Page 3 of Hero's Prize

Colton Harrison, like his father, was an extreme sport superstar. He had millions of followers who watched with bated breath every time he broadcast one of his jaw-dropping stunts.

Snowboarding, BASE jumping, Jet Skiing, motocross, abseiling, skydiving.

Why focus on just one when you were pretty damned amazing at all of them? Especially when you could have the most charming grin and a wink for the camera while you were doing it.

Ella couldn’t think about that sexy grin right now. Not if she wanted to be able to finish everything on her literal and figurative plate.

“Of course Colton is one of the groomsmen.” She hoped she sounded as light and breezy as she did in her mind. “He and Theo have been friends their whole lives.”

“Have you talked to Colton since he got into town?” Becky asked gently.

“Nah.”Light and breezy. Light and breezy.“Too much going on in here.”

That much was true, at least.

“You need to ask him out, for fuck’s sake.” Lilah had never been, nor ever would be, as gentle as Becky. “For fuck’s sake.Literally,for fuck’s sake.”

She laughed at her own unintentional pun.

“Lilah,” Becky chided softly, but Ella could hear the smile in her voice.

“What?” Lilah stepped back from her finished flower before starting another. “Hell, we’ve both been contributing to that digital scrapbook for as long as I can remember.”

Ella grimaced at the mention of that thing. Her friends had started the shared file in Ella’s name years ago where they could all place digital clippings about anything Colton Harrison. She hadn’topened it in years; although she got a notification every time one of her friends placed something in it, which was pretty regularly. That thing was massive now.

“Yeah, but that scrapbook is mostly a joke,” Becky said.

“You know what’s not a joke? The fact that Colton is who Elly-Belly wants. How is she ever going to get him if she doesn’t let him know that?”

As if. As if that was all it would take—for Ella to just shimmy up to Colton, bat her eyelashes, and lead him to her bed. And they would live happily ever after.

This wasn’t the first time her friends had encouraged her to ask him out. Ella needed to nip this in the bud before it became a full lecture abouttaking what she wanted, complete with inappropriate sound effects from Lilah.

“This isn’t the right time to tell him.”Light and breezy. “I’ve got my hands full with the desserts, and he’s got that snowboard stunt on Sunday.”

That was part of the reason for the unusual second reception in the mountains.

Lilah shook her head. “Yeah, I can’t believe he’s got that stunt scheduled for the same weekend as the wedding.”

Ella didn’t know all the details, but she knew it involved a helicopter and a particularly treacherous pass that would be live-broadcast for Colton’s gabillion followers. Social media had been buzzing about it for weeks.

Which Ella knew because she was a pathetic regular on the fan sites.

“In Colton’s defense…” She tried to stop herself but couldn’t. “The stunt had been planned before the wedding details were solidified. It’s not like he’s trying to grab the attention from one of his best friends.”

Ella grimaced as Becky and Lilah shot each other a glance. She was just making it worse by defending him. Reinforcing her patheticity. Which wasn’t a word, but close enough.

Lilah was about to launch into another tirade about why Ellashould let Colton know she was interested, but Ella didn’t have time for it, so she cut her friend off.

“I tell you what, next time he’s in town and there’s no wedding or huge stunt planned, I’ll talk to him. Scout’s honor.”

And she would. She wouldn’t ask him out, but she would talk to him. Hell, they’d known each other most of their lives, so of course she would talk to him if the situation arose. A friendly hello. Catching up. They did it basically every time they saw each other.

But more than that wasn’t ever going to happen.

CHAPTER

TWO

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