at a local country club that her parents had joined simply for access to the ballroom and deck for the wedding, and it was being catered and decorated by the staff at the club. All they had to do was get the decorations finished and finalize the seating chart.

“Hello,” Maggie called as she toed off her tennis shoes.

“We’re in the dining room,” her mom, Bea, called.

She wandered down the hall, past the rows of framed school pictures and family vacation photos, through the kitchen where she grabbed one of her mom’s amazing white chocolate scones, finally ending in the dining room. Geneva gave Maggie a hug as soon as she walked into the room, where the trio was busy tying tiny bows around organza bags of pink and gray chocolate candies, colored to match the wedding.

Had anyone in their life ever wanted to eat a gray-colored chocolate?

Maggie didn’t think so, but she’d kept that thought to herself.

Her sister had scoured social media for months, but thankfully their mom and Geneva were able to talk her out of most everything she wanted to do so they weren’t spending a fortune on favors and decorations that no one was going to care about after next weekend.

Maggie kissed Penny on the cheek. “Hey, sis.”

“I’m glad you’re here. Tell them that it’s okay for me to put out a bowl of dog treats with a picture of Boozy, so that everyone with dogs at home can take treats with them.”

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