Page 82 of Her Football Star Ex

Landon bent his head down and whispered close to my ear, “It’s our turn.”

I lifted my chin, hoping it would help me feel confident what with all the eyes on me, and then we started our walk down the aisle.

I smiled at the crowd as I walked past them, but as the first chorus started to swell through the speakers, my gaze went to our destination at the front of the chapel and locked in on Vincent.

He wore the same suit and tie as all the other groomsmen, but somehow, the way the suit looked on him put all the other guys to shame. Even Landon, who appeared quite dapper today couldn’t compare to him. It just suited him.

I expected Vincent to be watching the other bridesmaids and groomsmen who were nearing the front of the chapel, but even though I was several couples behind them, his eyes found mine.

“Looks like Vincent thinks you look as amazing in that dress as I thought,” Landon spoke under his breath when Vincent continued to stare in our direction.

And the longer I looked at him, and the longer he stared back at me, I started to wonder if I might need my eyes checked or something because he really was just watching me the entire time.

I glanced around the room to see if I could spot who his date might be, because there was no way she was going to like seeing him watching me the way he did. But the only person in the crowd with a sour expression on her face was Chelsea Stockton. And since that seemed to be a permanent feature on her face whenever she was around me, I really didn’t know what to think.

Maybe his date hadn’t noticed?

Or maybe she didn’t even know who I was, or anything about Vincent’s past life?

I looked ahead again, and by this time, Landon and I had made it to the front of the chapel. I released my arm from his and we went our separate ways: Him to stand by Derek’s brother, me to stand by a bridesmaid named Melissa.

The last of the bridesmaids and groomsmen made it to the front, followed by the flower girl and ring bearer.

“If you’ll all stand for the bride,” the pastor said to the crowd, gesturing upwards with her arms.

And in the next moment, Kira and her father appeared at the back of the church with huge smiles on their faces as the music changed to “Halo” by Beyoncé.

As they walked down the aisle, I watched Derek’s reaction to seeing his bride. I’d always loved seeing the groom’s reaction. And Derek didn’t disappoint.

He had the biggest smile on his face, and maybe even a few tears in his eyes. But my favorite part was how obvious it was how much he loved her. It just emanated from all that he was.

Before I could look back to Kira and watch her walk toward the man of her dreams, my gaze slid over to Vincent. And my breath caught in my throat, my heart stuttering in my chest, because instead of watching Kira like I’d expected—like everyone else in the whole room was doing in that moment—Vincent was looking at me.

In the same way Derek was looking at Kira.

He was looking at me like he loved me.

32

Emerson

The wedding was beautiful.Derek and Kira had written their own vows to read during the ceremony and by the time they were finished, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

Once the ceremony was over and they were pronounced husband and wife, we all headed over to the Mile High Station for the dinner and reception.

When I walked into the big room filled with tables and a second-story balcony, many of the wedding guests were already seated at their assigned tables. But a group of Dragons players stood in a corner, chatting and patting each other on the back—like they were excited to see each other again after the past month of training on their own.

I was planning to just walk past them and make my way to the front where a few of the other bridesmaids and groomsmen were already seated at the long tables, but then my eyes caught on Vincent standing in the crowd of football players.

I almost tripped on my dress, because I was surprised to see him with the guys instead of his date.

After the way he’d looked at me during the ceremony, I figured he’d at least try to cover for it and make his date feel less uncomfortable with the situation and stay by her side the rest of the evening.

But there wasn’t a woman in the group.

Maybe she was in the bathroom?

Deciding I really shouldn’t be that worried about it, I made my way around the outside edge of the room and headed toward the front.

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