Page 17 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

“What are you doing?”she asked Andrew.

“What do you mean?”

How had she not noticed his cologne immediately?It was as familiar to her as the smell of her farm.She internally winced.Okay, that didn’t sound very flattering.But Andrew’s cologne was as ingrained in her brain as the smell of home.But honestly, they were surrounded by so many people, so many smells, that until she was this close—and not thinking of Josh—she hadn’t noticed.

“You’rekissingme!”she exclaimed, pushing against his chest.

He gave her a little smile that wasabsolutelyfamiliar.If only he’d smiled at her when he’d come up to her a minute ago.She would have known him for sure then.

Probably.

“Actually,youkissed me,” he told her, still not letting go of her.

He smelled like beer.See?Andrew was a beer drinker.She could have been drinkingbeerwith him and his friends tonight.And then she would have known what he was wearing and what mask he had on and none of this would have happened.This was actually Paisley’s fault…

Tori’s entire body went cold.Paisley.Andrew’sfiancée.

She pushed him back again.“I thought you—”

“What thehellis going on?”

The screech was shrill enough that it stopped conversation for an impressively large circumference around them.

Andrew let go of Tori then.

Tori turned to face Paisley.The bubbly blonde bride-to-be wasnotlooking so bubbly right now.In fact, she looked capable of homicide.And her chosen victim was quite obvious.Tori took a step back—right into Andrew.

His hands went to her hips, to steady her, but she could only imagine how it looked.

Not good, judging by the narrowing of Paisley’s heavily made-up eyes.

“Hey, babe,” Andrew greeted, stupidly not letting go of Tori.“Just a mistake.We’re both drunk and—”

“She’sbarely had anything to drink,” Paisley said, planting one hand on her hip and pointing her other index finger—with the very sharp-looking nail—at Tori.“She’s not drunk.”

“I thought he was someone else,” Tori said quickly, moving away from Andrew.

She stepped to thesiderather than forward, and closer to Paisley, but with the crowd there wasn’t very far to go.

“See, mistake,” Andrew said.

Tori nodded.“Total mistake.”

“You didn’t know who she was?”Paisley asked Andrew, one perfect eyebrow arched.

“Well…”

“Which means you were just kissing somestrangerthen?”Paisley continued.“How is that better?”

“No, I knew it was her,” Andrew said.

Maybe he thought that kissing a stranger would be worse and this was the reassurance Paisley wanted, but, well, it didn’t work that way.

Paisley burst into tears.

Oh shit.Tori took a step toward the other woman.“Paisley, I swear I thought he was Josh.”

Paisley gave her a look that chilled Tori to the bone.She quickly took that step back again.And then another.

---